Ever since the 2013 elections
Zimbabwe’s political and economic situation have all got decided worse than
before. What makes our situation so intolerable is that it is all a man-made
problem, created by a regime we did not even vote to govern us. Mugabe and Zanu
PF blatantly rigged the 2013 elections to stay in power and give us all
hell-on-earth!
Zimbabwe’s next elections are due in
July 2018 and this time no stone must be left turned to ensure these elections
are free, fair and credible!
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends
failed to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU and the new
constitution was weak and feeble it was a foregone conclusion the July 2013 elections
would NOT be free and fair. If the democratic reforms are not implemented
BEFORE the 2018 elections then Mugabe will, once again, blatantly rig those
elections and the nation’s political and economic nightmare will continue!
Zimbabweans like castigating Mugabe’s
corruption and tyrannical rule but what many do not seem to realize that is not
going to end his rule and get us out of the mess. By the same token it is naïve
for the people to look up to Tsvangirai and his fellow opposition leaders to
implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. If MDC
failed to get even one reform implemented during the GNU, when they had the
majority in cabinet and parliament and had SADC’s backing, what chance now when
Mugabe has the upper hand.
After the rigged 2013 elections, all
the MDC factions were united in their demand for electoral reforms and vowed
they would not take part in any future elections until the reforms are
implemented. Last year the MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai broke rank with the
rest of the opposition parties to announce that the party will end its
elections boycott because they have devised ways to force Zanu PF “kicking and
screaming” to implement the electoral reforms. MDC-T said this would be done by
the end of 2015.
No reforms have been implemented to
date and we are already nearly halfway into 2016. This was just grandstanding
and posturing by Tsvangirai.
Indeed, even if Mugabe conceded and
implement all the electoral reforms Tsvangirai is calling for, the country will
still not have free and fair elections it will take a lot more that realigning
existing laws to the new constitution because the latter is weak and feeble to
deliver free and fair elections.
“Personally, I was in two minds
about the new draft constitution,” admitted former Senior David Coltart in his
Book, The Struggle continues, “because although I recognised it as a
remarkable achievement, in my opinion it remained deeply flawed. First, it did “not
adequately cater for the fact that man cannot be trusted with power”.
“One thing the American founding
fathers understood well was that if men are given unfettered or excessive power
they have a natural tendency to abuse it, and to counter this they built in all
sorts of checks and balances,” continued Coltart. He then admitted the new constitution
“gave far too much power to the executive” with no checks and balances!
Senator Coltart went on to give
graphic details of how Mugabe used his unfettered powers to rig the July 2013 elections.
If you do not read Coltart’s whole book then just read Chapter 27 giving the details
of the election irregularities and vote rigging, it will be clear no amount of tinkering with electoral laws will take back
Mugabe’s dictatorial powers or stop him abusing them!
“What exactly do you expect povo to
do to ensure the next elections are free and fair?” someone would ask.
If the people of Zimbabwe were to
realize the nation cannot afford another rigged elections that would be a very
significant first step. It is the first step that is hardest to make.
The second step would be for the
people to realize that it is up to them and not the corrupt and incompetent
opposition leaders to demand that everything necessary is done to ensure the next
elections are free and fair.
The third step would be for the
people to demand the formation of an independent body that will be tasked to
implement the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA which are designed to
dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and allow for free, fair and democratic
elections to take place.
If the people successfully carried
out the first two steps then SADC and the international community will back
them up and leave Harare in no doubt that they too want to see the return of
law and order in Zimbabwe, an end to the corruption and misrule, an end to the human
suffering and political and economic stability restored in the region.
Zimbabwe’s next elections, set for 2018, will be won and lost on the four main fronts:
ReplyDelete1) Who can amass the most funds
Zanu PF commandeers all the state resources and has the several chests full of the billions looted from Ma-range and other sources.
2) Who has control of the state institutions and thus has control of the electoral process
The President appoints all the Police, Army, CIO, ZEC, Judiciary, Public Media, etc. and they all do his bidding.
3) Violence, whosoever is feared most by the people, especially in the rural areas, will have their vote
Zanu PF thugs and war vets may be depleted as a result of these factional wars tearing Zanu PF apart still as long as those few have the state machinery behind them they will continue to call the shots!
4) Intelligence; blatantly rigging elections is one thing but unless one is still able to cover one’s tracks and con-fuse the opponent victory can be turned into humiliating defeat in an instance if the details of the vote rigging were to be leaked.
This has to be Zanu PF's soft underbelly because keeping something as public as blatantly rigging national elections a secret is a serious challenge. Still given President Mugabe's cunningness compared with Tsvangirai and Mujuru's breath-taking incompetence, my money is on the former getting away with murder, literally!
There only way to effectively stop all Zanu PF election shenanigans on all the four fronts is by implementing the far reaching democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA.
It is laughable therefore that Mai Mujuru has done absolutely nothing to implement even one democratic reform and yet she and her ZimPF friends are already saying they are ready for the 2018 elections! How is that for flaunting one’s naivety and incompetency!
"Personally, I was in two minds about the new draft constitution," admitted former Senior David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle continues, "because although I recognised it as a remarkable achievement, in my opinion it remained deeply flawed. First, it did "not adequately cater for the fact that man cannot be trusted with power".
ReplyDelete"One thing the American founding fathers understood well was that if men are given unfettered or excessive power they have a natural tendency to abuse it, and to counter this they built in all sorts of checks and balances," continued Coltart. He then admitted the new constitution "gave far too much power to the executive" with no checks and balances
So if the March 2013 constitution gave President Mugabe excessive power with no checks and balances and Senator David Coltart and his MDC friends were aware of this very serious shortcoming then why the devil did MDC ask the people to approve this stupid constitution? Senator Coltart was even surprised that President Mugabe used his excessive powers to rig the elections. Mugabe is a tyrant for Pete’s sake, what else did he expect of the tyrant!