Talking
to Morgan Tsvangirai is like talking to a drunkard; he hears everything you have
said but, judging from his reply, none of it registered.
“Pastors,
chiefs, headmen, village heads, war veterans, women and ordinary villagers all
spoke to endemic fear and intimidation being orchestrated by Zanu PF. Since the
run-off violence of 2008, Zanu PF continues to emasculate communities,
particularly chiefs and headmen, coercing them to frog-march people to vote for
Zanu PF in the next elections,” reported Luke Tamborinyoka. The MDC-T leader is
in Mashonaland East on his on-going countrywide meet the people tour.
“The
community leaders said the national challenge was to unlock the fear planted in
the villages and local areas where people were not free to express themselves.
“The
underlying factor in Mash East is endemic fear and, as one pastor told
President Tsvangirai, fear is a demon that needs to be exorcised ahead of the
next elections.”
Well
the people could not have been more explicit as what they believe is the BIG
ISSUE in Zimbabwe politics is today!
“In
his response to the various inputs, President Tsvangirai told the opinion
leaders that 2018 provided everyone with an opportunity to vote in a new
government that would address their concerns,” reported Luke.
Tsvangirai
is not even address the problem of fear but assumes it has been dealt with
already!
The
people of Mashonaland East are saying, which is what the whole nation has been
saying too all along, is how is MDC going to stop Zanu PF rigging the election
using fear, vote buying and a multitude of other dirty tactics? The one thing
that has stopped MDC winning elections in the past was Zanu PF’s blatant voting
rigging and, unless something is done about this, Zanu PF will rig the 2018
elections too.
“I
saw grassroot support Tsvangirai addressing 11 people!” commented Pardon on WhatsApp.
It is
easy to see why people are deserting MDC; the party is not listening to the
people and they are getting sick and tired of being ignored! Zanu PF’s acts of
intimidation, harassment, beating, etc. are real and so too is the people’s
fear. MDC-T leaders should know Zanu PF’s modus operandi well enough by now to
know fear is a big factor in Zimbabwe politics. So, MDC-T’s failure to come up
with workable solution to the problem is a measure of the party’s breath-taking
incompetence.
Vote
rigging is the greatest problem in Zimbabwe today and has been for decades.
Tsvangirai & co. failed to deal with this problem during the GNU when they
had the golden opportunity to do so. The failed to get even one reform
implemented in five years and the nation has paid dearly for it!
What
is more, they do not seem to realise that nothing of any substance can ever be
accomplished in Zimbabwe until implement the reforms, stop the vote rigging and
have free, fair and credible elections. Tsvangirai is not helping the nation by
not only failing to tackle the problem head-on but worse still by introducing
unnecessary diversions taking the nation’s attention away from the primary task
of implementing the reforms.
“The
community leaders in Mash East said they were behind the proposed alliance (of
opposition parties), on condition it was led by tried and tested leaders and
that it was able to rally the nation towards change,” Luke reported.
Again,
one has to ask: how will a coalition stop Zanu PF rigging the election and
address the people’s problem of fear?
Following
the July 2013 rigged elections, Tsvangirai and his MDC friends promised the
nation they will never again participate in any future elections until
meaningful reforms are implemented. They have since realised that they will
never get Zanu PF to implement any meaningful democratic reforms and have thus
decided to participate in the 2018 elections regardless, just to win the few
seats Zanu PF gives away as bait.
The creation
of an opposition coalition will have marginal gains for the opposition, there
is no evidence to suggest the coalition is the game-changer. Zanu PF won the
2013 elections and recent Bikita West by-election with a warping 62% and 78% of
the votes respectively. Fielding a single opposition candidate will not have changed
the result.
Indeed,
MDC-T is using the opposition coalition as a smokescreen to hide the party’s
failure to get even one reform implemented and yet still want to contest the
elections, contrary, to the party’s own congress resolutions of “No reform, no
elections!”
It is
great that many Zimbabweans are finally realizing that Zimbabwe’s culture of
political violence and vote rigging are the “demons that needs to be exorcised
ahead of the next elections”. We must not tire in our demand for the demons to
be dealt with BEFORE the next elections. We must not allow ourselves to be
fooled by these sell-outs politicians who are pretending coalition building
will solve all Zanu PF’s vote rigging tactics. This country cannot afford
another five years of this Zanu PF misrule.
12 comments:
Many voters failed to registration and/or vote in the 2013 elections not because they did not want to but because Zanu PF made it impossible for them to do so! As long as Zanu PF has total control of the whole electoral process, many people will be denied the vote, one way or the other and all this excitement and hooohaaaah is all for nothing.
If MDC-T are serious about making sure people who want to vote are allowed to vote in a free, fair and credible elections then they must implement the democratic reforms! Why have they failed to get even one reform implemented even during the GNU when they had the majority in parliament?
MDC-T are planning to contest the 2018 elections with not even one reform in place and they want to make voter registration appear as if it is a great success - just one more success story to justify why they should contest the elections even if they have failed to get even one reform implemented.
The elections will be rigged unless reforms are implemented; people must not take their eyes off the reforms - that is the ball! Keep your eyes on the ball!
@Godfrey
So, you do not think warning the nation of the dangers of going into the next elections with no reforms in place is useful? I think it is absolutely vital!
If you think that what corrupt and incompetent politicians like Tsvangirai are doing is good then you do not know what you are talking about. Tsvangirai and the other MDC leaders sold-out during the GNU by failing to implement even one reform.
Since when has treason been considered better that doing nothing?
@ Chitayitayi
This is just a rat race, with no beginning, no end, no winners and everyone foolish enough to take part is a loser! Zanu PF has been winning elections because the party rigs the vote. In the 2013 nearly one million registered voters were denied the vote, for example, because Zanu PF deliberately posted their details in the constituency other than the voter expected.
So, to talk of voter registration and say nothing about the vote rigging is to miss the point completely! Time and time again Zanu PF has rigged the elections; which part of Zanu PF rigs the vote do you not understand?
Zanu PF politburo member says Gideon Gono should be consider for next State president.
Has he ever spoken against Zanu PF rigging the elections? No! Well then we do not want him because we want free, fair and credible elections and only those who want the same will be considered from hence forth!
What is Tsvangirai doing to address this serious problem of fear?
To continue to contest elections in which millions are denied their right to vote one way or the other is sheer folly. SADC leaders warned MDC not to take part in the 2013 elections without reforms. Senator David Coltart has too confirm the folly of contesting the elections knowing the whole process is rigged. Is MDC waiting for someone from Europe or North America to tell them the elections are flawed and they should not contest?
When President Mugabe said Tsvangirai was a puppet many believed it; the man is devoid of any common sense and originality. We have to wait for the puppeteers to tell the puppet to stop contesting the flaw elections - assuming this is not one of those a discarded puppet thrown away in disgust!
Many MDC donors deserted the party in drove after the party failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU.
Zanu PF has rigged the vote in the past and it is naive of MDC to believe the use of the BVR system will somehow stop Zanu PF rigging the next elections! Zimbabwe should implement the wide ranging democratic reforms to stop vote rigging; something MDC failed to do when they had the best chance to do so during the GNU!
Mozambique has discovered oil.
In Mozambique, the nation will benefit whereas in Zimbabwe only the ruling elite would benefit!
The article makes very interesting reading but, it is riddled through and through with contradictions; saying one thing and then the exact opposition; leaving the reader totally confused!
“This survival mechanism manifests in a lack of compassion and sense of responsibility enough to mobilize ourselves on behalf of fellow men and it allows us to sleep peacefully while the poor suffer and the country deteriorates to an extent where no infrastructure is working,” wrote Brendah in one sentence.
“An attitude of “as long as my family is alright, not much else matters” permeates through the whole land and has led to each man only looking out for himself,” she said in the next sentence.
Brendah is right, Zimbabwe’s infrastructure has all but collapse. Even the country’s big hospitals like Harare and Mpilo Hospitals have regularly run out of even the most basic drugs like pain killers, most cities and towns do not have running water for weeks and even months on end, etc.
How then is it possible that, with everything collapsing before their own eyes, anyone with even half a working brain can still say “my family is alright”. I am not denying that there are people who say that; what I am underlining is that they are not a full shilling!
For all our boasting about our high literacy rate; Zimbabweans are devoid of common sense. President Robert Mugabe is a ruthless tyrant but he is also one of the most incompetent leaders of our time. Only a really incompetent leader like him would have pursued such policies as his land reforms that turned Zimbabwe from the bread basket of the region to the basket case of a starving nation in the Garden of Eden. Only a nation devoid of common sense will allow itself to be dragged into the gutter by an incompetent village bully for 37 years. 37 years! All Zimbabweans should hang their heads in shame!
@ Once Zanu PF
When people say Zanu PF rigs elections they do not mean just the usual run of the mill of stuffing ballot boxes and vote buying, include these yes but add everything else that will help them win the vote including using violence to stop the opposition talking to the voters, controlling the media so only Zanu PF's voice is heard, etc.
In the recent Bikita West by election Zanu PF was able to herd the villagers like cattle to the dip tank to vote for the party's candidate. Zanu PF won with 78% of the vote. What difference would an opposition coalition have made then?
"Coalition is the only way to go!" Just because it worked in other countries, you think it must work here too! This is the single track minded thinking that got us into this mess and, unless we change, we keep us in the mess forever.
Zanu PF rigs elections and has been doing so since 1980. The solution is to stop contesting elections we know are flawed and force the implementation of the reforms designed to stop vote rigging. We need people like you to start thinking outside the box and not be so myopic you cannot see anything beyond the tip of your nose!
Nurse are going on strike demanding their 2016 bonus pay and improved working conditions. They will be joining doctors and teachers who are already on strike over the same issues.
The pressure to do something to end Zimbabwe's economic meltdown will only go away when the economy is back on track. The present situation in which 90% are out of work and millions are living and dying of abject poverty is socially and politically unsustainable!
When President Mugabe rigged the 2013 national elections, he thought he will rig economic recovery too. Well he failed to do so and that is why his regime is under increasing pressure to deliver the recovery or ship out. Regime change will happen whether Zanu PF want it to happen or not!
@ Linda Masarira
“Most importantly we want a President who can be awake long enough to be able to hear our grievances and address them,” you said.
Good one Linda, what is the point of talking to someone who is fast asleep!
We are in an unenviable position in that President Mugabe has perfected the art of rigging elections so that afterwards he can claim to have the mandate of the people. He has been so cunning that he has the easily corruptible and incompetent opposition in his pocket; he bribed Tsvangirai & co. during the GNU to stop them implementing the reforms. And ever since the tyrant has learned that as long as he allows the opposition to win a few gravy train seats they will contest elections regardless of how flawed and blatant his vote rigging happen to be.
After the blatant vote rigging of the July 2013 elections, Tsvangirai and his MDC friends vowed not to contest in any future elections until reforms are implemented. Not even one reform was implemented since and yet they are all out there campaigning for the 2018 elections already! Their beady eyes are set on winning those few gravy train seats and nothing, not even Zanu PF thugs on a killing spree, will stop these opposition politicians contesting the election. They do not care that millions of ordinary Zimbabweans continue to be denied their basic right to a meaningful free vote and, most important of all, the chance to end the economic chaos gripping the nation.
Linda, since President Mugabe is fast asleep and will never address any of your heartfelt concerns; may I suggest that you address yourself to the ordinary Zimbabweans – they are too hungry to be asleep. The people must know the precarious position we are in, in having a vote rigging tyrant with his forged mandate on the one hand and legitimised by the sell-out opposition politicians who continue to contest in flawed elections. It is us the people who give the sell-out opposition politicians their political legitimacy by blinding following them.
Opposition politicians vowed not to contest any elections until reforms are implemented and elections are free, fair and credible; it is our sacred duty, as citizens, to make sure opposition politicians honour their “No reform, no elections!” resolution!
@ Patriot
So you want to continue contesting in flawed elections just to stop Zanu PF creating "fake opposition parties". How considerate of you! But just to make sure there is no misunderstanding here: whose interests are you serving by saving Zanu PF the trouble and expense of creating the opposition parties?
Tsvangirai and his friends may not be Zanu PF creation in that they happen to be genuinely corrupt and incompetent but that does not change the fact that they are serving Zanu PF's interest in their blundering incompetence. And let it not be said President Mugabe was slow to recognize the critical importance of corrupt and incompetent leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti to his no-regime-change agenda, he was very quick off the mark.
He was quick to entrap MDC leaders with the gravy train lifestyle to make them forget about the reforms; by the time SADC leaders realized what was going on it was too late, they failed to get MDC to implement even one reform.
By continuing to contest in flawed elections Tsvangirai & co. are not serving the public interest at all - it is not in our interest to be denied a free vote and to allow the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF to continue to ruin all our lives. Opposition politicians are contesting the flawed elections for the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait!
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