“Mdc Alliance Namibia greatly appreciates and admires the historic innovation since the inception of the political behemoth to invade rural constituencies in preparation of the harmonised elections in 2023,” said MDC A Namibia District statement in support of party youths to target one million new rural voters in the #OneMillionCompaign.
“As a district, we are committed and dedicated to meaningfully contribute towards this noble cause since our Youths are the most vulnerable victims of Zanupf’s gross misgovernance. We applaud our Youth Assembly led by Chairperson commander Obey Tererai Sithole and his vibrant team for the initiative to fight vote apathy especially from our youths who treat themselves as second class citizens.”
The rural people are the poorest of the poor in Zimbabwe and, given Zanu PF is responsible for the country’s economic meltdown, one would expect the opposition to have no problems getting support from the rural voters. The exact opposition is in fact the case.
Zanu PF coercive tactics of using state assistance to buy votes backed by the use of brute force has reduced the rural voters into nothing but medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing landlords.
Before the 2018 elections Mnangagwa bought each and everyone of the country’s traditional chiefs a twin cab truck; at a time when many district hospitals did not have a working ambulance service, for example. Chief Fortune Charumbira, President of the Chief's Council, publicly proclaimed that all the chiefs will be campaigning for Zanu PF in the coming elections.
The Chiefs together with the Zanu PF operatives have harassed the rural voters forcing them to attend Zanu PF rallies and to vote for the party. This is normal practice in Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF’s 2/3 majority in parliament is from rural votes from the medieval serfs!
The prospect of holding the 2023 elections with no meaningful democratic reforms implemented is nauseating. The country must implement the democratic reforms to ensure Chief Charumbira and his fellow chiefs are forced to honour their constitutional obligations to be apolitical. The practice of politicising state aid must be stamped out.
It is not that the MDC leaders and their supporters do not know that of Zanu PF’s use of Chiefs and other blatant vote rigging political shenanigans; they do. They also know that Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut is more ruthless in the rural areas than in the urban areas hence the reason the urban centres have remain opposition strongholds.
To give the impression Zimbabwean elections are a free, fair and credible multi-party elections Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats, bait to entice them to participate in the flawed elections. What is worth noting here, that the opposition politicians were well aware this is a honey pot trap; one they found irresistible!
In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, MDC A Senator and Treasurer General, former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the 2008 GNU, gave details of how Zanu PF was flouting the electoral rules in the upcoming 2013 elections. It was clear the elections would not be free, fair and credible and yet MDC leaders participated in the elections.
“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 elections,” wrote Senator Coltart.
“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.”
Participating in the flawed elections not only gave the process credibility but also gave the vote rigging, per se, illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of legitimacy.
After the 2013 elections, MDC-T resolved at its next party congress not to participate in future elections until reform are implemented. “No reform! No elections!” All the other MDC factions endorsed the resolution.
As the 2018 elections draw near, the smell of honey was in the air, the “No reform! No election!” resolution was abandoned without even by your leave. A number of the MDC factions did form the MDC Alliance coalition to better their chance of winning the bait seats; boycotting elections was the last thing on their minds.
After the 2018 elections, MDC A has complained of Zanu PF stealing the elections, at least the presidential race, and has once again called for “implementation of comprehensive democratic reforms” BEFORE the 2023 elections.
As the 2023 elections approach, the smell of the honey will once again become irresistible, MDC A will participate in the elections with not even token reforms implemented. The campaign to recruit one million rural party supporters will just be one excuse for participating with no reforms implemented.
Without implementing the democratic reforms the rural voters will remain a medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing traditional Chiefs and other Zanu PF operatives. The 2023 elections must be free, fair and credible in which everyone, including rural voters, exercise their right to a meaningful vote fear or coercion.
“MDC A #OneMillionCompaign will fight rural voter apathy and treat themselves as second class citizens!” It is down right foolish to expect the rural voters who have been reduced into medieval serfs to vote freely especially it is none other than the MDC A that has repeatedly failed to implement the democratic reforms to end their bondage!
MDC A is gearing to participate in the 2023 with no reforms implemented; all talk of implementing reforms is the usual hot air. Whilst we cannot stop them, we can see to it no one is left in any doubt MDC A are doing this out of greed. Mnangagwa will never implement any reforms because he knows MDC will participate regardless, they opposition cannot resist the few gravy train seats bait, the honey pot trap.
During the 2008 to 2013 Zanu PF leaders learnt that the party will not have to implement any democratic reforms as long as it can bribe the MDC leaders to participate in flawed and illegal elections. Ever since, MDC has been running with povo hare, paying lip service to reforms, whilst hunting with the Zanu PF hounds, giving legitimacy to rigged elections.
The whole world must know that MDC A and all the opposition parties who participate in Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections have no politically credibility. None!
A discredited opposition cannot give credibility to the flawed and illegal election process. A discredited election process cannot give the vote rigging per se illegitimate Zanu PF regime even token legitimacy! Without reforms the 2023 elections will be null and void and, this time, Zanu PF’s illegitimacy will be beyond dispute!
What Zimbabwe needs to reset its failed political system is to implement the reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections. Ever since the 2008 GNU the greatest impediment to implementing the reforms is not Zanu PF thugs but MDC sell-outs. Stop MDC conniving with Zanu PF and the latter will have nowhere to hide and the nation will finally have the reforms implemented.
9 comments:
In what appears to be a divide and rule tactic aimed at quashing the strike by school teachers which is now in its third week, Government has given all Provincial Education Directors (PEDs) soft loans of RTGS$200 000, reliable sources have told The Mirror.
The payouts were doled out to the provincial heads of education and all directors at the Ministry headquarters in Harare.
Zimbabwe’s education service is all but dead!
@ Kufaruwenga
I cried because the will of the people may never see the light of day in my own country Zimbabwe.
No one, except the Zanu PF elites, enjoy what has become of this country.
No jobs, filth, no water in urban areas, no money, no healthcare, grand corruption, theft, incompetence, cronyism, nepotism, and all societal ills are the hallmark of Zanu PF and the country called Zimbabwe which Zanu PF has trampled into destitution.
No hope.
This has happened because the same political party responsible for the country’s demise controls all its institutions, institutions which are supposed to protect fairness.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, a dunce Judge called Luke Malaba who decides on Presidential election challenges, are both in Zanu PF’s pocket
You are spot on there, Zanu PF has destroyed this country. Still, I believe you failed to mention the role we, the ordinary, people have played in our own demise. There is no doubt that in the last 40 years, the country has had a number of good chances to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, and we have wasted them all.
Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement even one democratic reforms in the five years of the GNU. And we, the people, have not only failed to supervise the MDC leaders but many of us continue to follow the sell-outs blindly to this day!
Nations get the government they deserve, we deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF thugs complete with the equally corrupt and incompetent opposition parties. Until we learn the importance of electing good leaders you will be shedding buckets of tears!
MDC has failed to win power in the last 20 years not because voters failed to register but because Zanu PF rigged elections. MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and thus stop Zanu PF rigging elections. They failed to implement even one reform in 5 years.
MDC leaders have since settled for the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait to entice the opposition to participate in elections. MDC are now running with the povo hare and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds and people must wakeup to that political reality!
When the truth finally come out, it will come out, Zimbabwe's true corona virus cases and deaths will show the government has been lying about the spread of the virus, the real figures will be a lot worse than the official figures. I hope to God, those responsible for the lies will be held to account!
In his memoir Obama said President Trump ascended to power by stoking fears about a Black man leading the country, according to excerpts quoted by CNN.
“It was as if my very presence in the White House had triggered a deep-seated panic, a sense that the natural order had been disrupted,” he reportedly wrote.
“For millions of Americans spooked by a Black man in the White House, [Trump] promised an elixir for their racial anxiety.”
On Thursday, the two top congressional Democrats – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer – called on Republicans to “accept reality” with Joe Biden’s victory.
A small but growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill have congratulated Biden or backed calls for him to be given daily intelligence briefings – a usual practice for incoming presidents.
But most in the party are standing by President Trump in refusing to acknowledge Mr Biden’s victory.
The President-elect is 5.2 million votes ahead of Trump – about 3.4% – and is projected to have enough electoral votes needed in the state-by-state Electoral College to take the presidency.
There are reports Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to undermine the conservative network Fox News, whose once full-throated support he now feels lacking.
Trump’s repeated refusal to accept the democratic wishes to the people just because he lost the vote has just empowered despots the world over for generations to come!
Nelson Chamisa has put implementing “comprehensive democratic reforms to end the culture of contested result and illegitimacy” top of his to-do list ever since his failed Constitution Court challenge of the July 2018 rigged elections. This is just political posturing, he and MDC A have neither the strategic plan to have the reforms implemented nor political clout to see it through even if one was given to them in a silver platter.
MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. SADC leaders arm twisted Mugabe to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA), forcing the dictators to agree to the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms designed to end his dictatorial powers including the power to rig elections. Talk of a master plan to end the Zanu PF dictatorship in a silver platter, the GPA was that plan.
Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement even one reform in 5 years of the GNU because Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, the very generous salaries, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. To show their appreciation the MDC leaders throw reforms out of the window.
“MDC leaders were busy enjoying themselves in the GNU, they forgot why they were there!” commented one SADC Diplomat in sheer disgust at the MDC leaders’ blatant betrayal!
The failure to implement even one reform in 5 years proved beyond all reasonable doubt that MDC leaders are not only breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent but beyond the pale. Anyone who thinks Chamisa and company will ever implement the democratic reforms and deliver free, fair and credible elections has no clue what happened during the 2008 to 2013 GNU much less comprehend one cannot make a silk purse out of sow’s ear.
Of course, Chamisa et al will participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place. If they do not participate it would be for some other reason other than the certainty Zanu PF would rig the elections. It was certain Zanu PF will rig the 2013 and the 2018 elections and MDC participated then; so why should 2023 elections be any different!
I totally agree, MDC leaders have lost political credibility and our challenge is to highlight this to the world especially the very naive and gullible MDC supporters!
@ Darwin Matthew
“The writer has a very big point here, which might be of immensely useful to all opposition parties in Zim, not only to MDC Alliance only but all of them, but that now there is MDC ALLIANCE "real",and MDC T "sell out”, so it gonna be difficult to persuade all real oppositions into having one focus. Surely since ever this point was raised, I haven't heard any answers to it that exactly matches or satisfies me.”
If you put aside all the events leading to the MDC-T under Tsvangirai splitting, rewind the clock back to 2015; Nelson Chamisa and many of those around him in MDC A and Thokozani Khupe and her supporters were one happy MDC-T family.
They all played leading roles in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, Chamisa was a minister and Khupe was Deputy Prime Minister. Throughout the 5 years of the GNU they each sat down and feasted on the delights Mugabe laid before them and they each took full advantage of their newly acquired exclusive ruling elite membership.
Not even one MDC leaders lifted a finger to implement even one democratic reform because they all understood reforms will end the dictatorial powers on which the exclusive ruling elite club is founded. Now that they had just been accepted as fully fledge members of the club and were enjoying the good-life it offer, their desire to dismantle the system had evaporated like morning mist in the African sun!
“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC people have learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life, they will never rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the democratic reforms.
Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2013 elections precisely because MDC leaders had failed to implement even one meaningful reform during the GNU. With his political position secure, Mugabe did not waste time and booted out all the MDC leaders out of the exclusive ruling elite club.
Of course, MDC leaders sold-out during the 2008 to 2013 GNU in failing to implement even one reform.
So if the MDC leaders were all sell-out before the party split into the MDC-T led by Khupe and MDC A led by Chamisa where and when did the latter redeem themselves and transform from “Sell-outs” to become the “real”? The real and sell-outs are both going to participate in the flawed and illegal 2023 elections and thus confirm the separation was as meaningless as separating a cobra from a black mamba - they are both deadly snakes just as Chamisa and Khupe are both sell-outs!
With no meaningful reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections the party will, once again, blatantly rig the coming elections. This is just a blast of the all too familiar MDC strategies to win rigged elections. A feeble excuse for participating in flawed and illegal elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait.
“Our youths are prepared to educate, mobilise and re-energise the base for resistance against Zanu PF shenanigans. No youth shall give in to be used to defend thieves and smugglers who usually manipulate hungry youths for beer or three pieces of silver!” Yeah right!
Tell us how the youth are going to force Zanu PF to produce a verified voters’ roll?
How are MDC youth going to stop MDC shenanigans of participating in an elections without even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll?
If MDC members cannot stop MDC leaders selling out how can they stop Zanu PF leaders rigging the elections?
The greatest hinderance to the fight for free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe today is not Zanu PF thugs, it is MDC sell-outs! MDC leaders will sell-out and participate in the 2023 elections with not even one reform in place. Why should Zanu PF implement any reform and risk losing the elections when the party knows the opposition will participate in the elections regardless!
@ Leonard Koni|
“For the last fourty years ZANU PF government has lept from one corruption scandal to the other. Its not a secret that graft starts from the top and cascades down to the lower rungs. Corruption has significantly retarded the infrastructural development of the country.
Everyone who wants to join politics is not doing it for people but for themselves. Some have discovered and found a niche to survive through politics.”
Whenever evil man close the door to enslave God’s people, He always opens a window somewhere for them to escape.
There is no denying that this Zanu PF regime is corrupt and oppressive but it is also incompetent. So incompetent, Zanu PF has tripped itself countless times affording the nation many opportunities to end the dictatorship opportunities we, the people have wasted.
The 2008 to 2013 GNU was our “get out of jail card”. All Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were asked to do was implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers. Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and the rest is history!
The people have failed to register the MDC leaders’ betrayal, it was water off a duck’s back, and continue to follow the party with the same blind loyalty. What makes this a real tragedy is that corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders would waste many more opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship guaranteed and that is exactly what is happening. As long as the people continue to be a naive and gullible lot, this nation is stuck in this man-made hell-on-earth!
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