“Good pple there is need to teach ZANU PF a big lesson once and for all in 2023. They talk a lot of nonsense as if this country belongs to their mothers. They have got arrogance of a coward.
There must be mass demonstration of our sovereign by voting them out in our millions in 2023…
Haa vanhu vazviramba. When I was leaving the High Court today I met a group of pple who greeted me by the gate and said “mudhara rambai makashinga. Nyangwe Mnangagwa akatipa US$1 million each hatichada.”
These are bold declarations I get everywhere I go.
Mnangagwa will be kicked out,” Honourable Job Sikhala, MDC A MP, wrote on Twitter.
Politics dzana Job Sikhala, Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti nerudende rweMDC, ibhora rokudhibhi. Munotamba zura rese pasina agohwesa nokuti hapana magende! (MDC politics is like amateur football at its chaotic worst; where you can play all day without ever scoring a goal because there are no set teams and no set goals!)
After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC leaders cannot name even one democratic change they have accomplished in all those years and yet still call themselves movement for democratic change.
Whilst the individual MDC leaders have had a chance to enjoy the good life of the ruling elite on the gravy train, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when many climbed up the ladder to be ministers. The MDC leaders loved their GNU lives so much they did not want to upset their host, Robert Mugabe, by implement the democratic reforms. Not even one token reform was implemented.
In 2008 Morgan Tsvangirai garnered 73% of the popular vote, according to Mugabe’s own Freudian slip of the tongue and Mnangagwa and his Joint Operation Command (JOC) junta stepped in and ordered ZEC not to announce the results. The results were announce six weeks later and Tsvangirai’s vote count had been whittled down to 47%, enough to force a run-off.
JOC launched military style Operation “Mavhotera papi!” (Whom did you vote for!) whose primary objective was to punish the people of Zimbabwe for daring to reject Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF in the March 2008 vote. And the people were punished!
“What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone with the ballot!” thundered Robert Mugabe, cheering along those who were destroying property, intimidating, beating, raping, abducting and over 500 were murdered in cold blood.
“Zanu PF has declared war on the people!” cried Tsvangirai as he announced his withdrawal from the run-off.
The primary reason for setting up the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms to stop a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence witnessed in 2008. Zanu PF has emerged out of the GNU with all its dictatorial powers untouched because MDC leaders took their eyes off the reforms agenda.
Mnangagwa and his cronies in the National Army arm of JOC flexed their dictatorial powers to ouster Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup. Mugabe had his own supporters in the junta, the Police and CIO, but they were outgunned and outmanoeuvred.
Only the very naive and gullible believed that the 2018 elections would be free, fair and credible. Mnangagwa and his Junta were never going to stage a coup to seize power and then eight months later risk losing it in free election particularly when they still had the dictatorial powers to rig the elections. They are rigging the 2023 elections as we speak!
“There must be mass demonstration of our sovereign by voting them out in our millions in 2023!” says Sikhala. Well Zanu PF, for its part has denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote. Remember Mnangagwa supposedly won the 2018 elections with 2.4 million voters or 50.8% of the cast votes and so the diaspora vote is very significant indeed!
The truth is Zimbabwe is in this pathetic situation of trying to win rigged elections for no other reason other than the fact that MDC leaders are ashamed to demand the implementation of the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections because they will have to admit they wasted the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.
The overwhelming majority of the ordinary Zimbabweans have yet to figure it out that MDC leaders sold-out big time during the GNU by failing to implement even one reform. And so MDC leaders are taking full advantage of the naive and gullible public that reforms are not necessary.
Zanu PF is the chief beneficiary of holding these flawed elections because the party does not have to worry about implement the reforms and so continues to blatantly rig the elections. And by participating the people give the flawed process credibility and give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
Job Sikhala and the fellow opposition politicians are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait to the opposition to participate. Zanu PF needs the participation to get legitimacy and the few gravy train seats are a small price to pay for it.
Of course, Job Sikhala, Nelson Chamisa and the rest in the opposition camp would love to to form the next government. They know that Zanu PF will never lose an elections in which they have carte blanche powers to rig.
Chamisa and company are banking on mass street protest, to protest the economic hardship, rigged elections anything, to propel them to State House. Meanwhile the opposition will be content with the few gravy train seats and all the other titbits the get from Zanu PF.
Zanu PF are not going to reform themselves out of office, the party has the carte blanche powers to rig elections and, of course, they will never give up these powers nor will they stop using them to retain power.
There is no doubt that the Zanu PF dictatorship will collapse one of these fine days, it is rotten to the core and MDC leaders should have delivered the coup de grace a long time ago if they had not been so corrupt and incompetent. Still, the Zanu PF dictatorship will end through violence, another military coup or street protest.
The demise of Zanu PF will not bring the democratic changes the nation has been dying for all these years; the new regime will only be keen to consolidate its own grip on power and so would be tempted to keep the dictatorial powers for itself.
What the people of Zimbabwe should need to do is to wake up to the political reality that they have nothing to win from participating in these flawed and illegal elections. The opposition are taunting the public to protest with claims of stolen elections when the opposition themselves are the one aiding and abetting Zanu PF to rig elections by failing to implement reforms even when it was in their power to do so.
The best course of action for the ordinary people is to put their foot down and demand the implementation of the democratic reforms before elections. Free elections is a right and not a privilege and so why should they have to participate in flawed and illegal elections especially after 41 years of rigged election.
As Zimbabwe hit 2 million people fully vaccinated against Covid-19, all civil servants were placed under legal orders to be fully vaccinated with both jabs of an approved Covid-19 vaccine by October 15 and if they refuse they will face disciplinary proceedings for failing to obey a lawful instruction.
ReplyDeleteThe deadline, lawful order and warning about resulting disciplinary action were included in Statutory Instrument 234 gazetted yesterday that also uses the same October 15 deadline for legally implementing the previously announced Cabinet decision to bar unvaccinated civil servants from work stations and not to pay them while they are barred. But many civil servants have already been vaccinated with both doses since late on Thursday, 2 001 987 people had received both jabs with more than 905 000 having had their first dose and getting their second by mid-October.
Zimbabwe has only vaccinated 2 million out of the target 10 million, 20%, and that will not be even enough to cover the top priority groups; the old, the frontline workers, those with health problems, etc. It is therefore beggars belief why the government is already threatening to punish the civil servants for not being vaccinated.
This is a regime that rules by fear and is using every opportunity to flex its muscle!
@ Nyarota
ReplyDelete“Strategy Number One for both ruling party and opposition politicians involves treating the electorate with respect.
The most visible sign of disrespect is for the politician to disappear completely soon after winning or losing an election, only to re-appear five years later on the eve of the next harmonised poll.
Strategy Number Two is never to make promises of such easily detectable naivety that even the most imbecile of voters can identify as being unachievable, especially on issues that are clearly remote or irrelevant to the daily lives of voters.
To make promises to the voters of Makoni South Constituency, for instance, of urgent construction of an international airport outside the town of Nyazura is to apply for dismissal by them as a candidate for instant admission to a mental health institution, such as Bulawayo's Ingutsheni.
As for Strategy Number Three, it involves the art of never devoting all of a candidate's time when addressing a political rally, to the mounting of personal attacks against his opponent.”
If you are going to blatantly rig the elections then you can never ever do that and some how pretend to respect the electorate! Zanu PF has ruled by fear and for 41 years and counting the party has turned the rural voters in particular into nothing short of medieval serfs beholden to their overbearing Zanu PF landlords.
In 1980 the nation voted for Zanu PF because the party made it clear if it lost the elections the bush war would continue. The only time Zimbabweans dare to vote for anyone other than Zanu PF was the March 2008 vote. Mnangagwa marshalled the Joint Operations Command Junta and the people were punished for it and the nation learnt the lesson.
With no meaningful reforms to take away Zanu PF’s vote rigging dictatorial powers, the party is set to blatantly rig the 2023 elections. Nelson Chamisa and company are participating for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait. Zanu PF needs the opposition to participated to get legitimacy and the few gravy train seats are a small price to pay.
Both Zanu PF and MDC are taking full advantage of the naive, gullible and frightened Zimbabwe electorate to achieve their political objectives and neither of them respect of the electorate.
Part 1 of 2
ReplyDelete@ Eddie Cross
“The president was not there, he said he had to return to Harare, but they said the president wanted my ideas and what was wrong with the country, and what needed to be done to put it right.
Well, what do you do when you are asked to do that?
Of course, I said yes.
The Catholics in Lupane had called me and given me a report on what was happening.
I contacted the prime minister's secretary, Charles Utete.
I said to Charles that the situation was not good.
Subsequently, I sent a report to three heads of state in Europe, asking them to put pressure on (former president Robert) Mugabe.
When I did that and after I got back home I got a warning from Emmerson Mnangagwa not to do it again, and to say that it was none of my business.
Charles Utete said the same thing to me.
I said to Charles in 1983, I said to him that this was going to come back to bite him, they could not behave like that and get away with it.
So then I met this man (Mnangagwa) and I was frankly surprised.
He genuinely wanted to do the right thing.
He said to me fairly early on when I had tackled him on political issues, he said that I should leave the politics to him, I should just deal with the economics.
The new minister of Finance asked me to be an informal advisor.
In fact the moment Mthuli (Ncube) arrived in town he hauled me into his hotel room and said we should get moving.
So I found myself really in the thick of things and then out of the blue the publishers contacted me and asked if I would be prepared to write a biography on Emmerson Mnangagwa.
I thought, a sitting president? All this history? I said yes. I was paid a fee.
TN: What made you say yes?
EC: I had been impressed with his attitude. He genuinely, I believe, wants to put Zimbabwe on a new track.
I think as a citizen, as an African I have an obligation with my history, with my knowledge, with my experience, to play a role if I can.
So if you are called to serve I think you should respond.
TN: You also said yes when he said to you write for him a number of ideas on how to turn around the economy, the 20-page document.
At the time when you were a Member Of Parliament for MDC?
Again share with us your thinking process? Could you not have said no?
EC: Yes, of course yes.
TN: But why did you say yes?
Part 2 of 2
ReplyDelete@ Eddie Cross
TN: But why did you say yes?
EC: With the death of Morgan Tsvangirai, who had been a personal friend for many years when I was chairman of the Employer's Federation of Zimbabwe, he was the secretary-general of the trade union movement, we developed a relationship which morphed into me joining MDC in 1999 and becoming secretary for economic affairs.
I spent the next 17 years in the national leadership of the MDC with all of its problems.
Assassination attempts, I had a shooting incident against me, I was threatened by the (Central Intelligence Organisation). You name it.
Typical politics. But when Morgan died, I really felt that I could not support the new leadership, because I really felt they were on the wrong track.
So I retired from politics. I said I would quit politics and would not go to mess around and I said I would go back into business.
So when (Mnangagwa) asked me to help him, it was for the economic problems, and I recognise that if we cannot solve the economic problems of this country, if we cannot put this country onto a new path, we are actually going to go nowhere.
If there is going to be a future for the young people of this country, it is going to be on the basis of us adopting proper economic policies.
You know, from the time of the Rhodesian government, I was seriously critical of the policies of Ian Smith, which were isolationist, insular, they did not build up a competitive economy.”
It was USA Ambassador 2004 to 2007 Chris Dell who said in a leaked cable back to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed and indecisive character who, if he was ever to get into power, would be an albatross round the Zimbabwean nation’s neck!” He said this after meeting the guy a few times.
Edward Graham Cross was Tsvangirai’s right hand man throughout the MDC years from the launch of the party in 1999 to Tsvangirai’s death in 2014 and goes back to the days when Cross was in the Employer's Federation of Zimbabwe and Tsvangirai was the secretary-general of Zimbabwe Congress Trade Union. Eddie has praised Tsvangirai’s competence as a leader to the high heavens.
History has proven beyond all doubt that Chris Dell was right and Eddie Cross hopeless wrong; Morgan Tsvangirai was corrupt and incompetent and he and his MDC friends’ failure to implement even one reform during the GNU is the principle reason why the nation is still stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship.
How anyone could trust Emmerson Mnangagwa given his corrupt and murderous track history beggars belief. Even with his track record of thinking so highly of Tsvangirai one would have thought even Eddie Cross would not be that foolish to trust Mnangagwa - but, by his own admission, he did.
Four years after the November 2017 military coup, Zimbabwe is still a pariah state, all hopes of the economic revival have evaporated and Eddie Cross once again backed the wrong horse!
A REPORT, recently released by the Democracy in Africa, has called for urgent civilian and military negotiations in Zimbabwe to avoid future disputed elections and the ongoing unrestrained plunder of the country’s resources.
ReplyDeleteElections in Zimbabwe have for years been marred with allegations of serious vote-rigging and violence being raised and the military implicated.
The military is also reported to have business interests in various opaque companies ranging from diamond and gold mining, farming, tourism, and fuel industries.
However, the operations and revenue accrued from these enterprises remain clouded.
However, according to a report authored by Nic Cheeseman, a professor of democracy and international development at the University of Birmingham in the UK, the “civilian democratising forces” in Zimbabwe need to approach and have serious engagement with senior military brass to boost the country’s dwindling democratic, political and economic fortunes.
It was Robert Mugabe who set up JOC to shore-up his iron grip on power and over the years the securocrats have played a more and prominent role in the country’s politics.
JOC crossed the point of no return when they, headed by Emmerson Mnangagwa, stopped ZEC declaring the 2008 election results and executed the Operation “Mavhotera papi!” (Whom did you vote for!) to punish the people for having rejected Mugabe and Zanu PF in the March vote. The Junta throw its lot with Zanu PF and the two became one!
The November 2017 military coup only served to deepen the relationship with the ex-securocrats to brass demanding more political roles and a lion’s share in the spoils of power by extending their economic portfolio.
Zimbabwe had the golden chance to implement democratic reforms and end Zanu PF’s corrupting influence on the security sector and other state institutions during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Sadly, the opportunity was wasted because Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends took their eyes off the ball.
However, for all their power and influence the securocrats have remained in the shadow, the power behind Zanu PF ruling elite. The Junta is not as powerful as many people believe because the spoils of power and the looted wealth only reach the top brass - the rank and file members are living in abject poverty not much better off than the teachers and nurses, for example, who are already on slave wages.
Zanu PF ruling elite remain weak and venerable especially during elections. By failing to implement reforms MDC have allowed Zanu PF to retain its carte blanche powers to rig elections and by participating in flawed and illegal election have continued to give the regime legitimacy!
Zanu PF is still relevant today because MDC failed to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU which would have end the party's carte blanche vote rigging powers. Zanu PF would lose legitimacy if Zimbabweans do not participate the flawed and illegal 2023 elections.
ReplyDeleteJob Sikhala, Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa, Douglas Mwonzora, Fadzayi Mahere and all the other opposition politicians all know that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections; they knew the same thing would happened in the 2018 elections and still they participated regardless for the same reason then as now - greed.
ReplyDeleteZanu PF needs the opposition to participate in the flawed and illegal elections to get legitimacy and to entice them the party is willing to give away a few gravy train seats. The opposition, for their party find the bait irresistible.
“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,” confessed David Coltart in his Book The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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.”
Chamisa and company will never admit of their greed and so they have to come up with some hen’s teeth tale why they will keep participating in flawed and illegal elections only to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy - they never tire of coming up with Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies.
They conveniently ignore the evidence of the 2008 Zanu PF vote rigging, proof of the regime’s carte blanche powers, proof Zimbabwe is not Zambia, proof none of their hare-brain WIRE strategies will overwhelm Zanu PF’s vote rigging prowess. Zanu PF is going to have yet another landslide electoral victory and, by the opposition participating, legitimacy too.
After 41 years of rigging elections and 41 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption the nation is desperate to end this curse of rigged elections and get out of this mess. One way of making sure Zanu PF does not get electoral legitimacy and making sure the opposition is seen for what it is corrupt and incompetent who are participating only out of greed. The opposition is a batch discredited opportunists whose greed knows no limits!
Short of fearing for their own lives, nothing else will stop Job Sikhala and company participating in the elections although they know obvious thing to do is boycotting the flawed and illegal elections. Nothing!
Zimbabwe loses US$1,3bn in forex leaks
ReplyDeleteThose in positions of power and authority are the principle beneficiaries of corruption, they will never ever allow corruption to be stamped out and put themselves out of business.
If we are serious about stamping out corruption and reviving the comatose economy then we must first implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging elections. The only sure to remove the incompetent and corrupt Zanu PF thugs from power is by stopping them rigging the elections.
Right now the Zanu PF thugs not only control the state institutions like ZEC, Police, Army, etc. they also control civic society instead of them being Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) they are Government Organised Non Governmental Organisations (GONGO).
Indeed, Zanu PF has the opposition in its deep pockets too. Zanu PF is dangling a few gravy train seats to make sure the opposition participates in the elections and get legitimacy regardless how flawed and illegal the process gets!
ED, as his supporters like to call him, has turned the country into a captured State where private power networks that include his cronies pose the greatest threat to civil liberties.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that Zimbabwe has been named in a recent report published by Ghana's Centre for Democratic Development as one of the shadow States whose electoral systems, Judiciary, Legislature have been captured by private capital, entrenching authoritarianism.
Shadow States are countries where unelected businessmen, civil servants, political fixers and members of the Presidents' family wield more power than legislators.
Mnangagwa should be concerned about the direction he is taking the country. When he took over power, he promised to reunite the country with the international community through the restoration of rule of law and human rights. But all hope is fading, human rights abuses continue unabated, while tampering with the Constitution has escalated to unprecedented levels.
Zimbabwe had the golden opportunity to end Zanu PF's carte blanche powers to rig elections during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Sadly, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends took their eyes off the ball, Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and they forgot about implementing the democratic reforms for five years.
Ever since the GNU debacle MDC leaders have told the naive and gullible electorate the nation did not need to implement reforms because the party has Winning In Rigged Election (WIRE) strategies. All nonsense, of course. Zanu PF has blatantly rigged the elections leaving the nation stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and murderous regime.
By participating is the flawed and illegal elections the nation has giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. Zanu PF has given away a few gravy train seats to entice the MDC leaders to participate regardless how flawed the election process and dire the tragic consequences.
The political and economic situation in Zimbabwe is both tragic and insane and, until the people open their eyes and realise MDC leaders are sell-outs who are now propping Zanu PF and refuse to participate in the flawed elections; nothing will change!
JUSTICE minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has been ordered to craft a Bill amending the Constitution to increase the youth quota in Parliament from the 10% to 25%.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking in Parliament last Thursday, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth chairperson Mathias Tongofa said Ziyambi should submit the Bill to Parliament by year-end.
This is what comes out of having buffoons in charge of the nation’s destiny; they either waste time and resource on meaningless schemes, at best, and, at worst, drag you where you don’t want to go! Zimbabwe should be fighting to restore the people’s fundamental right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country - these quota system will serve to benefit the individuals in that segment of society and not society at large.
The petition, addressed to acting provincial chairperson Michael Madanha, comes as the ruling party embark on elections tomorrow to choose district executive members.
ReplyDelete"This petition is against the compilation of factional cell membership registers and the imposition of executive committees at cell, branch and district levels in Murewa South constituency," the petition read in part.
"This is being done contrary to instructions from the (acting) national political commissar (Patrick Chinamasa) to restructure the party in a transparent and democratic manner, starting with compilation of new cell membership registers."
Another fight in Murewa South is over the vacant parliamentary seat following the death of former Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza. The jostling for the position has caused tension in the district.
In Manicaland, politburo member Simbarashe Mumbengegwi confirmed divisions in the province and in an attempt to douse the fires, warned members against unethical conduct.
"We don't need mudslinging in the party. If we are in elections this does not mean that we are in a war. We have realised some people have started campaigns against the politburo decision not to campaign and that is gross indiscipline," he said.
"Some are using social media to attack each other and that is not good. Let's have discipline in the party and that is critical.”
Zanu PF member are like baboons, they are always fighting amongst themselves, the weak never have a moment of peace! But all that is nothing compared to the heinous beating and biting a baboon from another troop will receive. If Zanu PF are prepared to draw daggers against one of their own to secure power, we can be certain they will gang up against the opposition in no holds barred!
If we are serious about ending the curse of rigged elections and bad governance, we must demand the implementation of the democratic reforms before elections and forget about the MDC leaders’ nonsensical Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies.
MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and are now selling the nation WIRE strategies as an excuse for their betrayal during the GNU and excuse for participating in the flawed and illegal elections. It is for the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves to realise MDC sold out and to stop participating in this madness!
To long-suffering commuters who struggle to find affordable transport daily, the newly introduced train service is a bargain. Surprisingly, there were no queues for the Zupco trains despite the unusually attractive ZW$40 fare for long routes such as Town-Mufakose.
ReplyDeleteTo the average commuter, affordability does not get better than this. The process of securing a seat aboard the “people’s train” entails buying a ticket from the conductors who are stationed outside the carriages.
The newly introduced Zupco trains are currently plying the following routes: CBD-Mufakose; CBD-Dzivaresekwa; CBD-Tynwald and CBD-Ruwa.
NRZ is just one of the many parastatals that is in serious trouble after decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption, the sorry state of the so-called ZUPCO coaches says it all. It will not be long before these trains stop running on time for multiple reasons and the long suffering Zimbabweans will have to once again suffer!
The people of Zimbabwe must now accept that the present political system has failed them and demand meaningful change. Nations get the government they deserve and Zimbabweans have done nothing to deserve anything other than this Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition.
@ B Kangoro
ReplyDelete“The NLC, which deposed Nkrumah, led the Ghanaian government from 24 February 1966 to 1 October 1969. Now declassified American files confirm that the NLC was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-supported project.
The historical effects of coups in Africa have been dastardly and they are inseparable from the pervasive cultures of impunity, crimes against humanity and grand corruption. In very rare circumstances did coups result in developmental and governance progress.”
Condй, once touted as the Nelson Mandela of Guinea, rose to power in an era that promised great hope, but one that has sadly resulted in greater darkness at noon. He had become an increasingly autocratic and erratic authoritarian relying on force to manufacture either silence or consent amongst Guineans.
In 2010, Condй won Guinea’s first presidential election since independence from France in 1958; he was an iconic figure, a professor of Sorbonne and head of the African Students Association in Paris. As a prisoner of conscience, Condй was on death row.
In 2015, Condй won his second term following boycott of the election by the opposition. A mixture of arrogance, self-delusion and short-sightedness crystallised an unlikely trade union of the discontented against Condй akin to what happened to Mugabe.
Conde’s tenacity for power and his bid to remain in office beyond his constitutional term limit essentially destroyed his legacy as a fighter for democracy, justice and human rights.
Mamady Kaba of the League for Rights and Democracy in Africa told the Washington Post that what motivated Doumbouya and his soldiers to stage a coup was “disappointment and a feeling of failure” after Condй’s 11-year rule.
The one mistake many African countries have made is to assume those fighting for freedom and human rights today will not betray the cause once in high office. Big mistake! Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends forgot about the reforms as soon as they joined Zanu PF on the gravy train!
The best thing to do is to implement the democratic reforms before the new regime assume office. It is naive to trust MDC to implement democratic reforms if they should be elected to power when they failed to do so in the GNU when the pressure to implement reforms were even greater!
REPORT, recently released by the Democracy in Africa, has called for urgent civilian and military negotiations in Zimbabwe to avoid future disputed elections and the ongoing unrestrained plunder of the country's resources.
ReplyDeleteElections in Zimbabwe have for years been marred with allegations of serious vote-rigging and violence being raised and the military implicated.
The military is also reported to have business interests in various opaque companies ranging from diamond and gold mining, farming, tourism, and fuel industries.
It was none other than Robert Mugabe himself who invited the securocrats into politics by creating the Joint Operation Command Junta to shore up his de facto one party dictatorship. It is both ironic and yet fitting that the securocrats have grown rich and powerful, so powerful they ended up booting Mugabe out of office and most of the civilian leaders. Mnangagwa is scarred stiff of another military coup he is the Junta's hostage and not the commander in chief!
The country had the golden opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and pull the rag from underneath the Junta by implementing the democratic reforms during the 2008 and 2013 GNU. Sadly Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, entrusted with the task to implement the reforms, turned out to be corrupt and incompetent and the chance was wasted.
Still, even the securocrats appreciate the importance of holding elections and getting the people's mandate as the basis of one's power to govern. Zanu PF has been rigging the elections and yet get legitimacy only because the opposition have been participating and giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy out of corruption.
The key is to show the opposition whom they really are - corrupt and incompetent and devoid of any political credibility. A discredited opposition cannot give Zanu PF legitimacy.
Job Sikhala, Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti, David Coltart and the rest of the MDC leaders know that:
ReplyDeletewith no reforms in place, Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the elections
that by participating, they are giving credibility to the flawed election process and, by extension, giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF
the obvious thing to do is to boycott the elections and put pressure on Zanu PF to have the reforms implemented.
Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate because the party knew that if the international community was to reach another consensus the elections were rigged, as happened in 2008, Zanu PF will not get legitimacy and thus be forced into yet another GNU.
David Coltart confessed all the three key points in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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,” confessed 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.”
One would have thought the penny had dropped when Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections no opposition politician worth his salt would participate in any future elections without reforms. Wrong! The opposition politicians’ appetites has gone into overdrive because there were 22 opposition candidates for the presidential rat race alone!
Job Sikhala and company are all participating in the 2023 elections regardless of the certainty Zanu PF is once again blatantly rigging the elections, that by participating they are giving Zanu PF legitimacy. All this grandstanding and bravado is just empty nothing in the full Shakespearean imagery of “sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
Sikhala and company have been on the political centre stage for 22 years, 5 years in the GNU, and yet have not accomplished even one token change. They are determined to stay on the stage so they can continue to deliver their sweet nothing for decades to come just as Zanu PF are doing, the party the nation had risked life and limb for MDC to remove from office!
"You should not be elected to get riches, you should be elected to serve the people, and you must seek office to produce results for the best of the land, Our President Emmerson Mnangagwa has always been saying that we should work for our nation," said Zanu-PF secretary for external relations Simbarashe Mumbengegwi.
ReplyDelete"Yes, we liberated our country in 1980, but the war is still on as we also need to liberate our economy," he said
He added that Zanu-PF was geared to win the 2023 elections resoundingly, and urged party members to vote in their numbers.
"We have noted with concern that we have party members when it comes to elections, so far we have 3,6 million registered voters, we are targeting five million votes, so we are urging party leaders to go out there and mop up for more people to join our party, but I am very sure we are going to win the elections resoundingly come 2023," he said.
Zanu PF has become a party of corrupt, incompetent vote rigging and murderous hypocrites who speak with a forked tongue, saying one thing but meaning the exact opposite.
“You should not be elected to get riches but to serve the people!” he said. And yet it is no secret that corruption has become rampant in Zimbabwe and presiding over it are the Zanu PF leaders each lord and master of his or her own patch but always on the lookout to expand their influence and always fearful of being swallowed up. Even the top dog is not safe, as Robert Mugabe learned in November 2017. It is a mad house!
Serve the people! Yeah right!
“We liberated our count and now need to liberate our economy!” Zanu PF ended white colonial oppression but did not end oppression as they stepped into the shoes of the whites and became the new oppressors.
As for the economy the decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left it is ruins!
To revive the economy the nation must be liberated from Zanu PF dictatorship. We must implement the democratic reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.