Tuesday 6 April 2021

""MDC A must NOT boycott elections" Magaisa advised - echo of the ruinous advice NOT to implement reforms P Guramatunhu

"If there is a phrase that must not be entertained by the MDC Alliance right now, it is the phrase ‘boycott by-elections'. Not when the opponents are doing everything to take you out of political spaces. Boycott is exactly what they want you to do; it guarantees an easy ride," advised Alex Magaisa.

 

“Musangoto makudo namasvere!” So goes the Shona adage meaning, in this case, there are advisers whose words are full of wisdom and then there are those whose words are deadly poison! Alex Magaisa is one of those advisers who belong in the latter group.

 

We must never forget that Alex Magaisa was the Special Legal Adviser to the late Morgan Tsvangirai during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. And lest we forget, the primary task for Tsvangirai and his MDC friends in the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA). If implemented the reforms would have stopped the blatant cheating and wanton violence that marred the 2008 elections.

 

As the Special Legal adviser, it was incumbent on Magaisa, to make Sure Tsvangirai and his MDC friends kept their eyes on the important task of implementing the reforms. He should have even drafted the reform proposals and made sure MDC leaders submitted the proposals to parliament for debate and followed them through to implementation.

 

MDC failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not even one token reform!

 

SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the 2008 GPA, knew it was futile to go ahead with the 2013 elections with no reforms in place and they tried to have the elections postponed until reforms are implemented.

 

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza, SAPES director, told Journalist Violet Gonda.

 

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

 

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”  

 

On return from the Maputo summit, Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF’s Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in the GNU, called a press conference. He explained that Zanu PF was rejecting postponing the elections because there were NO outstanding reform proposals to be implemented. None!

 

Lal behold! MDC had not submitted even one reform proposal in five years! The party had a Special Legal Adviser whose paid and only task was to advise the party on the reform proposals and he had not even get one reform proposal tabled in parliament! Not a sausage!

 

No doubt Special Adviser Alex Magaisa gave MDC leaders the same advice he is giving them now; "If there is a phrase that must not be entertained by the MDC Alliance right now, it is the phrase ‘boycott elections'!” You do not boycott elections to protest against the failure to implement reforms when it turns out that you are the one had five years golden chance to implement the reforms and failed to implement even one reform.

 

If the truth be told, MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the GNU because they had no idea what reforms were required much less how they could be implemented. All in their 21 years of wittering about reforms, not even one MDC leaders has ever spelt out what reforms were required on even one issue. Yes, MDC leaders are that incompetent!

 

The same cannot be said of the Special Adviser, Alex Magaisa; he certainly knew the principal purpose of the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms, knew what those reforms were and how they were supposed to be implemented. He is smart enough to have known all that stuff!

 

So Special Adviser, Alex Magaisa’s failure to get MDC to submit even one reform proposal during the 2008 to 2013 GNU was not a mistake; it was a deliberate and calculated move. MDC’s primary task in the GNU was to implement the reforms and, per se, Alex Magaisa’s prima facia task was to implement the reforms. We know that not even one reform proposal even saw the light of day, that is a historic fact and proof his real task was to give MDC the wrong advice!  

 

Morgan Tsvangirai contested the 2013 elections with no reforms in place against the sound of SADC leaders and Zanu PF blatantly rig the elections, as SADC leaders had predicted at the June 2013 SADC summit.

 

Soon after the 2013 rigged elections, Dr Alex Magaisa was seen in the company of Professor Jonathan Moyo, according to Vincent Tsvangirai, the son of the MDC’s leader. Professor Moyo, was Zanu PF’s chief strategist, sat next to Minister Chinamasa when he announced that MDC had failed to table even one single reform proposal at the post SADC Summit press conference above.

 

There is no doubt that MDC’s failure to implement even one single democratic reform during the five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was one of the worst acts of high treason, second only to the Gukurahundi massacre. The nation had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections peacefully and MDC, with special ruinous advice from Alex Magaisa, wasted the opportunity.

 

Zanu PF retain its dictatorial power included the power to rig elections post the GNU because MDC had failed to implement the reforms. And so the nation has found itself still stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime with all the economic, political and social consequences that reality entailed.

 

Zanu PF’s post 2008 GNU strategy was to entice the opposition to participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegitimate the process got. The party has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and with the seats a share of the Political Party Finance Act budgetary allocation and the opposition have found the bribe irresistible.

 

By participating in the elections the opposition has given the flawed process credibility and given the result legitimacy.  

 

If Morgan Tsvangirai et al had heeded the SADC leaders’ advice and boycotted the 2013 elections, even when it was clear that MDC had dropped the ball by failing to implement the reforms; SADC leaders would have had the power and authority, as the guarantor of the 2008 Global Political Agreement, to declare the election null and void. Just because MDC dropped the ball was no excuse for SADC to do the same.

 

David Coltart, MDC-N Minister of Education in the GNU and now MDC A Treasurer General, admitted in his book that boycotting the 2013 elections was the “obvious” decision. However, he and his friends did not boycott the elections out of greed.

 

If the opposition boycotted the elections and/or the participating opposition had no political credibility; the elections process will lose credibility and the result will lose legitimacy. Without legitimacy Zanu PF will find itself back in the position it found itself in after the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections.

 

The 2013 and 2018 elections have been so flawed and illegal it has become a totally meaningless charade. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, etc. The case to boycott elections is stronger now than ever.

 

Why anyone in their mind would want the opposition to continue participating in even one more meaningless elections beggars belief! And yet that is exactly what Alex Magaisa is asking the opposition to do. To understand why, one must remember that it was the same Magaisa who advised MDC NOT to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU.

 

"If there is a phrase that must not be entertained by the MDC Alliance right now, it is the phrase ‘boycott by-elections'.” But of course, this is the echo of the ruinous advice NOT to implement the reforms! 

7 comments:

  1. There are many questions Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC friends have never asked regarding the 2008 to 2013 GNU and top on that list of questions are:

    Why did MDC fail to implement even one reform during the GNU?

    When SADC leaders warning MDC leaders not to participate in the 2013 elections without reforms, why did MDC ignore the warning?

    The 2013 and the 2018 elections have shown that whatever strategies to win rigged elections MDC have devised, they have not worked since Zanu PF has been winning with landslide victories. Just how long does MDC intent on dragging the nation into these flawed and illegal elections?

    Given that Dr Alex Magaisa was MDC's Special Legal Adviser during the GNU who failed to get MDC to table even one democratic reform proposal; it leaves one with a bad taste in the mouth that the Special Adviser is the one advising the opposition NOT to boycott elections! By boycotting elections Zanu PF will certainly be under pressure to implement meaningful democratic reforms.

    The 2008 to 2013 GNU did provide a golden opportunity to get the reforms implemented - if only MDC leaders had not sold out. If the elections were declared null and void it would create another chance to have the reforms finally implemented. Why is Dr Magaisa determine that the opposition participate just to give Zanu PF legitimacy!!!!

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  2. "Who will get my vote if Nelson Chamisa boycotted the 2023 elections?" is a interesting question.

    I would be particularly interested in the reasons he will give for boycotting elections given he and his fellow MDC leaders have participated in the 2013, and then 2018 elections under exactly the same conditions! SADC leaders, literally begged MDC leaders to boycott the 2013 elections to allow reforms to be implemented and the pleas fell on deaf ears!

    Why the deaf ears, you might ask! Well MDC leaders knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats and these they could not resist! By participating in these flawed elections the opposition are giving Zanu PF legitimacy, Chamisa and company know that and don't care.

    Mnangagwa knows that as long as MDC A and company continue participating in these flawed elections and giving Zanu PF legitimacy he can safely ignored calls to implement meaningful reforms.

    Chamisa will never boycott elections and, as a consequence of the opposition giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy, Zimbabwe will never have free elections. Indeed Chamisa and company are openly advocating their new ethos is having strategies to win rigged elections; i.e. they have given up fighting for free, fair and credible elections as a lost cause.

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  3. Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before him, believes he has the divine right to rule Zimbabwe and to be absolutely certain he retain power in the 2023 elections he is launching the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut nice and early, two years before the elections. Anyone who thinks that anyone of these traditional leaders or council employees will refuse to attend these training sessions has never lived in the rural areas!

    The nation is stuck with Zanu PF because MDC failed to implement the reforms during the GNU and ever since has been participating in flawed elections for the purpose of winning a few gravy train seats. MDC A and the usual suspects in the opposition camp will be participating in the 2023 elections regardless of all the evidence Zanu PF is rigging the election. We are stuck with Zanu PF because of MDC betrayal and greed!

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  4. On April 6, 2021, the Constitutional Amendment Bill (Number 1) passed through the Senate after it was submitted for the second time.

    The Bill, through amendments to Section 180 of the constitution, gives the President powers to appoint the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and the Judge President in consultation with the Judicial Service Commission.

    In essence, the Bill erodes the previous constitutional provision to subject the process of appointments of the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and the Judge President to public scrutiny and interviews.

    The Bill essentially gives the President the discretion to choose his preferred candidates for appointment.

    This works against judicial independence and goes against the principles of rule of law, separation of powers and transparency in government processes.

    The Bill is thus an attempt to consolidate authoritarian rule through judicial capture and therefore merely seeks to serve the interests of ruling party politicians at the expense of the will of the majority who voted for the constitution in 2013.

    Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition stands firmly against constitutional amendments before full implementation of the constitution adopted in 2013. Amending the constitution before implementation amounts to amputation.

    The fact that the amendment would sail through was never in question given Zanu PF’s 2/3 majority in parliament and senate. The nation should have stopped Zanu PF getting into power by blatantly rigging the elections. The party has rigged elections for donkey years now and it is inexcusable the nation has allowed this to happen all these years.

    Zimbabwe can put an end to this curse of rigged elections if we the people can stop the corrupt and incompetent opposition opportunists from participating and giving Zanu PF legitimacy. If we cannot control the opposition is it any wonder we cannot control Zanu PF!

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  5. Realization of an inclusive and speedy post-pandemic recovery in Africa hinges on robust action on inequalities that are responsible for poor health outcomes in the continent, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official has said.
    Speaking on the day to commemorate World Health Day, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the pandemic has worsened health inequalities in the continent with the poor grappling with limited access to life-saving drugs and contraceptives.

    "We need to act on the social and economic determinants of health, by working across sectors to improve living and working conditions, access to education for the most marginalized groups," Moeti said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

    Great ideas but none of them will ever see the light of day because those in positions of power and authority are living in luxury and are no listening. They don’t have to listen since they are accountable to no one. As long as the ordinary people continue to have no voice, nothing will change.

    We are just going round and round in circles here, we need to implement the democratic reforms the only sure way to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

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  6. The MDC Alliance had approached the court arguing that Mwonzora had no right to the political funds under the Act as his formation had not participated in the 2018 harmonised elections.

    In its application, the MDC Alliance had cited Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and the Mwonzora group as respondents.   

    The party had also claimed that they had filed the lawsuit out of fear that the Treasury would disburse $30 million to Mwonzora and his formation under the Act as they had previously done last year.

    The MDC, through their lawyer Lovemore Madhuku, had challenged the application, arguing that the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance had no right to the political funds as the party that had participated in the elections and the current one were different.

    "It was further submitted that in its affidavit, the applicant described itself as a legal persona with the capacity to sue and be sued. A constitution was attached to confirm the position stated in the founding affidavit. The constitution is undated.

    "The party that contested in the 2018 elections had no constitution and it is the party that appeared before the court in MDC Alliance and two others versus Douglas Mwonzora and five others.  

    "No constitution was produced before the court. If this applicant has a constitution, then it is not the party that contested in the 2018 harmonised elections and is out of court," Madhuku had averred.  

    In delivering her judgment, Justice Muzofa noted that the party was bound by the decision previously made by Justice Tawanda Chitapi in May last year and, therefore, lacked the legal capacity to appear before the court.

    Chamisa and his MDC A’s childish behaviour has again and again left one speechless. It has been proven beyond doubt that MDC A was not a political party at the time of the 2018 elections but a coalition of parties. Of course, it is childish to still claim MDC A was a political party and attaching an undated party constitution to the affidavit was not going to fool anyone.

    This was not the first time Chamisa and company behaved in a very childish manner, they did the same in their Constitutional Court challenge of the 2018 election results. Chamisa claimed that he had won 2.6 million votes and that he had the supporting V11 forms, the summary sheet of the vote count at each polling station. He failed to attach the V11 forms to his affidavit because he did not have all the V11 forms.

    Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A friends knew that, with no reforms in place, Zanu PF was going to rig the 2018 elections. They participated in the elections regardless because they also knew that Zanu PF would be giving away a few gravy train seats and a cut of the Political Party Finance Act pay out. With so many of them recalled and the $30 million, Chamisa and company have lost the spoils they had sold-out to gain.

    Lest people should forget, MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, they sold-out and failed to implement even one reform.

    MDC A is gearing to participate in the 2023 elections knowing Zanu PF will rig but will soldier on regardless out of greed. Zimbabwe would have had the reforms implemented by now was it not for the opposition’s greed.

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  7. @ Abednico Mwembe Mwembe

    “Well nothing new here what do you expect from a court which calls a coup by military not a coup ? If the same court can tell the world that removal of Mugabe by soldiers was illegal before it then pple can not be surprised by such rulings like the one handed to MDC alliance today. Actually this makes very clear now that zanu has taken over courts. I think it is useless to go to the courts to settle any disagreements.” 

    Trust you to go overboard! Did you really think the court was going to rule MDC A was a political party on the basis of the attached constitution that was not dated. How can the world take us serious on anything if we cannot be trusted to ever admit doing wrong even when there is all the evidence to prove otherwise.

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