Death wish is “a desire for self-destruction, often
accompanied by feelings of depression, hopelessness, and self-reproach. A
suicidal urge that presumably drives certain people to put themselves consistently
into dangerous situations.” When it comes to elections some Zimbabweans have
death wish; they will take part in the elections no matter how flawed and
illegal the process gets; the more evidence they are presented that the
elections are being blatantly rigged the more determined they are to
participate.
The 2008 Zimbabwe elections were historic in that Zanu PF
was forced to expose the sickening depth of depravity the party would sink to
retain political power. In the March vote ZEC withheld the election result for some
staggering six weeks whilst Tsvangirai’s 73%, according to Mugabe’s own
inadvertent admission later, was whittled down to 47% to force the run-off.
During the run-off Zanu PF deployed party thugs, war
veterans, Police, Army and CIO to destroy property, harass, beat, rape and even
murder innocent civilians; punishment for having rejected Mugabe and Zanu PF in
the earlier vote. “What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the
ballot!” boasted Mugabe, encouraging his thugs.
“Zanu PF has declared war on the people!” complained Morgan
Tsvangirai as he announced his withdrawal from the run-off. That did not stop Mugabe
claiming an 84% landslide victory. It was a Cadmean victory in that no one else
would recognise him as the victor.
The cheating and wanton violence that year were so blatant
and barbaric not even SADC or AU, known for turning a blind eye to Zanu PF vote
rigging activities in the past, could do so in 2008. Mugabe and Zanu PF were
forced to agree to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed
to stop the Zanu PF cheating, vote rigging and violence. A GNU, comprising Zanu
PF plus the two MDC factions, was tasked to implement the reforms and hold
fresh elections.
Sadly, not even one reform was implemented at the end of the
five years of GNU. Not one!
SADC leaders wanted the 2013 elections to be postponed until
reforms are in place. “If you go into next month’s elections, you will lose;
the elections are done!” they warned Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. The
warning fell on deaf ears. They had a death wish to contest no matter what and
it was brought on by greed!
“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 (2013)
elections,” explained Senator David Coltart in his book.
“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.”
Three of the main MDC factions have since come together to
form the MDC Alliance but only to contest this year’s elections even thou not
even one reform was implemented since the last rigged elections. The promise of
winning those few gravy train seats has turned them deaf and blind. Worse
still, even ordinary Zimbabweans one would expect to be rational are coming up
with all manner of foolishness to justify why the flawed and illegal elections should
go ahead, to justify their death wish.
“I am worried about the current tension over unresolved
electoral issues, especially around the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
that can deem the elections free and fair such as the voters roll, printing of
the ballot paper, the impartiality of the media and other preconditions for
free and fair elections,” explained Dr Ibbo Mandaza in an interview with
Standard reporter, Everson Mushava.
“Opposition political parties and foreign observer missions I have met have been raising those issues.
“Americans have so far sent three delegations including senators, International Republican Institute and Council on Foreign Relations, the European Union delegation is in town interviewing people, we have the African Union, Comesa — all of them are raising the issue of the incomplete manner in which the elections are being prepared by ZEC.
“Opposition political parties and foreign observer missions I have met have been raising those issues.
“Americans have so far sent three delegations including senators, International Republican Institute and Council on Foreign Relations, the European Union delegation is in town interviewing people, we have the African Union, Comesa — all of them are raising the issue of the incomplete manner in which the elections are being prepared by ZEC.
“With three or four weeks to go, we wonder whether these pre-conditions will be fulfilled.”
The follow up question from Mushava was the surprise. “Opposition parties have been accusing Zanu-PF of trying to rig the forthcoming elections. Do you think rigging will be possible this time around?”
What a foolish question! You just been told that there is no
clean and verified voters, no free public media, etc. – conditions for free,
fair and credible elections – and that with only four weeks left to voting day
there is no hope of any of these conditions being fulfilled. So if the
conditions for free and fair elections are not met surely it is impossible to
see how anyone can stop Zanu PF rigging these elections.
Whilst outsiders like the Americans, AU, etc. are rightly
concerned that ZEC has failed to produce a clean and verified voters’ roll,
etc. it is shocking that it is Zimbabweans who are either too stupid to notice
all these serious vote-rigging irregularities or too stupid to appreciate their
importance in ensuring free and fair elections.
Albert Einstein, the great Physicist, once said “Insanity is
the doing one thing again and again expecting a different result!”
After 38 years of rigged elections, there are some
Zimbabweans out there who know Zanu PF is rigging the elections but they will
still want to participate hoping that the party will rig the vote and, this
once, lose the elections. MDC leaders like Chamisa’s flawed elections death
wish is fuelled by greed the ordinary Zimbabwean’s death wish is fuelled by
insanity!
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because for
38 years now the nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical
regime that rigged elections to stay in power. By participating in the rigged
elections, we are the ones giving the flawed process the modicum of political
credibility, as Coltart rightly acknowledge above.
President Mnangagwa and his junta are the ones who masterminded
and ruthlessly implemented the 2008 vote rigging operations. Since last
November’s coup, the junta has pointedly refused to implement even one
democratic reform before holding these elections. Not one! There is no free
public media, no clean and verified voters’ roll, etc. To therefore ask if the
junta is going to rig these elections is as foolish as asking whether the
crocodile eat meat!
It is one thing for the wildebeest to risk its life crossing
a crocodile infested river in their annual migration to better grazing it is
disconcerting when human beings start behaving with wildebeest. How many more
rigged elections will it take before some people finally accept the futility of
contesting flawed elections!
@ Cosmas
ReplyDeleteDr Mandaza accepts that Zanu PF has failed to meet the pre-condition for free and fair elections and thus the party is rigging these elections. How does one expect Mnangagwa to rig the vote and lose the elections! This is just a fallacious arguement!
Dr Mandaza had just told Mushava "I am worried about the current tension over unresolved electoral issues, especially around the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) that can deem the elections free and fair such as the voters roll, printing of the ballot paper, the impartiality of the media and other preconditions for free and fair elections.
ReplyDelete"Opposition political parties and foreign observer missions I have met have been raising those issues."
How is it then possible that Mushava would ask whether Zanu PF was going to rig the elections? If the pre-conditions are not in place that goes without saying, surely!
Mushava is just typical of many Zimbabweans out there, it does not matter how much evidence one brings before them that Zanu PF is rigging these elections they will still participate in the flawed and illegal elections regardless!
Zanu PF has promised to hold free, fair and credible elections and it is increasingly obvious the regime is not going to honour its promise. It is therefore ironic that Zimbabweans should be fighting for this basic right and Ambassador Laing should be encouraging Zanu PF deny the people even more rights!
ReplyDeleteThe British are running a real risk of finding themselves on the wrong side of history!
"There is no water, council has failed to collect refuse and there is no sewer reticulation, but daily, they come knocking on your doors demanding payment for things they have failed to deliver. That must stop forthwith," VP Chiwenga said.
ReplyDeleteWith unemployment at a nauseating 90% plus more people are not paying their council bills because they have no money. Who is responsible for the country's economic meltdown? Zanu PF!
Mushava is not alone, there are millions of Zimbabweans out there who are stuck in this fixation that the elections must go ahead and they must play their assigned role, go there are vote. They can see with their own eyes that the elections are being rigged but even the thought of boycotting the elections is such a quantum leap they simply incapable of making such a leap.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy for the Americans or anyone else who truly believe the right to free, fair and credible elections is a God given right worth fighting for to people like Mushava it is clearly not a right but a privilege that those in power can deny if they so wish. The very fact that ED is allowing the elections with very little violence this year is something Zimbabwean must be grateful for. To be demanding a free public media, a clean and verified voters' roll, etc., etc. is to ask for too much, in their view.
When you have a nation with such rock bottom expectations it is easy to see why tyrants, dictators and even village idiots have enjoyed absolute power riding roughshod over the people's freedoms, human rights, hopes and dreams!
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) spokesperson Douglas Mahiya said war veterans had fought fiercely for the removal of Mugabe only for the door to be slammed shut in their face just when they thought their worries were over.
ReplyDelete"Others feared the mad dogs of the Mugabe regime and decided to bootlick the corrupt, cruel and money mongering counter revolutionary the former president and those of his inner circle had become.
"It was until the 18th of November 2017 that a successful invitation of all Zimbabwean stakeholders to gather at Zimbabwe grounds... A record over 2,8 million people took the heed of the war veterans of the liberation who led and ignited the light of the new dispensation."
The trouble with idiots like Mahiya is that he has a very selective memory. Zimbabwe's economic meltdown did not happen in the last three or four years of Mugabe's rule but started way back in the 1980. The nation was unable to remove Mugabe and Zanu PF from office because the regime rigged elections. People like Mahiya have played a leading role in the establishment and retention of this de facto one-party dictatorship.
The one-party dictatorship was doomed to fail because those in power will be enjoying absolute power and absolute power corrupts. By the mid 1980s the Zimbabwe economy started to flag but idiots like Mahiya refused to see that the one-party dictatorship they had created was the problem. He and his rogue war veterans friend only started turning against Mugabe when the economic meltdown started affecting them big time!
Mahiya is still failing to see that the Zanu PF dictatorship will never delivery economic prosperity hence the believe that the removal of Mugabe would lift him and his lot out of poverty.
Mahiya, you are the counter revolutionary; why do you believe you and your fellow war veterans are the stockholders of Zimbabwe, with a veto, whilst the rest of the people are stakeholders with a vote. Idiots like you have held this nation to ransom for the last 38 years we cannot allow this nonsense to continue for even one more day.
It was former USA Ambassador Chris Dell who said of Tsvangirai that he "was a flawed and indecisive character." The Ambassador was right and, sadly for Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai was not the only MDC leaders who was useless.
ReplyDelete"We have more freedom than at any time since the Rhodesian government clamped down on the nationalists and detained most of them in 1964. The repressive laws adopted at that time were never dismantled by ... Mugabe who then used them to repress all opposition in his efforts to establish a one-party State," Cross wrote on his blog.
"… We do not have to ask the police for permission to meet, we do not feel that we are being watched or followed when we go about our business, the sense of repression and fear has almost dissipated. It's a process that has not been formalised (and it's not permanent until it is) but it's real and even our visitors from abroad feel the difference when they enter the country."
Mr Cross has failed to realise that President Mnangagwa has stubbornly refused to implement the raft of democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. The challenge before this nation is to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and not be fooled by removal of Police road blocks and other temporary improvements that can be reinstated overnight unless we secure the reforms. With such a naïve leadership it is easy to see why MDC leaders were easily fooled during the GNU and failed to get even one reform implemented in five years of the GNU.