Without
even one democratic reform in place there is nothing to stop Zanu PF rigging
next year's elections. The party will rig the vote just as readily as it rigged
the July 2013 elections.
"If
you go into elections, you are going to lose; the elections are done!"
SADC leaders warned MDC leaders in June 2013, as a month before the July
election.
This
time, SADC leaders might just as well be warning every Zimbabwean out there,
with a bit of working grey stuff between their ears, of the folly of contesting
next year’s elections with no reforms in place. Like it or not the 2018
elections too “are done”!
“The
proliferation of political parties on the Zimbabwean political landscape may
appear to be a demonstration of democratic space on the Zanu PF chocked
political scene, but far from it,” writes Mazviwanza Shiri, in Zimeye.
“It
is certainly going to expunge the opposition’s chances of dislodging the Zanu
PF regime from its deep rooted tentacles of power. Zanu PF must be watching
with zeal and glee, the disoriented and fragmented efforts of their opponents
and smile all the way to an electoral triumph in 2018.”
Zanu
PF first watched with “zeal and glee” Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends sitting
there, throughout the five years of the GNU, like rabbits caught in the
headlights and did nothing to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop
Zanu PF rigging the elections. President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were
very pleased to see MDC disregard SADC leaders’ warning not to contest the 2013
elections with no reforms.
The
regime is thrilled to bits to see that the opposition camp has still learned
nothing from the past and they are once again going to contest next year’s
election in total disregard of their own “No reform, no election!” resolutions!
Who would not be rubbing their hands with “zeal and glee” when you have fools
for opponents!
Even
if the opposition parties were all to unite to form one MDC Alliance or
whatever; without reforms Zanu PF will still win next year’s election. The key
to dislodging Zanu PF from power is to stop the regime rigging the vote by implementing
the democratic reforms.
People
like Shiri, here, are cherry-picking; they accept Zanu PF has been rigging
elections but to further their argument of a united opposition (in this case),
voter mobilisation, etc. as the key to dislodge Zanu PF from power. They
pretend Zimbabwean elections are free and fair and the opposition will win the
elections if they do not split the opposition vote.
Shiri
is making a mountain out of a mole-hill with all this talk of “proliferation of
political parties”. Most of the 50 or so political parties have no more than a
handful of followers beyond their immediate family and friends. Take Welshman
Ncube and Simba Makoni, for example, they have contested the presidential race
in the past; they have failed to garner more than 10% of the vote.
If
we accepted the assumption that the 2013 elections were free, fair and credible;
President Mugabe got 62% of the vote and, even if the opposition had fielded
one candidate, Tsvangirai would have got 38% and still lost!
As
long as Zanu PF has the licence to rig the vote, the party will see to it that
it wins the presidency and then the 2/3 majority, minimum, in parliament and in
the senate.
We
have elections next year and the instinctive reaction is to participate, call
for the opposition to unite, go the extra mile to make sure one registers to
vote and then vote, etc. Of course, we have done all things before and still
Zanu PF was gone on to win the elections with a landslide. After 37 years of
rigged elections, reason tells us that there is something fundamental wrong
here and we KNOW what it is too - Zanu PF rigs elections.
By
the time you, me and povo out there cast our vote – if we are even given a chance
to do so – the result of the election is already known, “the elections are done”
as SADC leaders would put it. So, all our effort going through all the torturous
process of registering to vote, attending rallies, etc. are all a waste of time.
Of
course, it is madness to keep participating in an election process when one
knows fully well that the process is flawed, illegal and the result is already
pre-determined. But, of course, there are some insane people out there who,
even after 37 years of rigged elections, will still want to participate hoping
again hope that the result will be different. To them participating is the
instinctive reaction as the primordial flight or fight; no amount of reason and
logic can stop them participating.
In
this case participating in these flawed elections is not just an act of madness
but, worse still, a mindless act of hara-kiri because by participating people
are giving the flawed and illegal process the modicum of credibility.
2 comments:
Zimbabweans have known that Zanu PF has been rigging elections but instead of admitting it and deal with it, they have preferred to bury their heads in the sand in the hope that the cheating will stop. Of course, as Zanu PF grew more and more powerful the regime has become more and more bold and arrogant and everyone has cowed down to Mugabe’s dictatorial whim. The vote rigging has become more bold and ruthless.
When SADC leaders came up with the raft of democratic reforms we needed to implement to stop Zanu PF’s vote rigging, they were not talking of something we did not know of already. Police reform; we knew already of how the Police had been compromised that they not only turned a blind-eye to Zanu PF lawlessness, it was quite common for the Police to arrest and charge the victim of Zanu PF violence. The victim would be accused of causing the violence.
Even after SADC leaders had spelt out what we needed to do to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections it is not surprising that after five years of the GNU not even one reform was implemented. Tsvangirai and his MDC friends fell back in the default setting of burying the head in the sand. Even when SADC warned MDC leaders not to contest the elections with no reforms in place because Zanu PF would once again rig the elections; MDC still went ahead because that was the easier thing to do and consistent with their head in the sand mentality.
Shiri, like many other Zimbabweans including our opposition politicians, will search high and low of other ways of dislodging Zanu PF from power but will not consider implementing the reforms because it will be going against the grain. Burying their heads in the sand is in their political DNA. Of course, the nation has paid dearly for this foolishness in lost wealth, human suffering and even human lives. So, yes continuing to contest flawed elections is not just madness, it is collective hara-kiri!
@ Shiri
There is confusion in the opposition camp, that I agree. Still if Zanu PF did not rig elections I believe Zimbabweans would have booted out Mugabe and his cronies many, many moons ago.
In one of the rare moment when Professor Jonathan Moyo talked sense, he said that in a free vote Mugabe would lose to a donkey just to underline how desperate Zimbabweans are to get rid of Mugabe. Whilst there is no denying that Morgan Tsvangirai is “a flawed and indecisive character,” as former USA Ambassador, Chris Dell, once call him. Indeed, time has since proven Tsvangirai is even worse than what the Ambassador said, he is a corrupt and incompetent village idiot. Still Zimbabweans would vote for him in droves if the choice was between him and Mugabe.
You cannot accept that Zanu PF rigs elections because you cannot deal with the issue of implementing the reforms and hence the reason why you have to find some other excuse why the opposition will lose next year’s elections.
“Tsvangirai, Mujuru Lost Souls In A Sea Of Political Confusion,” you say. Nonsense!
How can Tsvangirai and Mujuru be lost in a sea of confusion when they are the embodiment of confusion! However, the reason they will lose next year’s elections to Zanu PF has nothing to do with the confusion in the opposition camp, at least, if they had been sane enough to implement the reforms.
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