Sunday 7 May 2017

Coltart admits 2018 will be rigged and yet set to contest - not just insane but high treason. W Mukori

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” said the great Physicist, Albert Einstein.
Zimbabwe is in this political paralysis; stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical ruling party, on the one hand, and, on the other, a breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent opposition; because for the last 37 years we have blundered again and again.  When it comes to politics and governance matters we have blundered with Einsteinian insanity, it is sickening!
“Zanu PF and its apparatchiks are not going to change, the stakes are too high, they would use as they have done for the past 37 years, every trick in the book to retain power,” former MDC-N Education Minister, David Coltart, told us.
Frankly, he was not telling us something new here. We have known that Zanu PF will use every dirty trick in the book including spending billions of dollars bankrolling its vote rigging juggernaut and using blatant and barbaric violence. One has only to look at the dog-eat-dog fighting for power going on within Zanu PF itself to know that the party will fight even greater ruthless intensity when its iron grip on power is under threat.
Zanu PF are like baboons, they fight amongst themselves all the time but, faced with a common enemy, they will fight as one multi-headed gothic monster. We know the monster and what it is up to; the question is how to stop it!
“The problem in our electoral process is that those who have ruled this country have viewed the electoral process as an exclusive rather than an inclusive process,” explained Coltart.
“They find rules and putting obstacles to exclude people rather than have a system that includes every person.”
After the barbaric 2008 elections, SADC finally stepped in the Zimbabwe political crisis. They forced Mugabe to sign an agreement and form GNU whose principle task was to implement a raft of reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and thus remove ALL the obstacles to free, fair and credible elections, Coltart is talking about.
The two MDC factions in the GNU were responsible for implementing the reforms. Here was a golden opportunity for the country to end Zanu PF political culture of vote rigging and violence once and once for all. Here was the golden opportunity for the nation to break with the, by now, well-established routine contesting flawed elections and hope against hope that the result will be difficult from the usual Zanu PF landslide victory. It was therefore insane that MDC leaders failed to implement even one democratic reform in the five years of the GNU and, worse still, went on to foolishly contest the 2013 elections.
“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 elections,” Coltart wrote in his book, reflecting on the foolishness of contesting the 2013 election. 
“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.”
The most notable thing here is that although Coltart himself realized at the time the withdrawing from the flawed elections was the “obvious” thing to do. He, like the rest of his fellow MDC leaders, was NOT sane enough to do the logical thing as he too contested the flawed election. They all expected Zanu PF to rig the vote and yet, for some strange reason, lose the election.
David Coltart was many of the MDC politicians who lost in the 2013 elections. He has given a detailed account of how Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2013 elections but SADC and the whole world ignored him because MDC had been warned this would happen but refused to listen.
Fast forward to 2017!
“The only way we can defeat this system is through a landslide. The only way we can achieve a landslide is if we agree on a coalition where there is one presidential candidate and one democratic candidate in every parliamentary constituency and, quite frankly, that is where our focus needs to be,” Coltart advised.
“ZEC must be independent; it must not be subject to the control of anyone, that’s a national consensus. It must also act without fear, favour or greed.”
The independence of ZEC, together with all the other key State Institutions like Police, Army, CIO, Public Media and Judiciary, is of critical importance in the delivery of free and fair elections. However, ZEC is independence is totally dependent on making sure all the reforms design to sever all Zanu PF’s democratic control of the commission are fully implemented. Coltart and his opposition friends can call for the independence of ZEC until they are red in the face, that will not change a thing.
Mugabe “won” 62% of the presidential vote in the 2013 elections and so having one opposition presidential candidate will not change the winner in 2018. Fielding one opposition parliamentary and senatorial candidate will help the opposition win the seats where Zanu PF’s baseline rigged vote is not enough to take it over the 50% plus one!
Zanu PF’s vote rigging machinery is geared to ensure the party wins a baseline votes even in opposition strongholds by denying opposition supporters the vote whilst bussing in its supporters to cast multiple votes to secure presidential victory plus a minimum two third majority in both houses.
The opposition coalition, Coltart is call for, will NOT stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018 elections; the only cocksure way to ensure free, fair and credible elections is by implementing the reforms BEFORE elections. Coltart, who is the member of the smaller MDC –N faction led by Professor Ncube, is only thinking of enhancing his chance of re-election back on the gravy train by maximizing the opposition vote. He does not care that Zanu PF continues to deny the people the right to a meaningful vote or that the insanity of contesting flawed elections continues.  
Zimbabwe is facing a serious economic meltdown which seen unemployment soar to 90%, the collapse of basic services such as education and health, millions of our people now live in abject poverty, etc.; all because we have been stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 37 years. We have the opportunity to end the dictatorship secure for free, fair and credible elections not just ourselves but for posterity all we have to do stand firm and demand the implementation of all the reforms BEFORE elections.
Elections should be about the people, in a free, fair and credible election process, making a collective decision on course the nation should follow. Any attempt to subvert the people’s democratic right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country must never ever be tolerated and all those found guilty of planning, implementing or collaborating in anyway in such treasonous must be punished.
In planning and execution of their vote rigging activities, Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies are committing high treason against this nation. Opposition politicians who continue to contest the flawed elections and thus giving the process a venial of democratic credibility for their selfish gravy train gains are themselves guilty of high treason too!

Boycotting Zimbabwe’s elections until all the democratic reforms are implemented to guarantee free, fair and credible elections is the obvious and only sane thing to do. To do otherwise is to commit high treason!

11 comments:

  1. We know what we need to do to get free, fair and credible elections; implement the democratic reforms. So why are we wasting time, money and energy on absolutely meaningless exercises?


    How many of the Zanu PF war veterans, youths and security services who have been causing all the political violence in the past, attended these nhimbes? Even if one or two of these thugs attended, what exactly was Heal Zimbabwe hoping to achieve? Make the thugs resign from Zanu PF?

    MDC wasted five years of the GNU on globetrotting, a weak and feeble new constitution, etc., etc.; everything else except implemented the reforms. Look where it has landed the nation!


    Who is funding Heal Zimbabwe? It could well be Zanu PF because misleading the nation is one of Zanu PF’s speciality.


    We have developed the knack of wasting time and money on trivial matters.

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  2. "But let's not lose heart. Let's all go and register to vote. On voting day, we are not supposed to go home without casting our votes,” said Tsvangirai.

    This is a nonsense argument for two reasons:

    1) The opposition did not lose past elections because the people did not register to vote and or failed to vote. In the March 2008 vote Tsvangirai got 73% of the votes, according to President Mugabe. It was only after he ordered ZEC to recount the votes and wasted six weeks going round the country altering the vote count that they declared Tsvangirai had 47%.

    In the 2013 elections Zanu PF was a lot more subtle because they stopped opposition supporters registering to vote by making the process near impossible and on voting day denying even more the vote by making sure their names were not in the voters roll.

    Opposition politicians are making a mountain out of a mole hill of voter mobilization because they have failed to address the real big issues – implementing the reforms.

    2) It is disheartening that Tsvangirai failed to get even one reform implemented during the GNU and then dragged the nation into a flawed 2013 elections on the lie the elections would be free and fair. He and his MDC friends then promised not to take part in any future election without first implementing the reform. They have now disowned their “No reform, no elections!” on the bases of yet more lies that mobilization, coalition, etc. will stop Zanu PF rigging the vote.

    The people of Zimbabwe must be warned that Tsvangirai knows that the 2018 elections will be rigged just as he knew the 2013 elections were going to be rigged, he did not care that Zanu PF retained power or the suffering that result brought to the nation. All he and his MDC friends cared about is the few gravy training Zanu PF offered as bait to the opposition.

    If the long suffering people of Zimbabwe want to end their suffering then they must demand the implementation of all the reforms BEFORE the elections. They must reject Tsvangirai’s lies that there will be any meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe without implementing the reforms and thus securing every Zimbabwean’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country!

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  3. Biti and Tsvangirai were in the GNU together, they had the majority in parliament and cabinet and five years to implement the democratic reforms. They failed to get even one reform implemented. The two are just wasting the nation’s time with this NERA nonsense because they will never get any reform implemented!

    Zimbabwe is facing a serious political and economic situation and we cannot afford to waste time on political gimmicks like NERA and mislead the nation into believing there is going to be change when there will be none!

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  4. To any Zimbabwean who has a chance to read David Coltart’s book “The Struggle Continues” it is an important historic document on the nightmare of the Gukurahundi years but also on just how corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders are and how they sold out during the GNU.

    In the quoted paragraph above, Coltart was regretting that the two MDC factions had not formed the coalition in 2013 because that would be allowed them to do the “obvious” thing and withdraw from the flawed elections. It is a feeble argument the decision to contest flawed elections must be a principled one because of the seriousness of the matter – the struggle for free and fair elections is at the very heart of this. But putting that aside, this time Coltart has clearly forgotten about boycotting the elections and is only interested in the coalition ensuring the opposition fields single joint candidates for each contested post!

    In a more progressive nation with a wide-awake electorate MDC leaders like Coltart will be held to account for their betrayal of the electorate during the GNU and they would certainly not be selling-out once again in 2018.

    People get the government they deserve and we, Zimbabweans, cannot deny that we deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its corrupt and incompetent surrogate opposition parties.

    There is no excuse for the people of Zimbabwe allowing themselves to be misled by the like of David Coltart and Tsvangirai and dragged into yet another flawed electoral process. They have had the chance to learn from the GNU years and they have been warned not to contest without reforms. They will pay dearly for their folly if they do not heed the warning!

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  5. "Zanu-PF is going to win the 2018 elections and we are going to win with a bigger margin. Are you not aware that we have a bag full of tricks to win the elections? We will use different tricks to win the election," bragged Zanu PF – aligned cleric Obadiah Musindo without elaborating.

    Nowhere else in the world would time and time again elections would elections be allowed to go on knowing the other side has a bag full of vote rigging tricks. What is becoming increasing clear is that the opposition is corrupt and all they care about is get a share of the gravy train and the looting and plundering go on. Both the ruling party and the opposition are not interested in the human tragedy happening in Zimbabwe.

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  6. ZESA is once again failing to pay for the power imports from ESKOM in SA and from Mozambique. How long can those two nation be expected to shoulder Zimbabwe’s problems especially when everyone knows that Zimbabwe’s ruling elite are filth rich with assets worth millions and some even billions of dollars!

    “We have for a long time stated that the government is incapable of reform, we have for a long time advocated for parastatal reform, ZESA as a whole needs serious governance reorganisation,” wrote the Jacob Mafume, PDP spokesman.

    Someone has to remind the dimwit that it was not so long ago that most of the PDP leaders were at the very heart of the GNU, had the opportunity to implement the democratic reforms, but failed to get even one reform implemented after five years. Right now PDP is preparing to contest the next elections with not even one reform in place against its own party resolution of “No reform, no elections!”

    Mafume, PDP is full of corrupt and incompetent individuals who will never add up to much other than grandstanding and posturing!

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  7. “We either vote, or we all drown,” warns Tsvangirai.

    This is the kind of nonsense the nation has come to expect from Tsvangirai. Zanu PF has been winning past elections because the party has “bag full of vote rigging tricks”, as cleric Obadiah Musindo, a Zanu PF apologist, bragged. Tsvangirai knows that but because he has no solution on how to stop the rigging, he buries his head in the sand and pretend there is no vote rigging.

    This is the trouble with corrupt and incompetent leaders, when they have failed they always look for scapegoats for their failures. During the GNU, Tsvangirai had the opportunity to implement the democratic reforms that would have stopped Zanu PF rigging elections, he failed to get even one reform implemented. Instead of owning up to his incompetence and betrayal he is now blaming the people for failing to mobilize and voting!

    The people of Zimbabwe have only themselves to blame for their economic and political crisis because they are the ones who elected the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF thugs and then the corrupt and incompetent opposition to remove the thugs. If the people themselves had taken their task of electing a competent government with the seriousness the matter demands then Zanu PF would not have lasted 37 years and dragging the country this deep in the hell-hole we now find ourselves in.

    The challenge here is to stop the insanity of contesting flawed elections and force the implementation of reforms. It is for the people of Zimbabwe to wake up from their present comatose sleep and stop the next elections going ahead with no reforms in place, the country will be in for a rough ride ahead if we fail!

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  8. @ Kulumani

    Agree! Zanu PF has a bag full of vote rigging tricks and chest full of dollars looted from Marange to bankroll all its vote rigging schemes. It is bad enough to contest an elections knowing it will be rigged but it is midsummer madness to contest one flawed election after another expecting Zanu to rig the vote but lose the election!

    It is bad enough for a few individuals to be insane but when the whole nation is afflicted by the same mental illness, it is a great tragedy!

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  9. @ Kenny

    How do you know “the majority vote for Zanu PF”?

    Zanu PF increased the number of polling station from 2 000 to 9 000 just days before voting day in July 2013. We all saw Zanu PF youths bussed in from one polling station to the next. Many of the additional stations in a given constituency had remarkably similar numbers of cast votes. The party needed only ensure each of the 7 000 additional station has 200 votes from the bussed in voters and straight away the party has 1 400 000 votes in the bag. The party can frog march the rural folk to the polling station and force them to vote for the party, generating another 2 or 3 million votes and win the elections.

    As long as Zanu PF has the license to rig the vote and the billions of dollars from Marange to pay for its vote rigging schemes, the party will win the elections.

    If we want to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections then we must implement the reforms designed to do just that. We must stop this Tsvangirai inspired stupidity of contesting flawed elections again and again and expect a different result!

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  10. @Prince

    How many of the urban voters tried to register to vote but failed because Zanu PF deliberately made it near impossible to register to vote?

    How many urban voters were denied the vote because their details were posted in the wrong constituency?

    Zanu PF will see to it that voter turnout in opposition strongholds remains low because it has the free hand in tampering with the process. You can deny the regime is not rigging the vote but you are only fooling yourself, my Prince!

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  11. As long as Zanu PF has total control of the whole electoral process and has billions of dollars pouring in from all the looting going on in Marange to bankroll its vote rigging schemes; it is naive for anyone to think the party will rig the vote and lose the elections.

    Afrobarometer says President Mugabe is enjoying a 64% approval rating; one has to ask what question did the researchers ask?

    If the question was, whom did the people think would win the next elections then with the odds staked mountain high in Zanu PF's favour only a fool would deny the obvious. Opposition politicians themselves know Zanu PF will win and they are fighting over the scraps the regime gives away to entice them to contest the flawed elections.

    Most Zimbabweans have lost confidence in Tsvangirai and the opposition changing anything in Zimbabwe after nearly two decades of being promised change and then nothing happens. Tsvangirai has failed to bring about even one single democratic change in all his 17 years in politics. He said the 2013 elections will be free and fair only for him to admit the elections were "stole" by noon of voting day.

    He promised never to contest an future elections until the reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections are implemented. Zanu PF leaders like Professor Jonathan Moyo and VP Mnangagwa told him to his face that "Zanu PF will never reform itself out of power" and Tsvangirai has since flip. The opposition have discarded their "No reform, no elections!" They are going to contest the elections knowing Zanu PF will rig the vote. They are fighting over the scraps.

    Any opposition that is fighting over the bragging rights of being the country's main opposition party is not going to galvanise the electorate to risk life and limp voting for them. The people are desperate for meaningful democratic change and many of them now know that Tsvangirai will never deliver that change. NEVER EVER!

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