At least one month before the
July 2013 elections SADC leaders KNEW with certainty that Zanu PF had already
won the elections and warned Tsvangirai and his MDC friends accordingly.
“If you go into elections
next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” SADC leaders warned
at the regional group summit in Maputo in June 2013, according to Dr Ibbo
Mandaza who was there.
As we know MDC leaders paid
no heed and contested the July 2013 elections which Mugabe and Zanu PF, as SADC
leaders had predicted, went on to blatant rig and win with a landslide! SADC
leaders are not magicians gazing in crystal balls to predict the future. The
evidence that Zanu PF was rigging the elections there for all to see; the GNU
had failed to get even one democratic reform implemented and Zanu PF’s vote
rigging juggernaut was going through its usual paces, the elections result could
not be anything else but a Zanu PF landslide victory.
SADC
had witness Zanu PF’s vote rigging antics in the past elections but more
graphically in the 2008 elections which is why the regional grouping had asked the
GNU to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop the vote
rigging. SADC leaders were aware that MDC, the GNU partner tasked to implement
the reforms, had failed to get even one reform implemented. With not even one
reform in place SADC leaders could see, as clear as day, Zanu PF’s vote rigging
plans and how they were being methodically implemented.
To
ensure a Zanu PF electoral victory the regime had to deny the opposition
supporters the vote by making it very difficult for them to register as voters;
make sure many of these who do register are not entered in the voters’ roll; many
those who do make it on the voters’ roll are denied the vote because their
details are posted in the wrong constituent roll than the one they expected;
etc.; etc.
Meanwhile
the regime would do everything to maximize its own vote by ensuring its
supporters are given every opportunity to register to vote; many were allowed
to register multiple times, to boast the voters’ roll numbers, and many were
allowed to vote multiple times; etc.; etc.
Naturally,
Zanu PF did not want its voters’ roll and all the other vote rigging
shenanigans known and the regimes has used two ways to achieve its objective:
1)
Deliberate
delay everything so that there is a mad dash towards the end, the blitzkrieg,
so no one will have the time to scrutinize anything. Before people can catch
their breath the elections will be over, Zanu PF declared the winner with a
landslide and all the incriminating evidence gathered up and destroyed.
2)
Where
the regime has a legal obligation to share information, such as releasing the
voters’ roll at least one month before voting day, the regime has stubbornly
refused to do so.
Not
even one democratic reform was implemented since the July 2013 and there is all
the evidence already that the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut, well-oiled with
billions of dollars looted from Marange and Chiadzwa diamonds, has already gone
through its gears; it is already into overdrive. The regime is dragging its
feet, deliberately delaying things, ready for the blitzkrieg!
The
regime was criticized by the AU Election Observer team, for example, for
failing to release the 2013 voters’ roll as demanded by the constitution. One
would think the regime would be quick off the mark; no chance of that.
The
regime has taken three and half years to endless bickering and theatricals to
decide who will purchase the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits, who would
be on the shortlist of possible suppliers of the kits, etc., etc. Whilst the
nation had expected the new voters’ roll to be ready for verifying and trial
runs, at least one year before the elections; it is shocking that voter
registration has not even started. Everything is being deliberately held back
for the blitzkrieg!
Zanu
PF will never ever allow the release of verifiable 2018 voters’ roll, by
Polling Station, one month before voting day, as is required by law. The voters
roll is the smoking gun of the regime’s many rigging shenanigans.
So,
with less than a year to go before next year’s elections one can say with
certainty, just as SADC leaders had done before the 2013 elections, that Zanu
PF have already won the elections.
“If
the people of Zimbabwe go into elections next year, they are, once again, going
to lose; the elections are done!” To paraphrase SADC leaders’ warning to MDC leaders
in 2013.
It
was very foolish of Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to ignore SADC leaders’
warning and contest the flawed July 2013 elections. Many Zimbabweans were not
aware of SADC leaders’ warning not to contest the elections with no reforms back
in June 2013 but not this time; the majority of Zimbabweans now know the folly
of contesting flawed elections.
There
is no point in anyone participating in the voter education, voter registration,
attending political rallies and any other political activity because nothing we
do will change the pre-determined election result – Mugabe winning the
presidency and Zanu PF winning 2/3 majority in both houses. All our political
activism now will only help to give the set result political credibility.
There
is no point in Zimbabweans complaining of Zanu PF rigging elections after participating
in the elections, we know that with no democratic reforms in place Zanu PF will
rig the elections, guaranteed. SADC leaders warned that Zanu PF would rig the 2013
elections in advance and we know the same will happen in next year’s elections.
The only logical thing to do is to refuse to take part in an election process
we know in advance is flawed. It is better to refuse to take any part in a
flawed process than to do so and give the process credibility!
President Mugabe invested a lot of time, sweat and tonnes of treasure to bribe Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to do his bidding. To bribe Tsvangirai, Mudzuri and many other greedy and/or incompetent MDC leaders to kick the reforms into the tall grass was difficult enough, given one would expect them to have had some common sense to know their gravy train careers would end if no reforms were implemented. People like Tsvangirai were genuinely shocked when Zanu PF rig the 2013 elections to end their political careers, they really did not see that coming.
ReplyDeleteTo have bribed the savvier MDC leaders likes of Biti and Coltart too, into kicking reforms into the tall grass showed that President Mugabe is a shrewd political operator indeed. Coltart saw the evidence of the vote rigging before the July 2013 elections but was cocksure he would win enough votes to keep his senatorial seat. He too was shocked at the scale of the blatant vote rigging that took place in July 2013.
With the failure to get Zanu PF to implement even one reform President Mugabe was aware of the negative effect this would have in the opposition camp. The last thing President Mugabe wanted was the opposition boycotting the elections and demanding the implementation of meaningful democratic reforms. He had spent time, sweat and tonnes of treasure to stop MDC implementing even one reform; you can bet he has spent as much time, sweat and cash, if not more, to make sure no reforms are implemented and the opposition do not boycott the elections.
"If the people of Zimbabwe go into elections next year, they are, once again, going to lose; the elections are done!" You, SADC leaders or anyone else out there can shout this from the rooftop every morning and sunset like the cocks; many will not hear you. The nation is being bombarded by the counter message that the opposition will win the elections regardless of the failure to implement the reforms.
I agree that participating in an election process one knows is flawed and illegal is madness but you have a very cunning tyrant will tonnes of looted wealth to bankroll his campaign of deceit and bribery. The tyrant’s many target is the corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians and he has a head start on you, SADC leaders, etc.
Youth in Gokwe South and Gutu Central have commended Heal Zimbabwe for initiating sports for peace tournaments in their areas as they help to promote peace and tolerance among community members.
ReplyDeleteHeal Zimbabwe is wasting the nation’s time with their stupid peace tournament. The youths attending these tournaments are from the opposition parties and not from Zanu PF. It is no secret that it was Zanu PF youths would have been responsible for all the political violence in the past. This is nothing more than the goats signing peace treaties amongst themselves and then pretend the hyenas signed the treaties too!
With no reforms in place Zanu PF is set to rig the vote and as long as the regime is assured of a landslide victory; it will not resort to violence, as we saw in the July 2013 elections. We must be careful here to start trading our right to free and fair elections peaceful elections. Organisations like Heal Zimbabwe must stop confusing the people with their false binary choice of peaceful but rigged elections or violent elections as if we cannot have peaceful and free and fair elections.
Who is bankrolling Heal Zimbabwe, is what I would want to know! Zanu PF has very deep pockets, thanks to the billions it is looted from Marange and Chiadzwa; the message of peaceful and rigged elections is one the regime will happily promote.
@ Sifanele Dlamini
ReplyDeleteWhen confronted with the unknown the instinctive reaction is flight or fight but when you do not know what the known is, where it is coming from, etc. it is sometimes wiser to do nothing, hard as that might be to those so easily spooked.
Man is a creature of reason and per se not one to be governed by what comes instinctively.
Yes, we have elections next year and the instinctive reaction is that we all participate. But after 37 years of rigged elections reason tell us that there is something wrong here and even a superficial investigation should that Zanu PF has been rigging elections. In other words, by the time you, me and povo out there go through all the process of registering to vote and then going to vote, all our effort will not change anything because the result of the elections has already been decided.
Of course, it is madness to keep participating in an election process knowing fully well that it is flawed and the result will not change. But, admittedly, there are many insane people out there who, even after 37 years of rigged elections, will still want to participate hoping again hope that the result will be different because it is the instinctive thing to do.
Participating in the flawed election not just an act of madness but, worse still, a mindless act of hara-kiri because be participating people are giving the flawed and illegal process the modicum of credibility. But try explaining that to the mindless idiot to whom reason and logic mean nothing as the only thing they react to is instinct!
“So, your solution is sit back and do nothing?” you asked.
My friend, doing nothing is infinitely better than doing the wrong thing! I am just saying it, I do not expect you to understand that given you have trouble understanding anything remotely logical. You live is your own bubble of the insane, in which ignorance, instinct and foolishness reign supreme blissfully unaware that your stupidity is what is keeping tyrants like President Mugabe in power!