When MDC was launched in 1999 the
party’s mission was simple and straightforward: to bring about the democratic
change to end the corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, as
the party’s name implied. There is no doubt that MDC had its golden opportunity
to implement the democratic reforms and fulfil its mission during the 2008 to
2013 GNU.
Sadly, MDC leaders failed to get even
one reform implemented in five years. Not even one! Mugabe was able to bribe the
entire MDC leadership with generous salaries and allowances, ministerial limos,
former white-owned farm for Welshman Ncube, a $4 million Highlands mansion for
Tsvangirai, etc. and they, in return, ditched all the reforms. Everyone of the
reforms!
Not only did MDC leaders fail to
implement even one democratic reform during the GNU but worse still, ever since
the GNU they have behaved as if all the reforms were implemented. They have
participated in elections whilst paying lip service to calls for the
implementation of reforms.
“MDC has stringent measures to stop
Zanu PF rigging elections!” said Nelson Chamisa dismissively, clearly irritated
by those demanding to know why MDC was participating in the elections when it
was self-evident, without reforms, Zanu PF would rig the elections. Zanu PF
went on to blatantly rig the 2018 elections, as expected.
The Americans, Commonwealth, the EU and
all the individuals, nations and organisations with any credible democratic
credentials have all dismissed last year’s elections as a farce. “The electoral
commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an
impartial manner,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
“The final results as announced by
the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate
traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on
political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of
human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive
aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections
in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
It is therefore shocking that not
even one of the 130 opposition political parties and 23 presidential candidates
who participated in the elections have said anything the election process.
Chamisa has disputed Mnangagwa’s victory on the basis of the vote count and not
the process. Zimbabwe’s opposition parties and candidate have all accepted the
process was free, fair and credible and thus the result legitimate.
Obert Gutu, a deputy MDC minister
during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, had the audacity to claim Zimbabwe was a “multi-party
democracy”. Prompting Nomusa Garikai to ask: “When did the metamorphosis from
the dictatorship to a democracy happened?”
Sadly, it is now that MDC leaders are stepping
up their campaign to falsely claim Zimbabwe is now a democracy.
“National Peace Trust (NPT)
Chairperson and founding member of the MDC, Mrs Sekai Holland has implored the
diplomatic community to help Zimbabweans find each other, instead of dividing
the nation through statements based on unverified information,” reported ZBC.
“The European Union (EU) and other
western nations have recently accused the government of not respecting human
rights, amid reports of alleged abductions of human rights activists and
opposition members.
“But the former Co-Minister of State
for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, Mrs Holland dismissed the
claims, arguing that ‘some of the statements border on falsehoods,
misinformation and outright malice.'
"It is our hope that the role of
the diplomatic community at this stage is to help all Zimbabweans find their
space and role in contributing towards the peace-building initiative through
constructive and impartial interventions instead of sowing seeds of
disharmony," she said.
Madam, it is not the members of the
diplomatic corps who are sowing seed of disharmony, suffering, death and
destruction in Zimbabwe; it MDC leaders who sold-out on implementing the
reforms and are now propping up the Zanu PF dictatorship by pretending Zimbabwe
is a healthy and functional democratic nation.
Zanu PF blatantly rig last year’s
elections confirming that Zimbabwe is still the same pariah state ruled by
corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs who ruled before the
2008 GNU. MDC leaders were supposed to end the dictatorship but failed to do
so. Burying our heads in the sand is not going to get the nation out of this
mess.
Ever since the failed 2008 GNU MDC
leaders have abandoned their mission to deliver democratic change. They have
been running with the hare and hunting with the hounds; the sooner Zimbabweans
grasp this reality the sooner they can finally stop following MDC leaders
blindly like sheep to the slaughter and move on.
5 comments:
The one lesson MDC leaders learned during the 2008 to 2013 GNU was that they would enjoy the trapping of gravy-train lifestyle if they co-operate with Zanu PF. And for five years of the GNU, MDC leaders did co-operate with Zanu PF and they never had it so good!
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy gravy-train trappings of power; they will never rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies boasted during the GNU when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
Since the 2008 GNU, MDC leaders have certainly abandoned their mission to implement reforms and have been co-operating with Zanu PF. MDC leaders are the official opposition party in Zimbabwe but are not there to competent against Zanu PF to unseat let alone to dismantle the dictatorship; that would be asking for trouble. The whole Zanu PF juggernaut would be unleashed to ruthless crash the upstart. MDC leaders accept Zanu PF will rig the elections to win the majority and the presidency; they are content winning the few seats Zanu PF gives away as bait to the opposition.
Once upon a time when the opposition believed the people had political power; the competition in the opposition camp was over who would promise the most convincing democratic changes. When MDC failed to implement even one democratic reform, political power swung back to Zanu PF and Zanu PF has as much say in who wins the few gravy-train seats as the voters themselves and so the opposition found themselves in the unusual situation where they will have to please Zanu PF as well as the voters to win the few gravy-train seats.
Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti and all the others 23 presidential candidates and the 130 political parties who participated in last year's elections knowing that Zanu PF would rig the elections. They had all accepted their subordinate role, Zanu PF would win the majority seats by whatever means the party saw fit and they had to settle for the few bait seats Zanu PF gave away. They all pretended not to notice the blatant rigging because they did not want to antagonise Zanu PF.
In calling Zimbabwe a multi-party democracy or accusing the West of causing disharmony for criticising Zanu PF brutality both Gutu and Mrs Holland are going the extra mile to appease Zanu PF. Chamisa and other are actually not far behind them!
But the former Co-Minister of State for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, Mrs Holland dismissed the claims, arguing that ‘some of the statements border on falsehoods, misinformation and outright malice.'
"It is our hope that the role of the diplomatic community at this stage is to help all Zimbabweans find their space and role in contributing towards the peacebuilding initiative through constructive and impartial interventions instead of sowing seeds of disharmony," she said.
Zimbabwe is not a healthy and functioning multi-party democracy and these MDC leaders who sold-out during the last GNU by failing to implement even one reform have continued selling-out by pretending Zimbabwe is a democracy. They participated in last year's elections even when ZEC failed to produce something as basic for elections as voters' roll. And now they want to pretend Zanu PF is a legitimate regime upholding rule of law!
The people of Zimbabwe must wake-up to the political reality that MDC leaders are running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. They have been playing this dirty game of deceit for the last 10 years, ever since the 2008 GNU. If we want to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance; we need to get bad to basics and get the reforms implemented. MDC will never get any reforms implemented because they now belief Zimbabwe is a democratic nation!
The Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Senator Cain Mathema has warned the MDC and its surrogates against their threat to continue holding demonstrations.
In a statement, Senator Mathema said it is now clear that the MDC does not want law and order to prevail in the country.
I do not agree with MDC's demos because I do not believe the National Transition Authority they are calling for will deliver the democratic reforms the country needs. Indeed MDC leader have long abandoned reforms ever since they failed to get even one reform implemented during the last GNU. Still I believe they have the right to hold the demos.
Zanu PF is scared stiff of these demos because with the economy in a mess and with no sign of recovery the party fears that the demos will get out of hands because of the anger in society!
MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU because Mugabe bribed them with generous salaries and allowances, ministerial limos, former white-owned farm for Welshman Ncube, a $4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. The message from Mugabe was simple, loud and clear, join us on the gravy train and forget about the democratic reforms! MDC leaders understood the message, everyone of them without exception.
Ever since the disastrous GNU with its failure to implement even one reform, MDC leaders been reluctant to talk about reforms. MDC leaders want the nation to believe the new constitution addressed all the reforms needed and what is left now is the alignment of the laws to the new constitution, the fine tuning.
“Mugabe dictated the new constitution” boasted was Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF MP and co-chair of the parliamentary committee that drafted the constitution. It is therefore no surprise that the Zanu PF dictatorship is as strong now than it was before the new constitution. Only an idiot would believe that Mugabe would dictate a democratic constitution. All he did was give all the freedoms and human rights with all the usual song and dance with the right hand and take them all away with the left.
MDC leaders love reminding us all that the new constitution gives us all the right to hold peaceful demonstrations, for example. But they are not honest enough to admit the same constitution gave government the right to deny us that right!
The new constitution gives the president a lot of power and lacks the democratic checks and balances.
Dismantling the de facto Zanu PF one-party dictatorship entailed dismantling and restructuring the corrupted state institutions and not just drafting a new constitution. The new constitution was meant to cement the new structures as it is the new constitution was drafted to cement the corrupted institutions and it is no wonder it is utterly useless!
MDC leaders who pretend they implemented the democratic reforms and Zimbabwe is now a multi-party democracy, holding free, fair and credible elections are liars hiding behind their little fingers! But worst of all, these MDC leaders are now the ones frustrating those fighting for democratic change by backing Zanu PF’s falsehoods that Zimbabwe is a democracy, elections were free and fair, etc.
Sad that even with the economy in total economic meltdown these war veterans still think that there is wealth to be dished out to them so they can live in comfort. The Zimbabwe economy is in total economic meltdown because of 39 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule. The nation could not remove the failed regime because it rigged the elections.
For the country to get out of this economic mess we must now accept the Zanu PF dictatorship has failed to deliver economic prosperity and it must go!
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