By Wilbert Mukori| Morgan Tsvangirai is totally inactive in the bedroom, the man’s wife Elizabeth says. Listening to Morgan Tsvangirai is like listening to a five year old telling a joke way out of his depth of comprehension and thus lose track of the punch-line, and yet goes on to laugh totally unaware what he said does not make an sense!
“We are preparing to participate in the 2018 elections and we are very categorical about it,” Tsvangirai told journalists at the Bulawayo Press Club on Friday night.
“What we are saying is that when we go to that election, it must give the people the confidence that the election will not be usurped like the 2013 one.” OK we definitely want free and fair elections; go on!
“We are participating in the 2018 elections and we are very confident that obstacles that were placed in our way before will be removed by the time we go to the polls.”
But implementing the reforms during the GNU was a relatively easy task because MDC had the majority in parliament and cabinet, had the backing of SADC and Mugabe had his hands tied behind his back since he had agreed to the reforms by signing the 2008 GPA. To add to that SADC told the same Tsvangirai not to go into elections until reforms are performed. But sadly MDC failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!
Now that the GPA has expired and Zanu PF has more than a commanding two thirds majority in both parliament and the senate, the task of getting meaningful democratic reforms implemented is now more than a challenge. If implementing the reforms during the GNU was climbing an anthill, it is climbing Mount Everest now! So Tsvangirai’s “very confident” claim to have the task done is clearly the five year old in him talking although he has no clue what he is talking about!
Last year, 2015, MDC-T Secretary General, Douglas Mwonzora told a UK website that their party will force Zanu PF “kicking and screaming” to implement the reforms before the end of the year. It was MDC-T doing what they know best –posturing and grand-standing with no end product. We are nearly half way through 2016 and still not even one meaningful reform has been implemented!
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends should have implemented the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA designed to end the Zanu PF strangle hold on Police, ZEC, Public Media, Judiciary, etc. freeing them to carry out their public duties freely and effectively. MDC failed to get even one meaningful reform implemented in five years of the GNU. SADC and other people warned MDC leaders of the critical importance of the implementing the reforms but they paid no heed.
MDC did not see the need to implement any reforms because the party was confident of winning the elections “regardless of any Zanu PF election shenanigans”, Tsvangirai later admitted. MDC had grossly underestimated Zanu PF’s ability to rig elections!
If anyone thought that Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had learnt an important lesson about implementing reforms after Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the July 2013 elections; he/she was wrong, MDC learnt nothing.
Instead of sticking with the structural reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA, MDC-T has been wittering about electoral law reforms! MDC has been calling for ZEC to take over control of the voters roll from the Registrar General, for example. Without the structural reform necessary to ensure ZEC’s independence, it is obvious Zanu PF will still interfere with the compilation of the voters roll as before.