President Mugabe has
just splashed US$6 million buying Isuzu twin-cab vehicles for country’s 226
chiefs. The news has sparred the usual suspects to respond with their usual
blast of hot air full of sound and fury but signifying nothing!
“It, thus, cannot
escape scrutiny that there is a sinister and ulterior motive behind the Zanu-PF
regime's decision to buy motor vehicles for chiefs at this juncture,” fired
Obert Gutu the spokesman of MDC-T, “Zimbabwe’s biggest and most popular political
party” he often boasts.
“At a time when the public health delivery system has virtually collapsed and when most of the country's district hospitals do not even have an ambulance, one can easily conclude that the decision to buy these motor vehicles for the chiefs is nothing but a blatant vote-buying exercise by the desperate, crumbling and bankrupt Zanu-PF regime.
“Chief Fortune Charumbira, the president of the Chiefs' Council, was recently quoted openly calling upon chiefs to campaign for Zanu-PF in the forthcoming election because the regime had bought them cars.
“At a time when the public health delivery system has virtually collapsed and when most of the country's district hospitals do not even have an ambulance, one can easily conclude that the decision to buy these motor vehicles for the chiefs is nothing but a blatant vote-buying exercise by the desperate, crumbling and bankrupt Zanu-PF regime.
“Chief Fortune Charumbira, the president of the Chiefs' Council, was recently quoted openly calling upon chiefs to campaign for Zanu-PF in the forthcoming election because the regime had bought them cars.
“Chiefs shouldn't be
reduced to become Zanu-PF political commissars, whose loyalty and support is
bought by the purchase of cars and other perks.”
These opposition
idiots would try the patience of a saint to destruction, and I am no saint and
have lost all patience!
Gutu, we know Zanu
PF is using the new cars as a carrot to motivate the chiefs to wield their very
large sticks – deny all those who dare step out of line food aid, agricultural input,
harass, beat and even boot them out of their homes - to corral povo to register
and then vote for Zanu PF. Zanu PF has been doing this for the last 37 years it
is part and parcel of the party’s modus operandi!
The whole purpose of
the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed
to severe the undemocratic influence and control Zanu PF has over the nation’s
traditional leaders, Police, Judiciary, ZEC, etc. You Mr Obert Gutu, were a deputy
minister in that GNU, and your fellow MDC leaders failed to get even one reform
implemented in five years. Not one!
SADC leaders, if you
could not figure it out for yourselves, advised MDC leaders not to contest any
elections without implementing the reforms first because Zanu PF will just use
its undemocratic control over the Chiefs, etc. to rig the vote. MDC leaders
refused to listen and contested the July 2013 elections which Zanu PF blatantly
rigged.
Now MDC leaders want
to drag the nation into yet another utterly meaningless election process in
which the same routine of Chiefs, with their palms well-greased, herd povo like
cattle to the dip-tank! And Obert Gutu and his opposition friends can do is pay
lip-service to condemning Zanu PF’s corrupting influence but will not do
anything to end for their own selfish reason. It is no secret that Obert Gutu
and his opposition friends will contest Zimbabwe’s flawed elections regardless
how flawed and illegal they become, as long as there a few gravy train seats on
offer.
“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,” was Senator Coltart’s excuse for
contesting the flawed July 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.”
The three main MDC
factions have since united to form the MDC Alliance with every intention to
contest next year’s elections and not to boycott. Boycotting the flawed and
illegal elections is the obvious thing to do, even more so now than in 2013.
They are not boycotting because greed has trumped reason!
“Our traditional
leaders are the pillars of our cultural values and ethos and we are pretty sure
that they would prefer to have an arrangement whereby more pressing national
issues are attended to first before they can get delivery of their new cars,”
concluded Gutu.
What a hypocrite!
Was it not for the similar thirty pieces of silver - the trappings of high
office, generous salaries and allowances, a $4 million mansion for Tsvangirai,
etc. – that made MDC leaders forget about the reforms for five years of the
GNU? Indeed, it is the hope of securing a seat on the gravy train that is stopping
you, Gutu and your oppositions, from boycotting elections until reforms are
implemented.
The Chiefs cannot
refuse the Isuzu vehicles no more than MDC leaders refused the bribe offered to
them during the GNU for them to kick reforms into the tall grass! There were
pressing national issues during the GNU just as they are today! The national
tragedy is that the people, povo, are the ones caught between the corrupt,
tyrannical and vote rigging Zanu PF regime, the corrupt and incompetent
opposition and the corrupt traditional leaders.
Zanu PF is bribing the Chiefs and all the other traditional leaders to its dirty work of forcing the rural people to attend party rallies and then to vote for the party, when the voting day comes. We have seen those rural people threatened, beaten, raped and some even forced out of their homes and worse to force them to vote for Zanu PF. You, Mr Gutu can choice to call the threats, beatings, etc. a "gimmick" but for the millions of ordinary Zimbabwe who have live with these party thugs this is reality!
ReplyDeleteAll this political machination and violence would be behind us if MDC had implemented the democratic reforms during the GNU. MDC's refusal to boycott elections until reforms are implemented is what is holding the nation back!
You are spot on; MDC leaders are asking the Chiefs to give up their bribes “for more pressing national” needs like ambulances and yet the MDC leaders did not want to risk losing their bribes to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU. SADC leaders, literally begged, Tsvangirai and company to implement the reforms but were all ignored.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder SADC leaders complained of MDC leaders being “too busy enjoying themselves during the GNU and forgetting why they were there!” Tsvangirai lost all political credibility in the SADC leaders’ eyes, they have ignored him ever since.
Donors too deserted MDC in droves after their pathetic performance during the GNU. Three days ago, Gutu was complaining that the opposition had no money to contest next year’s elections.
If the opposition candidates can find $6 million for all their campaign, then they would have done very well indeed. Yet $6 million is what Zanu PF is spending on 226 chiefs alone. The party has just spend $3.6 million buying cars for party youth and women’s league members, is appending $8 million on its party congress in December, etc., etc. All in all, the party will be spending $ 12 billion plus on these coming elections; 2 000 times as much as the opposition.
Of course, Zanu PF is buying votes and for a party that has resorted to beating, rape and cold-blooded murder, buying votes is so benign and innocent it is proud of its looting and vote buying expertise! and buy votes! It terms of funding alone, Zanu PF has all but rigged the elections already. Gutu and friends are contesting these elections for the scraps, and they know it.
Heal Zimbabwe Trust, Zimbabwe Peace Project, etc. have all been told a thousand times that for the country to have free, fair and credible elections we need to implement the democratic reforms. Why have they all failed to come out and supported the call!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, many of these NGOs have been telling the people they can bring about the free and fair elections without the need for reforms. How irresponsible is that!
For these organisations to now be calling on ZEC, the unreformed ZEC which is nothing but another department of Zanu PF, to do something to end the Zanu PF inspired violence is nothing short of foolishness at a grand scale. How can all these organisations conspire to bury their heads in the sand at a time when the country is dying for the lack of quality leadership and yet that is exactly what they have done!
@ T Manjoni
ReplyDelete“In fact, some of these agents have brazenly told the rural electorate that they are monitoring the villagers. They have taken this undiluted brazenness to a higher level, threatening registrants with expulsion from their homes and pieces of land, among the other usual threats that the ruling party has become notorious for. In some cases, opposition members have been assaulted for attempting to register,” you say that again.
You are spot on there, my brother. Just to be absolutely sure the tribal leaders know they are only supposed to be neutral but secretly bating and fielding for Zanu PF; Zanu PF has just spent $6 million buying Isizu twin-cab vehicles for each and every one of all the country’s chiefs. No doubt the other traditional leaders, sub-chiefs, village headers, etc. will all receive their generous bribes in due course.
These traditional leaders will all corral their subjects and frogmarch them to vote for Zanu PF; payback!
Zanu PF has so many ways to rig these elections even this early in the process it is unreal. These elections are all but won, all we are doing now is going through the motions to give the process the modicum of credibility.
SADC leaders advised the MDC opposition not to contest the July 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms. They were proven right then and they have already been proven right again, long before the first ballot was cast!
“In a week when tens of Harare residents were hospitalised suffering from typhoid, the government announced that it was splashing in excess of $6 million buying top-of-the-range vehicles for chiefs,” Bulawayo 24 reported.
ReplyDelete“The purchase of the 226 vehicles to be brought from outside the country means the cash-strapped government will have to divert foreign currency meant for critical supplies such as that of medical drugs so that it caters for Zanu-PF's electioneering shenanigans.
“Several companies in the critical sectors of the economy have been queueing for the same foreign currency for several months resulting in shortages of basics such as cooking oil and critical medical drugs.”
This is a familiar story and we all know its tragic end. This is Zimbabwe in a nutshell – a repetitive tale with a repetitive tragic end.
We all know that Zanu PF is splashing the $ 6 million of looted wealth to buy these vehicles for the Chiefs as a down payment; they will return the favour by frogmarching millions of ordinary people to vote for Zanu PF. Zanu PF is systematically rigging the vote and this is just one of the many ways the regime is doing so.
After 37 years of flawed and illegal elections what we need now is the common sense to see this process is not working and we must stop participating. When we participate all we are saying, at worst, “We accept the process is flawed and illegitimate but we think we can still salvage some good out of it!”
We have participated all these last 37 years and failed to salvage any good out of it. The only beneficiary of our continued participation is Mugabe who has claimed that he has the mandate of the people and will never admit he rigged the vote.
We need the common sense to admit we cannot stop the Zanu PF regime rigging the vote and the common sense to realise by participating we are giving the flawed process credibility. We need the courage to demand the implementation of the democratic reforms and the resolve to stay the course, refuse any elections until the reforms are implemented.
“We condemn Mugabe's decision to assume the role of referee, linesman and match commissioner, as this will likely affect the credibility of the upcoming elections,” you said.
ReplyDelete“We are aware of the challenges bedevilling election preparations, vis-à-vis the first phase of the biometric voter registration exercise raised a stink in terms of transmission and storage of data from the various registration centres to the district, provincial and national data centres, which still needs to be explained.
“There is clearly need for Zec explain these issues to enable electoral stakeholders to have a better understanding of how registration data will be moved to the national data centre.”
The 2008 elections were important in one important respect, the six weeks of cooking up the result of the March vote to turn Tsvangirai’s 73% win into a 47% to force the run-off and then the barbarism of the run-off itself proved beyond all reason doubt that Mugabe was not just a player, he was the referee, linesmen and match commissioners but also spectators, the reports, many of the opposition players, etc. He has used a deadly cocktail of corruption and coercion to turn the officials, players, and crowd alike to do as he commands them all to do.
After the 2008 fiasco it was clear Zimbabwe could never have free, fair and credible elections not without implementing the democratic reforms designed to take away Mugabe’s excessive tyrannical power. Ever the MDC ostriches in Harvest House, renowned for burying their heads in the sand, have finally admitted that Zanu PF is already rigging next year’s elections. There is no way ZEC will register 7 million voters and produce a verified voters’ roll. To go into yet another election with no verified voters’ roll, as happened in 2013, is just too foolish for words!
Zimbabwe’s curse is worse than that of Kenya in that we not only have a corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant we also have an opposition that is so corrupt and incompetent it is Zanu PF in all but name. It was Tsvangirai and company who resisted all SADC leaders’ pressure to implement the democratic reforms. Unlike Raila Odinga who implemented the reforms, Tsvangirai failed to implement even one reform.
“The fact that Mugabe would choose to attack non-governmental organisations (NGOs) monitoring the elections, accusing them of interfering in Kenya's disputed elections, speaks volumes of the man he has become,” you said.
What is Mugabe complaining about? Most if not all of Zimbabwe’s NGOs have never criticized MDC for failing to implement the reforms and they have all been quietly encouraging next year’s elections to go ahead with no reforms. What more does the tyrant want them to do????
The definition of success and what it takes to achieve it!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat nonsense! What success did Mutambara bring in all his five years in the GNU as Deputy Prime Minister? Here is the one MDC politicians who was the worst bootlicker, he spend more time grovelling to the tyrant and did absolutely nothing to dislodge the tyrant!
I spit on all those who continue to give this corrupt and incompetent idiot a platform as if he is a hero when he is a sell-out!
"Therefore, ZLHR urges the ZRP to; Immediately drop any charges against Mahere and stop persecuting her. Desist from selectively arresting human rights defenders and legitimate political players without adequately investigating and gathering credible evidence to sustain a prosecution," said ZLHR.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble with these dimwit like Fadzayi Mahere and the lawyers at ZLHR is they have their heads buried in the backsides they have no clue what is going on. What happened to Fadzayi is nothing compared to the inhuman treatment metered by these lawless Zanu PF thugs out there especially in the rural areas and in the high-density suburbs. People has been harassed, beaten, raped and thousands murdered and what has ZLHR ever done for these people?
SADC leaders and many of us have called for Zimbabwe to implement the democratic reforms necessary to put an end to all these serious human rights violations BEFORE elections are held and it is idiots like Fadzayi who want the elections to go ahead without reforms because she cannot contain her ambition and greed for power and wealth.
Fadzayi does not care how many ordinary Zimbabweans are denied the right to a free, fair and credible vote next year as long as she gets a seat on the gravy train. She will walk over the hundreds of thousands who have been beaten and raped, hundreds murdered just as long as she gets to be MP. How ironic that ZLHR should now be getting all excited defending her dubious right to cash on other people’s misery! After all David Drury of Honey & Blanckenberg Legal Practitioners, Fadzayi’s lawyer, will be paid and paid well, not by Fadzayi but ZLHR using donor funds, for his equally dubious services! What a racket!
Tsvangirai has made MDC his personal property, just as Mugabe made Zanu PF his, it is therefore little wonder that Tsvangirai wants to be buried with MDC just as Mugabe is being buried with Zanu PF! Good riddance to them all! Zimbabwe need a clean start and and we are clearing the deck!
ReplyDeleteIt is all very well for Fadzayi, she has first class lawyers fighting for her rights. Who is helping the do ordinary people facing Zanu PF thugs on a daily basis? Whilst everyone wants the democratic reforms implement before elections are held, the only sure way to end the country's culture of political violence. Fadzayi Mahere wants the elections to go ahead with not even one reform in place; she knows that she is safe and does not give a damn about others.
ReplyDelete"In 2016, HZT established an early warning and early response system for easy detection and response to cases of human rights violations. This report gives an account of the violations that were recorded in the last days of the first phase of the registration exercise," you claim.
ReplyDelete"Heal Zimbabwe has observed that the BVR related human rights violations being recorded across the country points to the lack of a robust voter education exercise. An extensive voter education campaign by ZEC would have helped to demystify the falsehoods, myths and threats being peddled around the BVR process. HZT is worried by the lack of information especially in rural areas. The organization will continue to monitor human rights violations around the registration process especially in political hotspots areas. The organisation’s 24 hour rapid response system is also on standby to respond to the cases that requires immediate assistance," you conclude.
So what will have to happen to finally convince HZT that its initiative is not working and accept the need for the country to implement the democratic reforms and have this problem of politically motivated violence sorted once and once for all!
HZT is supposed to be helping the people but this is clearly not the case, HZT members are more interested in donor money than they are about the people!
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is greatly concerned by the blatant disregard of the Constitution by the leader of traditional leaders Chief Fortune Charumbira.
ReplyDeleteOn 28 October at the official opening of the 2017 National Conference of Chiefs in Bulawayo, Chief Fortune Charumbira, who is the President of the Chief’s Council, called upon chiefs to campaign for President Robert Mugabe in the 2018 national elections. Chief Charumbira also said that the chiefs must support President Mugabe as the ZANU PF 2018 presidential candidate because, so he claimed, he recognises and respects traditional leaders. He further indicated that Mugabe was the candidate for chiefs in 2014 as agreed during the congress at the time.
What is so infuriating is that we all know that President Mugabe has corrupted not only the Chiefs but all the other public institutions like Police, Judiciary, ZEC,etc. We also know that the only way these institutions can ever do their public duties without fear or favour is for us to implement the wide ranging democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF's undemocratic control of these institutions. So why is ZLHR and all these good-for-nothing NGOs wasting time, space and resources asking for something they know the nation will never get!
"ZLHR strongly condemns affiliation and active participation of traditional leaders (chiefs, headmen) in party politics as this compromises the impartial discharge of their traditional duties and is a violation of the Constitution," said the ZLHR.
"ZLHR calls upon Chief Charumbira to lead by example and ensure that the provisions of the Constitution are respected."
With such sell-outs, it is little wonder the nation is up to her eyes is this mess!
Dr Nkosana Moyo lost the plot when he agreed to be one of Mugabe’s Ministers knowing fully well he was dealing with a corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant. Many people forgave him for his foolishness when he walked out of the government after 11 months! Sadly, he recovered his mental faculties for only a short period.
ReplyDeleteHis decision to participate in next year’s elections knowing fully well that with no reforms in place the process will be flawed, illegal and Zanu PF will rig the vote showed him for the complete fool he is. Of course, it is madness to contest in an election you know will be rigged.
Like everyone else in the overcrowded Zimbabwe opposition camp, Dr Moyo is after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away to entice the opposition to take part in the elections regardless how flawed the process. One can expect simpletons like Morgan Tsvangirai and Joice Mujuru to contest the flawed elections, after all they do not even know what the democratic reforms are about, but not someone like Dr Moyo. Greedy got the better of him!
Whatever reputation Dr Moyo had earned for himself over and the years he has lost it with the foolish decision to contest next year’s elections with no reforms; this was not a mistake but a deliberate act inspired by greed. People would forgive a mistake but not selling-out; by agreeing to participate in flawed elections he is selling-out of the struggle for free, fair and credible elections!
"Registering to vote is equivalent to having or not having a passport. Not voting is leaving the passport home when travelling," you said.
ReplyDeleteThis is the superficial thinking that has landed us in this political mess.
In 2008, I am using that year because we have a lot of detail of what happen then, many Zimbabweans registered to vote and went on to vote. Tsvangirai went on to get 73% in the March vote but before the result could be announced ZEC were ordered to recount. After six weeks of cooking up the figures the 73% was whittled down to 47%, just enough to force a run-off. In the run-off Zanu PF used violence to force people to vote for President Mugabe and he overturned his 27% March defeat to a landslide 84% victory.
Given the political reality of Zanu PF's carte blanche powers to rig the vote there is no point in contesting in an elections until democratic reforms are implemented to ensure free, fair and credible elections. How anyone would still want to contest elections with no reforms in place only shows how little they understand what elections are about!
After 37 years of rigged elections it still have not occurred to simpletons like Wenyika that there is something wrong with Zimbabwe's elections. President Mugabe denies the people a meaningful vote but always claim to have the people's mandate to govern! Simpletons like Wenyika have all the historic data of what constitute free and fair elections but still they fail to see the wood from the tree.
Tyrant like President Mugabe take full advantage of this, of course he will never stop rigging the elections. Why should he; when he knows there will always be plenty of simpletons who will contest the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process gets.
Yes Wenyika, you are the clever one who has registered to vote! "Moyo mbembe sedivi redoto!" (He is beside himself with joy!) as one would say in Shona. He has not changed anything in 37 years and will not change anything next year as the elections as good as rigged already. Bless the simpletons, they are their own worst enemies but are blissfully unaware of any of it!
Zimbabwe's greatest curse is we have more than our fair share of these simpletons and, worse still, they have the right to vote - which they are cheated out of but are too naive to realise.
“Realistically, both President Mugabe and president Tsvangirai are unwell. These are things that people are going to consider as well as look into. If this was in the US, just on the basis of health alone, they would not qualify to run,” Dr Moyo was quoted as saying.
ReplyDeleteDr Moyo, no American voter, much less a contesting candidate, would allow elections to go ahead when one candidate has the same carte blanche powers to rig the vote as President Mugabe has enjoyed all these years. The very fact that in Zimbabwe we have candidates tripping over each other to contest flawed and illegal elections only goes to show just how corrupt and incompetent the opposition are. You have failed to see that these elections are being rigged right before your own eyes because you have your eyes on the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is giving away you fail to see these are a bribe to entice you to contest the flawed elections.
The American electorate will never ever compromise of the issue of the elections being free, fair and credible because they know this is at the very heart of democracy and their power to hold those in power to account. Never!
The Zimbabwe Peace Project is pleased to introduce our series of comics on the ongoing Biometric Voting Registration process in a bid to dispel some growing myths about the equipment meant to instill fear in the electorate. These are based on real stories as told by communities that the ZPP is working in.
ReplyDeleteZanu PF has carte blanche powers to rig the vote and use violence to force the electorate to vote for the party. We can take the problem with the seriousness it demands and implement the democratic reforms SADC leaders spelt out and should have been implemented during the GNU. We can demand their implementation and refuse to take part in any elections until the reforms are in place. Or we can continue to bury our heads in the sand and contest flawed and illegal elections hoping Zanu can rig the vote but somehow lose the elections.
After 37 years of rigged elections, it is insane to continue participating in these flawed elections expecting a different result.
These BVR comic series will not change thing, Zanu PF is rigging the elections as we speak. The very fact that anyone commissioned these stupid comic and thinks they will stop Zanu PF rigging the elections only goes to show how naive the individual(s) is. The consequences of yet another rigged election will be catastrophic for Zimbabwe, the country has no time for these sick jokes!
Zanu PF has just spend US$ 6 million on Isuszu Twin-cab trucks for all the country’s chiefs and the party expect them to herd off the rural voters to vote for the party. Anyone who believe such comics will stop these chiefs frogmarching povo is brain-dead!
@ Themba Mthethwa
ReplyDeleteEmmerson Mnangagwa has been Mugabe’s right-hand man, especially in carrying out the dirty work such as looting, vote rigging and political violence and murder. It is not surprising that Mugabe would now want to dispose of him in much the same way as the tyrant has disposed of many others after using and abusing them for his own selfish purpose. Mnangagwa is pure evil and second only to Mugabe himself; trust me the nation will not miss him!
Indeed, the nation’s greatest fear right now is that there should be anyone from this Zanu PF dictatorship to survive the on-going factional war and retain to impose themselves on the nation. We must be on our guard to ensure none of the Zanu PF thugs survive the factional war; the dictatorship must be cut down, uprooted and everything burnt to ashes! All those responsible for the looting, vote rigging, political oppression and murders must the hunted down and forced to face justice.
All looted wealth must be recovered and given to the impoverished povo, the rightful owners. It will be unforgivable if those who benefited from the looted wealth all these should be allowed to do so after the demise of the dictatorship. And God forbid, is the looted wealth should then be used to finance fresh mischief as those who benefited seek to resurrect the dictatorship!
"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." - William Shakespeare.
The evil that Mnangagwa and Mugabe have done will live after them; it is incumbent on us to make sure that their evil deeds is interred with their bones or soon thereafter! Zimbabwe must be a healthy and functional democracy but only if we make sure we have blocked all possible route for another dictatorship to rise like the Sphinx from the Zanu PF ashes!