Dear Tendai Ruben Mbofana
Thank you for the
excellent article, 'ZANU PF won't
reform itself out of power', so why are Zimbabweans not using their own powers
to push for genuine reforms?’ in Bulawayo 24. A good read!
“The recent
thought-provoking comments by expelled ZANU PF member of parliament, Killer
Zivhu, to the effect that elections in Zimbabwe were a sheer waste of time and
the nation's resources, as the outcomes will always be contested and disputed -
rather, arguing for inclusive dialogue between all major political players, and
the setting up of a unity government - have, understandably, set tongues
wagging, and attracted vibrant debate amongst the population,” you wrote.
I would like to take
the above snippet and interrogate it.
Who says Zimbabwe
elections “are a waste of time and nation’s resources” and, more significantly,
why? These are key questions that are often ignored and yet, in answering them,
are the explanation of why we are in this mess and how we can get out.
Robert Mugabe and
his Zanu PF cronies would ideally want Zimbabwe to be a de jure one-party state
as contrast to the present de facto one-party state. He tried to have the
constitution changed in the late 1980s and dispense with the necessity of
holding regular elections; he failed.
He did the next
best thing, created a de facto one-party state in which Zanu PF rod roughshod
of the people denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a
meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.
Ever since the 1980 elections Zanu PF has rigged elections as the only sure way
the party would keep its iron grip on power.
Zanu PF would only
consider the elections a waste of time and resources in so far as the nation
should have accepted a de jure one-party state. As for disputing the elections
because the process was not free, fair and credible; Zanu PF leaders will swear
on all the holy books you want that the elections are free, fair and credible!
As for the MDC and
the rest of the opposition politicians they should be dismissed as fork-tongued
hypocrites! MDC leaders cannot complain that elections are rigged when they are
the ones who failed to implement the democratic reforms to end the culture of
rigged elections. They had 5 years during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the
reforms and failed to implement even one token reform.
Worse still,
everyone in the opposition camp knew that with no reforms in place Zanu PF
would rig the July 2018 elections, hands down. ZEC failed to produce something
as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake.
Still the
opposition participated in the flawed and illegal elections regardless because
they all knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice
them to participate. They all found the bait irresistible and did not care the
elections would be rigged.
Of course, the
opposition politicians knew that by participating in the flawed elections they
would give the process credibility and, by extension, give the result
legitimacy. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A’s complaining that Mnangagwa rigged
the elections and so lacked legitimacy was ignored with the contempt it rightly
deserved – he was being childish in wanting to keep his cake and eat it too.
The suggestion that
Zanu PF and MDC leaders should form a government of national unity is just
another piece of recycled nonsense. The two parties were in the 2008 to 2013
GNU that failed to implement even one democratic reform. It is naïve to think a
new GNU would do any better!
So, the only people
with good reason to view Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections as a waste of
time and the resources are the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves. Elections are much
more than just about the people’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of
the country, they are the key, the DNA, of good governance.
Leaders who embrace
free, fair and credible elections are not just being liberal and are accepting “Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you!” They are accepting that they
are infallible and therefore must be accountable to the people who pay the
ultimate price of every mistake they, the leaders, make!
There is no denying
that the ordinary Zimbabweans are the ones who have suffered and many have died
because of 41 years of Zanu PF misrule. The misrule has lasted all these years precisely
because Zanu PF rigged the elections, usurping the people’s right and power to have
a meaningful say in the governance of the country.
So, the ordinary Zimbabweans must voice their objection to the flawed and illegal elections and demand the implementation of the democratic reforms to restore all their freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life itself!
It is disappointing to note that many Zimbabweans have failed to understand the true value of free, fair and credible elections as the only weapon the ordinary people have in their fight for justice, freedom and even their very lives!
ReplyDeleteYes, by rigging the elections Zanu PF has made elections a waste of time and resources but this should make the people fight for free, fair and credible elections and never ever give up the fight because only a fool would ever give up his only weapon. And yet to listen to some people they want elections cancelled and the main political parties to form another GNU to last the next ten years!
The 2008 to 2013 GNU was meant to be a transitional arrangement because the 2008 elections were so flawed the results were meaningless. To have allowed Zanu PF to play a part in that GNU was a mistake since it was Zanu PF that had blatantly cheated and used violence in that year's elections.
The 2018 elections were rigged too but this was because both Zanu PF and MDC had failed to implement the raft of democratic reforms during the last GNU. The country needs yet another GNU but it would be foolish to have Zanu PF and MDC pay a part because it was their failure that landed us in this mess.
@ Nomazulu
ReplyDeleteMutodi was wrong in praising Mnangagwa's handling of the pandemic, just because he was doing better than Magufuli does not mean he was doing the right thing! Zimbabwe's official corona virus cases and deaths have remained very low compared to SA, for example, but only because the country was not testing for the virus as diligently as it was supposed to.
At the peak of the last wave of corona virus cases SA was carrying out over 44 000 tests per day. Zimbabwe who population is 1/4 that of SA should have been doing 11 000 tests per day but was only doing 1 500 tests!
Zimbabwe is not going to reach its 10 million head immunity until June 2022 at the earliest because the country was slow off the mark in buying the vaccines. The country is losing as much as US$1.2 billion year to gold smugglers alone, so we cannot say we don't have the money to buy vaccines when we are so wasteful!
AS the Zimbabwean crisis deepens, many in the media and academic fraternity castigate their countrymen as docile, unable to resolve their perennial economic woes due to a reluctance to speak out against corruption and State Capture.
ReplyDeleteYoung people have been on the receiving end of these aspersions.
There is much truth to the claim that Zimbabwe’s judicial, legislative and executive branches are captured by corrupt cartels that milk the country’s resources for the benefit of the top 1%.
However, the argument that young Zimbabweans are docile in their complicity breaks down when subjected to critical analysis. It fails to take account of the heavy yoke of unemployment, poverty, repression and other factors resulting from the malevolence of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidency.
Young people in Zimbabwe are not a homogenous entity.
Whereas a significant portion spend much of their time watching unproductive videos on social media, they co-exist with those who speak up about the deteriorating economy.
Those who follow people like Fadzayi Mahere, Joanna Mamombe, Ostallos Siziba, Nqobizitha Mlambo, Allan Moyo, Makomborero Haruzivishe, Treasure Basopo, Jacob Lawrence Sedze and Namatai Kwekweza know the great work that young Zimbabweans are doing.
The economic and political hardships brought on by the decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and tyrannical rule are affecting all Zimbabweans regardless of gender, age, race, political affiliation, tribe, etc., etc. By the same token the solution out of this mess can come from anyone and therefore those demand political space for one group or blaming another age for not doing enough, especially when it is clear the favoured group have done no better or worse, are wrong.
Zimbabwe is in this mess because as a nation we are obsessed about personality when we should be concerned about ideas.
It was the Greek philosopher, Socrates, who said “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
Socrates was right and we should have benefited from 2 500 years of human civilisation. Sadly, we have learned nothing and talk of age, for example, as if it is a virtue.
There are many people who have accomplished many great things in their youths but the there are other youths who accomplished nothing. There are many old people who accomplished many great things in their old age but there are others who have lived to a ripe old age and still accomplished nothing of note! Of course, it is nonsense to judge anyone on the basis of their age!
MDC A call on ZEC to start holding by-elections.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that MDC A has dropped its claim that Mnangagwa stole the July 2018 elections and is now legitimate? The nation is simply sick and tired of this MDC A nonsense of always claiming that the elections are rigged and yet failed to implement even one reform when the party got the golden opportunity to do so.
ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll before the July 2018 elections and still MDC A participated in the elections no questions asked. ZEC has never ever produced a verified voters’ roll. Never ever! And the opposition has always participated in the elections regardless of the absence of verified voters’ roll and other glaring irregularities.
Zanu PF has ignored calls for reforms and holding free and fair elections because the party has always known the MDC and the rest in the opposition camp will participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process got as long as Zanu PF gave away a few gravy train seats.
There should be no by-elections or national elections until we implement the bloody reforms and end this curse of rigged elections.
The national project of implementing the democratic reforms so we can have free elections and end this curse of rigged elections and bad governance has stalled because MDC leaders have sold out on reforms. The good of the nation is being sacrificed on the altar of selfish greed by the men and women the nation is risking life and limb to deliver the reforms. This is worse than selling out or betrayal, it is high treason!