100k jabs/day promised and to deliver herd immunity by 2021, 4k or 4% availed delaying to 2028 W Mukori

 In July 2021 the Zanu PF regime promised to administer 100 000 covid 19 vaccine jabs per day and in the remaining 180 days of that year would have delivered 18 million jabs, two jabs each to the target 10 million herd immunity. However, with the reduced 4 000 jabs per day or 1.6 million per year it is going to take much longer to hit the 10 million target.

To date 6.28 million, 4.62 million and 0.86 million have received the first, second and third vaccine jabs in Zimbabwe respectively according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health. And so, it will take six years to June 2028 to finally get 10 million vaccinated with two jabs.

As we know the times have moved on, three jabs are now required instead of two. It will take a further six years from 2028 to 2035 to have the three jabs on the 10 million target herd immunity at the present rate of 4 000 jabs per day!

Many countries in the developed countries have 80% plus of their target herd immunised with three jabs, giving them the confidence to lift most of the covid 19 restrictions that had caused so much human suffering and economic disruption.

There signs are, mankind will have to live with corona virus for decades to come, at least, or be it a significant segment of the population will need annual booster vaccination jabs as is the case with the common flu, for example.

Until Zimbabwe reach the target 10 million with three jabs, the country will continue to live with covid 19 hanging over our heads like "the sword of Damocles". There will be new corona virus outbreaks and, with each outbreak, many of the covid 19 restrictions will return, many of the people without the protection of the three jabs will catch the virus become seriously ill and many will die.

Officially, 5 549 Zimbabweans have died of corona virus since March 2020 when Zororo Makamba died, the first covid 19 death in Zimbabwe. Many people do not believe the official figure; for one thing the country’s covid 19 testing regime has been wilfully inadequate.

The true figure is 1 million cases and 25 000 deaths, or ¼ those of South Africa which are 3.99 million cases and 101 745 deaths respectively. Zimbabwe’s population of roughly ¼ that of S A and the two countries’ covid 19 cases have mirrored that of the other given the heavy human traffic between the two countries throughout the covid 19 years.  S A’s covid 19 test regime has been more diligent are therefore the figures are more reliable.

Indeed, one would expect Zimbabwe’s covid 19 figures to be much worse than just being ¼ those of our southern neighbour given our health care service is in sorry state and by failing to test, trace and track Zimbabwe would have helped the virus spread far and wide, making our situation even worse!  

Zimbabwe is losing a staggering US$ 1.2 billion per year to gold smugglers alone, enough to have funded and delivered the 100 000 covid 19 vaccines jabs per day meeting the nation’s herd immunity target by December 2021. To have this covid 19 threat, "the sword of Damocles", hangover our heads for another six years before we can reach the two relative safety of two jabs is unbearable particularly when the delay is because of the insatiable greed of few!

The grim ripper, corona virus, has six more years to add to Zimbabwe’s estimated 25 000 covid 19 death toll thanks to Zanu PF’s failure to deliver own its promise to stamp out corruption and deliver 100 000 vaccine jabs per day. As it is the regime is delivering a mere 4 000 jabs per day or 4% of what promised because it has all but failed to stamp out corruption!

Kiya kiya re-dollarisation will never end the economic meltdown not whilst Zimbabwe remains a pariah state N Garikai

When President Mnangagwa announced the scrapping of the US$ and other foreign currency as legal tender in Zimbabwe it was done as a patriotic act. The announcement was accompanied by the usual pomp ceremony, song and dance. This was few moons ago.

On Monday, 27 June 2022, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced the US$ was back as legal tender.

"The market lacks confidence that the multi-currency system is here to stay for the foreseeable future. To eliminate speculation and arbitrage based on this issue, the government has decided to embed the multi-currency system and the continued use of the US dollar into law for a period of five years," explained the Minister.

The announcement came as no surprise at all as the nation has been trading in the US$ for some time already given the volatility of the local currency fuelled by inflation which has nearly doubled in the last four weeks alone to 200%.

This is crisis management, “kiya kiya” as one would call it in Shona, at its chaotic worst. If it was sound economic policy to abandon the multi-currency system a few months ago, why the U-turn? What has changed?

The truth is Zimbabwe is a pariah state governed by corrupt, incompetent and lawless thugs who have been rigging elections to stay in power. It is notoriously difficult to do business in pariah state and hence the country’s economic meltdown that has lasted these last two decades and counting.

The lack of confidence in the Zimbabwe local currency, Z$, hence the soaring inflation is a symptom of the lack of confidence in the country’s economic and political system. The economy is in total meltdown and political paralysis as both the ruling party and the coterie of opposition parties have corrupt and incompetent leaders who hunger for power and wealth is insatiable.

“These people (Zanu PF regime) are taking us to depths of unfathomable economic malaise never seen in the history of our country,” remarked Tendai Biti, VP of CCC and former Minister of Finance in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. He was commenting on Minister Ncube’s statement on dollarisation.

True enough, Zanu PF dragged the nation to new depths of economic depravity as the country’s inflation soared peaking at nauseating 500 billion percent in 2008. There is fear inflation is going to rise above the present 200% as the regime’s usual vote buying schemes go into overdrive in view of the coming 2023 elections.

Tendai Biti epitomises what is wrong with Zimbabwe’s our opposition politicians – they have a knack for reminding us all how miserable we all are under Zanu PF tyrannical rule and yet have failed to carry out the important task of dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship and, with it, end the pariah state.

Tendai Biti was the MDC-T chief negotiator in the team headed by SADC who produced the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA)that set up and tasked the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. As MDC-T chief’s negotiator Tendai Biti, of all people, must have known about the reforms, their importance and, most important of all, how they were to be implemented.  

It is most disheartening that MDC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform in 22 years on the political centre stage, 5 of which in the GNU. Worse still, it is MDC/CCC leaders who are giving Zanu PF legitimacy by insisting on participating in the flawed elections against repeated advice not to.

Zanu PF’s kiya kiya re-dollarisation will not end the economic meltdown not without ending curse of rigged elections first. Sadly, neither Zanu PF nor CCC have the common sense much less the political will and vision to implement the requisite democratic reforms and guarantee the country’s first ever free, fair and credible elections. 

"2013 elections were so illegal withdraw was the only logical step" - today it's only sane step P Guramatunhu

 

“Zanu PF has won the Masvingo West ward 21 by-election,” reported Zimeye.

“Sources in the ward spoke of intimidation of voters and rampant rigging by Zanu PF.”

What is really infuriating is these reports of “intimidation of voters and rampant rigging by Zanu PF” are true. Chamisa and company know that Zanu PF is blatantly rigging these elections and yet they are the ones insisting on participating regardless.

It is insane to participate in an election in which even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll is missing. Why is Chamisa and company dragging the nation into such an utterly pointless election process? The answer is found in answering a similar question regarding the MDC leaders’ performance during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

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

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the trappings of high office, they will not rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies had boasted, answering the question.

The GNU was “the get-out-of-jail card” in terms of ending the Zanu PF dictatorship. Having wasted the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU, MDC/CCC leaders have given up on reforms and free, fair and credible elections.

Starting with the 2013, the first post GNU elections, Chamisa and company have insisted in participating in the elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging and, even more significantly, knowing that by participating they will give Zanu PF legitimacy. They have participated regardless out of greed, as David Coltart confessed on all three points.

“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,” wrote Senator Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“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.”

Four of the main MDC factions plus three other opposition parties formed a new coalition, MDC Alliance, just before the 2018 elections. The dominance of the new coalition was self-evident as the election results showed. The issue of boycotting the 2018 elections was dismissed with claim the party had “winning in rigged election strategies”.

Chamisa and his CCC are the dominant opposition party going into the 2023 elections. Not even one token democratic reform was implemented since the 2018 rigged elections. If boycotting the elections to push for reforms before elections were the “obvious” thing to do back in 2013 it is insane to do otherwise now!

And yet; surprise, surprise; Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends are hell bent on participating in these flawed elections, knowing doing so will give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed. They are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering to the opposition winners and POLAD consolation bonus prices to the opposition losers.

It is a crying shame that 42 years of our independence, 2 500 years after the Greeks gave mankind democracy as the answer to a more just, fair and progressive system of government; we are not only failing to define what constitute free, fair and credible election process, we are messing around with the oxymoronic nonsense of “winning in rigged election strategies”!

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 and according to the CCC warped political ethos of “winning in rigged election strategies”, Zanu PF has the right to rig the elections!

The Zimbabwe election process is now so flawed it is insane to participate in such process especially when doing so gives legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF. We demand the implementation of the democratic reforms and the restoration of the people’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. And the unequivocal rejection of the nonsense that Zanu PF has the right to rig elections!

Zanu PF does not have the right to impose itself on the nation. The mandate to rule Zimbabwe is derive from winning the majority vote in free, fair and credible election process. The democratic freedoms and rights of the people must be fully restored as a matter of urgency.

Zanu PF anti-western rhetoric is but a tacit admission they are not masters in their own home! Nomusa Garikai

 

Zimbabwe gain her independence back in 1980, marking the end of white colonial rule. But to listen to the anti-Western rhetoric from the country’s ruling elite one would be forgiven to believe the whites are calling all the shots.

The truth is we got rid of the West colonial masters only to replace them with the new Chinese and Russian masters. The Chinese and Russians supplied the arms with which to fight our western colonial oppressors. They did not supply the arms out of love for freedom, liberty and justice. They have stayed on to become the independent African countries’ new masters.

Blacks have never been masters of their own destiny and as one would expect from those with no talent have become masters at finding others to blame for our own shortcomings.

“Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So, I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’

‘You wicked, lazy servant!’ replied his master. ‘You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest. Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Matthew 25: 25 to 29.

If there is one passage in Bible every black African must learn by heart, this is it. If we focused on being masters of our own destiny and in making the most of what we have; we would accomplish a lot more and waste so much time and energy anti-west rhetoric just to hide our incompetence!

"SADC must cushion Zimbabwe against sanctions" argue Lumumba - Zanu PF apologist masquerading W Mukorias intellectual

 

 

“I was disappointed myself when sanctions are levied against Zimbabwe, it is the people who suffer. Those in position of political power never suffer when there are sanctions,” argued Professor P L O Lumumba in recent video.

“I would have expected SADC to rally around Zimbabwe to cushion Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans against the pain that was visited against them through the sanctions. I would have expected the African Union to do the same.

“But what did we see? Tail between our legs and we leave Zimbabwe to the vagaries and manipulations and of foreign countries.”

I have always regarded Professor Lumumba as one of Africa’s intellectuals. Now I know better, he is just als aaAwaays

If people start attributing this problem to the wrong area then you come up with the wrong solution. The Zimbabwe economy was already in serious trouble long before the Western sanctions were imposed in 2001. This is well documented.

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown started soon after the country’s independence in 1980. By 1990, just ten years after independence, the country accepted the first of the five-year Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). The regime introduced savage social welfare cuts. “People must tighten their belts!” argued the then Minister of Finance, Dr Bernard Chidzero.

ESAP did not revive the Zimbabwe economy largely because the regime did not implement the measures to end the gross mismanagement and the rampant corruption – the real causes of the economic meltdown. In 1995 to 1999, Zanu PF signed ESAP 2. Once again the ordinary people were asked to tighten their belts whilst the ruling elite did the exact opposite – loosened their belts to accommodate the ever growing waist line!

In a interview with Travor Ncube, Dr Simba Makoni, Secretary General of SADC and Minister of Finance, revealed how Prime Minister Robert Mugabe replaced the Peugeot ministerial cars inherited from Ian Smith with Mercedes Benz. The limos were not budgeted for and Mugabe did not even bother to get cabinet approval.

The message to his fellow Zanu PF leaders was crystal clear; you stick with me and you will have all your heart’s desires – wealth, political power and influence. Mugabe had fired the starting gun to the Zanu PF political patronage system – the root cause of the mismanagement and corruption. Zanu PF has refused to admit mismanagement and corruption are the root causes of the country’s economic meltdown. The regime has blamed the sanctions imposed by the West and the root cause of the economic meltdown and the tragic human suffering it has brought.

The solution to Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown will come from addressing the country’s teething problems of mismanagement and corruption. Sanctions is just a red herring.

To deal with the mismanagement and corruption the country must first implement the democratic reform designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. If Zimbabwe was a healthy and functioning democracy, the people would have voted Zanu PF out of office a long time ago. Alas, Zimbabwe is not a democracy, Zanu PF’s four decades in power is because the party rigged the elections.

It is most disheartening that someone like Professor Lumumba fell for Zanu PF’s sanctions propaganda. Now I know, he is just a Zanu PF apologist masquerading as an intellectual!

3m plus in the diaspora will be denied the vote because both Zanu PF and CCC lack political will P Guramatunhu

 Zimbabweans like to make long speeches “full of sound and fury but signifying nothing”, just to impress others. The bottom line is Zimbabweans in the diaspora will not vote next year because Zanu PF is cherry picking on who will vote and who will not!

Andrew Makoni said:  "The diaspora vote is one of the reforms being pushed alongside other reforms. Parliament has until the end of the year 2022 to agree to electoral reforms and pass the necessary law. There is still time for the electoral reforms to be made. However, it will be up to Parliament to consider the diaspora vote or not. As Zesn we have been pushing for a law allowing all citizens to exercise their right to vote despite their location," said Andrew Makoni, chairperson Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn).

With a year to go before the 2023 elections there is no time to implement the reforms so that the millions in the diaspora can vote. It is the lack of political will by both Zanu PF and the opposition, not time, that is at issue here!  

In 2018, during his visit to USA for the UN General Assemble Head of State jamboree, President Mnangagwa said Zimbabweans in the diaspora will vote in the 2023 elections. It was the political right thing to say, he had just claimed electoral victory in an election process many rightly dismissed as a farce. Mnangagwa needed to earn himself some brownie points by promising the next elections will be democratic.

Last year, the then acting Zanu PF spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa announced the party will not grand diaspora vote as long as the sanctions imposed by the West on a select few Zanu PF leaders remained. A feeble excuse since the diaspora community was being punished for something they had no control over!  

Zanu PF has argued that the party will be at a disadvantage since its leaders will not travel to the Western nations because of the sanction travel restrictions. The overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans in the diaspora are in the SADC region and none of these nations have imposed sanctions on the Zanu PF leaders.

It is no secret that most of the Zimbabweans in the diaspora are economic and/or political refugees running away from the consequences of 42 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Of course, most of these people in the diaspora are not going to vote for Zanu PF.

By denying the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, Zanu PF is cherry picking who will vote and who will not vote. This is just one of the many vote rigging tools in Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut.

The 3 million diaspora voters constitute 34% of the 8.6 million potential voters (5.6 million registered voters in the 2018 elections plus 3 million in the diaspora) or 125% of Mnangagwa’s winning 2.4 million votes in the same elections. How an election process in which so many potential voters are denied the vote can ever be judged free, fair and credible beggars belief!

It is right to blame Zanu PF for Zimbabwe’s political mess but that is only half the story. The Zanu PF dictatorship would have been completely dismantled by 2013, at the latest, if Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had not turned out to be corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless. They have not only failed to implement the democratic reforms but are the ones giving vote rigging Zanu PF by insisting in participating in flawed elections against advice to implement reforms first.  

How anyone can ever judge an election process in which 34% of the potential voters are denied the vote a free, fair and credible process beggars belief.

Zanu PF has denied 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, 34% of the potential electorate, because it is part and parcel of the party’s vote rigging. The party will get away with scott free thanks to the opposition who continue to participate in the elections because they believe denying 34% of the people their right to vote is not important!

When it comes to the diaspora vote, President Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa agree this is a privilege and not a right! As far as the two are concerned, denying the 34% in the diaspora the vote is little potato, particularly if they are the one declared the winner of the 2023 elections. It is power they are after, they only pay lip service to the notion “the mandate to rule is derived from the people in a free, fair and credible elections!”

"Win we shall! God is in it!" proclaimed Chamisa - Nonsense! A discerning mind ossified into fat N Garikai

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

The Lord God’s greatest gift to mankind is a discerning mind and with it, mankind has achieved many things. He has split the atom to its subatomic components to reveal the workings of matter. He has left earth to gaze into the vastness of space and sense of birth and death of stars.

Alas, some people have sat on their brain, and it has ossified into fat. They are now incapable of thinking and are given to repeating the same foolish mistakes over and over again.               

“HOPE EVERYWHERE…It’s not easy to carry the hopes of all generations and the entire nation. Our parents in the rural areas are pinning their hopes on us,” wrote Nelson Chamisa, President of CCC (MDC rebranded) on Twitter.

“The task is huge. Friends, help me to pray for wisdom and strength to deliver a New Great Zimbabwe! WIN we shall! Happy Sabbath #fakapressure #Godisinit

GOKWE is an interesting place! #fakapressure.”

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect Chamisa and his MDC friends on the understanding the party would deliver the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC leaders have failed to deliver even one token reform. Not one!

Why?

Chamisa and company have ignored calls from SADC, the EU, the Commonwealth and many others, for MDC to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. Zanu PF has refused to produce a verified voters’ roll, denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, etc.; proof the party is once again rigging these elections. Chamisa and company continue to ignore the evidence in favour of their oxymoronic belief in winning rigged elections!

After 42 years of rigged elections, history is set to repeat itself. Zanu PF will rig and win the 2023 elections. By insisting on participating in these flawed and illegal elections CCC will once again give Zanu PF legitimacy.  

“Win we shall! God is in it!” No, He is not in any of this! God is disappointed to see the tragic suffering of ordinary Zimbabwean because of decades of Zanu PF misrule and disappointed with MDC/CCC leaders’ repeated failure to end the Zanu PF dictatorship.

Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends are hell bent on participating in these flawed and illegal elections out of ignorance, ossified brain, and greed. Zanu PF has offered a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate.

The message that Zanu PF is rigging the elections and that participating only gives Zanu PF legitimacy must be repeated a thousand times. No one, especially Chamisa and company must never say they did not know they are brain-dead and selling outs.  

God gave mankind a discerning mind, He would never approve His gift being wasted, ossified into fat! 

Will 11 SADC leaders ask Rwanda CHOGM 2022 to lower election standard to readmit Zimbabwe P Guramatunhu

 

Rwanda is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2022 next week, 20 to 25 June 2022. President Mnangagwa has, no doubt, been lobbying hard for Zimbabwe to be re-admitted to the Commonwealth. The regime is notorious for spending millions of dollars on PR firms to spruce up its image even when country’s education and health care have collapsed for lack of funds.

Zimbabwe’s readmission application was rejected following the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections in 2018. The Commonwealth Election Observer Team report, like EU and many reports, gave detailed recommendation on what Zimbabwe should do to ensure future elections are free and fair.

Zanu PF has not implemented even one token reform since the rigged 2018 elections. The regime has stubbornly resisted all pressure to produce even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections!

If this 2022 Rwanda CHOGM should decide to readmit Zimbabwe back into the Commonwealth it would be because the delegates had given up on Zimbabwe ever implementing the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. And so Zimbabwe’s elections will be measured against a one-foot long yard stick as contrast to the international accept three-foot long stick! This is exactly what SADC leaders have done!

Of 19 African countries in the Commonwealth, 11 of them are also in the SADC regional grouping. Wearing their Commonwealth cap, the 11 countries endorsed the Commonwealth Election Observer team’s report led by Ghana's former president John Dramani Mahama.

"We note that important gains were made in these elections. However, the acute bias of the state media in favour of the governing party, persistent allegations of intimidation reported to the group, and the unfair use of incumbency privileges tilted the playing field in favour of the governing party (Zanu-PF),” stated the Mahama report.

"The post-election violence, which resulted in fatalities, and the behaviour of security forces marred this phase of elections. For these reasons, we are unable to endorse all aspects of the process as credible, inclusive, and peaceful."

However, when the 11 were wearing their SADC caps, they endorsed the SADC team that concluded that the same election process was “substantially free, fair and credible!” This was only possible because SADC was judging the Zimbabwe elections against a lower standard to that the Commonwealth team was using.

Of course, President Mnangagwa was eternally grateful to SADC leaders for their political endorsement and legitimacy.

The only time, in 2008, when SADC leaders joined the rest of the international community and condemned Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections; Zanu PF lost political legitimacy and was forced to agree on the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms.  A Government of National Unity (GNU) was tasked to implement the reforms.

Sadly, not even one reform was implemented in five years of the GNU. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC, who were entrusted to implement the reforms turned out to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. SADC leaders had nagged MDC to implement the reforms but to no avail.

SADC leaders had made one last minute bid to have Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections postponed until reforms were implemented. They told Tsvangirai and company, to their faces, “If you take part in next month’s elections, you will lose. The elections are done!”  

As we know MDC leaders, once again, paid no heed and participated in the elections. Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections and SADC leaders, no doubt in disgruntled despair at MDC’s betrayal, turned a blind eye to the rigging and endorsed the process as “substantially free, fair and credible” giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is banking on the 11 SADC nations to pressure CHOGM measure Zimbabwe’s adherence to democratic values using a one-foot long yard-stick and not the universally accepted three-foot long yard-stick because Zimbabwe has failed to implement even one reform even when the country had the golden opportunity to do so!                  

It would be very foolish, to say the least, for 2022 Rwanda CHOGM to readmit Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth for three reasons:

a)      Lowering the democratic standards that have served the Commonwealth nations well will start a race to the bottom because many leaders will want the same compromised standards applied to them too. Many Commonwealth countries, notably Rwanda and Uganda, have dictators who have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections. Readmit Zimbabwe and there will be a lot more dictators in the Commonwealth.

 

b)     There are many Zimbabweans who readily accept that the 2008 to 2013 GNU was a golden opportunity for Zimbabwe to implement the democratic reforms and they condemn the MDC leaders for selling out. The Zimbabweans who continue to support MDC/CCC’s idiotic folly of “winning rigged elections” do so out of ignorance and/or desperation. Every thinking Zimbabwean accepts it is insane to participate in flawed elections out of greed for the few gravy train seats offered as bait only to give Zanu PF legitimacy. They welcome another opportunity to implement the reforms and finally get the nation out of this hell-hole.

 

c)      If Zimbabwe was readmitted, the Commonwealth will render the organisation’s own democratic standards and values irrelevant and embolden Zanu PF to rig the 2023 and future elections. 2022 Rwanda CHOGM will have condemned Zimbabwe to the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship aided by the entourage of corrupt incompetent and utterly useless opposition. Zimbabwe must not be readmitted to the Commonwealth until it implements the democratic reforms and uphold the internationally recognised democratic standards and values. That, surely, is not too much to ask!

Murder of Moreblessing renew SADC demand for reforms before elections - will CCC finally heed W Mukori

 

The cold blooded murdered of Moreblessing Ali, a Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activist, has touched a raw nerve because of its sheer audacity, barbarism and cold indifference on the part of the Police and the Zanu PF government.

Moreblessing was attached and abducted on 24 May 2022 by suspected Zanu PF supporters round 8pm near Chimbanguza Night Club, Nyatsime, in Chitugwiza, a dormitory high-density suburb outside Harare. Many people witnessed the incident and raised the alarm and reported to the local Police.

The Police have never interviewed much less arrest the named Zanu PF suspects. This is a very common thing in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF thugs are above the law and commit very serious crime with impunity.

A week after Moreblessing’s disappearance her body was found in a well at the house of a Zanu PF official’s mother’s home in Nyatsime. The body had been hacked in two at the waist. Her internal organs had to be scooped into a plastic bag!

Today, three days since the discovery of the body, still no one has been arrested. No Zanu PF government official has said a word!

Indeed, Zanu PF supporters in the area have taken it upon themselves to harass CCC supporters who had gathered to mourn one of their own.

“CCC supporters Tuesday afternoon burnt down a home belonging to a Zanu-PF district chairperson only identified as Murambatsvina, who is said to have been one of those barring them from mourning their slain colleague Moreblessing Ali at her Nyatsime home,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“Murambatsvina's house was torched by the riotous supporters who had been angered by Zanu-PF's hard-line stance not to allow them at Ali's home and by ruling party councillor Masimbi Masimbi's decision to bar them from mourning her in his ward.”

In another video CCC are shown singing “Hondo! Hondo!” (War! War!)

This is one war Zanu PF will emerge as the winner, guaranteed! The CCC supporters have no snow-ball chance in hell of winning given Zanu PF thugs have the backing of the Zanu PF state machinery behind them. Usually, the Police will hunt down all those involved in the burning down of the house and the Courts will punish them and meanwhile the coldblooded murders of Moreblessing remain untouched. They are the untouchables!

In June 2013 SADC leaders wanted that year’s Zimbabwe elections to be postponed until some democratic reforms to stop the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred the 2008 elections being repeated.

“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 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’.”

As we already know, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues ignored SADC leaders’ warning and participated in the 2013 and 2018, five years later, elections with no reforms in place. Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig those elections as SADC leaders had predicted.

The blatant cheating was enough to secure a landslide victory for Zanu PF in both 2013 and 2018 and so the nation was spared the wanton violence. After 42 years of rigged elections and with the country’s economy in ruins and over 50% of the population now living in abject poverty; it is not surprising the nation is desperate for meaning change.

So, desperate “the people will vote for a donkey if the choice was Mnangagwa and the donkey!” to paraphrase Professor Jonathan Moyo’s comment when Mugabe went on to lose to Morgan Tsvangirai’s 73% in the March 2008 vote. Zanu PF had resorted to blatant cheating to stop Tsvangirai claiming the presidency and then to the wanton violence in the run-off to reclaim the party’s dominance.

Zanu PF has stepped up the blatant cheating with the regime denying 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, ZEC will once again failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, the party is extending its allowance to the war veterans and traditional leaders who will frog march the ordinary people to vote for Zanu PF vote, etc. Clearly, this is not enough given the nation is restless for regime change.

Moreblessing Ali is the third opposition supporter to be murdered in cold blood since October last year in what is clearly a rerun of the wanton violence of 2008! The wanton violence is set to increase the more Zanu PF feels it iron hold on power threatened.

“The ‘new’ regime can be viewed from different angles, but the nub of it is this: there’s a recognition that the economic fiasco of the last 20 years was suboptimal, but Emmerson Mnangagwa and his fellow travellers will burn the house down if they feel it necessary. Make no mistake, their will to power is every bit as intense as Mugabe’s—as is their belief that they own the country’s choicest fruits by right of conquest,” wrote Stuart Doran.

“There’s no comprehending Zimbabwe without an appreciation of that mentality. Yet many fail to get it because they don’t read the country’s history. In 1979, at the height of the struggle against white rule, a diplomat who mixed frequently with Mugabe and other leaders of his party observed that ‘ZANU does not seem to attach much importance to the destruction caused by prolonged war’. They said they were content to see Zimbabwe ‘totally’ demolished if that was the price to be paid for preventing others from ruling it. That attitude has not changed an iota, notwithstanding the passage of 40 years and Mugabe’s departure. After all, the men who now rule wielded his hatchets for most of that period.

(To see Stuart Doran’s article in aspistrategist.org.au)

The tragic events of the last 42 years make it clear that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF believe they have right to rule Zimbabwe regardless of the overwhelming evidence their rule was brought economic ruin and untold human suffering. Their warped mentality to burn down the country rather than see anyone else rule sticks at the very heart every Zimbabwean’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country, the very essence of democracy and good governance.

We cannot restore the right of every Zimbabwean to a meaningful say in the governance of the country without implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. This is why it did not make any sense for MDC to ignore SADC’s advice to implement reforms during the GNU and not to participate in the elections without reforms.

MDC leaders (CCC is nothing but MDC rebranded, same leaders new political name) have all but given up the fight to implement reforms since the sold out by failing to get even one reform implemented during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Since the GNU debacle they have insisted on participating in the flawed elections claiming they have “winning in rigged elections” strategies. This is more than an oxymoron; the notion subscribes to the Zanu PF ethos of the party having the “right” to rig elections!  

So, in their own moronic way CCC leaders do not care about restoring the people’s right to free and fair elections. All they care about is power and hence the reason they failed to implement even one reforms during the GNU when they had the golden opportunity to do so.

Some people have argued MDC leaders did not implement any reforms because Zanu PF would have disregarded the reforms anywhere. This is just a feeble excuse that must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves.

The lord God was not under any illusions that giving Moses the Ten Commandments would rid the world of the sinners for all times! Of course, there are still sinners but there would be a lot more sinners without the Commandments and the guarantee no sin will go unpunished since the Lord God sees everything we mortals do!

To suggest that Zanu PF’s strangle hold on the nation cannot be broken by implementing democratic reforms is nonsense. The Zanu PF dictatorship is the handwork of mortals and per se can be dismantle by mere mortals too.         

Now with Zanu PF blatantly cheating and using wanton violence to rig elections everyone with a brain will join SADC leaders in calling on CCC and the rest of the opposition not to participate in the 2023 elections until reforms to stop Zanu PF cheating and using violence are implemented.

The cold-blooded murder of Moreblessing Ali confirms that Zanu PF will rather burn down the country than hold free, fair and credible elections. How many more innocent Zimbabweans must be murdered in wanton political violence before Chamisa and company finally heed the call for reforms before elections.

"Nonsense" Magaisa never sold out to Zanu PF - then why did GNU fail to implement even one token reform W Mukori

 

Honour your father and mother and above all honour the truth!

"Contrary to the nonsense I was reading on social media, they (Zanu-PF) approached Alex and I just felt that out of respect, after the period of mourning if they continue, I will set the record straight," Hopewell Chin’ono reportedly told the guests at the late Magaisa’s memorial lecture.

"We know the people. We have got names and some of them came through me. But Alex said, ‘No. I am a Zimbabwean. If you do things right, you do not need Magaisa's support. Do not look for individuals. Do the right thing and the whole country will support you'."

Well, the whole nation is certainly waiting to hear why MDC failed to implement even one meaningful democratic reform during the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unity (GNU). This was the golden opportunity to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and it is treasonous that the opportunity was callously wasted.

It is a historic fact that Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, the gravy train, and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, the forgot about the reforms.  

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good life, they will not rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.

Dr Alex Magaisa was the MDC T leader, late Dr Richard Morgan Tsvangirai’s special adviser during the GNU. What advice did Dr Magaisa give MDC T on reforms?

It is possible that Dr Magaisa advised MDC T to implement the democratic reforms but his advice was not heeded. SADC leaders, amongst many others, repeatedly warned the MDC leaders on the need to implement reforms during the GNU but their warning fell on deaf ears.

If it was that Dr Maagaisa gave MDC T leaders the right advice but was ignored, then why did he not do the only decent thing and resign? He has had the opportunity since the end of the GNU to come clean on why not even one token reform was implemented during the GNU; he has not done so.

And so, unless we see the evidence to the contrary, MDC leaders failed to implement even one token reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU because they were corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. Dr Alex Magaisa, as Dr Tsvangirai’s chief advisers, played his part in this treasonous sell out!

It is all very well for Chin’ono to say Magaisa never sold-out to Zanu PF; he must square the circle and reconcile that with the historic fact that not even one token reform was implemented during the GNU.

 Speak to the same audience, top human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said: "I believe that we should have regular lectures to celebrate each other. Alex was a vital core in the (2013 Zimbabwe) Constitution-making process which culminated in what we now have which I consider a decent Constitution."

I am not a lawyer and am given to believe Paul Mangwana’s boast that the constitution was “dictated” by Robert Mugabe. Mangwana is himself a lawyer and was Zanu PF’s MP and co-chair in the parliamentary committee that drafted the constitution. Mugabe was a ruth tyrant and dictator and not the one to dictate “a decent constitution”.

Indeed, the 2013 Zimbabwe constitution is a dictator’s decree and hence the reason why it failed its number one test – failed deliver a free, fair and credible elections in July 2013, just four months after its 95% approval in the March 2013 referendum.

Biti kicked out of parliament for demanding reversal of Pomona deal - more grandstanding, dying for real change N Garikai

 

“Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda Thursday chucked out Harare East legislator Tendai Biti and his Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) colleague Charlton Hwende after unsuccessfully trying to bar them from further discussing the controversial Pomona waste-to-energy deal,” reported Bulawayo 24

“After local government deputy minister Marian Chombo's presentation, having been called to explain the deal, Mudenda ruled there was no longer going to be any other discussions around the matter as tempers flared.

“Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com after being sent packing, Biti said the CCC party would continue to push for reversal of the deal even if it meant the whole opposition bench would be chased out of Parliament again.”

This is just grandstanding and silver-back gorilla posturing by Tendai Biti and his opposition colleagues; Zanu PF has 2/3 majority in parliament and per se will do as it pleases. This Pomona Deal stinks of corruption, it is not the first case of corruption nor will it be the last!   

Zimbabwe in this serious economic and political mess after 42 years and counting of this corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. And as long as the party continues to enjoy its carte blanche dictatorial powers including the power to blatantly rig the elections and remain in power the nation will continue to sink deep and deeper into the abyss.

The only solution is to implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

Tendai Biti and his MDC friends were elected on the promise they will deliver democratic changes, as the party’s name implied. They have failed to implement even one change even when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Worse still, since the GNU debacle, they have participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the dictatorship.

Tendai Biti and his CCC (MDC rebranded) are participating in the 2023 elections knowing fully well Zanu PF is rigging these elections and that doing so will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Zanu PF is giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition and these are what Biti and a few others are after.

Tendai Biti knows that with its 2/3 majority in parliament Zanu PF will do as it pleases. The Pomona Deal stinks of corruption but it will stand. It is not the first corrupt case nor will it be the last. Of all the people, Tendai Biti, knows this is indeed the case.

So, why did Tendai Biti make a scene on this Pomona Deal if he knew it will change nothing? This was just grandstanding and posturing to justify his continued presence in parliament.

The truth is the people of Zimbabwe must now make up their minds what kind of government they want going forward:

v  Either the present system comprising of the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship with its acolyte of corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless MDC/CCC opposition leaders who are content to maintain the status quo for a share of the spoils of power.

v  Or to totally reject this oxymoronic notion of winning rigged elections based on falsehood that Zanu PF leaders have the divine right to rig elections, and demand the implementation of the reforms, the restoration of the rule of law and the freedoms and rights of every Zimbabwean including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

ZSD Press Statement: SADC must stop endorsing Zanu PF rigged elections

 Zimbabwe Social Democrats PRESS STATEMENT

 

SADC and AU leaders must judge Zimbabwe 2023 elections to international democratic standards and not to some compromise one-foot long yard stick.

In a year from now, July 2023, Zimbabweans will be going to the poll to elect a new government. Already there are signs these elections will not be free, fair and credible, which is not surprising since they are just a repeat of the rigged past elections.

 

If we used the 2008 elections as the benchmark; everyone including SADC and the AU who until that year had always turned a blind eye to Zimbabwe’s rigged elections, agreed the 2008 elections were a farce following the blatant cheating and use of wanton violence by Zanu PF. Both SADC and AU refused to give Zanu PF political legitimacy and forced the party to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA).

 

The GPA called for the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms to restore the rule of law, restore the individual freedoms and rights and to stop the repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred the 2008 elections. A Government of National Unity (GNU); comprising of Zanu PF led by Robert Mugabe, MDC T and MDC M led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara respectively; was established and tasked to implement the reforms. SADC led by South Africa was the guarantor of the GPA.

 

Not even one meaningful reform was implemented throughout the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The main culprits for this failure were Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who took their eyes off the reforms ball. Mugabe bribes them with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about the reforms.

 

SADC and we, the ordinary Zimbabweans, could and should have done a better job of ensuring MDC leaders implemented the reforms. We did not!

 

SADC made a last-minute concerted effort to get the electoral reforms, at least, implemented before the 2013 elections. “If you go into the elections next month, you will lose! The elections are done!” SADC leaders told Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to their faces.

 

As we know, MDC leaders ignored SADC leaders’ warning and participated in the 2013 elections only to complain that Zanu PF had rigged the elections. SADC ignored MDC’s complains, endorsed the election as “substantially free and fair” and thus granted Zanu PF legitimacy.

 

Of course, Zanu PF had indeed blatantly rigged the 2013 elections, as the SADC leaders had rightly predicted just a month before the voting. The only rational explanation for the regional leaders’ volte-face to endorse the rigged elections is because SADC leaders were disappointed with MDC leaders’ failure to implement reforms during the GNU and for ignoring the advice not to participate in the elections without implementing reforms.

So, disappointed they gave up the fight for reforms and free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. And they decided to grant Zanu PF legitimacy to punish the MDC leaders.

 

The tragic reality is by endorsing rigged Zimbabwe elections SADC and AU have not only punished MDC leaders but the ordinary Zimbabweans too, who have borne the brant of the Zanu PF tyranny and the consequences bad governance.

 

“The electoral commission (ZEC) lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.

 

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

 

The EU Election Observer Mission final report made 23 recommendations which, if implemented, would bring Zimbabwe 2023 elections to international standards. Sadly, not even one of the recommendations have been implemented.

 

Both SADC and AU election observers judged Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections as “substantially free and fair”. With not even one token reform implemented since the last elections it is already evident that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections too!

 

It is outrageous, that 42 years after independence Zimbabweans should still be fighting Zanu PF and the sell-out opposition to secure their basic right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

 

Indeed, both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC have ignored demands for implementing reforms before elections content in the knowledge that both SADC and AU will endorse the rigged elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy. It is therefore clear we, in Zimbabwe, must fight Zanu PF, MDC/CCC, SADC and AU to have reforms implemented. So be it!

 

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections, “the elections are done!” as SADC leaders aptly put back in 2013. The prospect of SADC and AU once again declaring the rigged elections “substantially free, fair and credible” is real.

 

We will question SADC and AU’s basis for declaring rigged elections “substantially free and fair”; especially those nation with a history of holding free, fair and credible elections. Zimbabwe elections must be judged against the internationally accepted democratic standards and not some one-foot long yard stick!

 

Signed

 

Wilbert Mukori

 

ZSD Secretary General.

 

Email:zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com

www.zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk

"Everyone must register and vote for change" - to what purpose when whole process is rigged P Guramatunhu

 

“In this world it pays to pay attention. Answer the question you are asked and not the question you wanted to be asked!” Father Kunne, my Bible Knowledge teacher, used to say. A simple lifetime lesson well worth learning by heart!

There is no denying that Zimbabwe is in this hell hole because of 42 years of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness that has left the country in economic ruins, political paralysis and a pariah state shun by all. Zanu PF has rigged elections and thus deny the people the opportunity to end the dictatorship and get out of the hell-hole.

There is also no denying that Zimbabwe has had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Instead of implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were distracted by the trappings of high office, they forgot about the reforms.

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have busy enjoying the trappings of the gravy train, they will never rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leader were not implementing the reforms.

Since the GNU debacle MDC cum CCC leaders have all but abandoned the fight to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections, which is the battle royal before us if we are to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and get out of this hell-hole we are stuck in. Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends believe the country can still get out of the hell-hole without implementing reforms.  

“The only way to restore the teachers' dignity is by voting out President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF in 2023,” proclaimed Patriotic Papa J Chitando in a Bulawaayo24 article, “We have to break Zanu-PF yoke”.

An ostentatious statement, coming from the political party, MDC/CCC, that has failed to deliver even one democratic reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. And is ignoring the political reality that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and nothing of substance can ever be accomplished without first implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections.  

“It is upon every school head and teacher to encourage and make sure every staff member and their families at their station are registered to vote for change,” continued Chitando.

“The biggest culprits are the greedy teachers who sacrifice lifetime liberty by supporting Zanu-PF.”

Chitando was not just a senior MDC-T member in the GNU, he was the party’s MP for Masvingo Central. As an MP he could have submitted a reform proposal in parliament in his own right! Not even one reform proposal was submitted in the five years of the GNU by Chitando or anyone of his fellow MDC friends. Not even one reform!

To win the 2023 elections, Chitando and company set themselves a target of registering 6 million new voters. 250 000 new voters had registered country wide by the end of May 2022. Even if one assumed the new voter registrants are MDC/CCC supporters, this constitutes a mere 4% of the target 6 million!

So, MDC/CCC’s flagship strategy of “winning the rigged elections” by overwhelming numbers by mass voter registration and mass voting is dead in the water.

The Zanu PF voter rigging machinery controls every aspect of the voting process including the voter registration and it is therefore not surprising the party disrupted the voter registration process. It is common knowledge that the opposition supporters have found it very difficult to register as voters. Meanwhile offices have remained open to midnight to register Zanu PF supporters!

Zimbabwe is well and truly stuck with this corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship whose long stay in power is assured as long as the party continue to enjoy the carte blanche powers to rig elections. If we want change then we must implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. MDC/CCC have wasted many golden opportunities to get the reforms implemented because they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.

After 42 years of rigged elections with the country in serious economic trouble and millions now living in abject poverty; Zimbabwe must bite the bullet and implement the democratic reforms. It is insane not to!

Zanu PF is rigging these including the voter registration itself. The only hope for real and meaningful change will come from implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

“Teachers, everybody must register to vote for change!” To what end and purpose when the whole process is flawed, illegal and blatantly rigged.

"If you go into (2013) elections (with no reforms), you will lose!" - what would it take for CCC to finally paid heed P Guramatunhu

In June 2013, nine years ago this month, SADC leaders made a last minute desperate bid to stop Zimbabwe going into the July 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms. They wanted the elections postponed because with no reforms they knew that Zanu PF would rig and thus make the whole process futile.

“The Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza, Director of SAPES, 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’.”

Lest we forget, it was SADC leaders who forced Zanu PF to agree to the need to implement democratic reforms and the formation of the 2008 to 2013 GNU following the blatant cheating and wanton violence by Zanu PF in the 2008 elections. SADC leaders were the guarantor of the agreement, and they did they best to remind Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to implement the reforms.

MDC leaders ignored the SADC leaders’ advice to implement reforms. Not even one meaningful reform was implemented and hence SADC leaders’ last-minute bid to have the elections postponed until some reforms are implemented. As we know MDC leaders ignored SADC leaders’ plea and participated in the 2013 elections.

In his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, an MDC Ncube minister in the GNU, confirmed four key points:

1)     That with no reforms, Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections

 

2)     That postponing/boycotting the elections until reforms was the “obvious” thing to do

 

3)     That by participating in the flawed elections, the MDC gave “credibility” to the elections process and undermine SADC’s ability to hold Zanu PF to account

 

4)     That MDC leaders participated in the flawed elections out of selfish greed, they knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. (Indeed, it was the same greed and incompetence that had stopped MDC implementing even one reform during the GNU.)

“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 Coltart in the Book.

“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.”

As we know MDC leaders participated in the 2013 elections out of greed and the nation forfeited the chance to have the reforms implemented and chance to hold free, fair and credible elections and thus end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

In their 2014 party congress, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T vowed the party will not participate in future elections until the reforms are implemented. “No reform, no elections!” Many of the country’s opposition leaders followed MDC-T’s lead.

In December 2015 Douglas Mwonzora, then MDC-T Secretary General, announced that the party would push for reforms but will participate in the 2018 elections regardless. Greed had once again got the better of reason and common sense.

We know the sheer futility of participating in these flawed elections just to give vote giving Zanu PF legitimacy. We also know that Zanu PF will continue to resist all pressure to implement reforms as long as the opposition participate in the flawed elections to give the party legitimacy.

Nine years after SADC leaders advised on the futility of participating in flawed Zimbabwe elections, we know MDC/CCC are hell bent on participating in the 2023 elections against SADC advice. How many more years are we going to allow CCC leaders to sell out on reforms, free elections and the very survival of Zimbabwe?

"Without any safeguards against vote rigging, CCC will lose 2023" - the only guaranteed safeguards are reforms N Garikai

 Dear Deborah Harry

“People will recognise that making each vote count is a much more challenging goal compared to a campaign to make people register to vote. Making each vote count requires that every poll station where votes are casted and counted is being monitored for voter fraud. Not only that, but in the event that voter fraud is identified, it needs to be captured on camera and publicised for the entire world to see,” you wrote in Zimeye.

First of all I would like to thank you for your realisation that unless we stop Zanu PF rigging these elections all our clamouring for change will come to naught. And I thank you too for your contribution and zeal in the search for ways to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

In a country where many have either given up the fight for free, fair and credible elections; or, worse, still all but buried their heads in the sand and refuse to see the blatant vote rigging; your wide-open eyed dealing with reality is a virtue.

“The tallying of all national votes by the ZEC also needs to be monitored closely and any shenanigans need to be captured on camera and publicised to the world. All these things need talent, manpower, dedication, organisation and definitely, funding,” you continued.

“This is the level of hard work that is needed to make every vote count. Without any safeguards against vote rigging, it’s impossible for the CCC to get anything from the 2023 election.”

Some of the vote rigging shenanigans were not just captured on camera but came out in the Constitutional Court!

In ZEC’s own affidavit, the commission admitted that it did not have all the V11 forms, the summary of the vote count from each Polling Station, and hence the reason had two different vote tallies which it could not reconcile. About 10% of the V11 forms were missing, the exact number is not known because, like so many things in the Zimbabwe election process, only a select few know the exact number of Polling Stations in the 2018 elections.

It should be noted that the number of Polling Stations has increased from 2 000 in 2008 to 9 000 in 2013 and over 11 000 in 2018. Of course, the number of Polling Stations was increased to facilitate the vote rigging. What else!

It is one thing to argue that the opposition must appoint election agents to monitor the voting, counting, etc. at each Polling Station. How does the opposition monitor a Polling Station that even the official ZEC does not know about?   

A close examination of the ZEC affidavit showed that there were 16 cases in which two or more V11 entries of the votes cast for each candidate, spoilt votes, etc. were exactly the same. And, one more thing, in all these cases Emmerson Mnangagwa was leading by a very healthy margin. ZEC’s lawyer argued that these were merely coincidence and it “is not for ZEC to explain human behaviour!” The judges agreed with him.

The obvious explanation of the 16 two or more exact entries is double entry. The judges could have ordered opening of the sealed boxes from the corresponding Polling Stations to be opened and examined. The Court did not want to know the truth; and to deliver a judgement expected of them, it was wise not to know the truth.

It should be remembered here that High Court Judge George Chiweshe had ruled that the November 2017 military coup was “justified, legal and constitutional”!

The judiciary is supposed to be judicious in its search for truth and justice and upholding the rule of law. Not so in Zimbabwe!

If a military coup is “justified, legal and constitutional” it is not surprising the same judiciary should rule the creation of shadowy Polling stations, double votes, etc. cannot too be “justified, legal and constitutional”.

Zanu PF is using state aid to buy votes and is using war veterans, party youths and traditional leaders to coerce voters, especially in the rural areas. The rural voters have been reduced into medieval serfs beholden to the Zanu PF proxies landlords, they are frog matched to attend party rallies and, come voting day, to vote for the party.

Zanu PF is denying the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote. The party says it will not allow diaspora vote as long as the sanctions imposed on the regime by the West remain. Of course, this is nonsense! Why should the ordinary Zimbabwean be denied his/her fundamental right for something over which he/she had no say!

The EU send a 245-strong team to observe Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections. ”The electoral commission (ZEC) lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the mission final report.

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

The EU recommended a number of reforms to be implemented. A member of the observer team has just been in Zimbabwe and was disappointed to note that not even one reforms was implemented. Not even one!

Zanu PF is rigging these elections and the biggest mistake we have made, repeatedly too, is to participate in these flawed elections under the foolish belief we can contrive ways of stopping Zanu PF rigging elections. The folly is in participating in flawed elections when we should insist on reforms before the elections.

By participating in the flawed elections, we have given Zanu PF legitimacy. Why would Zanu PF risk losing the elections and power by implementing reforms when it will get legitimacy from the opposition regardless!