“A ZANU PF
legislator, implicated in the murder of an MDC-T ward official last year, has
reportedly fired all school teachers in his constituency who are not ZANU PF
supporters and were not raised in the area,” reported S W Radio Africa.
Zimbabweans are sleep walking into yet another electoral process that is
already evidently not free and fair but worse still already marred by violence
and the violence will get worse much, much worse. As soon as Mugabe and Zanu PF
have the Copac draft constitution approved, then the party’s terror machine
will be unleashed. And none other than Prime Minister Tsvangirai is leading the
sleep-walkers telling them lies that he WILL have the democratic reforms
implemented to ensure free and fair elections.
78% of the 474 Zimbabweans answered YES to an ongoing SW Radio Africa
poll asking: Will 2013 see an MDC government in Zimbabwe? There is blind
optimism for you!
After the sham 2008 presidential run-off marred by unprecedented
political violence in which millions were beaten and/or raped and over 500
murdered; the GNU was tasked to carry out a number of democratic reforms to
ensure future elections are free and fair and the 2008 orgy of violence is not
repeated ever again. The GNU has had five years to implement the reforms and
yet not even one of these reforms has seen the light of day.
Over twenty Army, Police and CIO senior officers, many of who played an
active role in the 2008 orgy of violence, have already said they are contesting
in the coming parliamentary elections. It is naïve to think that they will not
use the same brutal methods to secure electoral victory again. There is
absolutely nothing on the ground to stop them using the violence.
MP Kachepa’ s is firing all teachers known to be MDC supporters from his
patch is not something new; MDC supporters have been denied food, forced out of
their homes and others like Cephas Mangura were ever killed. This GNU has done
nothing to ensure the violence of 2008 is not repeated.
At the height of the Zanu PF violence in 2008; would these Zimbabweans
still voted 78% to 22% for an MDC victory? Of course not, because Mugabe went
on to “win” by an even bigger margin.
Clearly Tsvangirai does not care how many Zimbabweans are beaten and/or
raped and how many hundreds are murdered; all he cares about is that he gets
back on the gravy train. What is surprising is so many ordinary Zimbabweans
should too ignore the reality of political violence. How can a whole nation be
so reckless and naïve!
5 comments:
@KVW
The right to free and fair is not privilege that can be denied at the whim of those in power. Whilst people can be forgiven for being denied their right to free elections because they didnot understand the complexities of law or how some democratic institution like the Election Supervisory Commission is supposed to work. But not so with violence; when people are being beaten, raped and murdered one does not need a university degree to reakise that this is not right. Surely that is the one thing every thinking Zimbabweans must have expected the party elected on a ticket of democratic change to bring. If the people cannot hold a party like MDC to account on this key issue one has to ask on what issue they will hold them to account.
What should Zimbabweans do now? This GNU has clearly failed to deliver the necessary reforms for free and fair elections; the coming referendum is essential asking the people whether or not the GNU will deliver free and fair elections, the people must vote accordingly.
If people vote yes and the elections turnout to be bloody then they will only have them to blame for having been naive in the first place!
@Kariba K
Tsvangirai and many people went into the presidential run-off in 2008 beaming with confidence that he will win. That did not happen. The same people are at it again; "If the elections are free and fair Tsvangirai will win hands down!" they say. But that is the whole point - Tsvangirai has done nothing to ensure the next elections are free and fair and therefore it is idiotic to keep assuming something everyone knows to be untrue! We have a real chance of ensuring the next elections are free and fair BEFORE they take place if we use our vote wisely!
@ Octane
Mugabe and his cronies have done a pretty good job in looting the nation of everything of value. Ever since Tsvangirai and company were allowed on the gravy train, they too have done their bit. Tsvangirai has spent his fair share of the nation's wealth on the US$ 3 million house, all the globe-trotting, chasing women, etc., etc.; no wonder he has failed to have even one reform implemented, he had very little time left for anything else.
It is not that Zimbabwean men are mice, courage has nothing to do with it; it takes a very stupid individual to let someone else stead everything including one's own right to life itself. Sex has nothing to do with it either Zimbabwean men and women have made the same stupid political decisions.
@Maswerasei
A free media is important for a functional democracy because it is the one that plays the important role of keeping the electorate informed. We are a very long way off in Zimbabwe in terms of meeting that objective of a free media. We still have one exclusive TV and three radio stations when other comparable nations have 50 + independent TV stations and 150 + independent radio station.
Zanu PF must end its monopoly of the public media. The Public media is there to serve the public and not political parties. It is unacceptable that someone like Tsvangirai has yet to have a full interview on ZBCTV.
We still have oppressive laws like AIPPA and POSA hanging over independent newspapers and journalists.
We need to pass laws forcing those in public office to be answerable to the public and end this cloak and dagger culture which is the root cause of the mismanagement and rampant corruption that have destroyed this nation.
"To out rightly say there were no media reforms that were carried out is not in the least a correct position," you say and you are right. Zanu PF regime has had over 33 years to deliver a free media and the best it has ever done is take one step forward and three steps back. You want to dwell on the one step forward and call it process but ignore the three steps back. I look at the sum total; it is two steps back.
This dysfunctional GNU has been a total waste of time, money - everything. When it comes to media reform, just as happened with the Copac draft constitution and other key areas, this GNU has produced very elaborate schemes - media boards and councils for newspapers, radio and TV - to create the impression that there was change when nothing had changed. The last five years has been endless games of smoke and mirrors and we both know that.
It is not a matter of the GNU “is” running out of time to carryout meaningful media reforms necessary for free and fair elections; they ran out of time a long time ago. A free media should have been in place within six months at most of the formation of the GNU.
It is nonsense that the nation should be holding a referendum on the Copac draft constitution when the only point of view on the subject many of the electorate will ever hear of the Zanu PF position!
@ KVW
If I was interested in getting on the gravy train forming my own political party or joining many of the existing parties would be the logical thing to do. If complete idiots have gone on to be presidents, vice presidents, prime ministers, deputy prime ministers, governors, etc.; I am certainly not an idiot and therefore can expect be elected MP at the very least - and that is me being very modest, you understand!
I will be the first to admit that it is not only fruitcakes who have gone into politics but I will argue that most of our politicians are certified fruitcakes and the few who not have spent all their career fighting to retained their sanity and thus achieved every little else.
What fires me up is the unshakable belief that the answer to Zimbabwe’s problems of mismanagement, corruption, looting and brutal oppression is good governance. I believe that black Zimbabweans are capable of good self-government as contrast to the bad self-government of the last three decades. But I also acknowledge that as long as we have a naïve, gullible electorate devoid of any common sense more likely to elect a fruitcake for a leader than vote for someone with some common sense a good government in Zimbabwe will remain a pipe dream!
Zimbabweans are going to through a new “common sense test” to see if they have learnt something from all the trials and tribulations of the last three decades. The upcoming referendum will essentially ask the people whether or not this dysfunctional GNU has done enough to deliver free and fair elections and or they appreciate the critical importance of holding free and fair elections to good government.
Of course it is self-evident that none of the agreed democratic reforms have been implemented and that without them it is impossible to hold free and fair elections. The referendum vote is to ascertain whether ordinary Zimbabweans can make the linkages for themselves or they are the same naïve voters ready to elect another fruitcake!
Zimbabwe’s future for the next generation at least will be defined by the upcoming referendum and not the election that will follow but needless to say neither MDC nor most Zimbabweans seem to realise this!
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