The
United States has urged Zimbabwe to allow international monitors to watch elections
due to be held by late July.
"The United States sincerely hopes that Zimbabwe will hold peaceful,
credible presidential and parliamentarian elections this year," State
Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters.
"We believe the credibility of these elections would be enhanced if a
broad range of international monitors, led by the Southern African Development
Community (SADC)... were credited to observe."
It is
the fervent wish of every level headed Zimbabwean and outsider to see Zimbabwe
hold free and fair credible elections. Since the critic democratic reforms were
NOT implemented; flooding, literally, the country with election observers may
help reduce the severity of some of the vote rigging tricks, especially the
wanton violence. Frankly, there is little else anyone can do now!
What a
way to run a country it is little wonder the country is in ruins!
3 comments:
I am disappointed by the CSO's failure to comprehend the simple reality that it was up to the people of Zimbabwe to ensure these elections were free and fair by implementing the GPA reforms and writing a democratic constitution!
“Dear Lord, it is I thy faithful and poor servant Shashiram!” So the story goes. “Why Lord do You not grant me the chance to win the lottery this once!”
This had been going on week after week, month and month for donkey years. The good Lord, tired of hearing the same petition finally answered; “Shashiram, how do you expect to win when you have never once bought the lottery ticket!”
To be fair to SADC they have encourage MDC to implement the democratic reforms; “follow the GPA roadmap,” they said again and again.
When the politicians crafted the Copac constitution SADC leaders, notably President Ian Khama of Botswana, spoke over the heads of the nation’s leaders directly to the people urging them to reject it because it was too weak and feeble to deliver free and fair elections. The people paid no heed and approved the draft by a staggering 95% with the highest voter turnout in the country’s history.
Zimbabwe’s CSO are petitioning SADC ensure elections are free and fair. The petition signed by 51 CSOs laid minimum conditions under which they said the elections must be conducted. The same CSO cheered and applauded whilst MDC did nothing these last five year to implement the reforms. They then joined forces with MDC in campaigning for a yes vote in the referendum and thus closing the last chance to force Mugabe to implement reforms.
Whilst God was rightly angry with Shashiram for not doing something as basic as buying a ticket without which it is inconceivable to see how one can win a lottery otherwise. Here we have MDC, CSO and many other Zimbabweans who have actively made it impossible to have free and fair elec-tions by failing to implement the reforms, etc. petition SADC to nonetheless deliver free and fair elections. Are these people idiots or what!
@ Yepec
What I am saying is that Tsvangirai did not even try to get the reforms implemented; he was too busy doing other things – details of which will not be revealed here (zvimemuto ndozvineyi)! Even SADC have public accused criticized him and his fellow MDC
leaders accusing them of becoming “too comfortable in government, forgetting their presence was meant to create an environment conducive for credible, free
and fair elections”.
After five years in the GNU not even one democratic reform was meaningful implemented. Not one!
If you are saying Tsvangirai tried to get the reforms implemented then, please enlighten us all and give us
the details of his trials and tribulations. Please note, I did not ask for details of his successes but trials; we all agreed that he failed to get even one meaningful reform implemented.
You say a lot Yepec but always fall flat on your face each time you are asked to back up your claims with evidence and facts!
@ Super
@ Super
Can you give me any good reason why all these things, reforming the Police, good voters’ roll, etc. have not been done and dusted years ago? These politicians had five years to sort these things out for Pete's sake!
If these things were not done in five years; what makes you think they will now be done in five weeks?
The only way to stop the partisan behaviour of the security chiefs, judges, etc. is to give parliament the power to assess the performance of the office holders and have them removed if necessary. This is a standard practice in all functioning democracies. Sadly this Copac constitution gives these powers and a lot more beside to the State President.
Copac gives Mugabe dictatorial powers and, surprise, surprise Mugabe is using these dictatorial powers to make sure the Police, Army, Judiciary, etc. all neglect their democratic duties and act in a highly partisan way in support of Zanu PF! What else did you expect him to do? You grant him dicta-torial powers and then hope he will never use those powers; how naïve is that!
We will need to amend this Copac constitution if we are serious about having meaningful reforms. I do not see Mugabe and Zanu PF ever agreeing to that even if a way (which there is none) was to be found to apply SADC pressure on him.
Reject the Copac constitution was the very last opportunity the nation had to get the reforms im-plemented. By voting yes, the nation slammed that last door shut.
PM Tsvangirai maintained the Copac constitution would deliver free and fair elections disregarding the document’s blatant weakness, the fact that none of the democratic reforms had been imple-mented and the warnings from SADC and others to the contrary. He asked the nation to vote yes in the referendum and they did. Copac is now the supreme law of the land and PM Tsvangirai now realizes that the nation is looking to him to deliver the free and fair elections he promised.
He is asking for more parliamentary time beyond the statutory five years to get the reforms he failed to get implemented in five years implemented in five weeks. He knows Mugabe will not budge, and then he will have his excuse for failing to deliver on his promise.
What PM Tsvangirai must explain to the nation is why he has clearly failed to deliver free and fair elections and a new Zimbabwe as he had promised. The nation should not be fooled by his frantic last second promise to have ALL the reforms implemented if he is allowed just five more weeks when he failed to get even one meaningful implemented in five years because he is incompetent.
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