'What coup! It was a change of administration' said SADC - sheer folly, let coup gene out, again

For the last 39 years the country has drifted like a log, with ordinary people hang on to the log for dear life, in the flood Zambezi River, totally at the mercy of a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Sadly, the country's economic meltdown has fuelled a raging factional fighting in the dictatorship and political and economic volatility have the log hurtling down the rapids.

Two years ago on 15 November 2017 there was a military coup in which the Zanu PF dictators Robert Mugabe and a select few around him were removed from office. As much I wanted to see the back of Mugabe after 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule, I still objected strongly to the coup. Two wrongs do not equal a right; especially when those staging the coup were themselves corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants.

It was no secret than Emerson Mnangagwa, Constantino Chiwenga and the rest of the coup plotters were the very individuals who had played a major part in the establishment and retention of the Zanu PF dictatorship, keeping Mugabe himself in power, all the last 37 years against the democratic wishes of the people.

It is no surprise that Mnangagwa and his coup friends have portrayed the November 2017 coup in the most agreeable light they could master. They announced the coup as "a military assisted transition". They even got one of the country's high court judges to declare the coup "constitutional, justified and legal!"

When Mugabe hesitated signing the resignation letter, the coup plotter burnt the midnight candle to make sure the people came out in the street in large numbers demanding that Mugabe resigned. The story goes that Mugabe was warned that if he still refused to resign "the people will march into his Blue Roof mansion!" No that the coup plotters were controlling Mugabe's security, that was no empty threat.

Two years down the line, those who had condemned the coup as an act of lawlessness that could never put to right the Zanu PF dictatorship have been proven right. The coup remove one dictator but only to replace him with another dictator.

The November coup was a lost opportunity to demand the democratic changes designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. Swapping one dictator for another was certainly not want we wanted. It is therefore shocking to hear anyone, now with the benefit of hindsight, suggesting that Zimbabweans were pleased with the November 2017 coup.

"Which coup? SADC is unaware of the said coup, is aware of change of administration that was extensively celebrated and supported by nationals!" remarked none other than the Executive Secretary of SADC Dr Stergomena Tax.
Tax said SADC will not meddle in the affairs of Zimbabwe.

"I have already responded to this. Use the Parliament and Judiciary. Engage with the Executive. Regional bodies come in after exhausting internal mechanisms. Are you at that stage? Use the Parliament and Judiciary. Engage with the Executive. Regional bodies come in after exhausting internal mechanisms."

The only way to get the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible election implement is by forcing Zanu PF to accept last year's elections were NOT free, fair and credible. SADC is one of the few bodies who had, foolishly endorsed the election as having been free, fair and credible and so cannot change its position now. SADC is handicapped and cannot play any meaningful role is solving Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.

By endorsing the November 2017 military coup as merely a "change of administration" SADC has foolishly let the military coup gene out of the bottle, once again. In 1960s and 1970s, Africa was plagued by military coups and now we are foolishly encouraging them again!

It is ironic that SADC endorse Zimbabwe's rigged 2013 elections as having been free, fair and credible. Indeed, until the coup, SADC leaders had always counted Mugabe was one of them!

The main reason why many Zimbabweans celebrated the November 2017 coup to remove Mugabe was simple: how else were they going to do it since 37 years of the ballot had failed.

Mnangagwa rigged last year's elections confirming that Zanu PF's vote rigging juggernaut is still the same ruthless well oiled machine of the Mugabe days. Now that the Zimbabwe Courts have confirmed military coups are "legal, constitutional and justified" and SADC will view it as a normal "change of administration"; the next political change in Zimbabwe is another coup.

The tragedy is the coup will replace one dictator with another when what the nation is dying for is replacing the dictatorship with democratic system of government.

Zimbabweans have looked to SADC to help end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the root cause of the country's economic ruin and politic paralysis. Sadly, SADC itself has suffered the ill effects of poor leadership it was been but the flooded Luangwa River adding its muddy waters to the flooded Zambezi River.

Zimbabwe must look outside SADC and the AU for help to end the deeply entrenched Zanu PF dictatorship. The economic situation in Zimbabwe is dire, hospitals have closed and people are dying; we need to end the dictatorship fast.