The
biometric voting system (BVS) is not in itself going to stop the blatant vote
rigging we have seen in past elections because the system is only as good as
the people running it!
"In 2018, we will use technology to
record voters' details. The technology carries an added advantage in that it
de-duplicates multiple registrants," Justice Makarau said.
"If you try to register using different names or addresses, your biometric data – your digital photograph and fingerprints – will tell us that you are the same person.”
"If you try to register using different names or addresses, your biometric data – your digital photograph and fingerprints – will tell us that you are the same person.”
Last
time ZEC said that in 2018 voters will have their data available in one Polling
Station only and not available in any other Polling Station even for station in
the same constituency, for example. In other words, whilst a check of the
complete voters roll can remove all multiple registrants once data has been
down loaded for the individual Polling Station it is possible add the data of
the hooded Zanu PF youth we all saw being bussed from one station to the next in
2013 to vote.
In
2013 nearly one million voters were denied the vote because their data was
deliberately posting in some other constituency other than where they expected.
Of course, this was deliberate because ties nicely with why no voters roll was
never released; people would have had the mistake corrected which the
authorities did not want.
In
2018 the scope for even more being denying the vote since many voters will not
know which polling station in the constituency has their data. After queuing
for hours and then be told their data in not in the system and no one can tell
them which polling station to go to, many will just give up and go home.
The
opposition have rightly complained about the Registrar General, Tobai Mudede,
for his role in the vote rigging in the past. It was his fault that no 2013 voters
roll was ever released, for example. He was instructed not to release it and he
was therefore only following orders.
The
people in ZEC who are taking over the task of producing the new voters roll
will be subject to the same influence and control as Mudede and they too will
be expected to follow orders. It is therefore very naïve for anyone to conclude
that the removal of Mudede is a positive thing. One can always count on MDC people to be naïve
and gullible and they did not disappoint.
"One of the attractions of biometric voter registration is that we are going to have a new voters' roll. We will also, at long last, dispense with Mudede and the contentious issue of voter registration slips," commented Douglas Mwonzora, MDC-T secretary general.
"One of the attractions of biometric voter registration is that we are going to have a new voters' roll. We will also, at long last, dispense with Mudede and the contentious issue of voter registration slips," commented Douglas Mwonzora, MDC-T secretary general.
The
regime can afford to dispense with one “contentious issue” but only to
introduce five or more new and even more obnoxious ones!
The
truth is MDC-T and many of our opposition politicians have decided they will
contest next year’s election no matter how flawed and illegal the whole process
is going to be. They are going to fight over the few seats Zanu PF throws at
the opposition during national elections as former MDC Senator, David Coltart,
admitted in his book.
“The worst aspect for me about the
failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious –
withdraw from the elections,” explained Senator Coltart.
“The electoral process was so
flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would
compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the
MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would
remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
So,
as long as there are the few seats Zanu PF gives away to be won, the settled
position is that the opposition contest the election and forget the populous’
demand for free, fair and credible elections.
The
opposition will try to make their deciding to contest flawed elections sound
less selfish on their part by blowing out of all proportion the difference such
things as forming an opposition coalition will have in determining the winner.
In 2013 President Mugabe polled 62% and the opposition candidates shared 38%.
So even if a coalition had been agreed before that election and the one
opposition candidate had all the 38%, he/she will still have lost to Mugabe.
Unless something is done to stop him rigging the 2018 vote, he will rig the
vote!
Similarly,
MDC-T will be praising BVS to the high heavens because they need excuses to
justify why they will not boycott the flawed elections although it is clear
that the system is only as good as the people operating it. With no democratic
reforms in place President Mugabe will appoint people who will help him rig the
vote.
Zimbabwe’s
politicians, on both sides of the political divide, are like oxpeckers; the
bird will make a big fuss over its grooming and picking off the odd tick to
convince the buffalo the bird is providing a five-star grooming service. But as
soon as the buffalo is distracted the oxpecker will start opening up any wounds
and feast on the fresh blood!
It took most Zimbabweans 20 years or so to realise that President Mugabe will never deliver the mass prosperity, “Gutsa ruzhinji!”, he kept promising; he and his cronies are prospering but for the rest it was mass poverty. When the people tried to reject Zanu PF, the regime transformed from oxpeckers to vampire bats that feed on their victims under cover of darkness. The dirty devils even have some anaesthetic their saliva so the victim will not feel those razor-sharp teeth’s deep cuts.
It took most Zimbabweans 20 years or so to realise that President Mugabe will never deliver the mass prosperity, “Gutsa ruzhinji!”, he kept promising; he and his cronies are prospering but for the rest it was mass poverty. When the people tried to reject Zanu PF, the regime transformed from oxpeckers to vampire bats that feed on their victims under cover of darkness. The dirty devils even have some anaesthetic their saliva so the victim will not feel those razor-sharp teeth’s deep cuts.
Zanu
PF has perfected the art of concealing information on the one hand and blaming
everyone else for the country’s ills. When it comes to elections, Zanu PF has
been rigging the vote and thus frustrate the people’s desire to remove them
from office.
After
decade of life as vampire bats, Joice Mujuru and her ZimPF friends have since
grown back the oxpecker plumage and back to the oxpecker routine of promising
the buffalo five-star grooming service if they are elected back into power!
Tsvangirai
and his MDC friends too showed their true vampire bat streak when they were in
power. They were so engrossed in enjoying the trappings of power they failed to
implement even one democratic reform in their five years in the GNU. They all
swear that they are democratic and want free, fair and credible elections but
they all quickly forget all that when presented with a chance to win even those
few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives during national elections.
Whilst
MDC leaders have called for reforms and even made a party resolution of “No
reform, no elections!” This was just paying lip-service to reforms because they
have discarded the resolutions without another thought when the chance to win a
seat on the gravy train arose.
The
settled position now is that the opposition will contest the elections, never
see the “obvious” need to boycott them as Mr Coltart did, no matter how flawed
and illegal Zanu PF makes them to secure its own no-regime-change. So, the
current crop of opposition politicians will never demand the implementation of
the democratic reforms and delivery free, fair and credible elections. Never
ever!
Zanu PF thugs had heard it all before - "Wait for the starting gun!" only to find this was a ploy to give the favoured candidate a head start! When has the party ever played by the rules, even its own rules? For everyone else you could not even dream of being in the central committee of the party unless you have served for 15 years at provincial level. And yet Grace Mugabe went straight for Women League post and before she had serve even half a year in that post, she was gunning to be president!
ReplyDeleteThese Zanu PF thugs are right to start campaigning for whatever position because they know Zanu PF makes up the rules as it goes along - rules to slow down everyone else so the corrupt ones can catch up and win!
The grand coalition, even if it had materialized, was not going to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. Look at the way the regime has delayed the voter registration exercise to the 11 th hour. There is no way ZEC is going to register 7 million voters in four months and produce a verified voters' roll. So, the regime has effectively denied hundreds of thousands of potential voters from registering. Next, by making sure there is no time to verify the voters roll the regime will tamper with the voters' roll to suit its vote rigging shenanigans.
ReplyDeleteThe opposition contested the 2013 elections with no voters' roll the regime knows that they will do so again.
The 2018 elections are being rigged right before our own eyes and those insisting in taking any part are only helping Zanu PF get away with yet another rigged election by giving the process some modicum of credibility.
What we need from the word go is making sure the democratic reforms were implemented, that was the game changer. Coalition was only a distraction.
It is a great pity that ZUNDE joined the bandwagon calling for the coalition only to be disappointed. There is no doubt that ZUNDE has lost a lot of its political credibility and now has to start all over!
Thrown at the deep-end in his first trip as Foreign Affairs minister, Mzembi penned a motivational letter to under-fire WHO director-general, Tedros Ghebreyesus, persuading him to give Mugabe the ambassadorial role.
ReplyDeleteThis was after the Zimbabwean minister had learnt that the UN agency had decided to create a special NCDs office for Africa. This happened during WHO's technical meeting on NCDs where Mugabe was the only African head of State in attendance.
The host president, Tabaré Vázquez, was also in attendance.
In the letter, Mzembi described Mugabe in glorious terms.
Mugoti unopiwa anyere! Mugabe akachemera. Ndokuzopedzisira angongodza nomungoti! (The quiet one who is rewarded with tasting the food on the cooking stick. Mugabe’s strategy is to cry for it. In the WHO case he ended up being beaten with the cooking stick to shut him up!)
Contacted for comment, Mzembi said his letter to Ghebreyesus was leaked by a Zimbabwe delegation member.
"There is only one person in the delegation who got access to that motivation letter. Unless if you are not very close to that person then you can quote it, to me it's okay but certainly not to your source.
"If you proceed, you would be throwing your source under the bus," Mzembi said
It is totally unacceptable that Mzembi should want someone else to suffer for his own foolishness. Mzembi’s threat only goes to show what a ruthless thug he is!
Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has said austerity was over although there is nothing to see what the hardship had achieved. The national economy has not recovered in any meaningful way. This government has always spend more than it has collected in revenue. The country's revenue base has not grown; if anything it has shrunk.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, the Minister is saying austerity is over and yet he has done nothing to stop to remove the 2% electronic transaction charge.
This has been austerity pain with no gains! None!
Zimbabwe is stuck in this mess because the country has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections and people like Professor Ncube have again and again turned a blind eye to this national curse for selfish reason. By imposing sanctions on these sell-outs the country will finally send a clear and loud message that free, fair and credible elections are important.
Zimbabwe is desperate to end this curse of rigged elections and bad governance. ABSOLUTELY DESPERATE!
Zanu PF has failed to deliver economic prosperity, after 39 years of this misrule and with the nation dragged this deep into this hell-on-earth there is no thinking Zimbabwean who does not know that Zanu PF is behind their suffering and deaths. They also know that the nation is stuck in this hell-hole because Zanu PF rigs elections to stay in power.
ReplyDeleteYes the solution to the country's nightmare is for Zanu PF to step down so the nation can implement the reforms, end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state. The devil is in the detail - how are we going to force Zanu PF to step down.
The country had its best opportunity ever to get the reforms implemented during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends sold-out and the opportunity was wasted.
By blatantly rigging last year's elections; Zanu PF inadvertently presented the nation with an opportunity to pressure the regime to step down as most election observers condemned the elections. The worsening economic situations has help pile-on the pressure on the regime to accept change. All this effect has been undermined by none other than the country's opposition politicians; by participating in the flawed and illegal elections they have given Zanu PF so measure of legitimacy.
If we are ever going to force Zanu PF to accept the party has failed and must restore the people's rights and freedoms as a matter of cause, we must first denounce these pretentious opposition politicians who have betrayed the nation again and again. It has not been enough to identify Zanu PF as the enemy of change, we also need to identify those amongst us who are hunting with the hounds and running with the hare, especially after 20 years of MDC selling out!
“Only China is the second country to have rare earth minerals. But being rich in these minerals is the reason why we are in serious trouble with our detractors,” said Mnangagwa.
ReplyDeleteYou are the nation’s worst detractor and the real root cause of the nation’s economic meltdown. You are corrupt, incompetent and have no clue how to revive the national economy but would not admit it. You have been in power for 39 years now not because you are any good; you have rigged elections to stay in power.
The West did not rig last year’s elections, shoot dead the Zimbabweans who dare protest the vote rigging and the soaring cost of living, etc.; you did that.
The only way Zimbabwe is ever going to get out of this hell-on-earth Zanu PF has landed the nation is to force Zanu PF to step down so the nation can finally dismantle this de facto one-party dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government.
A UNITED Kingdom (UK) special envoy yesterday challenged President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government to introduce genuine economic and political reforms in order to turn around its stuttering economy.
ReplyDeleteHarriet Matthews, director for Africa in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Debbie Palmer, director for West and Southern Africa in the UK Department for International Development, yesterday delivered a special message to Mnangagwa from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Addressing journalists after meeting Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa Offices, Matthews said Harare should also urgently tackle corruption in the country.
"The government needs to implement genuine reforms, (that is) economic and political reforms. (It also needs) to address human rights issues and corruption," she said.
The situation in Zimbabwe is serious and demands decisive action. The British government has played a very useful leading role is the past and one only hopes that this will continue.
The EU’s decision to ease the sanctions imposed on the Zanu PF leaders regardless of the blatant vote rigging of last year’s elections was ill advised. One only hopes that this initiative by the British government will be followed with more robust action such as re-imposing sanctions on the regime’s leaders.
Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and no amount of reforms by the regime can ever reverse the political reality that the country is stuck with an illegitimate regime. Stepping up the punishment is what is called for now.
The only hope to have meaningful political reforms implement is for the Zanu PF regime to step down. Zimbabwe cannot afford to have Zanu PF remain in power until 2023, the party will rig that year’s elections - guaranteed!
PROMINENT pro-democracy campaigner Briggs Bomba has urged Zimbabweans to stop treating President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his MDC rival, Nelson Chamisa as demigods.
ReplyDeleteWorse still, Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess first and foremost because of 39 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule. The party has managed to stay in power all these years by rigging elections; denying ordinary Zimbabweans the freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.
We have had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and it was none other than MDC leaders who have sold-out and wasted these chances again and again. MDC leaders had the chance to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, for example. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not one!
There is a mountain of evidence to prove that both Zanu PF and MDC have betrayed the nation again and again. What is shocking here is that with all this evidence, there are still people out who not only follow these two parties sheepish but worse still treat Mnangagwa and Chamisa as demigods!
An electorate that is naive and gullible is a curse to a healthy and functional democracy and it is little wonder we have a thriving dictatorship.
Just like the 2018 elections, the subsequent by-elections have been marred by serious electoral malpractices.
ReplyDeleteRegrettably, several attempts by the MDC to engage ZEC, have not surprisingly, failed to any positive results.
Indeed, it is evident to the MDC, that both the by-elections in Tsholotsho and Wedza have not been spared.
Intimidation of voters through village heads continues.
MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms necessary to stop Zanu PF rigging elections during the GNU. They failed to implement even one reform in five years because Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and the rest is history.
MDC leaders lost their golden opportunity to implement reforms during the GNU and they know it. What is more, they know they will never implement any reforms now and they are content with cooperating with Zanu PF for whatever spoils of power they get!
MDC leaders will continue contesting these flawed elections, complain about the vote rigging but only to pay lip-service, for the purpose of few seats Zanu PF let them win.
@ Terence Simbi
ReplyDeleteToo much has already been said and done by our current political protagonist that dialogue between President Nelson Chamisa's MDC-A and President Emmerson Mnangagwa's Zanu-PF is no longer possible without an external force.
The trouble with narrow minded people like you Simbi is that you have a fixation with an idea and no amount of reason and logic can move you one inch. Zanu PF and MDC are the reason the nation is in this mess. Mnangagwa blatantly rigged last year’s elections, etc., etc. MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections; they sold out.
All these things point to one conclusion; both Zanu PF and MDC are a curse to the nation. Now why would you want the same failed leaders who landed us in this mess back in power. How sick is that!!!!!!
At the heart of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections and hence the reason we have been stuck for 39 years with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Each time Zanu PF has rigged the elections many have pretended not to notice because they did not want to deal with the immediate challenge of removing the illegitimate regime and the long term challenge of stopping the curse of rigged elections.
ReplyDeleteSo the curse of rigged elections and bad governance have remained and the nation has paid dearly for the folly. Unemployment has soared to dizzying heights of 80% plus and has remained there for 15 years plus. The country’s health care had all but collapsed years ago but was dealt the coup de grace with the firing of doctors and nurses in the last few weeks.
This cannot go on, the cup is full and overflowing; we must do something to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance and thus end the tragic economic meltdown it has caused.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down. It is only with Zanu PF off the political stage that the nation has any hope of implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
Zanu PF must step down BEFORE 2023 or the party will never implement any reforms and will go on to rig the elections that year. This cannot and must not be allowed to happen. Zanu PF must step down - that is not negotiable!
@ Dobbs Arthur
ReplyDelete“100% correct let's join People Power Movement of Zimbabwe and remove them. It is not a political party but civil rights organisations formed only to remove ZANU PF without elections or dialogue, this is being coordinated by Mr Matapo,” you argue.
It is gratifying that you and Matapo have come to the realisation that the present system has failed and are actively seeking to change it.
Still, I for one will never join this People Power Movement and will argue anyone else with ears to hear not to do the same.
“Removing Zanu PF without elections or dialogue” can only mean one thing - street protest or some such violent uprising. We have failed to remove Zanu PF from office through elections but only because we have allowed Zanu PF to rig elections. There have been many golden opportunities to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and we have wasted them all. If you do not understand how we have failed to make democracy work then you will not only seek to remove this Zanu PF autocracy to replace it with another autocracy.
Those advocating the use of violence when there is a peaceful route are not to be trusted; we are in this economic and political mess precisely because we were foolish to trust Robert Mugabe and his militant Zanu PF thugs to respect the individual freedoms and rights of all Zimbabweans. They did not!
They turned the AK47 rifles used to end white colonial oppression on the helpless civilians to impose the corrupt and tyrannical de facto one-party dictatorship we have been groaned under these last 39 years. The last thing we want is to remove the Zanu PF dictatorship but only to replace it with yet another dictatorship.
Zimbabwe does not need a violent solution to end the Zanu PF dictatorship.
If Zimbabweans out there understood how MDC sold out on reforms and then in participating in flawed elections then they will denounce Chamisa and his MDC sell-outs and make it clear the MDC no long represent the people of Zimbabwe. The people can then turn on Zanu PF and demand that the party steps down since last year’s elections were flawed and illegal.
Both Zanu PF and MDC are in power only because they are exploiting the people’s weaknesses. It is easy to rig elections when the electorate do not know what constitute free, fair and credible elections, for example. There is no excuse in this day and age why anyone should not know that there can be no meaningful national elections without something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. Zimbabwe did not have such a voters’ roll last year and yet to millions of Zimbabweans out there, it was all water off a duck’s back.
A nation that cannot hold free, fair and credible elections is, per se, not ready for democracy and good governance! In the long run, people always get the government they deserve; we deserve this Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties.
“Charova sei chando kukwidza hamba mumuti!” (It must be a bitter winter to force a tortoise up a tree!) The Zimbabwe economic meltdown is that bitter winter and even Zanu PF hardliners are now admitting the regime has failed and should step down.
ReplyDelete“Where Zimbabwe is needs something radical to pull the country off the economic arroyo we are in. It is quite evident the people at the helm have failed, will always fail, and on their own, cannot lead us out of the economic dungeon we are in,” you admit.
“Even if we have cabinet reshuffling every month, we are going nowhere. It is clear, more than ever that Zanu-PF as the governing party, or is it ruling, has failed. Sadly, the main opposition party seems contend with being opposition thus not prepared to step in and takeover.”
The tragedy here is that it has taken 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule that has reduced the nation to ruins and two years in the wilderness following the booting out of the party in the November 2017 coup to open the eyes of Zanu PF leaders like Mawarire.
It is not just ED, Chiwenga and Mohadi who must step down; it is the whole Zanu PF cabal who must go! And go they will!
The last 40 years have been "worst of times, the age of foolishness, the epoch of incredulity and the season of Darkness", as Charles Dickens would put it, for Zimbabwe. The country is in this mess because for 40 years it was stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship. The people could not remove it from office because it rigged elections, simple as.
ReplyDeleteWe, the people of Zimbabwe, buried our heads in the sand and pretended not to see the vote rigging and the bad governance.
Yesterday Strive Masiyiwa was proposing paying the doctors a living wage and here Dr Mandaza is following up with suggestion to get houses and cars for doctors. This will solve nothing since there are no nurses, no equipment, no medicine, no water, no electricity, no fuel, no cash, etc., etc. The two are just burying their heads in the sand and thus the age of foolishness continues!
Zimbabwe will not accomplish anything of substance until we deal with the elephant in the room - the rigged elections and bad governance!