US Congressman Gregory Simpkins, who
is on a fact finding visit in Zimbabwe, has derided MDC-T leader Morgan
Tsvangirai’s recent boycott of elections.
“Oftentimes we have heard the
opposition saying it is tough to compete, they have to find a way of being
effective rather than just saying it is too tough to compete so we are not
going to take part. If you do not take part in an election process, how can you
criticise something that you did not even test?” said Congressman Simpkins.
“When you test the process you can
say we tried to register our candidates or observers were turned away, you can
point to examples. If you are not a part of it at all, then it is as good as
there is no opposition.”
Damn good advice that but sadly on
someone like Tsvangirai, it is all wasted!
Putting aside Senior Congressman Simpkins’
argument for a minute; what also makes MDC election boycott a nonsense is the fact
that it was none other than the MDC leaders themselves who failed to implement even
one democratic reform in their five years in the GNU. So they are now
boycotting elections demanding “No reforms no elections!” when it was their
fault that not even one reform was implemented during the GNU.
Now to go back to Congressman Simpkins; MDC
have tested the process but learnt absolutely nothing from the experience!
A few weeks ago former Zanu PF minister
Didymus Mutasa told a South African newspaper that Zanu PF had been rigging
elections and gave details of how Tsvangirai had won the March 2008
presidential race. Zanu PF had been “shocked” at the result, he said. The real
eye-opener was MDC’s reaction to Mutasa’s revelations; they were shocked and
wanted to meet Comrade Mutasa to learn more details.
MDC have been the victim of Zanu PF’s
blatant vote rigging and yet they did not know anything about it!
MDC have acknowledged that following
the March 2008 elections, Zanu PF’s Nicholas Goche on behalf of President
Mugabe and Zanu PF met MDC leaders to discuss post elections power sharing arrangements.
MDC had responded positively and asked Goche for a list of ten Zanu PF leaders MDC
was willing to include in a MDC led government. Zanu PF stopped the talks suddenly
with no explanation and after five weeks of dilly-dallying the party finally
announced the presidential election results.
Lo and behold, Tsvangirai’s win had
now been reduced to less than the 50% plus 1 demanded to avoid a presidential run-off.
Although MDC had made some noise
about the handling of the March 2008 elections, the party had failed to produce
anything specific, and the matter soon died away. It was Comrade Mutasa’s
statement that has breathed a new life to reality of Zanu PF rigging the March
2008 results; MDC had clearly failed to smell the rat.
In the July 2013 elections Comrade Mutasa
said Zanu PF’s Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa had bussed in voters. Comrade
Mutasa said he reported the vote rigging activity to the relevant officials,
ZEC, at the time. He must have had the evidence to back this up; evidence MDC
was now keen to get from him.
What is shocking is there were many stories
from every corner of the country of Zanu PF bussing in voters for the July 2013
elections but, sadly, there was only anecdotal evidence. MDC had once again
failed to collect any hard evidence themselves which was why the now wanted to
meet Mutasa who had collected some evidence.
Congressman Simpkins, MDC “test the
process”, as you put it, but because they have repeatedly failed to collect any
hard evidence of vote rigging Zanu PF has gone on to blatantly rig one election
after another.
Throughout the GNU MDC leaders were
advised to implement the democratic reforms but they paid no heed. So your
excellent advice, Congressman Simpkins, will fall on deaf ears too!
Former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Chris Dell, 2004 to 2007, said in a leaked cable that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
was “a flawed and indecisive character”. The Ambassador has been proven right a
thousand times over every year as Tsvangirai has blundered from pillar to post.
What is the point of advising Tsvangirai to “test
the process”! He has no clue what to look for in the process and, as we all
know, “If you do not know what you are looking for you are not bloody likely to
find it!”
6 comments:
@ Mukanya
Whatever you have to bet with, you will lose it all! This is an informed opinion of not just Congressman Gregory Simpkins but many others and will constitute not just the US government's position but that of many other countries too.
MDC paid no heed to advice on implementing the reforms during the GNU and, no doubt, will pay no heed to this advice too. Full marks to MDC for being consistent - consistently stupid but there it is!
Anyone who believes any of the MDC leaders who were part of the MDC team that failed to get even one reform implemented during the GNU is leadership material much less presidential leadership material need their coconut brain examined.
MDC leaders failed to get even one reform implemented during the GNU not because they did not have time - they had five years! Not because they did not realize the reforms were important, they were warned of the need to implement the reforms repeatedly by SADC amongst other people but of course MDC paid no heed.
MDC failed to get even one reform implemented because they are corrupt. Mugabe bribed them with the gravy train lifestyles; like everyone else Chamisa got his ministerial limo, generous salary and allowances and Tsvangirai, as MDC top dog, got his $4 million Highlands mansion and in return MDC leaders took the collective decision to kick all the reforms into the tall grass.
MDC leaders sold-out during the GNU and only an idiot would think sell-outs deserve another chance.
SADC and the rest of the world have dumped MDC and rightly so too. SADC and the rest of the world will never take the same corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders as serious political leaders. Zimbabweans are free to do so, of course, but the rest of the world will only take that as confirmation that the people of Zimbabwe are not serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship just as we were not serious during the GNU!
If Zimbabweans have not learnt the lesson from the consequences of MDC’s heartless betrayal during the GNU and want the same corrupt and incompetent individual as leaders so we can suffer even more; no one is going to deny us that right!
How any human being can be as naïve and gullible as these MDC supporters is the greatest mystery of our generation. Worse still, we are not going to get out of this hell with such a sheep for voters!
@ Tino
We have been "dealing with the economic crisis" all these last 35 years you dim wit! It has not changed anything and hence you rightly calling it a crisis!
ZimAsset is dead in the water, Mugabe failed to get any donor to bankroll that hare-brain scheme - not even the Chinese, they are happy to join in the looting and plunder of our resources but will give up a fraction of the loot to bankroll ZimAsset!
The Zimbabwe economy will need far reaching economic reforms to end the chronic waste of resources due to three and half decades of mismanagement and corruption. Since Mugabe and Zanu PF will never implement these reforms, we would not be in this mess if they had done so, the only way out if to force the tyrant and his cabal to give up power. The only accepted way Zanu PF will accept giving up power is by forcing them to hold free and fair elections and for that we need political reforms.
MDC's strategy of boycotting elections will never deliver any meaningful political reforms and that is what Congressman Simpkins is saying. You have got the wrong end of the stick and your wittering is completely out of line. You are just an idiot with a propensity to lasso himself, keep your hand at the level of your eye!
Mutasa is being threatened with arrest for violating the official secrets act by revealing the details of how Zanu PF has rigged past elections.
Mugabe has been rigging elections and that is high treason and makes his illegitimate and therefore the oath any of his ministers took including Didymus Mutasa will all be null and void!
The trouble with these Zanu PF idiots including Mugabe himself is that they do not know when the game is up. Even with the writing on the wall that this Zanu PF dictatorship is finished and regime change is now as certain as the sun rising tomorrow Mugabe continues to hang on!
Whilst the nation would want an orderly regime change, Mugabe's stubbornness is going to force the nation into a violent situation comparable to what happened in Libya or worse!
Mugabe loves to be the centre of attention sadly for him the only real attention he has been getting is of the worsening economic situation in the country. Years of pretending Zimbabwe was a great economic success are all now being exposed as a lie. Mugabe is not really the great statesman he has pretended to be but just a diminutive murderous tyrant.
Is Sahara TV covering the US President’s visit to Africa? I sure hope they do and that my sister Adeola pays her respect to the AU chairman! Now that Comrade Didymus Mutasa has confirmed Zanu PF has been rigging elections; she may want to ask Mugabe again whether Zimbabwe is a democracy.
@ Bobsled
We have our own very serious economic and political problems which we are failing to deal with; we pretend corruption is the new black empowerment and rigged elections are free and fair election. And with the classical hypocrisy of one with a log in his eye denouncing the speck in the other we are getting hot in the collar because the Americans legalized homosexuality in America, not Zimbabwe America!
We think we are so civilized we should be telling Americans how to live their own lives! Nhamo inenharo!
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