For four years Zimbabweans have appealed to Tsvangirai, begged him, groveled before him, flattered him, anything to get him to implement the democratic reforms and to stop letting Mugabe continuing riding rough shod over the people. But all to no avail.
By the mid-1980s it was clear the Zanu PF government has leading the country into trouble. The people appealed, begged, you name it, Mugabe to something about the mismanagement, the rising corruption and, even more worrying, the increasing political repression. But all to no avail.
The truth of the matter was that resorted to appealing and begging year after year because we didnot want to accept whilst he might the surrounded by bad advisers and corrupt ministers Mugabe himself was a great leader. Of course, he was the fountain from which all the rot flowed, he is a heartless selfish brute who cares for nothing but power and wealth; the people all different reasons and weakness just did not want to accept that reality much less take the necessary decisive action to replace him as national leader. Sadly history has the habit of repeating itself.
We have all know for years now that PM Tsvangirai is "a flawed and indecisive character" as US Ambassador Chris Dell rightly pointed out in 2002. Whilst we would have all wanted the PM to have been a decisive and visionary leader; the reality is that he is not and no amount of appealing or begging has made one iota of difference.
Zimbabwe is already paying a heavy price for years of Mugabe tyrannical rule and PM Tsvangirai's failure to implement the necessary democratic reforms to end the tyranny. My fervent wish for 2013: that Zimbabweans finally accept individuals like Tsvangirai for the indecisive blunderer he is and stop this folly of groveling to him as the infallible great leader they wish him to be!
We desperately, desperately need to end this naval gazing and face reality if we are ever to get out of hell-hole!
6 comments:
@Savagehunters
It was the people of Zimbabwe who elected these incompetent individuals and kept them there, in MDC's case without any coercion. In all these years the people of Zimbabwe have shown a notable weakness, the inability to distinguish good wholesome men and women with some common sense at least from the riff-raff and chaff.
The electorate have the right to vote and thus chose the nation's leaders but with that right comes the duties and responsibility. It is the duty and responsibility of the electorate to ensure they understand the issues at stake, argument their knowledge with that from the competing sides and carefully evaluate the choices before them and then and only then cast their vote. Those who dare exercise their right to choice but without the due diligence and invariably make a mistake have to pay for their mistakes.
In nations as in private life; elect good leaders and there will be peace, justice and prosperity for all; elect bad leaders and there be troubles galore!
Zimbabweans could have removed this corrupt and oppressive regime of Mugabe years ago. In 2008 Mugabe was on the hook after the sham elections and it was Tsvangirai who go him off the hook by signing the GPA. Zimbabweans have to realise that the prerequisite for good government is a competent electorate!
@IQ66
And what happened to those ideals of one man one vote, freedom, etc.; they were thrown out of the window long before the war was even won! Both Zanu and Zapu were fighting to defeat the whites but with a red eye on the other side. As for the ordinary civilians, the gun totting “liberators” brushed them aside without a moment’s consideration of their rights.
I agree evil leaders have emerged the world over but what history will tell you is that tyrants never ever go of their own accord, never ever.
In Africa we have the history of replacing one tyrant with another tyrant or at best with a flawed and indecisive leader like Tsvangirai - a waste of space! You know why? Because in Africa we have a mediocre electorate, so stupid they do not even know what day of the week it is. So from such an electorate expect mediocre leaders. Do not expect a silk purse from a sow’s ear!
You may think I am judging the electorate too harshly! If we accept the universally accepted maxim that people get the government their deserve then it surely follows that Zimbabweans must be stupid to have deserved Mugabe for two decades and then this dysfunctional GNU the last four years!
Stupidity is like sin, one has always a chance to repent and redeem oneself. The upcoming referendum will test whether Zimbabweans have learnt anything in the last 33 years and now have some common sense.
The referendum is essentially to decide whether or not this dysfunctional GNU has carried out its set task: to prepare the nation for free and fair elections whose result will not be disputed.
None of the reforms been implemented, even the slow thinking Tsvangirai acknowledges these are vital for free and fair elections and thus insist they will be implemented before elections. Only the very naive would believe he will accomplish that in four months when he failed to do so in four years. But let us push that to one side; we have a confused electorate, they will have a tough time getting their heads round that one.
Instead of the democratic constitution to safe guard the individual rights the GNU have produced "a compromise" Copac draft so weak and feeble it guarantees nothing. But once again, let us leave that one; the complexities of law confuse the best minds what more simpletons!
Mugabe has already deployed the Police, Army, CIO and Zanu PF thugs all over the country the problem of political intimidation and beatings, which never completely die down after 2008, have significantly increased - the 2008 scourge of violence is already upon us. After all the mayhem of 2008, one would have thought this was the one thing even the morons comprehended and would NOT want repeated ever again.
So to paraphrase the upcoming referendum: Has the GNU done its set task to ensure the next elections are free and fair, free of political violence, etc.? YES or NO! One can even think of the referendum as a subtle substitute to the direct question: Are you an idiot? YES or NO!
If the people can see with their own eyes that the violence is still there and that it is getting worse and yet their vote says otherwise then the only logical conclusion is that they are idiots. Only an idiot would see a danger and not take the necessary evasive action because, being an idiot, they saw the danger but it did not register in their pea-brain.
As a nation we have more than our fair share of idiots there is no denying that - we would not be in this mess otherwise. What the referendum will decide is whether any Zimbabweans have learnt something from all the traumas and torments of the last 33 years borne out of the nation’s foolishness and folly; enough edge the national IQ average from the current 66 (moron)! We have so way to go given IQ 70 (no common sense), 100 (has common sense) and 150 (genius)!
@IQ66
If the majority of the liberators have remained faithful to the values of one man one vote, etc. then woe to them for allowing the few to throw away these cherished values and saying nothing all these years!
The IQ of 66 is the average for Zimbabwe. The Bell distribution curve will be the same the world over, yes. The IQ bell moves up or down the scale; for example the invention of the printing press for example would have moved up 20 or 50 IQ units within a generation in Europe as more and more people were able to read and thus became enlightened. Most countries in Europe have an national average IQ of 100 or so.
On the other hand 33 years of brainwashing by Zanu PF, the brain drain that have resulted in millions leaving the country, the dramatic drop in the standard of living, etc. means Zimbabwe has moved down 20 or more IQ units. There are more morons in Zimbabwe today that in 1980 and the numbers are growing by the day.
The brain, like any other muscle, it loses its vigour if it is not regularly exercised. We have been seating on our brains! If the 33 years of madness under this tyrannical regime has not jolted us out of this lethargic drowsiness we have fallen into then it is hard to see what else will. The upcoming referendum will say it all!
If the Copac draft constitution is passed then what follows after that is almost irrelevant because Mugabe and Zanu PF will steal the elections and there is nothing the people can do about it.
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends believe they can still win the next elections regardless of the level of violence and other dirty tricks Zanu PF employs. In the June 2008 presidential run-off all MDC polling station monitors were targeted by Zanu PF thugs and they melted and disappeared like game in the face of a ranging forest fire, many of those who failed to get away were butchered murdered. Zanu PF was left to “manufacture” whatever result they pleased. What is there to stop Zanu PF doing the same again?
In 2008 Tsvangirai had the option of demanding fresh election or get Mugabe off the hook by signing a-one-sided GPA in which the tyrant had all his dictatorial powers. In his infinite” wisdom” he chose the worst option. He now has the option of ensuring the elections are free and fair or are a repeat of the 2008 orgy of violence; well he has once again chosen the worst route.
Tsvangirai’s incompetency defies common sense; he would swim a crocodile-infested and flooded river when he could have used the bridge. What is important here is whether the Zimbabwean people will follow his lead like sheep to the slaughter by voting YES to the Copac draft constitution! Only a NO vote in the referendum will stop Mugabe accomplishing his goal of repeating the orgy of violence of 2008 and thus “win” the next elections.
Four human rights activists including Zimrights’ Leo Chamahwinya, arrested a week ago for carrying out unauthorized voter registration, will be spending Christmas behind bars after they were denied bail.
Zimbabwe's human rights community has grown in leaps and bounds since the days of CCJP in the 1980s, a reflection of how this regime has become more and more repressive and brutal. Initially Zanu PF used its party thugs to terrorize the people whilst the Police and the Judiciary turned a blind eye. In the last ten years the situation has got a lot worse; all Zimbabwe's security organs are now playing an active role in the Zanu PF terror machine.
Now, human rights defenders like Zimrights' Chamahwinya are themselves on the cross-wires of the brutal regime.
After 33 years of mismanagement, corruption and looting which has driven millions of Zimbabweans into a life of abject poverty; it is little wonder that Mugabe and Zanu PF are totally unelectable. The regime has managed to stay in power this far by using brutal repression but with each passing year the people have hardened their resolve rid the nation of this dictatorship. The cup is full to overflowing; enough is enough; Mugabe and Zanu PF must go and no amount of repression can stop that!
@Mutsa Manjere
Excellent article and well thought out. I agree with 95% of what you said but you lost me when you starting talking about the need to be united.
Unit is the same old rotten currency that tyrants like Mugabe and flawed and indecisive leaders like Tsvangirai have used to justify silencing all meaningful debate and democracy within the their own party and the nation at large. If you have not realised by now that the search for truth, reason, facts, logic, wisdom, etc. demand for rigorous competition and examination. Those calling for unit are only doing so because they do not want the no-hold-barred democratic scrutiny.
We can agree on where we should be going, "a free, just and democratic Zimbabwe" as you clearly defined.
We ended up in this mess because we stifled debate and thus ended up being united round the shallow ideas Mugabe and Zanu PF produced or the blunderings of Tsvangirai.
"I do not only have strong opinions but also stronger arguments to back them up. Not only that, there is a possibility that the perspective I take in my publications may not be very popular but I don’t give a damn. I strongly hold that perspective," you say.
Well; let us have your strong opinions and even stronger arguments to back them. You should not worry about being popular but even less about people uniting behind any given idea.
Look forward to the strong opinions, do not disappoint.
@Yepec
Yepec you and Mukanganyama are two sides of the same coin; you are both myopic. You accept everything Tsvangirai says and does without question and Mukanganyama for his part accepts everything Mugabe says and does without question. On the other hand I see Tsvangirai as a flawed and indecisive character and Mugabe as a ruthless murderer.
Tsvangirai was supposed to deliver democratic changes but after four years of blundering he has failed to deliver not even one democratic reforms. You do not see these blunders, Yepec, because you are myopic; interesting enough Mukanganyame see them.
Mugabe murdered over 30 000 Zimbabweans and still people like Mukanganyama refuse to Mugabe for the tyrant he is. Here, full marks to you Yepec, you accept Mugabe is a tyrant.
People like you two are not exactly myopic in the normal sense of the word but rather have mental filters so you see one thing but not the other. We are in this mess because people would not see Mugabe for the tyrant he is and we have failed to get out of this mess because many would not see Tsvangirai for the blundering and incompetent leader he is. We will never ever get out of this mess as longer as there are myopic people out there who refuse to see the world as it is and not through filters of blind loyalty to one leader or another.
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