“Some people have said to me, ‘If you
want us to believe you are no longer working for Zanu PF then tell us how Zanu
PF rigged the elections!’ They say that expecting some Mafia like, Movie like,
ways that are used to rig the elections. No!” Professor Jonathan Moyo told his
audience in a recent SAPES Trust panel discussion.
“The major, major thing with ZEC vote
rigging is undercounting the opposition votes by having 14 or 15 ballots in a
supposedly 10 ballot – lot; whilst overcounting Zanu PF votes by having 7 or 8
ballots in a 10 ballot -lot. ZEC will do the same with 10 lot – bundles.”
He went on explain the critical
importance of having election agents, “each Polling Station should have at
least four election agents”, he said.
Even if one had eagle-eyed election
agents who saw to it that very candidate, Zanu PF or opposition, 10 ballot –
lot had exactly 10 ballots, every bundle had exactly 10 lots, etc. Counting may
be the “major, major thing” still it is not the only thing that can go wrong.
Even the eagle-eyed elections agents will
not be able to check everything that all the ZEC officials especially since it
is common knowledge that very often loyal Zanu PF officials and/or CIO double
up as ZEC officials. The eagle-eyed election agent will not know that known
Zanu PF supporters who are not on the voters’ roll are being allowed to vote
whilst opposition supporters are being denied the vote under the pretext they
are not on the voters roll when they are.
The 2008 elections were a watershed in
that they revealed the wide spectrum of Zanu PF’s vote rigging capabilities
from the blatant cheating in the six weeks “recounting” of the March vote to
the use of wanton violence to turn over Tsvangirai’s 73%, according to Mugabe’s
Freudian slip, to a massive 84% for Mugabe.
The 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA)
was a SADC initiative in which Zimbabwe was tasked to implement a raft of
democratic reforms to ensure the vote rigging of 2008 would never be repeated
ever again. The primary task of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the
democratic reforms. Sadly, not even one reform was implemented.
SADC leaders wanted Zimbabwe’s 2013
elections to be postponed until the democratic reforms were implemented. “If
you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!”
SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, according to Dr Ibbo
Mandaza who attended the June 2013 SADC summit in Maputo.
Zanu PF refused to have the elections
postponed and played their trump card. Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF Minister of
Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in the GNU called a press conference to
explain.
“As Zanu PF we are of course contesting
the idea that there is any need for reforms whether its media reforms, whether
it’s Posa, whether it’s Aippa, we are contesting and we made it clear in the
summit that the MDCs are accustomed to making generalised calls for
reforms," said Chinamasa.
“In particular I made a point that in
2011, July 2011 they were making these generalised calls and I specifically
asked them to make their proposals specific and to table them with the forum of
negotiators but up to now since 2011, no specific proposals to Posa or Aippa or
to any of the pieces of legislation they complain about have been tabled for
our consideration.
“We can
only implement that which we have agreed, we cannot implement disagreements,
they are not implementable. We can only implement that which we have agreed. If
we do not agree then there is nothing to implement, until we agree on a
particular reform then there is nothing to reform. If there are disagreements
then it is up to the political parties to take those issues to an election so
that those disagreements are part of the election manifestos of the respective
parties...”
Professor Jonathan Moyo attended the post
SADC summit press conference hosted by Minister Chinamasa. Of course, Professor
Moyo knew the full import of both SADC leaders concerns on holding elections
without first implementing the reforms and of Chinamasa’s statement blaming MDC
leaders for having failed to submit reform proposals.
What is really infuriating is that MDC
leaders themselves knew Zanu PF was rigging the 2013 elections and the
“obvious” thing to have done was to boycott the elections. They continued and
participated regardless out of greed as David Coltart readily admitted in his
book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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
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.”
David Coltart was an MDC-N Minister in
the 2008 to 2013 GNU.
The July 2013 Zimbabwe elections went
ahead with no democratic reform in place and Loo Behold Zanu PF blatantly
rigged the plebiscite just as SADC leaders had predicted. By participating in
the flawed elections MDC leaders gave the process “credibility” and by
extension gave the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy, as MDC leaders knew.
It is important to emphasise that once
MDC leaders had ignored SADC leaders’ warning not to participate in the flawed
elections, the regional leaders were powerless censure Zanu PF for rigging the
elections.
In 2018 history repeated itself because
nothing had change, not even a token reform was implemented since the rigged
elections in 2013, and so Zanu PF once again blatantly rigged the elections.
All the opposition parties participated giving the vote rigging Zanu PF
legitimacy.
History is set to repeat itself yet again
in 2023 because, again, not even one token reform has been implemented and with
two years left it is too late to implement any. It is clear, Zanu PF will rig
the elections.
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A, Douglas
Mwonzora and his MDC–T and all the other opposition politicians who
participated in the last election will do so again giving the vote rigging Zanu
PF legitimacy. Frankly, it would be hypocritical for any of them to boycott the
elections to demand reforms because they did not do so in the past.
The SAPES Trust topic of discussion was “The
Stampede Towards 2023 Elections: Is History about to Repeat itself in Zimbabwe?”
Of course, one would expect Professor
Jonathan Moyo, a political academic and seasoned political practitioner, to know
what the 2008 to 2013 GNU’s primary task was to implemented the raft of
democratic reforms to stop the blatant vote rigging of 2008 being repeated ever
again. Professor Moyo knows not even one reform saw the light of day, knows
that Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders to forget about the reforms and, most
important of all, he knows until we implement the reforms there will be no
free, fair and credible elections. And knows that the opposition’s
participation in these flawed elections is only giving legitimacy to vote
rigging Zanu PF!
Yet Professor Jonathan Moyo has not only encouraged
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A to participate in the flawed 2018 elections and is
he is doing so again for the 2023 elections knowing fully well this is foolish.
It is no secret that Professor Moyo was Zanu PF’s chief strategist and
propagandist and has played a major role in the establishment and retention of
the de facto one-party dictatorship. And so one comes full circle to where we
started and ask again; ‘If you want us to believe you are no longer working for
Zanu PF then tell us why you want us to participate in rigged elections?”
5 comments:
Ministry spokesperson Constance Chemwai said Shava would pay courtesy calls to his counterparts in the three countries and exchange views on regional, continental and international issues of common interest.
"The visits are in affirmation of government's policy of engagement and re-engagement," Chemwai said
The three SADC nations have a chance to ask the new Minister of Foreign Affairs whether Zimbabwe still maintains that the root cause of the country’s economic meltdown is sanctions and not corruption. Everyone has heard of the many stories of Zimbabweans caught smuggling gold, diamonds, money, etc. Zimbabwe is losing a staggering US$ 1.2 billion per year to gold smugglers alone!
Many SADC countries must feel sheepish to think they were hoodwinked by Zimbabwe into believing the targeted sanctions imposed on a few Zanu PF leaders were the root cause of the country’s economic woes. The regional leaders even adopt 25 October as “anti- sanctions’ day!” No wonder they feel and look sheepish!
Minister Shava will have another big favour to ask! If you shake his hand count your fingers and toes,
There are many Zimbabweans out there who have parroted the MDC slogan calling for change, "MaChinja!" (Change Parrot!), as some people have given to calling them and yet have no clue what those changes are. Even now with the benefit of hindsight, they still have no clue what the 2008 to 2013 GNU was the nation's best chance ever to finally implement the democratic changes that would have ended the Zanu PF dictatorship.
However there are a few people out there who know Zimbabwe need the democratic reforms to end the curse of rigged election and bad governance. They know exactly what these reforms are and that MDC leaders sold-out big time during the GNU by failing to implement the reforms. Professor Jonathan Moyo is certainly one of those people who know all that!
Professor Moyo knows that it is folly to participate in the elections without first implementing the reforms because Zanu PF will rig the elections. He also knows the importance of enticing the opposition to participate in the flawed elections to secure Zanu PF legitimacy.
As much as Professor Moyo would want Mnangagwa and company booted out of the office he also knows that he cannot afford to be over zealous and shoot himself in leg in his drive to get Mnangagwa. Moyo was Zanu PF's chief strategist, Mnangagwa was only the henchman who ruthlessly implemented the regime's strategies, it would damage Professor Moyo's chances of a political comeback on the back of MDC A if it was to emerge that it was none other than Professor Moyo himself who devised the strategy to make sure MDC leaders did not implement the reforms during the GNU and participated in flawed elections thereafter.
We are talking here of Professor Jonathan Moyo, the man who has done so many bad things that hell itself would spit him out if that was at all possible! as far as he is concerned "The good that men do lives after them; The evil must be interred with their bones." to give a new twist to the famous William Shakespeare adage! Professor Jonathan Moyo will never reveal the devilish Zanu PF strategies because they will boomerang straight back to him!
In its April 2021 report released yesterday, ZPP claimed that only Zanu-PF card-carrying members received food aid during the lockdown period.
“Some Zanu-PF leaders purchased all the subsidized mealie-meal and went on to sell it to Zanu-PF members only, thus depriving thousands of people desperately needing the staple food, but did not have Zanu-PF membership cards,” the report read.
“The partisan distribution of government food aid is a recurring problem in most rural areas which have been extensively reported on by various civil society organisations. It has left thousands of people food insecure when they desperately need food assistance during the difficult times of COVID-19,” the ZPP said
Zanu PF’s coercive powers are simply limitless and the 2008 elections showed the sickening extend to which the party would go to force the people to vote for the party. All the election observers with any democratic credential worth a spit complained of Zanu PF’s coercive powers including the government appointed Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.
Zanu PF has reduced ordinary Zimbabweans, especially the rural poor, into nothing short of medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Landlords. The opposition opportunists who continue to participate in these flawed elections are ignoring this problem because they do not care about free and fair elections and how much the rural voters are tormented by the regime. All they care about is that Zanu PF is giving them the few gravy train seats, reward for giving the regime legitimacy by participating in the sham elections.
Zimbabweans must stop believing to the sell-out opposition opportunists’ lies that they will win rigged elections because they have finally devised Win In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies. These are all lies to justify why the opposition keep participating in flawed elections. Chamisa and company will never admit they are participating out of greed.
After 41 years of rigged elections, Zimbabweans must open their eyes and see the sheer stupidity of hoping to win rigged elections especial given Zanu PF’s rigging powers know no limits!
@ Clement Mrehwa
“Moyo is only speaking like that because he is not near the 'till'. Moyo would have been saying a lot of nonsense by now. He is an excellent pretender. Scroll back the internet and see what he uses to tell the world about the very things he is blaming now.”
In 2014 Robert Mugabe called Professor Jonathan Moyo “the devil incarnate” in sheer exasperation at the man and yet he kept him as Minister because Moyo was the best strategies Zanu PF had ever had. Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s chief henchman, a brain-dead buffoon who did Mugabe’s dirty work.
When Patrick Chinamasa announced to the world that Zanu PF was not going to postpone the 2013 elections because there were no outstanding reforms to be implemented because MDC had never submitted even one reform proposal in five years of the GNU. That was check mate, the coup de grace proving beyond all reasonable doubt that MDC leaders were irredeemably corrupt and incompetent. Professor Jonathan Moyo knew that and understood its full import.
I would bet my bottom dollar that Professor Moyo was the man behind the strategic lie that MDC can win rigged elections that has kept MDC leaders participating in elections when the common sense position was to put Zanu PF under pressure by demanding reforms. Moyo cannot afford to reveal this because it will be obvious he was the one, not a buffoon like Mnangagwa, who produced the strategy.
"The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones" said William Shakespeare. When you are the devil incarnate you will strive to ensure your treasonous strategies are interred with your bones regardless however much their disclosure will harm your arch-enemies. The greatest political folly of our generation was failing to implement reforms and then foolishly believe the opposition can win rigged elections; Professor Jonathan Moyo will never admit that because he will be incriminating himself!
In 2018 MDC A was a united opposition but failed to win the elections because Zanu PF rigged the elections.
This idea that the opposition will win rigged elections is as nonsensical as someone the will win betting on the coin landing Tail even when the last 100 tosses plus have landed Head! The village idiot cannot accept the reality the coin has two heads
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