After the sham 2008 elections in which the country witness the worst orgy of political violence in modern history the parties to the GPA agreed that the GNU will be tasked to implement a number of democratic reforms including security sector and media reforms and write a new democratic constitution which will then be presented to the people for their approval or disapproval. All this was to be done to achieve one purpose – to ensure the next elections “are free and fair and the results are a true reflection of the democratic wish of the people”. In short to ensure the next elections are not a repeat of the sham elections of 2008.
The very fact that GNU was tasked to write a new constitution was per se an acknowledgement that the existing constitution was NOT democratic and will not deliver free and fair elections.
There reason why there was to be a referendum on the new constitution was to give the people the chance to express their opinion first of all on the new constitution itself: whether is it the democratic constitution they expected. And secondly on whether they are satisfied with the implementation of the reforms and all other preparatory work the GNU was supposed to carry out.
In other words the referendum is asking the people to vote on this simple question:
ARE YOU SATISFIED THE DEMOCRATIC REFORMS HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED AND THE COPAC CONSTITUTION IS THE DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION AND THEREFORE ZIMBABWE IS TRULY READY FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS?
Please vote yes or no by marking the appropriate box with a X.
YES NO
The consequences of voting yes are:
a)
Zimbabwe can move on to the next stage and hold fresh elections
confident they will be free and fair. If they are not then Zimbabweans have
only themselves to blame for approving a process which they could see was rotten
through and through.
b)
SADC, as the regional guarantor of the GPA, and the
international community can rightly wash their hands of Zimbabwe. If a
defective political process that denies citizen even the most basic right to
free and fair elections is what the people of Zimbabwe want, then outsiders
must not interfere.
The consequences of a no vote are:
a)
Zimbabweans will have rejected that enough has been done to guarantee
free and fair elections and the logical thing would be to revisit the reforms
and rewrite the constitution. Elections will have to be put on hold until the
guarantees they will be free and fair.
b)
SADC will be duty bound to assist Zimbabwe to ensure there are
free and fair elections. The international community will assist and make sure
the people are not once again denied this basic and fundamental right.
c)
Zimbabwe’s next election will be free and fair and the country
can be assured of good, democratic and account governments from there on. The
country’s climb out of the economic and political hell-hole will have final
began in earnest.
It would be wrong for the parties in the GNU to suggest that Zimbabwe will revert to the Lancaster House Constitution if the people reject the Copac constitution. It is the same parties in the GNU who failed the people by failing to implement the reforms and by allowing Mugabe to “dictate” the Copac constitution – no wonder it is a tyrant’s manual and not the democratic constitution the nation want. The people have the right to reject a process they can see is totally inadequate with the expectation that things will be put right and not to be punished by having a rejected process imposed on them.
The unspoken consequence of a yes vote will reaffirm that the people do not appreciate critical importance of free and fair elections as a right and for good governance. They are as malleable as mud and tyrants like Mugabe are only too keen to exploit that weakness.
The unspoken consequence of a no vote is that the three parties to the GNU will lose all political credibility. The people will have reasserted their political and intellectual independence and they are never again going to be exploited and taken for granted by unscrupulous politicians.
3 comments:
MDC has a story on the party’s web site of how the party saved the nation’s economy “from the brink of total collapse". What nonsense are they talking about?
The Zimbabwe economy has continued to shrink losing an average of 4 000 jobs every year since 2008 according to the ZCC.
The truth of Mugabe "dictating" the Copac constitution and Tsvangirai and MDC just rubber stamping what the tyrant wanted has hit home. The story has exposed Tsvangirai as just a puppet with Mugabe pulling all the strings. And so the party has dug up any old story to in the hope of burying the bad story of its shocking political incompetency.
Tsvangirai and everyone in Harvest House must know that they can run but they cannot hide. How long are they are going to keep up this charade and lie that this Copac rubbish is going to deliver free and fair elections, free of violence? If the people vote yes and the violence does not stop; Tsvangirai and his friends must know they will be responsible for every limb broken and every live lost as if they carried out the heinous crime with their own bare hands.
If the nation pass the Copac rubbish, then the elections will have to go ahead; bloody or otherwise. Time is fast running out: Tsvangirai must stop dithering and thus drag the nation into yet another bloody election process!
@ZATO
There will be no coup in Zimbabwe because the Army, the Police and CIO will see to it that Zanu PF "wins". You MDC people should stop deluding yourself and think your party can win an election where Zanu PF have licence to use every dirty trick they can come up with including the dictatorship's most trusted weapon - wanton violence.
In their eagerness to get back on the gravy train MDC has failed to get the reforms implemented and the playing field levelled. Already MDC is talking of boycotting the elections if the violence continues, just another fertile MDC gesture. MDC has accepting going into elections knowing fully well Mugabe and Zanu PF are playing with a loaded dice, it is nonsense to complain of this when the game is lost!
@ Zimbabwe Mail
The Copac constitution will not deliver free and fair elections; it is a licence for Mugabe and Zanu PF to use all the dirty tricks including violence to win the elections, period. So for any one to think "millions of crisis-weary Zimbabweans" will view the passing of this Copac rubbish as a "Mugabe’s masterstroke and charm" shows that he or she does not have the foggiest idea of what they are talking about!
Zimbabweans are weary of elections marred by violence and blood shed. This Copac rubbish is not doing anything to stop the violence. Tsvangirai and MDC are lying that they will do "something" to ensure violence-free elections. The only chance of stopping the blood elections going ahead is by vote NO in the upcoming referendum.
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