Man is a creature of
reason, our superior brain should be our greatest strength but, like everything
else, in the wrong hands a blessing is a curse.
“In 1918, Eller Wheeler
Wilcox the great American author once said "to sin by silence, when they
should protest, makes cowards of many". Subsequently, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has called for public demonstrations which shall commence
on Friday the 16th of August 2019,” wrote Erasmus Pongo in Bulawayo 24.
“This comes after a long
series of threats from the MDC leadership since their loss in the 2018 disputed
Elections. In their recent press briefing, they have described their "
Free Zimbabwe March" as a continuous protest whose success or failure is
under the onus of its administrative arm.”
Pongo is a “Political
Analyst and International HR Consultant_ (Travel, Talent and Employment
Service),” by his own admission. He thinks he is a political analyst when all he
is a pretentious greenhorn and a dangerous one at that. Where the analyst would
offer reason and bring clarity his only contribution is to muddy the waters!
Pongo tells us “there shall
be huge turn-out” at MDC’s Free Zimbabwe demos for the following reasons;
“The MDC leader, Nelson
Chamisa has extended his hand to the uniformed forces as witnessed in his Defence
Forces speech. He has psychologically roped in the families, relatives and
friends of approximately 85,000 members of the uniformed forces in Zimbabwe. He
said that the March would represent the men in uniform since their occupation
prohibits them from protests. More-so, the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces (ZDF) General Philip V. Sibanda has also assured the nation that the
military will not interfere with the socio-political affairs in Zimbabwe.
Nelson Chamisa's outreach to the uniformed forces can play a major role in
increasing the turn-up of protesters on the 16th of August 2019.”
The first part is just a
piece of speculative nonsense, no one is going to join the demo “to represent
the men and women in uniform”! As for Commander’s assurance that the army will
not interfere one has only to ask where was he in August 2018 and January this
year when the Army did interfere and what he has done about it?
Commander Sibanda is as
much part of this Zanu PF dictatorship as VP Chiwenga and Mnangagwa; his
commitment to “Operation restore legacy”, the code name of the November 2017,
is as unshakeable as that of the others.
Indeed, it is this naïve belief
by MDC leaders that they can easily divide the Zanu PF cabal that encouraged
them to forget implementing the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.
Tsvangirai and company thought MDC had won the hearts and minds of those behind
the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut the party will win the 2013 elections
without bothering to implement reforms.
“The MDC has made efforts
to engage Christians through a socio-psychological campaign witnessed by a
series of prayer calls, fasting and social media devotion. Beyond doubt, this
move cannot be underestimated as the majority of the citizens gave heed to Chamisa's
devotion calls,” Pongo continued.
Frankly any thinking
Zimbabweans out there found Chamisa’s religious posturing blasphemous and
insulting.
Chamisa is using these
demos to pressure Mnangagwa to a National Transition Authority (NTA) and appoint
Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders into cabinet. This NTA is just a watered-down
variation of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The GNU failed to implement even one
democratic reform and the NTA will not do any better.
The people of Zimbabwe are
desperate for a solution that will get the democratic reforms implemented and
guarantee free, fair and credible elections. This NTA is not going to do any
better and hence the reason people should not support these MDC demos.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s
elections, the regime is illegitimate and people should be demanding that the
regime steps down to allow the appointment of a independent and competent
administration to be entrusted with implementing the reforms. The NTA is just a
waste of time and opportunity.
If Zanu PF is allowed to
stay in power till 2023, on its own or in the NTA, the party will see to it
that no reforms are implemented and will rig that year’s elections. This is the
last thing we want and it is down-right foolish join these MDC demos in support
of something that undermines one’s interests.
“God is in it!” Chamisa
has often signed off in his tweets. Well God is certainly not in these demos
that only seek to secure Chamisa and other MDC leaders seats on the gravy train
and to perpetuate Zanu PF’s rule. No Zimbabwean with half a working brain
should be in these ill-advised demos either!
In November 2017
Zimbabweans came out in the hundreds of thousands in support of the military
coup that ousted Robert Mugabe. The people were tricked into believing the coup
would end the Zanu PF dictatorship with catchy phrases like “New dispensation,
Second Republic, etc.” The had a very rude awakening when Mnangagwa and company
blatantly rigged the elections 8 months after the coup.
Frankly, the coup plotters
tricked no one; it was as clear as day that the coup was an internal Zanu PF
factional war in which there would be new faces in the leadership but the
dictatorship itself was to remain untouched. It was the people themselves saw
change where there was none. Some people never learn!
Many people will join
these MDC demos because they want the reforms implemented and free, fair and
credible elections. They know, or should know by now, that the NTA will never
delivery that. They choose to delude themselves!
"To sin by silence,
when they should protest, makes cowards of many", said Eller Wheeler
Wilcox. Eller Wheeler Wilcox did not mean one should join every protest
regardless how foolish its objective happened to be. Zimbabweans are certainly
not cowards for they have participated in many down-right foolish protests,
elections, etc., etc. hence the reason the nation is up to her eyes in s***t!
One should never underestimate the stubborn resolve of a village idiot to make a complete ass of himself and those naive enough to follow him blindly especially one armed with regurgitated and misunderstood ideology and theology.
Still, I would rather be
called a coward for staying away from the MDC demos than be the village idiot
who did but only to once again help perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship, this
time, under the guise of NTA!
There is no doubt that the economic hardships are causing serious human suffering and therefore the need for protest is clearly there. The real question is what will there MDC protest accomplish? The answer has be nothing!
ReplyDeleteMDC are staging the demos to push Mnangagwa into a power sharing arrangement so Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders can be appointed ministers and get back on the gravy train. The last GNU failed to get even one reform implemented and this one will not do any better.
What the nation wanted is for the illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down so the country can appoint an independent and competent interim administration that will be tasked to implement the reform. This proposed power sharing is stopping that happening.
ZEC failed to produce a verified voters roll; some of the V11 forms, summary of the vote count at each polling station, were never released; etc. and hence the reason no one was able to verify or trace the election results. Chamisa claims that he won the presidential race although he too failed to produce all the V11 forms to prove where his figures came from. And still he maintain that he was the winner! This is just one example of MDC cherry picking; the elections were free, fair and credible as long as MDC are declared the winner.
ReplyDeleteNo one in the international community has ever endorse MDC’s foolish claim! What is annoying is that this foolishness is standing in the way of the more rational position of rejecting the whole election as null and void and asking the illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down!
Zesa according to officials who spoke to State media indicated that it will now be cutting off power during peak periods from 5am to 10am in the morning and 5pm and 10pm in the evening
ReplyDeleteThe move comes following the resuscitation of power supplies from South Africa’s Eskom that reportedly began flowing in last Thursday. Government was forced to chip and help with paying off a US$38 million debt that Zesa owed Eskom. After US$10 million down-payment failed to trigger fresh supplies, Energy Minister Fortune Chasi was left with no choice but to tie Zesa to a punishing payment schedule that requires the parastatal to cough up to US$890 000 weekly.
The moral of this tragic story is a nation that does not pay its bill during the good times will be switched off and ultimately forced to pay the debt plus penalties during the bad times when it can least afford. There is no doubt that these punishing power cuts have costed the nation an arm and a leg!
On June 2, 2003, the MDC undertook its most ambitious action ever; they were going to stage a three-day demonstration known as the "final push", with the intention of either forcing then President Robert Mugabe out or at least to the negotiating table.
ReplyDeleteA day before the demonstrations were to start, Tsvangirai and other leaders checked into safe houses and nothing could go wrong, or so they thought.
The following day, Tsvangirai left the safe house, went to his home for a change of clothing, but he never left.
Police officers pounced on him and that was the end of the Harare chapter of the demonstrations.
In Bulawayo, Sibanda decided not to march as well and in the end, leaderless and directionless, the final push was a damp squib that fizzled out before it even began.
The MDC held more demonstrations in the aftermath of the final push, but they never had nearly as much momentum as they did in 2003 and those marches became nothing more than a footnote in the country's history.
My issue this time is that there does not seem to be a clear objective or what happens after tomorrow's demonstration.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa can simply choose to ignore the MDC's demands and that could be the end of it.
Just like the protests that the opposition party held to force electoral reforms, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and government simply ignored these and elections went ahead as flawed as they were.
If MDC have a clear plan, then they have not communicated it effectively and this demonstration will only prove the party has massive organisational capabilities, but nothing more than that.
MDC wants Mnangagwa to come to the negotiating table, but what the party must answer is what happens if he does not.
With this MDC demo that is due tomorrow, I find all these necessary conditions missing and, even if the government, which is notorious for being trigger happy, leaves it to go ahead peacefully, I am afraid I do not see what the endgame is.
The final push sucked the life out of the MDC and subsequent demonstrations lacked the momentum that the party had built over the years.
If the party botches up this demonstration, it will have to return to the drawing board and it could be years before it emerges from there.
MDC said in its May 2019 congress resolution that the party intends to force Mnangagwa to form a National Transition Authority, just a variation in name only to the 2008 GNU, who primary task will be to implement “comprehensive democratic reforms”. Zimbabwean should know that the last GNU failed to implement even one reform in five years. “We sat, ate and did nothing for five years!” Chamisa admitted.
In other words Zimbabweans are being asked to join these demos to demand the NTA so that MDC leaders can get back on the gravy train to “sit, eat and do nothing!” Only village idiots would want to do that!
Of all the curses, ignorance must be one of the worst. Millions of Zimbabweans risked life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into power on the understanding they would implement the democratic reforms to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. 20 years latter, not even one reform has been implemented.
ReplyDeleteDuring the GNU the MDC leaders learned had their best opportunities ever to implement the reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented because Mugabe bribed the lot with the trappings of high office. With their snout in the feeding trough they forgot about the reforms.
Zanu PF has since learned that as long as the party allows the opposition to win a few gravy train seats they will participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process gets. This is a win-win cozy relationship since Zanu PF continues to rig elections and MDC get the scraps. The real losers here are the ordinary Zimbabweans who continue to suffer the consequences of been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous regime.
What makes the situation even worse is that most Zimbabweans are blissfully ignorant that MDC leaders are sell-outs! All these demos are about MDC pushing Zanu PF to give up a few more gravy train seats at the expense of the commonwealth agenda of free, fair and credible elections.
After last year's elections the EU, the Americans, the Commonwealth, etc. all condemned the elections making it crystal clear Zanu PF was illegitimate. It is none other than the MDC who have fought tooth and nail to give Zanu PF some modicum of political credibility by participating in the elections regardless of all the evidence of vote rigging. Right now MDC are keen to trade legitimacy in return for cabinet post. MDC are the one undermining the EU and everyone else's efforts to get meaningful democratic reforms implemented!
Tomorrow we will know how many Zimbabweans out there are so ignorant they will foolish back MDC's demands not knowing the later is now working in cahoots with Zanu PF! We saw hundreds of thousands march in support of Mnangagwa and his follow coup plotters two years ago, many of those people would no doubt be out again tomorrow!
The biggest problem here is that MDC is asking for dialogue leading to another power sharing with Zanu PF. We have been here before, the last GNU failed to get even one reform implemented. "We sat, ate and did nothing for five years!" Chamisa admitted four weeks ago. The reality of another GNU so MDC leaders can "sit, eat and do nothing!" is what these demos are about.
ReplyDeleteZimbabweans made the mistake of marching in support of Mnangagwa and his coup in November 2017 thinking it would end the dictatorship. It did not! Zimbabweans are being taken for a ride, this time by Chamisa.
Zanu PF rigged last year's elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down to allow for the appointment of a competent interim administration that will implement the reforms. The power sharing MDC is offering is just an excuse to keep Zanu PF in power for the price of Chamisa, Biti, Ncube and two or three other MDC leaders getting cabinet positions! This we will not allow to happen!
@ Chronicle
ReplyDeleteTODAY is the day for peace-loving and patriotic Zimbabweans to shame merchants of violence by ignoring calls for violent demonstrations by the Mr Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance whose agenda is to try and unseat a democratically elected Government.
This is despite the fact that Mr Chamisa and his party were rejected by the people in the 2018 harmonised elections and continue to be snubbed by the people in the respective by-elections held across the country since the national polls.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and the country’s worsening economic situation is just one of the consequences of it. By rigging the elections Zanu PF confirmed that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery because no one wants to deal with a pariah state.
So no amount of this “Zanu PF is a democratically elected government” propaganda will ever change the reality that Zanu PF is illegitimate and Zimbabwe is a pariah state. What the country wants is for Zanu PF to step down.
What Chamisa is demanding is a power sharing arrangement with Zanu PF that is not good enough and for that reason and that reason only I for one will not support the demos! MDC have no business selling out legitimacy to Zanu PF in return for cabinet posts!
The demos are ablout getting Zanu PF to share the spoils of the rigged elections with MDC. Anyone who believes that the arrangement will implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections is naive.
ReplyDeleteChamisa is after using the people for his own selfish agenda just as Mnangagwa did in 2017. The people need to wake up and focus on their own agenda! What the nation wants is for Zanu PF to step down so we can appoint a interim administration we can count on to implement the reforms leading to the holding of free, fair and credible elections.