By Wilbert Mukori| “President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who survived a blast at a ruling Zanu-PF party rally on Saturday, suggested he was the target of the attack which left one of his vice-presidents wounded,” reported AFP.

“I am used to these attempts,” Mnangagwa said in his first comments on the explosion in the country’s second city of Bulawayo. He said an object “exploded a few inches away from me – but it is not my time”.

President Mnangagwa’s reaction proves once again that he is a seasoned thug blundering from pillar to post with no clue where he is going, much less where he is taking the nation.

President Mnangagwa is failing to appreciate that the last 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule have destroyed the country’s democratic institutions such as the Police, Army, ZEC, etc. hence the reason the country has completely failed to hold free and fair elections, maintain law and order, etc. Zimbabwe is now a jungle in which the only law that counts is survival of the meanest. The rich and powerful ruling elite have ridden roughshod over the ordinary people denying them their freedoms, human rights, hopes and dreams.

Amongst themselves, the rich and powerful are fighting each other like wild cats. President Mnangagwa has himself finally acknowledged that Zanu PF has been rigging elections making peaceful democratic change impossible. Indeed, last November’s military coup, which the coup plotters insisted was a “military assisted transition”, was proof there were no peaceful means to resolve leadership disputes within Zanu PF let alone at national level.

So, by stubbornly refusing to implement the democratic reforms every agreed at the onset of the 2008 GNU as necessary for free, fair and credible elections President Mnangagwa has confirmed that in post-coup Zimbabwe survival of the meanest is still the only law that rules the roost. This year’s elections are being blatantly rigged just as has happened in the past.

With the door to free and fair elections still bricked shut, those behind the Saturday bombing have as much cause to seek a “military assisted transition” as last November’s coup plotter! Zimbabwe is still a pariah state complete with the rigged elections, use of violence as the only means of achieving political change.

“I am used to these attempts!” That is all very well for you and your fellow Zanu PF thugs, you have developed thick skins and are used to all this chaos, corruption, vote rigging, violence, ice cream poisoning, military coups, bombs, etc., etc. The ordinary

Zimbabweans out do not have a thick skin and they are the ones who are paying dearly for the consequences of Zimbabwe being a pariah and lawless nation.

It is the four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by this Zanu PF dictatorship that is the root cause of the country’s economic meltdown. Unemployment has soared to dizzying heights of 90%, ¾ of our people now live on US$1.00 a day, etc. This has resulted in heart-breaking human suffering and unnecessary deaths. Mr President, this tragic human suffering and loss of life cannot be allowed to continue for another day.

Mr President, your “Zimbabwe is open for business!” carrion call has failed to attract the flood of foreign investors because no investor in his/her right mind would want to do business in a country that is so volatile and unstable the regime change is only possible through military coup, street protest or some such violent means. Until we resolve our political problems, economic recovery will remain a pipe dream.

Zimbabwe must implement the democratic reforms agreed at the onset of the 2008 GNU, the only sure way to restore the power, authority and independence of the state institutions like the Police and ZEC and restore the rule of law.

President Mnangagwa you promised to hold free, fair and credible elections when you took over from Mugabe last November, you had the opportunity to implement the reforms but choice to do nothing; now you keep your promise. If these elections are not free, fair and credible, signs are they are not, then you and your junta regime must step aside to allow the appointment of an interim administration that will implement the reforms.

Zimbabwe had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU; sadly, the opportunity was wasted by Morgan Tsvangirai and his corrupt and incompetent MDC friends. Last November’s coup and now this 23 June 2018 bomb blast in Bulawayo must serve as a warning to us all that the chaos and lawlessness in Zimbabwe cannot be allowed to continue. Both these two events could have easily claimed many more injured and killed or, worse still, triggered an all-out civil war.

The international election observers, especially SADC, must act to help end this Zimbabwe political crisis by declaring these flawed and illegal elections null and void. This will force the country to revisit and, this time, make sure the reforms agreed in 2008 are implemented. – zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk