“The (November 2017) coup has been over taken by events and there has been an election in between, the disputed results notwithstanding. It is what it is and now we must focus on getting Zimbabweans to have a good and sober look around and re-examine their potential choices for 2023,” said Albert Gumbo. He is the secretary general of Alliance for People's Agenda (APA) led Dr Nkosana Moyo.
“The elected must govern and if they can't, they must be voted out at the next election!”
Dr Moyo was one of the 23 presidential candidates in Zimbabwe’s 31st July 2018 harmonised elections. The parliamentary and local elections were an equally hotly contested affairs. Zanu PF went on to win the presidential race and 2/3 majority in parliament, the result was never in doubt as it was clear the party was going to rig the elections and did.
Of course, it is most infuriating that Zimbabwe’s corrupt, incompetent and sell-out opposition politicians continue to refuse to acknowledge a simple historic fact that Zanu PF rigs elections and it is therefore nonsensical to keep talking of the people voting the regime out of office. After 40 years of rigged elections under our belt they still pretend they have no clue what constitutes free, fair and credible elections!
Of course, Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections. The regime deny 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora a chance to register and vote, a very significant number since Mnangagwa claimed victory with 2.4 million votes. There was no free and independent media. But most notable of all, the regime failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a legal and common sense requirement!
The opposition candidates not only knew that Zanu PF was blatantly rigging the elections but, worst of all, they also knew that by participating in the elections regardless, they would give the process “credibility”.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” wrote MDC Alliance senator David Coltart in his book.
“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.”
So the opposition gave Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal election process credibility and, by extension, the results the modicum of legitimacy! Zanu PF offered the opposition politicians the few gravy train seats as their reward for participating and giving the regime legitimacy.
Since the rigged 2018 elections Zanu PF has not implemented any democratic reforms and, as we can see, the opposition are gearing to participate in the next elections. And with no reforms in place Zanu PF is certain to rig the elections and we will be back in the situation we are in today and have been for the last 40 years - stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.
The settled Zimbabwe election cycle is Zanu PF rigging elections, the opposition paying lip service to demanding reform, no reforms are implemented, the opposition participate giving legitimacy to yet another Zanu PF rigged elections and so back to a new cycle. If we are to break this vicious cycle we must fight on two fronts:
- we must stand firm in rejecting Zanu PF’s legitimacy, the party rigged the 2018 elections, it has no mandate to govern and must step down to allow the appointment of a competent body to implement the reforms and hold free and fair elections. By refusing to step down, Zanu PF is holding the nation to ransom and has done this for donkey years now. That is totally unacceptable.
- we must expose the corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians for the sell-out they are. The people of Zimbabwe must now wake-up to the political reality that opposition leaders are now running with the povo hare and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds.
We can be 100% certain that if Zanu PF is in power until 2023, the party will rig the elections. We can also be 100% certain that Zimbabwe's opposition parties, all 130 of them at the last count, will participate in the flawed and illegal elections. It is incumbent on us to make sure the next elections are free, fair and credible.
“If Zanu PF have failed to govern, vote them out in 2023!” The people have failed to do so these last 40 years precisely because Zanu PF rigs elections. The only reason why the opposition politicians refuse to acknowledging that Zanu PF rigs elections is they are now working in cahoots with the regime!
7 comments:
@ Nomazulu
“We are taking note of all the money that has been looted by the government. We shall demand that money back to rebuild the nation. With the assistance of international bodies like the UN, we shall be able to account for all the nations revenues in foreign banks and shall ask the host countries to repatriate all the looted money to rebuild the nation and even in the position to pay our domestic and foreign debt with looted revenues,” you said.
I totally agree, we must not leave one stone unturned in our efforts to recover the country’s looted. Sadly, many African leaders have expressed their outrage at the extend of corruption and promised to recovered the loot but only to forget their promise as soon as they were in power. Instead of recovering the looted wealth they were distracted with their own looting.
The Zanu PF thugs who are blaming Tendai Biti for encouraging the Americans to put Kuda Tagwirei on the sanctions list have no shame. They should be thanking Biti and his MDC friends for forgetting to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU - they were distracted by the gravy train good life. Many of the Zanu PF thugs would have lost the looted money and booted out of their Blue Roof mansions by now if MDC leaders had not sold-out.
I can well imagine why both Zanu PF thugs and MDC sell-outs will never want you, Nomazulu, in any position of power and authority; you are too principled to be bribed and will make their lives hell by going after their looted wealth! The Zanu PF thugs who have been shedding buckets of crocodile tears over sanctions will be shedding buckets of blood after losing all their loot as they await trial for all the innocent blood on their hands.
How naive! Investors are shrewd lot, they will not invest their money in country where corruption and mismanagement are rife. Even if Tendai Biti had lied and told the world there is no corruption, just as the Zanu PF thugs and apologists have done, do you really thing the investors would not have found out the truth by now? Tendai Biti is no more than the lambs drinking water down stream whom the bad wolf is blaming for mudding the water he is drinking!
The real surprise here is that we still have people who are so naive and gullible they still believe Zanu PF propaganda nonsense; they still believe it is possible for one down stream to muddy the water up stream! With such a naive and gullible electorate it is little wonder the country is in a mess.
What is happening in Belarus could not happen in Zimbabwe because whilst the opposition in Belarus have been genuinely fighting expected for free, fair and credible elections; the same cannot be said about Zimbabwe’s opposition. The ordinary voters in both countries are hungry for change and so are the opposition leaders in Belarus but not in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the MDC, were genuinely, if at all, committed to fighting for free, fair and credible elections before they got into power in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Once in power they were bamboozled, bewitched, beguiled, swept off their feet, you name it by wealth, creaturely comfort and possibilities power brought. Morgan Tsvangirai and his banded mongoose MDC friends were convinced they had made is, they were now fully fledged members of Zimbabwe’s ruling elite.
Tsvangirai and company were smart enough to know implementing the democratic reforms would take away the ruling elite’s absolute power and give it back back to the people. The banded mongoose would feel the loss power and all it brought more cutely, as the new initiates, than their Zanu PF counterparts who had been enjoy power for years. And so they abandoned implementing reforms. They would keep the dictatorship but only as long as they are assured of their position as the ruling elite and their principle task from henceforth would be to maximised their share of the spoils of power.
At the end of the GNU in 2013, Tsvangirai and company were not particularly worried that they had failed to implement even one democratic reform because they believed the party had so much public support Zanu PF rigging would never be enough to overhaul MDC’s majority. The banded mongoose were genuinely surprised when Zanu PF romped home with the presidency and 2/3 majority in the 2013 elections.
Having wasted the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the GNU MDC leaders knew they had gambled and lost. MDC leaders now considered themselves the country’s bonafide ruling elite or be it the main opposition. They consider themselves one election away from inheriting Zimbabwe’s de facto one-party dictatorship, they would certainly not implement the democratic reforms if they should ever get into power. They would want to use the dictatorial powers to consolidate their own long stay in power.
The smaller opposition parties like Dr Nkosana Moyo and his APA have accepted the current political set up in which Zanu PF retains the power to rig elections and gives away a few gravy train seats to the opposition to entice them to participate. Dr Moyo is content to fight for the bait seats and, who knows, one day be the main opposition and, God willing, the ruling party!
I totally agree, the way forward for Zimbabwe is a complete overhaul of the country’s rotten political system. We cannot trust Zanu PF and any of the 130 opposition parties who participated in the July 2018 elections to reform the system because they are part of the rot.
We need a new GNU but one in which Zanu PF, MDC or any of the political parties who participated in the 2018 elections play a part. No thank you!
@ Michael Ndlovu
“True that they tell us to vote knowing very well that it’s a waste of time elections are rigged all they want is a few jobs for themselves and parties fund. Useless oppositions.”
I once witness a witnessed a scuffle between a “chicken” bus conductor and “loader”, call him A. The scuffle was over a passenger whom the loader was stopping getting on the bus and telling to wait for another different bus. The bus conductor was being roughed up as some of the young men around had taken the side of the load. Peace was quickly restored when another young man, call him B and two or three others took the side of the bus conductor. Before the bus left, the conductor gave B a generous tip.
The bus conductor got the message: if he did not want to be roughed up he must engage the services of a “loader”.
A and B were both bus loaders who depended on the tips from the bus conductors and to make sure their services are appreciated they cooperate and rough up the bus conductors who try to dispense with the services of the loaders!
Zanu PF and MDC leaders have certainly learned that is is in both their interest to make sure no democratic reforms are implemented giving power to the people; as the ruling elite, they must retain political power. Zanu PF will retain the power to rig elections as long as they allow MDC to win a few gravy train seats. Zanu PF will rig the elections and even rough up the people to get what they want. MDC will, like the hen after the eagle, make a big farce about holding Zanu PF to account and implementing reforms etc. enough to convince the public MDC is fighting in their corner.
The current fighting between Mnangagwa and Chamisa is the latter demanding cabinet position for himself and a few other MDC leaders. MDC are not happy with just 1/3 of the gravy train seats, they want more!
Anyone who thinks that MDC will ever implement the democratic reform and deliver free, fair and credible elections is not just naive, he/she is insane! The closer MDC leaders get to power they more reluctant they get to implementing the reforms because they see themselves as the one set to inherit the dictatorship.
@ World Council of Churches
“While we understand the gravity of the challenges posed by the pandemic, we also recognize that the root causes of corruption and the longstanding failure to protect human rights lie in failed governance structures,” you said.
You are spot on there; the root cause of Zimbabwe’s seeming unending economic and political crisis is bad governance. What the country needs is a complete overhaul of the country’s rotten political system. Since we cannot trust Zanu PF to carry out the required reforms, the party will never reform itself out of office, we must demand that the regimes steps down so we can appoint an interim administration that will implement the reform.
There are those who are calling for a new GNU in which Zanu PF will play the leading role, this is just a move to keep the party in power to appease the party leaders. After 40 years of appeasing Zanu PF and with the country in deep trouble, the country is crying for a working solution, a solution to serve the interests of the nation and the “least of these”. It will be unforgivable to betray the nation to appease the ruling elite.
Court orders Beatrice Mtetwa's practicing certificate to be cancelled.
This is the state abusing its power and authority to harass the ordinary citizen. It the regime had not accused Mtetwa of contempt of court it would have been half a dozen of other things, equally trivial.
A few weeks ago the state arrest the three MDC ladies and first accused them of attending a rally in violation of lockdown rules and then they were accuse of faking their abduction. They ended up in Chikurumbi for that!
Chin'ono is himself in Chikurubi Prison accused of inciting violence when allhe did was reveal the US$ 60 million Drax Scandal.
Now the state is harassing Mtetwa and her real crime was to dare defend "enemies" of the regime.
THE MDC Alliance is hopeful that South African envoys will be able to nudge President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF to finally hold much-needed dialogue with the opposition and other key stakeholders to end Zimbabwe's decades-old political crisis.
So hopeful is the Alliance, that it was apparently persuaded not to escalate its grievances against Mnangagwa and the government to the just ended 40th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) - which was held virtually.
We all know what MDC leaders want, a new power sharing arrangement to get them back on the gravy train. They know Mnangagwa will never agree to implementing any meaningful democratic reforms and they are pretending that MDC will force him to. MDC leaders failed to get even one reform implemented during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and they will do no better now.
MDC sold-out last time and they are just itching to do so again. President Ramaphosa must ask Ncube why MDC failed to implement even one reform last time!
What Zimbabwe needs is to get Zanu PF to step down so the country can finally get the reform implemented. The people of Zimbabwe want a solution to the crisis, not another fudge to appease and please the country’s corrupt ruling elite!
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