ImbizoSideBar 🌐

The task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us... ImbizoReferenceLibrary-#Inkantoloyombonokazulu

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

congrats

[Min of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Zimbabwe @MOTHI_ZIMBABWE]

The return of Air Zimbabwe to the Harare-London route after a 16-year hiatus marks a defining milestone in Zimbabwe's Tourism growth trajectory, reconnecting the country with its second-largest International source market. Launched under the theme "Fly Direct, Experience Zimbabwe," the Air Zimbabwe Aircraft Reception and Harare-London Route Launch Ceremony at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport was celebrated with pomp and fanfare, signalling a new era for Zimbabwe's Tourism and Aviation sectors. The United Kingdom remains Zimbabwe's second-largest source market for International Tourists after the United States of America, making the restoration of this direct air link a strategic catalyst for increased Tourist arrivals, Investment, Trade and enhanced Destination competitiveness. Speaking at the event, the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Hon Barbara Rwodzi, expressed profound gratitude to His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa, His Cabinet, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and Mutapa Investment Fund for their unwavering support in making this landmark achievement a reality. She noted that the Whole-of-Government Approach, championed by the President's Vision 2030 of attaining an Upper Middle-Income Economy, continues to position Aviation as a critical enabler of Tourism, economic transformation and global connectivity.

Minister Rwodzi highlighted that the relaunch comes at a time when Destination Zimbabwe continues to receive remarkable global recognition, having been named by Forbes as the World's Number One Must Visit Country in 2025, featured by Condé Nast Traveler among the Best Places to Visit in 2026 and honoured by PATWA as the Destination of the Year for Natural Wonders. She emphasised that the priority is now to intensify the marketing of Destination Zimbabwe and maximise the opportunities presented by the restored direct route to sustain the country's impressive Tourism momentum, which has already recorded an 11 percent increase in International Tourist arrivals. The Guest of Honour, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Hon Advocate Felix Mhona, commended Hon Barbara Rwodzi for her unwavering support of the Aviation industry as a key driver of Tourism, noting that the reinstated Harare-London connection will improve accessibility, strengthen links with the Zimbabwean Diaspora, unlock new Investment and Trade opportunities, and further position Zimbabwe as a destination of choice. More than the return of an aircraft, this historic route re-establishes a vital gateway that will connect more visitors to the authentic Zimbabwean experience while advancing the nation's Vision 2030 aspirations.

#HarareLondonRoute
#ExperienceZimbabwe
#NhakaYedu
#IlifaLethu
#OurHeritage
#ThisIsUs
#ZimBho👍

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

#luckySeat11A 🙏🏿

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

#AmazingGraceMugabe

[TheNewsHawks @NewsHawksLive]

#MugabeCentenary
"Gucci Grace" meets "Jah Bobo". Musician and comedian Tinotenda “Jah Bobo” Mutswiri, who is well-known for mimicking the late President Robert Mugabe, sends the guests into fits of laughter. This was at Mugabe's posthumous centennial birthday celebration in Zvimba on 24 February. The late leader was fondly remembered at his rural home by family including his widow Grace Mugabe, daughter Bona, comrades and invited dignitaries.

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

This is sweet #MadamNaledi you never disappoint- the President SA never had…🙏🏿🤞

[Prof Jonathan Moyo @ProfJNMoyo]

JOIN SOUTH AFRICA AND GIVE PALESTINIANS IN GAZA HOPE

This is it Naledi Pandor, the message of hope from South Africa to the People of Palestine whose Territories have been occupied by Israel and subjected to untold apartheid for 75 years now; a message of hope especially to Palestinians in Gaza, whose lives and livelihoods are being catastrophically destroyed under the genocidal war that Isreal has been waging there since 7 October 2023.

Give them hope.

As Naledi Pandor says, give the Palestinians in Gaza hope by joining South Africa to play your part; do what you can where you are to stop Israel's genocide in Gaza!
#GazaGenocide
#GiveThemHope

[Prof Jonathan Moyo @ProfJNMoyo]

Yellow and Blue!

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

@ProfJNMoyo Indecisive, dithering… sitting on the fence…!

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

https://t.co/o9JV4Ukxt4

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

#ShabanguCCCJudgement explained

[Boss Salani @mutssy_Salani]

https://t.co/jUK79udFjp

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

#ImbizoSideBar🌐
🕹️ “… in a conflict, you give one side ammunition ie bombs to bomb their opponents and give food to the other side to eat as they wait to be bombed…. what has this world come to !”

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

You were rejected at the #ballot2023 so why aren’t you accepting!!! you hypocrite…😂

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

But you never said anything before you became a fugitive!!!

[Dr Walter Mzembi @waltermzembi]

As long as this man Jacob Mudenda is a Zanu PF Politburo Member reporting to President Mnangagwa and is whipped by his Chief Whip during Zanu PF Caucuses there will be no separation of powers between the Executive and Parliament. He will facilitate anything Zanu PF wants including a 2/3 Majority for its Third Term Project .
He will also through the tortoise on the fence post Tshabangu recall @CCCZimbabwe MPs at will in batches until the few remaining in Parly recognise Tshabangu as SG , agenda being splitting of this Party . . Already " the please don't recall me SG " pleas seem to be in motion from the intelligence at hand . So the first wave has hit , there will be a second one and so forth ...
CCC has decided to go to Court , Zanu PF is happy with this response which recognises the Courts after their invalidation when this Party did not contest its dispute of the Presidential Ballot result. The legitimacy question is being settled . Byo had a fair chance at the Courts during the Caretaker phase of this administration now they have fully assumed power . Beware the ides of Baghdad !
A Political or Legal response or both is the Big Q ?
Can CCC move its Parliamentary and Council Reps out of their new comfort zones without consequence is the next Big Q ?
What will be the arguments for and against some painful decisions which clearly need to be considered .
Is this about CCC only or about the Voter , and What is the Voter saying?

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

When you find some good news on anything in Zimbabwe please do tell the world too …

[Hopewell Chin’ono @daddyhope]

Breakfast at Zimbabwe’s Holiday Inn Hotel is US$45 or R855, that is super crazy expensive.

You see, the hotel is a victim of the warped economic policies of the Government of Zimbabwe where the exchange rate system is fixed and indirectly determined by the government.

Two weeks ago I was in South Africa at @StandardBankZA where I explained that Zimbabweans are keeping their money at home and not in the bank because of the dysfunctional exchange rate system.

The managers at @StandardBankZA couldn’t understand why it is the case because they were using the South African standard where everyone receives their money through their bank account and keep it there.

I encouraged them to review some of the demands they put on Zimbabweans who are borrowing in South Africa because the Zimbabwean banking system is not similar to theirs.

The dysfunctional exchange rate system is chasing away both local and foreign investors, and it is making it difficult for Zimbabweans to borrow investment funds outside Zimbabwe.

How do you come and set up a business in a country where breakfast is US$45, and how do you borrow money internationally and bring it home where the exchange rate is fixed.

So this breakfast story at Holiday Inn is a reflection of fundamental problems that are deep rooted in the economy, problems that are so profound that they are affecting not just Zimbabweans at home, but Zimbabweans abroad too.

It is a mess, but one that can be changed only if the government is serious about fixing the economy.

So guys, taking your spouses for breakfast at the Holiday Inn is US$90.
For my South African followers that is R1,710 if you and your spouse are going to have breakfast at Harare’s Holiday Inn.

Meanwhile breakfast at the Holiday Inn Jesmond in London where workers are paid more, and electricity, water and the breakfast ingredients are more expensive is only US$12.80 or R243.

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

⁦@ProfJNMoyo⁩ https://t.co/uc3Bd3pDEB

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

So you wish your country’s economy to fall!! you’re a bastard @waltermzembi

[Dr Walter Mzembi @waltermzembi]

Here is my interpretation of yesterday ' s @SADC_News
Troika Meeting not based on the minutes but based on an analysis of the current
" atmospherics " obtaining inside the SADC troika club .
1. A deputation of representation by President of Namibia @hagegeingob and @SuluhuSamia of Tanzania completing the Troika chaired by @Hichilema of Zambia is not good sign for those reading too much into an anticipated SADC solution.
2. @HHichilema chairing Vice Presidents and officials means a downgrade of Zimbabwe Polls issue to a routine report .
3. Liberation Parties solidarity may have won the day in the charm offensive led by @edmnangagwa himself in New York . There was definitely a pushback in the bilaterals at @UN GA . Picture Mnangagwa paying a courtesy call on Namibia President , at his Hotel Room . Clearly the stakes were high for the mountain to visit Mohammed .
4. The strategy of buying time until the Zimbabwe Polls dispute issue is stale and overtaken by events may in the end prevail if there is no fresh impetus from the people.
5. It will be assisted by a business as usual approach and a defacto sense of deja vu as Parliament and Government gets down to five year business . By the time Zimbabwe assumes Chairmanship of SADC the Polls issue may be history
6. The only issue which may keep reminding people of disputed elections will be a non performing economy. If Zanu PF Government gets it right by extension it will get the Government performance legitimacy . So Mnangagwa simply has to make the economy economy work .
7. Zimbabweans cannot subcontract their disputes to SADC which from history is a flat tyre unless there is renewed pressure from the people . A very unlikely prospect .
8. Whilst Zimbabweans suffer from perpetual struggle fatigue so do those seeking to help , they simply back off if abused unless encouraged by the energy of Zimbabweans themselves to have their issues resolved, 2008 being manifest .
9. @ZANUPF_Official is too strong for the Region and its abrasive gun boat Zanufication diplomacy has seen even seemingly bigger brothers turning into its " errand boys " twisted by anti sanctions solidarity .
10. At the core of this strategy is a siege mentality presented to liberation movements that they face a collective and class existential threat from neoliberals and counter revolutionaries . The paradox is contemporary generations actually want to liberate themselves from the entitlement of yesteryear liberators and old Revolutions that have lost their way . Unfortunately for the young it is a tough fight against a club of incumbents whose parties are highly conflated with the State and it will take more than just zeal and courage but serious resources to undo this repression of black by black . It will take a new nationalist construct which these old Revolutionaries cannot conveniently smear as imperialist or neocolonial agents agendas . It is time to conceive home made solutions that cannot be faulted but identify with a people so in dire need of relief from the shackles of these old self serving liberators. Goodnight madhodha sibili

[Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa @TembaMliswa]

As soon as I cross the border into another country I become an Ambassador for Zimbabwe. I will defend and advance the interests of the motherland. I will always be a patriot and a Zimbabwean. Never a "ruling party" or "opposition" but Zimbabwean.

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

Hence Chamisa was stopped in Zimbabwe 😂

[Sishuwa Sishuwa @ssishuwa]

If @HHichilema loses power in 2026, these five factors, stated in no order of importance, may contribute significantly to such a likely outcome:

• the bad influence of external actors (largely extractive and oblivious to the domestic context) on his leadership and key developments in the country and the region. Blacks who work closely with Hichilema say the president is largely unreceptive to advice unless it comes from some in North America and Europe or their overseas representatives in #Zambia and a particular few in South Africa. I hope Hichilema will soon wake up to the realisation that for many Western actors and their agents, liberal democracy is simply the entry point for securing their vital and strategy interests.

• the failure to tackle high-level corruption, especially in Hichilema’s administration, and continued interference by State House officials (especially one presidential aide) in the fight against the scourge (of corruption). Among those reported to be involved in grand corruption are very senior government officials and close business associates of the president, including one of Indian descent and three others. History shows that private interests contributed to the downfall of Hichilema’s predecessor.

• the cost-of-living crisis and dire youth unemployment, worsened by an elitist, insensitive and out-of-touch approach to leadership, one that priorities the needs of foreigners, the rich, and the educated. Poor people – struggling to afford basic needs – are estranged from this government, whose topmost priorities, according to latest official remarks from Solicitor General Marshal Muchende, include “creating a number of millionaires in Zambia from genuinely earned income”!

• the failure to reflect adequate ethnic diversity in public appointments, which has fed growing public perception that Hichilema appears to see himself primarily as the leader of Zambians from one half of the country. The quiet but ongoing harassment of civil servants who trace their ethnic origins from the other half has not helped the situation.

• the unity and viability of opposition parties including their ability to articulate an alternative vision that resonates with the concerns of majority voters and to forego personal ambitions and field a common – and credible – presidential candidate.

[ImbizoSideBar 🌐 @ImbizoLibrary]

Hopeless bastards, you can’t be in perpetual election/fighting mode when pipulu need you to work to better their lives 😭

[Chalton Hwende MP @hwendec]

We continue fighting until the People’s President @nelsonchamisa is in office so that our citizens can be happy again !!

[Sabhuku Temba P. Mliswa @TembaMliswa]

It's always good to get away to recharge the batteries.

[Karatizo Ra*ah⚓🐅 @KaratizoR]

Gloves are off👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

[Prof Jonathan Moyo @ProfJNMoyo]

#ZimElection2023Postmortem

ZIM'S 2023 HARMONISED GENERAL ELECTION NOW DONE AND DUSTED, LEGITIMACY SETTLED, WHILE POST-MORTEMS REMAIN LIVE

The harmonised general election is over.

Any continuing chatter or narratives about "fresh elections scaffolded by foreigners", or a "National Transitional Authority" [NTA] also facilitated by foreigners, is a self-indulgent pipe dream bordering on hot air.

This follows the oath-taking and the assumption of office by the winners of the local election, parliamentary election and presidential election, which together makeup Zimbabwe’s harmonised general election in that they are held concurrently every five years.

CCC won and has taken control of the overwhelming majority of the country’s 34 urban councils; while ZanuPF won and is in charge of the majority of Zimbabwe’s 92 local municipalities to bring the 2023 local authority election to an end; further, ZanuPF won a commanding absolute majority in Parliament to take full control of both the National Assembly and the Senate, with seats whose numbers approximate a two thirds majority in the bicameral Parliament; and lastly ZanuPF also won the presidential election with a clear majority well beyond the 50% plus one vote threshold.

To say the 2023 harmonised general election is over specifically and necessarily means that the question of the legitimacy of the election has been settled beyond reasonable or rational debate. There's no challenge to the legitimacy of the election in any competent court of law.

What now remains are post-mortems of the harmonised general election, which include but are not limited to final reports of local and international election observers most of which are still pending.

The pending post-mortems are not and cannot be about determining or deciding the legitimacy of the harmonised general election, but about unmasking how the election was actually conducted and, in the words of a recent “Reflection Meeting for Bishops” held by the @zccinzim, “to dissect what went well, what did not go well and what needs to be done,” in the next election to improve on what did not go well this time round.

The more the election post-mortems, the merrier for the development and maturity of Zimbabwe’s body politic.

What needs to be underlined and understood is that the 2023 harmonised general election is over and its legitimacy has been settled.

The prerequisite for understanding this proposition is the understanding of what an election is.

This is because it is common in Zimbabwean public discourse to encounter bambazonke approaches to electoral politics.

Instead of elections being taken for what they are, dominant Zimbabwean approaches tend to load elections with every imaginable issue or problem under the sun.

Somehow, the common narrative has come to be that an election should be a solution to every and all problems or challenges facing the country.

For many others, an election must be won by their political party or presidential candidate, failure of which the election is invalid and illegitimate by definition.

And for others who view politics through a self-indulgent bifurcation of "good guys" versus "bad guys", an election is legitimate only if it is won by the "good guys".

Yet others say an election is about "political reforms", wherein the "reforms" are not neutral principles and guidelines with general application to enable anyone to win, but are synonymous with the political manifesto or agenda of their favourite political party or presidential candidate.

While these and related sentiments are understandable as expressions of political differences, they’re nevertheless wrong not least because they’re based on subjective views of what an election is.

All hell breaks loose where the definition of an election depends on the mouth of the beholder.

It is important that there be an objective definition of an election, above political opinions and political differences.

In this regard, and based on the best international practices and standards applied to Zimbabwe, an election is a rule and time bound political process which is a legal event in which eligible voters exercise the all-important right to vote for holders of public offices established by the Constitution of Zimbabwe or by any other law of the land; or to be voted for to hold any of those public offices.

The rules and timelines for the three elections that make up Zimbabwe’s harmonised general election are in the Constitution, the Electoral Act and the Electoral Regulations.

As a legal event, Zimbabwe’s harmonised general election starts with the election proclamation and ends with the assumption office by the elected winners upon taking their oath of office. When that is done, the legitimacy of an election is sorted out.

There is a political and legal labyrinth of rule and time bound processes in between an election proclamation and the assumption of office by the elected winners after they take their oath of office.

Those processes must be adopted in advance, and once they are discharged or exhausted one way or the other, within the given rules and timelines, the legitimacy of an election is decided and settled.

The idea or claim that the issue of legitimacy is multifaceted and thus capable of multiple types or forms or meanings of legitimacy that can be as many as they are people raising or asserting them, is wrong and inimical to the essence and purpose of an election as a rule and time bound political process which is a legal event that comes and goes within a fixed timeline.

As such, the legitimacy of an election is only and necessarily contested and decided in the courts of law, strictly within the rule and time bound legal event.

After an election, the spotlight necessary shifts to the decisions and actions of the elected public officials, which are about fulfilling electoral pledges or policy choices within the confines of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the laws of the land; on the back of Zimbabwe’s founding values and principles enshrined in section 3 of the Constitution.

In this regard, that the decisions and actions of the elected public officials can and in fact always raise policy, political, economic, social, religious, cultural, traditional or other questions that affect the lives and livelihoods of the people, which questions may delegitimatise elected public officials; that process is not about elections but about "good governance" and matters related thereto.

From the standpoint of electoral legitimacy, although they’re of course related and while they impact one another, the holy grail of international best electoral practices or standards is that the legitimacy of an election should not be conflated or confused with the legitimacy of governance - which comes after the election - in terms of whether it is good or bad or whatever!