Zanu PF has lost the Chipinge and Kariba local government by-elections to the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
Yeah! I will bet my
bottom dollar the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut, if deployed in any of these
by-elections, hardly ever reached second gear. Come the 2023 elections, it will
be a different kettle of fish, the juggernaut will go through all the gears to
reach overdrive if need be!
For the first time ever since the country’s independence,
the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut was switched off for the March 2008 vote;
there was no intimidation, violence or the usual vote rigging; the nation had
the nearest thing ever to holding free, fair and credible elections. The people
jumped at the life-time opportunity to vote Zanu PF out of office.
However, when it was clear Zanu PF was losing the election,
the party quickly switched the juggernaut back on. ZEC was instructed not to announce
the results and after six weeks of cooking up the figures, Tsvangirai’s 73% was
whittled down to 47%, enough to force a runoff. During the runoff the juggernaut
went into overdrive, unleashing the worst election related wanton violence in
the country’s history.
Mugabe won the June 2008 runoff with 84%. The super-charged Zanu
PF juggernaut boosted his 27% March 2008 vote to 84% in three months!
The 2008 elections were a watershed elections; Zanu PF
demonstrated that the opposition winning 73% of the vote was not good enough for
them to win power!
The 2008 to 2013 GNU was supposed to implement the democratic
reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut. Not even one token
reform was implemented, and Zanu PF retained all its carte blanche dictatorial
powers including those to blatantly cheat and use wanton violence to win elections.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a cunning fellow, there is no
denying that. Yes, he also had the great fortune of having mentally challenged
individuals like the late Morgan Tsvangirai, also late Simon Muzenda, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, etc. as his advisories; there in no denying that either.
Still, Mugabe deserves credit for conning the entire MDC leadership,
including luminaries like David Coltart and Tendai Biti, into believing that MDC
was so popular not even a turbo-charged Zanu PF voter rigging juggernaut would ever
overturn the MDC victory. With the party this popular, MDC leaders did not need
to bother themselves with implementing even token reforms. To have kept the
whole MDC leadership in this cloud cuckoo land for five years of the GNU, was a
political feat.
Ever since the GNU debacle, MDC leaders have compounded
their foolishness of failing to implement the reforms by maintaining they have “winning
in rigged elections (wire)” strategies. All just hot air, of course. Strategies
to beat the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut that gave turned a 73% to 27% defeat
into a 84% to 16% landslide victory. Zanu PF does not only have a loaded dice
but one with 6 on all sex sides; only a fool will bet against them throwing a 6!
Two of the many lessons Mugabe learned from the GNU was to let
the opposition win some seats to keep up the appearance that Zimbabwe is a
multi-party democracy. Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win some gravy train
seats, bait to entice them to participate no matter how flawed and illegal the
process get.
Mnangagwa has gone one step further and created POLAD, a
political body grouping all the losing 2018 presidential candidates who
publicly acknowledged the elections were free and fair and that Mnangagwa was the
legitimate winner. POLAD members have been showered with benefits including free
new cars.
The second lesson was to use the Zanu PF dictatorial powers sparingly,
especially the wanton violence; only when the party’s iron grip on power is
under serious threat.
Whilst the EU, Commonwealth, etc. have all condemned Zimbabwe’s
elections as a farce. SADC has always judged the election as “substantial free and
fair” giving Zanu PF legitimacy. The only occasion SADC condemned the Zimbabwe elections
was 2008 and Zanu PF lost legitimacy forcing the party to accept the humiliation
of having to share power with MDC in during the GNU.
Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections, confident the
bait of the few urban gravy train seats plus the POLAD cherry will work its magic
to guarantee the participation of everyone in opposition camp. What Zanu PF is
not sure of is that SADC will give the usual “substantial free and fair” verdict
and the legitimacy; especially South Africa whose ANC government is under increasing
pressure for falsely endorsing rigged Zimbabwe elections in the past.
After 42 years of rigged elections and with the country on
the edge of the precipitous abyss, Zimbabwe cannot afford yet another rigged
election – at least, one in which Zanu PF get legitimacy – that could be the last
step sending the country over the edge.
5 comments:
1/2
@ Tawanda Majoni
“Somewhat arrogantly, the party has been insisting that no-one has a legitimate account to force it into a congress because it is a private entity that will do things the way it likes.
This statement is misleading. For all you care, given its popularity, CCC stands a big chance of forming the next government after the 2023 elections. That means the CCC is not as private as it would have the world believe.
And, quite confusingly, CCC says it's breaking away from the political tradition to turn itself into a structured being. Instead, it has this vague model whereby, as it says, the people — to mean its supporters traded as citizens —are the ones that are leading the party, therefore there is no need to waste resources and sweat on a congress.
After all, parties like Zanu-PF have always had well-defined structures, leadership structures and ritualistically held conferences and congresses—whatever the difference—since Jesus Christ threatened to come back for Judgment Day, but how many cows have they brought to the dip tank? This is a question that the refusal by CCC to take the traditional route implies.
But in the absence of a public and tacit pronouncement, we should just assume that CCC is not worried about real and solid structures, a constitution and/or congress.
Such a position tells a lot on the main opposition's derision regarding transparency, accountability and integrity. It's hugely difficult to be transparent if you don't have a constitution, structures and no open manner of electing leaders. You can't have no structures and then claim that your party is accountable. That's a contradiction in terms. Accountable to who? How?
But in the absence of a public and tacit pronouncement, we should just assume that CCC is not worried about real and solid structures, a constitution and/or congress.
Such a position tells a lot on the main opposition's derision regarding transparency, accountability and integrity. It's hugely difficult to be transparent if you don't have a constitution, structures and no open manner of electing leaders. You can't have no structures and then claim that your party is accountable. That's a contradiction in terms. Accountable to who? How?
Reforms are structure-based. They are also constitution- and law-based. They are based on a matrix of accountability too and CCC seems to be holding all these things in contempt. What legitimacy would it claim if it's coming to the podium with soiled hands and mouths?
The party will be fodder for Zanu-PF spin doctors. They will just say, "Just go back home and first do what you are asking our government to do. You can't be preaching what you don't practice. You are lawless!"
2/2
@ Tawanda Majoni
The people of Zimbabwe risk life and limb to elect MDC leaders for the express purpose of the party delivering democratic changes, as the party’s name implied. The party has failed to deliver even one meaningful democratic change in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. Fortunately for the MDC leaders the people have clamouring for democratic change without ever understand what those changes are much less how they are to be implemented. And so when MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform, the people are none the wiser they have been betrayed.
When Nelson Chamisa announced to the world that CCC was a people’s party, he clearly like the notion of people’s party without knowing what it meant no more than he used to call MDC a “party of excellence!” without a clue what that meant. The party supporters are the same MDC wildebeest herd of yesterday otherwise they will be questioning the nonsense of a people’s party when they are denied a meaningful say.
Nelson Chamisa et al have already proven beyond all reasonable doubt that they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. The very fact that many Zimbabweans still put their faith in such a hopeless bunch only underlines just how naïve and gullible they are. We clearly are not ready for a healthy and functioning democracy because it demands an informed and diligent electorate, which we are not only clearly not but worse still incapable of even attaining.
@ Thomas Machemedze
“VaMugabe vakati ita yako party vanhu vakuvhotere.”
True but that is not the alpha and omega of what democracy is about. Political parties, once formed and aspire to hold public office, must be accountable to the public be they members of the said party or not because political parties must serve the public and not view holding public office as a chance to rob the public blind.
Tyrants like Robert Mugabe viewed Zimbabwe as their own personal property to do with as he pleased and hence the reason why he has denied the people their basic human freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life. His answer to his critics was that they should form their own political party and wrestle power from Zanu PF knowing fully well that Zanu PF rigged the elections and will ever kill them than lose power.
Chamisa is an autocrat hungry for power and is hostile to the idea he should ever be held to democratic account; his checked MDC record speaks volumes of him as a corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless leader. All that s***t will certainly come out if CCC was ever to allow any leadership contests similar to the Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak slagging match to be the new leader of the Conservative Party. No wonder Chamisa is resisting all demands for CCC to be a democratic party in practice and not just in theory!
In Kariba, party spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said in a statement Sunday, "there were numerous episodes of vote buying by Zanu-PF which was giving away cash ranging from US$5 to US$20 in exchange for votes on voting day".
"Our polling agents identified homes where money was being disbursed to persons who were said to have voted for Zanu-PF.
CCC was up in arms with ZEC for hastily issuing out a denial of occurrences without verifying the genuineness of the claims.
"In the circumstances, we are surprised by ZEC's press statement denying that persons were being forced to take pictures of their ballot papers, which statement was issued without any formal investigation being conducted at the affected polling stations and without any opportunity being afforded to our polling agents to further shed light on the irregularities," Mahere said, adding that the party was going to formally raise its concerns with ZEC to ensure similar occurrences are not repeated in future polls.
Political temperatures are now rising as the country heads for the high stakes 2023 general elections widely expected to become a two horse race between Zanu-PF and CCC.
The Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut did not even reach 2nd gear during the by-election but we can be certain in the high stakes 2023 elections the juggernaut is well oiled to reach overdrive to ensure Zanu PF has yet another landslide victory.
The tragedy here is that MDC/CCC have been participating in these flawed and illegal elections knowing fully well that by participating they will change nothing but only give Zanu PF legitimacy. MDC/CCC have been participating in these flawed elections for selfish personal gain. CCC is participating in the 2023 knowing the vote rigging juggernaut will not be switched off.
@ Tony Reeler
“A decent election requires a level playing field, politics that meet the criteria of mutual toleration and institutional forbearance. What this means is that political parties treat each other as opponents and not as mortal enemies to be crushed, and, in pursuance of this objective, the holder of political power does not use that power — legal and institutional — to handicap its opponents because they are “enemies”.
These conditions are manifestly absent from Zimbabwean politics,” you rightly said.
If there was ever any doubt on this it evaporated like mist under the hot Africa sun in 2008 when Zanu PF turned on the after burners to turn a 73% to 27% defeat to Tsvangirai in the March 2008 into a massive 84% victory for Mugabe three months later.
The primary purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was first and foremost to implement the democratic reforms, level the electoral playing field and ensure the blatant cheating and wanton violence of 2008 are never ever repeated. MDC not only failed to implement the reforms but have been participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy all out of greed. Zanu PF has offered a few gravy train urban seats to entice the MDC to participate regardless how flawed the process got.
After 42 years of rigged elections and with the nation on the very edge of the precipitous abyss we must not only ask why is MDC/CCC hell bent on participating in these flawed elections but take decisive action to ensure this time Zanu PF does not get legitimacy, the reforms are finally implemented and the insanity of rigged elections ended.
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