MDC lost 2013 elections because no reforms were implemented - a folly not to be repeated in 2018

“Former Zanu-PF bigwig, Temba Mliswa, has predicted the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will once again win the 2018 elections even if he does not reach an electoral pact with former Vice President Joice Mujuru,” reported the Daily News.

“At the same time, and with Zanu-PF drowning from its seemingly unstoppable factional and unstoppable wars, Tsvangirai himself is taking advantage of the mindless bloodletting in the governing party, traversing its former strongholds around the country with little interruption.

Yes Zanu PF is imploding but only a naïve and conceited individual like Temba Mliswa would jump to the conclusion that means Tsvangirai and MDC electoral victory. In 2013 Tsvangirai made a similar miscalculation with disastrous consequences for us all. We must not allow pretentious people like Mliswa raise our hopes again of democratic change and of finally getting us out of this political and economic hell-hole only to be disappointed yet again.  

Tsvangirai was confident of winning the 2013 elections; so confident, he did not implement even one democratic reform agreed in the 2008 GPA. Even when SADC leaders warned him and his fellow MDC leaders not to take part in the elections with no reforms, they paid no heed. As we now know, Mugabe went on to blatantly rig the July 2013 elections; landing us all in this nightmare scenario where we are still stuck with an incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous regime and, having wasted the GNU chance to end the dictatorship, are at a loss what to do now to remove it from power.

Tsvangirai has since admitted that MDC did not implement the reforms because the party had the majority of the voters behind it to guarantee them victory regardless of Zanu PF vote rigging “shenanigans”. Since 2013 MDC-T has lost a lot of support following the party’s poor showing and its own in house fighting and dividing. None of the reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections have been implemented since the rigged July 2013 elections.

So Mliswa predicts a Tsvangirai victory in the 2018 elections regardless the fact MDC-T has lost many of its supporters and, more tellingly, nothing has been done to stop Zanu PF blatantly rigging the elections as happened in 2013. Tsvangirai is a spent force and Mliswa is just a naïve and conceited person talking nonsense!

Mugabe is renowned for promoting idiots it has been his strategy for staying in power all these years; he has insisted there was no one competent to takeover and, looking at Simon Muzenda, Joice Mujuru, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Didymus Mutasa etc., who would argue. Sadly these idiots sometimes get big headed and they start to think their elevated position in the party was a reflection of their competence; Mliswa is one of these big headed Zanu PF “bigwigs” masquerading as political gurus saying a lot but most of it nonsense.

Zimbabwe wasted a golden opportunity to bring about meaningful democratic reform and free and fair elections in 2013 by failing to implement the democratic reforms necessary for these changes. Tsvangirai did not implement the reform because he foolishly believed he would win the elections without the reforms.

Since the rigged July 2013 elections, over two and half years ago now, the country has still done nothing to implement the reforms. We have not yet agreed on the need to revisit the GPA reforms (Tsvangirai and others are still wittering about electoral law reforms which are inadequate and will accomplish nothing), on the mechanism to implement all the GPA reforms, etc. and we have less than two and half years before the next elections in 2018.  

It will be an unforgivable act of national folly if we go into the 2018 elections still with no democratic reforms implemented on the basis of a fool like Temba Mliswa’s prediction that Tsvangirai will win these elections regardless!