Mnangagwa continues to peddle falsehoods on foreign land – why can’t he tell Chiefs and Headmen to stop intimidating the electorate

By Kennedy Kaitano

I read our dear President, Emmerson Mnangagwa was at it again at the just ended Africa CEOs Forum when he took the opportunity to attack Non-Governmental Organisations which he accused of meddling in Zimbabwean politics: 

“Civil society, who come with an agenda, especially in the area of elections, they assemble a team of what they call experts coming from various countries and come and say we want to teach your people about voter education, they then come with gifts like beans and when you open the beans you find a paper inside which tells you whom to vote for. Such type of civil society is not necessary we don’t need it”, Mnangagwa is reported to have told the CEOs. 

This is where Mnangagwa get’s it wrong. 

Firstly, this was a forum of business people who needed to be inspired to come and invest in Zimbabwe, but he starts to talk about the politics of non-governmental organisations, sending signals to potential investors that there is political chaos in my country. Does Comrade Mnangagwa seriously think that investors will want to invest in a country like that. 

Secondly, he was lying. The story he told is one of the many false stories created by Zanu PF as an excuse to confisticate food distributed to local villagers so that Zanu PF can distribute the food on a partisan basis. The truth is that Zanu PF structures especially in the rural areas, with the support of some partisan chiefs, approach NGOs who are distributing food especially in times of drought, and takes over the food distribution process to ensure that non-Zanu PF supporters are denied food aid. It will be important to know what Emmerson Mnangagwa has done to punish the culprits involved. 

The truth of the matter is that civic society organisations involved in voter education are different from humanitarian agencies which distribute food aid. Mnangagwa’s attempt to lump these together betrays a sinister agenda he has crafted around elections, and time will tell.

Mnangagwa must be man enough to come up with an accurate list of such civil society organisations to name and shame them, but following the recent experience where he has tried to name and shame companies who are doing good business to revive the country’s economy, I can foresee him coming up with a list that may force international organisations who have been doing their best to feed the people of Zimbabwe who are in need to think of turning their backs on the hungry citizens. 

Mnangagwa’s scheming to win the elections is costing the country, and Zimbabweans are encouraged to vote him and Zanu PF out in the 2018. 

My hope is that the next time he gets an opportunity to address potential investors, he should carry with him a list of Zanu PF officials his administration has punished for corruption, a list of chiefs and headman he has punished for denying people food because they are not Zanu PF, and a list of Zanu PF officials and chiefs and headman he has punished for intimidating the electorate as those are the things which can make the CEOs that he is fighting corruption and is implementing reforms that make the country an attractive investment destinations.