Congratulation
to the people of Bikita West, you did what anyone with even half a brain would have
done – voted for the Zanu PF candidate and save yourselves from the punishment
the party would have meted to everyone in the area. The few who voted for the
opposition candidates were being foolish; spoiling the ballot was the next
option here!
Whilst
it is true that the nation is desperate for regime change after 37 years of
this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship; anyone even with half a brain
can see that. What the people of Bikita West had to ask themselves is would
voting for the opposition bring about the change? Looking at the mediocre
quality of the opposition, the honest answer must be a no!
So,
if voting for any of the opposition candidates was not going to bring about any
change; why the devil would anyone with even half a brain risk all the
punishment Zanu PF was threatening and dishing out for the last two months? There
are times one can risk life and limp for change but to do so for the sake of
electing Zim PF thug, a known Zanu PF thug who was booted out of the party,
would have been foolish.
The
people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limp for change but have been
disappointed again and again going back to the fight for independence when
Mugabe betrayed them by creating this de facto corrupt and tyrannical one-party
dictatorship. The people risked life and limp to elect MDC hoping they will end
the Zanu PF dictatorship but only to be betrayed once again.
During
the GNU MDC had the golden opportunity to bring about plate tectonics changes
on Zimbabwe’s political landscape, all they had to do was implement the raft of
democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF’s political culture of vote rigging
and using threats and wanton violence to secure electoral victory. Tsvangirai
failed to implement even one reform in the five years. Not one!
In
the 2013 elections, marking the end of the GNU, Zanu PF reverted to vote
rigging and using threats and violence and won the elections with a landslide.
In the
Bikita West by-elections Zanu PF big-wigs like Minister Hunge, Minister Mahofa and
even VP Mnangagwa were publicly and unashamedly threatening the people with starvation
and worse if they did not vote for the Zanu PF candidate! Zanu PF has carried
out these threats in the past and so only a fool would ignore them. It worked as
the results show:
Beauty
Chabaya, Zanu PF, 13 156 votes
Kudakwashe
Gopo, Zim PF 2 453 votes
Innocent
Muzvimbiri, Independent 725 votes
Madock
Chivasa, NCA 343 votes
Terrence
Tanyaradzwa Makomborero PDZ 132 votes
Heya
Shoko, proxy MDC and former MP for area 76 votes
Spoilt
ballots 247 votes
Poor
Madock Chivasa; he and his campaign manager were beaten and shot at and left
for dead by Zanu PF thugs all for the sake of a lousy 343 votes. The irony is
Zanu PF needs these foolish opposition candidates to contest these one-sided
elections to give them some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. Mugabe is
renowned for using people and then kick them in the teeth for a thank you;
Chivasa got a taste of that!
No
doubt Chivasa and his NCA friends will be contesting in the 2018 elections; Zanu
PF thugs will be waiting for them. If been beaten is what turns Chivasa and
friends on, who are we to deny them opportunity. It is deeply regrettable that many
innocent people are often caught up in the political madness. Worse still, the
political charade denies the people their vote and a real chance to end the
misrule and oppression.
The
opposition candidates in Bikita West garnered 3 577 votes, this should silence
all those who have been wittering about a united the opposition defeating Zanu
PF. Many people believe Zanu PF must have spent $4 billions bankrolling its
vote rigging schemes in 2013. The party has already started spending money for
the coming 2018 elections, it has just taken delivery of 365 new vehicles. Government
has no money for paying civil servants, medicines and other basic needs but not
for Zanu PF’s political activities! It is quite possible the party will spend
$10 billions plus for the 2018 elections!
SADC
leaders advised MDC not to contest the 2013 elections without first implementing
the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote, using threats
and wanton violence, looting of the nation’s wealth to finance party activities,
etc. Sadly, MDC ignored the advice and Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2013
elections.
SADC’s
advice not to contest the elections without implementing the reforms first is
still relevant and valid today. Not even one democratic reform has been implemented
since the rigged July 2013 elections; it goes without saying, Zanu PF will rig
the 2018 elections!
So,
faced with yet another flawed electoral process what should the people do?
The most
important thing here is for people to understand that there is no chance of
forcing Zanu PF to implement any meaningful reforms as long as there are all
these greedy opposition opportunists who will contest the elections, regardless
how flawed the process happen to be. So, the people must tell the opposition
they will never vote for them the reforms are implemented and have free, fair
and credible elections. Since the people cannot vote for Zanu PF either, they
must cast a protest vote - spoil the ballot!
Where
the threat of Zanu PF punishing the people for making a protest vote is too
high such as the rural areas, the people must vote for Zanu PF – they have no
choice!
There is no way of knowing for certain that threats to punish the people if they failed to vote for Zanu PF influenced how the people voted but there is no denying that fear has an effect. We only have to go back to the result of the March and July 2008 elections to see effects of fear. If we do not want fear to be a factor then we must implement the democratic reforms, there is no other way out.
ReplyDeleteThere are those who keep talking of uniting the opposition as if that is all we need to do, the result of Bikita West shows that as long as Zanu PF is able to use violence and other vote rigging measures the party is unbeatable!
True! But if the MDC factions decide to contest the elections as they did in 2013 Zanu PF will have cause to claim the elections were free and fair. Asking people not to go and vote then has not worked in the past because Zanu PF can just bus its supporters around and cast votes using my name and yours.
ReplyDeleteThe right to vote is the only weapon in the citizen's hands and therefore they must use it whenever they can. The vote to the citizen should be the sting to the scorpion; use it to kill prey but when attacked use it for defense. Even a elephant will learn to respect a scorpion if the sting is used cunningly!
The opposition parties who contest these flawed elections are the ones who have betrayed us and are the ones who will feel the sting of the spoilt vote the most since Zanu PF is counting on the hired votes.
The problem here is not so much that spoilt votes will have no effect but that most of the voters will never realize that the opposition sold-out!