Finance Minister Biti said there was need to
"vaccinate" the vote against violence as "self evidently in the
last few weeks there have been signs, sprouting shoots of violence ...
potential replication of the 2008 status quo."
The MDC has since the start of the year recorded over
120 incidents of violation and abuse of individuals, he said.
Two thirds of the six-million voters on the roll are
dead, said Biti, discussing irregularities with the crucial list.
"But unfortunately those four million who are
dead have had a tendency to resurrect on election day."
SADC has promised to look into these issues but other
than put another Band-Aid on a broken leg! What the problem has needed all
these years is decisive action – implement the reforms and stop all this pussyfooting.
The only way to vaccinate the vote against violence is
by implementing the reforms; MDC can get the reforms implemented by telling the
people the truth about this mess, admit there will be violence and thus tell
the people to vote no in the referendum.
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NCA has been granted leave to appeal against High Court Judge’s initial ruling throwing out the NCA’s application to have the referendum delayed because Mugabe had acted “unreasonably, irrationally and arbitrarily” when he declared March 16 as the date for the holding of a referendum.
The Supreme Court hearing is now set for 13 March 2013.
The NCA’s case is even stronger because events on the ground show govern-ment has failed to print and distribute copies of the constitution to most of the voters. Government has so far printed and distributed 100 000 copies, in a country with a population of 13 million. Copac was asking for US$ 500 000 to print additional copies but was struggling to raise the money; the same week Mugabe spent US$ 600 000 on his birthday bash!
This is such a common sense case, the people cannot be expected to vote on such an important document as the constitution without being given the opportunity to read it!
Minister Tendai Biti said the new charter will guarantee a free and fair election in Zimbabwe later this year, which he was certain, his party leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will win (Zimbabwe Mail 12 March 2013). In the next breath he was asking for an “army of election observers”! Why would you need an army of election observers if you are so sure the new constitution will deliver free and fair elections free of the violence of 2008?
The truth because none of the democratic reforms were implemented the Zanu PF machinery responsible for the violence in 2008 has been left untouched and, as soon as Mugabe has the yes vote safely in the bag, will be launched. The yes vote will end the GPA and SADC’s supervisory powers. Zimbabwe will have forfeited its last chance to get the reforms implemented.
This is just the usual confusion the nation has come to expect from MDC; one minute they are admitting the coming elections will be “bloodier than 2008” said Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone and then the next minute they say there will be free and fair elections – free of violence!
The people of Zimbabwe are going to pay dearly for all this MDC blundering in lost opportunities, money, broken limbs and in body bags and it will not just this year but for decades to come! The reform must be implemented we are to ever get out of the dictatorship and MDC’s fudge will fool no one!
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