My brother Vince Musewe is
a confused man and sadly he is confusing our people and dragging down the fight
for democratic change instead of advancing it. Whilst the case for the National
Transition Authority (NTA) whose primary task will be to implement democratic
reforms to ensure the next elections are free, fair and credible has been made.
It has been said again and
again that no amount of electoral reforms be it realignment of the existing
laws or drafting new laws within the confines of the new 2013 constitution will
deliver free and fair elections because the new constitution is weak and
feeble. So by wittering on and on about electoral reforms Musewe only shows
that he still stuck on electoral reforms!
“The bottom line is that
we cannot wait and hope for electoral reforms and even so, electoral reforms
alone are not adequate to create an environment conducive to free and fair
elections without addressing the issues of the economy, security, freedom of
speech and association, overt intimidation, police brutality, violence and
partisan institutions among others,” admitted Musewe.
So if the “electoral
reforms alone are not adequate”, I agree 100% no amount of twitting the laws without
changing the feeble constitution will ever end overt intimidation; the question
is why then are you wasting time demanding something we know will be
inadequate?
SADC and the whole international community
have expressed they willingness to help Zimbabwe resolve its present political
paralysis and get out of the economic mess but they will only help if we show
them that we are serious. How can we say we are serious if continue talking of
implementing electoral reforms even when we admit they will not deliver free
and fair elections; that is chasing a mirage and SADC will never join us in
that.
The 2008 to 2013 GNU
accomplished nothing because Tsvangirai, Biti and all the other MDC leaders
wasted time “enjoying themselves being in government and forgot why they were
there,” as SADC leaders said soon after the rigged July 2013 elections. SADC
will not want into yet another Zimbabwe crisis with no hope of achieve
anything!
“We are in a crisis and we
need to deal with the economy today and not wait for 2018,” continued Musewe.
For the thousandth time
brother Musewe; Zimbabwe’s economic crisis is the by-product of the country’s
political paralysis. As long as we have a political system that allows those in
power to do as they please; be it Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs, Mai Mujuru and
her ZimPF (they are Zanu PF thugs in all but name) or the corrupt and
incompetent Tendai Biti, Morgan Tsvangirai, etc. with their various MDC factions;
Zimbabwe’s economic prosperity will remain a pipe dream.
The 2018 elections are
less than two years away and still nothing has been done to implement the
reforms and thus ensure the elections are free, fair and credible. The call to
do something about the economic crisis when you know there is nothing you can
do (if there was then why the devil have you not done it all these last 36
years?) it typical of you Musewe – a confused man who talks too much and
confusing others!
he bottom line is that we cannot wait and hope for electoral reforms and even so, electoral reforms alone are not adequate to create an environment conducive to free and fair elections without addressing the issues of the economy, security, freedom of speech and association, overt intimidation, police brutality, violence and partisan institutions among others.
ReplyDeleteWhether we like it or not brother Vince Musewe is considered one of Zimbabwe's intellectuals in that many people listen to him; sadly he is not much of an intellectual in that he is a confused person with a loud voice.
ReplyDelete"The bottom line is that we cannot wait and hope for electoral reforms and even so, electoral reforms alone are not adequate to create an environment conducive to free and fair elections without addressing the issues of the economy, security, freedom of speech and association, overt intimidation, police brutality, violence and partisan institutions among others," he has finally admitted.
The question then is why is he asking the nation to continue demanding the implementation of electoral reforms which are inadequate in that they will not deliver the free and fair elections we want?
SADC helped Zimbabwe during the GNU but were let down by MDC leaders who had no clue what reforms we needed and so failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. SADC wants to help Zimbabwe but they are not going to do so if we cannot even agree on what reforms we want implemented!
We are really becoming experts at shooting ourselves in the foot!
ReplyDeleteMDC wasted the GNU years and failed to get even one meaningful reform implemented. Not one! Yet the party is a movement for democratic changed, elected to deliver democratic change.
It is obvious why MDC failed to implement even one reform, they had no clue what reforms are required. How can Tsvangirai implement anything when he has no clue what that thing is!
Our opposition leaders are now stuck of electoral reforms and even the most enlightened amoung them like Musewe who acknowledge the electoral reforms are wishy-washy and will never stop the violence, looting of national resources to bankroll vote rigging schemes, etc. cannot bring themselves to throw out this NERA nonsense.
I agree with you 100%, SADC or anyone else out there will never support Zimbabwe as long as we keep calling for useless reforms. If we want to chase the mirage for another 36 years, that is our choice but we should not expect anyone else to join us in our madness!
The trouble with many Zimbabweans is that they never stop to consider the problem from other people's point of view; they have never considered what SADC leaders think of being involved in Zimbabwe's never ending merry-go-round crisis. SADC leaders were involved during the GNU and got their fingers badly burnt as they found themselves the ones pushing for the implementation of the reforms with MDC ignoring them and Zanu PF taunting they and accusing them of interfering in Zimbabwe's internal affairs! Why would SADC want to be involved again especially when they know the opposition camp they will have to work with to implement the reform is still the same corrupt and incompetent lot of yesteryear recycled and shuffled around.
DeleteIf are are ever going to get out of this hell-hole then we have a lot of soul introspective work to do amongst ourselves. For the last 36 years we have blundered from pillar to post because we have never allowed ourselves time to think; it is high time we posed and admitted this is not working and changed!
“The former PM said he was sure of winning presidential elections in 2018 if all electoral reforms were implemented.”
ReplyDeleteImplementing the reforms is the key issue here and we know that not even one reform has been implemented and there is nothing to suggest that any reform will be implemented. This is like saying if pigs can fly I will go places. There is no point packing to go places as if packing is what is stopping pigs fly!
The irony here is that it was Tsvangirai who had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the GNU but failed to get even one reform implemented! Not one, in five years of the GNU.
Both Tsvangirai and Mujuru have proven beyond doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent it the failure by Zimbabweans themselves to see this basic political reality that is at the heart of our nation’s economic and political nightmare. By continuing to follow failed leaders, even when there is a mountain of evidence they are corrupt and incompetent, speaks volumes of us the electorate. Are we really that stupid we will make the same mistake again and again and never learn!
We are in this political mess because we have been naïve and stupid, we have to learn and be smart or we will never ever get out of this hell-hole. We want to see the end of the Zanu PF dictatorship but to replace it with Tsvangirai and/or Mujuru is downright stupid!
@ Professor Xavier
ReplyDeleteThe people of Zimbabwe have to learn the important lesson that it pays in the end to get the best in the beginning, in this case, take the trouble to elect competent leaders to replace Zanu PF thugs instead of falling into the trap of anyone else other than Zanu PF will do. Mujuru is Zanu PF by another name and the people are so naive they fail to see that!
We should be calling for implementing all the democratic reforms and not waste time on some reforms and forget others. Even if Makarau found the money to register voters in the diaspora what makes you think NIKUV will not tamper with that voters roll?
ReplyDeleteBulawayo Hospital has too suspending all elective surgery because of shortage of drugs.
ReplyDeleteThis is happening in a country in which $15 billions are looted and no one is ever arrested! Even if anyone wanted to help they are forced to do nothing because this is clearly a case where the people themselves are doing nothing to help themselves. What have the people of Zimbabwe themselves ever done to make sure those who looted the $15 billion are arrested? Nothing much!
It is sad really that even the likes of Vince Musewe can still not make up their minds what reforms we should be implementing. The issue of democratic change, democratic reforms, dates back to the late 1990s when it became increasingly clear that Zanu PF was rigging elections to stay in power and the only way to stop the vote rigging is by carrying out democratic reforms designed to dismantle the institutionalised vote rigging.
ReplyDeleteIf any Zimbabweans had not thought through what the reforms were, SADC leaders helped to put the meat on the bones during the 2008 GPA negotiations and the agreement itself. The objective of the GPA was to ensure Zimbabwe's next elections will be free, fair and credible and not a repeat of the 2008 elections which were marred by blatant vote rigging and wanton political violence. To deliver on this set objective, the GNU was tasked to implement a raft of institution reforms such as Police, ZEC, Public Media, Judiciary, etc. designed to break the undemocratic strangle-hold and control Zanu PF had on these institutions and to write a new democratic constitution designed to set the institutional reforms in stone and guarantee the individual freedoms and rights for all time.
Musewe has never condemned Tsvangirai, Biti and all the other MDC leaders for their betrayal of the nation in failing to get even one democratic reform implemented in five years of the GNU. It is either because Musewe has never understood what the reforms were about and thus failed to appreciate that this was the golden opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. How can he condemn someone for being corrupt and incompetent when he cannot say what it is the individual failed to do.
The tragedy is that even now, with the benefit of GNU hindsight and three years of explaining what reforms we should be implementing Musewe still cannot get it right. He accepts that electoral reforms are a waste of time and yet those are the reforms he wants the NTA implement. He has finally learned that the gun without bullets is not much use sadly he is now loaded the bullets back to front! What an ass!
If Musewe is struggle to make sense of the reforms what more the usual wildebeest herd of MDC followers! By continue to follow corrupt and incompetent leaders Zimbabweans are sending a clear message that we are have no clue what democratic changes we need and thus are not ready for democratic change and governance.