“If a coalition of the opposition parties as proposed by Vince Musewe is
not the solution to Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis; then what is the
solution?” many people have asked.
The solution to Zimbabwe’s political and economic mess is simple enough;
we must dismantle the corrupt and oppressive Zanu PF dictatorship and replace
it with a health and functioning democratic system of government. Do that and
overnight we will end the political oppression and restored all the individual
freedoms and human rights and dignity. The economic recovery will take some
time but we can honestly say the process of rebuilding the country ruined
economy will have started in earnest.
The only sure way to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship was to implement
all the democratic reforms in the 2008 GPA. Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had
five years to implement the reforms but failed to get even one reform
implemented. Not one!
So we are still in this political and economic mess brought on by the
corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship because MDC failed to
implement the reforms. It is very important that people realize this because a
clear understanding of this fact is important to the understanding why
Tsvangirai and MDC cannot be part of the solution, below. Understanding of this
fact is also necessary to understanding why we must go back to the 2008 GPA
reform.
To start with the last point first; if MDC failed to implement even one
of the 2008 GPA reform then it follows that if we still want to dismantle the
Zanu PF dictatorship, which we do, then we must implement the reforms.
As regards whether or not Tsvangirai and his MDC friends can ever be part
of the solution whether or not they join to form a coalition. If Vince Musewe
accepted that these guys are indeed corrupt and incompetent (this is
self-evident from the historic GNU facts on the ground and which some MDC
leaders like Tendai Biti have admitted and called the “collective idiocy” of
MDC leaders). The reader is reminded that the only way to dismantle the Zanu PF
dictatorship is by implementing the 2008 GPA reforms. Then it follows as day
follows night that Tsvangirai and his MDC friends are corrupt and incompetent
and therefore cannot be trusted to implement the reforms even if they were
given a second.
As if to settle the question of trust once and once for all; Tsvangirai
has already come up with the watered down versions of the democratic reform he
would want implemented. Tsvangirai’s reforms will never end the State
president’s undemocratic strangle hold Mugabe has on the Police for example.
So if Tsvangirai has already failed to implement the 2008 GPA reforms and
is proposing to implement watered down versions which will NOT dismantle the
Zanu PF dictatorship; how can anyone then say MDC can be a part of the
solution.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF created this de facto one-party dictatorship, it
is their baby, and therefore they will never want it dismantles. So Mugabe and
his mafia are definitely ruled out partners in our search for a democratic
Zimbabwe.
Joice Mujuru, Didymus Mutasa and the rest in the People First group are
Zanu PF in everything but name. So they too must be ruled out as position
players in our search for a solution.
“So if we cannot vote for Tsvangirai or Mujuru; who the devil should we
vote for?” some people will be asking, with increasing impatience and panic!
I would like to ask these people to indulge me for one minute and allow
me to answer by asking them a question of my own. How would you know the person
I name can be trusted to implement all the reforms?
The first we must accomplish if we are serious about dismantling the Zanu
PF dictatorship to make sure that a significant slice of the Zimbabwean people,
at least, understand what the reforms are how they can be implemented. The only
when the electorate know what the reforms are about and how they can be
implemented will they also know who can be trusted to carry out this important
task.
Zimbabwe’s next elections are set for 2018. We have wasted the last two
years arguing endless on the suitability of failed leaders like Tsvangirai,
Mujuru, etc. as possible opposition leaders going forward. They are NOT
suitable and let us move on.
The next thing is for people to understand what the 2008 GPA reforms are
and then start demanding their implementation. Zanu PF is already feeling the
pressure to accept meaningful reform from the worsening economic meltdown; the
political pressure from the people demanding the implementation of ALL the 2008
democratic reforms will convince the regime that there is nowhere out except
accepting reforms.
The period during which the reforms are implemented will open up the
country’s stifling political system to democratic debate and competition and
from this quality leaders will emerge.
In short therefore the solution to ending the Zanu PF dictatorship and
with it the political oppression and economic meltdown is in four parts:
- We must implement the 2008 GPA reforms which MDC should have implemented during the GNU but failed to get even one reform implemented.
- We must accept that Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to get even one reform implemented throughout the five years of the GNU because they are corrupt and incompetent and it is naïve to believe they will do any better next time.
- The Zimbabwe electorate must understand the GPA reforms to put effective pressure on Mugabe and Zanu PF to accept their full implementation.
- During the implementation of the reforms quality leaders will emerge. The next elections can only be held AFTER all the 2008 GPA reforms are fully implemented.
If there are some out there who have doubt in the above proposal as a way
out of the political and economic hell Zimbabwe is in then this is my parting
shot. Name one country in the world that has/had a naïve and gullible
electorate as we have in Zimbabwe that has emerged from a corrupt and
tyrannical dictatorship to have healthy and functioning democracy? It is naïve
to think for one minute that Zimbabwe will be that odd ball!
6 comments:
@ Brooks
In my view, there are two steps that must be taken to implement all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA:
1) The Zimbabwe electorate must understand what the reforms are and why we need them. This is vital if the right reforms, the 2008 GPA reforms and not MDC’s watered down reforms, are to be implemented fully. An electorate who know, or at least have a rough idea, what they want will constitute the most important, effective and unstoppable force to push Mugabe and Zanu PF into accepting the implementation of the reforms.
Mugabe and Zanu PF are under enormous pressure to accept meaningful political and economic pressure from the worsening in fighting within the party and, worse still, from the economic meltdown. With unemployment already at 90% plus with even more job cuts in the pipe line, 16% living in abject poverty, no clean running water, 18 hours a day power cuts, etc., etc. As long as Mugabe and/or Zanu PF remain in power the economic situation is going to get worse and not better. It is not rocket science to see that this situation is not socially or politically sustainable.
If the electorate had been a coherent group who presented a united political front and thus caught Mugabe and Zanu PF in a pincer movement with the electorate on one jaw and the economic meltdown on the other, the tyrant would have conceded defeat a long time ago.
2) Propose the body to be tasked to implement the democratic reforms. The ideal body would have been a GNU but the pathetic performance of the last one rules out both Zanu PF and MDC in that body. We could have a UN appointed administrative body to oversee the implementation of the reforms and supervise the holding of free, fair and democratic elections.
The single most important thing to remember here is that we are in this economic and political mess because we have a very ignorant, naïve and gullible electorate. Yes we have corrupt, incompetent and ruthlessly tyrannical political leaders too but after 35 years the people have had many, many golden opportunities to dismantle this Zanu PF dictatorship, the best chance was during the GNU when all the nation had to do was implement the reforms, we wasted all these chances.
Yes it was MDC who failed to implement the reforms during the GNU still the electorate have to take responsibility for MDC’s failure because it was the people who should have elected competent leaders and not the MDC village idiots.
The key to getting the democratic reforms implemented and thus finally ending the Zanu PF dictatorship is making sure we have an informed and competent electorate; as long as we have a naïve and gullible electorate we will never get out of this hell-on-earth Mugabe and Zanu PF landed us into. Never!
Did VP Mnangagwa know that Chivende died a pauper? If Zanu PF really cared and hoped that he would recover from his illness then why did the party not help with his medical bills and food? People like Mnangagwa, Mugabe and a select few others are pocketing millions if not billions of dollars every month from all the looting and plunder going on in Marange and Chiadzwa.
So Mnangagwa thinks the Chivende family will be consoled to hear that government and and Zanu PF party wish the late Comrade speedy recovery when he was sick but did nothing practical to help him.
The late Chivende was not the only Zimbabwe living in abject poverty there are 2 million others who are too living in abject poverty and many of them will die unnecessarily too because they cannot afford something as basic as medicine and food. Is the VP also aware of them and their plight? Is the government going to do something concrete to help end their suffering and avoidable deaths or is it going to continue pay lipservice?
@ Vince
“I fact, I would add that Diasporans who want to invest in Zimbabwe should demand that democratic reforms be undertaken first. They can indeed use their clout to do so if they are organised and speak with one voice,” you argued.
I could not agree with you more brother, you are spot on.
I would go on to add that those in the diaspora should be very actively involved in the search for democratic change, real democratic change as contrast to Tsvangirai’s mirage, regard-less of whether they want to invest in Zimbabwe or not. The corrupt and murderous tyranni-cal Zanu PF dictatorship has cause heart breaking suffering and countless deaths in Zimba-bwe; this is an affront against humanity and if we Zimbabwean both inside the country and out are not outraged, then who should be outraged.
Indeed in the fight for democratic change a lot more is expected from those in the diaspora than those still at home because being outside has given them access to information and free exchange of ideas that my aunt in the rural back water cannot even begin to imagine. It is hard to come up with a coherent idea when you are sitting in the dark, hungry and with a thousand other problems to worry about! Beside those in the diaspora do not have to fear those rabies carrying Zanu PF dogs, the CIO, War Vets, Green bombers, etc.
It is a great pity that many Zimbabweans in the diaspora have shown very little interest in what is happening back home and those who have, have been so ill-informed my aunt in the rural areas has better understanding of the issues than these university graduates. We should not forget that there are Zanu PF die-hards in the diaspora who escaped the political and economic chaos and yet continue to support the dictatorship because they loot or a dirty past to protect.
People in the diaspora can help end the nightmare Mugabe and Zanu PF have brought to our great nation and I whole hearted join in urging them to do so. It could easily have been you still stuck in Zimbabwe; surely you would be very disappointed to know those who escape are not doing their best to end your suffering!
@ Patrick
We should not forget that most of these NGOs and their leaders like Tawanda Chimhini were the cheer-leaders throughout the GNU cheering Tsvangirai and MDC along when they should have been reminding them to implement the reforms. So instead of admitting they made a mistake by supporting MDC they are compounding their mistake by once again supporting Tsvangirai's agenda of pushing for the implementation of the watered down reforms.
We do need to deal with this issue of freedoms and basic human rights once and once for all!
We are being asked to short change the people and deny them their freedoms and rights because to do otherwise will “threaten” Mugabe’s no regime change “right”! How stupid is that!
@ Home stretch
MDC had five years to deliver free and fair elections they failed to do so. They should have im-plemented the democratic reforms proposed and agreed in the 2008 GPA; they failed to get even one reforms implemented.
MDC claimed that the new constitution was strong and robust to deliver free and fair elections; some of us argued back then that it was a weak and feeble constitution it would not deliver free and fair election. You can check this for yourself, go to www.zimbabwelight.blogspot.co.uk or blogs.24.com/zimbabwelight and read for yourself.
The 31 July 2013 elections were not free, fair and credible as Tsvangirai and you lot admitted by noon of that day. Tsvangirai's claim that the elections were not free and fair because the country's laws had not been aligned with the new constitution is just another feeble excuse. The GNU lasted five years FIVE YEARS, enough time to pass the new constitution and do all the alignment he wanted if he had not been so corrupt and incompetent.
As a nation we need to go back to the GPA reforms and get them implemented and not waste another day with Tsvangirai's watered down reforms which will NOT deliver free and fair elec-tions. We do not want another feeble excuse from Tsvangirai tomorrow so it is better to dismiss him here and now. We need to focus on the 2008 GPA reforms without the distraction of imple-menting the reforms that are not threatening to anyone which, Zanu PF will only be too glad to implement!
We fight right now is over which reforms we want, the GPA reforms or the watered down MDC reform, because that will decide who will implement them. If it is the latter then Zanu PF can im-plement them but they can never implement the former for the simple reason that Zanu PF can-not president over its own demise!
People like you Home Stretch and Tsvangirai failed to understand the importance of implement-ing the GPA reforms throughout the GNU years and even now, with the benefit of hindsight, you are still failing to get your head round this issue. It is not your fault that you can hardly understand a simple one dimensional problem and therefore a two dimensional problem is way above your capability. Guess what the reform problem is a four dimensional problem, it is way above your very limited comprehension; it is like Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity to a grade one pupil.
It will suffice to say that just because Tsvangirai is incapable of understanding the critic im-portance of the 2008 GPA reforms is no excuse for us to let this village idiot lead us down a dead end yet again. Yes the people made a mistake in trusting Tsvangirai just as they made a mistake of trusting the corrupt and murderous tyrant Mugabe before him; I am sure the people will NOT vote for Tsvangirai ever again if they understood that he sold-out and he is offering them watered down reforms that will change nothing.
Patrick, myself and a number of others have done a good job of making sure Zimbabweans see why we must go back to the GPA reforms and not be misled by these corrupt and incompetent buffoons, masquerading as opposition leaders, civic leaders, political analysts, etc. but have no clue what the reforms are about! If I may say so myself, we have done a good job; there is a lot still to do but still that has been a great start.
@ Choto
THANK YOU!
Realigning the existing electoral laws with the new constitution will bring about very few meaningful changes especially since it is Zanu PF with its overwhelming majority in parliament (increased even more thanks to the early Christmas gift from Tsvangirai of the recalled MDC-Renewal seats) who are doing the realignment.
It is naive to think that by telling Zanu PF the reforms are not threatening their hegemony we will get them to implement far reaching reforms by mistake!
We are here to implement democratic reforms that will get us out of this hell-on-earth it is nauseating that we should be more concerned about appease a corrupt and murderous tyrant and not the millions of his victims who are suffering in damn anguish! The basic freedoms and human rights the millions are fighting for are basic human rights and not privileges to be rationed and/or denied by the tyrant as he wishes.
Chimhini and his ERC friends are now asking the tyrant to cherry pick the reforms that are not threatening to his tyrannical freedom and right to be corrupt and oppressive to implement. And it is those who pretend to be champions of freedom and human rights who are coming up with these suggestions! These idiots should just join Zanu PF and spare us the charade and crocodile tears!
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