One
does not have to be a believer to learn from the Bible. Here is one great
lesson for us all.
“Whoever
has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have,
even what he has will be taken away from him,” said Jesus Christ.
“This
is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though
hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You
will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never
perceiving.’ For this people’s heart has grown callous; they
hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they
might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,
and turn, and I would heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and
your ears because they hear.” Matthew 13:12 to 16
Zimbabwe’s greatest
curse is that we should have leaders who see but never perceived, hear but
never understood and yet they still pretend that they have perceived and understood
all.
“Within the context
of independence, it is important to restate that the party remains strong and
ready to participate in the forthcoming polls. Our liberation struggle was
mainly about one-man-one-vote and we stand ready to participate in a truly
free, fair and credible plebiscite,” said Nelson Chamisa, President of the
MDC-T, the country’s main opposition party.
The MDC party itself
was founded on the promise to deliver democratic change, as the party’s name
implies; Movement for Democratic change. Sadly, the party has failed to bring
about even one meaningful democratic change even when the party had the golden
opportunity to do so during the GNU.
All the party had to
do then was to implement the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global
Political Agreement (GPA) crafted by the SADC leaders. Tsvangirai and his MDC
friends had five years to implement the reforms but failed to get even one
reform implemented.
What is so sad and
tragic here is not that the MDC leaders failed to understand what the GPA was
about throughout the GNU but, worse still, even today with all the benefit of
hindsight, they still have no clue what the reforms are about much less how
they are to be implemented.
“Last month, we
launched our Plan and Environment for a Credible Election (PEACE). That
document has 10 key demands of what we want addressed if we are to have an
undisputed election,” continued Chamisa.
“We will do all that is possible
to ensure that Zimbabweans are given a chance to freely express their sovereign
will in fair and credible poll. Our 10 demands include, but are not limited to:
1) Independence of the Zimbabwean
Electoral Commission (ZEC), including the independence and professionalization
of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Secretariat.
2) The creation of an authentic
biometric voters’ roll properly audited and signed off by all stakeholders.
Etc.”
Many, many volumes
of material have been produced since the 2008 GPA, explaining in detail the
process of reforming ZEC to break Zanu PF’s demonic control and make it
independent. At the formation of the GNU, it was agreed the process of reforms
ZEC, the Police and all the other institutions would take 18 months, at the very
least.
And yet here we are,
just four months before the next elections; Mr Chamisa wants us to believe that
he can still get reforms implemented to make ZEC independent!
Zimbabwe’s new voter
registration exercise should have started as far back as January 2015 at the
latest. The regime delayed the exercise until 14 September 2017; there is no
way anyone could register 7 million voters and produce a verified voters’ roll
in that time. Time has born this out already!
ZEC has already
admitted it has only managed to register 5.3 million voters out of the expected
7 million, which means 24% of the people are being denied the right to vote for
no fault of the own.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to
hold free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe without first implementing
the democratic reforms; Mr Chamisa and his MDC friends have been told this a
thousand times!
“If you go
into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done,” SADC
leaders told MDC leaders in June 2013.
SADC leaders wanted
MDC leaders to boycott the elections so that reforms can be implemented. David
Coltart, one of the MDC leader and cabinet member during the GNU, admitted
boycotting the elections made sense.
“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,” admitted 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.”
Coltart has confirm
what it is that has made the hearts of MDC leaders’ hearts callous, their ears
waxed and blinded their eyes – greed. Zanu PF has been clever enough to know
that as long as it offers a few gravy train seats to the opposition during
national elections, the party is guaranteed to have opposition candidates
contest the elections regardless how flawed and meaningless the process happens
to be.
God gave the people
of Zimbabwe the mineral wealth, some of the best land on earth for farming; all
a nation would ever need to be healthy, happy and prosperous. Only if we would
not let greed rule and ruin our lives!
3 comments:
Nelson Chamisa confirms Mutinhiri’s claim that Zanu PF has deployed 5 000 soldiers to intimidate people in the coming elections.
“We are in the process of compiling the list of names of the individuals, they are stationed in the villages. Some are under the auspices of Agritex officers and they are across the over 1 958 wards in the country,” said Chamisa.
“It is incumbent upon the Zec to ensure they deal with the issue of the so-called ‘boys on leave’. We need to establish why they are in the villages and now they are coordinating serial numbers and marshalling traditional leaders into that process which is a violation of the Constitution and it’s a big issue.
“They are telling people that they are going to repeat what they did in 2008 and we all know what happened.”
What Zanu PF knows for a fact is that MDC are contesting these elections for the sake of winning the few gravy train seats the party gives away as bait to the opposition. It really does not matter how flawed the electoral process may get MDC will contest the elections.
Chamisa knows that a reformed ZEC and Police would not need to be prompted by anyone to investigate such cases of intimidation regardless of where it is coming from. Chamisa knows that ZEC and the Police will not lift a finger to investigate these allegations.
These elections are "done", as SADC leaders would say, and we must demand the process be declared null and void!
These elections are being rigged because not even one reform was implemented during the GNU or since. SADC leaders have rightly advised that the opposition must not take part in the elections until reforms are implemented.
MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the GNU and now they are dragging the nation into these meaningless elections. The trouble is with the MDC supporters themselves, they have followed leaders like sheep to the slaughter; a healthy and functioning democracy demands an electorate who think for themselves!
It is insane to go into elections one knows are being rigged! We are doing this regardless of the 38 years history of rigged elections!
The moment MDC-T leader Nelson Chamisa paid former War Vets leader Jabulani Sibanda a home visit.
Well, Chamisa has never objected to political thuggery as long as it is MDC doing the thuggery! He is wooing Jabulani Sibanda now because he knows the thug is available for hire to the highest bidder!
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