We need to implement the reforms - MDC's election boycott gimmick will not implement even one reform!

“THE opposition MDC formations said Tuesday that contesting in any future elections without reforms was tantamount to “legitimizing and celebrating Zanu PF’s election rigging behaviour,” reported New Zimbabwe.

What a bunch of confused fools MDC are; they are now saying they do not want to give legitimacy to Zanu PF rigged elections and yet that is exactly what they did to the 2013 elections. But worse still, they will do exactly that again; they do not know what reforms they want and, nearer the elections, Zanu PF will implement some trivial reforms just to get MDC to take part in the elections which Zanu PF will, as happened in 2013, go on to blatantly rig! 

If we got back to the 2013 elections, first of all, MDC failed to implement the reforms designed to ensure elections are free, fair and credible. They had the majority in parliament, SADC backing and five years to implement the agreed reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one.

Second, MDC went on to take part in the 2013 elections without even one reform implement against universal advise not to. The vote rigging that followed was so blatant there were even greater grounds to challenge the process (to say nothing of the national importance and significance of the case) than Didymus Mutasa has to challenge Mugabe’s rigging of Zanu PF’s 2014 party elections. MDC withdraw the court challenge on some spurious and nonsensical ground.  So MDC people have gone out of their way to make it easy for Mugabe to rig the elections and then to give the rigging legitimacy by pretending it could not be challenged legally. 

Third and most significantly there is nothing in MDC’s renewed election boycotts (boycott has become MDC’s favourite election tactic as rigging is for Zanu PF, whereas Zanu PF has 100% rigging success rate MDC have a 100% FAILURE rate) to suggest this is going to help in any way deliver free and fair elections we are seeking. To start with, no one in MDC has a clear idea what exactly they want done to end the boycott.

Spokespersons for the two parties Obert Gutu and Jacob Mafume told reporters in Harare that President Robert Mugabe’s regime should re-align electoral laws with the new constitution if they are to enter any election contest. That makes it as clear as mud!

The new constitution says the voter registration and the voters roll should be controlled by ZEC and it is still controlled by the Registrar General, Tobai Mudede, for example. If these alignments are critical to ensure free and fair elections then surely they should have been carried out before the 2013 elections. MDC exactly what was in the new constitution as far back as July 2012 when the first draft was made public they had the majority in the GNU parliament why did they ensure all the alignments were done and dusted before the July 2013 elections?

If the alignments are important and they had not been carried out; then why did MDC not boycott the 2013 elections?

We are where we are; the realignments were not done and the must be done for free and fair elections. We will have to get Zanu PF controlled parliament to carry out the re-alignment; there is no point in asking MDC how that is going to be done because they do not have a clue.

What is almost certain to happen is that Zanu PF will carry out so token re-alignments and MDC will grab these face-saving gimmicks and once again take part in the elections; Zanu PF will blatantly rig the elections; MDC’s cry foul, call fresh election boycott and new list of conditions; and so on and so forth. This will just be an unending cycle but with always the same result; no free, fair and credible elections.

Not only is MDC’s current list of demands for free and fair short on details of how the re-alignment will be done but worse still it is wilfully inadequate. We need ALL the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA implemented fully. No amount of re-alignment of the country’s laws with the new constitution will end the highly partisan nature of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Public Media, Judiciary, etc.

Zanu PF will happily spent the next 50 years or whatever tinkering around with this Act or other re-aligning it to a constitution they know is weak and feeble and will never ever deliver free and fair elections.  It is the GPA democratic reforms the party will not want implemented because to do so will dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship.

The three MDC factions are broke because after their pathetic performance during the GNU years and disastrous electoral showing in the 2013 elections, all and I mean all their donors were so disgusted they deserted them in droves. The MDC faction led by Professor Welshman Ncube has never made a party decision to boycott elections and yet they too jointed in the 27 March 2015 by-elections boycott. The decision to boycott has forced on they by the lack of funds.

Zanu PF is shrewd enough to know the MDC factions are broke and that the boycott has nothing to do with the proverbial penny finally dropped so that Harvest House is for the first time ever full of visionary leaders who know the critical importance of the democratic reforms and are keen as mustard to see ALL the reforms implemented. Indeed Zanu PF has smart strategic thinkers like Professor Jonathan who know as long as MDC remain as the country’s main opposition party, Zanu PF will not need to ever accept even one iota of democratic change, rig elections as usual and yet still be assured of its legitimacy long term survival.

Come the next elections, Zanu PF will carry out some superficial, face saving to justify MDC ending the boycott, re-alignment and even provide some election funding for MDC. Zanu PF paid Nikuv, the Israeli company, $13 million to temper with the voters roll is the 2013 elections, the party will happily pay to have rigged elections given some aura of legitimacy. With MDC Zanu PF will only have to promise them even 0.1% of Nikuv’s fee and Tsvangirai will fall off his chair with joy!

Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and all the other MDC leaders shot themselves in the leg politically by failing to get even one political reform implemented in their five years in the GNU. Most people have found the MDC leaders’ naivety incomprehensible. Actually it is easy to comprehend; what these people have seen is but a single dot in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, clearly not enough to judge it a master piece. To understand why MDC leaders shot themselves in the leg by failing to implement not even one reforms one must ask what was it they got in return for kicking reforms into the tall grass?

So what did MDC leaders get to make them completely forget for five years that they were in the GNU to implement democratic reforms?

Answer: a seat on the gravy train, baby!

This is the definition of gravy train in the Urban Dictionary, it says it all!

(to ride the) gravy train. A job where no work is involved. To get paid for doing nothing. Standing around at work and talking all day.

MDC leaders were employed above all else to implement the reforms and after five years failed to get even one reform implemented so they sure had a job where no work was involved – tick!

Mugabe paid Tsvangirai the $4 million Highlands mansion for making sure MDC did absolutely nothing about the reforms. The other MDC leaders got the cut of the spoils; Douglas Mwonzora, for example, built himself a house so big Job Sikhala called it a “hotel” with his share of gravy train money.

As for the last bit, standing around at work and talking all day, I will only add talking nonsense. MDC talked and promised of the new constitution delivering free and fair elections, for example. Well the events of Wednesday 31 July 2013 have proven beyond doubt what a load of nonsense the promises had been!

The last thing the gravy train definition left out which is so important I have to add it is “It is highly intoxicating and addictive!” From the minute Tsvangirai took his oath of office as Prime Minister, in reality he was nothing more than Mugabe’s office-boy with a flattering job title because Mugabe made sure he had no real power or authority to do anything of value, Tsvangirai has strutting around as if he there was nothing he could not do! He had all the powers of all the Gods in Mount Olympus!

The rigged elections of 31st July 2013 saw the upstart, Morgan Tsvangirai, fall from the dazing height of Mount Olympus back to earth; it was not a pretty sight, he is still licking his wounds. But the buzz, the power, the wealth, the adrenaline rush, etc. he got from being on the gravy train is so powerful that although he shot himself in the leg by failing to implement the reforms, he will never admit that of course, he is still determined to remain in the political race in the hope he will get another ride on the gravy train.

Tsvangirai is not alone is trying to hang on regardless his pathetic past performance record. It is ironic that Tendai Biti, for example, was scathing in his criticism of Tsvangirai’s refusal to resign given his failures; Biti himself was a key player in MDC’s failures, he should have led by example by him resigning first!

MDC consider themselves Zimbabwe’s main political opposition but by the failing to implement even one democratic reform they undermined their bragging rights to that, they know that now – God only how many times a day since the rigged July 2013 elections they have been reminded of that. Of course they now wish they had implemented the reforms, being kicked off the gravy train was punishment enough without having hot chills rubbed into one’s eyes every day in the bargain. They will try to get the reforms implemented; the fact that they have no clue what they are and how to get them implemented, not important as far as they are concerned.

The one thing they absolutely determined to stop is have someone else take away the little opposition limelight they still have by actually implementing the reforms. They would rather see the Zanu PF dictatorship rule until the cows come home than for someone else to deliver free, fair and credible elections; on this issue they will fully cooperating with Zanu PF.

It was because of MDC’s blundering incompetence that not even one of the agreed democratic reforms was implemented throughout the five years of the GNU. MDC made the usual demands and produced the usual sorry looking list of conditions which Zanu PF ignored and MDC did whatever it was they said they would not do. MDC’s present threat to boycott elections and the sorry list of conditions is what the nation has learnt to expect from them. They boycotted the 27 March 2015 by-elections because they have no money. Come the next elections Zanu PF will pay MDC money, if necessary, to get the later to give the rigged elections legitimacy.

If the Zimbabwe electorate want to see an end to this Zanu PF tyranny, an end to the economic meltdown, etc., etc. then they must do their homework and understand what these democratic reforms are. Because the only way the nation can ever be 100% sure ALL the reforms have been fully implemented and timeously is when the electorate have elected competent leaders who understand the importance of the reforms and people supervise the leaders in implementing the reform. To do that the people themselves must know the reforms; at least have a working understanding of the reforms. MDC leaders got away without even implementing any reforms because the electorate did not have a clue what MDC were elected to do above all else.