“I came here to say this on my own. I, Douglas Mwonzora, have agreed
with President Chamisa that at the congress the President will be Chamisa,”
announced Mwonzora.
“We also agreed that I will try to get the position of Secretary General
of the party. President Chamisa will complete what he started and I also want
to finish what I started in my position.”
This would be laughable if the political ramifications of the MDC
perfidious carry-ons were not so disastrous to the party and the nation at
large!
So thanks to Mwonzora's withdrawal from the race, Nelson Chamisa will
now be rubber stamped leader of the party without ever being grilled on what he
stands for, what he hopes to achieve, what went wrong in the past, etc., etc.!
“We spoke and agreed that each would play in their position. I was given
this jacket by the late President Morgan (Tsvangirai) and we have agreed that I
should wear it,” Nelson Chamisa replied, addressing the same crowd.
Mwonzora's own position as Secretary General is secure too without him
having to say what he has ever achieved in the last five years and hopes to
achieve in the future.
A meaningful democratic contestation will give the electing members a
meaning choice. The contestants are particularly good at scrutinising each
other record and holding one to account; giving the electorate an important
insight on candidates and thus from this wealth of information elect the right
candidate.
Both Chaimisa and Mwonzora have been in leadership position ever since
the formation of the MDC nearly 20 years ago now and, if the truth be told, the
party has accomplished very little of note.
It should be remember that the Zimbabwe people have risked life and limb
to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party would delivery
the democratic changes the nation has been dying for. In all the 19
years and many golden opportunities to do so, the party has failed to implement
even one democratic reform. Not one! Proof there is a lot of deadwood in
the party.
Mugabe was renowned for his political machinations turning elective Zanu
PF party congresses into a total waste of time. His name was always the only
one in the hat for the top job and so instead of an election it was always a
coronation.
Mugabe imposed the candidates he wanted and congress then rubber stamped
his choice. In the 2004, for example, Emmerson Mnangagwa was set to win the
post of VP following the death of Simon Muzenda. Mugabe unilaterally changed
the party's constitution to demand that one of the top four presidium post must
be a woman. So Mnangagwa was forced to withdraw leaving the field open for
Joice Mujuru.
Ten years latter in 2014, Mujuru was set to retain the VP post in her
own right and Mugabe stepped in to foil that. She was accused of plotting to
assassinate Mugabe and was "baby dumped”, as Grace Mugabe boasted. The
charges against Mujuru were dropped without anyone being arrested as soon as it
was clear she was no long a political threat to Mugabe.
Sadly, MDC leaders have copied Mugabe's undemocratic and dictatorial
practices. The late Morgan Tsvangirai used spurious powers to extend his own
stay as party leader beyond the maximum two five-year term, to appoint Chamisa
and Mudzuri VPs, etc.
When Tsvangirai died in February 2018, Chamisa seized the top post
without giving the other two VPs of the party a chance to challenge him for the
position.
MDC should be taking full advantage of next month's elective congress to
do some serious spring cleaning and get rid of the deadwood and tie up the
loose end in the party constitution that have allowed leaders to abuse their
position in the past. Chamisa and Mwonzora's quid pro quo has killed all hope of
any meaningful debate, competition and change stone dead.
The post May 2018 MDC will just as corrupt and incompetent as the MDC of
the last 19 years! We can be certain that MDC will participate in future
elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process happen to be, for
example, just as the party has done these last 19 years!
Of course, it is very disappointing that MDC has just wasted a golden
opportunity to self-renewal itself and finally play a meaningful role in the
dragging the nation out of the hell-on-earth we find ourselves stuck in.
Patients and their relatives have also alleged that hospital staff was leaving dead bodies in the wards until their collection by funeral homes.
ReplyDeleteInvestigations also revealed that no proper attention is given to the bodies when one is certified dead by the doctors. Last Friday, the body of a road accident victim was left lying in a pool of blood for hours after doctors had certified that the victim had died.
Staff member interviewed last week said the situation was unbearable for patients.
"All the people dying here are covered with blankets and they remain in the wards with patients until their next of kin claims the body. The situation becomes more complex when some bodies spend two to three days unclaimed," the nurse said on conditions of anonymity.
This is heart breaking. The country’s health care services have completely collapsed. This did not happen overnight or last week or month but has happened in the last 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule. We have witnessed all this madness unfold before our own eyes. Every Zimbabwean, wherever you are, must hang your head in shame that this is happen in your home country.
Of course, this is a man-made tragedy, 39 years corrupt and tyrannical ruinous rule. All man-made tragedies are per se within mortals’ power to stop. We must now take a hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves what have ever done to prevent this tragedy. More significantly, what are we going to do to end this madness?
@ Eddie Cross
ReplyDelete“For the second time in a decade our savings have been wiped out, values turned upside down and markets thrown into chaos with a dramatic decline in net disposable income. If you are on a fixed salary or pension (like me) then you are now earning a quarter of what you earned in real terms just a year ago. But prices do not stay constant – fuel and transport charges are up 3 times, in the retail stores prices are all over the place but on average perhaps 4 to 5 times what they were a year ago. Many people must now be on the edge of destitution.”
If I remember correctly, it was you, Mr Cross, who said last year that Zimbabwe was going in the right direction and by March this year the country’s economy would be booming. There is no hope of an meaningful economic recovery much less an economic boom as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections but has since learned that they cannot rig economic recovery. The only way out is for Zanu PF to step down and allow the nation sort out this mess.
"Zimbabwe has had a stolen election; it was disputed by most players including the biggest political party, the MDC. More importantly, the election was condemned by every credible local and international observer mission," MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said.
ReplyDeleteJust remember that it was you and your fellow opposition politicians who gave the rigged elections the modicum of legitimacy by taking part in the flawed and illegal elections! The nation would not be in this mess if you lot had implemented the democratic reforms during the last GNU!
The IMF can assist the poor Zimbabweans but not Zanu PF under the pretext the regime has promised to implement reforms. We all know Zanu PF will never implement the reform s fully to guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
The focus is on piling the pressure on Zanu PF to step down and it will be very disappointing if the IMF is going to undermine that effort!
The people of Zimbabwe have suffered a great deal these last 39 years because of chronic misrule. We need to deal with this problem of bad governance and the last thing we want is a dose of false medicine!
ReplyDelete