By Wilbert Mukori- “I am very glad with what the President of the country is doing to respond to the challenges and I think it is very important that the SADC region comes behind the President and the country because the challenges of the country are our challenges,” said Thabo Mbeki.

Here we go again, Thabo Mbeki is off at a tangent! 

The root cause of political paralysis and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe is the 39 years of bad governance. 39 years of this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has sucked the marrow out of nation. The people could not remove Zanu PF from office even when it was clear the regime was dragging the nation deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth the nation now finds itself in because the party rigged elections. 

What Zimbabwe needs is help to break this vicious cycle of Zanu PF rigging elections, impose itself on the nation so it can continue to loot whilst making sure no meaningful reforms are implemented. Come the next elections, the party rigs the elections again and another cycle begins!

By endorsing Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime as the legitimate government, thus accepting last year’s elections as having been free, fair and credible, there is really little else President Mbeki and SADC can do to break the curse of rigged elections. Nothing!

What is becoming increasing clear here is that SA is now Zimbabwe’s neighbour from hell! Not only has South Africans been poking their big noses in Zimbabwe’s business but worst of all give us foolish advice! 

Of all the SADC leader President Cyril Ramaphosa of SA has played the leading role in calling for sanctions imposed on Zanu PF leaders to be lifted. 

There is a mountain of evidence out there, proving beyond all reasonable doubt that the root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown are the rampant corruption and the endemic bad governance stemming from Zimbabwe being a pariah state. Zanu PF has picked on the sanctions as the cause of all the country’s economic woes without ever producing the evidence to prove it. 

Why some one of the stature of President of SA would continue to give prominence to sanctions, a feeble excuse and scapegoat for Zanu PF’s economic failures, and never ever even admit of the real causes beggars belief!

What is worse, President Cyril Ramaphosa is ignoring that sanctions were impose on Zanu PF to pressure the party to restore the ordinary Zimbabweans’ freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life itself! 

Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections when he seized power from Mugabe in the military coup of November 2017. He did honour his promised and went on to blatantly rig the elections.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the “elections went well”, whatever that stupid remark was supposed to mean! Of course, it was stupid! How can an election where ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll be anything other than a farce! 

Our SA neighbours have held free, fair and credible elections since the 1994 elections and they have enjoyed the benefits of good governance. They know the importance of an independent judiciary, free media, etc. They know all these democratic institutions have been compromised into nothing more than departments within the Zanu PF dictatorship in all but name.

Of course, it is infuriating that Zimbabweans fighting to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government should find themselves being undermined at every turn by South Africa’s leaders.

“National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise has reiterated South Africa’s stand to support the lifting of the targeted economic sanctions against Zimbabwe,” reported Spotlight Zimbabwe.

“In October, National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo tabled a motion at the third Ordinary Session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), held in Midrand, urging members of the PAP to demand the immediate lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.”

Now President Thabo Mbeki is in Zimbabwe to tell us we “need” this illegitimate, corrupt, incompetent, tyrannical and vote rigging Zanu PF regime to remain in office until 2023 so the party can rig those elections too! 

There is only so much one can endue in silence and, frankly, I for one has lost all patience with these patronising South African idiots masquerading as helpful neighbours! What we want in Zimbabwe is help to end the vicious cycle of rigged elections and bad governance. We welcome all the help we can get in achieving that holy grail objective. 

We do not want SA’s patronising and foolish advice. If SA’s leaders have nothing better to say than wittering about sanctions and worse still endorsing this illegitimate Zanu PF dictatorship then they must shut up and buzz off!