It is said that Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s leading figures in the fight for America’s independence and in the birth of the new nation was asked at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention what sort of government the delegates had created. "A republic, if you can keep it.” he answered.
The Republic of Zimbabwe with a multiparty democratic constitution was born out of the 1979 Lancaster House Talks. With hindsight, it will be fair to say Zimbabweans lost the Republic before they even had the chance to see it.
It is no secrete that Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF colleagues, one of the powerful grouping at the Talks, wanted Zimbabwe to be a socialist country, a one-party state. They signed on to the multiparty democratic constitution but with no intention of honouring it.
It was agreed that all combatant operatives would be withdrawn from the field to designated assembly points during the campaigning period, for example. Zanu PF did not withdraw all its Freedom Fighters and their campaign message to the voters was that the civil war would continue if Zanu PF lost the elections.
So instead of the 1980 elections being free, fair and credible it was a grime choice; vote to end the war or to continue it! The people voted to end the war and with that vote lost the Republic. The victorious Zanu PF has systematically undermined the democratic institutions and constitution to create a de facto one-party dictatorship that has ruled the nation these last 40 years.
Back in 1980, there was no way the ordinary Zimbabweans would have stopped the Zanu PF juggernaut; when you looking up the business end of an AK47 rifle you do not argue with the one wielding it.
Some people have argued that Zanu PF wielded the AK47 just to frighten the populous into submission; the party had no intention of using brute force. This notion was disproved with the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre in which over 20 000 innocent Zimbabweans were murdered in cold blood to force PF Zapu to sign the Unity Accord and pave the way for the imposition of the de facto one party dictatorship.
Zanu PF has murdered over 10 000 more innocent Zimbabweans since 1987 in its drive to retain the dictatorship. Mnangagwa killed 7 in August 2018 and 17 in January 2019 and injured many others to silence dissent following the rigged July 2018 elections and protests over the worsening economic situation.
Still, there have been many opportunities, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, for the people to reassert their freedoms and rights, end the dictatorship and restore the Republic. The MDC, the party entrusted the task of implemented the democratic reforms during the GNU, sold-out.
It was easy for MDC leaders to not only sell-out during the GNU and after but, worse still, get away with it again and again all because the people themselves have no clue what the required democratic reforms are much less how they are to be implemented. Even now with the benefit of hindsight, they still have no idea what the Republic is much less how to keep it!
Many Zimbabweans do not know what constitute free, fair and credible elections and hence their failure to condemn the July 2018 elections as having been rigged. Why anyone would fail to see the production of a verified voters’ roll as a pre-requisite for free and fair elections in this day and age; beggars belief.
Zanu PF is once again taking full advantage of the people’s failure to fight for their freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections to drag the nation into yet another meaningless 2023. The party has not implemented even one token democratic reform and has no intention of doing so as long as it remains in power. With no reforms in place, Zanu PF is certain to rig the 2023 elections.
Each generation has its own trial and tribulation. The greatest challenge of the post independence generation was to ensure Zimbabwe was a healthy and functioning democracy in which the freedoms and rights of all were safe guarded and honoured. Like it or not we failed ourselves and the nation.
Is there any hope of Zimbabweans dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship and finally replacing it with a health and functioning Democratic Republic? There is always hope but only if we finally learn what constitute free and fair elections, rule of law and all the other basic requirements of a Democratic Republic.
It is fair to say in 1980 Zimbabweans got a republic in the morning but by noon they had already lost it. Zanu PF replaced the republic with a socialist dictatorship and the people were none the wiser. The people failed to hold on to the republic because they did not know what it was then. They should know now!
After 40 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship the nation must now be clamouring for meaningful democratic change! When all is said and done, it is up to us, Zimbabweans, whether Zimbabwe remains a corrupt and oppressive dictatorship or finally become a free and democratic nation.
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