Do not "bombard voters with reform" Magaisa advise - stupid advice from rancorous crow. P Guramatunhu

“Imwe neimwe shiri inemaririro ayo!” (Every bird has his own characteristic song!) So, goes the Shona adage. Alex Magaisa, like the rancorous cry of the crow which is offensive to the ear, specialises in give characteristically stupid advice.

"One thing that opposition parties must understand is that continuously bombarding people with messages of ZANUPF rigging and its refusal to implement electoral reforms actually works to the advantage of ZANUPF because it only serves to deflate voters' spirits……." said Alex Magaisa.

"In a nutshell, the opposition narrative must change from one of hopeless victims to that of hopeful warriors who are determined to succeed against the odds. The narrative must change from that of electoral reforms to that of electoral hope. These are the positive messages that people want to hear. They will boost their confidence and persuade them that this time things could be different."

To the readers who do not know or need reminding, Alex Magaisa was Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s special adviser during the GNU. So, we can safely assume that this is a taste of the advice he gave Tsvangirai in years and months leading to the 2013 elections.

Tsvangirai and the rest of the MDC leaders were advised by none other than SADC leaders themselves to implement the democratic reforms and we all know that not even one reform was ever implemented in five years. Not one! In a last minute desperate attempt to stop Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections going ahead with no reforms in place, the regional leaders told Tsvangirai & co. not to contest the 2013 elections.  

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza to Violet Gonda in a recent interview.

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told - I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj - they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.

We know Tsvangirai & co. ignored the warning and contested the July 2013 elections, no doubt on the advice of the special adviser to ignore the negative message of reforms and focus on the positives.

MDC went into the 2013 elections on a high, beaming with confidence that the newly passed constitution would deliver the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. Tsvangirai even boasted that the new constitution was an “MDC child!”

Once again, MDC leaders were warned the new constitution was weak and feeble, it was not the democratic constitution the nation was seeking. But once again Tsvangirai et al would not listen; advised no doubt by Alex Magaisa, who is a lawyer and University lecture at that, to focus on the “positive”.

All nonsense of course as Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections. The nation has paid dearly for MDC leaders’ folly of ignoring SADC leaders’ advice not to contest elections without implemented the reforms first and listening to contrary, stupid, advice from Alex Magaisa.

The reforms are still necessary today and therefore it is folly to contest the 2018 elections still with not even one reforms in place. It will be collective lunacy for the people of Zimbabwe to once again disregard sound advice in favour of the same stupid advice from the same stupid “special adviser” of nonsense, Alex Magaisa!

“In my opinion, Zimbabweans have two simple choices to make and these choices have their own consequences which we must be willing to accept and endure,” commented Vince Musewe.

“Either to follow those who think that we should participate in elections anyway even without fundamental reforms. Register to vote in numbers and hopefully be able to exercise that vote on voting day in 2018 and then hopefully achieve the results which we desire. Or insist and do whatever it may take to achieve the necessary electoral reforms first before participating or legitimising a fundamentally flawed electoral process and architecture.

“I choose the latter and that, in my view, certainly does not make me a "hopeless victim" of circumstances. With this choice, the debate should then focus on what we need to do as a collective, but also acknowledge that our world and our future does not stop with 2018 elections. In other words it could be a very long struggle but that's okay.”

Who ever said there is no God! Not too many moons ago, Vince Musewe was firmly in the camp calling to participate in the elections regardless of the fact the whole process was flawed and meaningless. Well he certainly has had his Damascene moment!

Our struggle for something as basic and fundamental as the right to free, fair and credible elections has been a very long drawn-out process; it was one of the key demands before independence and it is still a key demand today, 37 years after independence. By participating in flawed elections we have played our part in perpetuating the outrageous practice.

‘You can’t expect us to reform ourselves out of power,’ boasted Zanu PF’s Professor Jonathan Moyo, with the usual arrogance of the tyrants.

Let it be known in a village and hamlet in Zimbabwe; we are not asking Zanu PF to reforms itself out of power. We are not here to negotiate, we are demanding the implementation of the reforms. And we are denouncing the stupid advice of the rancorous crows to continue participating in a totally meaningless and demeaning flawed ritual.

   

The next elections should be a simple and straight forward event marked with the simple words, “As of this minute of this day, all Zimbabweans will have a meaningful say in the governance of this country and enjoy free, fair and credible election as their birth right!”