Tuesday 2 February 2016

MDC finally admit "free and fair elections" are essential but have clearly given up securing them now! By Wilbert Mukori


Zimbabwe has paid dearly for having had a breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent MDC during the GNU; they failed to get even one GPA democratic reform implemented in the five years of the GNU. But because MDC is the country’s only opposition voice after the rigged 2013, we are yet to suffer another five years of their plundering incompetence.

 

“The people of Zimbabwe deserve to be governed by a government of their own choice; freely and fairly elected into power in an electoral contest that passes the test of legitimacy. Nothing short of this will be acceptable,” wrote MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu.

 

A case of the spirit is willing but the brain is weak; the party appreciates that free and fair elections are absolutely vital in if we are ever to get out of this political and economic mess which is getting worse and worse, day by day. However, our chance of getting the critical reforms necessary for free and fair elections finally implemented before the next elections is slowly but surely disappearing too.

After failing to get even one reform implemented before the 2013 elections because they thought they would still win the election regardless of whatever Zanu PF’s vote rigging “shenanigans”, Tsvangirai said. If the truth be told it was because MDC leaders are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent and the events are proving that is indeed the case.

MDC tell they now appreciate the need for ensuring the next elections are free and fair and yet, now half way through the five years before the next elections, they have still done nothing to ensure the next elections are indeed free and fair. There two main reasons why they have done nothing and, unless they make a complete U-turn, nothing will ever be done:

  1. MDC do not have a clue what reforms must be implemented to ensure the next elections are free and fair.

 

MDC-T have come up with a list of electoral law reforms they say must be implemented, these are amendments to the existing laws to bring them into line with the demands of the new constitution adopted in March 2013.

 

“Voter registration has to be conducted continuously,” wrote Obert Gutu in his latest article. “Thus, there is also need to amend Section 17A of the Electoral Act. ZEC must take active steps to ensure that all eligible voters are registered as voters by making voter registration processes freely available throughout the country. Section 155(2) of the Constitution obliges the State to ensure that all eligible citizens are registered as voters.”

 

Another thing MDC have also been calling for is the updating of the country’s voting system to use the more technically advance biometric system so instead of a voter having to produce the ID to confirm they are who they say they are system will match their unique finger print and eye pupil details with those on the system captured when the register as voters. The Zanu PF has already secured the funding from UNDP to buy the system, so this is in the bag.

 

For example, in the 2013 elections NIKUV, the Israeli company, deliberately posting individual voter’s data to other constituencies instead of the ones the individual expected. Nearly a million voters failed to cast their vote on election-day. As long as Mugabe is still able to Zanu PF loyalists in ZEC, in the Police, Judiciary, Registrar General’s Office, etc. which he is because there are electoral law reforms seeking to stop him doing so; then is nothing to stop NIKUV doing exactly the same with the biometric data.

 

The 2008 GPA listed a raft of democratic reforms aimed at breaking the undemocratic hold Mugabe and Zanu PF has over ZEC, the Police, etc. to ensure their independence complete with the democratic checks and balance so they are able to carry out their set tasks delivering free and fair elections.

 

So insisting on a new biometric voting system but failing to ensure there is an independent ZEC to stop NIKUV corrupting the voters roll, for example, it down right stupid! 

 

  1. What must be done and by whom to implement the reforms.

 

Let us assume for the sake of the argument that MDC-T’s reforms are the right reforms and, if implemented, will finally deliver the free, fair and credible elections we are all after and “nothing short of this is acceptable,” as Gutu said. Would anyone in their right mind expect a tyrant like Mugabe to implement those reforms just because Tsvangirai and a handful of other opposition party have asked him to in a document called National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA)? Of course not!

 

SADC told Mugabe in no uncertain terms that they will never grant him political legitimacy he signed the GPA agreeing to implement the democratic reforms designed to deliver free, fair and credible election regardless of the political reality this would be political suicide to Mugabe as everyone knows he would never win such elections. SADC did not expect Mugabe to implement the reform, the expected MDC to do this.

 

Mugabe wielded a lot of political power in the GNU and SADC knew he would throw the spanners in the reform implementation process at every turn and that is why SADC were to remained the guarantor of the GPA throughout the GNU with the power to force Mugabe to honour the agreement.

 

Mugabe had his hands tied behind his back during the GNU and so it was a lot easier to have implemented the GPA reforms then. Now with the GPA having expired it is not easy certainly expecting Mugabe to implement shows MDC are politically naïve!

 

Actually Tsvangirai and his friends are asking Mugabe to implement the wishy-washy NERA reforms which will never deliver free and fair elections for exactly that reason - they will never ever deliver the dreaded free and fair elections and so Mugabe will never object to implementing them.

MDC for their party are not really committed to delivering free and fair elections especially now when the task in considerably harder than it was during the GNU. All they want to do is to be seen as having tried to deliver free, fair and credible elections.

MDC will take part in the next elections under the pretext that they forced Mugabe to implement some electoral reforms. If the elections are once again blatantly rigged, as is almost certain to happen with no GPA reforms implemented, Tsvangirai will kick up another dust storm complaining about how Mugabe rigged the elections just as he has always done then come up with a revised list of NERA.

MDC know that Mugabe will not want to win all the seats just as happened in 2013; even the tyrant would know that it would be prudent to have a sprinkling of opposition representation in the new government. MDC will contest the elections for the sake of these scraps Mugabe throws at the opposition.

It was taken the cream out of Tsvangirai and company to finally come to the realization that Zimbabwe needs free, fair and credible elections, sadly it was too late because the GPA, that had Mugabe’s hands tied, had expired. To expect Zimbabwe’s current opposition to confront Mugabe now and deliver free, fair and credible elections is to expect too much from these breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent individuals!

Of course they will pretend to fight for free, fair and credible elections when all they ever want now are the scraps Mugabe throws at them. 
If Zimbabweans want free, fair and credible elections then they must pressure Mugabe to accept the need to appoint an independent body that will be tasked to implement the GPA reforms to be then followed by the holding of free, fair and credible elections. This is the only way out of the political and economic hell we are now in!

6 comments:

  1. @ Mikis

    You and I know and with a bit of lucky by the end of the month ten of us will know, by end of the year 100! We should not be concerned about quantity but quality and let quantity follow. In my view, we have had too many false starts at creating a free, just and prosperous Zimbabwe because we have failed to pay attention to what we want in a leader and go out and find such a man or woman. We must now focus on quality and let quantity be an added bonus!

    "Kamoto kamberevere ndiko kanopisa matanda mberi" goes the Shona adage. (It is the stone ignore by the builders that often become the corner stone!

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  2. Mugabe rigged the 2008 elections and not even one of his AU friends could turn a blind eye to that. It was only because of Tsvangirai's stupidity that no reforms were implemented and thus allowed Mugabe to stage a come back. The AU has been a club of rogues but Mugabe makes many of them uneasy, they are tired of his in your face approach.

    Africa is fighting for two permanent seats on the UN Security Council but, trust me, the thought of having Mugabe hold such a seat frightens even his fellow African leaders!

    How does not know what a mess Mugabe has made of the Zimbabwe economy? He has become the example the continent's critics have ever wished for.

    Mugabe should hold free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe if he is loved by Zimbabweans as you claim? Many African leaders will be pleased to see the back of Mugabe, the tyrant talks too much and most of it is just empty rhetoric designed to seek attention and nothing more! After 36 years people do get sick and tired of it!

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  3. The Zimbabwean people's failure to take a serious look at what happened during the GNU and then what is happening now, especially those people with access to information is the nation's weakest link. A nation's greatest strength or weakness is its people; when the people are smart, hard, working and responsible the nation thrives, when the people are lazy and ir-responsible the nation's trouble are many!

    Tsvangirai's admission that MDC had not implemented any reforms because they thought they had the numbers and Zanu PF vote rigging would not overwhelm them is as valid as a rapist asking that he should be pardoned because he thought they would be no witnesses to his crime! There is no doubt that President Mugabe had done his homework in laying before MDC leaders a gravy train lifestyle they much to they liking and added the $4 million man-sion for Tsvangirai to seal the deal. MDC knew implementing the reforms would have been to disappoint Mugabe and a clear sign of lack of appreciation for his generosity.

    MDC leaders were busy "enjoying themselves they forgot why they were in the GNU" charged SADC leaders in sheer frustration at their failure to get MDC to implement even one reform in five years.

    Tsvangirai and company's failure to implement any reform is no more excusable than Joice Mujuru's failure to stop Zanu PF corruption and oppression in 34 years in power. Both leaders expect their past to be lost in the past and forgotten because they are counting on the people, being lazy and irresponsible, to have very short memories.

    MDC leaders know that NERA reforms are total ineffective to deliver free and fair elections that is clear obvious. They have continued to advocate for them just to be seen as doing something and confident no one would be the wiser the reforms are useless.

    The task here is clear then; we must make sure the people know they are being taken for complete idiots by being promised that the NERA will help in any way to secure their right to free, fair and credible elections. If the people still decide to go along with the lie, they will soon know for themselves come the elections, this time unlike 2013 they were warned well in advance!

    MDC must NOT be allowed to get away with the lie that NERA will deliver free, fair and credible elections.

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  4. Last time nearly a million people failed to cast their vote because their names had been posted to other polling stations other than the one they expected. There is nothing in the new BVS to stop NIKUV doing this again. The main reason why Zanu PF was able to blatantly rig the last elections was not because our voting system was out of date or most of the other point MDC is asking to be address in its electoral law reforms but with the fact that Zanu PF had its operatives controlling every aspect of the electoral system.

    MDC are asking Zanu PF to implement the electoral law reforms because they know these will have little or no effect in stopping Zanu PF rigging the elections hence Zanu PF will accept implementing them. Here is a party that failed to get even one reform implemented during the GNU, they pretended that the new constitution was enough. They were warned repeatedly that the new constitution was weak, will not be enough, they must implement the reforms too to deliver free and fair elections but they refuse to listen.
    Today MDC have again chosen to implement the electoral laws because they are easy but again they have been warned these are “inadequate and incomplete” implement the GPA reforms to get free and fair elections but again they are refusing to listen.
    MDC are like the lazy farmer who plants his seed in the sand soil up on the ridge because the soil is easy to work on although he has been warned repeatedly to have a good harvest he must plant in the clay soil in the valley. The lazy farmer will complain of poor rains just as MDC complains of rigged elections but no one listens because both were warned this would happen but would not listen!

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  5. Tsvangirai threatens to instruct his followers to invade food depots after being deny food aid in the partisan food distribution.

    It is sad that this country is still suffering under the yoke of a incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical regime but Tsvangirai must not be allowed off the hook for he has played a major role in this. We would not have this tyrant ruining our lives if Tsvangirai had implemented the reforms MDC was tasked to during the GNU.

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  6. If you really think the Zimbabwe we want can be achieved by implementing the electoral reforms alone then you are just wasting the nation's time. You have yourself admitted that Zanu PF will never implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections and yet you accept the electoral reforms because they will not deliver free and fair elections.

    We need free, fair and credible elections and nothing short of that is acceptable!

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