Monday 5 September 2016

Zanu PF reaffirms it will never implement reforms, the only hope is NTA to do so. By Patrick Guramatunhu


The sheer stupidity of the opposition parties is at the heart of our failed political system. We still continue to have idiots like Settlement Chikwinya, PDP Secretary for Elections no less, acknowledging that the July 2013 elections were rig but would not acknowledge the pivotal role the opposition leaders played in this.

“In his interview in The Sunday Mail, (Minister Patrick) Chinamasa wants to hide the fact that the voters' roll, which was used in 2013, is not available and the opposition political parties have not had access and sight of it,” wrote Chikwinya.

Whilst this is true that Zanu PF failed to release the voters roll at least a month before the July 2013 elections as required by law and that the failure to have done this even now three years latter is outrageous. Still the important point is the failure to release the voters’ roll was just one of the many things that went wrong. It was the failure by the MDC leaders to implement any meaning democratic reforms during the GNU that allowed President Mugabe and Zanu PF to blatantly rig the 2013 elections.

“They (Opposiotion) have been quiet for three years and suddenly they now want electoral reforms and give themselves a funny name, a parastatal name like NERA. Let us be clear, for a long time since 1999, the opposition was saying the most important reform that must happen in the country is a new constitution. The current Electoral Act as it is now is a product of the Global Political Agreement parties,” said Minister Moyo, driving home the point that MDC failed to implement the reforms.

“Opposition parties are literally saying put in place electoral reforms that will ensure that you lose and we win. That will never happen anywhere in a modern constitutional democracy that a political party that has come into government on the back of negotiated electoral reforms to then come up with reforms intended to reform itself out of power.”

President Mugabe played his cards right during the GNU; he granted MDC leaders all the gravy train treaties, a $4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. and endured the humiliation of having to share power with these upstarts. He did get his reward – not even one reform was implemented in the five years of the GNU in spite SADC leaders’ repeated attempts to get MDC to do so.

It is political naivety, indeed sheer madness, to expect Zanu PF to now take up the mantle and implement the democratic reforms the party had worked so hard to make sure they never saw the light of day. Worse still, the electoral reforms these opposition parties are calling for are gimmicks that will accomplish nothing!

“The broke Zanu PF government in which Chinamasa is the Finance Minister, has not made any efforts to ensure that the biometric voters' roll (BVR) to curb vote rigging ahead of the next elections is available,” wrote Chikwinya.

“The use of biometric technology is the starting to free and fair elections as it prevents voters from voting twice and unregistered voters from voting.”

The exact opposite is in fact the case. There is no doubt that this Zanu PF regime tampered with the voters roll and had the data of individuals deliberately posted in the wrong constituency, for example, hence the reason why nearly one million voters were denied the vote in 2013 because their name was not where they expected it to be. The regime has refused to release the 2013 voters’ roll because a close scrutiny would have confirmed the tampering. Any tampering with a BVR would be even more to check even if copies are available, especially in the rural setting where few have access to computers.

The people of Zimbabwe should just forget that the next elections will be free, fair and credible because neither Zanu PF nor any of the opposition will implement the reforms necessary. The former has an invested interest in maintaining the status quo and the latter has no clue what reforms are required.

It is true that Zimbabwe will never get out of the political and economic mess it is now stuck in without free, fair and credible elections. So the only way to avoid yet another rigged election is for the people to demand the postponing of elections and formation of an independent body, National Transition Authority, which can be trusted to implement the reforms. There is no other way out!

5 comments:

  1. Zimbabweans have failed to understand the dynamics of the political process in the country; Zanu PF's political shenanigans and contempt of the common people and their suffering on the one hand. On the other hand, MDC and the opposition's breath-taking incompetence and duplicity; the opposition leaders pretend that they want to end the tyrannical oppression when in fact all they want to do is get a seat on the gravy train.

    The Zanu PF dictatorship has lasted for 36 years not because there have not been any opportunities to end by both Zanu PF member and the opposition, there were countless opportunities to do so but neither side took them because once on the gravy train their were more interested in keeping the system than dismantling it.

    If we are ever going to get the dictatorship dismantled then the people themselves must understand the reality that politicians of all sheds are benefiting from the gravy train and will never dismantle the system unless they are forced to. The challenge is for the people to realize they are being taken for a ride and for them to make it clear they will not accept any more excuses for failing to do so.

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  2. We all know about how Zanu PF has nothing but contempt for the law 95% of the time and the 5% of the time the party seemed to care about the law it is only to abuse the law to harass and punish its political opponents and critics. Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections, just because it took advantage of the corrupt and incompetent opposition does not make the vote rigging right.

    Zanu PF rigged the last elections and therefore there is nothing about the regime being the "constitutionally elected government"! Zanu PF is resisting the implementation of meaningful democratic reforms for no other reason than that it would want to rig the next elections and thus perpetuate its stay in power.
    We will have the reforms implemented and the people will finally enjoy their birth right to free, fair and credible elections; regardless of all the Zanu PF stubborn resistance to reforms.

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  3. It is Zanu PF who devised this corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship to ensure the party's iron grip on power. President Mugabe and his cronies have enjoyed absolute power for the last 36 years and their hunger for power has not diminished even in the face of the regime's catalogue of tragic failure and human misery. If anything the party's hunger for power has grown by leaps and bounds.


    The worsening economic situation has only made the party thugs even more determined than ever to hold on to power as they realized those even from among their own fellow ruling elite who have lost their powerful positions have not been spared of the ravages of growing poverty.


    It is therefore crystal clear that Zanu PF will never ever implement meaningful democratic reforms of their own convolution. The only way the reforms are going to be implemented is to force Zanu PF to accept that they have failed in the running of the economy and the nation's affairs and the only way out now is for someone to reform the failed system and give the nation a fresh start.



    Since it was Zanu PF itself who build this system and the system has save the party well it is naïve to believe they would want to dismantle it. MDC and the other opposition parties are clearly naïve because this has been the basis of their demands for electoral reforms - they asking for reforms and want Zanu PF to implement those reforms!

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  4. Zanu PF is NOT going to implement any reforms, they have said it plainly a thousand time. You cannot even make up your mind whether you will boycott the next elections or not.

    "Failure by the government to urgently address this long overdue issue will not result in UDF boycotting the elections but will seek to delay any polls that are designed to exclude citizens in the Diaspora." Says UDF Interim President Mr. Silence Chihuri.

    What a waste of time and space!

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  5. This is certainly one of the best articles I have read this year. What I like most about it is that both Violet and Brian have boldly gone where most people fear to tread - challenged what the politicians' say and even dare propose solutions of their own.


    The truth is neither Zanu PF nor the coterie of opposition parties can deliver free and fair elections - the one thing we need to get out of this mess. The former will never ever implement the required democratic reforms because the party can never win free and fair elections. The latter led by Tsvangirai are pretending they can force Zanu PF to commit suicide just because they do not want to admit they should have implemented the reforms during the GNU; they did not because they sold-out.


    The only reason many Zimbabweans still continue to put their faith in the politicians is because as a nation we have been drilled to believe that we are totally helpless on our own without the political leaders. The above interview has shaken that myth to the core!


    Politicians and political parties do not hold the monopoly on wisdom. Accepting that Mugabe, Mujuru and Tsvangirai have no answers to our present national problems, it is their greedy and stupidity that landed us into the mess, is the single most significant step this nation has to make if we are ever to get out of the mess. I am sure this article will help open some eyes!

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