Monday 27 June 2016

There will be no reforms before 2018 elections, admits Biti - enough to finally open voters' eyes. By Nomusa Garikai


Tendai Biti admits the opposition parties are not going to get any meaningful reforms implemented before the next elections. The interesting question is the admission enough to open Zimbabwe’s naive and gullible electorate’s eyes to finally see MDC leaders for what they really are – useless, corrupt and incompetent to the man and woman?

 

“The biggest crisis facing this economy is a breakdown of trust, a breakdown of the social contract — people don't trust in the government, people don't trust and believe in President Robert Mugabe, people don't trust and believe in Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and people don't trust and believe in Zanu-PF,” Tendai Biti told DailyNews senior assistant editor Guthrie Munyuki.

“So, more than anything else, what has collapsed is confidence. There is a kwashiorkor of confidence in the national psyche, in the international psyche and we find ourselves in this deep structural problem. And part of the structural problem which we are facing is that we are not producing.”

 

It is easy to see why the ordinary people have lost all confidence in President Mugabe and Zanu PF; they are the ones responsible for the country’s economic meltdown that has seen unemployment soar to new world record of 90% plus and force 76% of the people into a life of abject poverty and hopelessness.

 

If the truth be told, it is an absolute necessity that it is said because it is necessary in our search for a way out of this mess that we deal with the truth as the only currency, the nation with not have President Mugabe and Zanu PF still in government if MDC leaders including Mr Tendai Biti had not betrayed the people.

 

The people lost their confidence in Zanu PF years ago but they have failed to remove them from office because the regime rigs elections and it has even murdered many people just to stay in power. However in there desperate effort to end the economic hardship and brutal oppression by the regime the people have risked life and limp to get meaningful democratic changes to ensure there are free and fair elections the pre-requisite for good and accountable government.

 

The country’s best chances to implement the reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship were, by far, during the GNU. President Mugabe committed himself to the democratic reforms by signing the 2008 GPA. SADC heads of State, as the guarantor of the GPA, wanted to see the reforms implement and end the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe which was causing so much suffering to the people of Zimbabwe and cause so much social upheaval in the whole region. MDC leaders were tasked to implement the reforms and in five years failed to implement even one reform.

 

It was MDC’s failure to implement even one reform that allowed President Mugabe to rig the 2013 elections and remain in power to cause the economic and political chaos the nation is experiencing today.

 

Mr Biti is right to say the international community has lost confidence in President Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs but that is only half the story. The international community particularly SADC leaders have lost all confidence in the MDC leaders because they failed to implement any reforms.

 

Yes many Zimbabweans have lost confidence in President Mugabe and his cronies but only some of the people have lost confidence in MDC leaders but that is so because they have never understood what happen during the GNU and even with the benefit of hindsight they still fail to understand that MDC betrayed the nation and sold-out to President Mugabe on reforms.

 

MDC leaders “were too busy enjoying being in the GNU they forgot why they were there,” remark SADC leaders in sheer frustration.

 

The truth is that the Zimbabwe electorate are so naïve and gullible they not only elected President Mugabe, an incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant, it too them twenty or so for them to finally see him for the tyrant he is. They rejected Mugabe to embrace Tsvangirai et al and regardless of the mountain of evidence of the latter being corrupt and incompetent the people still continue to follow Tsvangirai, Biti, Ncube, blindly like sheep.

 

Whilst it is true that President Mugabe is responsible for landing us into the political and economic mess we are in today the ultimate responsibility is ours, in that we are the ones who have paid the heavy price for the mess paid in lost treasure, human suffering and even human lives. We were naive and gullible and thus failed to see him for the corrupt and murderous tyrant he is. Just as ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law; being naïve and gullible is no excuse for electing a tyrant.

 

Similarly whilst it is true that MDC leaders are response for all the wasted opportunities to get us out of this political and economic hell-hole. However ultimately it is once again ours, the electorate, who paid dearly for it and must should the final responsibility for wasted opportunities. We are the ones who are naïve and gullible to elected the corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders.

 

As long as we have a naïve and gullible electorate so slow to learn it took nearly twenty years for most of them to finally see a corrupt and murderous tyrant like President Mugabe, although by the end of the first five years he had already murdered over 20 000 in the Gukurahundi massacres, it is hard to see how we will ever get out of the hell-hole we now find ourselves stuck in. We are still counting on MDC leaders like Tsvangirai and Biti to implement the reforms and get us out and yet they have failed to do so already when the task was a lot easier during the GNU.


“I don't think so,” admitted Biti when he was asked if the reforms will be implemented before the next elections. “Not with Zanu-PF. I don't see Zanu-PF reforming itself out of power. There is no class that commits suicide and there is no elite that commits suicide.

“So we have to push for reforms, we have to demand reforms and that is why one of the fundamental imperators (is) that the opposition has to get together now so that it can begin with one voice, to push for these reforms.”

 

MDC wasted the five years of the GNU and failed to get even one reform implemented; history is repeating itself, they will not implement even one reform before the next elections. Will that be enough to finally convince the naïve and gullible Zimbabwe electorate that MDC leaders like Tsvangirai and Biti are corrupt and incompetent? My money is on a 5 to 10% shift at best; as I said they are very slow learners!

9 comments:

  1. Zimbabwe had another nationwide power cut this morning following “a system disturbance at Insuka-mini”, a ZESA official said.

    Here we go again; if it is not cash shortage, it is power cut, water cut, not paid wages, etc. being imposed on the long term problems of unemployment, bad roads, bad health and education facilities, etc.

    As a nation we have shied away from accepting that the political system Zanu PF imposed on the nation is not working and therefore must be changed. The longer we keep fooling ourselves in thinking we can keep the system and things will change for the better the deeper and deeper we are going to sink into this political and economic hell.

    Tyrants like Mugabe will never give up power no matter how much suffering they have inflicted on the nation because they really do not care about the people and if cornered they always have one hundred and one excuses for the mess and suffering. Mugabe has admitted his regime looted $15 billion of diamond revenue, a few weeks later he was back on his well-worn out lines blaming the sanctions for the nation's economic woes. He did not bother to consider what the economic consequences of looting $15 billion are to a nation whose GDP is $14 billion!

    ReplyDelete
  2. “The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau remains compromised person as she remains holding another critical position as the secretary of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) putting doubt on her impartiality in ensuring that next elections in Zimbabwe are credible,” wrote Chikwinya.

    “As Zimbabweans push for new electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 elections, the People's Demo-cratic Party (PDP) position is that Justice Makarau is heavily compromised as she continues to occupy to critical positions at ZEC and JSC.”

    Settlement Chikwinya do you really believe is Mai Makarau gave up her JSC position the nation will have the free, fair and credible elections we all been fighting for? You really do not have a clue what is required here for us to have free and fair elections and yet you are PDP's Secretary for Elections!

    ReplyDelete
  3. President Mugabe flies to Botswana for SADC meeting leaving Zimbabwe to burn.

    Yes Zimbabwe is burning and President Mugabe can pretend not to notice that has not put out the fire which has now spread to every sector of the economy. In the end he will accept he has failed and there will be regime change!

    He can sneak back to Singapore and pretend it was on route back to Zimbabwe as he did last time he went to SA. It does not matter when he comes back the country will still be burning! Until there is regime change the country will burn but if he thinks this can go on for much longer then I can tell him he is wrong because this fire will burn him and his tyrannical regime first before it burns out everyone else!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, why am I not surprised to hear the opposition admit they will never get any meaningful re-forms implement now or ever. There those who have said again and again that the opposition is corrupt and incompetent and this failure prove once again that they are indeed corrupt and incompetent.

    It was infinitely easier to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU because Zanu PF had its hands tied behind its back by the GPA and SADC, the guarantor of the GPA, genuinely wanted the reforms implemented. MDC wasted the opportunity and the task of implementing the reforms has been a lot tougher because Zanu PF has more than two thirds majority in parliament and SADC has since washed its hands of the Zimbabwe crisis. Having said that, whilst the task is difficult it is nonetheless not impossible.

    The country's worsening economic meltdown has put Zanu PF under a great deal of pressure and the opposition has failed to exploit this situation by pointing out to Zanu PF and the nation at large that the only way out of the economic mess is by implementing the reforms and then holding free and fair elections.

    Implementing the democratic reforms is the single most important set task this nation has had on the national agenda since the beginning of this century. We have had many golden opportunities, with the best being during the GNU, to get the job done but have wasted them all. The country's economic meltdown and political chaos with the resultant economic disaster of 90% unemployment rate, 76% living in abject poverty, etc. are all the result of our failure to implement reforms so we can end the scourge of rigged elections and corrupt and incompetent leaders getting into government. Worse still, we are not going to get out of this hell until we have free and fair elections - the pre-requisite of competent and accountable government.

    Our failure to implement the democratic reforms is the biggest obstacle to national development and root cause of human misery and many are now paying the price with their very lives. By the same token implementing the reforms is the single greatest achievement of this generation, if it can be done. It can be done, it must be done and it will be done!

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ Dennies Dube

    It is the sad and tragic reality that many Zimbabweans have never understood the process of implementing the reforms during the GNU, myself included, and hence we failed to push MDC leaders to get the job done. I too, like you, believed Morgan Tsvangira in that the 2013 would deliver free and fair elections.

    When Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections the whole MDC strategy and lies began to unravel. Zanu PF has already implemented 159 out of the 200 laws to bring them into line with the new constitution. These realignment are not going to deliver free and fair elections because the new constitution itself is too weak and feeble to do so and hence the reason why the nation has had to revert back to the democratic reforms proposed in the 2008 GPA.

    The process of implement the GPA reforms including the security sector reforms is as follows:

    a) an MP(s) table in parliament proposed democratic reforms of the security sector for the house to debate and approve (MDC had the majority in parliament so they should not have had many problems getting the proposals through the house, but even if that had happened then MDC only had to take this up with SADC as the guarantor of the GPA)

    b) approved proposals would then be handed to President Mugabe for his signiture. ( If he refused to sign the approved proposal MDC were free to take this up with SADC)

    c) parliament would then implement the approved and signed off proposals and thus trans-form the Police, media or whatever into a truly democratic institution ready to play its role in a democratic Zimbabwe.
    If you had been paying attention then you should have learnt by now that MDC failed to table even one proposed reform. MDC leaders "were busy enjoying themselves in the GNU they forgot why they were there" as SADC leader said in sheer frustration.
    You failed to realize what was going on during the GNU, you have learnt nothing since, you have continued to support the same corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders to this day and, worst of all you have the chutzpah to call a well reasoned and logical argument "crap"! If it was possible, you would have to wash your mouth and empty head with bleach!
    As long as we have brainless people like you with the right to vote the country has no chance of ever getting out of the hell we are now in because you will vote corrupt and incompetent individuals back into power even those who have a proven track record of failure like Tsvangirai and Biti. Empty heads like you never learn!

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ Nhlanhla

    The solution is not for Garikai to say elect X, he/she is a quick learner and you and the rest of the electorate then vote for X like zombies. The soultion is for electorate to understand why Tsvangirai is corrupt and incompetent and then use the knowledge in future to separate the wheat from the chuff in electing future leaders. This is why they say knowledge is power and ignorance is a curse.



    When you have an electorate that is so naive and gullible they will elect the same village idiot like Mugabe or Tsvangirai again and again then you know you are a cursed nation! We are a cursed nation alright!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @ Obert

    The whole thrust of Tendai Biti's admission is that the opposition has failed to implement any reforms and therefore Zanu PF will be free to blatantly rig the 2018 elections just as they did in 2013 elections. You and millions other Zimbabweans out there who set out to give Tsvang-irai the x in 2013 were denied the chance to do so and will be denied the chance to do so again in 2018.

    With no reform implemented Zanu PF will blatantly rig the 2018 elections; what part of "bla-tantly rig the 2018 elections" do you not understand for Pete's sake!

    Tsvangirai had the best chance to implement the reforms during the GNU, the village idiot failed to get even one reform implemented. Since 2013 he has said he will get the reforms implemented and clearly he has failed to do so. You still maintain he "is the best option"? When you see someone following blindly a certified village idiot you can be certain you have two certified village idiots, as for which is worse is a matter of indifference!
    Sure Obert, you will have your chance to for your hero Tsvangirai just as you did in 2013. No doubt Tsvangirai will tell you the 2018 elections will not be rigged only to admit they were rigged soon thereafter! Obert and millions of other MDC supporters missed nothing in 2013 and they will miss nothing in 2018; that is the advantage of being stupid you do not under-stand anything and therefore nothing ever goes wrong. Absolutely nothing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Minister Kasukuwere says Mai Mujuru loot the $15 billion in diamond revenue and she will be arrested.
    There is no doubt that Mai Mujuru and her last husband are corrupt; one has only to look at the two's amassed wealth to know they could not have got it legally since they are no Bill Gates, David Beckham or Madona!

    The thing is it is not only the Mujurus who are corrupt, of course, everyone in Zanu PF has benefited from the looting, some more than others, some have been careful to cover their tracks whilst others like the Mujurus have not been so smart.

    When President Mugabe said $15 billion in Marange diamond revenue was missing he clearly had the details of the looting and he would have known some of the details for years and producing it now to blackmail his political opponents. The whole of the $15 billion would be what a select few of his political opponents would have stolen. It is therefore not surprising that Mai Mujuru is now being blame for looting the $15 billion!

    President Mugabe spent billions of dollars in the 2013 elections; he has never said where he got the money from but we can all guess where!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yeah Tendai Biti is admitting the opposition will not get any meaningful reforms implement-ed before the 2018 elections but his party will be contesting the elections just as they did in 2013. By noon of 31 July 2013, election day, MDC were admitting the election were rigged as they say voters being bussed in to vote, mainly MDC voters being denied the vote because their names were deliberately posted into another constituent voters roll, etc. No doubt the same will happen again in 2018 and Biti and friends will, once again complained that the election was rigged.

    President Mugabe is smart enough to know that he should not have a clean sweep, so he will allow the opposition to win some seats just to keep them interested. The opposition know the 2018 elections will be rigged they are still going to take part and fight amongst themselves for the scraps Zanu PF will throw at them.

    The settled political system in Zimbabwe therefore is that Zanu PF will rigged the elections denying the ordinary people a meaningful say in the governance of the country. The opposi-tion will help Zanu PF maintain this status quo by assuring the people that they are doing something to ensure free and fair elections in future and yet do nothing. Zanu PF will reward the opposition parties by granting them a few seats on the gravy train.

    If the democratic reforms are ever going to be implemented then it is not just Zanu PF one has to deal with here but the conniving opposition parties who are just as determined to main-tain the dictatorship as Zanu PF itself. Indeed the toughest fight is with the opposition parties who are now at the forefront of brainwashing the electorate with their routine of promising to deliver democratic change and then blame Zanu PF for their own failures.

    ReplyDelete