“This time I assure you, there will be no rigging. I now
have eyes in ZEC. I am being briefed about their every move and even if they
want to rig, we will know in advance and act to avert it!" Nelson Chamisa
told 40 000 CCC supporters in Mkoba, Gweru on 6 March 2022.
This was put to the test in 26 March 2022 by elections,
three week after Chamisa’s Mkoba rally.
There was overwhelming evidence of blatant vote rigging be
it the systematic denial of the right to vote by tampering with the voters’ roll,
vote buying, intimidation and wanton violence. The vote rigging was more
pronounced in the rural areas where Zanu PF has reduced the populous into
nothing short of medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Zanu PF landlords.
It is as clear as day that Zanu PF will once again win the
usual 2/3 majority plus the presidency in the 2023 harmonised elections if the
blatant vote rigging of 26 March is repeated nationwide. By participating in
these flawed Nelson Chamisa and company will, once again, give legitimacy to
the vote rigging Zanu PF.
The consequences of another rigged elections in Zimbabwe will
confirm that the country is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent
and vote rigging thugs; nothing has changed. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a
pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery as the criminal
waste of human and material resources by the ruling elite will continue and would
be investors will continue to shy away.
One immediate consequence of the rigged elections and economic
meltdown will be a new wave of economic refugees flooded out of the country.
There are a number of horrific videos of a number of Zimbabweans who were
attacked and killed in SA, South Africans don’t want Zimbabweans in their
country. The new economic refugees will only serve to increase the
anti-Zimbabwe tension.
Forget the rhetoric and political posturing; Nelson Chamisa
knows that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and, most significantly, that by
participating in these flawed elections CCC is giving Zanu PF legitimacy.
There is no point in asking Zanu PF to implement the
democratic reforms to end the vote rigging because the party will never reform
itself out of office. And why would it do it when it can rig the election to
secure victory and still have political legitimacy thanks to the opposition’s
participation in the flawed elections.
Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win 1/3 or so gravy
train seats, the bait, to be certain they participate regardless how flawed and
illegal the process got! President Mnangagwa has since “spiced up” the political
bait by creating the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) to reward all those who
participate in the presidential rat race.
This has clearly worked, there were a staggering 23
presidential candidates and over a thousand parliamentary candidates for the
210 parliamentary seats. “Everyone in Zimbabwe participated in the elections.
Why would they, if the elections were rigged?” Mnangagwa has asked his critics,
mockingly! And rightly so too!
Of course, we already know why Chamisa and his CCC friends
are hell bent on participating in these elections knowing fully well Zanu PF is
rigging and that by participating they will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Greed!
Nelson Chamisa and company will never admit they are participating
in these 2023 elections out of greed, natural. They are offering instead four
feeble excuses to cover for their greed:
1) 1) CCC will keep up the pretence they are calling
for democratic reforms and expect these reforms to be implemented before the
2023 elections. They do not know what reforms they want implemented, know that Zanu
PF will never reform itself out of office, etc. and most important of all know
CCC will participated in flawed elections even without a token reform in place.
2) 2) CCC will argue that if they do not participate
then Mwonzora and others will give Zanu PF legitimacy. The 26 March 2022 by
elections has shown that Mwonzora and others do not have any support. Ian Smith
failed to get legitimacy after the 1978 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia settlement with Abel
Muzorewa because the later did not command much support. Mnangagwa will suffer the
same fate as Smith if CCC does not participate in these elections. Even if
Mnangagwa was to contrive something to earn the regime the legitimacy, it is no
excuse for Chamisa and company to give Zanu PF legitimacy in a silver platter.
3) 3) Some people have argued that there is nothing to
be gained from boycotting the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the
process happened to be. This is a fallacious argument as elections are a
process whose legitimacy dependents of the process being conducted in
accordance to the set rules. Zanu PF blatant cheating and wanton violence in
the 2008 elections violated all the rules and norms; even SADC and AU, known
for turning a blind eye to rigged elections, had no choice but to condemn these
elections as a farce. MDC leaders were tasked to implement a raft of democratic
reforms to take away Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial powers. They sold out
and failed to implement even one reform. The idea that Zimbabwe can still have
meaning elections without reforms is an MDC/CCC idea and it is nonsense. We don’t
need to keep participate in flawed and illegal elections to know they are
flawed and illegal.
4) 4) The number one excuse for CCC participating is
that the party will win the 2023 elections against all the odds, regardless of
all the flaws and illegalities. This is not just a reckless gamble with the
people fundamental right to free and fair elections but with their hopes and
dreams to end the Zanu PF dictatorship given the MDC, now rebranded as CCC, is
the one giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating the dictatorship.
“The fog has clear!” proclaimed Nelson Chamisa in a recent
article, commenting on the launch of the CCC and the party’s by election victory.
“We won 19 out of the 28 seats that were on offer. That's
67,9% or more than two-thirds majority of the available seats.” What he did not
say is all these except for three were won by his MDC A in 2018 and in the by
election the rebranded CCC fielded the same individuals who had been recalled.
“No serious observer of Zimbabwean politics can legitimately
say today that the opposition is divided. Such a claim would be insincere,”
continued Chamisa. The opposition participated in the 2013 elections because each
of the two MDC factions did not trust the other to boycott the elections if
they did.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both
MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” wrote David
Coltart in his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in
Zimbabwe.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step
was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such
was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for
fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the
process credibility.”
Coltart was MDC-Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in
the 2008 to 2013 GNU. He is Treasurer General in CCC, rebranded MDC A cum MDC-
Tsvangirai.
The opposition has never been more united as it is today, a
point raised in 2) above as Chamisa himself readily admitted. So, this time there
really is no excuse for CCC’s failure to do the “obvious” – boycott the 2023
elections. But, as we know, Chamisa and company are hell bent on participating
in these flawed elections, giving vote rigged Zanu PF legitimacy and dragging
the nation deeper and deeper into this man-made hell-on-earth. And all this for
selfish gain.
Chamisa and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to
implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship once
and for all. They sold out by failing to implement even one reforms in 22
years, 5 of which in the GNU. Worse still they are the ones now helping to
perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship by participating in flawed elections to
give Zanu PF legitimacy.
The millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who continue to support
Chamisa and company either don’t know MDC leaders have sold out and/or are so
desperate for political change they support anyone as long as he/she claim they
will remove Zanu PF. Of course, one does not remove Zanu PF by perpetuating the
regime’s rule!
“We learned a lot from the by-elections, not least the fact that we continue to
operate in an authoritarian environment. We won the by-elections not because
the election was free and fair, but by sheer force of will and faith, we
overcame repressive and unfair conditions!” concluded Chamisa.
After 42 years of rigged elections we are still hoping
against hope to win rigged elections! This is the stuff nightmare are made of!
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