Zimbabwe Situation

75 ways to nowhere? – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary

After the last Vigil of the year we wish Zimbabweans a happy 2018 in the hope that the tsunami of corruption which has drowned our country will begin to recede with the departure of Mugabe.

Source: 75 ways to nowhere? – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 30th December 2017

President Mnangagwa has made promising noises of tough action against the main looters, but the culture of theft and deceit seems to have seeped into our DNA from the example set by our leaders and will be hard to eradicate.

No fewer that 75 political parties have apparently registered to contest the upcoming elections, though it’s not clear what most of them really want. Mnangagwa has promised that the elections will be free and fair but unless he makes some convincing attempt to level the electoral playing field and agrees to allow in objective observers to monitor the polling he will not satisfy critics and get the Western financial support he needs to fund the promised economic turnaround.

The size of the task ahead is daunting. An analysis this month by the influential financial observers Forbes ranks Zimbabwe 145 out of 153 countries for doing business. On corruption it is ranked 139. Forbes complained about the lack of a clear plan for change including over land tenure, the repatriation of dividends and indigenization (see: https://www.forbes.com/places/zimbabwe/).

While parliament discusses providing psychological counselling for sacked ministers and MPS, what about the traumatised population at large? The plethora of political parties shows how divided we have become over where we want to be (see: https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/ousted-zim-ministers-suffering-from-trauma-need-help-report-20171225).

Thanks to Audrey Chihoho, Jonathan Kariwo, Junior Madzimure,  Rosemary Maponga, Patricia Masamba, Margaret Munenge and Ephraim Tapa for being there at the start of a cold and windy Vigil to set up by putting up the banners and posters, for looking after the front table and handing out flyers during the Vigil and for staying to the end to pack up.

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website. The facebook page for our sister organisation Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) (https://www.facebook.com/ROHR-Zimbabwe-Restoration-of-Human-Rights-301811392835) has been hijacked by destructive elements from a group calling itself ZHRO. Please be advised that any postings on this page are not posted by ROHR.

FOR THE RECORD: 7 signed the register.

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