Friday 13 August 2021

"Postpone 2013 until implemented reforms" SADC advised - village idiots didn't listen then or now W Mukori

 

For the record; I, Wilbert Mukori, have no grudge against the run of the mill village idiots! None!

Many of my relatives and friends are village idiots; I am not proud of that nor am I ashamed. I am admitting as a matter of fact, much the same way one would admit mankind’s distant ancestor, a few hundred million years ago, was a slug!

My beef is against the village idiots out there who are masquerading as geniuses, especially when their buffoonery is at the expense of the innocent or helpless; there I draw the double red lines and the idiot who dares cross the lines, cross swords with me. Right now, I am fuming at the Zanu PF and MDC village idiots who between them have dragged the nation into this economic and political hell-on-earth and are hold the nation hostage to fortune!

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and political paralysis is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections.

Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies make it crystal clear that if the party lost the 1980 elections, the country’s first elections in which the black majority would vote, the bush war would continue. Of course, the people voted to end the bush war. And so, just like that (snap of the fingers), Zanu PF denied the people the long promised “One man, one vote!”

Once in power Zanu PF has systematically corrupted the state institutions such as the Police, Army and Judiciary; turning them Zanu PF party departments in all but name.  In their pursuit of absolute power, Zanu PF leaders have ridden roughshod of the people denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life!

As far as Zanu PF thugs are concerned the people do not have the right to free and fair elections, they never did; this is a privilege that they, Zanu PF leaders, can and will deny if granting it threatens the party’s iron grip on political power. As far as Zanu PF thugs are concerned, they have the divine right to rule Zimbabwe and that right takes precedence over other rights!

Zimbabwe had its best ever golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms which would have dismantled the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship and restore the individual freedoms and right and democratic rule during the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unity (GNU). Sadly, the opportunity was wasted.

SADC leaders refused to recognise Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party as the legitimate government following the blatant cheating and use of wanton violence by the party in the 2008 elections. The regional leaders forced Mugabe to accept the need for democratic reforms and Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, who joined Zanu PF in the GNU, were tasked to implement the reforms. MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU. Not even one reform!

SADC leaders understood the sheer folly of participating in the elections with no reforms to stop the cheating and violence. They regional leaders told both Zanu PF and MDC leaders that the 2013 elections must be postponed until reforms to guarantee free, fair and credible elections are implemented.

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza, Director of SAPES, told Journalist Violet Gonda.

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”

Both Zanu PF and MDC leaders ignored SADC leaders’ pleas and the elections went ahead. Zanu PF, as SADC leaders had predicted, blatantly rigged the 2013 elections.

If anyone thought the rigged 2013 elections will force the proverbial penny to finally drop in the empty MDC leaders’ head, they were to be disappointed. MDC leaders went on to participate in the 2018 elections with no reforms in place. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A, who constituted the main opposition party then, did not even have the common sense to insist on ZEC producing something as basic for free, fair and credible elections as a verified voters’ roll!

The 2018 election culminated in the bizarre Constitutional Court challenge of the election results, a scene straight out of Lewis Carroll's 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. ZEC declared Mnangagwa the winner of the presidential race.

In its affidavit ZEC had three different tallies for the candidates after taking five days to add up the figures from the V11 forms (counting of the votes was done at each of over 11 000 Polling Stations and recorded on V11); proof the V11 figures were being change and even ZEC lost track. Indeed, ZEC failed to produce all the V11 forms to show where its totals came from.  

The failure by ZEC to produce the V11 forms did not stop Mnangagwa, Tweedledum, claiming the elections were free, fair and credible and he was the winner!

Nelson Chamisa, Tweedledee, appealed to the Constitutional Court to either declare him the winner because he had more votes than Tweedledum (although he too failed to produce the V11 forms to back his claim) or declare the elections null and void because of the many flaws and illegalities in the election process.

Both Tweedledum and Tweedledee claimed the elections were free, fair and credible only if they are declared the winner. Of course, that is a nonsensical position because one does not judge an election on the basis of the result but on the process!

What has been worrying to all thinking Zimbabweans out there is SADC leaders’ judgement of the 2013 and 2018 elections. Whilst the regional leaders had rightly demanding that the 2013 elections, at least, must be postponed because Zanu PF was set to rig the process – which is exactly what happened – the strange thing is the SADC leaders endorse Zanu PF as the legitimate government.

Some people have said SADC leaders were so disappointed by MDC leaders’ failure to implement even one reform during the GNU and, to add insult to injury, ignored the advice not to participate in the flawed elections. All this is true but one should not forget that MDC leaders did not betray SADC leaders alone; they betrayed Americans, EU and other nations/bodies who took have been calling for reforms to be implemented.

“The electoral commission (ZEC) lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” EU Election Observer Mission stated in its final report.

“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

In short, the EU leaders condemned the 2018 elections and the 2013 elections before that because the process did not meet the internationally accepted standards for free, fair and credible elections. By falsely endorsing rigged Zimbabwe elections to punish MDC leaders, SADC are not only punishing MDC leaders but the ordinary Zimbabweans who are the ones who are paying most dearly for MDC leaders’ betrayal.

Zanu PF has just announced the party will not do anything to enable the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote in the 2023 elections. President Mnangagwa himself promise the diaspora vote in September 2018, confirming the denying of the vote was just the lack of political will. The 2023 elections “are done”! How can the elections be legal, free, fair and credible when 30% plus of the eligible voters are denied the vote?

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A friends are gearing to participate in the 2023 elections just as they have always done regardless how flawed and illegal the process happen to be. Chamisa claims that he has “a solid plan to deliver real change”. What solid plan will give the Zimbabweans in the diaspora their vote? This is just another feeble excuse to justify participating and giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.

There are many ordinary Zimbabweans who accept the SADC leaders’ advice to postpone Zimbabwean elections until the democratic reforms are implemented. After 41 years and counting of rigged elections it is insane to let this continue and they are taking the Zanu PF and MDC leaders, the village idiots behind this madness head-on.

We ask SADC leaders to be consist with their own 2013 advice, to postpone Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections until reforms are implemented, and, after failing to heed the advice, condemn the elections for what they are – a farce.

By consistently indorsing Zimbabwe’s rigged elections as free, fair and credible, SADC leaders have devalued Zimbabweans’ right to free, fair and credible elections by measured that right with a foot-long yard stick! The right to free, fair and credible elections is a universal right and per se must be measured with the same yard stick and not some improvised foot-long yard stick!

8 comments:

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Koni
“We are learning from Zambians elections that a very big voter turnout can make things happen and that it can be done. The vote must also be protected to avoid any form of rigging.

Dictators are not in the business of allowing elections that could remove them from their thrones.

Zimbabwe needs a new crop of leadership. An Intellectually astute, open to new ideas and far wiser. A leadership which will occupy positions of authority knowing that one day it will have to pass the baton to the next generation.”

The 2008 elections were watershed elections in that they exposed the full arsenal of Zanu PF’s vote rigging capabilities. In March 2008 vote, Zanu PF simply muscled aside the ZEC officials and took over the vote counting. Tsvangirai had 73% of the votes, according to Mugabe’s Freudian slip, and after six weeks of “cooking the figures” Zanu PF whittled this down to 47%, enough to force a run-off.

During the run-off, Zanu PF mobilised the war veterans and the party’s youths, the green bombers, ably assisted by the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Service personal for the purpose of punishing the voters for having rejected Zanu PF in the first vote. “Operation Mavhotera papi!” was a military operation and Tsvangirai was right to say Zanu PF had “declared war on the people!”

“What was won by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” thundered Robert Mugabe as he egged his storm troopers.

The result of the run-off was never in any doubt; Mugabe had 84% of the votes!
No one, not even the SADC and AU leaders, could pretend the 2008 elections were free, fair and credible. No one!

SADC leaders hammered out the 2008 Global Political Agreement whose primary purpose was to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop the blatant cheating and wanton violence committed by Zanu PF in 2008. Sadly, not even one reform saw the light of day. Not one!

SADC leaders literally begged Morgan Tsvangirai not to participate in the 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms. The plea fell on deaf ears. Zanu PF has blatantly rigged the 2013 and then 2018 elections without having to go into second gear.

Without first implementing the reforms Zanu PF will once again go up the gears and is capable of reaching overdrive as the 2008 elections showed. There is not even one other African country that has shown the same election rigging capabilities. Those would say Zimbabwe’s opposition can win rigged elections are day-dreaming.

Zambia’s successive regimes, including that of Kenneth Kaunda, never had the same control of the army, Police, Judiciary, public media, etc. that Zanu PF has in Zimbabwe; Zambia’s autocrats have been able to reach second gear in their vote rigging to Zanu PF’s overdrive! Those who compare Zambia to Zimbabwe have no clue what they are talking about!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Razi Emile
“Do not be worried about yourself Wilbert. You are known only to yourself and your prefix "l", does not mean anything if you are nameless.

You see Wilbert, Barack Obama can easily say "l", because he has a name.

You are not qualified to say "l", thus why your "l" is followed by "l Wilbert Mukori". This is a desperate appeal my brother.

Barack Obama will never say "l Barack Obama" because his name speaks for him. He does not need to introduce his name.

Do not write anything again my brother referenced to Wilbert Mukori because he does not exist.

If you want to exist up to a level where you could qualificatively say "l", then work hard to build an internationally acclaimed name.
If you want to see how you do not exist Mukori, tell me, without searching on internate, the name of the President of Gambia?

That man leads a population of 2.8 Million people on this World, and yet it is not important for a Citizen of Africa, like you, to know his name. So, if the President of Gambia has no recognisable name, who is Wilbert Mukori who does not even have a Million man to know his name?

So, Shasha, do not write an article about "l", when that "l" is unrecognisable.

I did not read your article, l normally do, but l just got sick when you begun by fluting a diminutive "l".”
Not many people know Wilbert Mukori, nowhere near as many as those who know the President of Gambia or Barak Obama, I readily accept that. But that as it might be, does not mean Wilbert Mukori does not exist; I exist!
If your wittering nonsense is your long winded way of justifying why SADC leaders declared rigged Zimbabwe elections free and fair, measured Zimbabwean rights with a foot-long yard stick and not the universal three-foot long stick then this exactly what I am about – to claim my right and demand that SADC leaders use the three-foot measuring stick or shut up.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said the 2018 Zimbabwean election “went well” when he know very well that ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. SA has successfully held free, fair and credible elections ever since 1994 and he knows that he would not dare rig elections in South Africa. Why is lowering the standard of free, fair and credible elections when it comes to Zimbabwe?
We in Zimbabwe expect SADC leaders to behave responsibly and we will treat them with respect. If they behave like Zanu PF and MDC leaders who are village idiots then they too will be treated like village idiots.
“I did not read your article, l normally do, but l just got sick when you begun by fluting a diminutive "l".” How fatuous you are; so, you think I will lose sleep over that! Whether or not I am a nobody is of no real consequence compared to the real big issue of very Zimbabwean’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of Zimbabwe being valued and restored to its full measure!

Zimbabwe Light said...

AS the enervating Zanu PF factional wars threaten to rip the party apart, Politburo member, Ziyambi Ziyambi this week launched a scathing attack on Mashonaland West provincial youth chairman Vengai Musengi for fanning divisions and attempting to grab lucrative gold mines using the party name.

Musengi is widely seen as a possible contender for the provincial chairmanship vacated by the Justice minister two months ago.

The opposition should never ever take any comfort in any of these reports of factional fighting within Zanu PF; the dog-eat-dog factional fights are true but Zanu PF thugs also know that the worst thing that can ever happen is Zanu PF to lose power. And so Zanu PF thugs will fight each viciously but when push comes to shove, they will unite to make sure at the end of the day Zanu PF, whichever faction, retains power. Zanu PF thugs are like baboons they know the threat from a follow baboon is nothing compared to the threat from a leopard and have the bite to march each occasion!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ James Ketelo

“@ Wilbert Mukori. You left out the fight between Tendai Biti & Tsvangirai Fighting for a Presidential suit

The Troika warned the leadership why must that not be said ??

The GNU was a floppy otherwise it was a honey moon for others
Yes it’s true not a single reform was achieved

We came out empty handed from the GNU let’s not hide our own failures because by hiding we won’t see the need for corrections to be done.”

Zimbabweans in the diaspora should be the savviest and most articulate segment of Zimbabwe society in that they are well educated and acutely aware of the importance of one’s individual freedoms and rights and, most immediate of all, have escape the coercive influence Zanu PF thugs have on everyone else. One therefore would have expected the Zimbabweans in the diaspora to be leading the demand for meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe. And yet the silence from them has been deafening and disconcerting.

How is it possible that both Zanu PF and MDC leaders could ride roughshod over the Zimbabweans in the diaspora and the latter did not even notice!

Zimbabwe is in a real political and economic mess but one of our own making and therefore deserve to suffer!

Nations who have offered Zimbabweans refuge must be having second thoughts about letting them stay forever – someone who can be so cold and indifferent to their own situation is not the kind of person one would want for a neighbour much less a citizen!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ G Nyarota

By the time in 2004 when an online magazine published a detailed article on Chiyangwa's palatial mansion his 17car garage boasted of a delectable choice of cars.

It included the X5, a BMW 745, an awesome Mercedes Benz SL500 AMG, a Mercedes Benz SLK sports car, a Porsche Cayenne and a Bentley Continental.

The Cayenne was the first SUV ever built by Porsche. Chiyangwa's Cayenne arrived a few months after the model's launch back in Germany and was most certainly the first car of its kind on the African continent.

A few years later the colourful Chiyangwa added a rather garish Hummer H2 stretch limousine to his fleet.

Meanwhile, he bragged that he had launched himself into business while selling tomatoes by the roadside in the small town of Chegutu, 100km west of Harare
Residents of Harare have since learnt to accept as their fate the pretentious lifestyles of the new class of self-proclaimed and youthful so called men of God.

They include United Family International Church (UFIC) founder Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa, Walter Magaya of Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD)

Ministries and new kid on the block, Passion "Twabam" Java.

He is one of the several new-age Pentecostal church leaders to emerge in Zimbabwe in recent years. He is the founder of Passion Java Ministries and Kingdom Embassy Church
While Zimbabwe is rated as one of the poorest countries in the world, the country is said to have perhaps the largest number of Mercedes Benz per capita.

Makandiwa's most favourite ride is the massive Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG with a 6-Litre V12 Bi-Turbo power plant.

Some car fanatics claim that it is the first car of its kind to arrive on the African continent.
“Penchant for luxury in midst of abject poverty,” you said.
Well, if the truth is told, it is the penchant for ill-gotten luxury that has fuelled poverty in Zimbabwe and now the inferno is burning so fiercely many of the country’s filthy rich, who do not die before their time, know they it is almost a certainty they will die paupers!
Bona Mugabe Chikore had assets valued at US$20 million and had lived in unparalleled luxury ever since the day she was born. She will never forget 15 November 2017 for the rest of her life because her world was turned upside down that day; her father toppled as the country’s dictator and the tape to the vast wealth was turned off! She has been forced to scale back on the mansion she was building and then abandon it altogether. She has been losing money right, left and centre with nothing coming in. It is just a matter of time before she joins us, the impoverished povo!
There are no formalities to go through to be declared poor unlike the demands made to join the filthy rich. Nyepudzayi Bona Mugabe Chikore, to give her full name, and her husband and children are welcome to join the poor, there is plenty of room for many more!

Zimbabwe Light said...

Part 1 of 2

Lungu, who won power in 2015, said the Aug. 12 election was tainted because of violence in three provinces where Hichilema performed the best. But a European Union observer mission on Saturday pointed to a lopsided playing field that favored Lungu during the campaign period when it said there was misuse of state resources and one-sided media reporting.

Hichilema's United Party for National Development dismissed Lungu's claims.

"The other side clearly know they have lost and are trying to throw out the entire election just to cling on to their jobs," spokesman Anthony Bwalya said. "This is the desperate final act of an outgoing administration."

Lungu, who won power in 2015, said the Aug. 12 election was tainted because of violence in three provinces where Hichilema performed the best. But a European Union observer mission on Saturday pointed to a lopsided playing field that favored Lungu during the campaign period when it said there was misuse of state resources and one-sided media reporting.

Hichilema's United Party for National Development dismissed Lungu's claims.

"The other side clearly know they have lost and are trying to throw out the entire election just to cling on to their jobs," spokesman Anthony Bwalya said. "This is the desperate final act of an outgoing administration."

Lungu, 64, said his party is considering its next steps. The winner needs to secure more than half of the ballots to avoid a second round. By law, the loser can petition the results in the Constitutional Court within seven days, which then has two weeks to hear the case.

Hichilema, known as HH, has an economics degree as well as an MBA from the University of Birmingham in the U.K. A 59-year-old businessman with interests including cattle farming and tourism, he unsuccessfully contested the nation's previous five elections.

Should he win the presidency, Hichilema has said he plans to seal a bailout from the IMF as soon as is technically possible and initiate debt-restructuring talks .

Zambia stands out in the region, having changed governments democratically twice since the late Kenneth Kaunda's rule ended in 1991. The Patriotic Front won power in 2011 under Michael Sata's leadership, and Lungu was elected in 2015 following Sata's death while in office.

The head of the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, the capital, warned ahead of the vote that Washington could impose sanctions on any individuals who "promote violence, undermine electoral processes, engage in fraudulent or corrupt behavior, or otherwise violate democratic rights and the foundations of free elections."

Near-record prices for copper, which accounts for more than 70% of Zambia's export earnings, will boost Zambia's coffers regardless of who wins.

Another plus is a $1.3 billion credit from the IMF due this month — separate to the talks Zambia's in with the fund for a similar amount — that will almost double the nation's foreign-exchange reserves.

To conclude program talks with the Washington-based lender, which will anchor negotiations with external creditors including holders of the nation's $3 billion Eurobonds, Zambia's government may need to cut energy and farm subsidies that have depleted government accounts in recent years.

Zimbabwe Light said...

Part 2 of 2


Kenneth David Kaunda, also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. (27)

Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba was a Zambian politician who was the second president of Zambia from 1991 to 2002. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy, defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda. (10)

Levy Patrick Mwanawasa was the third president of Zambia. He served as president from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. Mwanawasa is credited for having initiated a campaign to rid the corruption situation in Zambia during his term. (6)

Rupiah Bwezani Banda is a Zambian politician who was the fourth president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011. During the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, Banda held important diplomatic posts and was active in politics as a member of the United National Independence Party. (3)

Michael Charles Chilufya Sata was a Zambian politician who was the fifth President of Zambia, from 23 September 2011 until his death on 28 October 2014. A social democrat, he led the Patriotic Front, a major political party in Zambia. (3)

Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a Zambian politician who has been serving as the sixth president of Zambia since 25 January 2015. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. (6)

It is almost certain that President Edgar Lungu tried to rig the Thursday 12 August 2021 elections just as many other Zambian presidents before him tried to do. Lungu’s attempts to rig the elections have all but failed to keep him in power because Lungu, just like all the others before him, capacity to rig was limited.

There are some people who now think what happened in Zambia can be replicated in Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe’s opposition can too win rigged elections. Zanu PF’s capacity to rig elections is far superior to those Lungu had and to compare the two is naïve, to say the least!

Zimbabwe Light said...

It is pleasing to note that there is a increasing number of Zimbabweans who now acknowledge the folly of participating in elections without implementing the raft of reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement. SADC leaders advised Tsvangirai and company of the folly of participating and the MDC leaders paid no heed.

By participating MDC have given vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy, the ordinary people continued to be denied a meaningful say in the governance of the country and nation has remained stuck with the incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF.

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A are gearing to participate in the 2023 elections with no reform in place, they have clearly learned nothing. It is most heartening to note there are a growing number of Zimbabweans who now acknowledge that SADC leaders were right, Zimbabwe must implement the democratic reforms before the elections. It is insane to pretend Zambia's functioning state institutions can be compared to Zimbabwe's corrupt and dysfunctional political system.