SADC ruled 2008 election "free and fair", says Sikhumbuzo Moyo - that is a lie.

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, I too applaud Dr Dabengwa for calling for next year’s elections to be postponed but, alike you, I do not have my head buried in the sand.

“In his article published on the 21st of July 2017, the honourable President of ZAPU his Excellency Dr Dumiso Dabengwa suggested that 2018 elections needs to be postponed because ZEC is using 2013 system and it is always in favour of Zanu. "This is true, for example the recent Chiwundura by election was not free and fair because it was in favour of ZANU”, you write.

“As a ZAPU cadre I would like to applaud Dabengwa for telling the truth as it is.”

True but has it really taken Dr Dabengwa all these years to realise that Zanu PF has been rigging elections. Least you forget, he was Minister of Home Affairs for a number of years and the Police under him continued to turn a blind eye to Zanu PF inspired political violence. He never said a word none lift a finger!

“SADC also plays a pivotal role by not coming clear when it comes to Zimbabwe's elections. The SADC elections observers always report untrue stories that " Elections are free and fair whilst people are being killed and intimidated during elections period," you continued.

“2008 and 2013 elections were Nikuved SADC did not help. There is no doubt when we say "SADC is similar to a toothless dog which just barks and never bites".

SADC did NOT say the 2008 elections were free and fair. Indeed, SADC would not recognise Mugabe as the legitimately elected leader forcing the tyrant to sign the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in which he was to share power with MDC, accept the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms to ensure future elections were free and fair and accept SADC supervision.

There is no doubt that the GPA was engineered to give Mugabe a soft landing and individuals like former SA President Thabo Mbeki has taken a lot fleck for that. Rightly so too. Still it is an irrefutable fact that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC could and should have refused to sign on to the GPA. Why did they?

But most significant of all, the GPA would have delivered free, fair and credible elections in July 2013 if MDC leaders had implemented the reforms. After five years in the GNU, they failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!

SADC leaders did their best to remind Tsvangirai & co. to implement the reforms but they were ignored. The regional leaders, literally, begged MDC leaders not to contest the July 2013 elections with no reforms in place, which would have saved the day by forcing the implementation of the reforms, but again MDC leaders ignored the warning.

Dr Dabengwa is calling for the postponement of the 2018 elections because Zanu PF will rig the vote, great. But did he not know that Zanu PF would rig the July 2013 elections, why did he and Zapu contest these elections against the advice of SADC?

It was us, Zimbabweans and not SADC, who gave the 2013 flawed elections the stamp of approval by participating in the elections. We knew the elections would be rigged, we were warned they will be rigged and we still proceeded because “no Zanu PF vote rigging shenanigans would overwhelm MDC’s mass support”, as Tsvangirai later admitted. Of course, that was a very foolish thing to do and we have paid dearly for it.

Tsvangirai, Biti, Ncube and the rest of the opposition entourage being the fools they are, are tripping over each other to contest in next year’s elections even though we have not implemented even one reform. Of course, Zanu PF will rig the elections; it is doing so already.

Zimbabwe is going to have a new Biometric Voter Registration system, the regime has dragged it feet getting the system operational, for example. It has taken four years to decide from whom the kits would be bought. It is now less than a year to the voting day and still voter registration has not even begun. This is all for a reason; everything will be a mad rush. The regime does not want people to see what it is doing and one way of doing this is to waste time and then overwhelm them with so much information they will hardly have time to sign much less read anything!

Left to our own devices, there is no doubt that there will be enough opposition politicians and supporters who will participate in next year’s elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process became. Mugabe knows that as long as there is a chance of winning any gravy train seats he will never have to worry about the opposition boycotting the elections. His real big worry now is that SADC are sick and tired of his tomfoolery.

I believe SADC leaders accepted the 2013 rigged elections to punish MDC leaders for ignoring their warning. I believe SADC leaders are NOT going to accept next year’s rigged elections because they know that would be cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face. Zimbabwe’s ongoing economic and political crisis is now a serious threat to not just Zimbabwe economic development and stability but that of the whole region. SADC leaders are not going to let Mugabe get away with blatantly rigging another election and throw the whole region into chaos!

So, for your own information Sikhumbuzo Moyo, it is SDAC, “the toothless dog which just barks and never bites”, who are going to save Zimbabwe from own home-grown stupidity and greed. We will finally enjoy the democratic freedoms and human rights Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs (Dr Dabengwa played his assigned role and took his share of the spoils) denied us for 37 years. We will finally have the democratic changes Tsvangirai & co. promised but have failed to bring about not even one change after 17 years.

Zimbabwe is in this hell-hole because our political leaders, on both sides of the divide, are corrupt, incompetent and greed. We need SADC to save us from our own leaders and our own foolishness; we must therefore be a bit more respectful of SADC. “Usa chenjedza vanyamukuta kuzvara uchada!” (It is unwise to insult the midwife when you have a pregnant wife!) As the Shona elders would say.