Saturday 8 September 2018

"Elections were more open than any since 1980" says Cross - for once, answer the question asked N Garikai

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and political paralysis is the failure to remove Zanu PF from office even when it was clear the party was incompetent and corrupt. Zanu PF rigged the elections to stay in power regardless what the people wanted. The issue of whether these elections these recent elections were free, fair and credible is therefore important.

If the elections were free, fair and credible then we have cracked it, we are no longer stuck with the Zanu PF regime. On the other hand if the elections were rigged then we are still stuck with Zanu PF and those we think we should just accept the outcome and move on are failing grasp the very essence of our problem – we stuck with Zanu PF and we will never “move on” until we stop the vote rigging!

People like former MDC MP, Eddie Cross, were elected into parliament to help the nation end the de facto Zanu PF one-party dictatorship by bring about meaningful democratic changes including changes to stop the vote rigging. Instead of using his elected position to achieve these noble objectives he has done no such thing. He has often used his elevated position to bring confusion and not clarity to important national debates.

"Firstly, we have held another election, it was more open, democratic and acceptable than any other election I can recall, and I have been a player in all of them since 1980,” he wrote in his latest contribution.

Considering Zimbabwe has never held free, fair and credible elections since independence in 1980, it is quite possible that this year’s election would be “better” than past elections. But Mr Cross is not answering the question before us which is: were these elections free, fair and credible?

Mr Cross knows the answer to that can only be NO! How can the elections be judge free and fair when there was no free public media and 2 to 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote? How can the election process be credible when ZEC failed to produce verified voters’ roll and the election results show voting patterns consistent with people being bussed around and casting multiple vote?

One of the tasks Eddie Cross and his fellow MDC leaders were given during the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to draft a new democratic constitution. The document they produced was a rubbish compromise giving the people their freedoms and rights in one section but taking them all away in the next hence the reason it has failed to deliver free, fair and credible elections.

MDC leaders argue the people to approve the new constitution in the March 2013 referendum because “it was better than the current Lancaster House constitution.” A foolish argument since the task was to produce a democratic constitution and per se the nation should have rejected it because it was not what the nation wanted. But, as we can see, Mr Cross wants to use the same flawed logic to ask the nation to accept this year’s rigged elections.

“The new president (Mnangagwa), for the first time, is asking the whole country for help to secure the future and he has extended the hand of reconciliation to the opposition,” continued Mr Cross.

"I am deeply disappointed that the MDC Alliance seems to have turned its back on these initiatives and instead have continued to make the assertion that this was a ‘stolen' election and that Chamisa is the legitimate president.

"Not only is this futile, but it also threatens further violence and instability when what we really need is national unity and an agreement to put our differences aside in a concerted effort to deal with the tough issues that confront us in the next five years."

It is not the MDC Alliance’s reaction that will decide the economic prosperity and political stability of Zimbabwe but the investors and lenders. Investors do not do business with vote rigging thugs.  By rigging the elections, President Mnangagwa has just confirmed that Zimbabwe is a pariah state whose next regime change is another military coup or widespread political violence, citizen demanding an end to the mountain of economic hardships they are facing.

7 comments:

  1. MDC was warned not to go into the elections without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. This is not the first time the party was warned of this, they were warned before the 2013 election. The party did not listen then and it did not listen now.

    "MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging elections!" Chamisa insisted. Now we know he was talking nonsense as usual.

    “When I am sworn in, I will take my own way and Mnangagwa will take his and we will see who the real leader is,” now Chamisa tells us.

    “There is no stability out of a rigged election, there is no economic confidence and certainty.

    “Mnangagwa is a sun which is setting, I am the sun which is rising and the setting sun must give way to the rising sun for the benefit of the country to move forward."

    Whilst it is true that there is no political stability or economic recovery after these rigged elections, it must be said the country would have been spared all this if MDC leaders had not proven to be incompetent, corrupt and sell-outs. As for Chamisa being sworn in this is just the usual nonsense and posturing!

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  2. @ Zii Masiye

    The trouble with those who are totally incapable of looking at life beyond the simplistic me-here-and now, who cannot see anything beyond the superficial, is that they are easily bowled over.

    Emmerson Mnangagwa was Mugabe's right-hand man who helped the tyrant impose a ruthless, corrupt and vote rigging de facto one party state that has lasted nearly four decades now. In staging the November coup Mnangagwa has just breathed new life into the dictatorship which was being torn up by the endless fighting for power that had broken out in the last four years.

    Zanu PF under Mnangagwa is the same ruthless, corrupt and vote rigging dictatorship of Mugabe days as the recent election have just shown. Mnangagwa promised to hold free and fair elections and yet used the same tried and tested vote rigging tricks of the past to blatantly rig the elections. Those who cannot see beyond the superficial failed to see even the obvious. ZEC failed to produce a verified voters' roll, something as basic as that, and yet many still believed the elections were free, fair and credible.

    "The daring political somersault that saw the wily "Crocodile" abandon the brazen arrogance of dynastic power and foolhardy display of bareknuckle dictatorship that so characterised his mentor and master, Robert Mugabe; the dare-devil willingness to open up, to embrace change and the borrowed robes of unfettered consensus-building democracy has been as spell-binding a spectacle as it was incredible," you say.

    How naïve! Mnangagwa has not changed one bit; unless you call dressing the iron fist with a velvet glove change!

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  3. "And on Thursday, the former President told mourners that the nation must rally behind President Mnangagwa, saying his election victory in the July 30 harmonised elections legitimised his leadership," you say.

    "The remarks by the ex-president were buttressed by his wife, Grace, who said they would pray for President Mnangagwa as his leadership was God-given."

    This is just nonsense coming out from the old ruthless dictator. Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the elections and, per se, it is nonsensical to talk of "elections legitimised" Mnangagwa. But we should not be surprise to hear this coming from the man whose own long stay in power was on the back of rigged elections!

    Zimbabwe is stuck in this hell-on-earth situation because for the last 38 years the nation has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections, the pre-requisite for a legitimate and competent government. Until we cure ourselves of this scourge of rigged elections, the country will never get out of this hell-hole.

    Mugabe is very pleased with Mnangagwa now that the latter has shown there will be expense spared to maintain their luxurious lifestyles they had become used to when the tyrant ruled the roost! As for Zimbabwe's well-being, free and fair elections, etc. the former tyrant does not give a damn and never did!

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  4. Zimbabwe had a golden opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship once and once for all during the 2008 GNU. All MDC leaders were asked to do then was to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. In five years of the GNU, they failed to get even one reform implemented. NOT EVEN ONE!

    Having the corrupt and murderous Zanu PF thugs was a curse to the nation but to have the corrupt and incompetent MDC as the follow-up act was a double curse that the nation has really struggled to recover from.

    It was Eddie Cross and his fellow MDC leaders like the late Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Chamisa, Coltart, etc. whose incompetence meant the many opportunities to end Zanu PF dictatorship were wasted time and time again. It is disappointing that the foolishness has not stopped. Mnangagwa has just blatantly rigged these elections and thus confirming he is Mugabe mark 2 alright. How Eddie Cross can still believe the tyrant can build a democratic Zimbabwe beggars belief!

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  5. @ Nomazulu

    MDC leaders have blundered from pillar to post.

    Zimbabwe had a golden opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship once and once for all during the 2008 GNU. All MDC leaders were asked to do then was to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. In five years of the GNU, they failed to get even one reform implemented. NOT EVEN ONE!

    Having the corrupt and murderous Zanu PF thugs was a curse to the nation but to have the corrupt and incompetent MDC as the follow-up act was a double curse that the nation has really struggled to recover from. When you have corrupt and incompetent leaders with no clue where they are going other than seeking to enrich themselves it is no surprise other irrelevant matters such as tribalism, sexism, etc. become the dominant issues!

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  6. The claim that the international community had accepted Zimbabwe's rigged elections is pure fiction. Even the British who had shown they willingness to support the Mnangagwa regime regardless of whether the elections were free, fair and credible have hesitated endorse the rigged elections. British Prime Minister, Theresa May, was very coy in avoiding commenting of the elections and instead praising the appointment of the commission to investigate the shooting of protestors.

    Lets face it the British, Germany and Belgians are more interested in getting a cut of Zimbabwe's mineral wealth, especially diamonds for the Belgians; they are not interested in whether Zimbabwe remains a pariah state or not. It is us, ordinary Zimbabweans who should be concerned about ending this scourge of rigged elections and thus end the pariah state status.

    To suggest a corrupt and ruthless thug like Emmerson Mnangagwa can be the man to build a democratic Zimbabwe especially when he has just blatantly rigged the elections beggars belief!

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  7. A nation that cannot hold free, fair and credible elections, the basic of competent and accountable government, has no future. Zimbabwe is stuck in this hell-on-earth with its economy in total meltdown and unstable political system because for the last 38 years and counting the nation has failed to hold free and fair elections.

    "Zimbabwe's future is bright," says Mnangagwa.

    All he has ever cared about is that Zanu PF must exercise absolute power which he has achieved by blatantly rigging the recent elections. The fact that the country is in this economic and political mess with 90% out of work and 3/4 living on US$1.00 or less a day has never bothered him and never will. as long as he and Zanu PF continue to enjoy absolute power "the future is bright!"

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