A
General who is indifferent to the suffering and death of those under his
command and even sees glory is the bloody the business and is always demanding
more soldiers to send to the frontline is a curse to the cause, no matter how
just and noble it is otherwise! Zimbabwe’s politicians have become the cursed
generals in our struggled for freedom, justice and human dignity. In his recent
article, Are Zimbabweans worth dying for, Moses Chamboko showed us why he too
has joined the ranks of some of these indifferent and cursed politicians.
Chamboko
started his article by giving the names of the opposition party members and
human rights activists who have been harassed, beaten and killed since 1999
when MDC was formed because they dared challenge the Zanu PF regime to demand
freedom and justice. He then goes on to lament how the nation has neglected
these heroes and heroines.
“I
have been asking myself, “How many Zimbabweans have bothered to take a packet
of rice, salt, sugar or maize meal to Itai’s family just as a show of
solidarity? Who has made an effort to find out if Tichaona Chiminya or Talent
Mabika left behind any dependants who are desperate for school fees? When Linda
Masarira was incarcerated for months, how many Zimbabweans bothered to check on
her children’s welfare?” I am sure you also have your own questions,” wrote
Chamboko.
To
start with it is wrong to give the impression that Zimbabwean’s struggle for
freedom and justice started in 1999; MDC was just one of the parties to emerge
out of the post-independence struggle to end the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF
rule just as Zanu PF itself was one of the parties to emerge out of the
pre-independence struggle to end white colonial exploitation and oppression.
Many
people sacrificed life and limp and many limps and lives were lost in each period
along the way and every limp or life lost was acutely felt.
The
thrust of Chamboko’s article was to rally more people to sacrifice life and limp
in the struggle for freedom and liberty and for the rest of the community to
support these heroes and heroines. This is what all the nation’s sick politicians
have all been asking of us right across the political divide and the historic period
including Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe.
The
measured and sober response would be to ask why all the past sacrifices of treasure,
limp and life have all failed to deliver the desired result of freedom, justice
and human rights? Surely, we need to address that first before we again ask for
more material and human sacrifice.
After
all freedom, justice, etc. are deliverable things; other nations have gone
through the same stages as us and have enjoyed freedom and human rights after
they attained their independence. Why is our struggle for freedom and human
dignity a never-ending lamentation?
The
answer to all these questions is simple: we have been cursed with a whole army
of corruption and incompetence politicians. The sacrifice to end white colonial
oppression delivered black majority rule in 1980 but failed to deliver freedom
and liberty for all because the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Robert
Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs hijacked the struggle to serve their own selfish
purpose.
The
sacrifices for democratic change paid-off in 2008 with the electing of Morgan
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. They failed to deliver even one democratic
reforms in the five years in the GNU because Mugabe bribed them with the gravy
train lifestyle and a $4 million mansion for the MDC leader. The MDC obliged by
kicking the reforms into the tall grass.
ZUNDE,
Moses Chamboko is its Secretary General, has been scathing in its criticism of
Mugabe and Zanu PF’s corrupt and tyrannical rule but has said nothing critical
of MDC for being incompetent and selling out during the GNU and in compounding
the betrayal by contesting in the July 2013 when the logical thing to do was to
boycott.
“The
worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs
couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” explained Senator David
Coltart in his recent book.
“The
electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to
withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the
distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that
the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process
credibility.”
If
the need to boycott the 2013 elections was “obvious”, the need to boycott the
2018 elections is even more glaringly obvious. If anyone had doubted Zanu PF’s ability
to rig the 2013 elections the blatant vote rigging that year has settled the
doubt! Not even one reform was implemented since the July 2013 elections and Zanu
PF’s war-chest to bankroll is vote rigging schemes is even bigger than for the
2013 elections. There is no reason to believe Zanu PF will not rig the 2018
just as readily and easily as it rigged the 2013 elections.
The
reason why ZUNDE has never criticized Tsvangirai & co. becomes
self-evident. How can accuse MDC of selling-out by contesting the 2013
elections when Chamboko & co. are themselves planning to contest the 2018
elections. ZUNDE is one of the opposition parties determined to contest the
2018 come what may!
“Let
us bombard our kith and kin with the message to register to vote. Let us
educate our people that what happens in the polling booth is between them and
God. Let us discourage them from being bought by a few pieces of silver, a
calabash of beer, a small packet of Chinese rice or second hand clothes
confiscated from street vendors. Let us each commit more than just words
towards the democratic cause. Let us be practical!” Concluded Chamboko, driving
home ZUNDE’s voter registration clarion call.
Zanu
PF has been winning elections because it rigs the vote. ZUNDE and the rest of
the mediocre opposition camp are all conveniently ignoring this simple fact
because they do not even have the common sense to implement the reforms, even when
they had the golden opportunity to do so. They are focusing on building a
coalition and/or voter registration. Tsvangirai was reminded of the importance of
ending Zanu PF violence following his recent tour of rural areas.
“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, Tsvangirai’s
spokesman.
“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.”
It is
bad enough that politicians like Chamboko are the ones perpetuating the Zanu PF
tyranny by contesting the flawed elections putting the safety and even human
lives at risk for their own selfish gain. It is totally unacceptable that these
politicians should add insult to injury by insinuating that the people, the victims
of Zanu PF thuggery and opposition selling out, are selling-out.
What
does Mr Chamboko want a villager who being denied food aid or worse if he/she
supports the opposition, to do? Risk all to support the sell-outs opposition,
to what end and purpose?
Mugabe
knows that as long as he keeps throwing a few scraps at the opposition he will
never have to worry about the opposition boycott elections to press the need
for free and fair elections.
In
Zimbabwe, we have been fighting a losing battle for freedom, human rights
including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life
itself not because we have been betrayed by our politicians at every turn.
We
had heroes like Chief Rekai Tangwena of the olden days to the modern day Itai
Dzamara plus all the unsung heroes who have all made their contribution, no matter
how small. Even in the face of more sell-out politicians there still many
people who will continue to sacrifice all for the good of the nation. It is not
the lack of heroes that is holding us back but the lack of people with the
common sense to stop the “smart Alec” politicians betraying the nation!
It is
not only those who have dared to demand the basic freedoms and human rights who
are dying; for every Itai Dzamara the regime has murdered, thousands die each
year unnecessarily of hunger or disease brought on by the decades of Zanu PF
misrule. All these people, directly or indirectly, are making the ultimate contribution
for a free and democratic Zimbabwe.
So,
the question here is not: Are Zimbabweans worth dying for? The question, you
should ask yourself, Mr Chamboko, is: How many innocent Zimbabweans will Zanu
PF have to beat, rape and murder in political violence or otherwise to finally
convince you and your ZUNDE colleagues of the folly of contesting flawed
elections in which beating, rape, etc. are the norm?
“Let
us discourage them from being bought by a few pieces of silver, a calabash of
beer!” The chutzpah of Zimbabwe’s treasonous politicians is breath-taking!
14 comments:
You will never guess who said this:
"Election fever has caught on. There is a tangible expectation in the air for 2018 elections and it appears reforms have all been but forgotten. Rush to register! Says the endless banners.
"Register with who and for what is my question.
"If we think numbers will overwhelm Zanu-PF while they are in control of the machinery we must be both stupid and naive. The only election that can be fair is one that is independently administered or one where we the people are involved. ZEC will never deliver a zanupf defeat.
"I will say it again and again. Zanu-PF are poised to win their elections supported by the army the police the cio and the ZEC.
"When they win we shall all be in mourning once more and those encouraging a rush to unreformed elections will keep quiet or go into hiding.
"Mark my words!"
It was Vince Musewe! Yes, it was. I had to read it a few times but there it is! The penny has finally dropped with Musewe one can only hope that Moses Chamboko too will have his Damascene moment!
@ Dzokororo
Well if you happen to be the unlucky woman "akarambwa panhaka" you too would talk of little else!
We are talking about a country in serious economic trouble, 90% of the population out of work, with 70% classified as poor and 20% of them as living in abject poverty and where even the most basic services have all but collapsed. If you are one of those affected directly or indirectly then you will want the problem addressed a.s.a.p. and talk of nothing else!
MDC, Tsvangira, GNU and democratic reforms are key components to the problem and or solution to our economic problem. To suggest that one should talk about Zimbabwe's economic mess but say nothing about the key components is as nonsensical as saying you want sadza but you do not want cook with meal or water! If you can do it then you write the masterpiece yourself and stop asking others to do it!
@ Chief Musikavanhu
Well if you think there is another way of achieving meaningful democratic without implementing the reforms then why have you not said so all these years? Go on, spit it out!
If SADC leaders, Wilbert, Patrick, myself or anyone of the thousands of others who have advocated the implementing of the reforms ever thought they "will fall from heaven" then we why would we have wasted time egging MDC to implement them during the GNU?
@ Sarah
Zimbabwe is a serious economic and political mess, people are dying that is how serious and urgent the matter is. If you think there is another way out of this mess other than implementing the reforms then tell us for Pete's sake!
If you are not going to suggest a solution then you should shut up. You are clearly one of the few who is benefiting from the status quo and thus has an invested interest in stopping all meaningful reforms.
There are millions of other Zimbabweans who want this corrupt and tyrannical system to end and they will have their wish. Reforms will be implemented followed by regime change, the tide in coming in and there is nothing you can do to stop the change. Nothing!
Minister Chinamasa has agreed to mobilise $180 million to pay defence and health sector worker their 2016 bonus in April. Teachers will be paid in June and the rest of the civil servants will be paid in August.
This is crisis management at its worst! The big worry here is there is no reason to expect things to get better but the opposite, things are set to get even worse!
@ Moses
Why is it that the opposition politicians down play or else completely ignore the problem of vote rigging towards elections but only admit it after the elections. Tsvangirai has been touring the country and his supporters have talked about fear as "the demon that must be exorcised" and yet people like Moses Chamboko have the nerve to accusing villagers who are being herded off by Zanu PF thugs to vote of selling their vote for "calabash of beer"!
If people like Chamboko will not even acknowledge the ordinary people's big concerns why should the ordinary people bother listening to such conceited. All Chamboko wants is for the common people risk all to vote for him and he does care two pennies what the heavy price the ordinary people pay for so he can have the privilege of contesting the flawed elections!
@ Kunta Kinte
To start with we need to be clear as to why we are taking part in elections we know are flawed and will be rigged. Are we taking part to;
a) “Expose the violence and rampant misappropriation of public funds”, as you say or
b) Because the opposition can still win the elections if we all “register to vote”, as Moses is saying regardless of all the Zanu PF vote rigging shenanigans
If it is a) then we must be pretty dumb because after 37 years of Zanu PF rigging elections we should surely have amassed all the evidence we need to know. Moses’ argument is equally dumb because we should know by now that there is no winning an election in which Zanu PF is granted so much freedom to corrupt the vote that it can instruct ZEC to recount the vote and overturn a 73% to a 47% after six weeks of recounting, for example!
What is clear here is that having amassed the evidence of vote rigging we are at a loss as what to do with the evidence. We do not have the common sense to see the futility of contesting an election process we know we are being cheated. Instead of doing the obvious thing of stop contesting we foolishly continue to contest, hoping against hope for the off chance of winning.
In our foolishness, we are failing to accept the fundamental truth that by participating in the flawed elections we are giving the process a measure of democratic legitimacy. Just as in law it is assumed that we all know the law; in elections it is assumed all the voters are not fools and would therefore not time and time again take part in elections they know are going to be rigged. Only someone insane will do something like that! For anyone to then claim after the elections that Zanu PF rigged the elections is tantamount to the individual claiming they are insane, no one would believe them.
We want free and fair elections and MDC will never deliver that by concentrating on one aspect of the reforms and ignoring the rest! If MDC-T and the NERA friends are already overloaded with the BVS issue to handle anything else, then they are really of no use to the nation because it will take a lot more than who bought the kit to delivery free and fair elections.
No one will never believe this Zanu PF's claims that the country has no money, not when they can see the party splashing millions on new vehicles for the party and birthday parties. Last year, President Mugabe himself has admitted that $15 billions of diamond revenue was "swindled"; no one was ever arrested, not even a dollar was ever recovered and, worse still, it is clear the "swindling" is still taking place. It is the diamond money that is being used to bankroll the party's and the ruling elite's extravagant and wasteful lifestyles!
Whilst those government activities that will benefit the nation at large are being starved of cash and other resources, we know the cash and resources are being creamed off to finance the ruling elite and to bankroll their sadistic plan to retain absolute political power at all cost.
Zanu PF has perfected the art of rigging elections but the one thing the regime has failed to do is rig economic recovery; all this mismanagement, wholesale looting and lawlessness have had the opposite effect of dragging the nation deeper and deeper into the economic hell. In the end, it is the economic mess the regime has created that will prove its own undoing.
Unemployment has soared to 95%, millions now live in total abject poverty, etc.; this is socially and politically unsustainable. Paying the bonus which should have been paid in December in August; this is crisis management at its worst! This cannot go one for much longer!
The question of whether Zanu PF rigs elections or not has been settled; after 37 years of terrorizing the people and blatantly rigging the elections, we all know what is happening here.
People like Moses Chamboko are ignoring the established historic facts of Zanu PF routinely rigging elections because they have the eyes set on getting a seat of the political gravy train. They are not listening to reason because they have stuffed their ears with cotton wool. And yet as soon as they realise they have failed to secure the coveted gravy train seat they are the ones to morn endlessly about how Zanu PF rigged the elections.
We know what we want; free, fair and credible elections. We have been denied this basic right without which we will never ever get out of the political and economic mess Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs have landed us into.
Our task is to focus on demanding democratic reforms and make sure they are implemented. We must not allow ourselves to be misled by those with cotton wool in the ears and whose vision is blurred by greed.
@ Joji
People like Dzamara and Talent Chiminya were ordinary people and it is not the ordinary people who have let those heroes down; it is the politicians. It is Morgan Tsvangirai who failed to deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for even when they had the golden opportunity to do so. It is the corrupt and murderous tyrant Mugabe and his thugs who have not only betrayed the nation's quest for freedom and liberty in 1980 but are the ones shedding the innocent blood of these new post-independence martyrs.
It is rich that an aspiring politician like Chamboko should be calling for more people to put their livelihood, personal security and even their very lives on the line but would not even acknowledge the rottenness of our political system. Of course, he is not interested in changing the rotten system; he and his friends are here to perpetuate it!
If we are serious about wanting free, fair and credible elections then we must not just confront Mugabe and Zanu PF thugs on this but also those opposition politicians who pay lip service to fighting for change and yet do nothing even when they have the chance to implement the changes. We must be smart enough to know that there are opposition politicians calling for free and fair elections by day but, like the Biblical character Nicodemus, talk of something else with Mugabe at night!
@don’tlietous
Mugabe has murdered over 30 000 Zimbabweans in his drive to establish and retain one-party dictatorship in the last 37 years. Are you saying all these people were cowards? If they were not all cowards then are you saying all their children, family and friends they left behind are not worth dying for?
The reason why most people find it hard to stand up and fight for freedom, liberty and all the ideals of the revolution is that all past sacrifices brought nothing! Our politicians have always hijacked the revolution for their own selfish ends. If you are going to blame anyone for the lack of commitment for freedom, democracy and all the other revolutionary ideals, then blame the politicians and not povo!
@ Saxton
"It's (it being freedom, free and fair elections, etc.) not worth fighting for!" you said.
Mugabe will be very please to hear you say that because that is the stuff that tyrants thrive on!
It was Mugabe who betrayed us all by betraying the ideals of the liberation war for his own selfish gain. When the country attained her independence in 1980, it was the duty and responsibility of everyone of us to elect good and competent leaders to take the country forward. We clearly failed in our duty because we elected an incompetent, corrupt and murderous tyrant. For the last 37 years we have been stuck with the tyrant with disastrous consequences. Instead of the tragic misery and deaths Mugabe has brought to us all stiffening our resolve and determination to end the nightmare we throw in the towel in despair.
Mugabe will be very pleased to hear Zimbabweans are not going to do anything to stop him rigging next year's elections and extend his corrupt and tyrannical rule another five years!
You can wish for the return of Ian Smith all you want but you are wasting your time because white colonial rule is not coming back. We are an independent nation and it is our duty to make the new political dispensation work. It is our duty to demand the implementation of the democratic reforms so we can finally have the opportunity to elect competent leaders!
Tsvangirai is expected to name MDC-T’s coalition partner this Thursday.
Tsvangirai has already proven beyond all doubt that he is corrupt and incompetent. How can such a useless individual be considered suitable for public office much less the highest office in the land!
As long as we continue to recycle corrupt and incompetent people like Tsvangirai, even more the corrupt and frail murderous tyrant Mugabe then the world will never believe we are ready for good governance. The world is tired of helping nations who are not helping themselves!
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