Caveat populo! (Let the people beware!) with no reforms it is HEAD Mugabe wins TAIL MDC lose. By Wilbert Mukori

The story goes that a man bought a horse on the mistaken belief that the animal was a strong animal with many productive years ahead of it. It was a strong beast alright but did not have many productive years left; he assumed the animal was six years old when in fact it twelve years old.

 

The wise King, before whom the case had been brought to settle the bitter dispute, asked the man how he had worked out the horse’s age.

 

“The horse is a strongly built animal with bulging muscles so I guessed it was six years old. A week after taking delivery of the animal I noticed its molars were no more than stump where a great tree had once proudly stood!”

 

“Excellent! Excellent!” commented the wise King. “You had the opportunity to inspect the horse before you paid for it but chose to judge the animal on the basis of his size and bulging muscles alone. It was your fault!”

 

“Caveat emptor!” Latin for “Let the buyer beware!” The buyer buys “as is” complete with all the defects; it is for the buyer to examine, judge and test the good and satisfy himself or herself of its suitability for the purpose or need.

 

If no GPA reforms are implemented BEFORE the next elections, as happened in the 2013 elections, then Mugabe will once again rig the elections. “Caveat populo!” (Let the people beware!)

 

Zimbabwean elections are infamous for the horse trading after each election. The opposition always complain that the elections were rigged and Zanu PF, with the feigned angelic innocence of the devil’s imp, countered claimed that the elections were free, fair and credible. If people take part in the next election with no implemented reforms it is their fault; they must not complain after the elections that they were rigged because they knew up front Mugabe would rig the elections.

 

In the 2013 elections SADC leaders, amongst many others, literally begged Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to take part in the election without implementing the GPA reforms; MDC ignored the warning. They took part in the elections with their tails raised high like a warthog, bristling with enthusiasm and confidence the party will have land slide electoral victory.

 

 Warthog tail up, bristling with enthusiasm and appetite for life.

 

“We in the MDC were wrong in participating in that (2013 general) election,” admitted the deflated Morgan Tsvangirai after Mugabe blatantly rigged the vote to register landslide victory for himself and Zanu PF. “On the assumption and belief that the sheer numbers of Zimbabweans would overwhelm whatever shenanigans Zanu PF had planned to subvert the will of the people.”

 

Tsvangirai, MDC and the nation at large were warned, without implementing the reforms first, Mugabe would rig the elections. The warning was valid before the 2013 elections it is still valid today.

 

Instead of implementing the GPA reforms Tsvangirai and his party have come up alternative electoral law reforms, listed in the party’s National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA); wishy-washy reforms which will never deliver free and fair election even if Zanu PF was to implement them. A few days ago; after two and half years since the rigged July 2013 of time wasting on NERA, MDC-T has now admitted implementing NERA alone will not deliver free and fair elections.

 

“Whilst the MDC welcomes any moves to ensure and guarantee the holding of a free and fair plebiscite in 2018,” wrote MDC-T spokesman, Obert Gutu. He was welcoming the Zanu PF government’s announcement that the country will have the biometric voting system ready for the next elections (one NERA demand).

 

“Once the impartiality and independence of ZEC is placed in doubt, Zimbabwe can never hold free and fair elections that can pass the test of legitimacy,” he continued, getting to the meat of the problem.” It is a notorious fact that since the year 2000, all elections that have been held in this country have been hugely disputed.”

 

ZEC’s impartially and independence will only be restore by implementing the GPA reforms. The same is true with all the other institutions like the Police, Judiciary, etc.

 

“Zimbabwe can simply not afford the luxury of holding another disputed election in 2018.Without holding a free and fair election that is credible, it is virtually impossible to extricate Zimbabwe from the prevailing political turmoil and socio-economic collapse,” concluded Gutu.

 

Here are the two explicit national demands (it would have been too much to expect MDC-T to be explicit even in the light of their “later day enlightenment) to Mugabe and his Zanu PF cabal:

 

1. They must accept they have failed to govern the country and accept the full implementation of all the GPA reforms followed by the holding of free, fair and credible elections. This is the only way the country is going to end the worsening economic meltdown that is dragging the nation dangerous close to the precipice.
    
2. Mugabe and Zanu PF must accept the appointment of an independent body to implement the GPA reforms; it is naïve to think Mugabe can be trusted to fully and judiciously implement the reform.

 

To pile on the pressure on Mugabe to accept the above demands the people of Zimbabwe, the opposition parties in all their myriad variations and povo wherever they are, must now pledge that they will never again take part in an elections in Zimbabwe until the GPA reforms are fully implemented.

 

Mugabe has a war chest full of cash from the wholesale looting and plundering of the nation’s resources by this regime’s ruling elite. He got $2 billion from the looting in Marange in 2012 alone, according to Partnership Africa, a Canadian NGO monitoring the illicit trade of diamonds. With all this money he has bankrolled very elaborate vote rigging schemes; for the 2013 he has paid NIKUV, the Israeli company notorious for corrupting voters roll, a princely sum of $10 million for its services! Over and above this Mugabe commandeers all the state resource we wants top up on what he has already.  

 

MDC-T and all the other opposition parties have very little money; indeed most of them are stone-broke! The only reason some opposition parties have continued to take part in such elections is for scraps Mugabe throws at them; to give the electoral process some semblance of a democratic contest Mugabe has allowed the opposition to “win” a few seats.

 

What the people must do is chastise the opposition politicians continue to grant the Zanu PF regime some measure of legitimacy for the sake of the scraps; this nation cannot afford to continue turning a blind eye on those who run with the hare and hunt with the hounds especial when the very stability and survival of the nation is at stake!

 

The people of Zimbabwe have waited for 36 year now for free, fair and credible elections. Whilst they waited, this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has dragged the whole nation deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth. Enough is enough; there is absolutely no excuse why the people should have to wait even one more election before they can finally enjoy their God given right to a free and meaningful vote.

 

Zimbabwe’s next election WILL be free, fair and credible; we WILL implement all the democratic reforms BEFORE the said election to be absolutely sure it is indeed free and fair. Any other fraudulent elections with Mugabe free to rigs such election will not count.

 

We have had a very good look over of the Zanu PF horse, we are not fooled with the dyed coat or the puffed up muscles pumped full of Botox; the horse is half-dead already and we do not want it!

 

Caveat populo! If you vote in the present system, your vote will be counted as a vote for Zanu PF whether you voted for Zanu PF or not and the party has ways of multiplying to increase the Zanu PF votes whilst dividing to reduce the opposition’s votes. If push comes to shove, Zanu PF will not hesitate to use violence to secure election victory. The only way to end this system is by insisting on implementing the GPA reforms Mugabe agreed to in 2008 but were never implemented during the GNU!