There is nothing to be excited about the 26
March 2022 by-elections or the 2023 national elections because with not even
one meaningful democratic reform implemented Zanu PF will rig the elections,
guaranteed! For the last 22 years the people of Zimbabwe have risked life and
limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will implement
the necessary democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.
MDC leaders have been in power and had
many golden chances, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, to implement the
reforms. Sadly, they have failed to get even one reform implemented and wasted
the many opportunities.
Worse still, by insisting on
participating in flawed and illegal elections, MDC leaders have given vote rigging
Zanu PF legitimacy and thus help the regime stay in power.
It was USA ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to
2007, Chris Dell, who said in a leaked cable back to Washington that Morgan
Tsvangirai is “a flawed and indecisive character who will become an albatross
round the nation’s neck if he was ever to get into power!”
What the ambassador about Tsvangirai was
true of the entire MDC leadership. MDC has been in power with elected public
officials for the last 22 years, 5 of which, 2008 to 2013, GNU. As noted above,
the MDC leaders have failed to implement even one reform because they are
turned out to be breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless.
The people of Zimbabwe have risked life
and limb to elect MDC leaders into power to implement the democratic reforms
and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Zanu PF has bribed the MDC leaders with the
trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they
forgot about implementing the reforms.
Since the 2008 to 2013 GNU debacle, Zanu
PF has enticed MDC leaders to participate in flawed and illegal elections with
a promise of a share of the spoils of power. Zanu PF needed the opposition to
participate to maintain the façade Zimbabwe was a healthy and functioning
multi-party democracy and not the corrupt, tyrannical and vote rigging de facto
one-party dictatorship of the pre GNU.
So, MDC leaders not only failed to
implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but
worse still have been participating in flawed elections to keep up the
appearance Zimbabwe was no long a pariah state. No one except MDC’s naïve and
gullible supporters were fooled by façade, especially the savvy and shrewd investors
whose money was needed to kick-start its economy that has been in a comatose state
since the late 1990s.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah
state governed by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging lawless thugs; the will
be no meaningful economic recovery.
MDC leaders have all but given up the
fight to implement the democratic reforms, the pre-requisite for free, fair and
credible elections and ending the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
MDC leaders have convinced their naïve and gullible followers reforms are not
necessary as the party has devised “winning in rigged elections strategies!”
A feeble excuse for participating in
flawed elections especially after the watershed 2008 elections in which Morgan
Tsvangirai had garnered 73% of the vote in the March vote, before the Zanu PF
vote rigging juggernaut was switched back on. The 73% was whittled down to 47%,
enough to force a runoff. The party then used wanton violence to punish the
people for daring to reject the party in the earlier vote.
The democratic reforms are meant to take
away Zanu PF’s carte blanche powers to cheat and use violence to secure
electoral victory. Without reforms MDC’s “winning in rigged elections
strategies” are just hot air, an oxymoron!
MDC is “exactly what the doctor ordered”,
as far as Zanu PF, is concerned because the Chamisa and company have allowed
Zanu PF to keep all its dictatorial powers, rig the election and still keep its
façade of democratic legitimacy. For the ordinary Zimbabweans they have found
themselves stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship whose misrule, now disguised as
a functioning democracy thanks to MDC leaders’ deceit and betrayal, is dragging
the nation deeper and deeper into the crashing abyss!
As long as the people of Zimbabwe continue
to believe in MDC leaders’ nonsense of “winning in rigged elections strategies”
they will continue participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF
legitimacy. As the USA ambassador rightly predicted; MDC leaders are the
milestone round the nation’s neck dragging us all into the abyss.
Elections should be about the people
having a meaningful say in the governance of the country but only if the
elections are free, fair and credible. Rigged elections, as is the case in
Zimbabwe, are a farce to rubber stamp a predetermined result.
Nelson Chamisa and Douglas Mwonzora know
Zanu PF is rigging these elections to secure 2/3 parliamentary and senate majority
and the presidency leaving them to over the remaining 1/3 of the seats and
bragging rights to “Leader of Zimbabwe’s Opposition Party”!
There is no deny that Zimbabwe’s economic
and political woes have multiplied and will never go away as long as Zimbabwe
remains a pariah state. The people have risked life and limb to get the
democratic reforms implemented and end the curse of rigged elections and bad
governance. MDC leaders have sold out, they have cut a deal with Zanu PF, they
have implemented no reforms in return for a share of the spoils of absolute
power and the looted wealth.
If we want an end to our economic
suffering and tyrannical oppression then we must revert to our original demand
of democratic reforms to restore the basic freedoms and rights of all including
the right to free, fair and credible elections. Just because MDC leaders sold
out on reforms does not mean reforms are untenable, they are and are more
urgent now than ever!
Whilst we cannot stop Zanu PF going ahead
with these meaningless elections – without first implementing the reforms to
stop the party rigging the elections, they are indeed a farce. We cannot stop
the MDC leaders participating in these flawed elections – they do not care that
the elections are rigged as long as they get a share of the spoils.
What we, the ordinary Zimbabweans, can do is play no part in these flawed and illegal elections and denounce them for what they are, a farce, here and now – not have to wait until the results are announce. These elections are being rigged in advance and must be denounce in advance. No stone must be left unturned to make sure Zanu PF does not get legitimacy regardless of MDC’s participation!
It took Ambassador Dell a few meetings with Morgan Tsvangirai for him to conclude the man was "flawed and indecisive character” who would be a heavy burden to the nation as all such people are if they get into power. Tsvangirai did get into power and thanks to his blundering incompetence the country wasted the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and end the Zanu PF dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteMugabe used the GNU years to reprogramme the MDC to forget about freedom, human rights and the tragic human suffering brought on by the dictatorship and simply accept the dictatorship as fait accompli and concentrate instead on getting a share of the spoils of power. MDC leaders have completely abandoned the cause of implementing the reforms as a lost cause and hence the reason they are pursuing the oxymoronic “winning in rigged elections”.
The real tragedy is that many Zimbabweans have failed to see Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends as breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent, and utterly, utterly useless even now with the benefit of hindsight. After MDC failed to implement even one democratic reform SADC leaders and the party’s international backers abandoned the party in disgust.
“MDC leaders were busy enjoying themselves during the GNU forgetting what they were there for!” commented one SADC diplomat is sheer exasperation after Zanu PF swept back into power following the rigged 2013 elections.
Zimbabweans too should have deserted MDC in droves; they did not and continue to follow the party blindly like sheep to the slaughter. As long as Zimbabweans remain naïve and gullible there is no hope of the country ever getting out of this hell-hole Zanu PF landed us in! None!
“Bikita West youth, John Mupanduki, was abducted at around 0200hrs at Nyika Growth point on Friday. The perpetrators used an unmarked car.
ReplyDeleteHe was found yesterday badly tortured & disoriented. We call for an end to abductions of opposition members, torture & political violence.
In an update on Sunday afternoon, the MDC Alliance said Mupanduki had made an official report at Bikita Police Station Law and Order after an initial report at Nyika Base,” said MDC- Alliance.
"What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!" thundered Robert Mugabe as Zanu PF unleashed the party's green bombers, war vets, army, Police, CIO and Prison Service personal to punish the people for daring to reject the party in the March 2008 vote. Zanu PF had just blatantly cheated, whittling down Tsvangirai's 73% of the votes to 47%, enough to force the runoff.
Zanu PF has since upgraded its subtle vote rigging ability but has always resorted to wanton violence if its hold on power was threatened. The abduction of Mupanduki, the assault and killing of Nyasha Zhambe in November last year, etc. are all meant to remind us all that Zanu PF retains the option of using wanton violence and is not shy to exercise that option.
There will never be free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to take away Zanu PF's carte blanche dictatorial powers. The only reason MDC leaders have failed to implement the reforms and have insisted in holding elections with no reforms is because Chamisa and company do not care about the wanton violence as long as they get the scraps of the spoils of power.
It is for the ordinary Zimbabweans to open their eyes and put an end to this madness of rigged elections. The people must demand the implementation of reforms before elections and have no part in these flawed elections!
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) yesterday admitted that it had deprived thousands of prospective first-time voters an opportunity to participate in the upcoming by-elections after it failed to provide adequate and accessible registration centres throughout the country.
ReplyDeleteZec has already closed the voters' roll for the by-elections slated for March 26 this year.
The electoral management body has been in the eye of a storm over the past few weeks after it gave two different figures regarding the number of first-time voters it registered last year.
Initially, it said only 2 000 had registered as first-time voters throughout the year, but later revised the figure to 2 951.
Zec courted the ire of civic groups after it initially indicated that 22 000 deceased voters would be removed from the voters' roll, before bumping up the figure to 35 085.
ZEC has never produced something as basic as a verified voters’ roll and, without reforming it, never will. The tragedy is we have MDC leaders who are as keen as mustard to participate in these flawed elections because they are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as a bribe. The MDC leaders tell their supporters they have “winning in rigged elections strategies” to cover their greed and the supporters are foolish enough to believe the nauseating nonsense!
These elections should not be taking place without first implementing the reforms and the ordinary Zimbabweans should refused to play any part in this madness. These elections are being rigged in advance and the people must condemn them as a meaningless farce in advance!
LUSAKA Mayor Chilando Chitangala has declared war on more than 3,000 foreigners are trading in Lusaka Central Business District, most of whom she said are Zimbabweans and other foreigners riding on fake Zambian names to cover up their stay in the neighbouring country.
ReplyDeleteThe Patriotic Front-PF politician warned that the Lusaka council in collaboration with the Immigration department will soon remove the foreigners from the city in order to restore sanity
The statements by Chitangula come as nearly 200 000 Zimbabweans are also under the cosh across the Limpopo where their stay on special exemption permits is on the line, with just under 12 months left to regularise their stay or face being deported.
The economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe has been allowed to go on for decades and now it is spilling over into neighbouring countries in the region and beyond. It is imperative that Zimbabweans must finally sit up and find solutions to this mess, we have kicked the can down the road for decades and now we have come to the end of the road.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections; decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness have earned the nation the pariah state status and destroyed the nation’s economy. We had many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and restore good governance, notable during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, but wasted them all.
We need to implement the democratic reforms now and a matter of great urgency and end the tragic human suffering of our people and stop being such a disruptive neighbour!
The Government has started rehabilitating access roads to chiefs' homesteads countrywide to improve accessibility to traditional leaders as well as enhance their dignity and development in communities.
ReplyDeleteThe Chiefs' Access Road Rehabilitation Programme is being implemented through the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP 2) and is part of the Government's Devolution and Decentralisation agenda.
Under the ERRP2, Government has rehabilitated roads in the country's cities and towns.
This has everything to do with the chiefs getting new twin-cab trucks when local hospitals have no ambulance because chiefs are proxy Zanu PF political commissars. The 2023 elections are coming and it is in Zanu PF’s interest to make sure that its commissars are happy bunnies!