“Mujuru will come first if there is no abuse of State machinery
and resources to campaign for a factional Zanu PF,” PDP (breakaway faction of
the Tendai Biti PDP) VP Sikhumbuzo Ndiweni told Southern Eye.
“The taking over of reins (of power) is guaranteed by the fact
that PRC (People Rainbow Coalition), Zimbabwe, SADC, South Africa and the
international community can’t afford a successive third coup in a row, first
Tsvangirai in 2008, Mugabe in 2017; in 2018 (Zimbabwe) Defence Forces have
no ace card.”
There are far too many ifs for this to ever come true!
“If the military stays out of the elections!” A big slice of President
Mnangagwa’s coup cabinet is already made up of ex-military people who have
first-hand experience in vote rigging. They are the ones who carried out the
harassment, beating, raping and even murder of civilians during elections,
particularly since 2000. The ex-military people who have just been promoted to join
the cabinet are being rewarded for the pivotal role they played in the November
2017 coup that ousted Mugabe. They know they will lose their cabinet post is
Zanu PF was to lose the elections. After decades of rigging elections for the
benefit of others, it is naïve to think these thugs are not going to rig
elections for their own benefit!
“If there is no rigging!” How stupid is that? Not even one democratic
reform has been implemented since the rigged July 2013 elections; so why would Zanu
PF, for no apparent reason other than the opposition’s wishful thinking, risk
losing power by holding free and fair elections?
Indeed, Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut is already in overdrive
already, the elections are being rigged as we speak! By unduly delaying the
voter registration exercise, started in September 2017 when it should have
started in January 2015 at the latest, the regime knows that ZEC will have no
chance of producing a verified voters’ roll in time. There no limit to the vote
rigging shenanigans the regime, with the help of the Israeli company NIKUV, can
play as happened in the 2013 elections.
SADC leaders advised Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to
contest the July 2013 elections without first implementing democratic reforms. “If
you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done,”
SADC leaders had warned at the time.
The warning not to contest flawed elections is just as relevant
today as it was back in 2013.
If Mai Mujuru and her Rainbow Coalition partners decide, as they are
clearly determined, to contest this year’s elections knowing, and have been
warned repeatedly, the elections will be rigged; then they cannot complain afterwards
that Zanu PF rigged. By insisting in contesting the flawed elections the
opposition are, per se, demonstrating their confidence of winning regardless of
all the vote rigging shenanigans. Having defied all the advice and logical
reasons not to contest, the opposition cannot then complain that Zanu PF rigged
the elections just because their strategies to win rigged elections failed.
There is another reason why the opposition keep contesting flawed
elections – greed. Zanu PF rigs elections to secure the presidency and the two
thirds majority in both parliament and senate but for the process to have any
credibility the party knows it must allow the opposition to win the remaining
one third of the seats. It is these seat that the opposition are after and they
will contest the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process may
be.
The international community and more significantly SADC leaders
will declare this year’s flawed elections null and void and force Zanu PF to
implement the reforms, just as they would have done in 2013, but on one
condition – the people of Zimbabwe must show their iron determination to have
meaningful free and fair elections. We, Zimbabweans, must heed SADC’s advice
not to take part in elections with no reforms. We must demonstrate our resolve
to free and fair elections by refusing to take Zanu PF’s bait of the one third
gravy train seats.
The opportunists in the opposition must not just pay lip service
to “No reform, no elections!” They must mean it! They must not be allowed to
sell-out on the national agenda of free, fair and credible elections for the
sake of the scraps of a few gravy train seats.
It is, not just Zanu PF who are denying us our freedoms and basic
human rights including the right to free and fair elections; the opportunistic
opposition parties are selling us out too. By their continued participation in
flawed elections the opposition are giving Zanu PF the excuse to resist
implementing meaningful democratic reforms!
Even if Ndiweni’s prediction was to come true and Mai Mujuru or
Tsvangirai was to win this year’s elections; we can be certain neither of them
would implement the democratic reforms to ensure future elections are free and
fair. The present undemocratic system favours the incumbent ruling party; given
that both MDC Alliance and PRC have mediocre leadership, they will only be too
glad to take advantage of the system to consolidate their own grip on power.
So, an opposition victory will not guarantee free and fair
elections in future. We will have just kicked the can down the road.
Zimbabwe is in this nightmare situation of economic meltdown and
political paralysis of military coups, Zanu PF imploding and the opposition in
shamble because we are stuck with the corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical de
facto one-party dictatorship. The only way to end the dictatorship is by
implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship
brick by brick and replace it with a democratic system of government.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, of any substance will ever be
accomplished until we rid ourselves of the dictatorship and hold free and fair
elections! Nothing!
“Mujuru will win if elections are not rigged!” What a stupid thing
to say when you know the elections will indeed be rigged and you are contest
knowing that to be the case because you are the one blocking all the efforts to
end the vote rigging!
15 comments:
But ERC director Tawanda Chimhini says the president must walk the talk and ensure that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is independent and that prisoners and those in the diaspora are eligible to vote in the 2018 general elections.
“In our considered view Zimbabwe is in the SADC and AU guidelines. We have looked at our laws and we have looked at the SADC guidelines everything that they are complaining about is clearly covered within our constitution and our laws. Our constitution clearly stipulates that ZEC is an independent body not subject to the control of anyone and that is in compliance with the SADC and AU guidelines and it clearly lays out the work of ZEC and our electoral laws they are complaint with … everything that is there,” said Minister of Justice Ziyambi Ziyambi.
“So, in so far as we are concerned we believe that we should not just waste resources doing cosmetic changes to the legislation that are already materially covered by the existing legislation.
He noted that “we had an indaba in Bulawayo where we deliberated on some of these electoral issues and the conclusion by then which was not challenged by most of these civic society organizations which were present when the experts and the legal experts who were making the presentations did their presentations was that we have a legal framework that adequately covers most of these areas and there was no need for us to go that route.
“However, let me say that at this juncture we cannot go into those specific issues regarding the diaspora vote, the right of the prisoners because after that indaba they decided to take that issue to court. So, we await the determination of the courts and the courts I understand is sitting on the 8th of January. Once that determination has been given we then know the direction to proceed.”
But Chimhini has a different take, “A lot more still needs to be done in ensuring effective citizen participation in governance processes that lead to the selection of public officials.” He added, “While the apparent constitutional re-alignment was long overdue, the manner in which the country approaches electoral changes remains haphazard and worrisome in that there is evidently little focus on strengthening our laws so that they could result in elections marked by admirable credibility and high democratic quality.”
This is a let-down! You would think that ERC would have done its homework and would come up with concrete examples of the reforms the nation need to ensure free and fair elections instead of this wishy-washy reply.
“There is evidently little focus on strengthening our laws, blah, blah!” Chimhini failed to give even one example of one law that requires strengthening and yet claim this is “evident”! What a wasted opportunity! What a waste of space!
@ Dumisani Muleya
“However, the ANC showed there is a silver lining to the dark cloud of African politics by electing Ramaphosa, a Soweto-born leader of minority Venda origin. Ramaphosa got votes from delegates from all over the country, although he struggled where his rival was stronger. By choosing a minority as its leader, the ANC showed that it does not matter where a person is from; what matters the most is profile, credentials, competence, experience and skill set,” you wrote.
“But in many countries and parties in Africa, including in Zimbabwe and its ruling Zanu PF, ethnicity and origin still matter a lot. Tribalism is still deep-rooted in Zanu PF. It is a despicable legacy of primitive rivalry and instincts, colonialism and liberation struggle politics, as well as former president Robert Mugabe’s divide-and-rule authoritarian politics, which eventually exploded.”
You are right my brother, it is a great pity that trivial matters like tribal bias trumps merit in our country; no wonder we are in a real mess. One simple reason why we focus on trivial matters and miss out on the real important matters is that the latter mean nothing to us. You can present someone with the real Albert Einstein in political matters or whatever but if the electorate have no clue what he/she is talking about they will most likely vote for the empty head alternative because we talked nonsense they found easy to follow.
As a nation, we have no nose for detail and so we are easily fooled. You will be surprised how many Zimbabweans out there still have no clue what the GNU was supposed to accomplish. A more recent example, many Zimbabwe real believed the removal of Mugabe alone was enough to transform Zanu PF from a party of thugs to a democratic one as if Mugabe was the only thug!
Nations get the government they deserve, we certainly deserve this corrupt, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent 75 opposition parties! Until we learn to pay attention to detail we will blunder from pillar to post.
The Chiwengas had 40 gold watches, white gold rings, four white gold chokers, choker Jackie Kennedy pearls and bracelet pearls, 10 gold anlelet, an emerald ring, pearl ring encrusted with 24 carat diamond, forty eight gold broaches and a set of gold earings and chain with diamonds.
They also had 45 sets of diamond earrings, diamond tiara, blue diamond ring, diamond and emerald necklace, emerald cocktail ring, yellow diamond ring, diamond engagement rings, emerald rings and men’s rolex watches.
All this amassed wealth is impressive in any developed country but takes a more sinister twist in a third world country who economy has all but collapsed. Unemployment has soared to 90% plus because many companies have collapsed and yet Chiwenga’s wealth has grown in leaps and bounds. It is either he is an exceptionally gifted business person to prosper when the vast majority are failing miserably.
72.3% of the population are living on US$1.00 or less a day a far cry from the life Chiwenga and his family live. Many Zanu PF chefs who have lost their political influence have very quickly fallen into hard times. Party grandees like the late Enos Nkala and Nathan Shamuyarira died paupers. No doubt all these Zanu PF leaders are aware of the reality of economic poverty all around and hence the reason there has been such a fierce dog-eat-dog fight in the party as members fight to keep their position on the feeding trough.
VP Chiwenga has just got his feet under the VP desk, the prospect of him losing that post and all the other privileges that have enabled him to afford his very expensive and luxurious lifestyle is real. It is unthinkable that he would risk all that in a free, fair and credible election. No chance!
ERC director Tawanda Chimhini said Mnangagwa’s government must take steps to ensure the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is independent and that prisoners and Zimbabweans living abroad are eligible to vote.
Why ERC call themselves “a think tank” I will never know because they have yet to show they are capable of one coherent thought.
1) They wrote to the President, Minister of Justice, etc. asking “government to take steps to ensure ZEC is independent” but failed to name even one step they wanted to be taken.
2) Zimbabwe’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections is a very serious matter going far beyond the failure to allow prisons and those in the diaspora to vote!
Organisations like ERC are a waste of space!
President Emmerson Mnangagwa will next week meet traditional leaders, as part of efforts to rope them into his developmental agenda ahead of elections this year.
If the government has no money to buy an ambulance for hospitals servicing the health need of hundreds of thousands how can the same government then afford to buy a Chief a new twin cab Isuzu truck for the same amount it would have bought the ambulance? Of course, this is vote-buying pure and simple! And Chief Charumbira has responded by promising that the Chiefs will be campaigning for Zanu PF.
According to the state media former Foreign Affairs Minister Walter Mzembi, ex-Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Dr Paul Chimedza (Gutu South), former provincial political commissar Mr Jappy Jaboon (Bikita South) and ex-deputy secretary for transport in the Zanu PF Politburo Dr Daniel Shumba (Masvingo Urban) would soon be recalled from Parliament.
By the time the dust settle Zanu PF will have fired more than 40% of its elected members in this parliamentary session alone for no other reason than settling factional scores! Of course, Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs with no respect of the law and opposing point of view! If these thugs can attack one of their own so savagely what more the ordinary Zimbabwean whom they hold in contempt or the political opponent they view a threat to their hold on power?
The fight for free, fair and credible elections is going to be a tough one; these Zanu PF thugs are going to fight savagely to resist the reforms! Those people who thought the removal of Mugabe was all the nation needed to do are naïve and Mnangagwa and the others were only too pleased to take full advantage of such naivety to lick their wounds after the savage fight with the G40 group and consolidate their hold on power.
Those who argue that we should give President Mnangagwa a chance to prove himself, to see if he will deliver of his promises of economic recovery and democratic change are not thinking logically. They are falling for the common trap that their individual freedoms and basic human rights are not important as long as their economic needs are satisfied. Tyrants use this trap to justify why they are neglecting freedoms and human rights issue, they consider them a distraction from the pressing economic issues.
Those who fall in the trap always discover when it is too late that when those in power fail to deliver on the economic front they will have no political power to hold them to account. One would have thought that the people of Zimbabwe have learnt this by now; after all this is exactly what Mugabe has done after independence!
Brussels has unveiled funding to Harare which the European Union said was going to be channelled to local media towards enhancing the forth estate’s election coverage and accurate reporting.
The undisclosed amount of the media support package which the EU extended to Harare through the International Media Support (IMS) was announced by the head of the Western bloc in Zimbabwe, Philippe Van Demme, in Harare recently.
Freedom of expression is important and as long as Zanu PF continue to enjoy its strangle hold on the Public Media and have the monopoly over it is impossible to see how Zimbabwe's elections can ever be free, fair and credible! This EU initiative will help but it will never be the answer to freeing up the Public Media.
We need the democratic reforms to free the Public Media, amongst all the other reforms, implemented before the elections to guarantee free, fair and credible elections.
As the Minister of Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security, Supa Mandiwanzira faces corruption charges photos of his flash cars and house have gone viral on social media with some Zimbabweans asking as to how and when did the young minister acquire such wealth.
All this, in country where 72.3% are living on US$ 1.00 or less a day!!
Politicians, be they Zanu Pf or from the opposition, are taking advantage of the people's failure to understand even the common-sense aspects of politics to say and do as they please. Common sense should have told Zimbabweans not to trust Mnangagwa and his coup cabal because by these are the individuals who had planned and executed all Zanu PF’s vote rigging and thuggery for the last 37 years. By staging the coup they were, once again, reasserting their disregard for the rule of law and belief in the supremacy of brute force.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s political and economic mess is the country’s failure to remove Zanu PF from office in a free, fair and credible elections precisely because Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs, including Mnangagwa and the rest of the coup plotter, rigged elections and brute force to stay in power.
For the people therefore to welcome the coup and treat the ring leaders like Chiwenga as heroes went against the grain; people who have been brutalized by all these years should not be see glorifying thuggery when tomorrow the thugs are certain to turn on them again. Common sense!
You are right, Mai Mujuru and the rest in Zimbabwe’s opposition camp will keep contesting the flawed elections as long as there is a chance of winning one of the give-away gravy train seats. They are all making a big song and dance about the need for reforms because they know that is what the ordinary people want to hear as they are desperate for free, fair and credible elections. The opposition opportunists are after the bait seats and do not give a damn how flawed the process happen to be and how dearly the nation has paid for rigged elections.
The common-sense question the people themselves should be asking is; if you know without the reforms Zanu PF will rig the elections, then why are you insisting in contesting the elections with no reforms? Common sense may be common in other countries; sadly that is not so in Zimbabwe!
@Noble
“More forming and frothing at the mouth! Armchair bloody theorists-boring boring! Here is the reality--the people who liberated this country from colonialism have now committed themselves to liberate the country from economic woes!! You can bark all you want kuvukura huhuhuhuuuuu but these talented hands-on sons and daughters of the soil will deliver!!” You wrote!
That is only the half of the true story here! The full true story is that the people who liberated this country from colonialism and the ones, through gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and murderous tyranny dragged the country into this economic and political hell-hole. For the last 38 years they have promised the nation mass economic prosperity, “Gutsva ruzhinji!”, but only to drag the nation deeper and deeper into this hell.
Zanu PF is a party of thugs and they will use every dirty trick they can imagine to hang on to power for no other reason than to feed their insatiable appetite for absolute power, influence and material wealth and luxuries. Robert Mugabe and his wife have lost the absolute power and influence after the coup, they are lucky to have kept all their looted wealth. Professor Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Ignatius Chombo and a few others have lost all three and their freedom to boot.
The likes of VP Chiwenga and President Mnangagwa himself have got for themselves even more absolute power and influence after the coup. Chiwenga had his fleet of posh cars, C&M mansion, 40 gold watches, etc., etc. before the coup; he will now be looking forward to amassing even more wealth!
The people do not need anyone to “liberate” them from economic woes; they never did. What the people have needed all along is to have their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free and fair elections and right to life itself denied them by the whites before independence and now by this corrupt and oppressive Zanu PF dictatorship. If they had the right to meaningful say in the governance of the country they would have booted out this corrupt and oppressive Zanu PF dictatorship a long, long time ago.
President Mnangagwa and all his cronies and apologists keeps wittering about economic recovery and free, fair and credible elections; whilst the regime has scraped some of Mugabe’s stupid economic policies it has, however, done nothing to implement any democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections. You lot can fool some people every time, you can even fool everyone some of the times but what you cannot do is fool everyone all the time.
The Zanu PF thugs are fooling themselves if they think this situation in which a few are filthy rich whilst the majority suffer in grinding poverty and despair is socially, morally, politically and economically sustainable! The Zanu PF dictatorship’s days are numbered, regime change is coming.
@ Tawanda Kadada
President Mnangagwa and his Junta cabinet are sincere enough about wooing foreign investors. They have scrapped many of Mugabe’s obnoxious and stupid economic policies including the idiotic indigenisation ACT and have already stepped in to stop the tyrant’s signature violent farm invasions. President Mnangagwa has been to SA to announce “Zimbabwe was ready to do business!” Business people and would-be foreign investors heard him but have done nothing because they are not convinced Zimbabwe is indeed ready to do business.
Whilst this Mnangagwa regime has said a lot about Zimbabwe’s new democratic dispensation, the regime has done nothing on the ground to make all this possible. The coup was about the Zanu PF thugs seizing political power, an ominous start for regime claiming to be democratic. The regime’s failure to implement the democratic reforms necessary to stop vote rigging has confirmed, if anyone still doubted, regime got rid of its dictator, Mugabe, but has retained its dictatorial tendencies. The Zanu PF dictatorship is alive and thriving.
Whilst millions of ordinary Zimbabweans were fooled into equating the removal of Mugabe with the demise of the Zanu PF dictatorship, the business people and foreign investors were not so easily fooled.
As much as President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies would like to see Zimbabwe’s economy recover to its former pre-independence glory what they are not prepared to do however is risk losing political power and their unfettered access to all the looting taking place. This is why they will never concede to implementing the democratic reforms and holding of free and fair elections. They will have to be forced to concede and one way of doing this is by rejecting this year’s election result.
@ Noble Ngara
“I really wish this barking Wilbert would actually give us specific examples of PERFECT AND FLAWLESS ELECTIONS. Even Donald Trump in that paragon of democracy of the USA is dogged by vote-rigging accusations using the Russians. The idea of perfection and saints in politics is the fallacy of the feeble-minded,” you challenged.
Well here are just a few things President Mnangagwa can/should have done if he was serious about holding free, fair and credible elections:
1) Started the voter registration exercise by January 2015 at the latest to ensure all those eligible to vote had the chance to register and ZEC had time to produce a verified voters’ roll. There is no excuse for delaying voter registration until September 2017 and now only 5 m and not 7 m will register and, worse still, there is no chance of ZEC releasing a verified voters’ roll. ZEC is required by law to produce a verified voters’ roll at least one month before voting day.
2) Zanu PF must end its control and monopoly of Public Media, there must be unfettered freedom of express and free media.
3) Must implement the democratic reforms to end Zanu PF influence in the Police, Army, ZEC and all the other State institutions to free these bodies to carry out their duties without free and favour.
4) There must be an independent investigation into the wholesale looting of national resources that have taking place to stop the looted wealth being used to bankroll vote rigging shenanigans.
No one is asking for saints in politics just the rule of law and common decency – that is not too much to ask!
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration wants to strip former President Robert Mugabe of his multiple farm properties which number 14.
Mugabe reportedly owns up to 14 farms covering over 16 000 hectares acquired since the fast-track land reform programme began in 2000.
The family reportedly owns Gushungo Estates (4 046 hectares) in Mazowe; Gushungo Dairies (1 000 hectares); Iron Mask Estate in Mazowe (1 046 hectares); Sigaru Farm in Mazowe (873 hectares); Gwebi Wood (1 200 hectares) in Mazowe; Gwina Farm in Mazowe (1 445 hectares); Leverdale Farm in Banket (1 488 hectares); and Highfield Farm in Banket (445 hectares). In Norton, they own Cressydale Estate (676 hectares); Tankatara Farm (575 hectares); John O’Groat Farm (760 hectares); Clifford Farm (1 050 hectares) and Bassiville (1 200 hectares), putting the land holding of Mugabe’s family to about 16 000 hectares.
Mugabe’s close relatives that include his late sister Sabina, his nephew Leo, and his brother-in-law Reward Marufu were also reportedly multiple farm owners.
No wonder they rigged elections, with so much loot at stake, you really do not want to risk losing is by losing an election. The same with all the other Zanu PF thugs still in power today, they may not have as many farms but they have a pretty impressive haul of looted wealth of their own.
Tsvangirai is sick and he really should retire. It is not as if he has achieved a lot and is irreplaceable the man has blundered from pillar to post. He is the embodiment of the country's corrupt, incompetent, moribund and utterly useless opposition. He is hanging to party leadership is true Mugabe idiotic mentality of seeing the party as his personal property to do with as he alone sees fit.
Zanu PF has been imploding and it is at such times that the country needed a viable alternative party to take over the governance of the country. Instead of a competent opposition we have one that is going through its own self-distract phase for the same reason Zanu PF is imploding – the inherent inability to have an orderly change of leadership. Zimbabwe’s curse! This is more than a pity, it is a great tragedy.
@ Tendai Ruben Mbofana
Thank you! Thank you very much, for renewing my faith and hope of a better Zimbabwe than the mess we are in today. The very fact that there are some Zimbabweans like you with some common sense to see that there is a lot more to be done to get Zimbabwe back on track than just the removal of Mugabe is reason for me to have hope.
“We do not take our time to seriously consider and evaluate an issue, before we run to conclusions,” as you rightly said.
We are a very naïve and gullible people given to making foolish and ill-advised moves. “Kupembedza n’anga yousingazivi neino pumha mai uroyi!” as one would say in Shona! (Foolishly praise to the high heavens the ability of a little-known witch-doctor who then falsely accuse one’s own mother of witchcraft!)
I agree with you 100% the “Mugabe must go! Mugabe must fall!” mantra should have been “Zanu PF must go! Zanu PF must fall!”
Indeed, given the pitiful lack of quality leaders within the opposition camp itself all because of the repressive autocratic political system; I would go one step further and suggest “Dictatorship must go! Dictatorship must fall!” Unless we focus on implementing the democratic reforms, there is a real danger of removing the Zanu PF dictatorship but only to replace it with an MDC, NPP or some such crap!
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