Education minister and
senior MDC official, David Coltart, says a vote in favour is crucial to the
country's future.
"There's no other
viable alternative," David Coltart said. "If we vote no today all
that will happen is that we retain the existing thoroughly objectionable
constitution.
"The whole peace
process will breakdown and really we may lurch back into the calamitous
situation we were in in 2008."
I never thought I would ever doubt that white Zimbabweans like David Coltart when they claimed they now see the white colonial system as unjust, oppressive and discriminatory and that they condemn it. One did not want to explore when exactly they had their “Saul on the road to Damascus” conversion, particularly when many of them remained actively involved in fighting to retain the status quo right up to 18 April 1980, the day of Zimbabwe’s independence. But when people Coltart talk of “there is no viable alternative” for Zimbabwe; one has to wonder whether this is not a throw back to his Rhodesian days!
Ever since the formation of the GNU in 2008 the GPA set the roadmap for the country to move out of the political and economic chaos and mayhem- implement democratic reforms and write a democratic constitution. MDC including people like Senator Coltart were supposed to push through this agenda and for five years they have failed to get even one reform implemented and then the endorse what everyone can see is a weak and feeble constitution.
Implementing the reforms would have dismantled the dictatorship which is the root cause of the corruption and political oppression and deliver free and fair elections – free of violence.
The consequence of the people voting yes to this weak Copac constitution is that it will close the door to all implementing the reforms, the nation is stuck with this rubbish constitution and the nation will be dragged into yet another bloody election process. Even at this the very last minute of the eleventh hour a NO vote in the referendum would have forced the nation to turn back from taking this last step into the abyss. How can anyone see sending the nation into the abyss be this as the only viable solution?
“Diplomatic sources told Zimbabwe Independent in separate interviews this week Sadc leaders feel the MDC leaders have become too comfortable in government, forgetting their presence was meant to create an environment conducive for credible, free and fair elections,” reported the Zimbabwe Independent.
In other words Senator Coltart has himself “become too comfortable in government” just as he was comfortable with white colonial oppression; no doubt "there's no other viable alternative" then!
9 comments:
Do not talk to me about "giving people" a choice; what kind of choice do people who have lived all their lives under a ruthless dictatorship, with no free media and are asked to vote without even seeing the document. The people trusted MDC and unkown to them Tsvangirai and his MDC have betrayed them just as the people trusted Mugabe and Zanu PF and were betrayed by them too!
@ Chirandu
MDC chose to be "junior partners" against the advice of all, so let us not go there.
Everyone in the GPA signed to implementing the democratic reforms including Mugabe and it is SADC have been pushing for the reforms to be implemented. The only people who have been laid back about the reforms are MDC.
It is Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who have been out campaigning for a yes vote although they know fully well a yes vote will take us straight into elections and thus a repeat of the 2008 violence and will close the door to all reforms.
SADC in exasperation have accused "MDC leaders have become too comfortable in government, forgetting their presence was meant to create an environment conducive for credible, free and fair elections." When are you going to wake up and face the reality that MDC has betrayed the nation? You will when the nation is swept by the waves of political violence and madness!
@ Chirandu
You are once again getting yourself tied up in knots about the constitution and constitutionalism; a good constitution should be able to stop those who do not like living by the rule to live by the rules. This Copac contitution is so weak and feeble that Mugabe does not need to disregard or violate it; he can do as he pleases and not break the law.
In all your blabbing you have lost sight on the important point of implementing the reforms. It was incompetence on the part of MDC that made them fail to implement the reforms.
Yes, you are one of those generals who think the battle is being won as long as they can see blood flowing on the battlefield regardless whether it is the blood of the enemy of their own men! We do not need a repeat of 2008 wanton violence to enjoy our basic rights and freedoms!
There will be nothing to be gained by having another bloody election; it will only be because of the breath taking incompetence of MDC that we do!
“This is a journey that we have travelled. Those who have lost their lives will rest in peace because this is an important stage that we have been fighting for,” said Tsvangirai. He still does not have the foggiest idea of what he has just done!
So says the man after taking the nation over the abyss! Tsvangirai should have implemented the GPA agreed democratic reforms, God knows how many times SADC asked him to do so. But this is the last straw, by asking the people to vote yes before the reforms were implemented Tsvangirai has just dragged the nation into yet another bloody elections, a repeat of the wanton violence of 2008!
How can those who lost their lives in 2008 and over the years rest in peace when even more lives will now be lost unnecessarily. It is naive to think the nation can have free and fair elections - free of violence - whilst the Mugabe and Zanu PF dictatorship is allowed to ride rough shod over the people!
With the yes vote safely in the bag; Zimbabweans will once again be reminded just how brutal Zanu PF can be! SADC will stand back and observe!
@ Kwv
Coltart is speaking like a Rhodie because Rhodies argued white rule was the only alternative because it suited them and refused to see a democratic system of government as an alternative. Today he is doing exactly the same thing; he knows that implementing the reforms was the just and logical way out but again because he is the ruling elite he once again refuses to see the more just solution.
Take away the 19 amendments in the Lancaster House Constitution and you will find it is infinitely better than the Copac constitution.
The number of people who have made a mountain out of a mole hill of such provisions as the maximum term for the president goes to show how very little the understand what we are talking out. If they did they would realize that the fixed term is not as important as having free and fair elections. Only an idiot would not see they are being short changed when to be denied a mean-ingful vote but instead they are assured they will have a dictator imposed on them for a maxi-mum of ten years. What is worse is even some journalists of repute have been taken into this sick joke!
Mugabe’s mansion in KwaZulu-Natal worth R200 million, complete with a sparkling pool, full dams, manicured lawns, lush vegetation and Balinese-type buildings is nearly complete. This is the kind of dictator and his extravagant lifestyle we dealing with here.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF friends have a lot to lose from losing political power and having resisted implementing the reforms which would have dismantled the dictatorship for the last five years it is naïve to think Mugabe will implement them now that the Copac constitution has been accepted.
@ Tomtom
The alternative was there all along since the signing of the GPA; implement the democratic re-forms and you will dismantle the Mugabe dictatorship brick by brick and use the same bricks to build a democratic system. Of course Mugabe refused and Tsvangirai, out of incompetence, failed to push the matter. SADC, the guarantors of the GPA, have for the last five years reminded Tsvangirai again and again to implement the reforms but sadly to no avail. SADC has expressly made it known that their disappointed.
SADC in exasperation have accused "MDC leaders have become too comfortable in government, forgetting their presence was meant to create an environment conducive for credible, free and fair elections."
The route Tsvangirai and MDC have chosen is a simple one; since they could not implement the reforms they have ignored them and offered instead to accommodate the dictatorship through this weak and feeble Copac constitution. They pretended the Copac Constitution is the democratic constitution the nation wanted and, to complete the deceit, that this was the only solution, there was no alternative.
Accepting the Copac constitution and go into elections without reforms was not even solution since this would take the nation back to 2008. The dictatorship is very much alive and the coming elections will be nothing but a repeat of the bloody elections of 2008 in which Mugabe and Zanu PF will reassert their will and political dominance.
We had two solutions here: implement the reforms and go into elections or go into elections with-out reforms and, thanks to Tsvangirai and MDC’s deceit, we chose the suicide path. The yes vote in the referendum has committed the nation down this path beyond the point of no return and now the nation must suffer the consequences!
I am not the prophet of doom but mere saying out loud what is self-evident to those who would open their eyes.
“A total of 15 police officers in plain clothes have raided and are currently searching Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s communications office in Avondale, Harare,” reported Zimeye.
Now that Mugabe has the yes vote safely in the bag, now we can see how good this Copac constitution is at delivering the free and fair elections as Tsvangirai and MDC promised or, as some of us have warned, it will do nothing to stop Mugabe riding rough shod over the people and the elections will be a repeat of the wanton violence of 2008!
The new Copac constitution will NOT curb Mugabe's dictatorial powers; that is a complete lie pedalled by Tsvangirai and MDC to hide their failures and incompetence. The only way Mugabe’s dictatorial power have not just curbed but ended was if the democratic reforms agreed in the GPA were implemented. The reforms were going to dismantle the Mugabe dictatorship brick by brick.
Mugabe refused to have the reforms implemented and Tsvangirai, out of breath taking incompetence, failed to push him even in the face of incessant pressure from SADC for the reforms to be implemented.
Tsvangirai and MDC have since created this myth that the weak and feeble Copac constitution would "curb" Mugabe's dictatorial powers. Only the very gullible believed this nonsense and these arrests show Tsvangirai was lying. Now that Mugabe has the yes vote safely in the bag; he will be flexing his dictatorial muscles freely from now on; there will be a repeat of the wanton violence of 2008!
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