Nelson Chamisa has said
nothing about the 30 March 2020 Supreme Court judgement which ruled that his
seizure of the MDC-T leadership after Tsvangirai’s death was a violation of the
party’s constitution. He has said nothing until now.
“You can’t rob people
forever.
You robbed the 2018 vote.
You robbed the 2018 vote.
First you abused ZEC and
robbed.
Then abused the ConCourt and robbed.
Then abused the ConCourt and robbed.
Then abused the Supreme
Court and robbed.
Then abused Parliament and robbed.
Then abused Parliament and robbed.
Then rob people’s lives
daily.
Then rob a whole generation and entire nation.
Then rob a whole generation and entire nation.
Now we want everything
back!
We shall pursue and recover all!
Zimbabwe this is our call to duty,”
We shall pursue and recover all!
Zimbabwe this is our call to duty,”
said Chamisa of his
political rivalry, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
It is clear, Chamisa
subscribes to the school of thought that believes attack is the best defence!
Chamisa has not denied
that what he did in February 2018 was wrong; he knows that it was wrong. It is
therefore rich to accuse Mnangagwa of “abusing the Supreme Court and robbed” when
it is Chamisa himself who robbed the MDC presidency and is now seeking to abuse
the Court by falsely claiming that it is biased.
However, when the ground
on which you stand is shaky, it is wise to yield. Do not fight a battle you are
sure to lose. Losing a battle does not have to mean losing the war.
Chamisa and his supporters
have all come out with guns blazing in a show of strength and unity of purpose.
“We are not cowards!” announced Tendai Biti. Brave souls, very brave souls!
All these MDC leaders who
are now posturing, huffing and puffing and drumming their chests like
silverbacks all participating in the July 2018 elections even when it was clear
that ZEC had failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.
Common sense demanded a verified voters’ roll and the law of the land demanded
it too.
Mnangagwa himself promised
to hold free, fair and credible elections; well here was the chance to hold his
feet to the fire! And yet not even one of our silverback gorillas dared
challenge Mnangagwa then. Worst of all, they all knew that by participating in
the flawed and illegitimate elections they were giving the process credibility
and the results some modicum of legitimacy.
In his Book, The
Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart,
former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the GNU, gave details
of how Zanu PF was flouted the electoral rules in the upcoming 2013 elections.
It was clear the elections would not be free, fair and credible and yet he and
his fellow MDC friends did not withdraw out of selfish 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 elections,” wrote 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.”
How ironic that Chamisa
and his fellow MDC silverbacks did not fight Mnangagwa for failing to hold
free, fair and credible elections but they are all itching for a fight to
defend Chamisa undemocratic seizure of the MDC leadership!
Both the Thokozani Khupe led
and Nelson Chamisa led MDC factions, have already proven to be corrupt and
incompetent. They were all in the 2008 to 2013 GNU that failed to get even one
reform implemented. They have all participated in the past flawed and illegal
elections for the same reason – greed.
The ongoing tussle for
power has divided the already weak and feeble MDC to the point of uselessness.
If both were to sink into oblivion, the nation will be the better for it!
“Zimbabwe this is our call
to duty!” Yeah right! Duty to defend Chamisa’s thuggery so he can continue to
give Zanu PF blatant vote rigging legitimacy for a share of the spoils of
power! The long-suffering ordinary Zimbabweans must stay out of this Chamisa vs
Khupe cum Chamisa vs Mnangagwa it is a distraction from the real life and death
struggle the nation in going through and which these politicians do not care
about.
@ Terence
ReplyDelete“Why is it that Zanu-PF and the Government are choosing and determining who should lead the MDC they have their own party affairs to attend to, let the MDC supporters decide who they want to lead them, MDC as a whole must have their own internal election where there supporters can choose who they want to lead them.”
You have once again jumped the gun!
MDC did have their own internal elections following Tsvangirai’s death. Some of the most faithful MDC supporters and leaders and the then Morgan Tsvangirai’s Chief Advisor, Alex Magaisa, said the election process was NOT in accordance with the party’s own constitution. The High Court and then the Supreme Court have all since agreed that was indeed the case. You just do not want to accept a historic fact that did not follow the party’s own constitution and so blame the Court for being biased.
Chamisa participated in the July 2018 national elections knowing fully well the process was flawed and illegal. ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake! His challenge of the election result in the Constitution Court did not include such universal illegalities as the failure to produce a verified voters’ roll because MDC would have tacitly acknowledged the parliamentary result too was illegitimate. Worse still, it would have highlighted the MDC leaders’ sheer hypocrisy as they had participate in the elections knowing fully well there was no verified voters’ roll!
Chamisa’s Constitution Court challenge was based on his claim that he had polled 2.6 million votes compared to the 2.4 million vote ZEC claimed Mnangagwa garnered. Elections observers had dismissed the whole elections process as a farce and had dismissed ZEC’s figures for containing numerous errors, untraceable, unverifiable and lacking transparency.
ZEC’s own affidavit gave three different vote count for Mnangagwa because they too did not have all the V11 forms, the summary of vote count at each polling station. Some of the V11 form figures had been changed. So ZEC could not verify Mnangagwa’s 2.4 million votes!
Chamisa’s affidavit too failed to produce copied of the V11 forms to account for his 2.6 million votes. If ZEC had said Mnangagwa garnered 3 million votes no doubt Chamisa would have conjured 3.2 million votes for himself!
In short, Chamisa did not care that the July 2018 national elections were not free, fair and credible as long as he is declared the winner! In the case of the MDC’s own internal elections, he did not hesitate to cheat to secure the presidency!
With such leaders as Chamisa and Mnangagwa, it is little wonder Zimbabwe is going nowhere. The real big disappointment here is that there are fools like you cheering and applauding one or the other!
@Terence
ReplyDelete“Well what you must understand is that they are not the ruling party or government so not sure what corruption you are talking about. Its corruption and poor governance that has bought our economy and country to their knees so really you need to look at the current government. And as far as I am concerned the ruling party’s internal affairs are in a complete and utter shambles that need to also be looked at urgently. And lastly what has our government done for the people of Zimbabwe over the last forty years or so, it’s always easy to point fingers and blame others but the truth is out there for Zimbabweans to see and for the outside world to see.”
No one has said MDC are the party in government, they are the country’s main opposition party. The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will bring about the democratic changes the nation has been dying for.
MDC has been on the political stage for the last 20 years now and have failed to bring about even one meaningful democratic change. Not one!
Did MDC have any chance of delivering any democratic changes in that 20 years? The answer is yes they did, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one reform because they took their eyes off the ball. Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and with their snouts in the feeding trough they forgot about the reforms!
By participating in flawed and illegal elections MDC are giving Zanu PF rigged elections credibility and legitimacy. In short, MDC have not only sold-out on fighting for democratic change they are now helping to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship. MDC leaders must be held to account for selling out of democratic change and for helping keep Zanu PF in power!
You argument that MDC leaders cannot be held to account for anything because they are not powerful enough to be the governing party is naïve and foolish because you are failing to understand that there is a lot the opposition can do.
The tragedy here is the MDC circus is happening at a time when the country is facing the greatest challenge of our generation, covid -19. Zanu PF has blundered from pillar to post ever since the virus outbreak and only a fool believes the regime's claim that the number of confirmed cases has peaked at 34 and for the last week there has not been even one confirm case.
ReplyDeleteZanu PF is a very secretive regime and like China, it does not want the truth on the spread of covid-19 in Zimbabwe to be known. Whereas China mobilise all the necessary resources to ensure the virus was contained, Zimbabwe has done nothing.
The regime stopping giving daily update on 25 April 2020. It had done 380 tests a day (against the promised 1000) and the total tests to date was 6 067. On 5 May the regime reported the total number of tests was over 11 000 and the following day 6 May the total was 14 821! And not one of the tests was positive. What the devil is going on here?
One had hoped that even the mediocre MDC would have the sense to force the regime to explain why the regime has stopped giving detailed daily reports on how many tests were carried out in each province and the results thereof, for example. It is a great tragedy that our mediocre MDC opposition was not even paying attention to the covid-19 horror because they were squabbling amongst themselves! What a nightmare!
MDC leaders are now totally preoccupied with this nonsense of whether Chamisa followed the party's own constitution or not when he seized power following Tsvangirai's death; they have completely taken their eyes off the greatest existential threat the nation is facing - covid-19. Zanu PF is blundering from pillar to post and making the virus threat worse. Only an idiot believe the regime's claim that the country's covid-19 cases peaked at 34 and the country has had no new cases for the last 7 days!
ReplyDeleteThis is when the country needs the opposition needs to hold the regime to account. Even a mediocre opposition like MDC could at least ask why the regime has stopped giving detailed daily reports of the number tested in each province, the target group tested, etc. Alas the mediocre MDC has been rendered utterly useless by the squabbling over leadership! What a nightmare!
MDC Deputy National chairperson Job Says the opposition party sin ready to take drastic decisions against the ruling ZANU PF which is accused of meddling in MDC affairs.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Sikhala said, "If we want to cause pandemonium at State House right now, we know what to do. You have been agitating for it for a while... it's coming. Give us time."
MDC has done many foolish things this is just one more foolish thing!
By totally disregarding MDC’s own constitution to seize power after Tsvangirai’s death; Nelson Chamisa and his cohorts shot themselves in the foot! Everyone who has followed this story know Chamisa was just acting like a thug. By pretending this is not about Chamisa’s thuggery and dragging Zanu PF into the matter, everyone can see this is plan nonsense.
All this banging on tables and threatening to cause pandemonium only serves to confirm that Chamisa et al are mindless thugs who will not take responsibility for their own mistakes and, worse still, will use violence to get what they want.
Sadly, Sikhala is threatening the wrong party. Zanu PF is a party of ruthless and murderous thugs. “I have degrees in violence!” the late Robert Mugabe, once boasted.
Make no mistake about it Zanu PF will use this MDC threat to justify political repression of everyone in Zimbabwe.
If there is going to be social unrest then it must be over a substantive issue like the regime’s failure to revive the economy or its blundering incompetence in the handling of covid-19. Of all the foolish things to spark social unrest defending Chamisa’s thuggery is the most foolish.
Deputy Government Spokesperson Energy Mutodi has alleged that about 40 MDC Members of Parliament have refused to accept the accept a directive by the Party Standing committee to withdraw their participation in parliamentary activities.
ReplyDeleteSaid Mutodi, "Commotion in MDC-Alliance as over 40 MDCT legislators disagree with decision to withdraw from Parliament. Chamisa also faces arrest for misappropriating party funds."
On Thursday the main opposition party announced that the MDC Alliance Parliamentary Caucus shall forthwith suspend its participation in all Parliamentary processes, programmes and activities pending the party's consultations with its structures and a final resolution of the National Council on the way forward given the ZANUPF insidious attempted coup against the elected and legitimate leadership of the MDC Alliance.
Zanu PF thugs are going to have a field day, they will be goading MDC leaders and supporters to no end. Here is a case in which everyone knows MDC is wrong and is being stupid; Zanu PF will love to provoke MDC members to dig themselves into an even deeper hole!
The tragedy is that the nation’s attention is being drawn away from the real big issue of covid-19 and how Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence is making this tragic situation into a catastrophic one!
@ Nomazulu
ReplyDeleteIt is ironic that Zanu PF has frog us into this economic and political mess and we made the mistake of thinking that if we allowed the thugs do as they pleased they let us be. The more they creamed off the more they wanted! They all have built for themselves sprawling mansions like the Blue Roof and still they want more! The regime thought it could pull off the same dirty trick with IMF, WB, etc. They stopped giving Zanu PF financial assistance when the regime failed to service its debt back in 2000 and has said no ever since.
The US$7 million from WB is aid and not financial assistance. If we Zimbabweans allow the regime to waste the aid, it is our own funeral. The WB has better things to do than give the aid and then have to supervise the nation to make sure the aid is not wasted. It is our duty as the citizens of the country to make sure we have a competent government. If we are happy with a regime that is corrupt, incompetent and wasteful then that too is our funeral!
The real tragedy here is that so many people have been brainwashed so much so they are now totally incapable of even one coherent thought! Chamisa shot himself in the foot by using the Zanu PF bully-boy tactics to muscle himself into power after Tsvangirai's death. How anyone can think this was acceptable beggars belief!
ReplyDeleteMDC A file Court application to force government to pay the $7.5 million, payout from the Political Party Finance Act, into its account.
ReplyDeleteWith a fat payout of $7.5 million at stake it is little wonder that the political field in Zimbabwe has been so crowded.
All the opposition politicians knew that with no political reforms in place Zanu PF would rig elections. They also knew that Zanu PF was offering up to a third of the gravy train seats plus the $7.5 million paid out as bait to those who would participate in the elections, regardless of all the flaws and illegalities. The bait has proven to be irresistible! By participating the opposition are giving credibility to the flawed election process and legitimacy to the vote rigging government.
Zanu PF knows that as long as the party offers the opposition some gravy train seats and the cash, the party will never have to implement any meaningful democratic reforms.
So, if Zimbabweans are serious about free, fair and credible elections in the country, then they must come up with another body that will implement the reforms. MDC and the rest of the opposition politicians who have contested in the 2013 and 2018 elections will never implement the reforms. Never!
@ Nduna
ReplyDelete“Like you Terrence and Wilbert I don't support the two evil parties. Apart from being incompetent they are bot corrupt to the core. Dissolving existing party structures by Chamisa and staffing them with lackeys to me it's corruption. Visit the urban local authorities run by MDC and you will be struck on your face by festering corruption. I can go on. No debate about corruption in ZANU because it's part of their DNA. Anywhere, in short Zimbabweans are corrupt.”
I would accept that corruption comes in many disguises beside the conventional one of looting wealth. We, the ordinary people, have allowed the ruling elite to rob us blind of not just material wealth but also our basic freedoms and rights including our humanity and even the right to think. We let them rob us and get away with it because we are corrupt and seduced by the sloth mentality. We have all paid dearly for our folly.
Once upon a time, two decades ago but now may well feel like two centuries ago, the nation produced enough to feed us all with plenty leftover to be the breadbasket of the region. We let Robert Mugabe and his cronies seize the farms and hunger has been a regular visitor and, indeed, has come to dominate our lives it might as well be the village head and even life president!
The price for having a corrupt and incompetent government, all in Zanu PF’s DNA as you said, has gone up considerably with the advent of corona virus. Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence means many, many more people will have the virus, suffer and die!
Economic recovery will be a long drawn affair because even institutions like the WB, IMF, etc. are loathed to give Zimbabwe any help because they know with a corrupt and incompetent government like Zanu PF in control most of the aid will be wasted! If we want help then we must start by overcoming our slothfulness and make sure we have a competent government!
Today, many in Europe are celebrating VE Day (Victory in Europe) marking the defeat of the Nazi 75 years ago. Freedom and human rights are worth fighting and dying for! A notion at odds with our sloth mentality!