There
is absolutely no excuse for a seating regime to postpone the holding fresh elections
to extend its term in office. All those arguing President Mnangagwa in
agreement with the opposition to postpone this year’s elections are talking
nonsense!
“We
have seen countries that have postponed elections purely on the basis elections
commission had come forward and said if we rush through an election the quality
of our process is going to be compromised but that is not a narrative we have
seen from our election commission,” said Tawanda Chimhini, ERC director.
ZEC
has had five years to prepare for elections and commission cannot just ask for
elections to be postponed without saying why it is not able to deliver its
political mandate.
“Meanwhile,
Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP) President Kisinoti Mukwazhi has been
reportedly petitioned Parliament seeking election postponement until up to 2021,”
reported Zimeye.
“In
his petition Mukwazhi said the country is not ready for the polls and the
legislature should put in place a motion for postponement.”
“We
demand the Parliament of Zimbabwe to immediately come up with a law that can
allow for the postponement of 2018 general elections to 2021…,” said Mukwazhi.
Elections
are a very stressful affair for any public office bearer anywhere in the world
especially when there is a real possibility of losing their post.
It
was the duty of the same parliamentarians Mukwazhi is petitioning to make sure
everything was done to ensure fresh elections would go ahead on time. For
Mukwazhi to be petition them to extend they stay in office because they failed
to prepare for elections is tantamount to rewarding the MPs for failing to do
their job; that is a very foolish think to do indeed!
The
only reason to postpone elections is to have the reforms necessary for free and
fair elections implemented and, unless one has a mechanism to guarantee 100%
that this will happen, then we might just as well let the election go ahead.
All
those calling for elections to be postponed must address the contentious question;
who will form the interim administration until fresh elections are held? Whilst
no one with any brain would argue that holding elections without reforms is a
waste of time and resources. Still it is hard to see how we can have a
competent interim administration to implement the reforms that exclude Zanu PF
and MDC politicians.
Our
problem is that both Mnangagwa and Tsvangirai will agree to postponing the
elections on one condition – they form the interim administration. Only the
politically naïve would trust Zanu PF and MDC politicians to implement the
reforms necessary for free and fair elections when they failed to do so during
the last GNU!
Indeed,
President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF friends have maintained that there is
nothing wrong with Zimbabwe’s election process and therefore they are not going
to implement any meaningful reforms. As for MDC, they have yet to say what
reforms they want implemented; proof they are any wiser than they were during
the GNU.
The
nation is better off letting Zanu PF hold the elections, declare the process
null and void and thus clear the deck for the nation to invite SADC, UN and
other outsiders to help chart a new path out of this hell. Zanu PF and MDC politicians
have already proven that they are corrupt and incompetent but their appetite
for power is as keen as ever, they will want elections postponed but only for
the purpose of consolidating their own hold on power and nothing else.
9 comments:
Kumire sustained serious head injuries and he reported the matter to the police but no one was arrested.
“So far nobody has been arrested in connection with the incident although the Zanu PF youths who assaulted him are known,” MDC sources said yesterday.
Morgan Tsvangirai was warned by SADC leaders not to contest the 2013 elections without first implementing the democratic reforms including the reforms to free the Police to carry out their duty of keeping law and order without fear or favour. MDC leaders refused to listen and so we continue to face this totally intolerable situation in which opposition members are assaulted and the Police continue to do nothing about it as soon as they hear those responsible for the lawlessness are Zanu PF members.
Opposition members can try to sue the Police for failing to carry out their statutory duties but that will come to naught as Zanu PF also control the judiciary.
In a country in which the ruling party controls everything, the Police, the judiciary, public media, ZEC, etc. there is really no point in contesting flawed elections. SADC leaders are right in recommending that the opposition should not contest. The only reason the MDC have continued to take part is because they are after the few seats Zanu PF gives away as bait. It is up to the Zimbabwe public to hold the opposition to account for selling out!
@ Wenyika
"He allegedly stole $400k from the same regime Robin Hood style and bought bicycles, not cars, for his constituency, a constituency that is marginalized because its people happen to be predominantly Ndebele," you write.
When someone talks of people being "marginalized" in a country where unemployment has soared to 90% and think they must proof this is indeed the case. There is a real danger of Zimbabweans wasting time, energy and treasure fighting each other because we all feel we have been "marginalized" when we should accept we are in the same boat and cooperate for the good of the country.
“If the British Gvt is able to work with him, despite his mysterious nature, to bring about democracy in Zimbabwe, to the extent of giving him a platform on BBC and protecting information about his exact location from the Coup Government of Zimbabwe, why is the present opposition unable to work with him?” You claim.
Do not mix BBC with the British Gvt. Just because in Zimbabwe Zanu PF controls everything it does not mean the same is true everywhere. The BBC agreed not to reveal where Moyo is and they honoured their promise, nothing more!
@ Dr Moyo
The Alliance for the Peoples Agenda (APA)leader Dr Nkosana Moyo has blasted president Mnangagwa for buying expensive cars for chiefs in place of prioritising health care and education.
The Chiefs will remember you said that and punish any of the villagers in their respective areas who support APA. You would not be contesting the elections if they targeted you and not the poor sobs, povo: how very considerate of you Dr Moyo!
You are contesting for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away to entice the opposition to contest, they are just as selfish as the Chiefs who are sell-out povo for the new trucks!
@ Nomazulu
Dr Moyo is now fighting to win as many of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as he can that is all he cares about. Giving the Chiefs the new trucks is just one of the many acts by President Mnangagwa to prove that Zanu PF is still a party of thugs and the elections will be rigged. Dr Moyo, just like the rest of the opposition contesting these flawed elections, does not care that the elections are flawed as long as he wins a few gravy train seats!
He knows the Chiefs are being paid to frog march povo to attend Zanu PF rallies and vote for the party. He does not care as long as he wins a few seats, he will walk over hundreds if not thousands of dead innocent civilians just to have a few APA MPs!
There is no competent opposition much less opposition candidates with morals! Dr Moyo is a sell-out the same as Morgan Tsvangirai or the Zanu PF Chiefs and thugs themselves!
@Muchena
“They will observe the procedural forms of democratic government without real democratisation. Having tightened their grip on power, the military and ZANU PF will not relinquish it. It is naive to believe that they will voluntarily deliver reforms that will place themselves at risk of electoral defeat,” you said.
You are spot-on there. What the people of Zimbabwe have to wake up to is reality that President Mnangagwa will be holding the elections with no reforms implemented and thus confirming that the nation is stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship just as it was throughout Mugabe’s presidency.
There is no point in talking about economic recovery and what policies the nation should pursue if the people cannot hold the government of the day to democratic account.
This year’s election is about fighting to have the democratic reforms implemented. If Zanu PF fails to implement the reforms, signs are that it will not, then the nation must spend all its time, energy and money in making sure the process is declared null and void.
Nothing of any substance will ever be achieved until we deal with this problem of free, fair and credible electiuons!
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade says it is shocked and dismayed by the statement attributed to the US President, Mr Donald Trump on the 11th of this month.
The statement continued: “Zimbabwe, and we believe the majority of countries in the world, desire relations based on mutual acceptable and respect, values that serve and demonstrate the human family at its best. Bigotry and hate speech must find no place in the contemporary statecraft and diplomatic discourse.”
Interesting comment coming from a regime that was born out of a military coup. What is so respectable about that?
@ poundpower
True but there is also a real danger of people making the mistake that the November coup brought change only to discover they were wrong. The elections bring an opportunity for real and peaceful change and it must not be wasted. If people are going to vote for this Zanu PF regime, then they must be 100% sure that the November coup did deliver change or they will be stuck with the same corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for another five years or more!
There is evidence to show that President Mnangagwa talks and lately has ever taken to writing on twitter about free, fair and credible elections and yet has done nothing to implement the reforms to make all this possible. Zimbabwe will npt have free and fair elections without first implementing the reforms - that is a fact!
Zimbabwe is not going to achieve any meaningful economic recovery without holding free and fair elections - that is another fact! In other words ED will not revive the economy if he fails to deliver free and fair elections; you need to wake up to that reality now before it is too late!
"THE Alliance for the People’s Agenda (APA) has started unveiling its candidates, as the party gears for the upcoming elections, where it says it will not go into a coalition," Zimeye reported.
SADC leaders have already said the opposition should not contest Zimbabwe’s elections without first implementing the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. The question people like Dr Nkosana Moyo and all the other opposition politicians who continue to contest these flawed and illegal elections is: why are you contesting an election you know is flawed? Why?
These opposition politicians keep talking about wanting reforms to be implemented but they still contest even when it is clear no reforms have been implemented; proof they were just paying lip-services to calls for reforms and free and fair elections.
The truth is Zanu PF will never implement any reforms when they know that the opposition will contest the elections regardless.
The ball is now in the people of Zimbabwe’s own court – not with opposition or Zanu PF. How much do we, the people ourselves, value free, fair and credible elections? Are we smart enough to realise that both Zanu PF and the opposition are just using us as pawns in their political game? The game is design to give Zanu PF its landslide victory and the opposition are quite happy to win the scraps. It is us we have paid dearly for being stuck for decades with corrupt and tyrannical regime complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition.
If we are serious about getting a competent government then it is for us to break the present political mould. It is for us to refuse to take part in these utterly meaningless elections until reforms to guarantee free and fair elections are implemented!
“If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done,” SADC leaders warned Tsvangirai and his MDC friends in June 2013. I believe SADC or anyone with eyes to see and half a brain to perceive the political reality today will say the say about this year’s elections. The only question that must now be answered is; are we, the people, smart enough to heed that sound advice!
Narrating Mugabe’s last days in power presidential spokesperson George Charamba told local media, “On the last day, we were joined by Gideon Gono and then Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi. The president said to me ‘Charamba, I don’t want the world to say I have resigned because I fear impeachment.’ I haven’t committed any crimes. If they want, let them go ahead. I will answer to them,” Charamba said.
Mugabe was guilty of rigging elections, for a start. Just because many of those who had assisted him in committing this treasonous crime would have never charged him of the offense for fear they will incriminate themselves does not mean he was innocent! One of these beautiful days the evidence of his vote rigging will come out and the world will know he was Zimbabwe’s long serving illegitimate president!
Mugabe thought himself invincible. After four decades of being able to wrap his imbecile Zanu PF colleagues round his little finger at will, it is easy to see why he thought he was untouchable.
The challenge for the nation is to dismantle this Zanu PF dictatorship and its cult culture before another dimwit remodels these Zanu PF buffoon in his own image and the whole cycle start all over again!
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