“One thing for certain, which the opposition
should know, is that there is not going to be any transfer of power outside the
elections. Their decision to participate in the elections that brought
Mnangagwa to power — whether or not they were free and fair — was a taciturn
admission that they believed in the country's electoral system,” reported
Newsday.
“To now call for a transfer of power
after participating in those polls, is problematic.”
Actually, it is worse than that; MDC
leaders KNEW that with no reforms in place, Zanu PF will rig the elections and yet
they still participated out of greed, as David Coltart admitted in his book.
In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years
of tyranny in Zimbabwe, former MDC – Ncube
Senator and Minister of Education in the GNU, David Coltart, gave details of
how Zanu PF flouted the electoral rules, it clear the upcoming 2013 elections
would not be free and fair. Meanwhile talks of uniting the two MDC factions to
fight the elections as one were going nowhere.
“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 (2013) 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.”
Coltart’s explanation as to why MDC
participating in the 2013 elections knowing Zanu PF would rig the elections
begs the question why MDC had failed to implement the reforms in the five years
of the GNU, in the first place. As for failing to form a coalition, this was
just a feeble excuse because four of the main MDC factions did come together to
form the MDC Alliance just before the 2018 elections and still they
participated in those flawed and illegal elections.
When MDC leaders acknowledge that
participating in the flawed and illegal elections would give the “process credibility”
that is where they should have got off the bus as a matter of principle!
Whilst all the other individuals, nations,
organizations with any democratic sense dismissed last year’s elections as a
farce because whole electoral process full of flaws and illegalities. “The
electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in
an impartial manner,” stated the EU Election Mission final report.
“The final results as announced by the
Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate
traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on
political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of
human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive
aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018
elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
Having participated in the elections
knowing that ZEC had failed to produce even something as basic as a verified
voters’ roll, Chamisa and company had to keep up the charade that the election
was nothing wrong with the process. They could not endorse the election as
having been free, fair and credible either and so they settled for cherry
picking. Chamisa rejected ZEC’s vote count giving Mnangagwa victory in the
presidential race although MDC itself, just like ZEC, failed to produce the “verifiable
and traceable” documentary evidence to support Chamisa’s vote count.
Under this Zanu PF de facto one-party
dictatorship, Zimbabwe has earned a reputation as pariah state ruled by
corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. It is impossible to do
business in such a state, that is obvious. The thriving economy Zanu PF
inherited from Smith in 1980 has slowly but surely grind to a halt, after 39
years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. The country has been
starved of new investment as investors have shied away. By blatantly rigging
last year’s election, Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah
state and the dictatorship ruled the roost or be it under a new dictator.
Mark my words; as long as Zimbabwe remains
a pariah state, adding Chamisa and two or three other MDC leaders to the Zanu
PF cabinet will not change the pariah state status, there will be no meaningful
economic recovery.
The only way out of this mess is for the
nation to accept that last year’s elections were a farce and Zanu PF is
illegitimate, hence the pariah state, and must step down. The country need a
new GNU but one in which there are new players who will be tasked to implement
the democratic reforms leading to the holding of free, fair and credible
elections and ending of the curse of rigged elections and pariah state. Zanu PF
and MDC leaders cannot be appointed into the new GNU because they failed to get
even one reform implemented in the five years of the 2008 GNU. It is naïve to
expect them to do any better.
“Perhaps what is ironic in this whole
thing is that these ill-advised plans (MDC is planning to stage street protest
to force Mnangagwa to form a Zanu PF and MDC GNU) are coming after the party
claims it had been fasting,” continued the Newsday report.
“One wonders if, in their prayer and
fasting, God instructed them to take power by force? Sikhala's sentiments would
have been laughable if there were not a reflection of the kindergarten politics
that the party has become synonymous with.”
If the street protest would finally
deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for then I would argue
all those who can take part to do so. The most important thing to note here is
the demos are to push MDC’s agenda of a new Zanu PF and MDC GNU at the expense
of the GNU that will deliver the reforms.
The country is in this political and
economic mess because MDC leaders “sat, ate and do nothing in five years of the
GNU”, as Chamisa himself admitted. The suggestion that God would be involved in
yet another MDC scheme to “sit, eat and do nothing” at the expense of the
long-suffering ordinary Zimbabweans is blasphemous, to say the least.
The people of Zimbabwe have risked life
and limb to elect MDC leaders on the understanding the party will bring about
the democratic changes, as the party’s name implies, the nation have been dying
for. MDC has failed to bring about even one change in 20 years although the
party has had many, many golden opportunities to implement reforms.
There is a mountain of evidence that MDC leaders
have long ago abandoned the common cause of implementing the reforms to ensure
free, fair and credible elections. MDC leaders now accept that Zanu PF can rig
the elections as long as they get the scraps. If the people of Zimbabwe close
their eyes and refuse to see what is going on even after 20 years of being
short changed, then they deserve to suffer.
"Behold, I am sending you out like
sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves,”
warned Jesus. Matthew 10:16.
@ Rushwaya
ReplyDeleteThe premise of this would be that a younger group (possibly born frees) within the military who have progressive political views and who are fed up with the corruption and cruelty of the old generation would rise up and remove the old dossiers at the top and then do a deal with the MDC (preferably do the deal before the progressive coup).
This is just a nonsense argument starting nowhere and going nowhere. If the anyone, young or old, staged a coup to remove the Zanu PF thugs what is there to stop them taking their place? Mugabe and Zanu PF cronies were the nation’s liberators one day and then became the nation’s oppressors the next.
Zimbabweans have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power but only to see them sell-out to Zanu PF. Mugabe bribed Tsvangirai and company with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about the democratic changes. Right now it is MDC leaders who are fighting to keep the vote rigging and thus illegitimate Zanu PF regime in power as long as Mnangagwa agrees to share the spoils of power with them!
Why another coup when all we have to do is get Zanu PF to step down so we can implement the reforms?
@ Mukwirivindi
ReplyDeleteActually, it is not the fear of the regime's brutality that is helping to keep the Zanu PF dictatorship in power but the breath-taking incompetence of the opposition. If MDC had not sold-out and implemented the reforms during the 2008 GNU, Zanu PF would be history by now!
Zimbabwe's biggest problem right now is for the people to wake-up to the reality that MDC leaders are fighting in Zanu PF's corner and not with the common people. Clear that confusion and the nation will sweep aside this Zanu PF dictatorship with easy!
Gutu wrote: “They’re planning to kick off their violent and unconstitutional uprising on August 16, 2019. They think that Zimbabweans are stupid. They’re not.
ReplyDelete“People of Zimbabwe will NEVER be used to satisfy the selfish, crude and destructive agenda of certain power-hungry idiots!”
The Genesis of our political and economical problems is Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies imposing this corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous dictatorship on the nation. We have had many golden opportunities to end the dictatorship but have wasted all the chances especially MDC leaders. Tsvangirai and company have had many opportunities to end the dictatorship but wasted them.
Even now, the power sharing arrangement MDC leaders are calling for is to secure the leaders a seat back on the gravy train at the expense of implementing the reforms to end the dictatorship.
Of course, Obert Gutu is right MDC leaders are “power hungry idiots”; he should know since he is one of them!
@ Demonstration nayo
ReplyDelete“What truth is he barking about?. Why do people like you are so blinkered like horses. Who is power hungry one who is exercising his/her right to demonstrate as enshrined in the constitution of the country and one who takes power by force. Face facts my friend l know you one of them certified idiots.”
You are the one who is blinkered like a horse. The demos MDC is calling for is to secure gravy train seats for Chamisa and others. Once in power MDC leaders will “sit, eat and do nothing” just they did during the last GNU. The power hungry MDC idiots are luring to join them in the demos on the promise they will implement “comprehensive reforms” which they will not do.
If we are serious about getting the reforms finally implemented then we must demand a GNU staffed by independent and competent individuals not the same Zanu PF and MDC politicians who failed to implement even one reform in the last GNU.
@ Teurai
ReplyDeleteYou are right, the problem with many Zimbabweans is they believe if you do not support MDC you must support Zanu PF. They cannot accept that MDC has sold-out in failing to implement even one reform because, in their binary mentality, that meaning supporting Zanu PF. Both Zanu PF and MDC have taken full advantage of this idiosyncrasy to pursue their own selfish agenda divorced from the supporters' agenda confident they will still have their myopic followers no matter what!
Mliswa is just a big mouth who talks nonsense every time he opens it! What is Mugabe doing in Singapore? How much is it costing the nation to keep him there?
ReplyDeleteOur healthcare has all but collapse because of the decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by Mugabe and this Zanu PF regime. It is nonsense that we should keep pumping millions of dollars to maintain Mugabe and his family's extravagant lifestyles whilst millions continue to suffer and die for want of one decent meal a month!
Zimbabwe is a pariah state, ruled by some of the most corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging thugs the world has ever seen. Decades of criminal waste of the nation's human and material resources has left the nation in economic ruins and investors have shied away. When Mnangagwa rigged last year's elections he confirmed that the country was still a pariah state and the adventurous but ill-advised policies of his Minister of Finance have certainly triggered the run-away hyperinflation. It is clear the regime does not know what to do stop the worsening economic meltdown!
ReplyDeleteThe only real solution is for the illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down so the country can finally get outside help to implement the political reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. We need to reset our political system and a clean start.
What most Zimbabweans have failed to appreciate even now with the benefit of hindsight is that MDC sold-out during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. After a decade of denying MDC failed to implemented the reforms, Chamisa admitted it three weeks ago.
ReplyDelete“We got in the inclusive government and just sat there, spent five years in there. We came out without doing anything,” said Nelson Chamisa.
In the 2008 GNU MDC had the majority in parliament and cabinet and, most important of all, Zanu PF had agreed to the implementation of the raft of democratic reform in the Global Political Agreement and SADC was the guarantor. Yet MDC still failed to get even one reform implemented.
In the new GNU Zanu PF has 2/3 majority in parliament, senate and cabinet and there are no agreed reforms since Zanu PF maintains last year's elections were free, fair and credible. It is only the politically naive who will believe the new GNU will implement any meaningful reforms.
If we are serious about have the reforms finally implemented then Zanu PF must step down to allow the appointment of an independent body with the political will to implement the reforms. Zanu PF and MDC leaders failed to do so last time, let us try other people!
The idea that the very people who rigged last year's elections are the only ones competent to implement the reforms to stop another rigged election is ponderous and typical of the Zanu PF mentality that they are the only one competent to rule! We need to stamp out this foolishness here and now.
“Cabinet was informed by the Minister of Energy (Fortune Chasi) that an arrangement to unlock the supply of 400MW has been concluded with Eskom.
ReplyDelete“In terms of this agreement, Government, through Treasury, has commenced the payment of US$890 000 per week towards the settlement of its debt to Eskom,” said Mutsvangwa.
Currently Zimbabwe is producing 403MW of electricity from its three stations, just over a third of its 1 400MW on peak demand
For the last 40 years Zimbabwe has done precious little to maintain its power generation equipment much less invest in new plant. The country has relied on imports and did not even have the common decency to pay its bills. Now the chickens have come home to roost. The country is facing economic meltdown with production set to fall in every sector of the economy, the country desperately needs some slack and having the debtors demanding their dues in the last thing the country wanted.
Where will Zimbabwe get US$890 000 a week to pay for electricity over and above all the other pressing needs! The regime can ask those looting in Marange and Chiadzwa to give up some of their loot – they are not going to like it but there it is!
Reza also persuaded Ndewere not to grant Mupfumira bail saying her alleged offences are contrary to what is expected of her as a minister.
ReplyDeleteHe blamed the suffering of pensioners on Mupfumira saying they remain poorer because of corruption charges preferred against her.
“Nssa money had a purpose. The people who did not benefit at all. These are pensioners and to date, if we are to go to Nssa house you will find them in endless queues. The money they get is not even sufficient to take them back to Chiendambuya where they came from just to get that money.”
Mupfumira is facing criminal abuse of public office charges involving US$95 million.
It is heartening to hear Reza mention the real victims of all this Zanu PF looting, the pensioners who were forced to pay the contributions only for the money to be looted!
MDC leaders are taking advantage of the country's worsening economic situation to get the people to go out on the street and pressure Mnangagwa to accept to share power with MDC. Chamisa is telling the people he has the key to unlock the economic recovery, he is bluffing.
ReplyDeleteAs long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs, there will be no meaningful economic recovery. MDC's proposed Zanu PF and MDC GNU will a Zanu PF dictatorship in all but name. What we really need is for Zanu PF to step down to allow the appointment of a new administration that will be tasked to implement the reforms. We need to brush aside this Zanu PF nonsense that they are the only ones divinely chosen to rule Zimbabwe.
@ 003Tico
ReplyDelete“Can someone explain to me why Wilbert Mukori hates MDC so much. Could it be that he was denied membership of this political party by someone? As far as Mukori is concerned, the denial by Chief Justice Malaba to release the ZEC Server was insignificant.”
You should attack the message and not the messenger! One of the principle themes Wilbert has criticised MDC for was the party’s failure to implement even one democratic reform in five years of the last GNU. Chamisa himself admitted last month that MDC leaders had “sat, ate and failed to implement even one reforms in five years of the GNU” Not that we needed Chamisa to verdict Mukori, the facts on the ground said it all. So, does Chamisa hate MDC too?
Only a fool expected the Constitutional Court to come up with anything other than a corrupt judgement remember this is the same judiciary that had ruled the coup to be “constitution, justified and legal”! ZEC, Con-Court, Police and all the other state institutions are corrupt and hence the reason the opposition should have never participated in those flawed and illegal elections. They did out of greed.
Your blind loyalty to MDC has stop you seeing MDC leaders for the corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs they are. We are not going to get out of the hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed us in as long as we have an electorate that is blind, deaf and stupid. If you cannot see that MDC sold-out even after MDC leaders themselves admit it then you will never see!
Government is yet to disburse funds to political parties under the Political Parties (Finances) Act chapter 2:11 as it is seized with addressing bread and better issues, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Mr Nick Mangwana has said.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Political Parties (Finance) Act, the State is obliged to provide funding to any party that gets at least 5 percent of the vote in a general election.-StateMedia
What is Mangwana wittering about, the government has been creating money out of thin air which is the main reason we now have hyperinflation 175.6% by Government’s own calculation although many believe the real figure is 600%.
In Lupane ZANU PF used medication sourced from government hospitals to use during its campaign. In other areas it uses maize and mealie meal to get the voters to vote for them.
ReplyDeleteBy participating in elections under these conditions the opposition is not doing the rural voters any favours because they are giving credibility to a totally flawed and illegal process.