"POLAD is right but must include MDC" argue EU - no EU would take such foolish advice W Mukori

"We think POLAD (Political Actors Dialogue) is important in its own right. It's good that political parties are discussing, but obviously, we are missing the second largest political party and the biggest contender in the last election. I think it's a major handicap to those discussions," said Timo Olkkonen European Union Ambassador to Zimbabwe.

"We have been discussing with the government about the reform agenda hoping that it will move forward, that we will have reforms on the political side. We are looking at the legislative agenda and also other issues and I think a lot of issues about how Zimbabwe is perceived and I have to say that its recent perceptions about limitations of democratic space and human rights violations are not helping because one has to remember that the reason why the restrictive measures were put in place were related exactly to these same issues," he said.

No Mr Ambassador, POLAD is a waste of time and opportunity both of which Zimbabwe can ill afford to waste. Zimbabwe is in this economic mess and political paralysis because the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship for 39 years and now, with the nation’s stability and survival at stake, the country needs to end the dictatorship a.s.a.p. Polad, even with MDC included, will only help Zanu PF to remain in office till 2023 and beyond!

The then VP Mnangagwa, ZDF Commander Chiwenga and many of their fellow Joint Operation Command (JOC) members dubbed their November 2017 coup “Operation Restore Legacy”. In his first speech, on his return from exile in SA, to thank his co-coup plotters, Mnangagwa made it clear what that legacy was.

“Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga!” (Zanu PF will rule! And rule!) thundered Mnangagwa to a rapturous applaud from his Zanu PF cronies!

Ever since Zimbabwe gained her independence in 1980 Zanu PF’s number one priority was to secure absolute power and retain it at all cost. Indeed, the party deployed a large contingent of its freedom fighters throughout the country contrary to the Lancaster House agreement stipulation to have all such personal in Assembly Points. The fighters’ message to the electorate was that if Zanu PF lost the elections then the civil war would continue.

So, instead of free, fair and credible elections the nation was presented with a grime choice of voting to end the war.

Anyone who thought Zanu PF was just bluffing about carrying on with the war; they had their answer when the party launch the Gukurahundi massacre in 1983!

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess because for the last 39 years the nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and lawless regime. The people could not remove it from office because the party rigged elections and regularly used wanton violence to silence all dissent.

When Mnangagwa and his putsch seized power in 2017 they appreciated the need to revive the country’s comatose economy and so they promised to hold free, fair and credible elections, to end corruptions, etc. They had just risked everything to wrestle power from Mugabe and restore their legacy; they were not going to risk losing it in free and fair elections! And so, it was not surprising that Zanu PF once again blatantly rigged last year’s elections.

“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner,” the EU Election Observer Mission final report stated.

“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.”

The election process was flawed and illegal; Zanu PF does not have the democratic mandate to govern Zimbabwe. In the EU or anywhere where free, fair and credible elections are valued as a pre-requisite to stability and good governance Zanu PF would have been declared illegitimate. Period!

The main reason Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies have been able to rig the elections and impose themselves is because Zimbabwe’s opposition gave the regime the excuse. By participating in the flawed and illegal elections, knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging them, the opposition gave the process some credibility. What is more, the opposition understood they were doing so too!

“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,” confessed Senator David Coltart in his Book The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe.

Senator Coltart blamed the MDC factions’ failure to form a coalition for participating in the 2013 elections. This was just a feeble excuse because four of the main factions did form a coalition before the 2018 elections and yet they still participated.

POLAD, with or without MDC, is just another excuse not to challenge the Zanu PF legacy and allow the illegitimate regime to remain in office. As long as Zanu PF remains in power the party will never implement any reforms to undermine its dictatorial rule. If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 the party will go on to rig that year’s elections too!

The EU was right in condemning last Zimbabwe’s last year elections because the process was marred with flaws and illegalities. The EU would be making a very serious mistake to endorse these futile political dialogues because they are just another excuse for allowing Zanu PF to get away with another rig elections.

With unemployment a nauseating 90%, basic services such as health care all but collapsed, ¾ of the population now living on US$30 or less a month, etc. The country’s economic meltdown is causing heart-breaking human suffering and deaths and the nation is standing on the edge of the precipice, of social instability and worse.

After 39 years of appeasing Zanu PF with the disastrous economic and political consequences we can all see; the people Zimbabwe must finally bite the bullet and deal with this curse of rigged elections. This Zanu PF regime is illegitimate, and it must step down. Period!