“For
time immemorial Wilbert Mukori aka Nomusa Garikai has focused his now
innosiating drivel on reforms chete chete,” wrote brother Vince Museve.
Wilbert
Mukori, Patrick Guramatunhu, myself and a few others have focused our attention
on implementing the democratic reforms “chete, chete” as you rightly said
because this is the elephant in the room that has been ignored for donkey years
and MUST now be dealt with head-on.
There
are those demanding the full implementation of all democratic reforms to ensure
free, fair and credible elections and are pursuing the matter with the single mindedness
and unrelenting tenacity of a honey badger on the trail of a snake, which the
matter demands. Then there are those who are merely paying lip-service to the
subject. You must not make the mistake of confusing the one group with the
other!
“My
dear friend Alex Magaisa wrote a very clear and concise article on his BSR last
week on the fact that coalition is not the panacea to free and fair elections
in Zimbabwe but a critical part of the recipe which must of course include
substantive reforms,” said Musewe.
“I
fully support his views and I myself have said same a thousand times that
elections without reforms where Zanupf controls the state machinery are a waste
of time.”
Just
when exactly did your “dear friend Alex Magaisa” get the lightning-bolt inspiration
that “substantive reforms” are important for free, fair and credible elections?
Remember Magaisa was MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai’s advisor during the GNU
years, the time when the nation had its golden opportunity to implement
substantive democratic reforms and SADC leaders were, literally begging MDC, to
do so. Yet MDC failed to get even one democratic reform implemented. Not one!
I
say Magaisa is telling us lies; he never believed that reforms are important,
at least not during the GNU years when he has the opportunity to get them
implemented. You say, I have a “small mind”, a “midget minded clown” and you,
Vince Musewe (my apology for getting your surname wrong last time), you are the
big man who thinks big. If having a big mind means being naïve and gullible,
keep you big and big ideas to yourself!
You
support Magaisa and yet have never ever criticized him or anyone in MDC for
their treasonous betrayal in failing to get even one reform implemented during
the GNU!
So,
Mister-Know-It-All Vince Musewe, have said “a thousand times that elections
without reforms where Zanu PF controls the state machinery are a waste of time”.
How many times has President Mugabe said he wanted the country to have free and
fair elections, for example. A thousand times and a thousand times again! Yet he is the one who has corrupted the country’s democratic
institutions like ZEC, wasted billions of dollars paying dodgy people like
NIKUV to corrupt the voters’ roll and has even murdered thousands of innocent
Zimbabweans in cold blooded all for the sake rigging the vote. After doing all
that, the tyrant still claims that Zimbabwe has always had free, fair and
credible elections without failure!
So,
you see, big man it is not what one say or how many times they say it that
matters but what they say and mean! You are just like President Mugabe in that
you say one thing but mean the exact opposite.
In
your earlier articles, you have advocated that we should seek a compromise
arrangement to appease the Zanu PF leaders because we will never get Zanu PF to
implement the reforms.
“I
would rather we postpone elections and pursue an inclusive political
settlement that addresses the fears (of losing power and privileges) of
ZANU(PF), but ushers in a new era of inclusive democracy through comprehensive
political reforms over an agreed timeframe,” you wrote in February last year.
In
your more recent article of a few days ago you were very clear about the
importance of the coalition in defeating Zanu PF and said nothing about the
coalition but nothing without implemented the reforms.
Let
us cut out the chase and call a spade a spade, Mr Musewe. Do you agree that
Zanu PF will rig the next elections even if the opposition was united to form
this grand coalition you and many others have spent so much sweat and blood
promoting?
Are
you aware that many opposition politicians out there are using the coalition as
the excuse to hoodwink the gullible public into believe the opposition will win
the elections as long as they are united? The public will not care that the
elections are not free and fair as long as the end Zanu PF’s rule of corruption
and terror.
These
unscrupulous politicians know this is not the case but are using it as cover to
justify why they are once again taking part in flawed elections as happened in
2013. They are fighting over the few seats President Mugabe throws at the
opposition, bait they have found irresistible.
And,
last by far most important of all, are you aware that as long as these
sell-outs opposition politicians contest these flawed elections Zanu PF will
never have to implement any meaningful democratic reforms? The tyrant has
always pointed to the GNU and asked if there was any need for democratic
reforms, then why did MDC fail to implement them. Besides the opposition would
boycott elections if the process was flawed!
Remember
what I said above about not confusing those committed to free, fair and
credible elections with those who are merely paying lip service to the subject;
it is important that you remember that!
Here
are four reasons why a true democrat will not support the call for an
opposition coalition:
1) The greatest
weakness in Zimbabwe politics on both sides of the political divide is the lack
of quality. All those pushing hard for the grand coalition are individuals with
a proven track record as corrupt and incompetent. It is splitting hair to argue
whether a coalition of Tweedledee and Tweedledum will be any better or worse
than each on their own. Quantity makes a very poor substitute for quality.
2) Democracy is best
served where there is real and meaningful competition and those, as happened
even before independence with the call to unite Zanu and Zapu to form the
Patriotic Front, calling for unity and speaking with one voice are, per se, the
enemies of democracy.
3) It is a nonsense
that Zanu PF has remain in office all these years because we have divided opposition
that has divided the opposition vote. It is President Mugabe’s unparalleled and
tyrannical powers to rig the vote that has kept him in State House!
4) You, Mr Vince Musewe
and your friend Alex Magaisa, can deny it as much as you wish but it is a fact that
the Zanu PF regime and its propaganda machine are burning the midnight oil
promoting the formation of opposition coalition as the “panacea” that will beat
and/or neutralize all Zanu PF’s vote rigging shenanigans and deliver opposition
electoral victory. Any time and energy spent talking of opposition coalition is
therefore aiding and abetting Zanu PF in laying its grand electoral deceit for
2018. You and Alex can play your part, paid or unpaid, in that; not me!
By
the way, in your previous article your surname was spelt Museve, with a V. Some
of us are used to our name being spelt interchangeably as Nomusa or Nomsa, for
example, and will never ever make a mountain out of a mole hill about it. Still,
unless someone else and not you made that mistake, then it is you who should “wake
up”, get off your high horse, deflate your puffed-up ego and learn to spell
your own name correctly!
Zimbabwe
cannot afford another rigged election and it would totally irresponsible to
leave this important matter in the hands of people like you, Vince Musewe and
Alex Magaisa. Your inflated ego and hunger for a seat on the gravy train has
clouded your mind, you cannot see reason and logic. As for Magaisa, he sold-out
big time during the GNU he will certain do so again given half a chance!
Stopping
the sell-out opposition politicians who will contest in flawed elections giving
the process a veneer of democratic legitimacy is a very reasonable, logical and
legitimate way of forcing the implementation of the reforms. These sell-out
opposition politicians do not care about the ordinary people and their right to
free, fair and credible elections, all they care about is getting a seat on the
gravy train by hook or by crook even when they know it is a bribe.
Opposition
politicians contesting flawed elections are no longer with the people, they are
Zanu PF’s partners in crime, they are the soft under belly of the beast, the
soft target to attack!
@ Fingaz
ReplyDelete“But the country's biggest opposition, the Morgan Tsvangirai led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) may have just been offered a window of opportunity of going it alone and run away with the prize since it had already shown some reluctance to join hands with other parties.”
We should not forget that MDC-T did have the chance to “run away with the prize” in the past but failed to do so not because the party did not have the mass support or the opposition divided the vote. They did not win the election because Zanu PF was able to rig the vote, period!
Mai Mujuru and her ZimPF was a welcome addition to the opposition camp for two reasons:
1) Her and, hopefully, many others’ breaking away from Zanu PF made that party’s head count at least if not made it weaker too!
2) In the face of the opposition’s failure to get even one meaningful reform implemented to stop Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut and opposition camp was now banking on ZimPF people to use their inside knowledge of Zanu PF to help disrupt or even stop the vote rigging juggernaut. If not, then gather enough damning evidence of vote rigging to cause serious embarrassment to the regime after the elections.
It is a great pity that Mujuru and her ZimPF troop have turned out to be so corrupt and incompetent it is fair to say Zanu PF will never miss them and they are completely useless to the opposition. Still it is premature for MDC-T to be celebrating the demise of ZimPF because the opposition still face the problem of having no one who can stop the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut!
I used to read Vince Musewe's articles, they were good, thought provoking and he had a following. That was before he started hunting for a political party to join and get himself elected into power and join the infamous gravy train! He started praising the likes of Tendai Biti, Morgan Tsvangirai, Joice Mujuru anyone whom he thought would help him with a leg-up onto the gravy train.
ReplyDeleteVince has pointed refused to admit that MDC leaders sold-out during the GNU by failing to implement the democratic reforms. This is a very important starting point because, admit it, and the reason why people like Tsvangirai, Ncube and Biti cannot be trust to hold public office becomes self-evident. He cannot admit this simple historic fact because these are the same individuals he has to praise to get the leg-up onto the gravy train.
I will bet my bottom dollar Vince Musewe will contest in next year's elections even though he says to do so with no reforms in place is suicide. How many of our sell-out opposition politicians have been contesting these flawed elections just to get those few seats Zanu PF throws away!