It is pleasing that MDC Alliance National Executive Council (NEC) has finally woken up to the reality that Zimbabwe will never ever have free, fair and credible elections without first implementing genuine electoral reforms.
"The party reiterated its commitment to a sincere, honest and credible dialogue process (with President Mnangagwa),” stated the MDC A NEC statement.
"The dialogue must unlock the impediments that have stood in the way of a credible dialogue process, under a mutually agreed convener, which must focus on a comprehensive reform agenda to ensure the security and freedoms of citizens as well as ensuring a free, fair and credible election that must yield a people's government.”
"The party's continued participation (and poor showing) in by-elections has exposed the dire need for prudent electoral reforms. A compromised election management system, the murkiness around voting material, the abuse of traditional leaders and the use of food as a political weapon continues to be rampant in the countryside, justifying the need for genuine electoral reforms," the resolution read.
MDC A is calling for a power sharing arrangement with Zanu PF whose principle task will be to implement genuine democratic reforms leading to free, fair and credible elections.
If there is one thing every Zanu PF members knows and understands only too well it is that the party will loose free, fair and credible elections and hence the reason the party has relied on its well oiled vote rigging machinery.
The nearest Zimbabwe has ever come to holding free, fair and credible elections was in March 2008. Tsvangirai won 73% of the presidential vote, according to Mugabe’s own Freudian slip. The Zanu PF stopped the release of the electoral results for six weeks whilst it cooked up the figures, reducing Tsvangirai’s vote to 47% and thus force a presidential run off.
During the run-off Zanu PF unleashed its party thugs, rogue war veterans and thousands of Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services personal to harass, beat, rape and even kill opposition party supporters and ordinary Zimbabweans. It was collective punishment for having rejected Mugabe and Zanu PF in the March vote.
“What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” thundered Robert Mugabe, confirming the party was solidly behind the wanton political violence sweeping the country.
“Zanu PF has declared war on the people!” complained Morgan Tsvangirai as he announced his withdrawal from the run-off. He was right, millions of people lost property, were beaten up and or raped. Over 500 were murdered in cold blood.
Mugabe was declared the winner with 84% of the votes!
Unfortunately for Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies, no one recognised his victory, not even SADC and AU who had turned a blind eye to Zanu PF vote rigging in the past. Mugabe was forced to agree to a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop a repeated of the blatant cheating and wanton violence of 2008. He was also forced to join up with Tsvangirai to form GNU which was tasked to implement the reforms.
Mugabe was cunning enough to bamboozle Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into doing nothing to implement the reforms. He offered the MDC leaders the trappings of high office, ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. And with the snouts in the feeding trough, MDC leaders forgot about the reforms for five years!
The one important lesson Zanu PF leaders have learned from the 2008 to 2013 GNU is that as long as the party allows the opposition to win a few gravy train seats they will participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal process happened to be. And as long as the opposition participate; SADC and AU, at least, will never again condemn the country’s flawed election.
So as long as this Zanu PF regime is allowed to stay in power until 2023 the party will never implement any of the “comprehensive reforms” to ensure free, fair and credible elections for one simple reason; they do not even need to!
The only way Zimbabwe is ever going to have free, fair and credible elections is for Zanu PF to step down so the country can finally implement the democratic reforms to stop the party rigging elections. After 39 years of rigged elections and bad governance; when are we going to finally admit, we not going to get good government from illegitimate and vote rigging thugs.
3 comments:
At the heart of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections and hence the reason we have been stuck for 39 years with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Each time Zanu PF has rigged the elections many have pretended not to notice because they did not want to deal with the immediate challenge of removing the illegitimate regime and the long term challenge of stopping the curse of rigged elections.
So the curse of rigged elections and bad governance have remained and the nation has paid dearly for the folly. Unemployment has soared to dizzying heights of 80% plus and has remained there for 15 years plus. The country’s health care had all but collapsed years ago but was dealt the coup de grace with the firing of doctors and nurses in the last few weeks.
This cannot go on, the cup is full and overflowing; we must do something to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance and thus end the tragic economic meltdown it has caused.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down. It is only with Zanu PF off the political stage that the nation has any hope of implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
Zanu PF must step down BEFORE 2023 or the party will never implement any reforms and will go on to rig the elections that year. This cannot and must not be allowed to happen. Zanu PF must step down - that is not negotiable!
@ Dobbs Arthur
“100% correct let's join People Power Movement of Zimbabwe and remove them. It is not a political party but civil rights organisations formed only to remove ZANU PF without elections or dialogue, this is being coordinated by Mr Matapo,” you argue.
It is gratifying that you and Matapo have come to the realisation that the present system has failed and are actively seeking to change it.
Still, I for one will never join this People Power Movement and will argue anyone else with ears to hear not to do the same.
“Removing Zanu PF without elections or dialogue” can only mean one thing - street protest or some such violent uprising. We have failed to remove Zanu PF from office through elections but only because we have allowed Zanu PF to rig elections. There have been many golden opportunities to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and we have wasted them all. If you do not understand how we have failed to make democracy work then you will not only seek to remove this Zanu PF autocracy to replace it with another autocracy.
Those advocating the use of violence when there is a peaceful route are not to be trusted; we are in this economic and political mess precisely because we were foolish to trust Robert Mugabe and his militant Zanu PF thugs to respect the individual freedoms and rights of all Zimbabweans. They did not!
They turned the AK47 rifles used to end white colonial oppression on the helpless civilians to impose the corrupt and tyrannical de facto one-party dictatorship we have been groaned under these last 39 years. The last thing we want is to remove the Zanu PF dictatorship but only to replace it with yet another dictatorship.
Zimbabwe does not need a violent solution to end the Zanu PF dictatorship.
If Zimbabweans out there understood how MDC sold out on reforms and then in participating in flawed elections then they will denounce Chamisa and his MDC sell-outs and make it clear the MDC no long represent the people of Zimbabwe. The people can then turn on Zanu PF and demand that the party steps down since last year’s elections were flawed and illegal.
Both Zanu PF and MDC are in power only because they are exploiting the people’s weaknesses. It is easy to rig elections when the electorate do not know what constitute free, fair and credible elections, for example. There is no excuse in this day and age why anyone should not know that there can be no meaningful national elections without something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. Zimbabwe did not have such a voters’ roll last year and yet to millions of Zimbabweans out there, it was all water off a duck’s back.
A nation that cannot hold free, fair and credible elections is, per se, not ready for democracy and good governance! In the long run, people always get the government they deserve; we deserve this Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties.
“Charova sei chando kukwidza hamba mumuti!” (It must be a bitter winter to force a tortoise up a tree!) The Zimbabwe economic meltdown is that bitter winter and even Zanu PF hardliners are now admitting the regime has failed and should step down.
“Where Zimbabwe is needs something radical to pull the country off the economic arroyo we are in. It is quite evident the people at the helm have failed, will always fail, and on their own, cannot lead us out of the economic dungeon we are in,” you admit.
“Even if we have cabinet reshuffling every month, we are going nowhere. It is clear, more than ever that Zanu-PF as the governing party, or is it ruling, has failed. Sadly, the main opposition party seems contend with being opposition thus not prepared to step in and takeover.”
The tragedy here is that it has taken 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule that has reduced the nation to ruins and two years in the wilderness following the booting out of the party in the November 2017 coup to open the eyes of Zanu PF leaders like Mawarire.
It is not just ED, Chiwenga and Mohadi who must step down; it is the whole Zanu PF cabal who must go! And go they will!
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