Murder of Moreblessing renews demand for reforms before elections - will CCC finally heed W Mukori

 The cold blooded murdered of Moreblessing Ali, a Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activist, has touched a raw nerve because of its sheer audacity, barbarism and cold indifference on the part of the Police and the Zanu PF government.

Moreblessing was attached and abducted on 24 May 2022 by suspected Zanu PF supporters round 8pm near Chimbanguza Night Club, Nyatsime, in Chitugwiza, a dormitory high-density suburb outside Harare. Many people witnessed the incident and raised the alarm and reported to the local Police.

The Police have never interviewed much less arrest the named Zanu PF suspects. This is a very common thing in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF thugs are above the law and commit very serious crime with impunity.

A week after Moreblessing’s disappearance her body was found in a well at the house of a Zanu PF official’s mother’s home in Nyatsime. The body had been hacked in two at the waist. Her internal organs had to be scooped into a plastic bag!

Today, three days since the discovery of the body, still no one has been arrested. No Zanu PF government official has said a word!

Indeed, Zanu PF supporters in the area have taken it upon themselves to harass CCC supporters who had gathered to mourn one of their own.

“CCC supporters Tuesday afternoon burnt down a home belonging to a Zanu-PF district chairperson only identified as Murambatsvina, who is said to have been one of those barring them from mourning their slain colleague Moreblessing Ali at her Nyatsime home,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“Murambatsvina's house was torched by the riotous supporters who had been angered by Zanu-PF's hard-line stance not to allow them at Ali's home and by ruling party councillor Masimbi Masimbi's decision to bar them from mourning her in his ward.”

In another video CCC are shown singing “Hondo! Hondo!” (War! War!)

This is one war Zanu PF will emerge as the winner, guaranteed! The CCC supporters have no snow-ball chance in hell of winning given Zanu PF thugs have the backing of the Zanu PF state machinery behind them. Usually, the Police will hunt down all those involved in the burning down of the house and the Courts will punish them and meanwhile the coldblooded murders of Moreblessing remain untouched. They are the untouchables!

In June 2013 SADC leaders wanted that year’s Zimbabwe elections to be postponed until some democratic reforms to stop the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred the 2008 elections being repeated.

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Journalist Violet Gonda.

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”

As we already know, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues ignored SADC leaders’ warning and participated in the 2013 and 2018, five years later, elections with no reforms in place. Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig those elections as SADC leaders had predicted.

The blatant cheating was enough to secure a landslide victory for Zanu PF in both 2013 and 2018 and so the nation was spared the wanton violence. After 42 years of rigged elections and with the country’s economy in ruins and over 50% of the population now living in abject poverty; it is not surprising the nation is desperate for meaning change.

So, desperate “the people will vote for a donkey if the choice was Mnangagwa and the donkey!” to paraphrase Professor Jonathan Moyo’s comment when Mugabe went on to lose to Morgan Tsvangirai’s 73% in the March 2008 vote. Zanu PF had resorted to blatant cheating to stop Tsvangirai claiming the presidency and then to the wanton violence in the run-off to reclaim the party’s dominance.

Zanu PF has stepped up the blatant cheating with the regime denying 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, ZEC will once again failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, the party is extending its allowance to the war veterans and traditional leaders who will frog march the ordinary people to vote for Zanu PF vote, etc. Clearly, this is not enough given the nation is restless for regime change.

Moreblessing Ali is the third opposition supporter to be murdered in cold blood since October last year in what is clearly a rerun of the wanton violence of 2008! The wanton violence is set to increase the more Zanu PF feels it iron hold on power threatened.

“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.

“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.

(To see Stuart Doran’s article in aspistrategist.org.au)

The tragic events of the last 42 years make it clear that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF believe they have right to rule Zimbabwe regardless of the overwhelming evidence their rule was brought economic ruin and untold human suffering. Their warped mentality to burn down the country rather than see anyone else rule sticks at the very heart every Zimbabwean’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country, the very essence of democracy and good governance.

We cannot restore the right of every Zimbabwean to a meaningful say in the governance of the country without implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. This is why it did not make any sense for MDC to ignore SADC’s advice to implement reforms during the GNU and not to participate in the elections without reforms.

MDC leaders (CCC is nothing but MDC rebranded, same leaders new political name) have all but given up the fight to implement reforms since the sold out by failing to get even one reform implemented during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Since the GNU debacle they have insisted on participating in the flawed elections claiming they have “winning in rigged elections” strategies. This is more than an oxymoron; the notion subscribes to the Zanu PF ethos of the party having the “right” to rig elections!  

So, in their own moronic way CCC leaders do not care about restoring the people’s right to free and fair elections. All they care about is power and hence the reason they failed to implement even one reforms during the GNU when they had the golden opportunity to do so.

Some people have argued MDC leaders did not implement any reforms because Zanu PF would have disregarded the reforms anywhere. This is just a feeble excuse that must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves.

The lord God was not under any illusions that giving Moses the Ten Commandments would rid the world of the sinners for all times! Of course, there are still sinners but there would be a lot more sinners without the Commandments and the guarantee no sin will go unpunished since the Lord God sees everything we mortals do!

To suggest that Zanu PF’s strangle hold on the nation cannot be broken by implementing democratic reforms is nonsense. The Zanu PF dictatorship is the handwork of mortals and per se can be dismantle by mere mortals too.         

Now with Zanu PF blatantly cheating and using wanton violence to rig elections everyone with a brain will join SADC leaders in calling on CCC and the rest of the opposition not to participate in the 2023 elections until reforms to stop Zanu PF cheating and using violence are implemented.

The cold-blooded murder of Moreblessing Ali confirms that Zanu PF will rather burn down the country than hold free, fair and credible elections. How many more innocent Zimbabweans must be murdered in wanton political violence before Chamisa and company finally heed the call for reforms before elections.

"Nonsense" Magaisa never sold out to Zanu PF - then why did GNU fail to implement even one reform W Mukori

 

Honour your father and mother and above all honour the truth!

"Contrary to the nonsense I was reading on social media, they (Zanu-PF) approached Alex and I just felt that out of respect, after the period of mourning if they continue, I will set the record straight," Hopewell Chin’ono reportedly told the guests at the late Magaisa’s memorial lecture.

"We know the people. We have got names and some of them came through me. But Alex said, ‘No. I am a Zimbabwean. If you do things right, you do not need Magaisa's support. Do not look for individuals. Do the right thing and the whole country will support you'."

Well, the whole nation is certainly waiting to hear why MDC failed to implement even one meaningful democratic reform during the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unity (GNU). This was the golden opportunity to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and it is treasonous that the opportunity was callously wasted.

It is a historic fact that Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, the gravy train, and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, the forgot about the reforms.  

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good life, they will not rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.

Dr Alex Magaisa was the MDC T leader, late Dr Richard Morgan Tsvangirai’s special adviser during the GNU. What advice did Dr Magaisa give MDC T on reforms?

It is possible that Dr Magaisa advised MDC T to implement the democratic reforms but his advice was not heeded. SADC leaders, amongst many others, repeatedly warned the MDC leaders on the need to implement reforms during the GNU but their warning fell on deaf ears.

If it was that Dr Maagaisa gave MDC T leaders the right advice but was ignored, then why did he not do the only decent thing and resign? He has had the opportunity since the end of the GNU to come clean on why not even one token reform was implemented during the GNU; he has not done so.

And so, unless we see the evidence to the contrary, MDC leaders failed to implement even one token reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU because they were corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. Dr Alex Magaisa, as Dr Tsvangirai’s chief advisers, played his part in this treasonous sell out!

It is all very well for Chin’ono to say Magaisa never sold-out to Zanu PF; he must square the circle and reconcile that with the historic fact that not even one token reform was implemented during the GNU.

 Speak to the same audience, top human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said: "I believe that we should have regular lectures to celebrate each other. Alex was a vital core in the (2013 Zimbabwe) Constitution-making process which culminated in what we now have which I consider a decent Constitution."

I am not a lawyer and am given to believe Paul Mangwana’s boast that the constitution was “dictated” by Robert Mugabe. Mangwana is himself a lawyer and was Zanu PF’s MP and co-chair in the parliamentary committee that drafted the constitution. Mugabe was a ruth tyrant and dictator and not the one to dictate “a decent constitution”.

Indeed, the 2013 Zimbabwe constitution is a dictator’s decree and hence the reason why it failed its number one test – failed deliver a free, fair and credible elections in July 2013, just four months after its 95% approval in the March 2013 referendum.

Biti kicked out of parliament for demanding reversal of Pomona deal - more grandstanding, dying for real change N Garikai

 

“Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda Thursday chucked out Harare East legislator Tendai Biti and his Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) colleague Charlton Hwende after unsuccessfully trying to bar them from further discussing the controversial Pomona waste-to-energy deal,” reported Bulawayo 24

“After local government deputy minister Marian Chombo's presentation, having been called to explain the deal, Mudenda ruled there was no longer going to be any other discussions around the matter as tempers flared.

“Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com after being sent packing, Biti said the CCC party would continue to push for reversal of the deal even if it meant the whole opposition bench would be chased out of Parliament again.”

This is just grandstanding and silver-back gorilla posturing by Tendai Biti and his opposition colleagues; Zanu PF has 2/3 majority in parliament and per se will do as it pleases. This Pomona Deal stinks of corruption, it is not the first case of corruption nor will it be the last!   

Zimbabwe in this serious economic and political mess after 42 years and counting of this corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. And as long as the party continues to enjoy its carte blanche dictatorial powers including the power to blatantly rig the elections and remain in power the nation will continue to sink deep and deeper into the abyss.

The only solution is to implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

Tendai Biti and his MDC friends were elected on the promise they will deliver democratic changes, as the party’s name implied. They have failed to implement even one change even when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Worse still, since the GNU debacle, they have participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the dictatorship.

Tendai Biti and his CCC (MDC rebranded) are participating in the 2023 elections knowing fully well Zanu PF is rigging these elections and that doing so will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Zanu PF is giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition and these are what Biti and a few others are after.

Tendai Biti knows that with its 2/3 majority in parliament Zanu PF will do as it pleases. The Pomona Deal stinks of corruption but it will stand. It is not the first corrupt case nor will it be the last. Of all the people, Tendai Biti, knows this is indeed the case.

So, why did Tendai Biti make a scene on this Pomona Deal if he knew it will change nothing? This was just grandstanding and posturing to justify his continued presence in parliament.

The truth is the people of Zimbabwe must now make up their minds what kind of government they want going forward:

v  Either the present system comprising of the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship with its acolyte of corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless MDC/CCC opposition leaders who are content to maintain the status quo for a share of the spoils of power.

v  Or to totally reject this oxymoronic notion of winning rigged elections based on falsehood that Zanu PF leaders have the divine right to rig elections, and demand the implementation of the reforms, the restoration of the rule of law and the freedoms and rights of every Zimbabwean including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

"Everyone must register to vote for change" - to what purpose when whole process is rigged P Guramatunhu

 

“In this world it pays to pay attention. Answer the question you are asked and not the question you wanted to be asked!” Father Kunne, my Bible Knowledge teacher, used to say. A simple lifetime lesson well worth learning by heart!

There is no denying that Zimbabwe is in this hell hole because of 42 years of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness that has left the country in economic ruins, political paralysis and a pariah state shun by all. Zanu PF has rigged elections and thus deny the people the opportunity to end the dictatorship and get out of the hell-hole.

There is also no denying that Zimbabwe has had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Instead of implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were distracted by the trappings of high office, they forgot about the reforms.

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have busy enjoying the trappings of the gravy train, they will never rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leader were not implementing the reforms.

Since the GNU debacle MDC cum CCC leaders have all but abandoned the fight to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections, which is the battle royal before us if we are to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and get out of this hell-hole we are stuck in. Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends believe the country can still get out of the hell-hole without implementing reforms.  

“The only way to restore the teachers' dignity is by voting out President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF in 2023,” proclaimed Patriotic Papa J Chitando in a Bulawaayo24 article, “We have to break Zanu-PF yoke”.

An ostentatious statement, coming from the political party, MDC/CCC, that has failed to deliver even one democratic reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. And is ignoring the political reality that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and nothing of substance can ever be accomplished without first implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections.  

“It is upon every school head and teacher to encourage and make sure every staff member and their families at their station are registered to vote for change,” continued Chitando.

“The biggest culprits are the greedy teachers who sacrifice lifetime liberty by supporting Zanu-PF.”

Chitando was not just a senior MDC-T member in the GNU, he was the party’s MP for Masvingo Central. As an MP he could have submitted a reform proposal in parliament in his own right! Not even one reform proposal was submitted in the five years of the GNU by Chitando or anyone of his fellow MDC friends. Not even one reform!

To win the 2023 elections, Chitando and company set themselves a target of registering 6 million new voters. 250 000 new voters had registered country wide by the end of May 2022. Even if one assumed the new voter registrants are MDC/CCC supporters, this constitutes a mere 4% of the target 6 million!

So, MDC/CCC’s flagship strategy of “winning the rigged elections” by overwhelming numbers by mass voter registration and mass voting is dead in the water.

The Zanu PF voter rigging machinery controls every aspect of the voting process including the voter registration and it is therefore not surprising the party disrupted the voter registration process. It is common knowledge that the opposition supporters have found it very difficult to register as voters. Meanwhile offices have remained open to midnight to register Zanu PF supporters!

Zimbabwe is well and truly stuck with this corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship whose long stay in power is assured as long as the party continue to enjoy the carte blanche powers to rig elections. If we want change then we must implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. MDC/CCC have wasted many golden opportunities to get the reforms implemented because they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.

After 42 years of rigged elections with the country in serious economic trouble and millions now living in abject poverty; Zimbabwe must bite the bullet and implement the democratic reforms. It is insane not to!

Zanu PF is rigging these including the voter registration itself. The only hope for real and meaningful change will come from implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

“Teachers, everybody must register to vote for change!” To what end and purpose when the whole process is flawed, illegal and blatantly rigged.

 

Zimbabwe Social Democrats PRESS STATEMENT

 

SADC and AU leaders must judge Zimbabwe 2023 elections to international democratic standards and not to some compromise one-foot long yard stick.

In a year from now, July 2023, Zimbabweans will be going to the poll to elect a new government. Already there are signs these elections will not be free, fair and credible, which is not surprising since they are just a repeat of the rigged past elections.

 

If we used the 2008 elections as the benchmark; everyone including SADC and the AU who until that year had always turned a blind eye to Zimbabwe’s rigged elections, agreed the 2008 elections were a farce following the blatant cheating and use of wanton violence by Zanu PF. Both SADC and AU refused to give Zanu PF political legitimacy and forced the party to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA).

 

The GPA called for the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms to restore the rule of law, restore the individual freedoms and rights and to stop the repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred the 2008 elections. A Government of National Unity (GNU); comprising of Zanu PF led by Robert Mugabe, MDC T and MDC M led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara respectively; was established and tasked to implement the reforms. SADC led by South Africa was the guarantor of the GPA.

 

Not even one meaningful reform was implemented throughout the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The main culprits for this failure were Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who took their eyes off the reforms ball. Mugabe bribes them with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about the reforms.

 

SADC and we, the ordinary Zimbabweans, could and should have done a better job of ensuring MDC leaders implemented the reforms. We did not!

 

SADC made a last-minute concerted effort to get the electoral reforms, at least, implemented before the 2013 elections. “If you go into the elections next month, you will lose! The elections are done!” SADC leaders told Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to their faces.

 

As we know, MDC leaders ignored SADC leaders’ warning and participated in the 2013 elections only to complain that Zanu PF had rigged the elections. SADC ignored MDC’s complains, endorsed the election as “substantially free and fair” and thus granted Zanu PF legitimacy.

 

Of course, Zanu PF had indeed blatantly rigged the 2013 elections, as the SADC leaders had rightly predicted just a month before the voting. The only rational explanation for the regional leaders’ volte-face to endorse the rigged elections is because SADC leaders were disappointed with MDC leaders’ failure to implement reforms during the GNU and for ignoring the advice not to participate in the elections without implementing reforms.

So, disappointed they gave up the fight for reforms and free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. And they decided to grant Zanu PF legitimacy to punish the MDC leaders.

 

The tragic reality is by endorsing rigged Zimbabwe elections SADC and AU have not only punished MDC leaders but the ordinary Zimbabweans too, who have borne the brant of the Zanu PF tyranny and the consequences bad governance.

 

“The electoral commission (ZEC) lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.

 

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

 

The EU Election Observer Mission final report made 23 recommendations which, if implemented, would bring Zimbabwe 2023 elections to international standards. Sadly, not even one of the recommendations have been implemented.

 

Both SADC and AU election observers judged Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections as “substantially free and fair”. With not even one token reform implemented since the last elections it is already evident that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections too!

 

It is outrageous, that 42 years after independence Zimbabweans should still be fighting Zanu PF and the sell-out opposition to secure their basic right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

 

Indeed, both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC have ignored demands for implementing reforms before elections content in the knowledge that both SADC and AU will endorse the rigged elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy. It is therefore clear we, in Zimbabwe, must fight Zanu PF, MDC/CCC, SADC and AU to have reforms implemented. So be it!

 

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections, “the elections are done!” as SADC leaders aptly put back in 2013. The prospect of SADC and AU once again declaring the rigged elections “substantially free, fair and credible” is real.

 

We will question SADC and AU’s basis for declaring rigged elections “substantially free and fair”; especially those nation with a history of holding free, fair and credible elections. Zimbabwe elections must be judged against the internationally accepted democratic standards and not some one-foot long yard stick!

 

Signed

 

Wilbert Mukori

 

ZSD Secretary General.

 

Email:zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com

www.zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk

"If you go into (2013) elections (with no reforms), you will lose" - what will it take for CCC to finally listen P Guramatunhu

In June 2013, nine years ago this month, SADC leaders made a last minute desperate bid to stop Zimbabwe going into the July 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms. They wanted the elections postponed because with no reforms they knew that Zanu PF would rig and thus make the whole process futile.

“The Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza, Director of SAPES, told Journalist Violet Gonda.

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”

Lest we forget, it was SADC leaders who forced Zanu PF to agree to the need to implement democratic reforms and the formation of the 2008 to 2013 GNU following the blatant cheating and wanton violence by Zanu PF in the 2008 elections. SADC leaders were the guarantor of the agreement, and they did they best to remind Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to implement the reforms.

MDC leaders ignored the SADC leaders’ advice to implement reforms. Not even one meaningful reform was implemented and hence SADC leaders’ last-minute bid to have the elections postponed until some reforms are implemented. As we know MDC leaders ignored SADC leaders’ plea and participated in the 2013 elections.

In his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, an MDC Ncube minister in the GNU, confirmed four key points:

1)     That with no reforms, Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections

 

2)     That postponing/boycotting the elections until reforms was the “obvious” thing to do

 

3)     That by participating in the flawed elections, the MDC gave “credibility” to the elections process and undermine SADC’s ability to hold Zanu PF to account

 

4)     That MDC leaders participated in the flawed elections out of selfish greed, they knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. (Indeed, it was the same greed and incompetence that had stopped MDC implementing even one reform during the GNU.)

“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 the Book.

“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.”

As we know MDC leaders participated in the 2013 elections out of greed and the nation forfeited the chance to have the reforms implemented and chance to hold free, fair and credible elections and thus end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

In their 2014 party congress, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T vowed the party will not participate in future elections until the reforms are implemented. “No reform, no elections!” Many of the country’s opposition leaders followed MDC-T’s lead.

In December 2015 Douglas Mwonzora, then MDC-T Secretary General, announced that the party would push for reforms but will participate in the 2018 elections regardless. Greed had once again got the better of reason and common sense.

We know the sheer futility of participating in these flawed elections just to give vote giving Zanu PF legitimacy. We also know that Zanu PF will continue to resist all pressure to implement reforms as long as the opposition participate in the flawed elections to give the party legitimacy.

Nine years after SADC leaders advised on the futility of participating in flawed Zimbabwe elections, we know MDC/CCC are hell bent on participating in the 2023 elections against SADC advice. How many more years are we going to allow CCC leaders to sell out on reforms, free elections and the very survival of Zimbabwe?

"Without safeguards against vote rigging , CCC will lose 2023" - reforms are the only safeguards N Garikai

 Dear Deborah Harry

“People will recognise that making each vote count is a much more challenging goal compared to a campaign to make people register to vote. Making each vote count requires that every poll station where votes are casted and counted is being monitored for voter fraud. Not only that, but in the event that voter fraud is identified, it needs to be captured on camera and publicised for the entire world to see,” you wrote in Zimeye.

First of all I would like to thank you for your realisation that unless we stop Zanu PF rigging these elections all our clamouring for change will come to naught. And I thank you too for your contribution and zeal in the search for ways to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

In a country where many have either given up the fight for free, fair and credible elections; or, worse, still all but buried their heads in the sand and refuse to see the blatant vote rigging; your wide-open eyed dealing with reality is a virtue.

“The tallying of all national votes by the ZEC also needs to be monitored closely and any shenanigans need to be captured on camera and publicised to the world. All these things need talent, manpower, dedication, organisation and definitely, funding,” you continued.

“This is the level of hard work that is needed to make every vote count. Without any safeguards against vote rigging, it’s impossible for the CCC to get anything from the 2023 election.”

Some of the vote rigging shenanigans were not just captured on camera but came out in the Constitutional Court!

In ZEC’s own affidavit, the commission admitted that it did not have all the V11 forms, the summary of the vote count from each Polling Station, and hence the reason had two different vote tallies which it could not reconcile. About 10% of the V11 forms were missing, the exact number is not known because, like so many things in the Zimbabwe election process, only a select few know the exact number of Polling Stations in the 2018 elections.

It should be noted that the number of Polling Stations has increased from 2 000 in 2008 to 9 000 in 2013 and over 11 000 in 2018. Of course, the number of Polling Stations was increased to facilitate the vote rigging. What else!

It is one thing to argue that the opposition must appoint election agents to monitor the voting, counting, etc. at each Polling Station. How does the opposition monitor a Polling Station that even the official ZEC does not know about?   

A close examination of the ZEC affidavit showed that there were 16 cases in which two or more V11 entries of the votes cast for each candidate, spoilt votes, etc. were exactly the same. And, one more thing, in all these cases Emmerson Mnangagwa was leading by a very healthy margin. ZEC’s lawyer argued that these were merely coincidence and it “is not for ZEC to explain human behaviour!” The judges agreed with him.

The obvious explanation of the 16 two or more exact entries is double entry. The judges could have ordered opening of the sealed boxes from the corresponding Polling Stations to be opened and examined. The Court did not want to know the truth; and to deliver a judgement expected of them, it was wise not to know the truth.

It should be remembered here that High Court Judge George Chiweshe had ruled that the November 2017 military coup was “justified, legal and constitutional”!

The judiciary is supposed to be judicious in its search for truth and justice and upholding the rule of law. Not so in Zimbabwe!

If a military coup is “justified, legal and constitutional” it is not surprising the same judiciary should rule the creation of shadowy Polling stations, double votes, etc. cannot too be “justified, legal and constitutional”.

Zanu PF is using state aid to buy votes and is using war veterans, party youths and traditional leaders to coerce voters, especially in the rural areas. The rural voters have been reduced into medieval serfs beholden to the Zanu PF proxies landlords, they are frog matched to attend party rallies and, come voting day, to vote for the party.

Zanu PF is denying the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote. The party says it will not allow diaspora vote as long as the sanctions imposed on the regime by the West remain. Of course, this is nonsense! Why should the ordinary Zimbabwean be denied his/her fundamental right for something over which he/she had no say!

The EU send a 245-strong team to observe Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections. ”The electoral commission (ZEC) lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the mission final report.

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

The EU recommended a number of reforms to be implemented. A member of the observer team has just been in Zimbabwe and was disappointed to note that not even one reforms was implemented. Not even one!

Zanu PF is rigging these elections and the biggest mistake we have made, repeatedly too, is to participate in these flawed elections under the foolish belief we can contrive ways of stopping Zanu PF rigging elections. The folly is in participating in flawed elections when we should insist on reforms before the elections.

By participating in the flawed elections, we have given Zanu PF legitimacy. Why would Zanu PF risk losing the elections and power by implementing reforms when it will get legitimacy from the opposition regardless!