Biti calls GNU 2 to end Zim crisis - the key is understanding the reforms and then implementing them!

Former Finance Minister in the GNU and leader of the breakaway MDC-Renewal, Tendai Biti has called on Zanu PF regime to resign to allow for a technical council to run the country until the next elections in 2018.

Addressing journalists in Harare on Wednesday Biti accused the Zanu PF government of running the country down through unbridled corruption and misrule.

"...We restate that the present government should resign and that the economy is run by the National Transition Technical Council (NTTC)," Biti said.

"The NTTC must immediately work on reviving the economy and supervising the reform agenda, which must create conditions for a credible election that produces a legitimate government in 2018."

Mr Biti follows hot on the heels of MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai’s call for a “convergence conference” to establish a similar body to rescue the country from the economic meltdown.

"However, Zanu PF in its arrogance will clearly not give in to the proposed NTTC,” continued Mr Biti.

"Therefore, the onus is thus on the people of Zimbabwe to free themselves by confronting the Zanu PF dictatorship.

"Zanu PF is not interested in dialogue and in respecting the citizen. Therefore, it is up to the people to use their constitutional rights and confront Zanu PF."

The Tsvangirai group too was sure Zanu PF will ignore their conference and they too proposed that the people should go out in the street and demand change.

"We the political players must just be small players. We can’t lead this process because we have been leading for the past 15 years and we have led people to nowhere," admitted Biti.

Biti should have made the admission at the very start and shut up because all his proposals and Tsvangirai’s counter proposals above are rubbish.

The 2008 to 2013 GNU had clear set goals and had a clearly defined legal framework and yet in the end it accomplished very little economically and nothing at all politically. NTTC Biti is proposing is just another GNU by another name expect that has no legal mandate and Biti expect crippled body to revive the economy and implement all the democratic reforms MDC failed to implement. What a load of bull!

If the people go on the street with the verge list of demands as put forward by Mr Biti and Dr Tsvangirai then they must complain if all they get is a GNU mark 2 and come 2018 Zanu PF will once again rig elections and the country will be back in the political and economic mess it is.

In my view the way forward involves three distinct stages:

1)      The people taking the trouble to understand what are democratic reforms needed for free, fair and credible elections people are talking about; real understood them and not in the usual MDC “Chinja! Chinja” (Change! Change!”) empty sloganeering way.

It is only when the people themselves know what the democratic changes are that they will be competent to elect people competent implement the reforms and to supervise to ensure all the reform are properly implemented.

There is enough material out there for those keen to find out what the reforms are and more will be available on demand.

2)      There is sufficient international good will to help Zimbabwe in making the transition from this Zanu PF dictatorship to a healthy functional democracy by providing the financial package to fund the transition and provide the facilitator to bring together the team Zimbabwe to chart the roadmap out of this mess right up to holding fresh free and fair elections.

The international community has not stepped in so far because there is no point in doing so because the mediocre political leaders and confused electorate who were there throughout the GNU are still there, nothing has changed. The international community is not going to waste their time, money and resources as they did last time funding another GNU to get the same result as in July 2013. The world is going to step in and help Zimbabwe once Zimbabweans themselves have proven that they are now serious about finding a way out of this mess of our own making by carrying out step one above.

3)    Only when a significant number of people understand what democratic changes are all about should people go out in the street to hold peaceful demonstrations demanding the implementation of all the reforms followed by the holding of free and fair elections.

Mugabe and Zanu PF have never denied that none of the democratic reforms were implemented during the GNU and therefore the regime will find it impossible to say no to their implementation if confronted by an electorate that clearly knows what these reforms are. The party will find it impossible to say no if such electoral demand should have regional and international back. 

So in very simple terms what Zimbabwe needs to get out of this political and economic mess created by MDC’s failure to implement the democratic reforms in to have these reforms implemented now as a matter of urgency. To ensure that ALL the reforms are properly implemented this time, the ordinary people must take time out to understand what these reforms are about. It is the people themselves who are holding back change and the ending of the economic meltdown by not doing their homework – understand the reforms, the key to open the door out of this hell-hole!