Herald predict "grand (opposition) defeat" - but fail to foresee short lived victory. N Garikai

“If you have been following the news long enough, and in recent weeks, you may have noted a particular trend in which Tendai Biti and his People's Democratic Party have been posturing as the biggest economic minds in the country,” was the opening attack of the article, in Bulawayo 24.

One did not have to read the whole article to know it source – The Herald (or one of the other Zanu PF controlled media houses – as it was peppered through and through with denial of the facts, cover up, propaganda, etc., etc.

“A fortnight ago, the site screamed that Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa was a thief who ought to be jailed,” The Herald claimed.

“That came from Biti who accused the Government of misusing depositor's funds hence, in his view, the present cash shortages.”

There is a serious cash shortage in the country and the regime itself has acknowledged this. One has only to look at the long bank queues, consequence of the $50 maximum per day per customer, which are now a permanent fixture of life in Zimbabwe.

The regime has raided depositor’s funds in the past and failed to pay back the money, this a fact too. It is not beyond the realms of possibilities that the regime has done this again and this, and many other misguided policies, are the root cause of the country’s economic crisis including the cash shortage.

If the Zanu PF apologist in Herald House had any humanity left in him/her, then he/she must surely see the heart breaking human suffering in Zimbabwe today. Decades of Zanu PF misrule have resulted in the serious economic meltdown and political paralysis dragging the whole nation to the edge of the abyss. The red lights of danger are flashing and the sirens are wailing; this is not the time for cheap point scoring much less continuing to prop up a failed tyrannical regime.

Unemployment is a nauseating 90%; most basic services such as health, education, supply of clean drink water, etc. have all but collapsed; millions of our people now live in abject poverty. Zimbabweans are the poorest in Africa. All this has happened because of the decades of criminal waste of the nation’s vast material and human resources by this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.

The economic meltdown induced human tragedy in Zimbabwe today is both serious and urgent. It is morally, socially and economically unsustainable and, if nothing is done about it quick smart, the country will into even deeper trouble with the outbreak of violent street protests or worse.

It is not asking for much for these Zanu PF apologists in Herald House and their colleagues working for the Chronicle, ZBC and all the other Zanu PF controlled media houses to stop playing the petty political games and propping up the failed dictatorship. They must open their eyes and finally play the contractive role of informing the people and save this nation from abyss.

Zimbabwe cannot afford yet another meaningless election that will do nothing to end the economic meltdown and the tragic human misery it is causing; stopping the flawed elections will save the country from going over the edge into the abyss. This is the grime political reality the nation is facing today and a reality that even the apologists in Herald House must accept.

If Zanu PF apologist in Herald House want to criticise Tendai Biti then he/she must castigate him and all his fellow MDC leaders for failing to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU. We would not be on the edge looking down the barrel of the gun if they had done so!

MDC leaders were warned not to contest the 2013 elections without implementing the reforms first but they would not listen. Their eyes were glassed over and their minds were a fog because of greed, as David Coltart confessed.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” explained David Coltart in his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

So, both factions contested the flawed elections and gave the process even more legitimacy. Where was the logic in that?

Coltart saw the folly of contesting the flawed and illegal elections and yet even he could not bring himself to “do the obvious – withdraw from the elections”; such the overwhelming power of greed over these MDC politicians.

After the rigged July 2013 elections, MDC politicians vowed never again to contest any elections until reforms were implemented. But once again the lure of even those few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away in once again proving too much to resist. Tendai Biti, like David Coltart before the 2013 elections, has too acknowledged the folly of contesting next year’s elections.

“Zanu PF cannot be dislodged!” admitted Biti.

And yet Tendai Biti has too continued his preparation to contest the 2018 elections regardless of the certainty Zanu PF will rig the vote. Talk of the hypnotic effect of greed, especial greed for absolute power and wealth associated with Zimbabwe’s corrupt and tyrannical gravy train political system!

The best prospect of stopping next year’s elections going ahead until the reforms are implemented is by forcing the greedy opposition opportunists contesting the flawed and illegal elections. Zanu PF will continue to rig elections and stay in power as long as the opposition continue to contest the elections giving the flawed process the modicum of legitimacy.

Stop the opposition selling-out by contesting flawed elections and Zanu PF will be forced to face up to the reality that it cannot blatantly rig elections and claim the elections were free, fair and credible. It was only denying President Mugabe political legitimacy following the rigged 2008 election that SADC was able to force him to agree to the formation of the GNU and, better still, agree to the implementation of the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship.

Force Tendai Biti and his greedy opposition friends in the opposition camp to boycott the flawed and illegal election next year and Zanu PF will once again be forced to accept the need for reforms just as it was forced to do in 2008.

“This is the PDP of Tendai Biti. Somehow they want to convince us that they are the best we ever had and will ever have. That's laughable, isn't it?” concluded the Zanu PF apologist in The Herald.

“Meanwhile, the whole opposition in Zimbabwe is just as pathetic. Which is why it has failed to unseat Zanu-PF since 2000 and face another grand defeat in 2018.”

If next year’s elections go ahead with no reforms in place it will be “another grand defeat” but not just for the opposition but for the whole nation. The prospect of a worsen economic meltdown under the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship may well be the last push forcing the people to stage violent street protests or worse and pushing the nation over the edge into the abyss of economic chaos and social strive!  

Zanu PF’s electoral victory, such as it may be, will be short lived because the one street protest will do is end the Zanu PF dictatorship even if it means burning the whole country down! The people’s bottled anger against the regime, is that fierce!

When there is regime change, our Zimbabwean tormentors in Herald House, etc. will be called upon to account for their fanatical support of the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship over the years. And for their refusal to hear the nation’s cry for justice and help even to this day with millions now living in abject poverty and heart break hopelessness and despair.

With their shameless continued support of the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, The Herald and other regime apologists are on the wrong side of history. In their desperate attempt to prop the collapsing regime they should be aware that they will be held to account for their action!