The way forward for Zimbabwe demands a complete overhaul of the country’s rotten political system. Some people have argued that Zanu PF and MDC leaders cannot be trusted to implement the democratic reforms because they are part of the rot. Every time any MDC leader open his/her mouth, one can see why they are indeed part of the rot.
“Biti said the military had raised a number of issues with the late Morgan Tsvangirai after he won the 2008 elections - issues he said never received sufficient attention during the talks which led to the formation of the GNU,” Daily News reported.
“He said some of the concerns raised by the army then were the need for guarantees that a future government would not prosecute them or dispossess them of their land.”
To start with Tendai Biti should explain why he and his MDC friends failed to raise this and many other democratic reform issues during the last GNU. The truth is the MDC leaders had the snouts in the feeding trough and they completely forgot about the reforms.
The reforms of the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Services were on the national agenda during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Security service reforms were no more intractable than any of the other reform issues.
Those in the security services are not the only ones who have benefited from the chaotic and corrupt Zanu PF land redistribution. The need to recover land and put it back into productive use is key to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. And so land will be recovered from all those who now own the land on that basis in a open and transparent manner. Why should Army or anyone else one seek special treatment and guarantees?
“MDC Alliance vice president Tendai Biti says any meaningful national dialogue that is to take place in the country should involve the military,” reported Daily News.
“Biti said the military were an important factor in Zimbabwean politics and should be involved in any talks aimed at fostering democracy and national stability.”
When Mugabe realised that his Zanu PF regime was failing to deliver the freedom, justice, peace and economic prosperity the party started to lose its public support. Mugabe turned to all manner of undemocratic means to retain Zanu PF’s iron grip on power including the use of brute force. And so he roped in the coercive state institutions the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services to form the shadowy Joint Operation Command (JOC).
Yes Zimbabwe’s security sector has played a major role in Zimbabwe politics, JOC has been the real power behind Zanu PF. It is important to understand that it was Mugabe who invited the Army, Police, etc. and why.
A heathy and functioning democratic Zimbabwe will have no need of JOC and all the security services can revert back to their assigned roles.
We must make up our own mind what it is we want. We cannot say we want a democratic Zimbabwe in which the army is answerable to the civilian government and yet are the ones inviting the army to play a part in civilian politics.
“To foster democracy and national stability, the arm must be involved!” That is what Mugabe did by forming JOC and, as we can now see, it did not foster democracy but dictatorship or national stability but the exact opposite!
What Zimbabwe needs is a clean break with the failed economic policies and the narrow minded political ethos of the past. People like Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa, Emmerson Mnangagwa, etc., etc. will never deliver that clean break because they are an integral part of that past. And so instead of implementing the necessary transformative democratic reforms they will be giving excuses why to maintain the status quo!
Involving the Army, Polics and CIO in civilian politics will never foster democracy and national stability. Mugabe did exactly that in the form of Joint Operation Command and fostered the de facto one-part dictatorship and the chaos we are now facing.
ReplyDeleteWhat matters here is that people like Tendai Biti are corrupt, incompetent and are an integral part of the past and so will be more interested in preserving it than dismantling. We cannot trust idiots like Biti to implement the reforms we need to move forward.
The politician said MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa's Constitutional Court challenge against his defeat by Mnangagwa was a strategic mistake as it unnecessarily sealed the Zanu-PF leader's legitimacy question, leaving the opposition with nothing to cling on to.
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa was declared winner of the poll by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) after scrapping through with a narrow victory.
Close challenger, Chamisa took the matter to the ConCourt which later upheld the poll outcome after the opposition leader failed to produce documentary evidence to support claims he was robbed of victory.
By participating in the flawed and illegal elections the opposition gave the process credibility and, by extension, gave the vote rigging Zanu PF the modicum of legitimacy.
Chamisa could not challenge the result on the basis of something more substantive like ZEC’s failure to produce a verified voters’ roll, for example, because MDC had participated in the elections knowing fully well there was no verified voters’ roll. Sit emptor ne ware!
The primary reason Chamisa challenge Mnangagwa’s victory was to take advantage of the condemnation the election by the west to pressure Mnangagwa to concede sharing more power with MDC under the pretext that Zanu PF’s legitimacy problem will go away. The west was not going to be so easily fooled, as the new power sharing arrangement was only going to be 2008 GNU mark-2. MDC leaders were going to be nothing more than manikins to the Zanu PF cabinet and the new GNU was not going to implement any reforms just as the 2008 GNU had failed to.
@ Mthreezero Mthreezero
ReplyDelete“And thats why some pushed for televised proceedings. Those who closely followed the proceedings started to doubt these guys. They were exposed big time.
Before elections: This time they can't rig, we have agents, we will not accept, we have a secrete weapon, blablabla
After elections: elections were rigged, we have proof, blablabla
During court proceedings: ko budisaika ma V11 munhu kwakungo boiboi. I remeber a coleague shouting at Thabani Mpofu pa screen pasara about 5 min kuti ko chibudisaka secret weapon kkkkkkk the guy is still hurt to date. He promised never to vote again kkkk”
Whilst I can understand the guy’s frustration with these corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders who have sold-out again and again. My advice to him is to remember that he and the millions of us ordinary Zimbabweans are the ones who are paying dearly for MDC leaders’ selling out. And if we are ever going to get out of this hell-on-earth it is us, not MDC or Zanu PF, who will have to find a way out.
Mnangagwa was boasting that Zanu PF is ready for the 2023 elections and, with no reforms, the party will rig those elections. And, unless we the people stop these sell-out opposition opportunists, Chamisa et al will participate in the flawed elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy.
It is incumbent on us the people to make sure Zanu PF step down and we appoint an interim administration to implement the reforms before the next elections. Failure to do so we must denounce the opposition who participate in these flawed elections.
Ngarivhume Denied Bail Remanded To 4th Sept.
ReplyDeleteThis is a typical Zanu PF strategy of harassment and intimidation!
This is just a fallacious argument! We know that in a healthy and functioning democracy the Army plays no part in civilian politics. We have complained about the corrupting influence of military involvement in Zimbabwe politics and yet we are the ones now demanding the Army's involvement!
ReplyDeleteJust because MDC failed to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the Army playing a role does not mean this cannot be done. Biti and company are clearly not competent to take this nation forward.