President
Emerson Mnangagwa is breathtakingly naïve; that is the one thing that has come
through again and again ever since he took centre stage last November. Remember
the coup that was “a military assisted transition”; well he has now come up
with something even more unbelievably naïve.
“We
want our elections to be free, fair, transparent and credible,” said Mr.
Mnangagwa, repeating what has become a mantra for his ZANU-PF party.
“The
75-year-old has been accused of having a hand in manipulating presidential
polls in 2008, when the opposition Movement of Democratic Change won the first
round but lost following a violent runoff campaign,” reported Spotlight
Zimbabwe, quoting The Wall Street Journal.
“Mr.
Mnangagwa has denied rigging that vote and other disputed elections, although
he appeared to come close to conceding that previous polls haven’t always been
free and fair.
“The
question of free elections, now, I have said in the past we did not allow,” he
said, before launching into another, newly familiar phrase: Let “bygones be
bygones.”
Here
President Mnangagwa is admitting, or be it grudgingly, for the first time ever,
that Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past. However, he has pointedly
refused to implement even one democratic reform. Indeed he has mockingly
dismissed those calling for reforms.
“Zanu
PF ichatonga! Igotonga! Imi muchingo hukura! Nokuhukura!” (Zanu PF will rule!
And rule! Whilst you (calling for reforms) bark! And bark!) President Mnangagwa
has often said before the November coup and has publically repeated the same
thing on at least two different occasions.
In
a recent article, Professor Jonathan Moyo, who was Zanu PF’s principal
strategist but is now in self-imposed exile because he was in the losing Zanu
PF faction after the coup, has given details of how Zanu PF has rigged
elections in the past and is doing so again this year.
“ZEC
run by Govt to run elections is not set up in terms of the Constitution. Most
of its full-time staff are former or current Army, CIO & ZRP. ALL of
TECHNICAL staff is 100% from security organs & ALL polling officers are
civil servants!” wrote Professor Moyo.
“On
the back of the Nov coup, and the fact that Zimbabwe is under military rule,
it’s unreasonable to expect a Govt run ZEC to run free, fair & credible
elections. With securocrats managing its TECHNICAL operations, ZEC is a rigging
tool!
“Govt
has seconded to ZEC a team of Chinese BVR & cyber experts from the People’s
Liberation Army linked to a top Chinese university. Their remit is to
manipulate the voters roll through shadowy & virtual polling stations &
fake voters!”
ZEC has failed to register 7 million voters because
the exercise was started very late, to produce a verified voters’ roll before
nomination day, there other sources confirming that there is indeed a 16 member
Chinese team of BVR & cyber experts in the country, etc.; proof that “ZEC
is rigging tool!”
President
Mnangagwa can claim these elections are free, fair and credible as many times
as he wishes but, as we can see, with no reforms in place, there nothing to
stop the Zanu PF blatantly rigging the elections again. He is being very naïve to
suggest these elections will be free and fair because he has argued to let
bygone be bygones.
Zimbabwe
is in a very serious economic mess; unemployment soar to the dizzying heights
of 90%, the country’s education and health services have all but collapse, etc.
The root cause of the mess is because the country is stuck, for the last 38
years and counting, with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF
dictatorship that has rigged elections to stay in power. The only way out of
this mess is for the country to implement the democratic reforms designed to
stop the vote rigging.
It
is already clear that Zanu PF is rigging this year’s elections. What matters
now is to make sure that the party does not get away with another rigged
election as has happened in the past. President Mnangagwa has promised free,
fair and credible elections, if he fails to deliver free elections then he and
his junta friends must step down to allow the appointment of an interim
administration that will implement the reforms.
So President Mnangagwa has admitted that Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past, he refuses to implement the reforms designed to stop the vote rigging and instead insist on "let bygones be bygones" will deliver the free and fair elections the nation is dying for. We can all see how the party is blatantly rigging this year's elections already and yet he still expect us all to believe that his strategy will deliver the free and fair elections! How naive can one be!
ReplyDeleteZANU-PF is going for broke ahead of the July 30 general elections with a war chest of over $200 million despite reports that the ruling party is broke. The extravagant campaign has raised questions about the source of the funding amid allegations that foreign countries are bankrolling Zanu-PF.
ReplyDeleteOnly $200 million? Nonsense the party has spent that amount on new cars alone already. The party is aware it will be heavily criticized was it ever to admit the true cost of these flawed elections. This is turning out to be comparable to Mugabe's daughter's wedding where the nation was told it costed $5 million although the tyrant squandered as much on redecorating the Blue Roof mansion alone!
President Mnangagwa is a ruthless tyrant and like all other tyrants he wants us to forget all his past transgressions with a simple "let bygones be bygones"! He does not want to acknowledge the details of his past vote rigging because he does not want to be pressured into doing anything to make sure the same does not happen again.
ReplyDeleteHe is insisting on political parties agreeing to a code of conduct instead of implementing the reforms designed to restore the power and the authority of such statutory bodies as the Police and ZEC so they can deliver law and order and free, fair and credible elections. With the code of conduct Zanu PF will retain the power and authority to enforce the code as it see fit.
"If you anger us, you will see us!" President Mnangagwa has already been threatening. The opposition parties now know what they will be committing themselves to in signing the code!
The people of Zimbabwe must demand the implementation of the reforms, holding of free and fair elections and refuse to be bullied into accepting yet another Zanu PF rigged election!