“Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume has warned squabbling colleagues in the opposition that they risk receiving a heavy drubbing by Zanu PF in 2023 unless they heal their rifts,” reported Daily News on Sunday in an article, ‘Heavy shellacking awaits Zimbabwe's brawling opposition’.
Here we go again; the Zimbabwe public are once again being brainwashed into believing the opposition will win the 2023 elections if only they are united. All nonsense, of course, because Zanu PF has always rigged the elections to enjoy a landslide victory with or without a united and strong opposition!
Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T talked the two MDC factions led by Professor Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti plus three other parties including Jacob Ngarivhume’s Transform Zimbabwe to join him in the “big tent”, as he called it, to form a coalition, MDC Alliance (MDC A). Judging by the size of the crowds attending MDC A rallies the coalition should have won the July 2018 elections. Zanu PF won with a landslide, history was repeating itself.
Zanu PF won the 2013 elections by blatantly rigging the plebiscite. Tsvangirai and MDC-T friends resolved at the 2014 party congress not to participate in future elections until the reforms to stop the rigging have been implemented. “No reforms! No elections!” Many other opposition parties followed suit in making similar commitments.
Frankly, the 2014 resolution not to participate in elections without reforms was just a farce because Tsvangirai et al were the ones who had failed to implement even one reforms during the five years of 2008 to 2013 GNU.
SADC leaders warned the MDC leaders not to take part in the 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms but, as we know, were ignored.
It therefore came as little surprise that the opposition camp ignored the “No reform! No elections!” resolution to participate in the 2018 elections.
If the truth be told, Tsvangirai and company had failed to implement even one reform during the GNU because they “were busy enjoying themselves and forgot why they were there”, as one SADC diplomat remarked in sheer exasperation.
Zanu PF offered a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in the 2013 and then 2018 elections; a honey pot trap MDC leaders once again found irresistible.
“MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” was Nelson Chamisa’s feeble excuse for participating in the 2018 elections with no reforms.
MDC A should and would have won the July 2018 elections if the elections had been free, fair and credible; we all know that and so does Jacob Ngarivhume.
After 40 years of Zanu PF rigging elections it is really insane to continue this madness of the nation being dragged into flawed and illegal elections by corrupt, incompetent and selfish opposition opportunists who have eyes for one thing and one only - power, the honey pot trap.
Jacob Ngarivhume, Tendai Biti, Job Sikhala and the rest in the opposition camp are all gearing for the 2023 elections oblivious of the fact not even one reform was implemented. Indeed, the opposition are making it appear the reforms are unnecessarily all they need is a united front.
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-on-earth precisely because the country has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections for the last 40 years. We must keep our eyes on the big prize, implementing the democratic reforms is the only sure way to finally end this curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
The rehashed “big tent” uniting the opposition is a distraction; it failed to deliver free and fair elections in the past and it will not do so in 2023!
2 comments:
@ Robert Sigauke
“Zimbabwe celebrated National Unity Day a few days ago, commemorating the historic unification of former liberation war movements PF ZAPU and ZANU into what we know as Zanu PF today.
“The historical importance of this event is two legged, firstly that it ended the disturbances in the Midlands and Matebeleland regions between 1983-1987 and secondly it had bound the two former liberation movements into one united front for joint thrusts towards national development.”
For anyone to suggest the 1987 unity accord was going to help in the nation’s development is being naive, especially given Zimbabwe’s historic reality of economic ruins and tyrannical rule. The unity accord was used to impose a de facto one-party dictatorship and stifle all debate and democratic competition and accountability with the disastrous consequences we can see today.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a dictatorship there will be no meaningful economic recovery, freedom and justice. The country needs to implement the democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF dictatorship and deliver free, fair and credible elections.
@ Nelson Chamisa
Fellow Zimbabweans, the bold font of divisions, destruction, violence and anarchy continues to override the voices of love, unity, peace, reason and development in our country.
This is largely because our nation-building project has not fulfilled the promise of the glorious days of independence.
We need true unity, peace and prayer to heal and build our nation. Peace and unity are the necessary ingredients for development and the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms and rights.
You are confusing unity with uniformity just as Mnangagwa and Mugabe before him have done!
What the country needs a vibrant and dynamic society with freedom of expression, open debate and democratic competition.
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