CCC hell bent on participating in 2023 elections regardless how flawed out of greed P Guramatunhu

 

The 2023 Zimbabwe elections will be taking place by August 2023, that is seven months to go. The political temperature is rising!

When Emmerson Mnangagwa seized power following the November 2017 military coup he was cocksure sure his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra will open the flood gates of investors and kick-start the country’s economic recovery. Very few investors have responded to the call.

The mantra was dead in the water when, by rigging the 2018 elections, Mnangagwa confirmed Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and ruthless thugs who rigged elections to stay in power; as was the case before the coup.

Indeed, the coup was just a musical chair to replace the dictator and a few around him with another dictator who added a few new faces to the old administration. As for policy, vote rigging, etc. it was business as usual.

It is therefore no surprise that country’s economic fortunes have not change much; employment is still a nauseating 90%, basic services like health care and education have all but collapsed, nearly 50% of the population now live in abject poverty. And so to retain power in these 2023 elections, Mnangagwa has no other option than to pull all the stop to rig the process and use wanton violence.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and there is already a mountain of evidence of the rigging. Last week ZEC confirm the commission’s delimitation report tabled in parliament was not based on a verified voters’ roll and that the elections will go ahead, regardless. There are a number of reported cases of violence and the numbers and the seriousness of the cases will increase and get worse as election temperature increases.

What outsiders not familiar with Zimbabwe politics will find surprising is the reaction of CCC and the rest in the opposition camp; they are hell bent on participating in these flawed elections no matter how hot the temperature rises. Why, the outsiders, may well ask?

Nelson Chamisa and his friends in the opposition know that Mnangagwa needs the opposition to participate in these elections to maintain the illusion Zimbabwe is a healthy and functioning democratic country to win legitimacy from SADC. And to entice the opposition Zanu PF allows them to win a few gravy train seats – small price to pay for legitimacy.

MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging elections during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one token reform in five years for the same reason MDC and now CCC has been participating in flawed elections – greed.

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trapping of high office and the rest is history.

MDC/CCC leaders have been given all manner of excuses to justify why they persist in participating in these flawed elections just to hide the real reason -greed. Most of the times they pretend the elections are free, fair and credible and doggedly refuse to even acknowledge the mountain of evidence of rigging. This always culminates with the same individuals complaining of Zanu PF rigging the morning after the voting when it’s all too late since Zanu PF has secured legitimacy.

When the evidence of vote rigging and violence cannot be ignored, Chamisa and company claim they will win big regardless because they have winning in rigged elections (wire) strategies. When the election result are announce, they will once again complain the elections were rigged without ever admitting their wire strategies were just hot air.

The temperature of the 2023 elections is hotting up and Chamisa and company are playing one of their favourite tricks – appeal to SADC and the international community at large to intervene.

“The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) says it has sent an appeal to Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and African Union (AU) and will also lobby international organisations to intervene on political violence as the country heads for polls in July or August this year,” reported Newsday Zimbabwe.

It was SADC that intervened following the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections and forced Mugabe to agree to the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections in future. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement even one reform in five years.

SADC advised MDC leaders not to participate in the 2013 election without first implementing the reforms and their advice fell on deaf ears. As noted above MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU and have been participating in flawed elections because of greed.

SADC, EU, the Americans, etc. have all recommended that Zimbabwe must implement democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections. It is none other than CCC and the rest in the opposition camp who have insisted on elections with no reforms for selfish reasons. And Chamisa and company know this too!

“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,” confessed David Coltart, CCC Treasurer General, in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“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.”

In short CCC leaders know that Zimbabwe will never ever have free, fair and credible elections and good governance without first implementing the democratic reforms. Chamisa and company’s call for SADC intervention is just another time-wasting gimmick to hide they their iron resolve to participate in these flawed elections to once again give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a share of the spoils of power!

Mnangagwa swore an oath to serve the good of Rome and not the glory of Caesar - by rigging the elections W Mukori

If we in Zimbabwe are serious about digging ourselves out of the economic and political hell-on-earth we are in, then we must start by paying attention to detail on why we got into this mess. If we know and understand why we got into this mess; knowing and understanding how to get out, will be that much easier.

Detail matters. Indeed, detail is everything!

"I Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa swear that as president of the republic of Zimbabwe I will be faithful to Zimbabwe and will obey, uphold and defend the constitution of Zimbabwe." This is the oath of office which President Mnangagwa was obliged by law to take.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, is a universal maxim.

The nation untrusts a lot of power and authority in the man/woman holding the office of state president. The oath is he/her promising they will exercise the state presidential powers for the good of the nation and never ever abuse it.

 The temptation to use the state power for Caesar’s glory and not the good of Rome is the stuff of history. And those who do not learn from history and their own past are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again and pay dearly with each pass.

The root cause why Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-hole is because Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before him, has repeatedly violated his oath of office to further his selfish interests at the expense of the national good. Zimbabwe is in economic ruins not only because of Zanu PF misrule but, more significantly, because the nation has been stuck with the corrupt and incompetent regime foe 43 years and counting.

Zimbabweans have failed to remove Zanu PF from power long after the people realised the party was corrupt and incompetent because Mnangagwa/Mugabe abused the state presidential powers to deny the people their fundamental right to a meaningful vote, to rig elections, and thus extend the regime’s stay in power.

Free, fair and credible elections are more than just another UN Human Right Declaration nicety; they are the alpha and omega of peace, justice, prosperity and good governance. Zimbabwe got into this man-made hell because for the last 43 years we have failed to hold free and fair elections.

If we are serious about getting out of this hell-hole, we must hold free and fair elections. But to do that we must first understanding that it is Zanu PF that has stopped us holding free and fair elections. We must know and understand the regime that has held the nation to ransom these last four decades.

“The ‘new’ regime can be viewed from different angles, but the nub of it is this: there’s a recognition that the economic fiasco of the last 20 years was suboptimal, but Emmerson Mnangagwa and his fellow travellers will burn the house down if they feel it necessary. Make no mistake, their will to power is every bit as intense as Mugabe’s—as is their belief that they own the country’s choicest fruits by right of conquest,” wrote Stuart Doran in The Strategist.

“There’s no comprehending Zimbabwe without an appreciation of that mentality. Yet many fail to get it because they don’t read the country’s history. In 1979, at the height of the struggle against white rule, a diplomat who mixed frequently with Mugabe and other leaders of his party observed that ‘ZANU does not seem to attach much importance to the destruction caused by prolonged war’. They said they were content to see Zimbabwe ‘totally’ demolished if that was the price to be paid for preventing others from ruling it. That attitude has not changed an iota, notwithstanding the passage of 40 years and Mugabe’s departure. After all, the men who now rule wielded his hatchets for most of that period.”

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections, just as the party has rigged past elections. Last week ZEC acknowledged the commission had failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a must-have for free and fair election, but elections will go ahead regardless.

Another rigged elections will help Mnangagwa and Zanu PF stay in power, the glory of Caesar, but at the expense of the good governance and the good of Zimbabwe. This is the very thing the presidential oath of office is supposed to stop!

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections in advance and we, the people, must condemn the process in advance. Zanu PF must be denied legitimacy fo rigging 2023 election in fragrant violation of Mnangagwa’s oath of office to uphold the constitution and the good of the nation.

Mnangagwa must be held to account for failing to uphold his oath of office by failing to ensure 2023 elections are free, fair and credible and thus deliver good governance for the benefit of the commonwealth. If he is unfit to hold the office of the presidency now, how can he be fit to do so post 2023 elections!   

"1987 Unity Accord brought peace" - Shut up! It was capitulation and de facto dictatorship W Mukori

 

It is a matter of public record that Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi of Zion Christian Church (ZCC) is one of Zimbabwe’s many church leaders who have received farms, generous bank loans and many other benefits from the Zanu PF in return for his blind support of the corrupt and tyrannical regime. Bishop Mutendi must remember that Zanu PF propaganda is not historic fact and must never confuse the two. Never!

“Bishop Mutendi said unity among different ethnic groups in the country dates back to December 1987 when the late former President Robert Mugabe and the late Vice President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo signed the Unity Accord which brought together PF-Zapu and Zanu (PF),” reported The Chronicle.

Correction! The 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre was about coercing Dr Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu supporters into giving up their democratic right to belong to a political party of their own choice and for the said party to contest for public office in free, fair and credible elections. Lest anyone should forget the 1979 Lancaster House constitution made Zimbabwe a multi-party democratic republic.

PF Zapu was, without doubt, Zanu PF’s main political opponent in post independent Zimbabwe.

So, after five long years of reign of terror and barbarism at the hands of state security services that left hundreds of thousands of mainly PF Zapu leaders and supporters beaten and maimed to say nothing of the destroyed properties and livelihoods and over 20 000 innocent civilians murdered in cold blood; PF Zapu finally buckled and signed the so called Unity Accord. It was PF Zapu capitulation, clearing the way for Zanu PF to impose the de facto one-party dictatorship which the regime has ruthless enforced under the pretext of unity, peace and development.    

"Let's be careful of external forces who turn us against each other. As citizens, we should not allow individuals and organisations being sponsored by Western countries to divide us," Bishop Mutendi told his audience in Gwanda.

"For us to develop our country, we must remain united and maintain peace. As a church, including leaders of the country, we should continue praying for our country."

How naïve! Zimbabwe is a textbook failed state; a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to retain absolute power whilst the loot the nation blind. Four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left the country in economic ruins, basic services such as education and health care have collapsed and 49% of our people now live in abject poverty.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and, to be absolutely certain of victory, the regime will brazenly use wanton violence just as it did during Gukurahundi and the 2008 run-off.  

"We would like to thank Bishop Mutendi for the work that he is doing by moving around the country preaching peace and development. This is the kind of partnership that we need as Government," Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Abedinico Ncube, praised Bishop Mutendi.

"Church leaders play a crucial role in the community and we need them to change the mindset of the people and to bring everyone on board. As churches let's continue to play our part in building society."

The church and church leaders have always been the last line of defence, calling for peace, justice and rule of law, speaking truth to power, on behave of the oppressed and voiceless. Not so in Zimbabwe, the church leaders are Zanu PF political commissars spreading party propaganda from the pulpit for a share of the spoils of absolute power.

Church leaders praying for peace knowing all along that it is the Zanu PF regime; they are crediting for bringing peace, unity and development; whose insatiable greed for power and loot is the root cause of the country’s culture of political violence and tyranny, the economic meltdown and the tragic human suffering. With Zimbabwe’s political, economic and political stability now at stake; we, Zimbabweans, own to ourselves and posterity to tell sell outs like Bishop Mutendi they are sell outs! Shut up!

"We aim to win big!" says Chamisa, oblivious Zanu PF is rigging 2023, there no verified voters roll, etc. P Guramatunhu

 

“The world is flat or round not because you or me say it is flat/round. It is round because the mountain of supporting evidence say it is round,” my Secondary School teacher used to say.

Zimbabwe is well and truly stuck in this economic and political mess. 43 years after independence and the country is economic ruins, the four decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have all but crippled the country’s once promising economy. We are stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime because the opposition, the men and women the nation had entrusted the task of implementing the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship have proven to be corrupt, hopelessly incompetent and thus utterly useless.

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC/CCC friends live in their own cloud cuckoo land in which evidence, facts, truth and reality count for nothing. What matters in cloud cuckoo land is what Chamisa says!

“CONGRATULATIONS FELLOW CITIZENS…IN ONE YEAR, YOU HAVE EXCELLED. Change Champions, you moved mountains. Because #Godisinit you Won 19/28 MPs, 89/149 Councillors in by elections. THANK YOU;
-For your solidarity & support.
-For believing and supporting us against all odds. #ANewGreatZimbabwe loading. Thank you Our God in Heaven. You are so faithful!

We aim to #WinBig to seal the Presidency. 2/3 in Parly, & choose both speaker of Parliament and President of Senate. We must attain a majority in local authorities. Citizens, let’s do it again! Come, #Thistime let us make it happen Big! #Onepeople,” said Chamisa in his latest Twitter.

CCC members call themselves “change champions” and Chamisa is “Change Champion in Chief” and yet MDC/CCC has failed to bring about even one democratic change in 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU. In cloud cuckoo land historic facts count for nothing.

Chamisa keeps boasting about CCC as new political party when all he did was rebrand MDC Alliance. Most of the leadership positions in CCC are filled by same individuals from MDC A and the CCC candidates in the by-elections are the winning MDC A candidates who were booted out of the Mwonzora led MDC A.

Most worrying of all is that Chamisa and company are hell bent on participating in these 2023 elections oblivious is the political reality that Zanu PF is rigging these elections. Yesterday, Justice Priscila Chigumba, ZEC chairperson, admitted the commission has failed to produce a verified voters’ roll but the elections will go ahead regardless. CCC will participate in the elections regardless of mountain of evidence the election process is flawed and illegal. The party will win big because Chamisa said so!

By participating in these flawed elections CCC are giving SADC the excuse to endorse the rigged elections and grant Zanu PF legitimacy.

It is all very well for Chamisa and his fellow CCC leaders, they after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bite. As MP one gets US$60k for a car and very generous salary and allowances plus the recent addition of US$40k for a house.

Chamisa will tell the supporters Zanu PF rigged the elections, something he has insisted would not happen, the morning after the vote. And the wildebeest herd and the nation at large will have to live with the consequences of yet another five more years of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule.

I, for one, am hanging my head in shamed that 43 years after independence we, in Zimbabwe, are still failing to hold free and fair elections. Tyrants like Mnangagwa foam and froth about white colonial oppression and yet are the ones denying their own fellow blacks the freedoms and human rights decades after independence.

For anyone to participate in any election without something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, in this day and age, is as foolish still believing the world is flat!

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections. CCC sold out by failing to implement even one reform in 23 years and are selling out by participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. Even the village idiots prone to believing every word Chamisa says must know these are the irrefutable facts!

Zimbabwe is a failed state and is not just Zanu PF and their CCC acolytes who have landed us here; we the people in our naivety have played out part. If we participate in these flawed elections and give Zanu PF legitimacy then we deserve to suffer and die as Zimbabwe sinks deeper and deeper into the hell-on-earth of our own making.

It is all very well living in cloud cuckoo land and believing this CCC’s “winning in rigged elections” oxymoronic nonsense; it comes with a price tag to it.

January 2023 (first ten) videos; open discussions

 January 2023 videos: open discussion.

Mnangagwa pays CIO directors US$350k match other bribes,

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZNVVDUjShw

Chidwu's Const Court challenge of ZEC Chidwu's Const Court challenge of ZEC report a decoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6wviXS3WO0

Army the third force and the power behind the Zanu PF

https://www.facebook.com/4415858595176450/videos/912677199887788

Does boycotting Zimbabwe elections make any sense?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DtcRJ9ndIQ

"If you think we don't have structures and plans, ask Zanu PF" CCC

https://www.facebook.com/4415858595176450/videos/710949950611361

Baron Leong wants UK to hold free elections but "too much" to ask Zimbabwe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRi1rALLWQA

Should Zimbabweans participate in 2023 elections or is it insane to do so?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Y84gi-V1g

Why is MDC/CCC insisting on participating in flawed elections?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWaG8kSJfY

UK House of Lords rules out hopes of Zimbabwe readmission into Commonwealth before 2023 elections

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRkVBn5eHpg

"If blacks rule infrastructure will collapse!" Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx31UlY035A

"CCC will scrap Local Government ministerial directives" Zviroto, zviroto! If wishes were kisses and kisses were songs! N Garikai

 "Central government is destroying and suffocating local authorities through ministerial directives, corruption, procurement, land barons, partisan staff recruitment and non-implementation of devolution as per the constitution. This we will change," said Chamisa via Twitter.

Local authorities have been in the eye of the storm for failing to deliver basic services such as refuse collection and tapped water.

If wishes were kisses
And kisses were songs,
I'd sing for you melodies
Vibrant and long.

By Sylvia Leigh

Of course, this is all wishful daydreaming on the part of Chamisa. For him to reverse any Zanu PF policies he and his CCC friends must first wrestle political power from Mnangagwa and company. They (MDC) had the golden opportunity to do this by implementing the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one token reform and the chance was wasted.

Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and the rest is history.

Chamisa and company claim they will “win big” in 2023. It is all wishful thinking, of course. How can they win the elections so flawed there is no verified voters’ roll, rural voters are frog marched to vote for Zanu PF, etc., etc.

“Zviroto zviroto, siyai zviroto mumba!” (Daydreaming is daydreaming, one must not allow themselves to be carried away with their daydreaming!) said the late Zanu PF dictator Robert Mugabe dismissively of also late Morgan Tsvangirai’s claims of electoral victory.

The tragedy for Zimbabwe is there are many Zimbabweans out there who continue to believe MDC/CCC’s nonsensical daydreaming of ending the Zanu PF dictatorship without implemented the democratic reforms. Even if the those involved in the vote rigging; the Army, ZEC, Police, etc.; were to switch their loyalty from Zanu PF to CCC – which is what Chamisa and Morgan Tsvangirai before have been actively promoting by promising they will all keep their privileges and loot – this will not guarantee good governance.

The root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and bad governance are the mismanagement, the rampant corruption and failure to hold those in power to democratic account; which are, in turn, the by-product of the political patronage system. Trading in one patron, Mnangagwa, for a new one, Chamisa, will not end the criminal waste of human and material resources nor promote debate, democratic competition and free elections – the prerequisites for good governance.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC/CCC leaders into power on the understanding they would implement the democratic reforms to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the nation has been dying for. After 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC/CCC leaders have not implemented even one token reform. It is very disappointing that the people are not only given MDC/CCC their marching orders but continue giving the sell outs their support seduced by the daydream empty promises. Zviroto!

"In NEW GREAT ZIMBABWE we shall turn swords into trowels" - how childish, must first remove Zanu PF W Mukori

 

I observed a mother playing with her baby the other day. She covered her eyes with her hands. Called the baby’s name, as if looking for him. Took off her hands from her face and gasped with surprise and delight at seeing the baby.

It was soon the baby’s turn to cover his eyes and his face lit up with delight each time he lowered his hands and saw his mother. The baby’s delight was so convincing, I was convinced he believed the mother disappeared he closed his eyes and reappeared again when he opened them, even when he was sitting on her lap throughout!

The mother’s delight was contrived, of course it was contrived; the baby sitting on her lap did not disappear and materialise again just because she closed and opened her eye. What would be no laughing matter if she did believe it.

Well Zimbabwe has been playing a similar make-believe game with disastrous consequences!

“In a New Great ZIMBABWE … we shall turn swords into building trowels, spears into priming hooks, and stones of hate into roses of love & amity,” said Nelson Chamisa, the president of CCC or “Zimbabwe’s government in waiting”, as he and his supporters often calls it.

“Hate language and intolerance shall be a thing of the past. Toxicity shall be jettisoned. We will relate with respect & civility #Onepeople.

“They are totally innocent. Their only crime is believing in a better, new great country and belonging to CCC. The darkest hour is just before dawn. It’s AM in Zimbabwe . . and the sun will surely rise and shine. It shall soon be a beautiful morning in Zimbabwe! #FreeWiwa.”

You cannot help but notice that he and his shallow, thick and slow minded followers believe everything he says. They remain stubbornly oblivious that Chamisa has made many similar promises in the past and none have come to pass because the real world responds to the well-established laws of thermodynamics, economics or whatever and not wishful thinking.

Zanu PF is in power and for Chamisa and his CCC can have a go at turning swords into building trowels to create the NEW GREAT ZIMBABWE they must first remove Zanu PF from office. The coming 2023 elections would offer a great opportunity to end Zanu PF rule but all signs on the ground show that this is not going to happen because Zanu PF is once again rigging the elections, as it has done for the last 43 years.

 Nelson Chamisa and his MDC/CCC friends were elected into office these last 23 years for the primary purpose of implementing the democratic changes necessary to stop Zanu PF denying the people their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote. After 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC/CCC have failed to implement even one reform. Not even one!

To add insult to injury, Chamisa and company have been participating in flawed elections knowing fully well they were giving Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship and the misery it brought to the nation. They have participated regardless because they also knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate.

43 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule has left the country in economic ruins with unemployment a nauseating 80% plus, basic services like education and health care collapsed and over 50% of our people now living in abject poverty. Zimbabwe needs to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance a.s.a.p.

Chamisa’s idiotic wishful thinking, closing his eyes so he does see Zanu PF is not going to end the dictatorship. We need to implement the democratic reforms and Chamisa and company will never implement any. Indeed, they are now openly advocating for winning “rigged” elections; they have accepted Zanu PF ‘s carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections as fait accompli! How idiotic is that!  

CCC fishing for coalition with Chapman to participate in 2023 no matter what for the same reason - greed. P Guramatunhu

"At the outset I wish to affirm your Constitutional right to stand for President. My only questions, Sir, are: One – Do you realise that all you are going to do is divide those opposed to Zanu-PF, which benefits Zanu-PF and no one else? Two – Why not rather join and strengthen CCC?" asked David Coltart of Robert Chapman, leader of Democratic Union of Zimbabwe (DUZ).

The single most important question both Coltart and Chapman must answer is did the opposition lose past elections because the opposition vote was divided or was it because Zanu PF rigged the election?

In the March 2008; the only time Zimbabwe came close to holding free, fair and credible elections because SADC countries had forced Zanu PF to switch-off its vote rigging juggernaut; MDC garnered 73% of the votes. Zanu PF quickly switched the vote rigging machine back on and stopped ZEC announcing the results. The regime then spent the next six weeks recounting 5 million votes – whittling down Tsvangirai’s 73% to 47%, enough to force a run-off.

During the run-off Zanu PF punished the people for rejecting Zanu PF in the March vote. “Zanu PF has declared war on the people!” said Tsvangirai as he announced his withdrawal from the race.

SADC leaders engineered the 2008 Global Political Agreement, forcing Zanu PF to agree to the need to implement democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu rigging future elections. The fact that not even one reform was implemented during the five years of the GNU was Coltart and his MDC friends’ fault.  

Tendai Biti and David Coltart have publicly admitted it is foolish participating in Zimbabwe’s elections without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to turn off the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut.

“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,” confessed Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“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.”

So Coltart’s excuse for participating in the 2013 elections was that the two MDC factions had “failed to agree a coalition” so that they would both boycott the elections – “the only logical step”.

Well four of the main MDC factions plus three other opposition parties did agree to form the MDC Alliance before the 2018 elections, whose presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, garnered 42% and 60% of the presidential votes according to ZEC and Tendai Biti’s parallel reckoning. A formidable opposition by all accounts. And yet, again there was no talk of boycotting the elections – the obvious thing since not even one token reform was implemented since 2013 elections.

MDC A leaders participated in the 2018 elections for the same reason they participated in the 2013 – greed.  

Indeed, it was greed that had stopped them implementing even one reform during the GNU. “Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the trappings of high office, they will not rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms during the GNU.

Of course, David Coltart knows that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and that the opposition’s participation will give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a few gravy train seats. For his part, Robert Chapman and his DUZ friends too know Zanu is rigging the elections and by participating they will be giving Zanu PF legitimacy all for the sake of the few gravy train seats on offer as bait.

There is still time for CCC and DUZ to come to some coalition arrangement before 2023 elections. Even if they do, they will still participate in these flawed and illegal elections no matter what out of greed.

43 years of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule has left the country is economic ruins and political paralysis – given the country’s many opposition leaders don’t even have the common sense to see the sheer futility of participating in flawed elections to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship.

What Zimbabwe needs are a few Zimbabweans with honest to admit Zanu PF is rigging the elections and the courage to denounce this flawed election process and denounce CCC and others for participating out of greed. Deny the electoral process and opposition political credibility and you deny Zanu PF political legitimacy.

If 2023 election fail to produce a legitimate government the country will need a new GNU similar to the one in 2008. The subtle difference is that this time a competent GNU must be appointed so that all the democratic reforms are fully implemented without failure. 

Baron Sonny Leong, how can asking Zanu PF to hold free elections be "asking for too much"? W Mukori

There are four tenets to rule of law:

1)     The law must be simple, concise, relevant, and easily enforceable

2)     No one is above the law, especially those in positions of power and authority who will often be tempted to abuse their position for selfish gain.

3)     Those empower to apply and enforce the law must do so without fear or favour

4)     Society must stand firm in defending rule of law in the interest of justice and fair play because we all benefit from the stability, prosperity and progress rule of law engenders.

One of the root causes of the chaos and human suffering today is the willingness of some people to compromise on anyone or all the four tenets of rule of law out of ignorance or worse.

“The upcoming general elections in Zimbabwe should be a highlight of the country's willingness to re-join the Commonwealth but so far, nothing is pointing in that direction, according to Sonny Leong, a British Labour Party legislator,” reported News24 on the recent House of Lords debate.

"In the context of Zimbabwe's application to re-join the Commonwealth, the 2023 election could and should be an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its democratic credentials. Sadly, the portents are not good," admitted Baron Leong.

Therefore, asking too much of Zimbabwe was not fair.

"The Commonwealth is a progressive block, however, that does not make me blind to the flaws and inconsistencies of the organisation and its constituent nations,” he continued.

"On the issue of capital punishment, for example, only 37% of Commonwealth countries have abolished the death penalty in law, compared with 57% of all countries internationally."

Zimbabwe was not booted out of the Commonwealth because it has capital punishment on its statute books so why the honourable Lord’s last remark must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves. Zimbabwe was booted out of the Commonwealth for repeatedly failing to uphold the Commonwealth democratic values of rule of law, justice and respect of freedoms and rights of all as spelt out in the 1991 Harare Declaration.  

If Zimbabwe was readmitted into the Commonwealth before the 2023 elections and Zanu PF once again blatantly rigs the elections by violating failing to produce a verified voters’ roll, by using wanton violence, etc., etc. What will the Commonwealth do?

Will Commonwealth turn a blind eye to the blatant violation of the Harare Declaration or suspend Zimbabwe just a few months after readmitting it? Lord Leong has admitted himself that all the signs are Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and so to go ahead with the readmission is fool hardy, to say the least.

However, if Zanu PF rigs the 2023 elections and Zimbabwe is not suspended from the Commonwealth then the organisation might just as well rip up the Harare Declaration.

The people of Zimbabwe are fighting for their basic freedoms, human rights including the right to a meaning vote and even the right to life. It is all very well for people like Lord Leong, the ripping up the Harare Declaration will not matter to him since he has already secured his basic freedoms and rights.

To Lord Leong asking Zanu PF to uphold the rule of law and respect the right to life is “asking too much and unfair”. It is a matter of life and death to the ordinary Zimbabwean whose hopes and dreams have been crashed underfoot by the regime.

Indeed, Zimbabwe will be forced to walk out of the Commonwealth at the earliest opportunity in protest the readmission of the country to appease Zanu PF at the ordinary people’s expense. How can Zimbabwe remain a member of an organisation prone to such callous indifference to the long suffering of the ordinary Zimbabweans and to their aspiration for freedom and human dignity! 

"Why was Army granted licence to export lithium ore?" - It's not because ZDI is on sanctions, there're no investors. N Garikai

 “Embattled state arms manufacturer, the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has been controversially granted a special permit to export raw lithium by the government, a decision expected to inject life into the firm's struggling operations, emerging details reveal,” reported the Independent.

“ZDI, which has a vast investment portfolio in mining and is reeling under a Western-imposed embargo that crippled the firm's operations for over two decades, got approval to export lithium in October last year.

“The latest development comes at a time when Zimbabwe is experiencing a lithium rush following the random discovery of the lucrative and strategic mineral in some parts of the country, particularly at Sandawana Mine in the Midlands province.”

The attempt by the Zanu PF government to suggest the Army was being granted the licence to export lithium ore because ZDI is still under Western imposed sanctions is pathetic and irrational. If everything the Army touches is subject to the sanctions then why is ZDI able to export the ore but cannot invest in lithium ore processing plant? 

There is a simple reason why the Army, ahead of everyone else, got the lucrative licence to export lithium ore. The Zanu PF regime owes the top brass in the Army and other security services a big favour and it is payback time.   

The Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services played a pivotal role in the 2008 Operation Mavhotera papi, in which Zanu PF, berserk with fury, sort to punish the voters for daring to reject the party in the March 2008 vote. The country’s security services provided the backing for the Zanu PF militia and war veterans, who were the foot soldiers doing most of the harassment, beating and raping, and the security personal did must of the heavy duty abducting and murdering. 

Mugabe rewarded the top brass in the security services for their role in keeping Zanu PF in power by granting them the now infamous diamond mining concession in Marange and Chiadzwa. The concession allowed the holders to mine without keeping a record of the quality or quantity of diamonds found, to whom the diamonds were sold and for how much, who were the beneficiaries of the sale and they were not under any legal obligation to declare their earnings for company or persona tax purposes. In short, the concession were a state approved looting scheme. 

In time the looting schemes have extended to other areas such as gold and platinum mining and extended to other fields such as energy and it has been said that the service provider for ZEC data is an Army owned subsidiary. 

The initial decision was that Zimbabwe will not export lithium ore in a move to build the smelting plant, create the much needed employment in the country and add value. A reasonable decision by all accounts. 

“The Independent, among other questions, wanted to understand how ZDI was granted the green-light to export raw lithium and whether the military-controlled entity has short-term plans to beneficiate the mineral. This publication also sought to verify whether this was going to be a once-off shipment or a running deal,” continued the report.

The report that the Army has been granted the right to export lithium ore is not surprising in the context of the wholesale looting of the nation’s resources that is happening, especially by the Army. But the truth be told, there was probably no one willing to team up with the Army or one of the other looting syndicates to build a lithium smelter. 

Let’s face it, Zimbabwe is a failed state, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs. The country has become the by-word for chaos and the criminal waste of human and material resources. 

No one, absolutely no one would want to risk investing good money in failed state. Building a lithium smelter constitute a long term investment and not even the looters themselves would want to make such a long time commitment. 

Right now, Zimbabwe is gripped with election fever. Zanu PF is set to rig these elections. There is widespread election violence and the country has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. And yet the election is going ahead regardless because the opposition are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait. 

The failure to hold free, fair and credible elections will only confirm Zimbabwe’s status a failed state. How is it possible that 43 years of independence and in this day and age, we still have no clue what constitute free elections! 

Zanu PF has denied us our basic freedoms and human rights including the right to a meaningful vote. Before independence the rallying cry was “One man! One vote!” We acknowledge the right of very one to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 

Ever since MDC/CCC failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, the new rallying call has been to “win rigged elections!” This is just an oxymoronic excuse for allowing Zanu PF to continue riding roughshod over the people denying them their right to free elections. 

Holding free, fair and credible elections is the pre-requisite to ending Zimbabwe’s curse of corruption, bad governance and the pariah state status. As long as the country remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery. None!

"What leadership is this that invest in violence?" - asking that now after 23 years of promising change? P Guramatunhu

 “If you have support why are so violent, so heartless against citizens even the elderly?And why should bases and vigilante groups be allowed around the country? Are we now worse than animals? What leadership is this that invests in violence?” asked Nelson Chamisa, president of CCC.

“Violence is very expensive! Violence is the weapon used by the desperate and losing! Using violence and intimidation is evidence of defeat, primitivism, savagery and backwardness. Stop it!”

These are rhetorical questions and we all know the answer to each and everyone of the questions. 

Starting back in 1980, when the country held is first post colonial rule elections; Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies made it clear that the bush war would continue if they did not win the elections because they wanted to be absolute certain they win. And they did win. The people voted to end the war.

And when Mugabe and company got into power in 1980 they number priority was to consolidate they hold on power by hook and by crook. The regime launched the Gukurahundi massacre in 1983 whose primary purpose was to force the now late Dr Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu to sign the Unity Accord and join Zanu PF. Dr Nkomo and company finally capitulated in 1987, paving the way for the imposition on the de facto one party state. 

Each time Zanu PF has felt its hold on power threatened the party has resorted to wanton violence to augment its institutionalised and well funded vote rigging machinery. The 2008 elections have become a watershed in that the whole world was able to see Zanu PF’s blatant cheating and wanton violence in graphic detail. 

By the late 1990s the people of Zimbabwe had realised that Zanu PF was a party of corrupt, incompetent and ruthless thugs who had destroyed the country’s once prosperous economy. And if the regime remained in office, it would drag the nation deeper and deeper into poverty and despair. The people realised the nation needed implement democratic changes to restore the law, rule of law and thus stop Zanu PF rigging elections and end the dictatorship. 

Morgan Tsvangirai, Nelson Chamisa and other launched the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999 in answer to the nation’s desire for democratic change. And for the last 23 years the people have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into office on the understanding they will deliver the changes the nation has been dying for these last 43 years.

Sadly, MDC has failed to implement even one democratic change in 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU when the party had the golden opportunity to do so. Not even one reform! 

“What leadership is this that invests in violence?” It would be idiotic for anyone, anyone at all to be asking this after 43 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule. We have to dig deeper to understand why Nelson Chamisa and his MDC/CCC friends are asking this. They are not idiots, they are worse!

Of course, the now late Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends understood that also now late Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who wanted absolute power and willing crashed the people and their hopes of freedom, human rights and dignity to get it. MDC leaders understood the cure for tyrannical rule was to restore law and rule of law. It is just that when Tsvangirai and company got into power and had the chance to implement the democratic reforms they were distracted by the trappings of power and forgot about the reforms.

“MDC leaders were busy enjoying themselves during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, they forgot why they were there!” remarked one SADC diplomate in July 2013, in disgust at MDC’s failure to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU. 

The truth is MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform in 23 years because they are corrupt, breathtakingly incompetent and utterly useless. 

The tragedy here is that whilst SADC leaders and the international community have since realised MDC/CCC leaders are useless and thus deserted them in droves; many ordinary Zimbabweans are yet to wake up to this political reality.

“Violence is very expensive! Violence is the weapon used by the desperate and losing! Using violence and intimidation is evidence of defeat, primitivism, savagery and backwardness. Stop it!” continued Chamisa. 

How pathetic! Of course Zanu PF will NOT stop! 

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging these elections and will resort to all manner of barbarism to guarantee the party’s electoral victory. 

The thing is Chamisa and his fellow CCC leaders KNOW Zanu PF is rigging these elections and that they participation will only give Zanu PF political legitimacy. And yet they are still participating regardless because they also know that Zanu PF is giving away a few gravy train seats, echos of their GNU years, as bait and this they find irresistible. 

So, Chamisa is asking all these rhetorical questions and appealing to Zanu PF thugs’ sense of shame, knowing they have none, just to please his many naive and gullible supporters. 

As long as the people remain a naive and gullible lot, Zimbabwe will remain a pariah state governed by corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF thugs in cahoots with their entourage of corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition parties. And as long as the country remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery and the tragic human suffering will only get worse.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result" - peer pressure is it's midwife W Mukori

 No one should undertake anything with the intention to fail. Being pragmatic means doing everything in your power to maximise the chances of success by considering all possibility of failure and taking the necessary measures to counter the negatives. 

It is possible that you will still fail. The smart thing to do then is to learn why you failed. The foolish thing to do is to fail to learn from one’s mistake because the chances are you will repeat the same mistake again and fail again. 

And just as success breed success, failure breeds failure. The more often you fail the greater the chances you will fail again and all because you failed to take time off to learn from the past. 

There are many who will start frothing round the mouth each time I point out that MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one reform in 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU. “Let’s move on!” they would scream. “We cannot drive forward whilst looking in the rear-view mirror! We need to dwell in the present and prepare for the future.”

The very fact that these fools look to Chamisa and his CCC friends to get the nation out of the political and economic mess we are in is proof they have never taken time out to ask the obvious question: what changes have Chamisa and company brought in 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU? Because if they had done so then they would know the answer is not even one change. 

Of course, it is foolish to trust CCC to get us out of the mess when they have failed to deliver even one change in 23 years. After 23 years of one failure after another because they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. Only a village idiot, who too does not have the common sense to learn from 23 years of repeated failures, would entrust his/her life and the destiny of the whole nation to some one with a proven track record of failure.  

It would be unforgivable for some one of sound mind to allow themselves to be sweared into entrusting their dog’s comfort much less their life, to a failed leader to placate a village idiot. Even if the village idiots constitute the majority, as they do in Zimbabwe’s case.  

The true measure of one's intellectual worth is doing the right thing even if it is the least popular. Many people are stuck in a rut repeating the same mistake over and over again and hoping against reason for a different result. The origin of their insanity is the failure to do the right thing for fear being unpopular with their peers.