When taking over from the First Republic in 2017, President Mnangagwa announced that the thrust of the Second Republic was to focus more on the economy, uniting people, calling for peace and opening the country for business through Government’s “Zimbabwe Is Open for Business” mantra.
Chamisa and his party then devised methods that they would use to tarnish the image of Government at opportune time (mostly to coincide with some major event) to avenge for their electoral loss. Their aim was to make sure that no one would want to do business with Zimbabwe, thus, scaring away potential investors who intended to open businesses in Zimbabwe.
The MDC which was bent on getting into power by hook and crook went into overdrive trying to spoil everything for President Mnangagwa. Chamisa and his deputy, Tendai Biti were the most vocal betting that as long as they were not part of Government they would make sure that nothing will move on. The two then strengthened their “kuzvidira jecha (spoiling)” sabotage slogan.
Biti blatantly uttered that “the international community is not going to be fooled by this madness. We will make sure they don’t get a cent. I can’t tell you how, but I can tell you we have done it before.” This was directly inviting an extension of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West. As a result of his utterances, US President Donald Trump went on to sign Executive Order 13288 citing that “The actions and policies of these persons (Zimbabweans on the US sanctions list) continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States. I am continuing for (one) year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13288.” Honestly, what threat does a tiny Zimbabwe pose to the powerful United States? Trump was just lamely justifying why sanctions should be put in place.
The MDC has been vocal about security sector reforms. Their aim was to aid the weakening of the country’s security apparatus so that it would not be able to defend the country. Thus, they influenced their American friends to target the country’s security sector as well on sanctions. When Zimbabwe and other African countries had held an Anti–Sanctions march on 25 October, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo retaliated by slapping Minister of State for National Security, Honourable Owen Ncube with sanctions.
“Today, I publicly designated Owen Ncube for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights in Zimbabwe. State-sanctioned violence in Zimbabwe must end now and those responsible for human rights violations must be held accountable,” said Pompeo.
When President Mnangagwa called for dialogue under the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), Chamisa snubbed him arguing that all other Presidential hopefuls were not supposed to be part of POLAD because he was the only one who mattered. From that point, Chamisa and his MDC started shifting goal posts. In a typical MDC flip-flop style, Chamisa started to raise unnecessary pre-dialogue conditions to be adhered to such as a neutral venue, foreign mediator and questioned the legitimacy of the President.
Successful dialogue brings with it investor confidence and a sense of stability and predictability which MDC does not want to see unless they are the ones in power. This kind of thinking and behaviour will take the country nowhere as it shows how selfish and self-centred the MDC is.
Any Zimbabwean worth his or her salt when abroad automatically becomes the country’s brand ambassador thereby marketing the country to foreigners. This is not so with MDC members as each time they are out there they use the chance to tell concocted depraved stories about Zimbabwe in a bid to get a few greenbacks to line their empty pockets. When Biti was launching his book “Democracy Works – Re-wiring politics to Africa’s Advantage” which was co-authored by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Brenthurst Foundation member, Gregg Mills and American Jewish University President, Jeffrey Herbst in the United Kingdom, he went on a barrage of attacks criticising everything about Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has also made tremendous improvement on the 2020 Ease of Doing Business by gaining fifteen points from 155 to 140 out of 190 countries. The notable areas were starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, getting credit and resolving insolvency. With all this positive progress, the MDC has nothing good to say but continues to paint a bad picture as if things have grounded to a halt in the country.
