Saturday 28 November 2015

Oxford scholar says Mujuru's "war credentials" essential for a Mugabe beating coalition. by Wilbert Mukori


Zimbabwe had a really golden opportunity to end the corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe dictatorship during the GNU. All Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had to do was implement the democratic reforms already agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara on behalf of their political parties and SA President Thabo Mbeki on behalf of SADC, the guarantor of the agreement.

Sadly Tsvangirai and his MDC friends did not just waste this golden opportunity end the Mugabe dictatorship; they did so in a specular fashion. In the five years of the GNU they failed to get even one of the raft of GPA reforms implemented. The reforms were meant to be implemented in 18 months the GNU lasted for 60 months and still not even one reform was implemented. Not one!

Of course Tsvangirai et al showed the whole world how breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent they are. Sadly the whole nation has been painted with the same brush; now all Zimbabweans are considered breathtakingly naïve, corrupt, incompetent and, more significantly, do not have a clue how to end the Mugabe dictatorship. And so the flood gates have been opened for everyone else to tell us how to end the Mugabe dictatorship.

“To beat Mugabe, Zimbabwe needs a united opposition,” wrote Alexander Noyes, a doctorate student at Oxford University in the New York Times. Joice Mujuru and Morgan Tsvangirai are to be the backbone of this coalition.

“Ms. Mujuru matters because she is a veteran of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, has belonged to the ruling party for over three decades and was for many years a close associate of Mr. Mugabe’s,” wrote Noyes. “She was sacked from her position in December 2014 for allegedly planning to topple Mr. Mugabe.”

The liberation war is not relevant in post-independence Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are painfully aware of how yesteryear’s liberation heroes have become today’s corrupt and murderous oppressors.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” said President Abraham Lincoln.

Ms Mujuru was given power; she was right at the very heart of government for 34 years. She has never lifted a finger to stop the mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness that has landed this nation into this mess.  Indeed if anything she has played a full role is landing us into the mess; she is incompetent and is certainly one of the most corrupt individuals in Zimbabwe.

The only reason one’s liberation war credentials have remained important in Zimbabwe is because Mugabe and his cronies are milking their role in that war to justify their no regime change agenda. One of the key objectives of the said war was that the blacks must be granted a meaningful say in the governance of the country. Zimbabwe has held frequent elections every five years in the last 35 years the result were engineered to ensure there was no regime change.

Mugabe has stubbornly enforced his no regime change ethos and yet claims all past nation’s elections have been free, fair and credible. No-regime-change cannot sit side by side with free democratic elections; you can have one but not both.

Mugabe has appointed his cronies especially in the security sectors, Police, Army, CIO and the very influential war veterans and encouraged them to pedal the notion that only those with liberation war credentials could be trusted to rule the nation. But even wanton violence from these security organs in 2008 failed to stop the people, determined to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, voting for changed.

The 2008 elections showed that if the elections are free, fair and credible, Zimbabweans will vote for anyone they believe will deliver real democratic change and good governance regardless of whether they have any liberation war credentials or not.

The emphasis must surely be on Zimbabwe hunting for the changes necessary for free, fair and credible elections to end Mugabe’s tyrannical rule. So why is Mr Noyes dragging us back to the bad old Mugabe propaganda that only those with liberation war history can rule!

Mr Noyes’ choice of Ms Mujuru’s possible coalition partner(s), Morgan Tsvangirai and/or Tendai Biti, is equally baffling.  

My own research in Zimbabwe found that splits in the opposition and a lack of sound political strategies hurt the chances for democratic reform during Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government, in office from 2008 to 2013,” Mr Noyes tell us. “The opposition must learn from these mistakes and come together.

“The benefits of a coalition in Zimbabwe are clear. Given Ms. Mujuru’s nationalist credentials and Mr. Tsvangirai’s broad support base, a cohesive opposition alliance between the two stands a real chance against ZANU-PF in 2018, with or without Mr. Mugabe.”

Mr Noyes must not rewrite history, our history, to suit his own ill-informed doctorate theories! It was not the “split in the opposition and lack of sound political strategies” that stopped Tsvangirai and his MDC friends from implementing even one democratic reform in the five years of the GNU. Mugabe bribed them to forget the reforms with all the good life trappings of the gravy train, the tyrant thrown in the $4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai.

MDC leaders have never been more united than they were throughout the GNU especially in their resolve to kick the reforms into the tall grass. They did not want to implement any of the reforms because they know that would upset Mugabe; they were united in their common desire to do nothing to upset Mugabe.  

At the end of the GNU with not even one reform implemented despite SADC leaders’ best efforts throughout the five years to get MDC to do something; it was not surprising that the regional leaders were disgusted with Tsvangirai and company. They complained of MDC leaders “were busy enjoying themselves during the GNU and forgot why they were there”.

 

There is nothing both Tsvangirai and Mujuru have said or done to show they are committed to ensuring the next elections are free, fair and credible. The former is insisting that Zanu PF must re-align electoral laws to the 2013 constitution although everyone else has shown that this would do nothing to ensure free elections. As for Mujuru, she cherishes the prospect of taking on her former Zanu PF colleagues in the tense political atmosphere of vote rigging and wanton violence; she is used to hunting in these muddy political waters.

If the opposition coalition was to win the next elections under the present undemocratic conditions, it is very naïve to even think the new regime would implement any meaningful reforms and give away the electoral advantage! If we are serious about democratic change we must demand it now and forget the idea of the coalition forming a half-way stop gap measure.

We must demand the full implementation of all the 2008 GPA reforms and then the holding of free and fair elections as the way out of this mess. The only way out!

As a Zimbabwean I would be the first one to admit that Zimbabwe wasted a golden opportunity to end Mugabe’s tyrannical rule during the GNU thanks to Tsvangirai et al’s breath-taking incompetence. But not only is Alexander Noyes’ analysis of our situation factually inaccurate there is real no intellectual merit in suggesting that the same corrupt and incompetent leaders, united to form a coalition, will get us out of this mess.

It was foolish of us to have entrusted corrupt and incompetent individuals like Morgan Tsvangirai or Joice Mujuru with the important task of removing a devilishly cunning tyrant like Mugabe from office. It would be unforgivable folly to elect the same failed individuals again to do the same task and, somehow, expect a different result!

 

Zimbabwe had a really golden opportunity to end the corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe dictatorship during the GNU. All Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had to do was implement the democratic reforms already agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara on behalf of their political parties and SA President Thabo Mbeki on behalf of SADC, the guarantor of the agreement.

Sadly Tsvangirai and his MDC friends did not just waste this golden opportunity end the Mugabe dictatorship; they did so in a specular fashion. In the five years of the GNU they failed to get even one of the raft of GPA reforms implemented. The reforms were meant to be implemented in 18 months the GNU lasted for 60 months and still not even one reform was implemented. Not one!

Of course Tsvangirai et al showed the whole world how breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent they are. Sadly the whole nation has been painted with the same brush; now all Zimbabweans are considered breathtakingly naïve, corrupt, incompetent and, more significantly, do not have a clue how to end the Mugabe dictatorship. And so the flood gates have been opened for everyone else to tell us how to end the Mugabe dictatorship.

“To beat Mugabe, Zimbabwe needs a united opposition,” wrote Alexander Noyes, a doctorate student at Oxford University. Joice Mujuru and Morgan Tsvangirai are to be the backbone of this coalition.

“Ms. Mujuru matters because she is a veteran of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, has belonged to the ruling party for over three decades and was for many years a close associate of Mr. Mugabe’s,” wrote Noyes. “She was sacked from her position in December 2014 for allegedly planning to topple Mr. Mugabe.”

The liberation war is not relevant in post-independence Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are painfully aware of how yesteryear’s liberation heroes have become today’s corrupt and murderous oppressors.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” said President Abraham Lincoln.

Ms Mujuru was given power; she was right at the very heart of government for 34 years. She has never lifted a finger to stop the mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness that has landed this nation into this mess.  Indeed if anything she has played a full role is landing us into the mess; she is incompetent and is certainly one of the most corrupt individuals in Zimbabwe.

The only reason one’s liberation war credentials have remained important in Zimbabwe is because Mugabe and his cronies are milking their role in that war to justify their no regime change agenda. One of the key objectives of the said war was that the blacks must be granted a meaningful say in the governance of the country. Zimbabwe has held frequent elections every five years in the last 35 years the result were engineered to ensure there was no regime change.

Mugabe has stubbornly enforced his no regime change ethos and yet claims all past nation’s elections have been free, fair and credible. No-regime-change cannot sit side by side with free democratic elections; you can have one but not both.

Mugabe has appointed his cronies especially in the security sectors, Police, Army, CIO and the very influential war veterans and encouraged them to pedal the notion that only those with liberation war credentials could be trusted to rule the nation. But even wanton violence from these security organs in 2008 failed to stop the people, determined to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, voting for changed.

The 2008 elections showed that if the elections are free, fair and credible, Zimbabweans will vote for anyone they believe will deliver real democratic change and good governance regardless of whether they have any liberation war credentials or not.

The emphasis must surely be on Zimbabwe hunting for the changes necessary for free, fair and credible elections to end Mugabe’s tyrannical rule. So why is Mr Noyes dragging us back to the bad old Mugabe propaganda that only those with liberation war history can rule!

Mr Noyes’ choice of Ms Mujuru’s possible coalition partner(s), Morgan Tsvangirai and/or Tendai Biti, is equally baffling.  

My own research in Zimbabwe found that splits in the opposition and a lack of sound political strategies hurt the chances for democratic reform during Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government, in office from 2008 to 2013,” Mr Noyes tell us. “The opposition must learn from these mistakes and come together.

“The benefits of a coalition in Zimbabwe are clear. Given Ms. Mujuru’s nationalist credentials and Mr. Tsvangirai’s broad support base, a cohesive opposition alliance between the two stands a real chance against ZANU-PF in 2018, with or without Mr. Mugabe.”

Mr Noyes must not rewrite history, our history, to suit his own ill-informed doctorate theories! It was not the “split in the opposition and lack of sound political strategies” that stopped Tsvangirai and his MDC friends from implementing even one democratic reform in the five years of the GNU. Mugabe bribed them to forget the reforms with all the good life trappings of the gravy train, the tyrant thrown in the $4 million Highlands mansion for Tsvangirai.

MDC leaders have never been more united than they were throughout the GNU especially in their resolve to kick the reforms into the tall grass. They did not want to implement any of the reforms because they know that would upset Mugabe; they were united in their common desire to do nothing to upset Mugabe.  

At the end of the GNU with not even one reform implemented despite SADC leaders’ best efforts throughout the five years to get MDC to do something; it was not surprising that the regional leaders were disgusted with Tsvangirai and company. They complained of MDC leaders “were busy enjoying themselves during the GNU and forgot why they were there”.

 

There is nothing both Tsvangirai and Mujuru have said or done to show they are committed to ensuring the next elections are free, fair and credible. The former is insisting that Zanu PF must re-align electoral laws to the 2013 constitution although everyone else has shown that this would do nothing to ensure free elections. As for Mujuru, she cherishes the prospect of taking on her former Zanu PF colleagues in the tense political atmosphere of vote rigging and wanton violence; she is used to hunting in these muddy political waters.

If the opposition coalition was to win the next elections under the present undemocratic conditions, it is very naïve to even think the new regime would implement any meaningful reforms and give away the electoral advantage! If we are serious about democratic change we must demand it now and forget the idea of the coalition forming a half-way stop gap measure.

We must demand the full implementation of all the 2008 GPA reforms and then the holding of free and fair elections as the way out of this mess. The only way out!

As a Zimbabwean I would be the first one to admit that Zimbabwe wasted a golden opportunity to end Mugabe’s tyrannical rule during the GNU thanks to Tsvangirai et al’s breath-taking incompetence. But not only is Alexander Noyes’ analysis of our situation factually inaccurate there is real no intellectual merit in suggesting that the same corrupt and incompetent leaders, united to form a coalition, will get us out of this mess.

It was foolish of us to have entrusted corrupt and incompetent individuals like Morgan Tsvangirai or Joice Mujuru with the important task of removing a devilishly cunning tyrant like Mugabe from office. It would be unforgivable folly to elect the same failed individuals again to do the same task and, somehow, expect a different result!

 

1 comment:

  1. You should read Alexander Noyes' article on the New York Times, you would be forgiven for think you have opened a page in the Herald.

    Oxford University has produced some of the most brilliant thinkers in human history; let just say Alexander Noyes is no Professor Stephen Hopkins. Where the later intellect to see deep into space our friend Noyes has, at best, a blurred image of his nose!

    It is not so much that I disagree with what Noyes said but that it is trash, it is devoid of any intellectual content!

    Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs have stayed in power not because they have liberation war credentials but because they rigged the elections again and again. If Mujuru should “win” the next elections it would be because she was able to counter Mugabe’s vote rigging moves as she is familiar with his dirty tricks! Her war credentials have nothing to do with her knowing Mugabe’s vote rigging tactics!

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