Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson Dumisani Nkomo said the greatest fear
was that unless key reforms are delivered, the 2018 elections will be a replica
of the 2013 disputed election.
"We fear that unless these reforms are implemented, the elections will be a mere farce with the script and actor being the same as the 2013 one whose plot will be distinctly familiar and the outcomes being a de javous moment," said Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson Dumisani Nkomo.
"We fear that unless these reforms are implemented, the elections will be a mere farce with the script and actor being the same as the 2013 one whose plot will be distinctly familiar and the outcomes being a de javous moment," said Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson Dumisani Nkomo.
We
should be grateful for the little mercy that the little men and women in CiZC
have even got as far as recognising the futility of contesting another election
without reforms. They did not do so last time; they cheered and applauded
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, like most of the country’s civic society, all
the way to the 2013 elections convinced the MDC would win.
Sadly,
CiZC’s awakening is not ready for action, fight or flight, one would expect but
more the blink, blink awakening of a sloth after someone has just fired a
shotgun right into it face.
This
clearly shows that CiZC members still have no clue what the democratic reforms
agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) by Zanu PF, the two MDC
factions and SA’s President Thambo Mbeki on behave of SADC were about. The
reforms were to sever the undemocratic controls Zanu PF has over state
institutions like ZEC, Police, Judiciary, Public Media, etc. which have made it
impossible for these institutions to fulfil their respective duty of delivering
free, fair and credible elections, keeping law and order, etc.
It
is very sad that CiZC should, even now with the benefit of hindsight, continue
to put any faith in the BVR process as, on its own, it could ever make even one
bit of difference to our quest for free and faith elections.
"BVR
(Biometric Voter Registration) should be speeded up and the process should be
spread out over a year to give people a chance to understand the process and to
check whether the system works," continued Nkomo.
Nkomo
said space must be opened for civil society organisations and Zec to carry out
civic education to ensure that people have all the necessary information to
participate in elections.
As
long as nothing is done to reform ZEC and it continues to function as if it is nothing
more than just another department in Zanu PF committed to deliver the party’s
principle objective of no regime change then ZEC will continue to rig the vote to
the benefit of the party. Anyone who thinks that giving ZEC the new BVR
equipment will stop ZEC rig the elections is being naïve.
SADC
leaders have spelt out what we need to do – implement the democratic reforms –
if we want free, fair and credible elections. At the Maputo June 2013 SADC
summit the regional leaders warned Zimbabwe’s opposition not to contest the
elections with no reforms in place. Tsvangirai & co. would not listen. We
know why the opposition did not listen.
“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,” admitted Senator
Coltart in his 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.”
The
best SADC can do for Zimbabwe is repeat the same warning at the upcoming August
2017 summit in SA. As things stand, it is clear that Zimbabwe’s opposition is
determined to contest the elections regardless the certainty that Zanu PF will
rig the vote for the same reason they contested the 2013 elections – greed.
If
we are ever going to force through our demands for the implementation of
democratic reforms and have free and fair elections then it is not so much Zanu
PF we must pressure here but the corrupt and incompetent opposition. It was the
opposition’s failure to implement the reforms during the GNU that allowed Zanu
PF to stage a comeback after the GNU. And it is the participation in flawed
elections that is giving rigged elections the modicum of acceptance.
The
greatest fear is not so much that Zanu PF will rig the 2018 election as it did
the 2013 elections for that is a certainty as long as the opposition agree to
contest the elections knowing the process will be rigged. The greatest fear
here is therefore that the nation will be conned into believing the elections
will not be rigged because the opposition have agreed to for a grand coalition,
voter education on BVR was allowed or some such trivial matter.
7 comments:
We need to implement the democratic reforms and stop messing around.
"It cannot be overemphasised here though that the military needs to stay away from civilian affairs," said Alex Magaisa, the former advisor to former Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai and leader of the MDC.
"It is thus, important for Sadc to keep a watchful eye over Zimbabwe, just in case there are attempts to subvert the constitutional process, in the event of a succession battle.”
There is nothing SADC can do to stop Zanu PF appointing party loyalists in ZEC and all the other key institutions like Police, Army, etc. SADC told MDC what they needed to do and warned them not to contest the last elections with no reforms. If MDC decide to contest 2018 election with not even one reform in place then the country must suffer the consequences. There is nothing SADC can do about it!
Magaisa is just an empty drum given to making a lot noise and giving wrong advice!
An MDC supporter was stabbed in what is believed was a factional fighting amongst Zanu PF members contesting the party’s primary to select Chiwundura by-election candidate. 21 members contested. No one has been arrested for the stabbing.
Four candidate successfully filed their papers in the Chiwundura by-election: Ndlovu of Zanu PF, Takudzwa Guzete of NCA, Brighton Mudzviti of FreeZim Congresss and Webster Zulu of PDZ.
So why is NPP and MDC-T not contesting in the by-election? Could it be that the two parties know Zanu PF only give away the freebees during national elections and not by-elections?
Unless the reforms are implemented, Zanu PF will win the next elections just as they won the 2013 elections with or without opposition unity. MDC would have won the 2013 elections if Zanu PF had not rigged the vote and therefore all this talk of forming a grand coalition is just a waste of time because it is not addressing the real problem of vote rigging!
Yes, it is very sad that most of our civic organization missed the importance of the reforms during the GNU and they are still at sixes and sevens on the issue even to this day! The donors who keep funding these hare-brain schemes as vote education are not doing us any favours either, the only encourage these do-nothing civic organizations!
Voter education! What voter education would help those villagers who are frog marched to attend rallies, to vote for Zanu PF, etc.? If these villagers were to hear some of this stupid talk they will tell people like Nkomo a piece of their minds!
@ Dudzai
The people told Tsvangirai last year that their greatest fear was Zanu PF intimidation how will a coalition stop villagers being frog marched to attend Zanu PF rallies and then to vote for the party? MDC ignored the advice to implement the reforms during the GNU and they are doing so again. The coalition building is just a red herring and the nation must be smart enough not to fall for that one again!
@ Albert Mugabe
Street protests or worse are a last resort when everything else has failed. SADC advised us to implement the reforms and we have not implemented even one reform yet! Just because Tsvangirai and MDC have no clue how to implement the reforms does not mean everyone else does not know.
There two steps we need to take to get the reforms implemented:
a) We must get the people themselves to understand what the reforms are and why they are important will be as clear as day to anyone who understand what they are.
b) The people must then demand the implementation of the reforms BEFORE elections are held. Again, if the people understanding what the reforms are they will understand the futility of holding these meaningless elections.
So, why has it been a bridge too far for many Zimbabweans to understand what the reforms are, you may well ask? You would think that after 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule everyone would see the blatant corruption and the brutal oppression and, common sense, would dictate they would want the corruption and tyranny to end. The reforms are about changing the system to stop the corruption and the oppression. To stop the culture of political violence you want the Police to arrest all those who are guilty of political violence regardless of their political affiliation, that is not rocket science.
And yet, democratic reforms might well be brain surgery to most of our people but not because the subject matter is complex but because they are too lazy to figure it out.
People say they want democratic change, they have been saying this since 1999, and yet have never bothered to ask what those democratic changes are. Leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai have jump on the bandwagon and offered to lead the Movement for Democratic Change, the political party founded on the promise to deliver democratic change. He too has no clue, even to this day, what the democratic changes are but has got away with his ignorance because the people he is leading do not know either.
If we want a democratic Zimbabwe in which everyone enjoys their basic freedoms and human rights and the nation’s wealth and prosperity is shared for the good of all and not just a few ruling elect then we, no else, must dismantle the dictatorship and build and maintain the democracy. It is that simple, there is no catch 22 here.
People get the government they deserve; after 37 years of independence we cannot deny we deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its coterie of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties now numbering 50 plus who follow and copy Zanu PF’s every move like the planet Satan and its many moons and rings of debris.
@ Royalist
You are right on every point except one - the people of Zimbabwe have not been voting for President Mugabe and Zanu PF; he has been rigging elections and by participating the opposition have been allowing him the perfect smoke screen to rig the elections and get away scot-free.
The most important task for us all is to stop the opposition contesting next year's elections and deny Zanu PF the smoke-screen cover to rig the vote! We need to think outside the box!
@ Mseyamwa
If CiZS accept that there is no point in contesting the next elections without the necessary democratic reforms then they should not be talking of BVR, voter education, etc. The reforms are about reforming ZEC, Police and other State Institution so that they are freed of the present Zanu PF controls stopping them delivering free and fair elections. BVR, voter educations are not going to stop the vote rigging even if these are done to perfection. They are being thrown here to fool the naive and gullible into believing they will stop the vote rigging and are a substitute for the reforms.
All those participating in BVR, vote education, etc. have per se accepted holding the elections without reforms. In this case if CiZS take part in BVR, voter education, etc. they will have effectively endorsed the holding of next year's elections with no reforms in place and it does not matter what they say, it is what they are doing that matters.
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