The evidence that
Zanu PF is rigging these by-elections and the upcoming 2023 elections is
mounting.
“Local think-tank
Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) and election watchdogs - Election Resource
Centre (ERC) and Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) - yesterday described
the run-up to next week's by-elections and next year's general elections as
heavily manipulated in favour of Zanu-PF, with the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) reportedly ‘placed at the epicentre of the electoral
manipulation machinery’,” reported News Day.
"For example, Bulawayo, an opposition dominated province, has been
allocated 152 voter registration centres while the Zanu-PF stronghold Midlands
province was allocated 354 voter registration centres. It should be noted that
the opposition got 11 parliamentary seats while Zanu-PF got zero seats in
Bulawayo in the 2018 election whereas, in Midlands Zanu-PF got 22 seats while
the opposition got six seats. When ZEC increased voter registration …there is
no doubt that it deliberately aimed at enabling more Zanu-PF supporters to
register while suppressing registration of opposition supporters," quoting
the ZDI report.
"The ruling Zanu-PF party, using its control in government, is creating an
uneven environment ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections. By denying aid to
people who do not support Zanu-PF, the goal is to abuse the people's
vulnerability for political gain, which is unfortunate and against the law. In
addition to politicising aid, Zanu-PF politicians in Mashonaland Central
province held meetings where they issued threats to villagers who did not
support the party," reported Zimbabwe Peace Project.
"Like always, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's party, Zanu-PF takes a lead
in human rights violations recorded this month at 41% and the Zimbabwe Republic
Police, which is under his command as the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence
Forces, comes second after contributing to 37% of human rights violations
recorded in February 2022."
Team Pachedu, another
local group specialising in voters’ roll analysis revealed that ZEC had illegally
transferring about 170 000 voters from their original constituencies and wards
in the voters' roll to be used for the March 26 by-elections.
There is no denying
that Zanu PF is rigging these elections. What has been lacking is the answer to;
what to do about it?
Nelson Chamisa is
calling for a press conference tomorrow 16 March 12.30 at the Media Centre to “demand
electoral reforms”. Of course, Zanu PF
is used to these MDC/CCC demands and will rightly ignore. Zimbabwe had the
golden opportunity to deal with the problem of rigged elections during the 2008
to 2013 GNU and it was none other than MDC leaders who wasted that opportunity.
Zimbabwe’s 2008
elections were a watershed in that we learned the extend of the political rot
in Zimbabwe. Both SADC and AU, who had turned a blind eye to Zanu PF rigged
elections in the past, refused to rubber stamp the 2008 election results and to
recognise Zanu PF as the legitimate government. SADC forced Zanu PF to agree to
democratic reforms to stop the repeat of the 2008 blatant cheating and wanton violence.
It is a great
national tragedy that not even one meaningful reform was implemented during the
2008 to 2013 GNU. SADC leaders advised that the 2013 elections should be
postpone until reforms are implemented but their advice fell on deaf ears,
Zimbabweans would not listen.
It is nonsensical
that Chamisa and his MDC friends should be “demanding reforms” when they were
in the GNU themselves and should have implemented the reforms if they had not
sold out!
MDC/CCC are
participated in these flawed 2013 elections and all other elections since for
the same reason they failed to implement even one reform during the GNU –
greed. By participating in the elections MDC/CCC are giving credibility to the
flawed process and legitimacy to the regime.
What is really
infuriating in all this is that MDC/CCC leaders know that they are selling out,
as David Coltart readily admitted in his book.
“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,” wrote 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.”
The MDC/CCC leaders
have continue to sell out to this day knowing they will get away with it
because most Zimbabweans out there have no clue was the GNU was about much less
that MDC leaders sold out big time. And so, MDC/CCC continue to enjoy public
support with Chamisa even becoming something of a cult leader!
As we can see, Zanu
PF is rigging these elections and many Zimbabweans believe the CCC nonsense of “winning
(Zanu PF) rigged elections!” Of course, it is an oxymoron! Of course, it is
insane, especially after 42 years of rigged elections!
It is both ironic
and tragic that all these organisations ZDI, ERC, ZESN, ZPP, Team Pachedu, etc.
have all come to the same conclusion that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections
and yet none of them had guts to do what SADC leaders did in 2013 - advise that
elections must be postponed until reforms are implemented. They all know that
Nelson Chamisa and co are hell bent on participating and they will not dare
speak truth to power even when the very survival of the nation is at stake.
ZDI a “local think-tank!”
Yeah right! Thinking is not exactly a virtue one would associate with a “sink-tank”
or insanity!
Every thinking Zimbabwean out there – clearly there cannot be that many – must be hanging his/her head in shame. Zimbabwe is not just a failed state but has become the text-book case of a nation that has completely failed to govern itself because we cannot think. We have blundered from pillar to post, we have no clue what constitute free, fair and credible elections; in this day and age! Simply unbelievable!
NEARLY 30 percent of the maize crop Madeline Magwenzi across Midlands Province is now a write off with the total provincial yield already compromised due to the prolonged dry spell that has been experienced for over a month now.
ReplyDeleteIn an interview Midlands provincial crop and livestock officer, Mrs Madeline Magwenzi said crops that are in bad state due to the prolonged dry spell across the province include cotton and soya beans.
This is bad news for a country that is living from hand to mouth, gone are the days Zimbabwe's silos were full of grain enough to feed us all for a year or more. To tell some one that Zimbabwe was once upon a time the breadbasket of the region will be dismissed as a hen’s teeth tale after decades of relying on imported grain.
The war in Ukraine was disrupted food production, this is not the time to have poor harvest!
ZANU PF has issued fresh threats to private voluntary organisations (PVOs), accusing them of using violence and mobilising people to push a sinister political narrative in a fresh fight that has revealed the ruling party’s determination to silence dissent ahead of the 2023 general elections.
ReplyDeleteWe are our own worst enemy, we knew Zanu PF was rigging the elections, knew that by participating we gave the regime legitimacy and now we are paying for out folly! The party has the majority in parliament and is riding roughshod over us all!
It is all very well for CCC to call for such things as media reform now but one has to ask why did MDC not implement any meaningful reforms when they were in power in the 2008 to 2013 GNU?
ReplyDeleteThe idea that CCC is "a new baby with its own DNA" should not be used as an excuse for all the many leaders in the new party refusing to account for their past performance. A baby has the DNA of its parents. In this case Chamisa's DNA has not changed just because he is now wearing yellow and not red. A cobra does not lose its venom just because it has cast off its old skin!
Mnangagwa announce his Second Republic soon after the 2017 military coup and many were naive to believe Zanu PF had been transformed by this simple act. We now know that was not the case, the Zanu PF dictatorship was still intact or be it under new management.
We all know CCC is MDC A by another name. More significantly we know Chamisa, Tendai Biti, etc. from the MDC records and it would be foolish to airbrush their past history just because they have failed to account for it.
"As a party, we demand a new voters roll, which is accurate based on the voters' roll that was used in 2018. By its own admission, ZEC has gone out of its way to say the voters roll that we are auditing was not acquired procedurally, it is a fake, leaked document and it is a draft," Shiriyedenga said.
ReplyDelete"For the benefit of doubt, ZEC must give us the correct version of the voters roll, which does not have all these discrepancies, which reflects the actual situation on the ground. Let us say for argument's sake, the audited voters roll is inaccurate as claimed by ZEC, it should then avail the correct version of the voters roll, which should be used on the March 26 by-election," she said.
ZEC has been denying the messy voters roll saying it has been tampered with and has suspended several officials who are being accused of leaking the document.
What everyone would want to ask is what is CCC going to do if the demand for a clean voters’ roll is ignored? Everyone but especially Zanu PF knows the answer is CCC will do nothing, it has done nothing in the past and so is certain to do the same, and it is this certainty that gives Zanu PF the arrogance to rig these elections.
MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the GNU, the wasted the opportunity out of greed! They are ashamed to admit and so are compounding the situation by lying that the party has strategies to win rigged elections!
VETERAN journalist Geoffrey Nyarota will this evening launch his latest book titled The Honourable Minister, An Anatomy of Endemic Corruption at Royal Harare Golf Club
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr Nyarota for informing, educating ans entertaining our people over the years. I am sure the book will become another source of information and entertainment for generations to come.
“Fears of fresh fissures, insiders confirmed, were also fuelled by a Central Intelligence Organisation report that projected Zanu-PF's probability of winning the 2023 elections at a low 45%. The report cited supporters' disgruntlement with internal election outcomes and Mnangagwa's failure to deliver after the 2017 military coup.”
ReplyDeleteIf Zimbabwe elections were free, fair and credible, Zanu PF will be lucky to get 15% of the vote – the 15% being the ruling elite and their cronies who too know the party is a curse to the nation but only vote for it because they are afraid of losing their loot and, in many cases, being forced to face up to their dirty past.
Zimbabwe had its golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Sadly, the opportunity fall to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who turned out to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent; they failed to implement even one reform in five years.
SADC leaders tried to have the 2013 elections postponed allowing reforms to be implemented and it was none other than the MDC leaders who foiled that move.
Zanu PF has a very good chance of not only winning these elections and get legitimacy because the party has carte blanche power to rig and, by insisting on participating, MDC/CCC is giving Zanu PF legitimacy.
The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC/CCC leaders into power in the hope they would deliver the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship the nation was dying for. Zanu PF bribed the MDC/CCC leaders and they now work to give Zanu PF legitimacy and to perpetuate the dictatorship.
Zimbabwe is a textbook case of a failed state complete with the ordinary citizens wallowing in poverty, like pigs wallowing in mud. Whilst many are now painfully aware of their misery, the penny has finally dropped after decades of blissful indifference; in their desperation to get change they are going for desperate solutions.
ReplyDeleteChamisa and his CCC friends have already proven beyond doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent – they have failed to implement even one reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. Why the nation has been swept off its feet by Chamisa is a measure of the nation’s desperation.
Desperate people do desperate things, supporting Chamisa and participating in these flawed elections, especially after 42 years of rigged elections is insane. The nation will pay dearly for the folly!
Those who will not learn from the past are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again and pay dearly with each repeat! We in Zimbabwe still believe we can have a competent government without ever holding free and fair elections. We have failed to do so in the last 42 years but are still determined to try!
Chamisa also said he better placed to protect the country's liberation war heritage and its ideals than Mnangagwa.
ReplyDelete"We want Mnangagwa to retire and watch how we run this country. If he goes, we don't need five days to turn the fortunes of the country, we will stop corruption and theft of national resources," Chamisa said.
"I can assure you that I can defend the ideals of the revolution better than Mnangagwa. Under my leadership, I will not allow an inch of Zimbabwe, its resources and sovereignty to go into the
Chamisa, who lost a Constitutional Court challenge after Mnangagwa won the controversial 2018 presidential election by a narrow margin, said he would not take the same route.
"This time I am not going to take any issue of electoral fraud to court. I tell you this time it is never going to happen, not this time around," Chamisa said.
On land reform, he assured resettled farmers that he would not evict or displace them from their farms.
"If you are a farmer, don't worry. We will not take your farm from you, there will be no reversal of the land reform programme. In fact, we will give you title deeds for your farms, unlike Zanu-PF which abuses the land question to make you support it," Chamisa said.
Chamisa has been wooing the war veterans, the Police, Army, CIO and all the other key players running the Zanu PF vote rigging machinery with promised that they will all be allowed to keep their positions and looted wealth is they switched allegiance to support him and not Mnangagwa. He is promising the ordinary Zimbabweans to do the exact opposite!
“We don't need five days to turn the fortunes of the country, we will stop corruption and theft of national resources!” he said.
Make no mistake, Chamisa will allow the Police, etc. to keep their positions and the looting to continue just to consolidate his hold on power and damn the poor. There will be no meaningful democratic changes implemented, just as MDC failed to implement any meaningful reforms during the GNU. Zimbabwe will remain a pariah state, ruled by the same thugs or be it with a few new faces and all wearing yellow and new party regalia! There will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state.
Chamisa and Khupe did not fall out over ideology or anything substantive, they are both corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless as their track record shows especially the failure to implement any meaningful reforms in five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. All they want is power and are great opportunists.
ReplyDeleteGreed is the only irresistible force in their universe. They both forgot about the reforms during the GNU because Mugabe bribed them. They have both participated in flawed elections knowing doing so would give Zanu PF legitimacy but did not care because they also knew Zanu PF would give away a few gravy train seats – that they found irresistible.
If each one of them has found nothing wrong with marrying Zanu PF dictators for the sake of political power, it is no surprise the two are kissing and making up for power sake! Chamisa and his supporters have already forgotten they ever called Khupe a rotten apple and a Zanu PF agent!
The tragedy for Zimbabwe is that the nation is caught between a rock and the deep blue sea. Stuck with Zanu PF that has already proven beyond all doubt to be corrupt and incompetent but is still in power only because it rigs elections. The country had the golden opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but was wasted by MDC/CCC failing to implement even one meaningful reform.
ReplyDeleteIt is none other than CCC that is giving Zanu PF legitimacy by participating in these flawed elections refusing to do the obvious – implement the reforms and thus end the curse of rigged elections.