There is no doubt that
ever since the 2008 to 2013 GNU there was mutual understanding, a cordial
agreement, a “entente cordiale” as the French would say, struck between Zanu PF
and MDC. MDC was supposed to implement the raft of democratic reforms SADC
leaders had managed to get Mugabe to sign on to at the on-set of the GNU.
“The opposition MDC went
into the Government of National Unity (GNU) between 2009-2013 without a plan
and failed to utilise the opportunity, new party leader Nelson Chamisa has
admitted,” reported New Zimbabwe.
“We got in the inclusive
government and just sat there, spent five years in there. We came out without
doing anything. We will not do that, dialogue must have timelines that are very
clear, the international community must tick us, mark us on the boxes,” quoting
Chamisa
This was just a feeble
excuse; SADC leaders produced a roadmap and they did their best to remind MDC
leaders to follow the roadmap but were repeatedly ignored.
Robert Mugabe entrapped
the MDC leaders with very generous salaries and allowances, ministerial limos,
a former white-owned farm for senor Welshman Ncube, a $4 million Highlands
mansion for senor Tsvangirai, etc., etc. A down payment and Mugabe’s entente cordiale gesture;
proof, as far as the MDC leaders were concerned, that Zanu PF accepted them as
fully paid members of the exclusive rule elite.
Ditching implementing the
democratic reforms was the least MDC leaders could do to express their
gratitude to Robert Mugabe for his acceptance of the MDC leaders into the exclusive
ruling elite club. Afterall why would MDC leaders still want to implement the
reforms when they too stand to benefit from these undemocratic practices, now
that they are members of the ruling elite for life.
MDC leaders were warned
against participating in the 2013 elections without reforms, but they ignored
the warning. Tsvangirai was cocksure MDC would win that election regardless of the
vote rigging.
Tsvangirai knew Zanu PF
would rig the elections but, given the prevailing entente cordiale spirit, he was
cocksure he would win the 2013 elections. True enough the wanton violence and
barbarism of 2008 was gone, Zanu PF had taken its heavy boot off the wanton
violence pedal. True, the party stepped up its intimidation with party leaders
and operatives warning the populous that the 2008 violence would return if the
party was to lose the election. It was operation harvest fear.
Zanu PF stepped up the
more subtle vote rigging activities such as vote buying and jerrymandering the
voter registration and voting to give the party the edge. The number of polling
stations were increased from 2 000 in 2008 to 9 000 in 2013 and the regime
failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, for example. Still MDC leaders soldiered
on confident they would still win the 2013 elections.
Morgan Tsvangirai won 73% of
the vote in the March 2008 election, according to Mugabe’s Freudian slip, and
he went into the 2013 elections cocksure he will be elected president and MDC
will win the majority. He lost and so did his party! They were shocked but
helpless to do anything about it.
Tsvangirai and company
could not take Zanu PF to task for the blatant vote rigging when everyone who
understood what had happened throughout the GNU KNEW it was MDC leaders’ fault
that not even one reform was implemented in five years of the GNU. Not even
one!
MDC leaders knew they had
lost their chance to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU and with
it their political credibility.
Zanu PF was smart enough
to know the party will need MDC to continue participating in elections
regardless how flawed and illegal the process got if the party was to get away
with rigged elections. Zanu PF offered to let the opposition a few gravy-train
seats to entice them to participate. It worked like a charm!
There were a staggering 23
presidential candidates and no fewer than 130 political parties contested last
year’s elections. All the opposition candidate knew Zanu PF was going to rig
the elections because not even one reform was implemented since the 2013 rigged
elections.
Even when ZEC failed to
produce a verified voters’ roll and the number of polling station had gone up
to over 11 000; not even a team of wild horses would stop the opposition
candidate participating. Chamisa even boasted that “MDC had stringent measures
to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” Of course, he was lying. The opposition
candidates were after the few seats Zanu PF was giving away and did not care
that the elections were rigged!
In 2013 Zanu PF rigged the
elections and MDC leaders accepted the outcome without a farce; there are three
main reasons MDC leaders have made a big farce following the 2018 elections
with their demand for Mnangagwa to include MDC leaders in his cabinet.
a)
Chamisa feels
that he had gone the extra mile by participating in the elections even when it
was clear the elections were being rigged. He clearly believes that extra
effort is worthy of political recognition and rewarding. He is asking for a
ministerial position for himself and a few other MDC leaders.
b)
The EU,
Commonwealth and all the other election observers have condemned last year’s
election as a farce making the Zanu PF regime illegitimate. Although the MDC
has accepted the parliamentary process as legitimate the party’s continued
rejection of Mnangagwa as the legitimately elected president is unnerving Mnangagwa.
Chamisa is only taking advantage of the EU, etc. position to pressure Mnangagwa
to concede to his power sharing demands.
c)
By blatantly
rigging the elections, failing to do anything to stamp out corruption, etc.;
Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe, under his leadership, is still a pariah
state. There will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as the country
remains a pariah state.
Chamisa has offered to revive the economy, if Mnangagwa agreed to share
power. “I have the key to unlock the economy,” said Chamisa. He is bluffing, of
course; there will be no meaningful recovery as long as the country remains a
pariah state.
However, with the country’s economic meltdown going into overdrive,
Mnangagwa will be forced to go into the power sharing arrangement.
In 1939 Adolf Hitler and
Joseph Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact or Non-aggression and
Neutrality Pact. The pact included a secret protocol defining the borders of
Soviet and German "spheres of influence" in the event of possible
rearrangement of the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia,
Estonia, and Finland.
The Zanu PF and MDC
entente cordiale is every bit the Hitler-Stalin pact in which we the ordinary
Zimbabweans are the Poles, Lithuanians, etc. whose rights and freedoms are
being decided by the two parties and we have no say. The new GNU that MDC is
pushing for will secure cabinet positions for MDC but will not advance our
common cause of free, fair and credible elections one iota!
Zanu PF rigged last year’s
elections and so the regime is illegitimate. The regime must step down to allow
the appointment of competent body to implement the reforms and finally end this
curse of rigged elections. MDC is now working in cahoots with Zanu PF to remain
in power for each’s selfish gain. It is important that we end this cosy MDC and
Zanu PF entente cordiale that has brought nothing but suffering and death to us
all.
4 comments:
In the Zanu PF controlled print media, Chronicle, Herald, etc. and even more so in the electronic media, ZBC TV and Radio; there is only one voice to be heard that of Zanu PF leaders, their apologists and acolytes. These Zanu PF thugs will defend their freedoms and rights but will not hesitate to deny others the same freedoms and rights. When it comes to freedom of expression Zanu PF thugs believe they have the right to speak and to deny others the right to do so.
Farai Muvuti was given one minute to speak and he would talk for five minutes or more. When someone else started to talk he would interrupt before they have even spoken for a minute. He would continue talking over others resulting in a shouting march.
As much as one welcomes the right of everyone to be heard it is important that everyone agrees there are rules that must be obeyed or no one would be heard. Farai Muvuti must accept that he is not the only one who has the right to be heard and if he cannot obey that then he must be switched-off.
Zimeye is not ZBC and any attempt by these Zanu PF thugs to turn it into yet another media with the Zanu PF monologues must be resisted!
Ever since the 2013 elections MDC leaders have known that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and yet they have participated in the elections regardless. When Chamisa said "MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging elections!" He knew that was a lie, he just wanted to silence those questioning the wisdom of participating in elections knowing fully well the process is flawed and illegal.
Just a few weeks before nomination day last year, Chamisa vowed that he would not make the same fundamental mistake Morgan Tsvangirai made by going into the elections without something as basic as a verified voters' roll. It was one of the many red-line conditions the MDC demanded but only for them to disregard. Zanu PF leaders dismissed the threats with characteristic disdain and contempt! Zanu PF knew that MDC leaders were bluffing, put on a show to deceive the naive and gullible.
The Constitutional Court challenge of the election results was yet another carefully choreographed theatrical performance in which each knew the other’s weakness and acted accordingly to mutual benefit. There is no doubt that Chamisa and his team would have inflicted serious damage to the credibility of the election process if they had focused all their time and energy on proving the elections were a farce. They could and should have demanded the opening of the ballot boxes and carried out a forensic examination of the voters' roll there-in. They would have opened a can of worms which is why ZEC had pointed refused to release the voters’ roll.
There is no doubt that by participating the opposition gave the election process a lot of credibility. It is assumed that the opposition is not naive, corrupt and incompetent and yet in our case it is all those things. There is no doubt that MDC and Zanu PF are partners in the crime of denying the people their freedoms and human rights and share the spoils of the tyrannical rule.
There is a pact, entente cordiale, between Zanu PF and MDC to keep the former in power as long as the latter gets the scraps. If we are ever going to get the reforms implemented, then we must stop the proposed new GNU and disrupt this cordial partnership in crime!
Zanu PF must be forced to step down before 2023, that is the Holy Grail!
GOVERNMENT has awarded a 76% salary hike to its restive workers, a move which will see the lowest paid civil servant getting around $1 000 per month, but civil servants’ representative body, the Apex Council, yesterday described the increase as a drop in the ocean, given the rate of inflation in the country.
The increase comes after most civil servants had notified their employer of their incapacity to continue reporting for duty, with others threatening industrial action over the high cost of living.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube was warned that he should not let the iflation gene out of the bottle because once out there would be no putting it back; he did not listen. The Minister has approved the increased price of fuel, up 456% since January 2019; electricity, up 300% last month; hospital changes have gone up 800%; toll gate changes, up 500%; etc. Hyperinflation has soared to 760% or worse by now. It is therefore nonsense to award workers 76% wage increase, 10% of the going inflation rate!
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is the political paralysis. Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. No one wants to do business with thugs.
When Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections pressure should have been brought o bear on the regime to step down. It is infuriating that one of the most significant blocks who have undermined that initiative is none other than Zimbabwe’s corrupt and incompetent opposition. By participating in the flawed and illegal elections the opposition gave the process some credibility. Right now MDC is business piling the pressure on Mnangagwa to appoint Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders cabinet minister in return for MDC’s endorsement of Mnangagwa as legitimate.
This is not the first time MDC leaders have sold-out, they did so during the last GNU when they failed to get even one reform implemented in five years!
The country has no hope of ever getting the reforms implemented and holding free, fair and credible elections as long as we have sell-outs ready and willing to bargain away every chance for implementing the reforms for a share of the spoils of illegitimate power.
Why is Trevor Ncube calling for the lifting of sanctions when he should be calling for ending corruption. Corruption is be far the greater evil than sanctions. There is no doubt that the sanctions are helping to focus attention on Zimbabwe's other great problem of Zanu PF rigging elections. Zanu PF leaders and apologist want sanctions remove more because they are shining the spotlight on the rigged elections, they know sanctions have very little effect on the economy.
Until there are free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe, sanctions will stay!
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