In this life timing is everything! I grew up
in the rural areas and it was there I learnt timing is everything and I
remember my hardest lesson as if it was yesterday.
The family had worked hard doing the
winter-ploughing ferrying well-rotted cattle manure to the field. The good
rains came on time, we planted on time and we had the most health field of
maize I had ever seen. The good rains continued and the maize crop continue to
flourish with dark green leaves and with steams so thick I had to use both my
hands wrap round them.
The maize was just beginning to flower when
the rains stopped and for the next two weeks the sun baked the land, the heat
was so intense that by 10 in the morning the chickens were panting like dogs! The
maize crop suffered from the heat and dehydration and their leaves drooped, as
if they too were panting.
The rains did return and it rained cats and
dogs for two or three days and nights, as if making up for the dry spell. Other
crops like rapoko and sorghum able to produce multiple stems recovered; not so
with maize, the crop was a complete write-off.
“Timing is everything,” said my late mother. “The
rains failed when the maize was flowering and the torrent that came were all to
late!”
My brother Vince Musewe says the right things
but his timing is hopeless!
"The time for liberation struggle
politics is over. As Zimbabweans, I think we have had enough of liberation
rhetoric. For far too long we trusted our liberation struggle governments but
one thing they have failed and are clearly unable to do, is to bring about
economic freedom underpinned by inclusive transformational development,"
said Musewe.
He is right, it President Mugabe and his Zanu
PF thugs who have dragged the nation into this political and economic mess and
they have used their liberation war credentials and rhetoric to justify the
establishing and dogged retention of this corrupt and tyrannical de facto one
party state. However, it is not President Mugabe, his murderous henchmen or
their totalitarian rhetoric that has kept the nation in this hell-hole these
last 17 years. It is Morgan Tsvangirai and his corrupt and incompetent
opposition band of fools who have done that.
Zimbabwe has had many opportunities to end the
Zanu PF dictatorship the best chance being during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. SADC
spelt out the raft of democratic reforms the nation needed to implement to
dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship once and once for all. The task of
implementing the reforms fall on Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends.
The GNU was initially chalked to last 18
months, it lasted 60 months – five long years. And in all those years MDC
failed to get even one democratic reforms implemented. Not one!
Musewe, you, not even you, cannot blame Mugabe
and his Zanu PF “liberation rhetoric” for the fact that not even one democratic
reform was implemented during the GNU. The blame is with the corrupt and
incompetent Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, David Coltart, Welshman Ncube and
all the other MDC leaders.
In all you many articles I have yet to read of
you admitting that MDC leaders sold-out during the GNU. You have been
hobnobbing with Tendai Biti, he being the president of the PDP, a political party
of who are one of its leaders, and the rest in the opposition camp. Of course,
it is your democratic right to hobnob with whoever you wish including corrupt,
incompetent and treasonous sell-out as is the case here.
Former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, described Morgan
Tsvangirai as “flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with
questionable judgment.
"He is an indispensable element for
opposition success … but possibly an albatross around their necks once in
power.”
The Ambassador was spot on every point except
one; Tsvangirai is not just a albatross around the opposition’s neck but the
whole nation.
As if failing to implement even one reform
during the GNU was not bad enough Tsvangirai and his band of MDC fools went on
to contest the 2013 elections against repeated advice not to contest with no
reforms in place. Worse still, the same village idiots are now preparing to
contest next year’s elections although not even one reform has been implemented
still. We know why Tsvangirai and friends are ignoring their own “No reform, no
elections!” 2014 party congress resolution.
“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 elections,” explained David Coltart as to why MDC contested the 2013
elections.
“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.”
Zimbabwe has been held back this last 17 years
and right now stands at the very edge of the abyss to be dragged over if next
year’s elections go ahead. It is not the corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe and his
Zanu PF thugs who are to blame for all these things but the corrupt,
incompetent and greed Morgan Tsvangirai and the ever-growing army of equally
corrupt and incompetent opposition opportunists.
"There surely must be a new dawn and that
new dawn requires the death of moribund struggle politics and its archaic ideas
and it's replacement by transformational inclusive politics which creates new
developmental states," said Musewe.
That is a powerful statement designed to
impress those in the opposition camp who have all taken the collective decision
to contest next year’s election and pretend the problem of Zanu PF rigging the
vote has never even existed. Who would ever believe there could be so many
ostriches all fluffing their wings but with their heads buried in the sands of
stupidity and greed.
If we are going to force Zanu PF to implement
the democratic reforms, the pre-requisite for free, fair and credible
elections, then we must stop Tsvangirai and company contesting flawed elections
and thus giving the continued vote rigging the modicum of credibility! Yes, in
the past Mugabe has used his liberation rhetoric to justify his continued corruption
and tyrannical rule but that was in the past. The tyrant has since changed his
strategy, he is now using the corrupt and incompetent opposition to give credibility
to his continued vote rigging by allowing them to win a few seats.
"If you ask me, electoral reforms are just as important and fundamental as the formation of a formidable and focused coalition to face the Zanu-PF regime in Election 2018. There is absolutely no point in securing a coalition and failing to make sure that electoral reforms are put in place to ensure that next year's plebiscite is free and fair and that it will produce a credible result that is beyond contestation. That should be the bottom line," Gutu said.
ReplyDeleteThis is just cheap MDC-T talk! Were the reforms not important in 2013 and yet Gutu and his MDC friends contested those elections even when it was evident the elections would be rigged.
“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 elections,” explained Senator Coltart in his book.
“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.”
President Mugabe lost political legitimacy and was followed to into the GNU following the blatant vote rigging and wanton violence of 2008. He has since learnt that he can rig the vote and indulged to the heart’s content in political violence provided the opposition are participating to give the process credibility. He has found that as long as he allows the opposition to win a few gravy train seats he will have opposition parties contesting the elections no matter how flawed the process.
Gutu knows that with or without reforms he and everyone in MDC-T is itching to contest the elections. He knows it is too late for any reforms to be implemented and he is scouting around for a suitable constituency he will contest.
I do not think Vince Musewe will ever admit that his boss Tendai Biti is corrupt and incompetent. There are some issues one can forgive and forget but the failure to get even one reform implemented is so serious and so blatant that it is impossible for one to ignore.
ReplyDeleteUntil very recently, Musewe was as keen as everyone else in the opposition camp to contest the 2018 elections for the sake of the bait seats Zanu PF gives away regardless of there being no reforms in place. If he was keen to contest the 2018, he would have contested the 2013 elections just as keenly. Would he not have gone the full hog with his MDC friends – is he had been a member then – and kick the reforms into touch just as Biti and others had done?
If we are going to stop this political madness of blocking the implementation of reforms by contesting flawed elections then we must stop not just greed sell-out political leaders like Morgan Tsvagirai but equally corrupt and greed apologists who are cheering them along!
@Whitlaw
ReplyDelete“First, we need to replace a majority of the old guard with young new faces. They have given us what they had and we appreciate their bravery and dedication. But now is the time to oil the machinery for change with young blood. We need an injection of young leaders who have the ability to revitalise and re-energize the youth base,” you said.
If the opposition are unpopular because they have old leaders then Zanu PF would be even worse as some its leaders are fossils!
Did it ever occur to you that Afrobarometer have given President Mugabe very high public approval ratings and yet the nation is in deep economic and political trouble? Zimbabweans are now the poorest in Africa and so why the people be grateful to Mugabe for that?
Yes there was a time when President Mugabe and his liberation struggle rhetoric dominated the political discourse and, indeed, even suffocated it. However, we have had many opportunities to seize the initiative and restore the people's power in the last ten years. It is not Zanu PF liberation struggle rhetoric that has held us back but rather corrupt and incompetent opposition leaders who have sold-out to Zanu PF for the classical piece of calico cloth and a fistful of shiny beads.
ReplyDeleteIt is no secret that my big brother Vince Musewe has joined the opposition and is seeking his share of the calico cloth and shiny beads. It is therefore not surprising that he has never criticized Tsvangirai, Biti and the other MDC members for their betrayal of the people. By dwelling on the past problem of Zanu PF rhetoric he is doing his bit to take attention away from the opposition's betrayal and thus allow it to grow and thrive.
Zanu PF's continued existence has relied on the opposition betraying the public just as the white slave traders of two centuries ago had relied on blacks hunting down their fellow blacks for calico cloth and beads. Zanu PF cannot rig the vote and get away with it if the regime was denied the smoke screen of opposition parties contesting the flawed elections. This is exactly what SADC have said all along but MDC leaders would not listen. David Coltart told us why MDC leaders would not listen - confirming what we already knew.
“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 elections,” explained Senator Coltart.
“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.”
Brother Musewe, it is not Zanu PF liberation struggle rhetoric that costed us the chance to get the democratic reform implemented during the GNU, before the flawed 2013 elections and will do so again next year if we do not act; it is opposition greed!
The Zimbabwe economy is in tatters and Zanu PF itself is imploding and yet the opposition is nowhere near certain of winning next year's elections than they were of winning the 2013 elections! The reason for that is as plain as day - Zanu PF still retains its well-funded vote rigging juggernaut. The regime has total control of every aspect of the electoral process and has party loyalists to do their utmost to deliver a landslide victory for the party. It is therefore midsummer madness of the highest order that anyone in the opposition would want to contest an election in which Zanu PF has so many vote rigging tools at its disposal it is literally impossible for the party to lose the elections even with all mountain of evidence of past failures!
DeleteZanu PF has a dice with sixes on all six sides and only a fool will bet against the regime failing to throw a six!
What is amazing here is the excuses those in the opposition camp are coming up to justify to the nation why they are not demanding the implementation of the democratic reforms designed to take away Zanu PF's loaded dice BEFORE the elections. Some are lauding the formation of the coalition, the voter registration, the BVR system, Musewe is coming up with his condemnation of liberation war rhetoric that those in G40 at least have already dumped, etc. None of these will do anything to stop the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut and they know it!
The opposition politicians like Musewe have their beady eyes on the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering to those who will give credibility to its flawed elections. The challenge hear is to make sure the ordinary people are warned what the opposition are up to. The best course of action for the people is for the people themselves to demand the implementation of the reforms BEFORE elections and let both Zanu PF and the opposition sell-outs know that they will settle for nothing less.
The people must demand of Tsvangirai and others why they are abandoning their "No reform, no election!" resolution!
It is not too late for the people of Zimbabwe to finally wake up to the political reality that is there is going to be political change and economic recovery it is for them, not the country's corrupt and incompetent politician on both sides of the political divide, to demand democratic change.
@ Steve
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Tsvangirai will withdraw from the elections - on what grounds? Zanu PF has many vote rigging tools in its kit and billions of dollars to bankroll its schemes. The party does not need to resort to the wanton violence of 2008, which is what prompted him to withdraw from the July 2008 presidential run-off, as we have already seen in the 2013 elections.
Tsvangirai and the rest in the opposition camp have accepted contesting the elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF has a formidable array of vote rigging tricks, they know the elections will never be free, fair and credible. They also know that Zanu PF, for the sake of its own political legitimacy, has to give away a few seats to the opposition to entice them to contest the flawed elections. It is for these bait gravy train seats that Tsvangirai & co. have ignore SADC's warning not to contest the 2013 elections with no reforms in place. They are ignoring SADC's warning again and their own "No reform, no election!" resolution to contest 2018 elections for the same reason - greed.
Whilst the focus for you, me and the rest of the ordinary Zimbabweans out there is free, fair and credible elections as the pre-requisite for democratic change and good governance.
Tsvangirai & co. have their sights set on who gets the few gravy train seats and the grabbing rights of being the biggest opposition party in Zimbabwe. They have paid lip-service to reforms. They have known all along that NERA, for example, will never get even one reform implemented and that is exactly what has happened. And yet they had such odd balls as Didymus Mutasa appointed NERA convener with all the usual fun-fare and theatricals. No one in name could name even one reform that wanted carried out!
@ Zimbo Patriot
ReplyDelete"If played well, Zanu PF can and will lose even in a flawed election and it is on the opposition leaders to look into themselves check where they have previously faltered and make amends," you said.
Zanu PF has remained in power for the last 37 years because it has rigged elections and so your argument that "Zanu PF can and will lose even in a flawed elections" smacked on insanity. How many more flawed elections are you going to contest knowing Zanu PF will rig the vote but expecting the regime to, somehow, lose the election!
The solution is staring you in the face comrade, implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging and then contest the elections. This is exactly what SADC proposed Zimbabweans should do during the GNU. Sadly Tsvangirai & co sold out and failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.
What is shocking is the number of Zimbabweans out there who, even now with the benefit of hindsight, still fail to see the sheer futility of contesting flawed elections. They have accept Zanu PF vote rigging as a political reality that cannot be changed and so the only solutions they will consider must first and foremost accept Zanu PF vote rigging rights. This is why MDC did not implement even one reform during the GNU and the people themselves have accept MDC's betrayal with stoic resigned indifference to their own suffering and deaths as the shocked and confused dinosaurs after the Metroid strike.
The people of Zimbabwe have failed to take Zanu PF' blatant denial of their basic freedoms and human rights not as a serious crime by the corrupt and tyrannical regime against the nation. Mugabe and his henchmen have publicly stated that they have no intention to accept democratic reforms. "‘You can’t expect us to reform ourselves out of power’. Zanu PF thugs like Professor Moyo have boasted.
To listen to thugs like Professor Moyo one would think Zanu PF has the divan right to deny the people their freedoms and human rights. Sadly, in their pea-size brains the opposition leaders like Tsvangirai and many Zimbabweans believe this to be so. So, it is not just President Mugabe and his henchmen who believe talking of implementing the democratic reforms is a waste of time because it will never happen but all those the opposition and their supporters who are keen to contest next year’s elections with no reforms in place.
The logic is inescapable: if you were Zanu PF, you know implementing the reforms will take away your inherent advantage to win, would you ever implement any reforms especially when those whose interest are best served by the reforms have accepted the status quo? You will be nuts and no one in Zanu PF is that stupid to ever do that!