Babies
are so flexible they can have their foot in their mouth. It is disconcerting
when an adult makes a habit of having their foot in the mouth. Tsvangirai has
the intellectual habit of putting both his feet in his mouth; because that is
one concise way one can surmise his latest suggestion.
MDC-T
is not going to have the traditional primary election to help decide who will
represent the party in the coming elections. This is being abolished because it
is “divisive”, according to Tsvangirai; candidates are to be selected by
consensus instead and here is how that works.
“We
will select our candidates through consensus,” he explained. “Those who want to
contest in a particular constituency must discuss among themselves and come to
a consensus.
“I am
waiting to hear the names of the odd ones, who will say they cannot find common
ground [and] I will ask them if they are MDC or Zanu PF.”
Well
that is as clear as mud!
The
opposition parties have been talking about coming together to form a grand
coalition for donkey years and they have made zero progress because they could
not agree on who was to lead. Leaders were going to be selected by consensus or
could it be that Tsvangirai forgot to use the enchanted words, “Are you
opposition or are you Zanu PF!”
For
the odd reader who does not know Morgan Tsvangirai, he is the man who suggest
anyone aspiring to be president of Zimbabwe should be asked if he/she knew
where “Mbire or Tafara is”. He just happened to know where Mbire is but will,
not doubt, not know every anthill and stream in Zimbabwe. Why knowing where
Mbire is has become so important is itself a measure of the man. Shallow-minded
people have a knack for making mountains out of mole-hills, talk of anything of
substance and they are lost “muchakasara” (helplessly lost, with no sense of
direction).
“As
regards, the Senate, this time, I will choose representatives on my own. I will
personally vet those whose names will be put forward because I know every MDC
cadre and their contribution to the party from the formation of the party.”
Tsvangirai
have changed the party’s constitution to extend his stay in power beyond the
two five-year term maximum limit and now he is the only one to select all the
senatorial candidates. From now on, every MDC cadre will be beholden to
Tsvangirai and all meaningful debate much less democratic competition has been
stifled. All will be competing to catch Tsvangirai’s attention by agreeing and/or
praising him; all those who dare criticize will be throw with the Sodomites!
Why
not just rename the party the Movement for Tsvangirai Change or something! The
party has lost all the few democratic vestiges it had so why bother calling
itself a democratic party.
Now
it is easy to see why MDC leaders failed to get even one democratic reform
implemented in five years of the GNU, they did not have a clue what democracy
is and the likes of Tsvangirai, still has no clue even today.
We
need to implement the democratic reforms to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship,
there is no question about that one. What is also clear is the body, call it
the National Transition Authority, to be tasked to implement the reforms must
not include any of the politicians from MDC or Zanu PF who played a role in the
GNU, we do not want to waste time and resourcing filling old bottles with new
wine!
5 comments:
@ Conway Nkumbuzo Tutani
If you looking for an explanation why Zimbabwe is in this “total stasis - that state of paralysis caused by countervailing or opposing equal forces,” as you rightly called it; then look in the mirror. There you will see the root cause staring straight back at you – you.
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have proven beyond all doubt that they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent. They sold-out during the GNU by failing to get even one reform implemented and then dragged the nation into a totally pointless election even after they were warned the elections would be rigged. And right now, these sell-outs are lining up to do the same thing again in violation of their own party resolution of “No reform, no elections”.
The country is in a real mess because we have a corrupt and tyrannical regime in power and have the misfortune of having a corrupt and incompetent opposition who have failed to dislodge the Zanu PF dictatorship although they have had numerous opportunities to do so.
The country needs to implement democratic reforms to break Zanu PF’s entrenched dictatorial rule; the nation reached a general consensus on this in the late 1990s. Now two decades latter have failed to get even one reform implemented but are instead stuck in this political paralysis with the dictatorship still in place and given political support and legitimacy by a corrupt and incompetent opposition – the very people risked life and limp on the belief they would bring about the democratic changed.
The electorate should have seen a long time ago that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent – God knows they have proven this beyond doubt thousands of times – and thus replaced them with more competent individuals. Sadly, the electorate have not even seen Tsvangirai and company have sold-out because they refuse to open their eyes and minds and think for themselves and not follow leaders blindly like sheep.
Why anyone even with half a brain would still consider Morgan Tsvangirai fit to hold public office, after all the blundering and selling-out he has done, beggars belief. Yet there are some out there who do and, judging from what you have said here, you are one of them. Yes, you can look in the mirror and you will see one of Zimbabwe’s sheep who are holding back the nation because they are naïve and gullible!
Tsvangirai is not interested in democracy and does not care about it and this is coming out for all with eyes to see. He has corrupted MDC so much so that the party now needs a raft of democratic reforms to be implemented to make it a democratic party.
How can the nation trust Tsvangirai to deliver them from the Zanu PF dictatorship when he has been busy creating an MDC dictatorship of his own and would only be too glad to replace the Zanu PF dictatorship with an MDC dictatorship!
Tsvangirai has had many opportunities ever since he entered politics 17 years ago to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but wasted them all because whilst he wanted to end Mugabe’s rule he was careful not to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship in the hope of inheriting it himself. Mugabe was smart enough to exploit this ambivalence on the party of Tsvangirai and the MDC and outwit them by encouraging to believe MDC could win the July 2013 elections even with no reforms in place.
To hang on to power Tsvangirai has had to resort to more and more dictatorial tendencies just as Mugabe has done. Tsvangirai has lost so much political credibility since the rigged July 2014, he is nothing more than a human skeleton of skin and bone. A race against such an emaciated political opponent is hardly a contest. No one is in any doubt what the results are of next year’s elections are even now, a year before the vote are cast!
MDC-T HQ property is being attached by messenger of court.
Well that speaks volumes of MDC-T’s financial problems.
In the 2013 elections MDC-T parliamentary candidates received $700 to pay for all their election campaign expenses, according to Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, an MDC-T minister in the GNU. In contrast, each Zanu PF parliamentary candidate received a brand new off-the road vehicle, $10 000 cash plus all the T-shirts and all the other freebees to dole away to the public. Many people believe Zanu PF spent $4 billion in the 2013 elections.
Judging from the way Zanu PF is already spending millions of dollars buying party vehicles, bribing traditional leaders, etc. it will be no surprise if the party spends $10 billion for next year’s elections. At this rate, MDC-T will have no office and will be meeting under a tree!
In terms of funding alone Zanu PF truck-loads of cash looted from Marange diamonds and other national resources whilst the opposition are stone broke. How can this be a fair contest?
Everyone in the opposition camp is aware of this financial mismatch together with many others making the whole elections flawed and illegal and yet the opposition candidates are tripping over each other to contest the elections regardless. Why, one might well ask?
Greed, with a capital G! Zanu PF has learnt that as long as it doles out a few gravy train seats during the elections; there will always be opposition candidates queuing to contest giving the process credibility regardless how flawed the process happens to be. MDC-T and their opposition friends will be fielding a candidate in as many seats the individual candidate has the money to pay for the nomination fee!
A totally broke MDC-T, so broke the party has been booted out of its HQ, will only underline how feeble MDC-T is. Next year’s election contest is just a sham, how can a lion fight a mouse.
Tsvangirai to launch his Grand Coalition 5 August. Sources said Tsvangirai was now expected to launch the project with Biti, Ncube, Ngarivhume and Zanu Ndonga, among others.
"We are all equals in the coalition,” said Tsvangirai. “But equality does not mean equity!"
It has taken the grand coalition four years just to accept that Tsvangirai should be the coalition’s presidential candidate and yet this was the easiest bit to agree on. Other leaders like Ncube, Biti, etc. know contesting the presidential race has the national glamour but come at a high price the individual never holding public office plus the party losing its deposit for wasting the nation’s time.
The real acid test for the grand coalition is when MDC-T members are asked to step-aside to allow the members from the coalition partners to contest the parliamentary seat. Let me say it now and let me say it loud; Ncube and Biti will walk out of the grand coalition if MDC-T fails to allow them a clear shot in the Mount Pleasant or some such seat. The more parties Tsvangirai gets in his grand coalition the more there will be “independent” MDC-T candidates contesting.
The opposition has lost political credibility by agreeing to contest elections they know will be rigged for no other reason than greed for the few seats Zanu PF gives away. The smaller parties are squeezing MDC-T for a cut of the action by forcing the party to give up a few of the seats in turn! The opposition’s greed is so obvious and the whole election such a one-sided contest the international community will be hard push to pretend this is anything else other than a sham.
The people in Harare may be blind to the human tragedy that has been taking place in Zimbabwe after nearly four decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and murderous tyrannical oppression. That Zimbabweans are now the poorest in Africa is now an undeniable fact. The Welfare Minister told a UN organised gathering a few weeks ago that 72.3% of the country's population now live in poverty.
A corrupt and impoverish Zimbabwe has made the country highly unstable socially sand politically. The people have endured a lot economic hardship and political abuse and there is a limit to what they will endure. The limit has been reached and exceeded, Zimbabwe is sitting on a knife edge.
Zimbabwe's economic and political chaos is spilling over into the neighbouring country as Zimbabweans flee as both economic and political refugees. SADC leaders know that Zimbabwe is sitting on a knife edge, they would like to see Zimbabwe's political crisis resolved properly the country back on a solid economic recovery.
SADC leaders are watching Zimbabwe's next year elections because id the country has free and fair elections then they all know the country will be finally back on an economic recovery path. If the elections are rigged that could well be the final push sending the country tumbling over the edge into the abyss.
If Zimbabwe descend into total social and political chaos it will destabilise many other countries in the region. It is for this reason that SADC countries are now set to reject another rigged election in Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF people are worried of holding the elections and have the result then rejected by SADC and the international community because the party knows that this time they will not even get the soft-landing option of another GNU. On the other hand, the regime cannot postpone the elections without saying why.
To postpone the elections to allow ZEC to produce a voters’ roll is unacceptable because the regime have the last five years since the last elections to get this sorted out. Whilst the voters’ roll is important it should be noted that there are many others reforms that must be tackled too but it would be naïve to expect Zanu to carry out these tasks.
The death of President Mugabe, especially when he was the one who has been rigging elections just to remain in office, is a pretty feeble excuse for postponing elections. The emergency will be created by the act of postponing the election and therefore it will be a pretty lame excuse to then use the same act to justify itself.
Any political shenanigans by Zanu PF to extend its stay in power can push the country over the edge and the people pour out in the street to demand regime change. SADC is watching every development in Harare like a hawk! Zanu PF’s rule is over the regime is clearly aware of this and is exploring what else it could do to stay in power. Frankly, I think there is no wriggle room left for the regime.
Zanu PF can blatantly rig next year’s election but will not get away with it, this time. Regime change, the most dreaded phrase in Zanu PF circles, is now upon us and there is nothing the party can do to stop it happening – not even the death of Mugabe, if he should still be alive past next year’s election date!
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