Gutu acknowledges 2018 elections will NOT be free - how will coalition stop vote rigging. By Wilbert Mukori

Politics is like marriage, it is not to be entered into lightly because once the vote has been, like the tying the marriage knot, it will take years to withdraw the vote/ to divorce. The consequences of having had a corrupt and incompetent representative decide the nation’s destiny in the intervening years are far worse than the consequence of having married a wrong partner in that the later affects a few individuals whereas the form affects a whole nation.

I confess that I was one of the millions of Zimbabweans who voted for or tried to vote for Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends since the party’s formation in 1999. It was not until the rigged July 2013 election that I finally realized just how corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders are; I have regretted my folly on having entrusted the nation’s destiny in such irresponsible hands.

“The Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai is arguably Zimbabwe's most popular and largest political party in terms of membership,” boosted Obert Gutu, MDC-T spokesman.

I am ashamed to say my vote helped put MDC into that position and now it will take another five years, at least, to bring down these useless men and women! I will do my best to argue Zimbabweans NOT to vote for MDC ever again because they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent.

Like millions of other Zimbabweans out there, I too have supported and voted for MDC because I want to see regime change and Tsvangirai and company were elected on a ticket to deliver democratic change. The truth is MDC has had many chances to deliver the changes, with the best chance ever coming during the GNU. They had five years to implement the democratic reforms but failed to get even one reforms implemented. Not one!

The only logical reason why MDC failed to implement any reform is that the MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent. President Mugabe bribed them with the gravy train lifestyle plus the $4 million Highlands Mansion for Tsvangirai; MDC leaders took the bait and kicked reforms into the tall grass. Worse still, MDC leaders will never implement any reforms because they have clearly learnt nothing from the past.

“The rigging machinery went into overdrive on July 31, 2013 when even some Zanu PF Parliamentary candidates were totally surprised how they had managed to win in certain constituencies that are traditionally MDC strongholds,” acknowledged Obert Gutu.

“ … As currently constituted, there is a snowball's chance in hell that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC),will be able to conduct a free and fair election in 2018. ….. This, therefore, speaks to the urgent need for having a powerful coalition of opposition political parties to take Zanu PF head on in Election 2018.”

In other words Gutu acknowledges three basic realities:

1. That MDC had mass support in the 2013 elections but the party still lost even in its strongholds because

 

1. Zanu PF has a well-oiled vote rigging machinery and when it went into “overdrive” MDC did not have a chance

 

1. And most important of all, as things stand, with Zanu PF still having its well-oiled vote rigging machinery still firmly in place there is no chance of the next elections been free, fair and credible.

 

1. The opposition must form a strong coalition, concluded Gutu!

Of course Obert Gutu’s conclusion does not make any sense; MDC did not lose the July 2013 elections because the party did not have popular support, it did. It lost because Zanu PF had a well-oiled vote rigging machinery rendering MDC’s popular support useless. The logical conclusion here is and can only be to mobilize all resources to ensure the democratic reforms designed to dismantle Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut are implemented.

Frankly we should not be surprised that MDC-T has done nothing to implement the reforms since the rigged July 2013 elections; these MDC leaders did not implement any reforms during the GNU because they were breathtakingly incompetent and corrupt. They are still breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent today and hence will never implement any reform.

Many Zimbabweans have continued to support MDC post July 2013 because they cannot see Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders for the corrupt and incompetent leaders they are. Yes the failure to implement even one reform provided a mountain of evidence proving beyond doubt that Tsvangirai et al are corrupt and incompetent. But what is the good of presenting someone with the majestic view of Mount Kilimanjaro when they cannot ever comprehend the anthill because everything beyond their few metres bubble of vision is blurred and black.

Then there are some Zimbabweans who acknowledge that MDC are corrupt and incompetent they still nonetheless continue to support the party hoping against hope that they will one day deliver the regime change we nation has been dying for. Their attention is now focused on removing Mugabe from power Tsvangirai’s antics are nothing in comparison. What these people are forgetting is the elected Tsvangirai to remove Mugabe and therefore his repeated failure to do this are now more important than removing Mugabe in that the removal of the tyrant is now dependent on replacing Tsvangirai with someone competent.

We have not found anyone competent to implement the democratic reforms and thus finally deliver the free, fair and credible elections we need to get out of this hell-hole not because there are no such competent Zimbabweans but because we have never looked. Whilst we still hold hope that the failed Tsvangirai will deliver change we will never look for anyone else.

‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result,’ said the great Physicist Albert Einstein.

Tsvangirai et al have already proven beyond all reasonable doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent for any Zimbabwean to vote for them in future is not just an act of folly but sheer insanity.