The trouble with being neophyte philosophers is that people
do not take them seriously even when they have said something sensible because of
the yawning chasm between what they say and what they do. Our MDC MP for
Bulawayo South, Eddie Cross, is one such greenhorn philosopher who words and
actions are poles apart!
“If you are in government or business, then you need to
maintain a sense of proportion – what is important? What is really urgent, so
urgent that it has to be dealt with NOW!” advised MP Cross in his latest article.
“It is so easy to be diverted by things that are not really
in any sense important or deal breaking. However sometimes things creep up on
us which turn out to be anything but trivial and which have the potential to
change a whole lot of things and which, if not attended to will cause damage.”
Has it
ever occurred to MP Cross that implementing the democratic reforms agreed in
the GPA during the GNU were both important and urgent, “so urgent that it (implementing
the reforms) has (had) to be dealt with NOW (immediately)”? Then why the dickens
did MDC fail to implement the reforms? We would not be in this mess with Mugabe
and Zanu PF back in power and ruining all our lives!
Yes sometimes
things do “creep up on us which turn out to be anything but trivial” but that
would be a feeble excuse for MDC’s failure to implement any reforms because:
- SADC and many others reminded MDC leaders, including (no doubt) MP Cross himself, throughout the GNU to implement the reforms but MDC paid no heed.
- MDC had five years to implement the reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one! With so time in the hands to carry out this important and urgent task, which they had initially said they would do in a year and half, it is nonsense to talk of time creeping up on them.
Even
now, with the benefit of hindsight, MP Cross and many of his follow MDC leaders
continue to treat their failure to implement the reforms during the GNU as if
it is a trivial matter. If the reforms were implemented then Zimbabweans would
have had their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free,
fair and credible elections denied to them for all these years finally restored.
Mugabe
and Zanu PF would NOT have blatantly rigged the election and being unelectable,
because of their track record of corruption, incompetence and murderous
oppression, Zanu PF would not have won free and fair elections. In short Mugabe
and Zanu PF would not be in power ruining the economic and destroying all our
lives and dreams.
Implementing
the GPA reforms is the single most important and urgent issue of our time
because with no reform there is no hope of this nation hoping free, fair and
credible elections – the pre-requisite for breaking the no-regime-change mantra
Mugabe imposed on the nation and replacing it with a good and democratic
regime. Only a good and democratic regime will have the vision and political
will to implement the tough economic reforms required for economic recovery.
By
failing to get even one reform implemented MP Cross and his fellow MDC leaders
have proven beyond doubt that they are breathtakingly incompetent and corrupt.
These are very serious charges so serious that in healthy and functioning
democratic nations any leader found to be incompetent and/or would apologize
and resign for good from ever holding public office.
@ tomorrow11
ReplyDeleteYou do not think forcing incompetent and corrupt leaders like MDC leaders to walk the plunk is offering a way forward?
I have suggested that we demand the implementation of the GPA democratic reforms and not the wishy-washy electoral law reforms that Obert Gutu is now admitting will change nothing. Is that not a solution?
The GPA reforms are dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship and break the undemocratic cords tying institution like the Police, ZEC, Public Media, etc. to Zanu PF. The reforms are to restore the independence of the Police, etc so they can perform their democratic duties without fear or favour.
To dismiss the GPA reforms as useless when you have not implemented even one reform is the defeatist attitude that would get you nowhere.
I have repeated the call for the GPA reforms because that is the only roadmap out of the mess we are in. To switch to the wishy-washy electoral law reform, NERA, MDC is proposing is a waste of time. I will stop calling for the GPA reforms if you can give me another roadmap; I will not abandon the reforms just because they were proposed in 2008 much less because you want something new.
Corrupt and incompetent leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai, Eddie Cross, Welshman Ncube, Obert Gutu, Nelson Chamisa, Simba Makoni, Dumiso Dabengwa, Joice Mujuru, Robert Mugabe to name but a few will never ever admit to having failed because being incompetent and even more being corrupt is not something one would do by accident.
ReplyDeleteMugabe has consistently appointed mediocre people like Simon Muzenda and Joice Mujuru, for example, ending up with some of the most incompetent people in key positions. That was not by accident or because he is incompetent himself; he did that deliberately knowing these people will never aspire for higher office and thus challenge him for the presidency. Shaka reportedly killed all his male children; Mugabe is being a bit more subtle!
Joice Mujuru and Morgan Tsvangirai are genuinely incompetent in many ways. The both do not have a clue what the democratic reforms we have been talking about are, for example, and therefore it is too much to expect them to implement them fully and correctly even if they wanted to.
So because corruption and being incompetent are not mistakes those found guilty of these acts must be removed from office and never allowed to hold public office again. The instinctive response of the guilty individuals is to deny they are corrupt and incompetent. The challenge is for the electorate to be vigilant and hold these people to account.
Our friend Eddie Cross is proving to be as smooth and slippery as a catfish, one must push one's fingers through his gills and hold him down. These Zanu PF and MDC leaders have betrayed the nation and they must never be allowed to get away with their treachery! Never ever!
@ Choto
ReplyDeleteThe need for reforms to be implemented BEFORE any elections was valid during the GNU and is still valid today.
During the GNU the process was clear, MDC were to propose the ZEC reforms, say, and have them passed in parliament; MDC had the majority in parliament. President Mugabe was then asked to sign off the proposals, if he refused the SADC as the guarantor of the GPA would step in and remind Mugabe that they expect him to honour the GPA.
Now that the GPA has expired with no reforms implemented the nation will have to figure out an-other mechanism, an independent body sounds like a way forward since Zanu PF (which is what MDC is proposing) can never be trusted to implement the reforms.
The most important task at present is to get everyone behind the demand to implement the GPA reforms; that battle must be won and won decisively. We do not want to win the fight over who will implement the reforms and how only to find it is the MDC-T electoral reforms that will be implemented.