Heal
Zimbabwe Trust (HZT) is holding another workshop on elections.
“The
main purpose of the meeting is to have all stakeholders in the peace building
sector and responsible national institutions discuss ways to advance the
implementation of a clear roadmap to peaceful 2018 elections after deliberating
on possible scenarios in the political environment between now and immediately
after the elections,” Rashid Mahiya, HZT director, said.
The
very fact that we are here, 37 years after independence, still talking about how
to end this serious problem of vote rigging and politically motivated violence means
whatever we have been doing so far has failed to solve the problem. We should
be change tac; confront the problem head-on and stop the softly, softly
solutions of yesterday.
Calling
for peaceful elections has been a permanent fixture in the nation’s electoral
cycle as common as party political manifesto and the vote rigging and violence.
Our solution of calling for peaceful elections has failed to bring the peace.
What we need is the political courage and resolve to demand the implementation
of the democratic reforms designed to free the appropriate state institutions
like the Police, ZEC, the judiciary, etc. to carry out their statutory duty of
keeping law and order, delivering free elections, punishing political thugs,
etc. without fear or favour.
People
like Mahiya must stop giving the nation, especially the rural people who do not
understand what is going on here, false hope these HZT’s talk-shops are a
substitute to implementing the reforms.
One
of the down side of Zimbabwe’s high unemployment rate is that NGOs and civic
organisation have become a magnet for those seeking the generous salaries and
do not care about justice and human rights the organisation is supposed to
promote. The generosity of these foreign donors, funding these organisations, has
become a curse and not a blessing to the nation.
“The
dialogue will provide an opportunity to discuss the outcome and implications of
past election violence recommendations by various missions and bodies,
including SADC,” said Mahiya.
We
know what SADC has recommended; Zimbabwe must postpone elections until the
democratic reforms designed to stop the vote rigging and the political violence
are implemented.
“Of
course, they (elections) can be postponed,” explained Dr Ibbo Mandaza, talking
of 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. 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’.”
As
we know Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends paid no heed to the advice and
contested the flawed July 2013 elections which, as expected, Zanu PF rigged.
SADC
leaders’ warning not to contest the flawed elections is even more relevant for
next year’s elections than in 2013; we know the folly of contesting those flawed
elections and we also know that not even one reform has been implemented since.
Of
course, Zimbabwe is an independent and sovereign nation; we do not have to
listen to SADC or anyone else. We are masters of our own destiny. Still, it is
wise to listen and reflect, especially when one is in deep trouble already.
It
is no accident that Zimbabwe is in this hell-hole; unemployment a nauseating
90% plus, the ruling party imploding with Mugabe firing a VP and half dozen cabinet
ministers every three years, the lack of no political alternative to Zanu PF because
confusion rules supreme in the opposition camp, etc., etc. It has taken 37
years of blundering from pillar to post, making the same mistakes over and over
again to get us here.
We can
continue to ignore SADC leaders’ advice over reforms but it will be at our own
peril because there is nothing of any substance that we can ever achieve until
we quality leaders for which we need free and fair elections.
“After
the meeting, Heal Zimbabwe will launch a peaceful elections flagship Campaign
dubbed ’13 Million voices for Peace’,” News Day reported.
Yeah
right! And the Zimbabwe will have her first ever peaceful, free, fair and
credible elections. And all the people prospered and lived happily ever after!
This
is just another feeble excuse to justify why the nation is taking part in yet
another flawed electoral process against the sound advice to postpone the elections
until the reforms are implemented!
What guarantees are HZT offering that their peace campaign will work this time round?
ReplyDeleteThe ruthless hounding of former VP E Mnangagwa out of office and the purge of all those suspected of supporting him that is already underway should be a timely reminder to us all of the iron resolve of President Mugabe to hang on to power at all cost. Is there anyone out there who really believes that President Mugabe and his wife will abandon their vote rigging schemes, demobilize their party thugs and risk their hold on power in a free, fair and credible elections because they were persuaded to do by HZT’s “13 million Voices for Peace!” campaign? If there is then they are naïve.
Zimbabwe cannot afford another rigged election and it is outrageous that the nation should risk the heart-breaking suffering of millions people and unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands that is certain to follow on the basis of a foolish peace campaigns that has been going on for decades but have all failed to stop the blatant vote rigging.
It is criminal for organisations like HZT to continue to deliberately mislead people into doing something wrong. We all know the solution to end Zimbabwe’s perverse and ruinous culture of political violence is to implement the democratic reforms BEFORE holding any election. For Pete’s sake let us implement the reforms and stop this foolishness.
Peace, real lasting peace, is founded on law and rule of law and not fear or appeasement of the lawless tyrants!
Harare Airport renamed Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport.
ReplyDeleteOnce the nation knows the full story of the real Robert Mugabe behind the facade; the corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant the nation would not want to do anything to honour the man!
Mnangagwa and Mutsvangwa are hiding in SA and General Chiwenga skips to China.
ReplyDeleteIt is when the ship is sinking, that one sees how many stowaway rats there were on board as they try to swim away! Many will die but more often than not a few will survive ready for the next population explosion and to spread hunger and disease among honest and hardworking man.
In many ways Zanu PF leaders like Mnangagwa, Mujuru and even the bright intellectuals like the late Edson Zvobgo have been the authors of the party and their own down fall. They have all allowed President Mugabe to assume dictatorial powers because they were too stupid to see what was happening or they were benefiting from the dictatorship as their own individual position and share of the spoils were secure. It was late Zvobgo who crafted the new constitution to create the Executive Presidency complete with his excessive tyrannical power, confident he will one day occupy that office. It was only when Mugabe used those powers to consolidate his stay in power that Zvobgo realise the mistake he had made but all too late.
ReplyDeletePresident Mugabe is a control-freak megalomania and it is his insatiable love of power that is behind his refusal to allow anyone else rule Zimbabwe. He would sooner destroy Zanu PF and the country with it than give up power and that is exactly what the tyrant has done. Zanu PF is imploding and Zimbabwe is economic ruins and political turmoil. There are a few cases, if any at all, where the greed of one man and the sheer stupidity of a handful of those around him have cause so much destruction and human misery when the nation was not even at war!
People are only now beginning to appreciate the destruction and human misery Mugabe’s unquenchable thirst for absolute power has cause. The full measure of the damage the tyrant has visited on this nation will only be assessed once political power has been wrestled from the tyrant or his successor(s) and the individual freedoms and human rights of all are restored. The sooner the democratic reforms can be implemented the sooner the destruction can be stopped!
The need to implement the democratic reforms BEFORE the next elections has never been more urgent! There is no time to waste on such gimmicks as MDC’s Winning In Rigged Election (WIRE) strategies!