‘Mugabe No Longer Fit To Govern’-Jacob Mafume – People’s Democratic Party National Spokesperson

President Robert Mugabe returned home last Friday and despite the usual noises from the state media that he was physically fit, he is showing clear signs that he was a man who is no longer fit to govern the country.

On his return, Mugabe flew into a storm where civil servants are not receiving their salaries.  It is also not clear when the government will be able to meet its commitment and obligations of paying civil servants their 2015 annual bonuses and whether it will be able to meet its monthly pay dates.

Major government hospitals and clinics have run out of essential drugs including ordinary Paracetamol painkillers, while critical surgical operations are being carried out by junior doctors as the bulk of senior doctors cannot work for the pittances that the government is offering.

While the health sector is all but paralyzed, there is a deadly typhoid outbreak which has hit Harare and will certainly spread to other towns and will leave a trail of destruction on its wake.

This outbreak shows the decay of infrastructure and systems in the country over the last 36 years and is an indictment on Mugabe who will turn 92 in the next four weeks.

In a time of such economic turbulence and enormous challenges such as the unfolding devastating drought, Mugabe cannot act as if it’s business as usual while the country is on the brink and burning. Yet it is shocking that his response to this calamity has been casual and routine as if all is well.

The most hit by Mugabe and his government’s non-performance are children of the poor who are going to schools where there are no study materials while the teachers are now engaged in informal trade during schools hours in order to supplement for their paltry salaries.

It is also the same poor people who seek medical treatment in dysfunctional hospitals while Mugabe and his cronies fly to Singapore, India and Dubai to get world class treatment.

In fact Mugabe over the Christmas holidays Mugabe received an expensive Botox operation to give temporary upliftment to his face by smoothing his facial wrinkles and improving his appearance so that he appears younger and capable of running the country when he clearly can no longer tell his left hand from the right.

The economy has been in a free fall with most companies failing to reopen in 2016 due to tough economic and unproductive conditions thereby throwing thousands of workers into to the streets.

It is clear that the falling economy and factional fights in Zanu PF have led to senior government officials to engage in corrupt activities and have seen this period as their last chance to loot the country’s natural resources resulting in the economy disintegrating under the weight of massive corruption by a coterie of Mugabe bootlickers and zealots.

The same heartless Mugabe has forced thousands of families out of their homes after their homes were demolished with the latest being the residents of Nyikavanhu Housing Cooperative who had had their homes demolished by the Harare City Council on the orders of Mugabe who said the houses were an eyesore to international visitors coming into Zimbabwe.

The failures of Mugabe in a nation where over 91% of the population are unemployed and vendors are endless and is a clear signal that he is no longer capable of leading Zimbabwe and there sufficient grounds for impeachment as set out section 97 of the Constitution of the country. The challenge remains that none of ZANU PF’s cowardly and corrupt parliamentarians would dare move such a motion as they have deified Mugabe.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) therefore maintains that the responsibility to end Mugabe’s criminal rule falls on those who are on the receiving end, the ordinary people. It is now time for Zimbabweans to unite and pour into the streets to demand that Mugabe and his failed regime step aside to allow space for Zimbabwe to move forward.

Mugabe and his cronies have declared themselves enemies of the people by impoverishing millions of Zimbabweans and thus the public must take corrective measures against them.

The (PDP) further hold that Zimbabwe needs a National Transitional Authority (NTA) to manage the transition from Mugabe’s criminal rule into another Zimbabwe. It is therefore imperative that dialogue amongst the key democratic opposition forces is crucial so as to form a coalition that can push ZANU PF out of power before the nation slides into complete chaos.
Source: Jacob Mafume – PDP National Spokesperson