We all love to hear a
bit of good news, especially when all we have heard for a long time in bad
news.
“Results of a British
organisation survey of Zimbabwean voters show that Nelson Chamisa
will defeat the incumbent president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, obtaining an outright
majority of votes in elections scheduled for later this year,” read the report
in Bulawayo 24 and a number of other Zimbabwean media outlets. The good news
was shared far and wide.
“The survey was conducted for The Brenthurst Foundation by the London-based
SABI Strategy Group, which is not affiliated with a Zimbabwean party. The
survey, conducted in January using an in-depth 15-minute questionnaire, shows
Chamisa would win 53% of the vote to Mnangagwa's 40% among those who say they
will definitely vote.”
Everyone involved in
this survey worked on the assumption that the Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections would
be free, fair and credible – a foolish presumption given the country has never
held free and fair elections ever since the country’s independence in 1980! The
survey does not mention it’s erroneous assumption, and focus instead on telling
the people what they want to hear, that there will finally be regime change.
What the people ought
to and must hear is that participate in these flawed elections is insane because
not only does their participation have no effect on the predetermined Zanu PF
victory but doing so gives legitimacy to the regime. Participating will help perpetuate
the dictatorship and not end it.
In the watershed March
2008 Zimbabwe elections MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai garnered 73% of the votes,
a bigger winning margin than the 53% forecasted win for Chamisa; but, as we all
should know by now, that was not good enough to give Tsvangirai the keys to
State House.
The Zanu PF vote
rigging juggernaut, which had been switched off up to voting day, was quickly
switched back on to stop the results being announced. The regime ordered a
recount of the votes which took six week. Tsvangirai’s 73% was whittled down to
47%, enough to force a runoff. Zanu PF then used wanton violence to punish the
people for having rejected the party in the earlier vote. Mugabe won the runoff
with 84%!
The primary purpose
of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle
the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut and restore the people’s right to free and
fair elections. It is a matter of historic record that not even a token reform
was implemented during the GNU or since. The Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut been
fully operational and is well-oiled and well-funded for the 2023 elections.
Like it or not, admit
it or not, the fact remains that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections just as
blatantly as it regime has rigged past elections. The regime has denied 3
million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, has stubbornly refused to produce
a verified voters’ roll, etc.
How anyone can ignore
the political reality that Zimbabwe IS a pariah state ruled by corrupt,
incompetent Zanu PF thugs who continue to enjoy carte blanche powers to rig
elections beggars belief! MDC/CCC have long given up the fight for reforms and
free elections and are now participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu
PF legitimacy in return for a share of the spoils of power.
“Chamisa to defeat
Mnangagwa with 53%' British survey group says” screamed the headlines. Sweet, sweet
music to the gullible CCC supporters. However, this will not open the floodgate
of the needed investors and lenders; they know Zanu PF is rigging these
elections and Zimbabwe is still a pariah state. They are shrewd lot not easily
fooled.
2 comments:
Zimbabwe government has signed an agreement to borrow US$ 88 million from Tangwirei to build Mbudzi Round About. The loan will mature in 2025. The true cost of the project is US$ 42 million.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections and will have people like Tangwirei to bankroll the regime. If anyone thinks the looting brigade will allow regime change then they are village idiots. Without implementing reforms and cleaning up the electoral system Zanu PF is guaranteed a landslide victory because it has a truly well-oiled, well-funded vote rigging juggernaut!
Of course, Chamisa and company know that Zanu PF is rigging these elections, they are participating because they also know that the regime is giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition. They are after these seats. He is telling his gullible followers CCC is winning big to encourage them to participate and to hide his greed.
The real shock here is that anyone in this day and age can still be so naïve and gullible to believe the oxymoronic nonsense of winning in rigged elections. They have granted Zanu PF the carte blanche powers to rig elections and they still believe they can win even after 43 years of rigged elections! They have no clue what constitute free and fair elections, in this day and age, and so they are just blundering from pillar to post! Fcuk me! We really have more than our fair share of village idiots!
Among other errors highlighted by stakeholders is that Zec may have used the old Lancaster House constitution to delineate boundaries which has seen other constituencies exceeding the required population threshold.
In other instances, some wards have been interchanged and moved despite their having a population that falls within the stipulated threshold, raising gerrymandering fears.
Gerrymandering refers to the manipulation of electoral constituency boundaries to favour one party.
A report by Team Pachedu released last week shows that Zec may have unnecessarily reconfigured electoral boundaries in favour of the ruling Zanu PF, reducing the opposition’s chances of winning in its urban and rural dominions.
If there is one issue on Zimbabwe elections that has been sticking out like a sore thumb, it is the need for a verified voters’ roll. Team Pachedu and others have found glaring errors and down right illegalities in the voters’ roll that have rendered the document worthless trash. It is an outrage that 43 years after independence Zimbabwe has yet to produce a verified voters’ roll.
There are those who have moved on from the failure to produce a verified voters’ roll to discuss the criteria used in the delimitation process. This is just a waste of time. How can the delimitation produce anything of substance when the data used in the process is from the totally discredited voters’ roll? If we do not have a credible voters’ roll then everything else dependent on the voters’ roll cannot be credible.
We are NOT going to have credible, free and fair elections if we do not have something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. How can the outside observers judge the elections when they have nothing to verify and check against?
It is an outrage that Zimbabwe is still failing to hold free, fair and credible elections 43 years after independence, in this day and age. Of course, the 2023 elections are a farce and a total waste of time and resources. We must declare these elections null and void here and now. And Zanu PF must not be granted legitimacy for rigging these elections.
What we need is a new GNU and this time we will implement the reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Producing a verified voters’ roll is not rocket science, for Pete’s sake!
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