It is pleasing that MDC Alliance National Executive Council (NEC) has finally woken up to the reality that Zimbabwe will never ever have free, fair and credible elections without first implementing genuine electoral reforms.
"The party reiterated its commitment to a sincere, honest and credible dialogue process (with President Mnangagwa),” stated the MDC A NEC statement.
"The dialogue must unlock the impediments that have stood in the way of a credible dialogue process, under a mutually agreed convener, which must focus on a comprehensive reform agenda to ensure the security and freedoms of citizens as well as ensuring a free, fair and credible election that must yield a people's government.”
"The party's continued participation (and poor showing) in by-elections has exposed the dire need for prudent electoral reforms. A compromised election management system, the murkiness around voting material, the abuse of traditional leaders and the use of food as a political weapon continues to be rampant in the countryside, justifying the need for genuine electoral reforms," the resolution read.
MDC A is calling for a power sharing arrangement with Zanu PF whose principle task will be to implement genuine democratic reforms leading to free, fair and credible elections.
If there is one thing every Zanu PF members knows and understands only too well it is that the party will loose free, fair and credible elections and hence the reason the party has relied on its well oiled vote rigging machinery.
The nearest Zimbabwe has ever come to holding free, fair and credible elections was in March 2008. Tsvangirai won 73% of the presidential vote, according to Mugabe’s own Freudian slip. The Zanu PF stopped the release of the electoral results for six weeks whilst it cooked up the figures, reducing Tsvangirai’s vote to 47% and thus force a presidential run off.
During the run-off Zanu PF unleashed its party thugs, rogue war veterans and thousands of Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services personal to harass, beat, rape and even kill opposition party supporters and ordinary Zimbabweans. It was collective punishment for having rejected Mugabe and Zanu PF in the March vote.
“What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” thundered Robert Mugabe, confirming the party was solidly behind the wanton political violence sweeping the country.
“Zanu PF has declared war on the people!” complained Morgan Tsvangirai as he announced his withdrawal from the run-off. He was right, millions of people lost property, were beaten up and or raped. Over 500 were murdered in cold blood.
Mugabe was declared the winner with 84% of the votes!
Unfortunately for Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies, no one recognised his victory, not even SADC and AU who had turned a blind eye to Zanu PF vote rigging in the past. Mugabe was forced to agree to a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop a repeated of the blatant cheating and wanton violence of 2008. He was also forced to join up with Tsvangirai to form GNU which was tasked to implement the reforms.
Mugabe was cunning enough to bamboozle Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into doing nothing to implement the reforms. He offered the MDC leaders the trappings of high office, ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. And with the snouts in the feeding trough, MDC leaders forgot about the reforms for five years!
The one important lesson Zanu PF leaders have learned from the 2008 to 2013 GNU is 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 process happened to be. And as long as the opposition participate; SADC and AU, at least, will never again condemn the country’s flawed election.
So as long as this Zanu PF regime is allowed to stay in power until 2023 the party will never implement any of the “comprehensive reforms” to ensure free, fair and credible elections for one simple reason; they do not even need to!
The only way Zimbabwe is ever going to have free, fair and credible elections is for Zanu PF to step down so the country can finally implement the democratic reforms to stop the party rigging elections. After 39 years of rigged elections and bad governance; when are we going to finally admit, we not going to get good government from illegitimate and vote rigging thugs.
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