“MDC-T
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai last week made a surprise declaration that the
biometric voter registration (BVR) process would not be manipulated,” wrote Nqaba
Matshazi in Bulawayo 24.
“Tsvangirai
has literally given hostage to fortune on this one.
“We have been here before and my worry is we do not seem to be learning from history and the same mistakes are being repeated.”
“We have been here before and my worry is we do not seem to be learning from history and the same mistakes are being repeated.”
Nqaba,
you are spot-on on all three points. Yes, MDC were very foolish to contest the
2013 elections with no reforms to stop the vote rigging. The party used the plausible
excuse then that new 2013 constitution would deliver free and fair elections
even though not even one meaningful reforms was. The party is really scrapping
the bottom of the barrel to find an excuse why it should contest next year’s
elections, given it has again failed to get even one reform implemented.
Claiming
that the BVR system will in any way stop Zanu PF rigging the elections is a lie
and a very stupid one too. But what you have to understand Nqaba, is that
Tsvangirai is desperate for an excuse to contest next year’s elections and
desperate man do desperate things!
SADC
leaders warned Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to contest the 2013 elections
until the democratic reforms designed to stop the Zanu PF rigging vote in place.
MDC ignored the warning. Even when the MDC leaders were aware of Zanu PF
election shenanigans they still refused to withdraw from the rat race for the selfish
reason of greed, as David Coltart readily admitted in his book.
“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,” wrote 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.”
In
the wake of the rigged July 2013 elections, Tsvangirai & co. vowed they
would never again contest another election until the reforms are implemented.
They have long since changed their minds for the same reason the contested the
flawed 2013 elections – greed for the few gravy train seats Zanu PF will give
away to those will give the flawed process credibility by contesting. Having
failed to get Zanu PF to implement even one token reform, the opposition have
had to an excuse(s) they can to justify why they are again contesting flawed
elections.
Tsvangirai
had hope to announce the grand opposition coalition as the game-changer
guaranteed to dislodge Zanu PF (no one explained how a single coalition
candidate would have defeated Mugabe’s 62% vote in 2013 but that is another
matter). With less than a year before the next elections and the coalition is
still as elusive as the mirage sea! It is little wonder Tsvangirai is clatching
at whatever he can.
Of
all the stupid excuses for contesting next year’s elections with no reforms in
place to claim that the new BVR system will stop Zanu PF rigging takes the
biscuit. How is the BVR system going to stop Zanu PF thugs and traditional
leaders (Zanu PF has just bought all the Chiefs new cars just to be certain of
their continued partisan support) frog marching villagers to Zanu PF rallies,
one of the most outrageous practices, for example?
The
one thing Mugabe has learnt from the 2008 elections in which he rigged the vote
but lost political legitimacy, is that he can still rig the elections but will never
have to worry about losing legitimacy as long as the opposition contest the
flawed elections. All he has to do is allow them to win a few seats to entice
them to contest.
It is
not so much that Tsvangirai and the rest in the opposition camp have failed to
learn from the past; after 37 years of rigged elections even the half-wits among
them would have finally acknowledged the futility of contesting an election one
is certain will rigged. By throwing these give away gravy train seats; Mugabe
knew the opposition will swallow the bait, hook and sinker.
Even
the few opposition leaders like David Coltart one would have considered “sober”
could not resist the gravy train bait. Although Coltart realised that
boycotting the 2013 election was the “obvious and logical” thing to do; he, nonetheless,
joined the MDC wildebeest held and contested the elections.
It is
for the people of Zimbabwe themselves to learn the lesson from history. It is
for them to learn their folly of believing MDC leaders’ lie that the 2013
election would be free, fair and credible even thou not even one democratic
reform was in place. The people paid dearly for that folly; not only was Zanu
PF able to rig the vote and return into power to torment them for another five
years but worst of all the nation forfeited the golden opportunity to force the
implementation of the democratic reforms. The question is; have the people
learned and will not repeat the folly of 2013?
Whilst
the people can be forgive for believing that the new 2013 constitution was
going to stop Zanu PF rigging the election that year; only a fool would be
taken with this lie that the BVR system will stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018
elections! If the people believe the lie then they will once again pay dearly
for their foolishness.
3 comments:
@ CZ
“COMRADES, I hope you have noticed how some people are pre-disposed to see scandals where none exist. The reaction to some recent appointments, all above board, is a case in point. We have never made a nepotistic appointment. Not one. I dare anyone to gainsay us,” you said.
“All this talk from the nakedly envious and their uneducated, unqualified hangers-on.”
I can believe the bit about Bona being over qualified!
After all the years and treasure spent on Bona's education in the Far East, she must have enough Diplomas, Degrees, PhDs etc. to cover the walls of her new spacious office! No one would dare accuse you sir of nepotism, after all the nation was only spending as much on Bona per year as was been spend on all the UZ students in the same period. We are very grateful for your generosity sir, after all her contribution to the nation is worth a great deal more to the nation than all the UZ students combined!
Tsvangirai had hoped that by now he would have the grand coalition signed and sealed; it was his best excuse for contesting next year's elections with not even one reform in place. Sadly, for Tsvangirai the grand coalition is proving to be as elusive as the mirage sea in the Sahara Dessert!
Instead of signing a coalition deal he is even fighting a rear-guard war with his VP Khupe reportedly hobnobbing with Joice Mujuru!
It is now less than 12 months to the next elections time has definitely ran out to talk about any reforms being implemented now. NERA is holding a “mother of all rallies” in Bulawayo this weekend but the only announcement to be made is that the grouping will now be disbanded. NERA failed to get even one reform implemented since its formation and with Tsvangirai now accepting BVR will stop Zanu PF rigging the vote there is really like point in having NERA. Only a fool will still believe in NERA forcing through any reforms and/or the reforms changing anything on the ground!
Tsvangirai need an excuse to contest next year’s elections and claiming that BVR would stop vote rigging is an outrageous lie but that is all he has. Now he and the opposition have a real challenge selling that nonsense!
When Tsvangirai made the outrageous claim during his rally in Gweru, it was not greeted with the usual cheering, whistling and applause. There was silence, even the MDC wildebeest herd was not sold on that one!
The trouble with some people is they spend most of their time fast asleep like a sloth and only once in a while open their eyes and talk out of turn. Shingi Munyeza has clearly never heard of something called vote rigging and hence the reason he talks nonsense!
“The urban citizen is the most vocal when things go wrong yet voter turnout is below 30% compared to rural voter turnout of over 70% - ensure you vote when the day comes,” wrote Munyeza.
“There is never going to be a level playing field, so plan to participate in an uneven electoral system.”
Zanu PF saw to it that voter turnout in urban centres was low by making it near impossible for urban voters to register to vote and then by deliberately posting the person details of those who had register to other constituencies other than the one expected even more people were denied the vote. Nearly one million voters in 2013 were denied the vote because their name was not in the constituency voters roll.
Zanu PF has taken vote rigging to new heights the 2008 to 2013 GNU was all about implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. SADC leaders advised MDC leaders that they should not contest the 2013 elections until the reforms have been implemented.
“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Violet Gonda in a recent interview.
“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws, and after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”
Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.”
After 37 years of rig elections surely it makes a lot of sense to implement the democratic reform and stop this madness!
Is it an wonder Zimbabwe has the singular honour of being the poorest in Africa, according to a recent AfrAsia Bank report. We certain have some of the most mentally challenged people on earth!
“There is never going to be a level playing field, so plan to participate in an uneven electoral system!” Lost for words!
All creature wise and wonderful, great and small; You made them all Lord! But did You have to make so, so many idiots and settle them in one country, Zimbabwe! I real feel that we have more than our fair share of people like, Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, Shingi Munyeza, etc.
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