The debate on whether to participate in these flawed election, “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step is to withdraw,” is reaching a crescendo.
“Many people that have lost their lives would still be alive if we didn’t have sellouts and turncoats like you, Wilbert Mukori,” argued Mambo Svosve, CCC’s pointer man in North America.
“This struggle would have been over years ago. You are one of the many people that have been deployed by Zanu PF to tell people elections don’t work. Subliminally you are discouraging people to register to vote. We see you!!!”
MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform to ensure free, fair and credible elections even when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU because they are greedy and breathtakingly incompetent. They are hell bent on participating in these elections for the same reasons - greed and incompetence.
Over the years, MDC/CCC have come up with all manner of excuses to justify their failure to implement even one reform and their participating to give Zanu PF legitimacy. Excuses to hide their greed and incompetence.
Yes, Zimbabwe would have held her first ever free and fair elections in 2013, at the latest, if MDC had implemented the democratic reforms, the primary task of the GNU. Instead of admitting the party sold-out, I Wilbert Mukori, is being blamed for prolonging the struggle. I have blamed MDC leaders for selling out and the party is hitting back by blaming me for their greed and incompetence.
If elections are not free, fair and credible, “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw,” as David Coltart admitted in his book referring the 2013 elections; it is self evident Zimbabwe’s election process is NOT working. I do not need to be deployed by Zanu PF or anyone, to say that!
Indeed, what is in Zanu PF’s interest is to say the rigged elections ARE working, get people to participate to give the regime legitimacy. So it you, Mambo Svosve, who is either a greed sell-out deployed by Zanu PF or, if you are saying rigged elections are working out of your own convolution, you are just another greed and stupid opposition leader/supporter.
With no meaningful reforms in place, Zanu PF is set to rig and win the 2023 elections. Chamisa and company will cry foul and accuse Zanu PF of rigging the elections for once accepting the elections process is not free, fair and credible - the very thing they are denying.
Chamisa and company will also blame the ordinary Zimbabweans for failing to register and vote in their numbers and then to protect the vote. Of course, it is infuriating that these sell outs should have chutzpah to blame ordinary Zimbabweans, the victims of their treasonous betrayal, to hide their greed and incompetence.
The EU has send an advance team to assess whether or not Zimbabwe can have free and fair elections in the present environment. SADC leaders did not think it was possible and they wanted the 2013 elections postponed until reforms were implemented. Both Zanu PF and MDC leaders ignored the advice. Let’s see what the EU team says about Zimbabwe’s election process.
If the EU find the current election process is flawed, “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step is to withdraw”; just as SADC did in 2013. No doubt Zanu PF would want the elections to go ahead regardless on the pretext the process is free, fair and credible “to African standards!” CCC will participate in the elections regardless on the pretext the EU was “deployed by Zanu PF to tell people elections don’t work!”
If there is one thing Zimbabwe needs to do to get out of the economic and political mess the nation has been stuck in these last 43 years, that one thing is to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. SADC leader gave the nation the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. We wasted the opportunity.
The EU is going to give us another bite of the cherry, we must make this second chance count.
It would be unforgivable if we wasted yet another chance to implement the democratic reforms because we listened to people like Mambo Svosve who are insisting we don’t need reforms because Zimbabwe’s election system is working! How can a system in which voters are corralled like cattle and frogmarched to vote be judged a democratic free and fair election! Enough of this midsummer madness!
The 2008 elections were a watershed, they showed the depth and extend of Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial powers were such the country cannot have meaningful elections without implementing reforms to end these powers. The sooner we admitted this the sooner we can implement the reforms and get back on track.
Burying our heads in the sand and pretending we devise strategies to win rigged elections is an MDC/CCC excuse to hide their greed and incompetence. It will be insane for the nation to fall for this oxymoronic nonsense especially now after 43 years of rigged elections!
Of course, it is nauseating that 43 years after independence, in this day and age, some one still has no clue what constitute free, fair and credible elections. It is even worse when the ignorant fool is in a position of power and authority!
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President Mnangagwa, who is also the Zanu PF First Secretary, yesterday held an inaugural meeting with the ruling party's Council of Elders where he emphasised that the recently constituted organ, has a diverse and unlimited responsibility in the discharge of its advisory role to the Presidium and all other organs of the party.
The eight-member committee chaired by former Cabinet minister and party stalwart, Sydney Sekeramayi, will be expanded to 25 and will have its own budget and secretariat as part of measures to strengthen it.
Just how many advisory bodies does Mnangagwa need? He has POLAD, President Advisors of which Trevor Ncube was once upon a time a member and now this Council of Elders. Funny enough none of them could stop Mnangagwa committing such idiotic blunders as appointing dodgy characters like Uebert Angel ambassador-at-large and using his high office for gold smuggling and money laundering.
It goes to show one can soak a skunk in a channel 5 bath but given time the stench will overwhelm you!
Mnangagwa is a buffoon who should not be trust with herding goats for a day much less president over the destiny of a nation. He is president only because Zanu PF rigs elections. We really need to focus on implementing the democratic reforms and end this curse of rigged elections and bad governance!
CCC will not want to admit elections are rigged for fear they will be asked why they failed to implement reforms and, worse still, why they are participating in flawed elections!
https://www.zimeye.net/2023/05/11/dont-tell-people-elections-are-flawed-argue-ccc-but-they-are-hence-demand-for-reforms-b4-elections/
When it comes to whether or not Zimbabwe's elections are free, fair and credible MDC/CCC's position is contradictory, ambiguous and ambivalent. This is not surprising, for all their political grandstanding and posturing as the "democratic change champions" most of the leaders have no clue what these democratic changes are much less how they were to be implemented.
Other than David Coltart, Tendai Biti and one or two others who understand what constitute free and fair elections, the rest have no clue. Of course, Coltart was right to conclude that boycotting these elections is the only rational course of action. The process “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step is to withdraw,” he said. But if you have no clue what constitute flawed and illegal elections this was water off a duck's back.
The bribe Mugabe offered during the GNU and after made the duck's feather even more water proof to even concentrated washing up liquid. There was nothing SADC leaders said to get Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to implement even one token reform in five years of the GNU. And similarly, there is nothing anyone can say to stop CCC participating in these 2023 elections, they are hell bent on participating.
Zanu PF and CCC are not peas from the same pod, from the same era, but they are nonetheless both peas. Zanu PF leaders have no clue what constitute free election and will ride roughshod over the people freedoms, rights and human dignity to secure absolute power. CCC leaders too have clue what constitutes free elections and have willingly bargain the people's freedom and rights with Zanu PF for a share of the spoils of power.
If we are serious about reforms, free elections and ending this diabolical Zanu PF dictatorship then we must accept that MDC/CCC leaders have switched sides, they are now fighting in Zanu PF's corner. It is not only bad enough to have the enemy's agents among you but worse still to have the agents leading you!
Chivhayo, whose Intratek was awarded the failed Gwanda Solar Project tender that should have added 100MW to Zimbabwe’s grid nine years ago, recently brought the three cars in America.
The 2023 Maybach Benz GLS600 for US$400,000 adds onto a 2023 Rolls Royce Cullinan US$850,000 and a Rolls Royce Ghost for US$700,000 received in the past five days; putting his total at US$1,950,000 spent only on cars.
“Nowadays everyone wants to show they’re rich until it’s time to spend rich people money. Be patient, keep pushing and remember whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. The all new 2023 Maybach Benz GLS60O. Another US$400,000 well spent. God is the greatest!” said Chivhayo
One has to think of the economic and social benefit the 100MW from the Solar plant would have brought to the nation over the nine years? The nation has forfeited this so that Chivhayo can chase his insatiable greed for designer shoes, posh cars and other luxuries! This is a nation that has buffoons who have no vision or moral compass as leaders and no wonder the nation is in a real mess.
People like Chivhayo are flouting their ill-got wealth knowing they are untouchables - he knows a lot about the big fish and is blackmailing them. He will squeal like a pig about the big fish’s looting and so it is in their interest to see to it that no one touches him even when as he continues to piss over us all!
“God is the greatest!” Yeah right! Why will God the money that should have been spend to improve the lives of millions now suffering in abject poverty wasted on expensive toys for the corrupt few! God is NOT in any of this nonsense and it is blasphemous to evoke His name.
It is insane that 43 years after independence and we still cannot hold free, fair and credible elections, we treat fellow Zimbabweans as if they were the scam of the earth. Indeed in treating each other with the contempt we have turned ourselves into scandals who cannot even govern themselves.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies hang on to liberation story claiming their heroic exploits and yet they failed to deliver the freedom and liberty they say they fought for. All they really care about was to replace the whites as the country's new masters.
A whiff of the new limo made Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friend forget the nation had risked everything to get them into office for the purpose of implementing the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. It is laughable that CCC leaders are total indifferent to Zanu PF rigging these elections and treating the rural voters as medieval serfs as long as they get the few gravy train seats and a share of the spoils of power. The scandals have lost all political credibility and it is a pity that some people, including those from healthy and functioning democracy continue to treat them as democrats!
Zanu PF is rigging these elections and the regime must be denied political legitimacy!
SA is cosying up to Russia and China is a desperate effort to hang on to power and we should not be surprise to see ANC disregard the rule of law to consolidate its hold on power. The party's decision to "stop regime change in Zimbabwe" is one example of this disregard of the law. ANC know that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and yet will grant the regime legitimacy regardless!
Zanu PF has always mounted its voter registration the last minute before the elections. These people know they are registering to vote although they are already registered. On voting day they will vote where they live and then be bused to the new area to vote using their voter registration slips.
Of course, CCC leaders know Zanu PF is rigging these elections but ignore it because they are after the few gravy train seats the regime is offering to entice the opposition to participate. David Coltart has admitted to both Zanu PF rigging and the opposition’s greed, he must have agonised over the confession.
“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.”
It is tragic that many ordinary Zimbabweans refuse to see the blatant rigging and the futility of participating in a flawed election process to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate their own suffering. Even after 43 years of rigged elections the penny has not dropped!
After 43 years of rigged elections Zimbabwe cannot afford yet another rigged elections and 5 more years of this corrupt Zanu PF dictatorship. Stop this insanity by stopping participating in a flawed election to give Zanu PF legitimacy.
For most of us, no one is forcing us to participate in these flawed elections so why are YOU participating!
https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-opinion-sc-columnist-byo-230575.html
@ Benjamin
“Withdrawal from these elections is the only true solution to our problems. It is unfortunate that it is not what CCC and followers want to hear because of greed and selfish desires. Sad.”
The real tragedy here is that the ordinary Zimbabweans has again and again been conned into doing what Zanu PF and/or MDC/CCC want. The people have risked all to elect MDC/CCC leaders into power on the understanding the party will bring about democratic changes. But because the people themselves had no idea what these changes are much less how they will be brought about, MDC leaders bargained reforms for gravy train seats!
Nelson Chamisa and company are hell bent on participating in the flawed elections because they will win the few of the gravy train seats and the good life that brings. Povo have absolutely nothing to gain from participating and yet they have been conned into participating again and again. Only a village idiot would participate in a flawed election believing they will win rigged elections when they can choose free, fair and credible elections.
@ Nyathi
“President Emmerson Mnangagwa almost succeeded in fooling everyone with his pretence that he had suddenly become a born-again democrat after the coup that toppled strongman Robert Mugabe six years ago.
Mnangagwa, who was ever present in Mugabe's governments for the 37 years that the autocrat ruled the country, even promised long-suffering Zimbabweans a "new kind of democracy" as he returned from brief exile in South Africa in the days leading to the military putsch.
He promised to roll back some of the draconian laws that were used by his vanquished mentor to hang on to power for three decades, which were modelled along the lines of colonial legal instruments such as the notorious Public Order and Security Act (Posa).
For some time he did act the part as his new administration repealed the obnoxious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Posa, among other laws that were used so effectively by the Mugabe regime to clamp down on freedom of speech, assembly and association.”
The truth is there was absolutely nothing that Mnangagwa had done to suggest the November 2017 was his Road to Damascus transformative moment. Nothing! We are a very naive and gullible people and always end up reading what is not even there just because that is what we wanted.
The November 2017 military coup was about removing the dictator, Robert Mugabe, and a few around him from office and to replace him with another Zanu PF thug, Emmerson Mnangagwa, as top dog. Other than the musical chairs at the top the Zanu PF dictatorship was not touched.
We, the people had been claiming for democratic change, and Mnangagwa promised us a new democratic dispensation, he only had to say it and we believed him. Mnangagwa had been Mugabe’s henchman for 37 years, proof there was not a drop of democratic blood in him. The coup itself was not what a democrat would ever do! And yet we embraced him as a democrat on his word, a seasoned and ruthless thug!
Chamisa launched CCC in a copy cat move and how quickly the people forgot he was in the MDC the last 22 years, including 5 in GNU, and had failed to implement even one democratic reform.
Mnangagwa and Chamisa have rebranded and, although they continued in their evil ways, they have been embraced by the people and all their past failures airbrushed clean. Only naive people would think a cobra that has shed its old coat is harmless!
@ Vinthoughts
“THE recent fiasco surrounding General Notice 635 of 2023 has exposed a far-reaching crisis of competence, transparency, and accountability within our public information management system. As concerned citizens, we must delve deeper into the implications of this incident, which not only raises questions about the integrity of government's decision-making process but also points to diversionary tactics at play.
The premise upon which the President has rescinded the General Notice strains credulity and generates even more questions than answers. The notion that such a document could be gazetted in the President's name without his knowledge and authority, and in full awareness of its nullity, is difficult to accept at face value. Gazetting legal instruments is not a mere event; it is a process steeped in legal and political protocols. Regardless of one's political persuasion, this incident is deeply troubling and demands thorough examination.
It appears highly likely that the President, succumbing to public pressure, has concocted an unconvincing narrative to justify the withdrawal of the document. Similarly, the government spokesperson's actions raise serious doubts about the credibility of the administration's response. The possibility that the government, facing significant public pushback and embarrassment, chose to quietly withdraw the document to evade further scrutiny, is alarming. It implies an attempted circumvention of proper public consultation and due process.”
What I found surprising is that people were surprise this happened. Indeed, the attempt to deny people information on the procurement of goods and services by some public institutions is not the worst thing this regime has done.
The Al Jazeera Gold Mafia documentary has revealing gold smuggling and money laundering at an industrial scale and how corruption has permeated into every nook and cranny in society right up to Mnangagwa himself. The buffoon is the one appointing and controlling these gold smugglers from State House!
Right now the regime is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections; rehearsing the frogmarching of rural voters, squandering billions of dollars to bribe officials, ignoring calls for reforms and demands for verified voters’ roll, etc. If Zanu PF is allowed to get away with yet another rigged elections the looting will continue even public access to the procurement details still granted.
Making sure Zanu PF does not rig the 2023 elections and get away with it is the most pressing issue right now. People must wake up and smell the coffee!
Between now and the end of 2024 in Africa, no fewer than 22 national elections are scheduled, nine of them in Sadc nations. Later this year are Zimbabwe sometime in July/August and the DRC in December. Sadc country elections in 2024 include Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.
Similar regional groups have been formed elsewhere in Africa. Most face varying degrees of political challenges nationally, imposed by official electoral management bodies, often dominated by the partisan interests of incumbent regimes.
As a Zimbabwean I would honestly say that there is not even one civic organisation in Zimbabwe worthy of the name. Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections for the last 43 years and not even one of the country's civic organisations has ever spoken the truth to power. Not one!
There is overwhelming evidence already to show that Zanu PF is rigging these 2023 elections and participating in the flawed elections will only give legitimacy to vote rigging Zanu PF. So why are these civic organisation keen as mustard to participate?
We do not need another report telling us the elections were rigged. What we need is to stand firm in our demand reforms before elections!
The United States envoy to South Africa said on Thursday he was confident that a Russian ship had picked up weapons in South Africa, in a possible breach of Pretoria's declared neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.
The rand and South Africa's 2030 government bond extended losses after the U.S. statement as currency traders said they were worried that South Africa could now face Western sanctions.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa did not confirm or deny the shipment took place but said his government was looking into the matter, when an opposition leader asked him about the issue in parliament.
The U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, told local journalists in a briefing earlier on Thursday that Washington was confident a Russian vessel had uploaded weapons and ammunition from South Africa in December.
"Amongst the things we noted were the docking of the Russian cargo ship Lady R in Simon's Town between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, 2022, which we are confident uploaded weapons, ammunitions … as it made its way back to Russia," Brigety said.
"Arming of Russia by South Africa with the vessel… is fundamentally unacceptable," Brigety said, adding that senior U.S. officials had "profound concerns" about South Africa not respecting its professed policy of non-alignment and neutrality with regard to Russia's war.
ANC made a party resolution last year that they would not allow regime change in Zimbabwe following the 2023 elections. SADC has granted vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and hence the reason why Zanu PF has itching for a fight with the West so it can use that as the excuse for denying the West clearance observe the country's election. Zanu PF wants African countries and its eastern friends only to observe the elections.
ANC is propping up Zanu PF because the party is seeking a political sick kick the same way Russia has Belarus and before the war Ukraine. This is something Zimbabweans must resist. It is not for South Africa to decide whether or not there is regime change in Zimbabwe, that is the prerogative of Zimbabweans alone!
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