“A group of prominent
Zimbabweans calling themselves “concerned citizens” have proposed a
non-political National Transitional Authority to take over the running of the
country from the Mugabe regime until “fair” elections can be held,” said a report
by Peta Thorncroft.
There is nothing original or
new about the call for a transitional government as a way out of Zimbabwe’s
political paralysis and economic mess what is new is that the group accepts the
need for deep rooted democratic reforms as contrast to the wishy-washy “electoral
law realignment” Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T and Tendai Biti’s PDP have been
calling for.
“We are of the opinion that
no election in the current political climate, whether called early or in 2018,
can resolve the deep structural deficits in the state; and, in any event, no
election without considerable reform of the state and the creation of a level
playing field, can possibly lead to a legitimate outcome,” the group said.
The group calling itself Platform
of Concerned Citizens (PCC) has 25 members including Trevor Ncube, Elinor
Sisulu and by Judith Todd.
However the group’s proposal
to keep the existing parliament and senate is a none-starter. The group has
already accepted the need to implement far reaching democratic reforms to ensure
the next elections are free, fair and credible. So if both parliament and
senate are stuffed with busy-bodies who are only there because they rigged the
elections there can only be one reason why they are being allowed to stay on –
a soap to Mugabe and his cronies to accept the transition government.
Parliament and senate are the
highest law making bodies in the land and if the transition government
acknowledges this political reality then it must accept the consequence that
parliament and senate will dictate to the transition government. Zimbabwe is in
this political and economic mess because for 36 years the nation has sort to
appease Mugabe and his cronies instead of doing the right thing.
The right thing to do here is
to set up a transition government and allow it to get on with the job of
dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship, which is a challenge in itself given the dictatorship
extends from the highest office in the land right down to village, and not be hamstrung
with institutions whose only interest would be to preserve as much of the
dictatorship as they can.
Mugabe and Zanu PF have
dragged this nation to the very edge of the abyss and if nothing is done as a
matter of urgency the nation will tip over the edge with tragic consequences
for the people of Zimbabwe and the whole SADC region! This must not be allowed
to happen. The proposed transition government by the PCC offers a viable way
out.
We in the Zimbabwe Social
Democrats whole heartedly support the PCC’s proposed transition government and
would edge all Zimbabweans, SADC and the International community to do the same.
The Zanu PF dictatorship is not just one man and if anyone think they can implement any meaningfully democratic reforms whilst Zanu PF still controls parliament, the judiciary, army, police and every sector of Zimbabwe society is a dreamer.
ReplyDeleteThe only big thing of value PCC have added to the debate on NTA is accepting that the democratic reforms required are more far reaching than those MDC-T were proposing.
What hope is there of delivering meaningful democratic change if a Zanu PF is allowed to continue to control parliament all the other State institutions?
ReplyDeleteWhilst this proposal is a significant improvement to the rubbish Tsvangirai and Musewe have been proposing, it however still has some serious weaknesses that will make it impossible to deliver its primary objective of dismantling the dictatorship.
We have had too many false starts, too many disappointments and too many have suffered and too many have died. Whilst this proposal is an improvement on the proposals that have gone before it, still it has some very serious shortcomings not to be seen for what it is, another false start.
After 36 years of independence surely we KNOW what must be done to finally restore the freedoms and human rights of our people and, by God, hope that we finally have the courage and resolve to do it!