“We are going to pit that impeccable level of organization against the upstarts of the G-40, and this is the mother of all battles in the Zimbabwean politics. We have been on it for some time but today we are declaring that the battle and the campaign begins,” said the charged Mutsvangwa.
“This is going to deliver something that even
President Mugabe could never think of in 1979 and 1980, and we will do
something much bigger. In 2008, he (Mugabe) was defeated by Morgan Tsvangirai,
until the runoff and these war veterans and other stakeholders rescued a man
who was in the jaws of a defeat when the crocodiles of the MDC were chewing him
up,” he said.
Yes, Mutsvangwa and the nation know exactly how you and your fellow
war veteran rogues did to rescue Mugabe in 2008. You were Mugabe’s storm
troopers who harassed, beat, raped and even murdered innocent civilians in that
year’s operation “Mavhotera papi!” (Whom did you vote for!)
Tsvangirai won the March vote with 73% of the votes, according to
Mugabe’s own inadvertent admission, but this was reduced to 47% to force the
run-off after six weeks of recount 5 million ballots – it took six weeks
because cooking up the new count involved changing the figures in each and
every polling station. Operation Mavhotera papi had to be ruthless brutal, and
it was, to overhaul the 73% defeat in March into a 84% victory in June.
“What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the
ballot,” boasted Mugabe, to encourage his thugs in their acts of wanton
barbarism.
Of course, every Zimbabwean who loves and values freedom, liberty,
justice and has suffered the consequences of decades of gross mismanagement and
rampant corruption under this Mugabe dictatorship would want to see Mugabe lose
next year’s elections.
What people like Mutsvangwa do not understand is Zimbabweans will
never join him in his crusade against Mugabe and G40 not because the want
Mugabe to remain in power. They will not joint Mutsvangwa because they do not
trust him not to turn on them just as he and his rogue and Mugabe himself have
all done after independence. Should Mutsvangwa & co. win the factional war
against G40, they will impose Mnangagwa with the same brutish indifference to
the freedoms, rights and human suffering they have shown when they imposed
Mugabe.
A Zimbabwe in which one needs Mutsvangwa and his thugs to win
elections is not the Zimbabwe we want. What we need is to implement the reforms
to ensure elections are free, fair and credible.
5 comments:
“The former Vice-President has, however, maintained that while Zanu-PF might have rigged previous polls including the contentious 2013 general election that opposition parties claimed was fraught with irregularities, she did not have knowledge as to how this was done.”
Zanu PF has been rigging elections for decades and not only in 2008 and 2013. Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because we have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections and now that failure has brought heart breaking human suffering and the nation right to the brink of serious instability. The seriousness of this political crime, vote rigging, cannot be over stated.
One of the top priority of whoever takes over after the demise of the dictatorship must be to thoroughly investigate this heinous crime, punish those responsible for the vote rigging and save the nation from it ever happening again. The vote rigging has happened right under Mai Mujuru’s nose all these years and yet she did not see it. How then can she be trusted to deal with a problem she was too stupid and naïve to even notice when it happened.
Zanu PF is already rigging next year’s elections by delaying the voter registration all these last four years and only starting the process now with less than a year before elections. The regime will now stampede everyone and in the stampede, it will do all manner of mischief. Even with the best will in the world, it is hard to see how the regime can register 7 million, have the voters’ roll verified, correct the mistakes, etc., etc. and deliver free, fair and credible election in the short time left. Zanu PF’s evil-will is to rig the elections and hence the reason the regime has deliberately engineered the process so there is no time to do it properly.
Zanu PF is NOT going to produce a verifiable voters’ roll for the 2018 elections just as it failed to do for the 2013 elections, for example. Mai Mujuru will contest next year’s elections even with no verifiable voters’ roll and other glaring vote rigging irregularities; she is to stupid and naïve to see and appreciate such things.
After 37 years of corrupt, tyrannical and utterly useless government, Zimbabwe is yarning for competent and democratic government; Mai Mujuru’s government will be inapt blundering from pillar to post, at best, and, at worst, it will be Zanu PF dictatorship by another name.
“Rinemanyanga hariputirwi!” (It is impossible to hide evil for long!) so goes the Shona adage. As the Zanu PF factional war has intensified Chris Mutsvangwa and his group of war veterans have tried to present themselves as the good guys working with the masses and “all progressive force” to fight the evil G40 faction.
“We shall identify in each constituency the most popular person regardless of affiliation and we shall stick and support that person against anybody else and this is called a united front and that is what we did during the war,” he said.
“We are going to be on the ground and work with every progressive force to make sure that G-40 does not see the light of the day.”
Meanwhile Mutsvangwa has already been negotiating with Dumiso Dabengwa to join Emerson Mnangagwa to form a new government.
“NewZimbabwe.com reports that Mnangagwa recently dispatched war veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa to speak to offer the Zapu leader a role in a post-Mugabe cabinet.
"They told President Dabengwa that there is no one from Matebeleland region who would qualify to be the Vice President other than the Zapu leader," said the official who did not want to be named.
The Zanu-PF faction linked to vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa has approached opposition leader, Dumiso Dabengwa, offering him a role a "new government", it has emerged.
These rogue war veterans can talk about free elections, progressive forces, etc. now because they need public support but once in power they revert to their old tyrannical ways. Having set up their new government of Mnangagwa, president, and Dabengwa as his VP these war veterans will declare war on anyone who dare oppose that government!
We, the people of Zimbabwe, must focus our attention on demanding democratic reforms and not allow ourselves to be distracted by the antics of rogues like Mutsvangwa who have betrayed us before and will do so again.
Chris Mutsvangwa and his band of rogue war veterans who have help President Mugabe impose the present de facto one-party dictatorship are not to be trusted. They are reaching out to the masses and all progressive forces and yet meanwhile they continue with their plans to create a new dictatorship.
“We shall identify in each constituency the most popular person regardless of affiliation and we shall stick and support that person against anybody else and this is called a united front and that is what we did during the war,” said Mutsvangwa.
“We are going to be on the ground and work with every progressive force to make sure that G-40 does not see the light of the day.”
Meanwhile Mutsvangwa has been negotiating with Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa to join Emerson Mnangagwa to form a new government. Once G40 faction is no longer a threat, these war veterans will impose candidates they alone approve of forgetting their “most popular person regardless of affiliation” promise.
Zanu PF is imploding and the nation has a golden opportunity to bring about real and lasting political change and all we must do is focus on our demand for implementing democratic reforms and not allow ourselves be side tracked by rogues like Mutsvangwa who will promise one thing today and betray us before sunset!
For the last 17 years MDC has failed to win rigged elections. In 2008 Tsvangirai won 73% of the March vote, according to President Mugabe's own admission. The tyrant order ZEC to recount (cook the figures) and after six weeks 73% was reduced to 47%! Anyone who still thinks he/she can win that kind of vote rigging is naive.
MDC leaders are naive and even downright stupid - which is why they failed to get even one democratic reform implemented during the GNU - but they are not that stupid to believe they can win rigged elections. They are only saying so because they have no other excuse for taking part in elections they know will be rigged and they cannot win. So why are they contesting? One might ask. Here is the answer from one of the MDC leaders, David Coltart, who did contest the July 2013 elections knowing the elections will be rigged.
“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.”
In other words, Zimbabwe’s opposition politicians have forgotten the primary task of delivering free, fair and credible elections which the electorate risked life and limb electing them into power to do. President Mugabe offered them the trappings of the gravy train lifestyle; limos, generous salaries and allowances, a former white-own farm for Welshman Ncube, a $4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc.; and they forgot about democratic reforms.
Since the end of the GNU, President Mugabe, has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and as long as the bribe is offered there will be many opposition politicians who will contest the elections regardless how flawed the process becomes. They will swear they will win the rigged elections, anything regardless how foolish or futile it has already been proven to be, just as cover up for the real reason why they are contesting - their irrepressible greed.
After 37 years of trying to win rigged elections without success and the nation is serious economic and political trouble; it is high time the people accept this is not working and it is insane to continue trying. The solution is simple and has been staring us in the face; demand the implementation of the democratic reforms designed to stop vote rigging.
SADC leaders tried to get Morgan Tsvangirai to implemented the reforms during the GNU but failed, as we know. It is ironic that Tsvangirai and his corrupt and incompetent MDC friends should be the ones promising the impossible, winning rigged elections, just to cover up for selling-out during the GNU and now!
People like Chris Mutsvangwa, Robert Mugabe, Emerson Mnangagwa, etc. believe they are special and they know what is best for everyone and the country. They have waved their involvement in the liberation war as proof of their superiority as leaders.
The country is in an economic mess and political paralysis, the evidence on the ground says it all. The only reasons the nation has failed to effect regime change is because Zanu PF has denied the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country. Zanu PF has never ever held free, fair and credible elections. In Mugabe's Zimbabwe, everyone has a vote, but it is the prerogative of the regime to give or deny that vote and most important of all the regime has the veto. They fought in the liberation war, they know what is best and therefore they have the veto. If they knew best then the country would be in such a mess, that is self-evident.
Besides, the right of every citizen to a meaningful say in the governance of the country is not a privilege to be granted to some and denied to others. No one has the right, not even liberation war heroes, to arbitrarily deny anyone else their freedoms and rights none to grand onto themselves extraordinary powers such as a veto.
What Mutsvangwa is doing here is for himself and his war veterans as the key players who will end Mugabe's rule, they imposed the regime on the nation to start with and now that the regime is imploding they want to cast themselves as the heroes who made it all happen. No doubt they will want to reclaim their veto powers afterward. We will be very foolish to fall for Mutsvangwa and his tyrannical antics ever again.
Mutsvangwa and his lot are mercenaries who fight for a ward, they have fought hard to keep Mugabe in power and have only turned against him now because the tyrant failed to reward them and now they are offering their services to Mnangagwa, the next highest bidder.
The real challenge before us today is to totally dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship by implementing the democratic reforms and replace it with a healthy and functional democratic system of government were those in position of power and authority are democratically accountable to the people.
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