In the forest of details in the final Copac constitution it
is not easy to pick out the real important and critical and therefore MUST HAVE items from all the
riff rough and chaff. Trust me, the document is loaded with chaff designed to
generate a lot of heat but little enlightenment! This Copac constitution must
be judged on whether or not it delivered the MUST HAVE items and not on the basis of those items that judged
as nice or not so nice to and so would be pleased if they are included but would
not lose sleep over them if they are not.
Top on the MUST HAVE list are:
1)
Must deliver and guarantee the right to life
2)
Must deliver and guarantee the right to free and
fair elections; in which there a free media and freedom of expression, free of
the scourge of political violence, etc.
Zimbabwe has this GNU because the orgy of violence in the 2008
produced an electoral result that could not be accepted as a true reflection of
the democratic will of the people. It was agreed in the GPA to carry out a
number of democratic reforms and write a new democratic constitution that would
deliver free and fair elections whose result will be a true reflection of the
democratic will of the people.
There for the acid test of the Copac constitution is; will
it deliver free and fair elections, free of the scourge of violence, etc.?
The situation on the grounds speaks volumes; the country’s
only TV and Radio media and the large public print media still remains an
exclusive preserve of Mugabe and Zanu PF whilst the small private print media
is still muzzled by repressive laws like AIPPA and POSA; the security sector continue
to act in a highly partisan manner, Zanu PF thugs continue to intimidate the
public, etc. There is nothing to show that the passing of the Copac
constitution will change anything on the ground to ensure free and fair
elections.
In the referendum the people will be voting on whether or
not this Copac constitution will deliver the right free and fair elections and
guarantee the right to life. Deliver these rights not in some unspecified date
in the future but the very day it becomes law!
This Copac constitution will never pass the acid test, Prime
Minister Tsvangirai is lying to say otherwise.
The people of Zimbabwe have no choice but to vote NO to this
Copac rubbish! The right to free and fair elections should not be traded in for
something as trivial as a fixed term for a president! The need for fixed terms
is important only as a way of getting rid of leaders when the free vote is not
assured. A dictator on a fixed term is still a dictator. To give up the surety of
good leadership only a free vote can gives for the delusionary comfort of knowing
a tyrant will serve a fixed term is first grade folly!
5 comments:
The Ministry of National Healing, Reconciliation and Healing has produced a code of conduct for all players during elections. The code will now be added will reportedly added to the Electoral Act.
Irene Petras of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights expressed her concerns that unless the Police arrest those who break the law the addition of the code “will remain academic”. Indeed, given the very partisan bias of the ZRP is, MDC may live to regret signing on to this because the code will be just one more stick the Police can use to harass and beat MDC supporters with!
@ G Galloway
GONDA: So will you go to elections without reforms?
TSVANGIRAI: No we can’t! We are saying there are steps and benchmarks that need to be put in place before that election is conducted, or else we’ll reproduce 2008.
GONDA: At the end of the day, isn’t it a fact that reforms are not the problem here and those reforms will only remain on paper and not implemented even if you are to have the reforms.
TSVANGIRAI: No, we have implemented some of them, not all, we have agreed on the Electoral Act, we have agreed on the Human Rights Act, we have put in commission, that’s all part of the reform that are comprehensively going to help create an environment for free and fair elections.
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I have already told you do not use Tsvangirai as the yard stick to measure the competency of everyone else critical of Mugabe. Just because Tsvangirai is inconsistent, confused and more often than not down-right stupid that does not mean everyone else is.
What Gonda should have asked Tsvangirai is: Are you not putting the cart before the horse; approving the constitution before implementing the reform? Once the constitution is approved Mugabe will swing into full election gear; he will not be interested in implementing not even one more reform; what recourse will you have to force him back to the table?
None of the reforms carried out to date are worth talking about because none of them have made any difference. They have created more media Boards and Councils than one cares to count and yet the situation on the ground remains the same as before with Zanu PF retaining its monopoly of the media and the tiny private media is muzzled by oppressive laws!
Tsvangirai will tell white lies, blue lies, name the colour and he will tell a lie in that colour; just to get Zimbabweans to believe this Copac rubbish will deliver free and fair elections and thus vote yes in the referendum. With the yes vote secured, Mugabe will kick Tsvangirai in the teeth just as he did as soon as Tsvangirai signed the GPA. I have no sympathy for Tsvangirai; the man is a lying idiot whose only thought is how to retain his seat on the gravy train. I feel sorry for the ordinary Zimbabweans who always end up paying dearly for Tsvangirai blunders.
Still Zimbabweans would stupid to vote yes on the basis of some unspecified "step and benchmarks" Tsvangirai himself does not know when these mystery steps would be taken. This is the classic case of looking for a black cat in a black room that (cat) is not there!
@G Galloway
When you play with an opponent with a loaded dice, it is not to luck that one turns but divine power!
Pray for the souls of those who will die unnecessarily if the Yes vote win the day because there will be blood shed; make no mistake about it. Thank the heavens if the No vote win because many lives would have been saved.
If what the sum total of all I have ever done should contribute to saving even one Zimbabwean from a beating much less saving one life then that is a worthy life time achievement. I would want my epitaph to read: He lived a full and worthy life; he saved one Zimbabwean from a beating!
@ Proud Zimbabwean
MDC is reportedly suing the Zimbabwe Independent over a story that Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti had “clashed” because the latter had not followed the party procedures for handling nomination papers for aspiring parliamentary candidates.
What is MDC trying to prove, that they agree 100% in 100% of the time in 100% of the issues? There is nothing wrong with disagreements, indeed a health democracy demands and thrives on passionate debate.
A statement denying the two had clashed would have sufficed. Suing the newspaper is going over-board.
MDC’s failure to implement media reforms, so that there was a truly vibrant free and independent media and freedom of expression was enjoyed by all, has been a great disappointment. At first sight it seemed it was because the party did not appreciate what a free media is; given the sum total of what Tsvangirai called media reform was for the Zanu PF controlled media to stop calling him a puppet. But now it seems the party has a deep rooted mistrust of independent and critical voices.
Independent Zimbabwean journalists have lived all their lives with the threat of law suit, arrest and imprisonment hanging over their heads like the sword over Damocles head. It is clear MDC has learnt many of Zanu PF’s dirty tricks and are putting some of them into practice already!
Tendai Biti has been begging for money to pay for the referendum and then the elections and for far there is not a penny in his begging bowl. Not even a farthing!
There are three reasons why the international community is not willing to bank roll the referendum and the elections:
1) They feel they are being taken for a ride. The drafting of the Copac constitution has taken nearly five years and costed nearly US$ 100 million (most of it pocketed by the politicians in the form of the very generous US$ 100 a day allowances compared to US$ 200 per month salary for civil servants at the time). And after all this they find the Copac constitution is a rehashed dictator's manual dictated by Mugabe and rubber stamped by the rest!
2) They can see the regime is breaking every in the book in terms of making sure the electorate are well informed of what it is they are voting on in the referendum to get the Copac rubbish approved. Of course they do not want to be the ones financing such a fraudulent act.
3) They know once Mugabe gets his yes vote in the referendum he would want to move swiftly into the elections which are not free and fair by any stretch of the imagination. They do not want to be the once bankrolling another bloody election process, God forbid!
Minister Biti should be "looking East", their moral standards are none existent, or also Mugabe will have to pay out of the Marange diamonds war chest put aside to finance his terror machine!
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