WE NEED NEW HEROES, SANCTIONS ON ZANU-PF WILL & MUST STAY ON

When I started school in Zimbabwe in 1983 South Africa and Namibia were still under the yokes of Apartheid. Angola and Mozambique were fighting civil wars , RENAMO in Mozambique and UNITA in Angola were sponsored by foreign powers mainly Apartheid South Africa. Kamuzu Banda of Malawi cooperated with Apartheid South Africa. As I started high school in 1990 things were changing for the better in Southern Africa. I remember in form 1(grade 8 ) when Nelson Mandela visited Zimbabwe soon after his release from prison, one morning in Mbizo, Kwekwe I was on my way to school at Manunure High School and someone told me the day had been declared a public holiday in honour of Nelson Mandela. We grew up on a diet of pan Africanism anti-colonialism. We read about the war of liberation in school. Our heroes were Robert Mugabe, Sam Nujoma, Samora Machel, Kenneth Kaunda, Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Gorbachev, Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Quett Masire, Daniel arap Moi etc. We revered Socialism but at the same time we were influenced by American pop culture through black American singers and actors. By the time we finished high school, my friends and I were critical of Zanu-PF policies even though the economy was not that bad. I joined public service in 1996 and left for the private sector a year later. The turning point for Zimbabwe was when war veterans arm twisted Robert Mugabe to award them un-budgeted gratuities of $50 000, that was the equivalence of two years salary for a teacher. On a Friday in November 1997, the became we later called Black Friday, Zimbabwean dollar tanked against major currencies and became worthless. Robert Mugabe tried to raise workers’ taxes to cover the deficit. ZCTU then led by Gibson Sibanda as president and Morgan Tsvangirai as Secretary General led demonstrations against this unwise move. In December 1997, I had just started my new job at Eagle Insurance Company Ltd at corner Jason Moyo Avenue and 4th street. ZCTU offices were not far away behind us at Chester House in Speke Avenue. War veterans attempted to throw out Morgan Tsvangirai through the window from his office on the 10th floor. We came to work as per normal about an hour or so later police started throwing teargas clearing people from Harare CBD. In my life I had never smelt teargas. I started coughing, we were running towards Breaside as there was no public transport around. I walked through Arcadia on my way home to Sunningdale. In 1998 stay aways organised by ZCTU continued. One Saturday in 1998, civil society convened a meeting at great hall at University of Zimbabwe campus. It was years before I had a car, I went to Zimbabwe Council of Churches offices in Harare and we boarded the ZCC Toyota Coaster minibuses to Mount Pleasant. In great hall, I saw Morgan Tsvangirai in person for the first time. I saw The Who is Who in the civil society. Speaker after speaker put the blame on the heavily amended Lancaster House Constitution as it concentrated power in one person Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe needed a new constitution. Morgan Tsvangirai was elected as first leader of National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). Civil society demanded a new constitution. Robert Mugabe set up the Constitutional Commission led by the Judge President Godfrey Chidyausiku. Most of the civil society members were not invited except the likes of Jonathan Moyo, Lupi Mushayakarara etc. All members of parliament who were mostly Zanu-PF were also members of the commission. The draft constitution was put to a vote in February 2000, the view of NCA was that the draft did not express the views of Zimbabweans. Mugabe had put in sweeteners such as the expropriation of land without compensation. As much as land reform is an emotive issue in Zimbabwe, I felt Robert Mugabe was not the man to take us forward. 55% of Zimbabweans voted against the draft constitution and this was the first time Zanu-PF was defeated. At that time tens of thousands of young Zimbabweans could see the writing on the wall and left for mainly for United Kingdom before a visa was introduced. I decided against leaving Zimbabwe a move I regretted a few years later. Despite the fact that we had rejected the draft constitution, Mugabe’s government immediately changed the constitution and introduced expropriation of land as well as taking away citizenship of those born out of Zimbabwe or had foreign parentage. The move was meant to take away the right to vote for the few whites and many farm workers many of whom had come from Malawi and Mozambique. Mugabe called African immigrants people without a totem. Millions became stateless overnight. As we went to the 2000 parliamentary elections there was so much violence in the country especially in small towns and on farms. Farmers, farm workers and opposition supporters were murdered. The police looked the other way. In April 2000 I had joined American Insurer AIG Zimbabwe in the farming claims department and I would have a front row seat in the chaos that happened in the farm occupation violence. The rule of law was tossed out, government disregarded investment protection agreements with many governments. Many farmers including South Africans lost their farms despite there being government to government investment guarantees. Thabo Mbeki one of the backers of Robert Mugabe continued supporting Mugabe despite his country men and women losing their properties in violation of international law. Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was forced out by then Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa when he told him he couldn’t guarantee his safety. The pliant Chidyausiku was appointed as the Chief Justice ahead of senior Supreme Court Judges such as Justice Wilson Sandura. The new court started reversing land rulings to favour Zanu-PF. Commonwealth, EU, USA and other western institutions rightly pronounced the elections were not free and fair. In 2002 we had the presidential election and Robert Mugabe faced defeat. Thabo Mbeki sent in then High Court Judges Sisi Khampepe and Dikgang Moseneke to also observe the elections. Thabo Mbeki and two successive ANC presidents refused to release The Khampepe report until the court ordered its release over a decade later. The report concluded the election was not free and fair. All those years Thabo Mbeki’s government kept on insisting that Zimbabwe elections were free and fair despite what he knew. EU and USA had been right to impose targeted sanctions against Zanu-PF leaders back in 2001. The Commonwealth was also right to suspend Zimbabwe. The last free vote we had in Zimbabwe was the 2000 Constitutional Referendum and anything after that has been a charade. Millions of Zimbabweans left Zimbabwe mainly for South Africa and United Kingdom, Zanu-PF refuses those Zimbabweans to vote from their new countries. Institutions in Zimbabwe such as the judiciary, electoral commission are clearly captured. I normally don’t agree with many policies of the west, however sanctioning Zanu-PF government officials is something I personally welcome. This year US added Kuda Tagwirei on targeted sanctions and this is a good move, they should go further and sanction the captured judiciary and the compromised electoral commission. African presidents especially in SADC region supports Zanu-PF to the hilt yet they don’t follow Zanu-PF disastrous policies such as chaotic land reform, sham elections and weakening of courts. These same presidents periodically round-up thousands of desperate Zimbabweans in their countries and deport them. In Botswana traditional courts impose harsh and inhuman sentences such as the canning of Zimbabwean border jumpers. South Africa is busy drafting measures to exclude Zimbabweans and other African migrants from township economies. In April 2020 South African Finance Minister Mr Tito Mboweni indicated there is need to regulate the percentage of African migrants employed in industries such as restaurants. Do these SADC leaders think that ordinary Zimbabweans are lesser human beings? Why would they back Zanu-PF to the hilt yet they would never tolerate the blatant election thefts and captured of democracy institutions as done by Zanu-PF in their own countries? The end result is that Zimbabwean now look up to EU and USA leaders as those looking up to their best interests. Targeted sanctions must be intensified to all those stifling democracy in Zimbabwe and must include enablers such as some members of judiciary, business leaders etc. The international community should insist on a transitional authority in Zimbabwe that should hold UN supervised elections which should allow millions in the diaspora to also vote. Zanu-PF will never reform the state institutions as they can never win a free and fair election🙏🏿