Povo are "excited" by CCC and Zanu PF is "panicked" - it's excitement born of desperation N Garikai

 “Behold the new has come as cyclone Citizens Coalition for Change hits Zimbabwe by storm,” wrote Leonard Koni

“In the political history of Zimbabwe, the entrance of Citizens Coalition for Change has rattled the regime to an extent of labelling the new kid on the block as an extension of an Islamic group ISIS.

“The regime has panicked just by naming the political party and it's colour yellow.”

 

I totally agree with you that both the ordinary Zimbabweans and the ruling party have stirred up into a frenzy of excitement and panic, respectively, by the launch of Citizens Coalition for Change, “the new kid on the block” as you called it.

 

The truth is CCC is certainly not new in that it is the same corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders of the last 22 years being recycled. And to prove the point, they are participating in the by-elections and the coming 2023 elections with no reforms just as they had done during their MDC days. They have renewed their claims to having plans to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

 

It goes without saying, Zanu PF is rigging the elections and Chamisa and company will complain the elections were stolen. Zanu will have got legitimacy and will reward CCC with a few gravy train seats. And the nation will still be stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.

 

In short, the frenzy of excitement by the Zimbabwe public is over nothing, they are an easily excitable lot as we saw after the November 2017 military coup! The greeted the coup as the real liberation day as contrast to April 1980 which was a false one. Mugabe had denied them their freedoms and rights before they had even tasted them.  

 

As for the Zanu PF regime, it has good reasons to panic. The over excitement over nothing by the public bespeaks of a people who are desperate for change. Desperate people do desperate things. The social media videos of people celebrating the launch of CCC showed people who were itching for a fight.

 

Chamisa and company have been reiterating one of their key pillars in their election strategy is “people must protect the vote!” They insist these would be peaceful demonstrations, but we all know there is no such thing as peaceful protest. The crowds celebrating the birth of CCC were itching for a fight because they too know there will be no peaceful protests!  

 

The tragedy is violent protests will be a damning indictment to us all, that we have failed to deliver peaceful change, we have failed to implement the democratic reforms so the country could have free, fair and credible elections. Violent street protests will bring death and destruction, guaranteed; beyond that it is anyone’s guess.

 

Look at countries like Libya and Syria that too failed to bring peaceful democratic change; their violent protests are now in their second decade and the country is in ruins.

 

It is ironic that the people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC aka CCC into power on the mistaken belief they would deliver democratic changes and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Chamisa and company have wasted many golden opportunities to implement the democratic reforms and have, since the GNU failures, participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. And now, their betrayal has left the nation so desperate for change, the people are resorting to violence in their desperation.

Both Mugabe and Smith denied povo title deeds to retain "control over the people" late John Robertson revealed W Mukori

 “John Robertson (85), a highly respected Zimbabwean economist who lived through the rise and fall of the country’s increasingly volatile economy and three successive governments, passed away in Harare on Sunday January 23, 2022,” Ben Freeth announced.

 

“John catalogued the country when it was the fastest growing economy in the world, and then catalogued it when it was the fastest shrinking economy in the world.”

 

To some of us who read some of John’s articles; they were so informative, they were essential must read. It is therefore disappointing to hear his sound advice was sometimes ignored by those in power and authority.

 

“Robertson also catalogued the time during full Chapter 7 United Nations sanctions when the economy was growing. In the 1970s, he put forward a proposal to give title deeds to the communal dwellers.  It was turned down by the Rhodesian Front government of Ian Smith,” continued Ben.

 

“After independence from Britain in 1980, Robertson put forward the proposal again.  It was also turned down by the government of Robert Mugabe for the same reason: the political authorities did not wish to relinquish control over the people by giving them ownership of the land that they lived on.”

 

Mugabe and his Zanu PF regime carried out their own redistribution in which the regime seized most white-owned farms; very often accompanied by, politically motivated, gratuitous violence against the white owners and their farm workers. The farms were, on paper, to redistribute to the landless peasants. In practice, the farms were given to the Zanu PF loyalists and their cronies.

 

Ben Freeth and his father-in-law, Mike Campbell, were two of the over 4 000 white farmers whose farms were seized by Zanu PF.

 

The tragedy is that most of the beneficiaries of the Zanu PF land distribution failed to put the farms into productive use. Zimbabwe’s, until then, very productive agricultural sector collapsed and was one of the primary causes of the country’s economic collapse.

 

Zimbabwe’s economic recovery will hinge on taking the farms from the Zanu PF ruling elite and their cronies who are now holding on to this key asset and holding the nation to ransom. They have failed to make productive use of the farms and yet refuse to give them back.

 

The proper land redistribution should have removed people out of the overcrowded rural areas and resettled them in state land or farms requisitioned for the purpose. This is outstanding work; there are still many rural areas facing serious land degradation because of overcrowding.

 

All Zimbabweans must be given title deeds to the land on which they live, be they a rural dweller or commercial farmer, as a matter of right.

 

The chiefs and other tribal leaders have retained their strangle hold over the rural people, first enjoyed under white colonial rule; reduced them to nothing short of medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Zanu PF operatives and proxies. Giving the people the title-deeds will empower them and end the political control.

 

It is ironic that Zanu PF ruling elite still insist on calling themselves the men and women who liberated Zimbabwe and yet they have retained all the oppressive measures used by the whites to oppress the blacks. 42 years and counting and still Zanu PF continues to deny the ordinary people the one possession they can have and cherish – land and the title deeds to prove ownership.

Give povo ownership of the land and they will plant fruit trees, build decent house, etc. because they will know it is an investment. Title deeds will give them the confidence to build without fear of being forced to leave and they can sell and recovery something from their labour. 

 

Every Zimbabwean must have the right to own the house and the land on which it stands!

 

Thank you very much John Robertson for reminding those in power and authority of their responsibility to upholding the property rights of all and for the many words of wisdom on many other matters. The greatest monument in your honour will be for povo to be granted  title deeds. RIP! 

"(Ramaphosa) don't have ostrich mentality. Help us!" called Chamisa - should wash his foul-mouth with bleach! W Mukori

 

"Don't bury your head in the sand. Don't have an ostrich mentality. Zimbabwe needs you. We have a crisis, a governance crisis, a leadership crisis, and that is a political problem that must be fixed," said Nelson Chamisa, speaking on SA’s SABC.

"Zimbabwe is broken. Let us fix Zimbabwe. We need the support and helping hand of Africa. South Africa must come to the show. Help us to resolve our fundamental issues. Support the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe. It is not about a political party, Zanu-PF. Zanu-PF has ceased to be a vehicle for the emancipation of the people, a progressive vehicle."

"Support the people of Zimbabwe in solidarity. Come and help us.”

 

SA and SADC were the driving force forcing Mugabe and Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) in which the party agreed to the need for Zimbabwe to implement the raft of democratic reforms to restore the rule of law and the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free elections.

 

The task of implementing the reforms were left to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in five years because Mugabe bribed them and because they are breathtakingly incompetent. Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti and many others in the CCC were in the GNU and, to this day, they have never acknowledged it was them, not SADC, who sold out.

 

SADC leaders begged, literally, Morgan Tsvangirai and company not to take part in the elections until reforms are implemented. MDC leaders ignored the advice. Chamisa and company are the ones who have insisted on participating in flawed elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

 

“Don't have an ostrich mentality!” What an outrage! You are the ones who sold-out and yet now has the chutzpah to insult those who tried to help. Chamisa must wash his foul mouth with bleach!

 

Whilst one can understand why SA and the rest of the SADC leaders gave up hope of helping Zimbabwe get out of the economic and political mess Zanu PF dragged the nation into after the pathetic performance of Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC fiends. SADC leaders have turned a blind eye to Zanu PF rigging the elections and a deaf ear to MDC leaders complaining about stolen elections.

 

SADC leaders have punished MDC leaders for failing to implement even one reforms when they had the golden opportunity to do so. However, it must be said, in punishing MDC leaders SADC leaders have punished the ordinary Zimbabweans too; they are at the coal face of the country’s worsening economic meltdown and political oppression. Indeed, SADC leaders are punishing the whole region because Zimbabwe’s economic chaos and political turmoil is now spilling into the rest of the region and beyond.

With no meaningful reforms implemented, Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections; that is as clear as day. SA and the rest of the SADC leaders must ignore foul-mouthed Nelson Chamisa et al, who are participating in these elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and condemn the flawed elections. Deny Zanu PF legitimacy and Zanu PF will once again be forced to sign another GPA, agreeing to democratic reforms.

 

There are many Zimbabweans who accept the 2008 GPA was our get out of jail card and accept MDC leaders sold-out by failing to implement the raft of reforms. And given a chance, the new GPA will be that chance, these men and women will implement the reforms. All the reforms!

Africa is witnessing an increase in street protest against autocratic regimes - deja vu, liberation war threw up devil-incarnate leaders P Guramatunhu

 "AFRICA is witnessing increasing resistance to autocratic regimes, Zimbabwe included, where opposition and human rights activists are taking to the streets at the risk of being arrested or shot, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in its 2022 report," reported Bulawayo 24.

"Just last week, 16 Zimbabwean teachers protested in central Harare demanding improved working conditions. They later spent days in remand prison following their arrest."

The economic and social situation in Zimbabwe with the economy in total meltdown and millions now living in abject poverty is unsustainable. Change is in the air, the only question is what kind of change.

By failing to implement the democratic reforms, the prerequisite for free and fair elections, the window of opportunity for peaceful change is closing. It is not only Zanu PF that is to blame for this; MDC have aided and abet by failing to implement the reforms and by participating in rigged elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

With the window for peaceful change closed the only option is violent change in the form of street protests, another military coup or both. Violent change does not always result in the designed peace, justice and economic prosperity as history shows.

Look at has happened to Libya, the violence that toppling of the late Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 has carried on long after the dictator’s death. Sudan is sinking deeper and deeper into chaos and despair as the street protests raging on.

Our own war of independence; an epic historic struggle and selfless sacrifice producing heroes and heroines galore, according to the Zanu PF ruling elite; is in fact the root cause why Zimbabwe is stuck in this seemingly intractable mess. As the men and women who executed the liberation war, they have imposed themselves from the onset in 1980, as the only ones with the divine right to rule Zimbabwe. 

In the 1980 elections, Zanu PF made it abandonly clear that if the party did not win the elections, the bush war would continue. Of course, the people voted to end the war and, to this day, lost their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

It is said that when Mahatma Gandhi and the other Indian nationalists faced a similar choice to wage war to end British rule of India; they asked “What kind of leaders with the war throw up? Will those be the kind of men and women we would want to rule independent India?”

Zimbabwe has had the grave misfortune to have some of the worst leaders violent insurrections can throw up, and, after 42 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule, we now know why Gandhi and company were right in opting for peaceful change and not a violent one.

After 42 years and counting of rigged elections, Zimbabwe is standing on the edge of the precipitous abyss. Another rigged election in 2023 could push the nation over the edge.

For the record, Zimbabwe has had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the best chances coming during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Robert Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends with the trappings of high office, and they failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years.

Worse still, MDC leaders have been participating in flawed and illegal elections giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship. Zanu PF has offered the opposition a few gravy train seats to entice them to participate in the flawed elections, an inducement the opposition has found irresistible.

Whilst it is too late to implement any meaningful reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections in 2023, and, with no reforms, Zanu PF is certain to rig the elections. The MDC and the usual suspects in the opposition are hell-bent on participating; they are after the bait gravy train seats which Mnangagwa has since the 2018 elections improved on by creating POLAD, a body to reward losing presidential candidates.

The strategy is to document all the glaring flaws and illegalities in the 2023 elections and prove beyond all reason doubt the elections were a farce and therefore must be condemn as such by the international community including SADC. Denying Zanu PF political legitimacy will force the country into forming a new GNU as happened in 2008; this time the nation will appoint competent men and women who will implement all the democratic reforms and set the country on a democratic track.

Street protests, military coup or any form of violent change is the last thing Zimbabwe wants this is déjà vu; for we should now know by now the devil-incarnate leaders our liberation war threw up! 

Tweedledum and Tweedledee are fight over nothing, again - MDC leaders are all "flawed characters" N Garikai

 MDC leaders are like Lewis Carroll’s characters Tweedledum and Tweedledee, complete with big mouth and pea-size brain. They will fight at the drop of a hat and, more significantly, fight over nothing. It is no exaggeration to say ever since the launch of the MDC in 1999, the party has accomplished nothing of substance and the leaders have expended a lot of time, passion and resources fight each other than fighting to deliver the democratic changes, reforms, they were elected to do.

 

It was USA ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, Chris Dell, who said in a leaked cable to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed and indecisive character, who would be an albatross round the nation’s neck if he ever got into power!” The ambassador should have said the same about the MDC leadership, for they have all turned out to be deadwood.

 

Sadly, for Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai and company did get into power and have been the milestone round the nation’s neck, dragging us all deeper and deeper into the crashing abyss! Instead of focusing on the important task of implementing the democratic reforms and holding Zanu PF to democratic account MDC have been fighting each other incessantly resulting the party splitting again and again like amoeba.

 

Some people have focused on the events leading to these incessant fights such as Nelson Chamisa takeover as MDC-T president following the death of the late Morgan Tsvangirai as the basis for judging the leadership qualities of the individuals involved. This is a mistake because these events are trivial compared to the pressing matter of implementing the democratic reforms.

 

The people of Zimbabwe risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into office to implement the democratic changes, as the party-name imply, to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections and thus end the curse of bad governance. After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC has failed to implement even one meaningful democratic reform.

 

Worse still, against repeated advice not to participate in the flawed and illegal elections until meaningful reforms were implemented. These leaders knew that by participating in the flawed elections they would give Zanu PF legitimacy. They ignored the advice and damn the consequences because they have been after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF offered as bait.

 

All the MDC leaders who were in the 2008 to 2013 GNU and/or have participated in the flawed elections since 2013 have proven beyond doubt that they are corrupt, breathtakingly incompetent, and utterly useless. Whether or not they are also guilty in any of the other trivial matters in between; is of academic interest to the small minds obsessed about trivial matters!

 

Some people have criticised Dr Thokosani Khupe for joining Mnangagwa’s POLAD after the 2018 elections, for example. This is a trivial matter because Mnangagwa derived his political legitimacy from all 23 presidential candidates and the thousands in the parliamentary race. Those presidential candidates who went on to join POLAD and publicly endorse Mnangagwa as the legitimate winner added the cherry on top, the real cake was produced in the participating.

 

Chamisa and his supporters have made a mountain out of the POLAD molehill, focusing on the trivial matters and ignoring the real substantive issues, for the sole purpose of heaping all MDC party’s historic failures and betrayals on Mwonzora and Khupe’s doors. Making the two leaders the fall-guys.

 

Meanwhile, Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti, David Coltart, Welshman Ncube and all the other MDC leaders in the Chamisa faction are emerging squeaky clean and innocent, as a rose.

 

This is the work of small minds and should be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves. Because by focusing on the trivial issues at the expense of the substantive issues the small minds are ignoring the historic facts, the truth, the reality, etc.; the stuff we need to comprehend our situation and find the solution out of the mess.

 

Ignoring the historic facts, etc. is the reason why we have been stuck for 42 years and counting in this mess. Nelson Chamisa and company have already proven that they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent pretending otherwise will help them being elected back into power but to what end and purpose. They will not implement the democratic reforms the nation has been dying for, for example. If they failed to get even one reform implemented during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, it is a historic fact that they did not. What is there to say they do it this time?

 

For Zimbabwe to get out of the economic and political mess we find ourselves stuck in we, the people, must have the courage to admit MDC leaders are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC leaders have failed to implement any meaningful democratic reforms and are not going to implement any in the future. We should have the courage to admit we made a mistake of entrusting MDC leaders with our vote, end the relationship here and now and refused to be sucked into their minion world one more day! 

US lecturing Zanu PF on "criteria for free elections" - umpteenth lecture, how naive/patronizing P Guramatunhu

  

“March by-elections and the 2023 harmonized elections give the Government of Zimbabwe a chance to show that #ZimVotesMatter, especially if it honors its commitment to level the playing field by undertaking #ZimElectoralReform,”the U.S. Embassy in Harare posted on Twitter…

 

“This week @usembassyharare will tweet several examples of what our government sees as the criteria for a free and fair election. Stated in the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) and also in Zimbabwe’s own constitution, these values have remained constant.”

 

It is all very well for the Americans giving the Zanu PF regime lectures on what reforms to implement to ensure a level playing field, the benefits of free and fair elections, etc., etc. How many times have they given these lectures? And Zanu PF has ignored the recommendations on each occasion and for one good reasons.

 

Zanu PF will never ever reform itself out of office, particularly when it does not need to do so. There is no pressure on Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms, the prerequisite for free, fair and credible election. None!

 

The only time Zanu PF was under any meaningful pressure to implement the reforms was during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when SADC force Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms. Mugabe bribed his MDC GNU partners with the trappings of high office and for five years the forgot about the reforms. The GNU failed to implement even one reform in five years and the golden opportunity was wasted.

 

Ever since the GNU debacle Zanu PF has been very careful to entice the opposition to participate in the flawed and illegal elections. In the 2018 elections there were 23 presidential candidates and thousands contested for the 210 parliamentary seats – proof, as far as Zanu PF is concerned, that Zimbabwean elections are free, fair and credible. If the elections were flawed, then why would so many Zimbabweans participate?

 

These lectures from the West on the basic requirements for free and fair elections before any elections; followed by reports on the serious shortcomings in the elections and a list of recommended reforms; are now the norm. These lectures from the Americans are the umpteenth and, like all the others before, will be ignored.

 

If these Americans are really serious about ensuring elections are free, fair and credible then they must acknowledge there are two key variables in Zimbabwe politics; the ruling party Zanu PF and the MDC. Zanu PF would not be in power today if MDC had implemented the democratic reforms, especially during the GNU. And it is MDC that is giving Zanu PF legitimacy by participating in flawed elections.

 

Zanu PF has corrupted the MDC leaders, instead of being the champions of democratic changes and pushing for free and fair elections MDC leaders have long abandoned that task for a share of the spoils of power. MDC leaders not only failed to implement the democratic reforms but are now actively undermining the efforts of those trying to do so.

 

Trying to deliver free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe by focusing on Zanu PF alone is like trying to solve a two-variable equation by pretending it is a single variable. It is a waste time!

 

MDC leaders are no long part of the democratic solution in Zimbabwe but rather part of the problem. One expected the Americans, the British, EU, etc. with all their rocket science sophistication to have figured it out by now! 

"We want Zimbabweans to work in SA but local get preference" - not even Malema can have his cake and eat it too N Garikai

 

"We want to make an emphasis to the owners of restaurants that no-one should stop employing Zimbabweans and say the EFF said they don't want them," said Julius Malema on Wednesday.

"We want Zimbabweans to work in SA. It is their home. They should make no apologies about hiring Zimbabweans or any other African brother or sister. In doing so, they must be considerate that there are locals who must at all times be given preference."

Julius Malema has yet to learn that he cannot have his cake and eat it too, not even he cannot do that. If youth unemployment in SA has soared to the dizzying heights of 66.5% and is not allowed to soar any higher then, unless the economy generates more job opportunities than the addition youths coming into the job market then the system will have to fire foreigners to create the necessary job opportunities. And thus running foul of his statements that he wants foreigners to work in SA.

In Zimbabwe unemployment has soared to 90% plus and most of the 10% in employment are being paid slave wages. 50% of Zimbabweans are now living in abject poverty and basic services such as health care and education have all but collapsed. What is so infuriating is that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is a man-made problem – it is the result of 42 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption.

For 42 years and counting, Zimbabwe has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime that rigged elections to stay in power.

To end the ruinous misrule, we must first cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. The cure is there – implement the democratic reforms.

We had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. We failed to implement even one reform because Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were entrusted the job to implement the reforms. With their snouts in the feeding trough the forgot about the reforms.

Worst still, since the GNU debacle MDC leaders have been insisting in participating in flawed elections for the sake of a few gravy train seats Zanu PF offered to entice them. By participating, MDC has given vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuate the misrule.

We, the ordinary Zimbabweans, have been our own worst enemy. Whilst we are the ones who voted MDC leaders into power for the express purpose of bring about the democratic changes necessary to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. We have never taken the trouble to know what these democratic changes are much less how they would be implemented.

If the ordinary Zimbabweans knew what the reforms were and how they were to be implemented, then they would know the 2008 to 2013 was the golden opportunity to implement the reforms. And that MDC leaders sold out, big time, by failing to get even one reform implemented in five years.

Of course, it is most disconcerting that many Zimbabweans, out there, have no clue the events of the GNU years prove beyond all doubt that MDC leaders are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. And so, these Zimbabweans continue to follow and support MDC leaders blindly and participate in the flawed elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating the misrule!

Nelson Chamisa and company’s “winning in rigged elections strategies” are all hot air. The wheels have already fallen off MDC A’s flagship strategy of mobilising and registering 6 million new voters and then voting on mass. Voter registration started in December 2020 and a year later only 3 000 new voters or 0.05% of the target 6 million had registered.

ZEC has said voter registration will resume after the 26 March by-election and closed end of August. MDC A’s hope of overwhelming Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut with opposition votes is dead in the water because the party will not register the remaining 99.95% of the target 6 million in 5 months.

Make no mistake about it, Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and, by participating, MDC is giving the regime legitimacy.

The day the political reality finally dawns on the ordinary Zimbabweans that the 2023 elections have once again failed to produce any meaningful change, Zimbabwe is still a pariah state; there will be a new wave of economic refugees flooding into SA, Botswana, Zambia, anywhere just to eke a living! No doubt Mr Julius Malema will welcome them with his double Dutch!

A more practical and realistic solution is for SA to help Zimbabweans end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance by calling a spade a spade. Zanu PF has never ever held free, fair and credible elections and, other than the 2008 elections, SA and SADC have turned a blind eye to the rigged elections. In 2018 President Cyril Ramaphosa said the elections “went well” and elections could not be traced and verified because ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.

It is clear there will be no verified voters’ roll for the 2023 elections. Zanu PF has already decreed the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be denied the vote “until the sanctions imposed by the West are lifted”, the party announced. Zanu PF is already rigging these elections. And we, in Zimbabwe, are asking SA and SADC to call out what they see; that is not too much to ask!   

SADC has leverage to force Zanu Pf to reform, giving that up for "winning in rigged election strategies" is insane Wilbert Mukori

 

Over the weekend Hopewell Chinono hosted a twitter discussion on “The importance of NOT boycotting elections with #ProfLevitsky”.

 

“I consider Zimbabwe to be a competitive authoritarian regime. It has never in its history been a democracy. A democracy is a system in which the playing field is reasonably level; where the opposition compete in elections on reasonable fair terms and can win. And wins with regularity,” explained USA based Professor Steven Levitsky.

 

“In an outright authoritarian dictatorship, like Rwanda, there is no competition. There may be elections, there is no serious competition. The opposition has no chance of winning and the dictator sleeps well the night before the elections.

 

“A competitive authoritarian regime is in between a democracy and authoritarian dictatorship.

 

“Sometimes, Zimbabwe has been a soft authoritarian regime in which the opposition has enjoyed some democratic space but has also used repressive measures to become hard authoritarian regime.”

 

Professor Levitsky then went on to argue that there were no easy options when it came to whether or not the opposition should participate in an election process in which the playing field is not level. Boycotting is an option when one has leverage on the regime to force it to have a level playing field otherwise the only other option is to participate.

 

“In the mid-1990s liberal Western Democracy was the only game in town. The West, international institutions like IMF and WB had leverage in the form of financial assistance which they withheld if the regime failed to hold free, fair and credible elections and therefore lost international illegitimate. This is no longer the case now, 30 years latter!” explained the Professor.

 

“The West has since lost much of its economic and military muscle and outward international focus in the last 30 years and with it lost its leverage over authoritarian regimes. The regimes have looked to China and Russia, particularly with the former’s emerging as a strong economic and military power in its own right; for financial assistance and international legitimacy.”

 

With no political or economic leverage, the least of the bad options, is to participate in the flawed elections! For one thing, the opposition is given some space during elections to campaign and it must use this space.

 

Authoritarian regimes sometimes overestimate their own rigging power. Rigging elections is not easy and there are cases where the regime rigged the elections and still lost. Or it is forced to blatantly cheat and thus losing credibility and, ultimately, legitimacy.

 

Besides, authoritarian regimes can manufacture their own opposition parties to counter opposition boycott. (Zimbabweans are very familiar with the “Government Organised” Non-Governmental Organisations (GONGO). Indeed, what is POLAD if not a Zanu PF organised opposition.) Who is there to authoritatively say this opposition is genuine and that one is not!

 

“There chance of winning a rigged election is 1 in 10 if you participate, which is much better than 1 in 100 if you boycott,” concluded Professor Steven Levitsky.

 

A very persuasive presentation and crowned by such odds; those calling for participating in the Zimbabwe’s March 2022 by-elections and the 2023 harmonised elections, regardless of the certainty Zanu PF is rigging these elections, win the day.

 

The truth is Professor Levitsky’s presentation is based on the assumption that for the last 30 years there was/is no meaningful leverage to force the Zanu PF regime to implement meaningful democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. How he, an academic intellectual whose reputation is founded on holding historic facts and truths in high regard, had completely air-brushed the watershed 2008 Zimbabwe elections and the 2008 to 2013 GNU that followed out of the country’s history beggars belief!  

 

Credit where credit is due, SADC, the regional body, (not the West or IMF, etc.) pressured the Zanu PF regime to implement several electoral reforms leading to the March 2008 elections. The March vote was the nearest to free, fair and credible elections the country has ever experienced since independence in 1980.

 

However, when Zanu PF became aware the party was heading for a resounding electoral defeat, the party’s vote rigging machine was switched back on. ZEC was stopped declaring the results. The party spend the next six weeks recounting the 5 million or so votes; whittling down Morgan Tsvangirai’s 73%, according to Mugabe’s Freudian slip, to 47%, enough to force a presidential runoff.

 

During the runoff, Zanu PF unleashed the party’s youth militia and the war veterans to intimidate, harass, beat and rape; the heavy-duty stuff of abducting and killing were carried out by the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Service personal. The regime was punishing the people for daring to reject Zanu PF is the earlier vote.

 

“What was accomplished by the gun, cannot be undone by the ballot!” thundered Robert Mugabe as the wanton violence engulfed the nation.

 

SADC and AU, for the first time ever after decades of turning a blind-eye to rigged elections, joined the international community in condemning Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections as a farce. It was SADC and AU’s refusal to grant Zanu PF political legitimacy that forced Mugabe to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) agreeing to the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms to ensure future free and fair elections.

 

The 2008 to 2013 GNU, comprising Zanu PF and the two MDC faction with SADC as the guarantor of the agreement, was the vehicle tasked to implement the reforms. Sadly, not even one meaningful reform was implemented.

 

Mugabe bribed the corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and the rest was history. MDC leaders have often complained that Zanu PF would not reform themselves out of office. What the MDC leaders fail to admit is that during the GNU it was within their power to implement the reforms and they failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not even one reform!

 

When the SADC leaders realised that no reforms had been implemented, they asked to have the 2013 Zimbabwe elections postponed until the reforms were implemented. “If you go into the elections next month, you will lose; the elections are done!” they told Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to their faces.

 

It should be remembered here that SADC leaders, were still the guarantor of the 2008 GPA, and therefore still had the leverage over Zanu PF. They could declare the election without reforms null and void and take back the country to the situation it was in at the end of the rigged 2008 elections. MDC leaders were clearly aware of SADC leaders’ leverage and yet they still went ahead and undermined it by participating in the elections.

 

“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,” confessed David Coltart, MDC-N minister in the GNU, in his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years

“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.”

 

So, it was none other than MDC leaders themselves who undermined the leverage SADC leaders had to force Zanu PF to hold free and fair elections and, by participating in the flawed elections, gave flawed process credibility and vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. And all because of greed, MDC leaders knew Zanu PF was offering a few gravy-train seats to entice them to participate and they found the bait irresistible.

 

If anyone thought MDC leaders had learned their lesson after Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections; they were wrong. Four of the main MDC factions plus three other opposition parties did form the MDC Alliance coalition and yet they still failed to do the “obvious” thing – boycott the elections – for the same reason – greed.

 

Of course, it was the same greed that had stopped MDC leaders implementing even one reform during the five years of the GNU.

 

MDC leaders are participating in the 2023 elections knowing fully well that with no reforms Zanu PF will rig the elections and that by participating they will give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. Nonetheless, they are hell-bent on participating for the same reason as before – greed.

 

Of course, Chamisa and company will never ever admit they are participating in these flawed elections out of greed. And so, they have made a big song and dance about their “winning in rigged elections strategies”.

 

“In 2013 we (MDC) could have boycotted the elections, the regional leaders were expecting a boycott. We did not take that option but I think it would have been a good moment to use it,” admitted Dr Alex Magaisa, he was the second keynote speaker in the twitter discussion.

 

As usual, Dr Magaisa did not explain why MDC did not boycott the elections and thus squandered the golden opportunity. He should know because he was GNU’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s special adviser. He failed to get MDC to implement even one reform during the GNU, so utterly useless adviser he turned out to be.

 

“President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to the lifting of sanctions in other countries but did not include Zimbabwe. The omission is not insignificant, it is important in so far as signalling some of the attitudes towards Zimbabwe. SA has been critical of Zimbabwe in the past,” continued Dr Magaisa in his presentation.

 

“There is a sense out there that things are not well in Zimbabwe!”

 

There is no doubt that SADC leaders are really concerned about the worsening economic and political situation in Zimbabwe. They will condemn the flawed 2023 elections and resume the pivotal role they played in 2008 in forcing Zanu PF to accept the need to implement the raft of democratic reforms necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, if they had the confidence there are Zimbabweans who can be trusted to implement the reforms.

 

If we can team the greed of the opportunistic opposition. And, more significantly, educate our naïve and gullible electorate to participating in flawed elections on the false promise of “winning rigged elections”. We will give SADC leaders the confidence to resume their role of forcing Zanu PF to accept the need for reforms, confident, this time, there are Zimbabweans they can trust to implement the reform.

 

(“The importance of NOT boycotting elections with #ProfLevitsky” is available on https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1BRKjnIWyLjKw).

"Africans manage poverty while others wealth!" - SA has hope for change, Zimbabwe none N Garikai

Dear Lindiwe Sisulu

Your article in Bulawayo 24 “Hi Mzansi, have we seen justice?” was a good read. It raised many important questions that demand serious debate, even if there are no ease answers. Thank you!

As a black Zimbabwean, I would say Robert Mugabe, if he was alive today, would have taken great comfort from this article because he has taken back the land from the whites and did a number of things you are arguing black ruled South Africa must do.

 “Their (white colonialists) purpose was rooted in the philosophy of white supremacy and entitlement to everything, including the bodies of those they falsely believed to be inferior. It was simply to take and colonise and defend, for kith and kin. It was about power. Economic power, political power, military power, and social power.”

The purpose of Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies was to seize political power and to loot the nation’s wealth.

Nelson Mandela has been heavily criticised for failing to give back the land to blacks and end black poverty; the criticism is founded if one considers that these economic realities are true. I would argue that Mandela did not end black poverty but he did the next best thing- he created democratic South Africa in which every black have a voice.

As long as SA remains a healthy and functioning democracy, in which people like Ms Sisulu has the opportunity to express their views and there is open and vigorous debate, the country has the opportunity to address its problems in a rational and systematic way. A luxury a country like Zimbabwe was denied by Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies.

Nelson Mandela’s legacy for SA was to make sure the country had a democracy constitution and strong and independent democratic institutions. The same solid democratic foundation that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others gifted America.

“In our beloved South Africa, a new constitution in 1994 and the rule of law took on a new lofty meaning after the deck had been heavily stacked against the victims of the "rule of law." It was a new dispensation of justice after centuries of a vicious oppression of the indigenous of the land by invaders. But what has this beautiful constitution done for the victims except as a palliative (Panadol)?” argued Ms Sisulu.

“But it seems today we have legitimised wrongdoing under the umbrella of the rule of law. Many years down the line, Africans manage poverty while others manage wealth.”

America started a half free and half slave but the country’s democratic constitution has served them well. SA has started half rich and half poor, one hopes its democratic constitution will serve it well too. As for Zimbabwe we started with no democratic constitution, we are a house without a foundation, are in deep, deep trouble.

Once again, thank you my sister for the thought-provoking article.

Nomusa.