“Some Zimbabweans and political observers say it is likely
that President Emmerson Mnangagwa will win the forthcoming presidential
election, to be held between July and August this year, as the country’s
opposition is in disarray though they doubt that the southern African nation
will hold a free, fair and credible election,” reported The Zimbabwean quoting a
VOA article.
“Mnangagwa is likely to win because there is no strong
opposition and there is so much confusion within the opposition parties such
that Mnangagwa is the likely option for most people and is the one in power and
they say that there is a lot of effort from Mnangagwa to change things. People
are more receptive to that,” said Linda Mujuru of Global Press Journal. She was
one of the Zimbabweans panellist discussing Zimbabwe in Washington DC.
There is clearly some very confused Zimbabweans out there.
Do these people believe ED will win the elections because there is “disarray in
the opposition camp” or because the elections are not going to be free, fair
and credible?
Few people can deny that there is indeed disarray in the
opposition but with Zanu PF refusing to implement even one reform to ensure
free and fair elections only those who are mentally challenged can doubt that
these elections are not free and fair.
A united opposition did not stop Zanu PF rigging elections in the past so why should a divided opposition matter?
The elections observers are not being asked whether Zanu PF
would have won these elections anywhere given the confusion in the opposition
camp? They are being asked whether the electoral process in Zimbabwe can ever deliver
free, fair and credible elections? A process in which there is no free media,
no verified voters’ roll, key institutions like ZEC and the Police are but a
department of the ruling party in all but name, etc.
Indeed, we should not be surprised there is confusing in the
opposition camp just as, until the last November’s military coup, there was pandemonium
in Zanu PF itself; the one-party dictatorship that Mugabe and Zanu PF has
fostered on the nation has forced competent leaders out of politics. Zimbabwe
politics has become so dirty that only thugs can thrive.
This is why we need to implement the democratic reforms,
drain the swamp to get rid of all the crocodiles and all the other swamp
dwelling creepy crawlies, and allow democratic competition to take root. Open
debate and democratic competition will sort the quality leaders with grey stuff
between their ears from the corrupt, incompetent empty head thugs who have now filled
all the public offices going.
“There is need to have a united force and there is need to
have and a need to have an organized force in the opposition and there is need
to invest heavily and ensure that people are registered to vote,” added another
panellist, Irene Petras of International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law. Many
people will know her from her days as Executive Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights.
There is no denying that there are not quality leaders on
both sides of Zimbabwe’s political divide and there will never be, as long as
politics remains the exclusive domain of the corrupt, incompetent and ruthless thugs.
Quantity is a poor substitute for quality; that is common sense, but clearly
not so common amongst some Zimbabwean intellectuals!
12 comments:
“There is need to have a united force and there is need to have and a need to have an organized force in the opposition and there is need to invest heavily and ensure that people are registered to vote,” said Irene Petras.
We have heard that one said a thousand times but is the opposition is corrupt and incompetent what good will unity bring?
Does Zapu believe the elections are going to be free, fair and credible? We are sick and tired of idiots who participate in elections, ignoring all the evidence that the elections are flawed, and then complain of rigged elections after the fact?
Last week, Retired Brigadier and Foreign Affairs minister, Moyo said President Mnangagwa would hand over power to the winner in the event that he lost the forthcoming elections.
No one will be impressed by that rubbish when the regime is clearly determined to rig the elections. Minister Moyo was arguing the regime did not need to end its monopoly of the public media because it now allowed BBC and CNN to report from Zimbabwe. It is pleasing to note the EU has made it clear this idiotic arrangement is not good enough!
EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, emphasised the importance of having a legal framework which promotes freedom of expression, freedom of the media and freedom of assembly among others as the country heads towards the forthcoming polls.
The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) has confirmed that its members will embark on a strike when schools open for the second term on the 8th of May 2018, revealing that teachers will only return to work when government concedes to their demands.
Teachers demands include an increase in their salary, lifting of the suspension for vacation leave and increases in teachers' allowances as agreed in 2013.
The teachers must not allow themselves to be bullied into silence. The Zanu PF regime is wasting billions of dollars in looted wealth and the leaders themselves are some of the richest individual on earth and yet the regime refuses to pay workers a living wage.
What VP Chiwenga did with the firing of nurses is a classic example of the big bad wolf accusing lambs drinking water down stream of mudding its drinking water! The VP lives in a mansion, has a fleet of posh cars, his wife has just invaded a farm to add to the many he has, etc., etc. and he fires nurses for asking for wage increase on their $284 per month slave-wages in a country where the bread line is $600 per month!
"Vote splitting benefits Zanu PF!" this is just recycled hen-teeth tales that did not make sense when the first surfaced and still do not make sense now, especially in the presidential race. To win in the first round the candidate must get 50% plus 1 of the cast votes. If the opposition share amongst themselves the 50% plus 1 it will not matter because they will still stop Zanu PF getting the prize! In the run-off they will win.
In March 2008 Tsvangirai got 73% of the vote and still he did not get the presidency, proof our elections are flawed.
Instead of confronting this problem of rigged elections some people with lazy minds have looked for the easy solution such as calling for a united opposition, call for increased voter participation, etc., etc.
SADC leaders have already said that Zimbabweans should not go into the elections without first implementing the reforms designed to stop vote rigging. We are in this political and economic mess because we have become masters of burying our heads in the sand or doing the foolish thing!
It is impossible to hold free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to take away Zanu PF's carte blanche powers to rig the vote. Why are we taking our eyes that ball waste our time on trivial matters that will be irrelevant anyway if the elections were free and fair!
@Bushe
There is no way these elections can be free, fair and credible without first implementing the reforms! The Junta is banking on rigging the elections and hoping that the world will pretend to be blind, deaf and dumb just as the world did during Gukurahundi, past rigged elections, Operation Murambatsvina, etc.
Whilst there is nothing we can do now to stop these elections going ahead our focus must now be on making sure the whole world see the process for what it is - a flawed and illegal process designed to deny the ordinary people their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. We must demand here and now, we do not need to wait for the flawed process to run its flawed course, that these elections must be declared null and void!
@ Chiwepu
With unemployment at 90% it is a forlorn hope that the unemployed will now get a job by replacing the sacked teachers and nurses. The unemployed should be joining the striking workers in demanding a more just distribution of the nation's wealth and the restoration of all the individual freedoms and rights.
Only fools, like Sydney would encourage the tyrannical regime to suck the workers hoping they will benefit from it! Progress will be made by making sure the system works for all its citizens and not just the filthy rich ruling elite. That the oppressed should be fighting over crumble, as you said, is retrogressive, not progress, since it will only encourage those in power to become even more oppressive and greedy.
Supa Mandiwadzira "Shasha yebudiriro!" This is just too much!
The country is in total economic meltdown because people like Mandiwadzira have been robbing the nation blind and yet they claim to have brought about unparalleled development. Worse still, they want to be elected back into power so they can continue the looting in the name of development. People should not bother asking what development he will bring because he has no clue!
In March 2008 Morgan Tsvangirai got 73% of the votes and that was not good enough for him to win. As long as Zanu PF continues to enjoy such decisive vote rigging powers it is naive to think the regime can rig the vote and some how lose the elections!
MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote and they failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.
Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections because there were held with no reforms in place. Not even one reform was implemented since then and it is obvious Zanu PF is rigging these elections again. After 38 years of rigged elections we need to think outside the box to break this vicious cycle of rigged elections and Zanu PF tyrannical rule!
People like Chamisa keep talking of "having stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections" but will never say what these measures are. Why is he so coy about spelling them out, after all most of these measures will need the active participation of the voters to work? Why has the MDC not implemented these measures in the past? There are no such measures, this is just another feeble excuse by MDC to participate in flawed and illegal elections!
We must be smart and bold enough to stand up and reject this madness of participating in elections we know are flawed!
Are the elections in`zuimbabwe going to be free, fair and credible?
With not even one meaningful reform in place, the answer has to be a big NO!
In the March 2008 vote, Tsvangirai polled 73% and still that was not good enough for him to win. In the run-off Zanu PF turned on the violence to overturn the earlier defeat into a 84% victory for Zanu PF. The 2008 election showed just how much vote rigging power Zanu PF has. The fact that Zanu PF is relatively more popular now that Mugabe has been booted out and the opposition vote has fragmented will work in Zanu PF's favour in that the party will not need to turn on some of its vote rigging schemes to the same level as in 2008. Still there cannot be any doubt that these elections are NOT going to be free, fair and credible.
These elections are being held with no free media, no verified voters' roll, no transparency in the political party funding, with key state institutions like ZEC, Police and Army all but departments of Zanu PF in all but name, etc.. Zanu PF has deployed the Chiefs, war veterans and Army personal to intimidate the rural voters; etc. The very fact that the elections are not free and fair has scarred away would be investors and so Zimbabwe's economic meltdown will continue.
We all know that these elections are NOT going to be free, fair and credible and for that reason we must declare them null and void. To turn a blind eye to the flawed process just because the opposition is in disarray is to completely miss the point. After all one of the reason why the opposition is weak is because the Zanu PF dictatorship has stifled meaningful debate and democratic competition making it impossible for quality leaders to emerge on both sides of the political divide.
The Zimbabwe body politics is like a dam, once upon a time it was full of fish and all manner of animals thrived and it supported a health and thriving community. The Zanu PF autocracy has choked the river with silt, sewage and pollutants; the foul-smelling water has killed off all the fish. Zimbabwe politics is dangerous, organised and run by ruthless thugs; one needs to be a ruthless thugs just to survive and it is little wonder then that our political leaders are all, without exception, corrupt, incompetent and thugs in their own right.
It is very disappointing when supposedly intellectual Irene Petras make heavy weather of the fog of confusion and lack of unity of purpose in the opposition camp.
1) We all know that the opposition is full of brainless individuals who have proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent. The MDC leaders sold-out during the GNU, what more proof do these people want that we are dealing with the scum of Zimbabwe, devoid of common sense and not the crème de la crème.
2) Zanu PF itself has just been tearing itself apart in the dog-eat-dog that culminated, first, in the "baby dumping" of Joice Mujuru and her supporters and then followed by the Shakespearian dramatic events of November last year. Mugabe fired Mnangagwa only to be rudely awakened two weeks later with the savage probing of an AK47 Rifle up his butt!
There is disarray in the opposition camp, that is true but nothing compared to the disarray in the ruling party, Zanu PF. The only reasons there has always been some semblance of unity in Zanu PF is because Mugabe has always used the patronage system to buy the members' blind loyalty. The patronage systems is the root cause of the gross mismanagement and rampant corruption and by stubbornly and these problems have grown and spread like cancers because Mugabe refused to end the system.
Mnangagwa has gone after a few corrupt individuals around Mugabe but has done nothing to stop the looting by VP Chiwenga and other Army leaders, for example.
During the GNU, when Morgan Tsvangirai had some patronage leverage in the form of ministerial appointments and the party was awash with cash, he too had no problem uniting MDC.
Zanu PF members are united in their determination to rig the elections and retain power at all cost, so they can continue to loot and, for a number of them with a very dirty past, to make sure their past is never ever allowed to come out. "Let bygones be bygones!" President Mnangagwa has said often these last five months.
The disarray in the opposition is a product of the poisoned political system that Zanu PF has fostered on the nation. Vote rigging is just another dimension of the failed political system. We should be concerned with the uprooting of the corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship and not rewarding it for successfully undermined the country's politic so there is no alternative party to Zanu PF.
The most effective and thorough way of uprooting the Zanu PF dictatorship is to demand the holding of free, fair and credible elections! After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule, we should not be surprised if people elected the opposition regardless of the disarray, just to effect regime change. Zanu PF is fearful of that reality hence the reason it is rigging these elections. Our first task is to make sure Zanu PF does not get away with another rigged election. Calling for opposition unity is a trivial matter of no consequence!
You mean Zanu PF has a vote rigging juggernaut? No one is denying that and hence the reason why we should implement the democratic reforms BEFORE the elections. No one, not even those who have the liberation war credentials have the rig to deny anyone their right to a free, fair and credible vote.
Just because we have corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians who failed to get even one reform implemented even when they had the golden opportunity to do so does not mean Zanu PF has the right to rig elections.
Mark my words and mark them well; Zanu PF is RIGGING these elections just as it has rigged past elections. The subtle but very important difference is that, unlike in the past, the regime is NOT going to get away with vote rigging. Not this time!
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