Elections are more than putting X on a ballot paper!, much more

Come February 2012 it will be exactly three years since the swearing in of Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and marking the start of the GNU. A lot was expected from this government; Zimbabwe was in a great political and economic mess - a man made mess, one must add.

Three years since the formation of the GNU the political mess is still there; untouched!

Three years since the formation of the GNU the economic mess is still there; hardily touched!

Before the GNU the national economy had sunk by a staggering 84% in the six years 2002 to 2008 alone. The two things that the GNU did was scrap the by then worthless Zimbabwe dollars and the misguided price controls bringing some sense of financial sanity and stability. Sadly nothing has been done to address all the other important and critical tasks like the restoration of the rule of law and stamping out the mismanagement, corruption and looting. These were the cancers behind the economic melt down and thus the failure to address them has meant the much hoped for economic recovery has failed to materialise.

The Zimbabwe economy has remained firmly stuck in the doldrums; unemployment has hardly improved from 90% to 80% and basic services like education and health have never recovered.

On the political front nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - has been achieved. Before the formation of the GNU the country was under the iron grip of a tyrannical and oppressive regime. Tsvangirai and his MDC party promised the people democratic changes and the most significant of these changes was putting an end to the use of violence for political gain.

The GNU was never meant to last for much more that two years. And now with fresh election looming, the prospect of another violent election hangs over the nation like the sword of Damocles.

What Zimbabweans should be asking themselves today is was the GNU what they risked their lives in 2008 for. Sadly the answer has to be a resounding no.

Yes, there are some people who are bending over backwards to find excuses for Tsvangirai and MDC’s failures out of loyalty to the leaders. The reality is Tsvangirai is a “flawed and indecisive character” as the former USA Ambassador, Chris Dell once said and it is his breath taking incomplete that has left the nation in this mess. It is this blind loyalty that has encouraged tyrants like Mugabe and incompetent leaders like Tsvangirai to remain in power and ruin people’s lives.

Every generation has its challenge and this generation’s challenge of the last thirty years has been how to deliver the promise of economic prosperity, freedom, liberty and human dignity - the promise of independence. So far we have not done well. We installed a ruthless tyrant into State House and, for the last ten years, have appointed a totally incompetent man as the front man in our attempt to dethrone the tyrant. We should have done a lot better. We must redeem our past failings.

The greatest weakness of the Zimbabwean people, one that runs true throughout, is being naïve; naïve enough to entrust the leaders with a blank cheque to delivery the economic prosperity, etc. We have yet to understand that leaders, regardless of their past heroic exploits, must always be held accountable to the people. Looking at Mugabe, it would right to say it is him who is holding the people to account. It is the tail that is wagging the dog!

Elections are a lot more than putting an X on a piece of paper. The voting is just one aspect of a multifaceted process of judging leaders and holding them accountable. The electorate have a duty and obligation to at least try to understand what should and can be done to deliver the economic prosperity, freedom, liberty, etc.