MDC still blame SADC for 2008 GNU failure - expect miracles from new GNU P Guramatunhu

“We have been told on countless times that MDC failed to implement even one democratic reform when in fact it is common knowledge that all efforts to do the same were thwarted by Mugabe and his party. MDC was a junior partner and no fool can expect them to have performed miracles which even the broker failed,” commented Meikles Moyo.

A very common sentiment amongst MDC leaders and supports alike. Still, it is in fact a foolish argument put forward by those who would not accept that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent and are to blame for failing to implement even one reforms. 

Here are the three key steps in implementing the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU:

1. The first step was for one MP or a group of MPs to submit the proposed reforms on say the Police, to end the Zanu PF dictatorial control and restore their independence. Parliament would then debate the proposed reforms and refine them as they saw fit. 

1. The second step would be for parliament to submit the refined proposed reforms to the state president for his signature.

1. The third and final step was for parliament and the relevant authorities to implement the refined and now lawful reforms.

So what exactly did Mugabe and his party do to “thwart all efforts” to implement the reforms?

It is common knowledge that MDC leaders did not submit even one proposed reform in five years of the GNU. On the eve of the 2013 elections the then Zanu PF Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, called a press conference to which all Zimbabwe’s members of the diplomatic corp were invited. The sole purpose of the conference was to remind all that Zanu PF had done nothing to stop the implementation of any democratic reforms. 

“As Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, I know what parliament has been doing these last five years,” said Minister Chinamasa. “There was never any proposed reform from the opposition or anyone submitted in parliament. It is therefore not true that Zanu PF frustrated any reform efforts!”

In any case, if Mugabe and his party had indeed frustrated MDC leaders’ efforts to implement the reforms, then MDC should have gone straight to SADC, as the guarantor of the Global Political Agreement, and logged their complain. 

The only time MDC leaders complained to SADC was when Mugabe would not allow Tsvangirai to move into the house last occupied by then President Cannan Banana. Mugabe gave Tsvangirai the $4 million Highlands mansion and from there on MDC has never ever complained about anything. 

Indeed, it was SADC leaders, amongst many other, who had nagged MDC leaders on the need to implement the democratic reforms. With no reforms in place SADC leaders wanted the 2013 elections postponed.

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit,” explained Dr Ibbo Mandaza, a leading Zimbabwean publisher. 

“I went there. I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’. 

As we know MDC leaders paid no heed and participated in the 2013 elections with no reforms in place. Zanu PF, as we know went on to blatantly rig those elections. 

Five years latter 2018, MDC made exactly the same mistake and participating in the elections again without first implementing the reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. 

Mugabe entrapped MDC leaders with the generous salaries, ministerial limos, the $4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. They, in turn kicked the reforms into the prickly pear thicket! 

“MDC leaders were busy enjoying themselves they forgot why they were in the GNU!” remarked one SADC diplomat in sheer exasperate at the MDC’s failure to get even one reform implemented in five years! 

Everyone agrees that Zimbabwe needs to implement the democratic reforms if the country is even to end the curse of rigged elections, pariah state and bad governance. The real big challenge is who can be trusted to implement the reforms?

Not Emmerson Mnangagwa and his junta; they have an invested interest in making sure no reforms are ever implemented. They have managed to stay in power all these last 38 years because they rigged the elections. They are not going to reform themselves out of power. 

Not Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance; they all forgot about the reforms as soon as they took their gravy train seats last time. We can be 100% certain that they do the same again this time especially since many still blame SADC leaders for their own failures. 

“MDC was a junior partner and no fool can expect them to have performed miracles which even the broker failed!” Yeah right!

So why is Chamisa pushing hard for a new GNU in which he be once again a junior partner expected to perform miracles. And he is asking for the same failed broker, SADC? 

SADC, or whoever is going to be the next broker in the new GNU, must have Zimbabweans who know what the reforms are and are committed to getting them implemented. Zanu PF and MDC leaders have already shown that they do not care about the reforms and will never get any implemented even for the second time of asking. 

In any case one of the reasons why Zimbabwe is in this mess is this belief that the country cannot do without Zanu PF and/or MDC leaders even when they have already proven to be corrupt and incompetent they. Selecting other Zimbabweans to implement the reforms will send a clear message that Zimbabwe is not only seeking change but has already embraced change!