“Writing on his Twitter handle, renowned and corruption fighter journalist, Hopwell Chin'ono hinted that the CCC leadership has thrown Sikhala under the bus at his hour of need,” reported Byo24News.
"A political movement that doesn't robustly stand with its persecuted
leaders will not be able to take power because it lacks coherent
approach towards pushing back against oppressive rule,” quoting Chinon’o’s
twitter.
"Until they stop seeing parliament and council as jobs, it will remain a
dream deferred.”
Anyone remotely familiar with MDC/CCC will NOT be surprised
to hear the party has thrown Job Sikhala under the bus. Hopewell is right,
there is no “coherent approach towards pushing back against oppressive rule”.
Whilst the likes of Sikhala have pushed for a more robust direct confrontation
or be in practice mere posturing. Nelson Chamisa has advocated nonviolence and
peaceful demonstrations although he has yet to hold one successful demo.
It has been impossible to hold peaceful demonstrations in a
country where the authority view any such demo as a serious threat to their
hold on power and react accordingly. Those calling for the demo pretend they
will be peaceful but know better.
Chamisa and Sikhala have one thing in common, they both know
that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and that participating in these
elections will only give Zanu PF legitimacy. They have known this since the MDC
failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. And yet they have
participated because they also know that Zanu PF is giving away a few gravy train
seats, especially in urban centres such as the seat Sikhala is now holding.
The dog fight over the urban gravy train seats is intense and
the likes of Sikhala, Tendai Biti, Fadzayi Mahere, etc. are all having to do
something extra to be noticed. For Biti it is mourning day after day on how Finance
Minister Mthuli Ncube has messed up (Biti did nothing to stamp out corruption,
the cancer killing the economy, but somehow expect Ncube to do so) and for Job
Sikhala it is posturing pretending he will take on the regime single handed!
Both Tendai Biti and Job Sikhala won their respective urban
gravy train seats in the 2018 elections. Zanu PF rigged the elections and
secured 2/3 majority in parliament and senate plus the presidency. Zanu PF has
been able to do as it damn well pleased. By participating Biti and company gave
Zanu PF legitimacy and thus help perpetuate the dictatorship.
What is infuriating is that the opposition has known all along
the sheer futility of their participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu
PF legitimacy as David Coltart readily confessed in his book.
In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of
Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, 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.
“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.”
The failure to have a coalition was just a feeble excuse for
participating in the 2013 elections. Four of the main MDC factions plus three
other opposition parties formed the MDC Alliance, just before the 2018
elections, and the coalition participated in that year’s elections. The
question of boycotting the elections was never even discussed.
Indeed, it was none other than Nelson Chamisa himself, the MDC
Alliance presidential candidate, who dismissed call for boycotting the
elections. “MDC Alliance has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the
elections!” he claimed. All hot air, of course.
Nelson Chamisa, Job Sikhala, Tendai
Biti and the rest in CCC are divided and confused over many issues except one –
they are united in their resolve to participate in the 2023 elections for the sake
of the few gravy train seats offered by Zanu PF as bait. President Mnangagwa
knows that and hence the reason why he continues to arrogantly
and blatantly rigs the elections, he knows CCC’s participation guarantees Zanu
PF legitimacy.
Zanu PF is blatantly
rigging the 2023 elections as we speak. The party has denied 3 million Zimbabweans
in the diaspora the vote, it is clear ZEC will not produce a verified voters’
roll and cases of wanton violence have increased considerably already. Zanu PF
is guaranteed of yet another landslide victory in 2023 and, thanks to CCC’s
folly of participating, guaranteed legitimacy too.
"Job Sikhala has just been brought to court movie style
with an escort of riot police providing security for the tinted double cab
State vehicle that brought him to court. He is charged with Defeating or
Obstructing course of Justice. Very few CCC members are at Court," continued
Chinon’o.
Unless the mass CCC supporters turn out resulted in mass
street protests Sri Lanka style, peaceful or otherwise; nothing will change, as
long as Zanu PF continues to enjoy its carte blanche power to rig the elections
and get legitimacy from CCC participation.
Sri Lanka style mass protest, even if Chinon’o and all those
advocating for it can guarantee they will be peaceful – a nonsense since Zanu
PF will certainly use violence to quash the protest, will not necessarily achieve
the desired changes. Zimbabwe had the 2017 military coup and it brought bout no
meaningful change.
Mass protest and/or military coup are the last option when
everything else has failed. We, in Zimbabwe, have not tried to implement the
democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections. MDC leaders have failed
to implement even one reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. And, to add
insult to injury, they are the ones insisting on participating in flawed
elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.
6 comments:
CCC acting spokesperson Gift Siziba said: "We do not take this lightly chiefly because there have been numerous attempts on the life of president Chamisa. It is to this end that we call for our able police service to move with speed and detain Mashayanyika and charge him and his accomplices with death threats and calling for violence."
Zanu-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa refused to comment on the matter, while party information director Tafadzwa Mugwadi did not respond to questions sent to him.
The opposition CCC said the police inaction against threats to the life of their party leader confirmed their fears over selective application of the law.
Zanu PF needs Chamisa and company to participate in these elections to give the flawed process some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. And so it is unlikely that Chamisa and the other top leaders will be touched. The rest are fair game! Chamisa and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms themselves and thus end the curse of wanton violence during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They chose to do nothing about it. They failed to implement even one token reform in 5 years.
Short of one or two CCC leaders being killed, the party is set to participate in these elections come rain come high waters. Zanu PF knows this and the reason the party is not worried about CCC boycotting denying them legitimacy!
Renowned United States-born applied economics professor and currency reformer Steve Hanke said the ruling party was synonymous with a criminal organisation.
He made the remarks in an interview on CNBC Africa about Zimbabwe's current economic woes and possible solutions on Wednesday.
"Now we have a new President (Emmerson Mnangagwa), but, in fact, the same kind of regime, we have a Minister of Finance (Mthuli Ncube) who has been there since 2018 and it's the same old story. We have got the governor of the Reserve Bank (of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya), who's been there since 2014. That's the same old story and we have got Zanu-PF, a political party in power, but you have to remember Zanu-PF has more in common with a criminal organisation than a political party, so that's where we are at," Hanke said.
Professor Hanke is right “Zanu-PF has more in common with a criminal organisation than a political party”. What is infuriating about our situation is that Zimbabweans risked all to elect MDC on the understanding the party will implement the democratic changes and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. They not only failed to implement even one reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, but worse still they are the one keeping Zanu in power by participating in flawed elections.
So, we have criminal organisation masquerading as a political party being kept in office by corrupt and utterly useless opposition party. And to think that 500 innocent Zimbabweans lost their lives in the 2008 wanton violence alone, punishment for having voted for MDC rejecting Zanu PF in the March 2008 vote!
"Right now, we are going through the worst policing ever in this country under Commissioner General Matanga. During the days of Augustine Chihuri, whether you like it or not, there was no such crime. Chihuri could have been anything but there was control in the police and there was discipline. Whether it was corrupt or not, there was still discipline with the corruption in the police because he was in total control. Right now, there is no total control of the police in this country. We need the Minister to come up with a Ministerial Statement in terms of the firearms database of this country," he fumed
Mliswa further demanded that police reinstate Joseph Nemaisa, a former homicide detective who allegedly gunned down 4 highly trained armed robbers in Harare last year, into the police force to curb the ever rising rate in crime.
Most Zimbabweans will denounce the Police for failing the nation especial over politically motivated matters. This political bias is just as bad now as it was during Chihuri’s days. To compare Matanga and Chihuri is as meaningless as comparing a black mamba bite with a cobra bite; both snakes’ bite is deadly!
Mliswa is just a loudmouth who like to hear his own voice. He is only a star because parliament is full of dead wood!
"This serves to inform your office that Hon Prosper C. Mutseyami shall be the party chief whip and he will be deputised by Sichelesile Mahlangu," wrote Chamisa in his correspondence to Parliament Speaker Advocate Jacob Mudenda.
"The party has also made the following appointments to shadow the substantive Ministry.
"The shadow cabinet members are Tendai Biti (Finance and Economic Development), Charlton Hwende (Defence and War veterans), Willias Madzimure (Industry and Commerce), Susan Matsunga (Women's affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development) and Judith Tobaiwa (Health and Child Care)…"
Fani Munengami was named Primary and Secondary Education, Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development), Happymore Chidziva (Youth, Sport, Arts – and Recreation), Wellington Chikombo (Local Government and Public Works), Eric Murai (Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement, Johnson Matambo (Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry) while Settlement Chikwinya was named as Transport and Infrastructure Development shadow minister.
Chamisa named Bulawayo legislator Kucaca Phulu as Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs shadow minister, Murisi Zwizwai (Mines and Mining Development), Prince Sibanda (Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services) and Dickson Tarusenga (Energy and Power Development).
The opposition leader also appointed Godfret Koster to be the Caucus secretary for the CCC party in the National Assembly.
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) yesterday said it had picked up over 180 000 errors on the voters roll as of June 23, a figure election watchdogs said was too huge and could have a strong bearing on the outcome of next year's elections.
Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana told a Press conference in Harare yesterday that the commission has been making changes to the voters roll in compliance with section 35 of the Electoral Act.
"The commission continues to clean the voters roll because it is a fluid document. It continues to change. The voters roll alterations that have been gazetted and effected, so far, as from June 23, 2022 is a total of 186 220 errors," Mangwana said.
"Majority of the errors include full stop, where there should not be a full stop, omissions, in terms of the names of the chief of that area. From November 21 up to date, the commission has gazetted a total of 96 284 deceased voters that have been removed from the voters roll. The public must expect more because these figures continue to come every day."
The voters’ roll should be available for inspection and verification at all times. ZEC has never ever released a voters’ roll. Whenever anyone has found a copy ZEC has disowned the copy because they could not explain the serious errors found such as voters being moved from one Polling Station or constituency to another or being deleted. Instead of ZEC addressing these serious problems it is concerned about trivial matters such as full stop!
ZEC is not going to produce a verified voters roll for 2023.
Why the opposition will participate in an election process without something as basic as a verified voters’ roll is a mystery until one understands that this is a Zanu PF organised, funded and controlled opposition, not one would expect in a supposedly democratic nation.
Bulawayo and other parts of the country have of late endured rolling power cuts, with the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Company (ZETDC) citing depressed generation output.
"These power cuts are already piling more costs in some hospitals such as Ingutsheni and Ekusileni Hospital that now have to rely on generators, yet fuel prices have been going up," Siamuchembu said.
"The hospitals cannot do anything about load shedding and fuel prices but the government should just make sure hospitals are exempt from load shedding, or ensure that they have adequate fuel for back-up if they can't be exempt.
Money that should have been spend building the country’s power generation capacity and other basic needs was squandered on such luxuries as the Blue Roof and extravagant lifestyles for the ruling elite. Mugbe’s Blue Roof mansion costed US$ 4 billion plus, enough to build, equip and commission Bakota Gorge Hyrdo – a second Kariba Hydro to the ordinary people. The chickens are now home to roost!
It is sad that even intellectual such as Dr Siamuchembu here continue to witter about government exempting hospitals from load shedding ignoring the reality of everything in the country is now in the advanced state of rot and decay. This is not the time for crisis management, you cannot solve the hospital’s power needs when the whole country is facing a crippling power shortage.
The people of Zimbabwe must address the problem of rigged elections and bad governance with the seriousness and urgency the matter demands! Everyone must rollup the shirt sleeves and contribute, including the country’s brain-dead professionals!
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