MDC's incompetency is drawing the nation into this Gaza mentality where people go out and throw stones at soldiers with guns, or fire home-made rockets against an enemy with helicopter guns, tanks, etc. Taking Mugabe and Zanu PF in an election process where the tyrant is free to use all the dirty tricks including wanton violence is folly.
That is a fight Mugabe would want MDC to fight and only stupid people will allow themselves to be drawn into particularly when they have other options.
MDC had the option of forcing through democratic reforms which would have guaranteed free and fair elections. Of course Mugabe did not want the reforms implemented but MDC should have fought tooth and nail to get the reforms implemented. SADC as the guarantors of the GPA would have stepped in and force Mugabe to accept the reforms.
Instead of fighting Mugabe to implement the reforms the MDC cowards want the ordinary Zimbabweans to face the Zanu PF terror machine Zanu PF thugs, the Police, the Army, the CIO, biased judiciary, etc., in an election process everyone knows Mugabe will deploy his juggernaut!
The people of Zimbabwe should not allow themselves to be misled by MDC into a totally meaningless fight. It is OK for Tsvangirai to be lying about the violence and posturing about fighting back, when the going gets tough we all know he will in the Netherland Embassy like a bullet – not even Usain Bolt would catch him.
The threat of election violence is real and is already happening all over Zimbabwe. If elections are not free and fair it is the ordinary Zimbabweans who are the real losers because the government they can expect to emerge at the end of the day is at best a mediocre coalition of MDC with a Zanu PF faction or a full-fledged Zanu PF dictatorship. That is not worth risking life and limb again for!
What Zimbabweans must do is reject the Copac rubbish and force the implementation of all the agreed reforms BEFORE elections are held. Free and fair elections, free of the usual political violence can only be guaranteed if the reforms are implemented.
Victory is not always to those prepared to fight but for those who know when to fight and when not to fight! It is folly to engage Mugabe and Zanu PF in another blood election; first defeat him in the referendum and his juggernaut will be useless in the elections that follow.
8 comments:
@Drogo
When the GNU leaders announced they are finally agreed on Copac constitution, Mutambara waffled on about this having been a "compromise". Nonsense, this is a sell-out constitution.
Mugabe and Zanu PF retained all their tyrannical and dictatorial powers and the people lost their inalienable right to free and fair elections and the right to life itself.
Under this Copac constitution Mugabe and his cronies will continue to have unfettered access to the nation's wealth and resources whilst the rest of us will have to make do with the crumbs that fall off their table. If the people should complain about this injustice they face harassment, arrest and long stays in prison with the judiciary seating on their cases and many will be killed.
It is little wonder Mugabe had a smug grin on his face at the press conference announcing the Copac agreement; he could not have been happier. He knew under this new political dispensation his dictatorial rule was secure.
Ever since the signing of the GPA Mugabe has been quick to pumper Tsvangirai, Mutambara, Ncube and all the other MDC leaders and made them feel that they are full-fledged members of the country’s ruling elite. Made them feel that they are welcome on the gravy train and therefore they will never have to feed on bread crumbs, suffer the daily hardships and political harassment povo face ever again. With this assurance the MDC leaders promptly forgot their promise to the people of bringing democratic change and trading in that promise for new found gravy train comforts.
The MDC leaders did not even bother to read the Copac document Mugabe put before them; they were that eager to please the tyrant! They just signed on the dotted line. To the MDC leaders the Copac constitution was a compromised in that they got life-time membership into Zimbabwe’s ruling elite.
This Copac constitution has failed to secure the people’s inalienable right to free and fair elections and the right to life itself this Mugabe dictatorship has denied them these last 33 years. To the people therefore this Copac constitution is not a compromise constitution because they got nothing from it; it is a sell-out constitution because MDC leaders got a lot out from Mugabe in return for betraying the common people’s just demand for their rights!
@Farai 72
As long as the elections are not free and fair Mugabe will always adjust the violence to ensure he gets the results he is after. In the 2008 presidential elections his vote went up from 43% to Tsvangirai's 46% (even if we accept the cooked figures) in March to 98% three months later!
Mugabe threw the Zanu PF violence juggernaut into overdrive and the people were overwhelmed. All the usual MDC hot heads who are always yapping about “fighting back” disappeared like morning mist in the African savannah. Tsvangirai is known for his disappearing act to the Netherland Embassy – leaving his supporters to face the music alone!
The only reason Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have accepted that the elections should go ahead even though it is self-evident the elections will not be free and fair is because Mugabe has given them the assurance that they are now members of the country's ruling elite and that they will be taken care of from now on.
The "compromise" Mutambara was wittering about when the GNU leaders announce they had finalised the Copac draft last week was the gravy train assurance from Mugabe and sell-out on the democratic changes from the MDC leaders.
If Zimbabweans approve this Copac rubbish then we are F****D! The elections will be a formality to confirm Mugabe and Zanu PF victory!
If, on the other hand, people reject the Copac constitution in the referendum then they will force the implementation of the agreed democratic reforms BEFORE elections are held! Win the NO vote and the elections that will follow will be a formality confirming Mugabe and Zanu PF's demise! It is that simple!
@G Ayatollah
A constitution that is vague and the Copac constitution is very vague, Mugabe has deliberately seen to it that it is, is open to abuse.
The SA constitution is very clear and precise on what those in the security services can and cannot do, for example. To ensure those in the security sectors do not act in a partisan manner, section 199 of SA constitution subsection 6 to 8 stipulates:
6. No member of any security service may obey a manifestly illegal order.
7. Neither the security services, nor any of their members, may, in the performance of their functions ¬
a. prejudice a political party interest that is legitimate in terms of the Constitution; or
b. further, in a partisan manner, any interest of a political party.
8. To give effect to the principles of transparency and accountability, multi-party parliamentary committees must have oversight of all security services in a manner determined by national legislation or the rules and orders of Parliament.
You will not find any such explicit sections in the Copac constitution on the security sector of on any other issue. It is all wishy-washy and deliberately so the tyrant can interpret the constitution to suit his sinister purpose!
It took the SA a year to write their constitution, they are a clear vision and political will and their constitution is one of the best in the world. It took the GNU clowns four and half years to whitewash a dictator’s manual to give it the appearance of a democratic constitution. Only the very naïve are fooled by that.
The political violence is already getting worse and the Copac constitution is too weak to stop the violence even when it is finally passed. “Rinemanyanga hariputirwi!” As we say in Shona. You cannot hide the Devil’s horns under wrapping paper; they will soon stick out!
@Khera
The consequences of the looting have harden the people's and MDC's (if we assume MDC is still on the people's side) resolve to end this Zanu PF dictatorship. It is a big IF with MDC, ever since they got on the gravy train they have certainly warmed up to Mugabe.
Tsvangirai has always been a weak and indecisive character, "a puppet" according to Mugabe. Since the signing of the GPA Mugabe has certainly been pulling all the puppet's strings!
And the two points have hardened Mugabe and Zanu PF's resolve NOT to give up power. With Tsvangirai as their puppet life was made a lot easier for them. They kicked all the democratic reforms into the tall grass days after signing the GPA and for the last four and half years they have dragged out the process of drafting the Copac constitution, stringing Tsvangirai along. Only a puppet would have tolerated the abuse Tsvangirai has had to endure!
You are right voting NO to the Copac constitution will be a vote of no confidence in Mugabe and Zanu PF but also a vote of no confidence in Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders. They all failed to carry out the democratic reforms; that is a fact. Together they produced this rubbish Copac constitution instead of a democratic constitution the nation desperately needs; that too is a fact.
So why the nation should be burdened with a constitution that will not even deliver the people’s basic and inalienable right to free and fair elections and the right to life itself just to save some corrupt politicians from being shown as the corrupt and incompetent leaders they are!
How can the nation voting for the restoration of the very pillars on which good government, justice, peace and economic prosperity are build be a “repudiation of Freedom , Independence and Sovereignty”?
@Khera
The country has gone down the drain, life expectacy has dropped from 68 years in 1980 to 34 year in 2004 when it was last measured and still some people believe Mugabe and Zanu PF's corruption and looting will deliver mass prosperity! With people this gullible, it is no surprise that we are in this hell-hole and worse still what chance do we have of ever going getting out! For all their book learning my late Mother with her three years of formal education showed more common sense then some of these University graduates, I tell you.
@ G Ayatollah
If the Constitution clearly said no Police Officer can "obey a manifestly illegal order" then every Police Office will know they can not turn a blind eye to Zanu PF thugs beating a victim much less take an active part in the assault themselves because they will know they can be sued in their own right. If Mugabe should decide to issue such orders then the Police Officer must insist in having them in writing.
If having such a clear constitution would not have made any difference to Mugabe then why has gone to all this trouble to ensure the Copac constitution contained no such clauses. Paul Mangwana, the Zanu PF rep on Copac was in and out of Mugabe's office like a yoyo, for Christ sake!
Arguing that Mugabe would disregard the constitution anyway is nothing but a feeble excuse for having produced this Copac rubbish!
@Chen
Dear Chen
I know the people stopped trusting me a long, long time ago. I am still in power today because of the excellent work of my thugs like Jabulani Sibanda plus the backing of the Police, Army and CIO.
I was really worried that Tsvangirai and MDC would put me under pressure to implemented the democratic reforms which would have made it impossible for thugs like Sibanda to carry out their work. As it turned out I was able to kick the reforms into the tall grass weeks after signing the GPA and as you know the final Copac constitution is so weak there is nothing to stop me using the same or worse violence as I used in 2008.
Sibanda are keeping the pot bubbling at present; we do not want to scar away the voters before the Copac constitution is passed in the referendum. Once that is out of the way; well we will turn up the heat!
What you call orgy of violence is what has kept me and Zanu PF in power. I will never never win a free and fair elections even against someone as incompetent as Tsvangirai. These people hate me, I tell you.
This talk of a NO vote in the referendum is a bolt out of the cloudless sky. I hope it fizzled out because if these lunatics win, me your President and Zanu PF will be finished. Finished, I tell you.
Do you think I should turn up the heat on and get these people to vote YES in the referendum? My fear is the whole nation will then see what a lie this Copac constitution is and thus harden the people's resolve to reject it. I am at my wits' end on this one. What do you think I should do?
Best regards
Mr President!
@ Write Your name
It is not for Mugabe to allow this and disallow that. Of course Mugabe does not want any of the agreed democratic reforms implemented now or ever. All the SADC leaders knew that from the word go, they did put those reform into the GPA because if the GNU didnot have any set tasks to complete it would have been nonsense to say they would deliver free and fair elections.
The point is SADC signed on to these reforms as the milestone towards the end goal of free and fair elections whose results will be a true reflection of the democratic will of the people of Zimbabwe. The fact that Tsvangirai got distracted with the glob-trotting and chasing women does not mean the reforms are off the agenda. Reject the Copac rubbish and you will see this happen.
SADC and the whole international community have no appetite for another orgy of violence in Zimbabwe and they will do everything in their power to push for the reforms and then free and fair elections. But if Zimbabweans vote YES to this Copac constitution they will have effectively said they want the elections without the reforms. There is nothing SADC and the international community can do then!
If you are not going to vote NO to the Copac rubbish because Mugabe will never "allow" the implementation of the reforms then that is a defeatist argument. I say reject or accept the Copac constitution purely on its merit; if it is the democratic constitution the nation wanted and it will guarantee free and fair elections then vote yes. You should not worry your pretty head - you clearly cannot handle more than one simple idea in it - about what happens next!
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