Most
of Zimbabwe’s 50 or so opposition parties want to contest next year’s elections
come what may. Of course, they would have preferred to contest knowing all the
democratic reforms have been implemented and the elections will be free, fair
and credible. They know that not even one democratic reform was implemented
during the GNU and since the rigged July 2013 elections and still they want to
contest next year’s elections regardless.
In
what must be his most candid admission ever; David Coltart, former MDC-N
Minister and Senator in the GNU, tell us why Zimbabwe’s opposition politicians
contested the July 2013 elections even though it was glaring obvious Zanu PF
was going to rig the vote.
“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 Coltart.
“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.”
So,
in one masterful stroke, Zanu PF has devised a way of retaining all its devilish
vote rigging powers and still get the opposition to contest regardless and thus
giving the whole electoral process some modicum of democratic credibility by
allowing the opposition to win a few seats. Zanu PF indeed having its cake and
keeping it too!
It is
Zimbabwe’s opposition politicians who have had a tough call here; they know
with no reforms in place the elections will never be free and fair, they will
only be contesting to win the bread crumbs. They challenge has been to fool the
electorate into believing they were not contesting for the breadcrumbs; this was
an easy task in 2013 when few Zimbabweans knew that no reforms were implemented
but in proving to be an impossible task for 2018 elections.
Whilst
not even one opposition politician would dispute that not even one democratic
reform has been implemented and thus the elections are not going to be free and
fair. The opposition camp’s tactic has been fight the Zanu PF regime head-on
over trivial matters like who (UNPD or Zanu PF government) buys the new
Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits.
“We
expected these short notices from ZEC, therefore technical experts were ready. We
now have to fight to make sure they are accredited by the 19 th April 2017 and
can attend. Let’s keep the fight going, victory is certain as long as we keep
fighting,” NERA said in a statement.
What
victory? Even if UNPD had been total control of every aspect of procuring and
paying for the BVR kits they would have handed the kits to ZEC. ZEC has failed
to deliver free and fair elections in the past because it, like all the other
State Institutions, is for all intent and purpose a Zanu PF department there to
deliver the party’s most cherish goal of no-regime-change.
Only
opposition politicians, clutching at straws, will believe that an unreformed
ZEC would deliver free, fair and credible elections just because they have BVR
kits sourced and paid for by UNPD!
It is
for the people of Zimbabwe to stand firm and resolute in our demand for all
democratic reforms to be implemented BEFORE next year’s elections because there
is nothing to be gained by contesting flawed elections. The nation was fooled
into contesting the 2013 elections with no reforms and all that has happened is
Zanu PF retained in power and has dragged us deeper and deeper into the
hell-on-earth the nation finds itself in. We will be very foolish to alone
corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians fool us into contesting yet
another flawed election process!
2 comments:
A grand coalition of Mujuru and Tsvangirai is a coalition between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. There is no question that both are corrupt and incompetent, their respective track record speaks volumes; they will never add up to much! NEVER EVER!
Zimbabwe is in a serious political and economic mess following decades of having corrupt, incompetent and even murderous tyrants in power. We are not going to get out of the mess by election corrupt and incompetent individuals into power and it is unforgivable act of folly to recycle individuals we already know are corrupt and incompetent.
What the country need at this point in our history is to implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF autocracy that has stifled all meaning debate and democratic competition - the essential political environment for quality leaders to emerge and thrive. As long as the dictatorship remains then we will always the political stage crowded with the political thugs and the nation's scum because the mudded political water favour thugs and scum to rise to the top!
Both Mujuru and Tsvangirai will never deliver any democratic reforms even if they did get back into power because they both know they will never stand the serious grilling of a free press, similar to the one Mujuru got recently on BBC HardTalk, much less win free and fair elections.
I salute all those in Vigil who have been demonstrating against Zanu PF misrule for over decade now; many of us would have lost interest after a few months at most! Zimbabwe would not be in this mess still if only we could get a few more such focused devotees.
It is ironic that with the country sinking even deeper into despair, what could be worse than 90% unemployment rate, millions living in abject poverty, etc. the number of people seeking to end the madness is falling through the floor instead of soaring through the roof. Instead of the worsen economic hardships forcing people to demand change many are opting for the easy route of surrendering in helplessness and despair. The more they have despaired the deeper they have sunk!
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