Nomusa Garikayi | “Aggrieved opposition political foes and forces against MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and Zim PF boss, Joice Mujuru’s grand coalition pact to dethrone President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party from power in next year’s crucial presidential and parliamentary polls, are reportedly enticing vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to cancel the plebiscite, in favour of an all inclusive National Transitional Authority (NTA) instead,” Spotlight Zimbabwe reported.
“Intelligence sources say, the picture of Mugabe’s awaited departure will be clear next month, when the nonagenarian is expected to make his last birthday television appearance speech as head of state, when he turns 93 on 21 February.”
Meanwhile, an apache of opposition parties, disgruntled for being left out of the MDC-T and ZimPF coalition, are “reportedly making overtures to Mnangagwa to stop Tsvangirai and Mujuru’s partnership using the NTA, which is seen as giving all the political formations in the country especially Zanu PF an electoral grace period, while the economy stabilises before a new election can be called possibly in 2023.”
I am not surprised to hear that Zanu PF, MDC-T, ZimPF and the plethora of all the other opposition parties are all coming around to the realisation that holding the next elections with no meaningful democratic reform in place is an exercise in futility. It is said that even in mud, given time, the penny will drop!
For the Zanu PF hardliners, the very fact that not even one reform has been implemented since the rigged July 2013 elections makes the party’s victory in 2018 a certainty. The hard lesson they are being forced to learn, if they are still struggling to learn it, is what use is it to the party rigging yet another national election when they cannot rig economic recovery too!
President Mugabe rigged the 2013 elections confident he would go on and rigged the economic recovery. He failed and the consequences is the economic meltdown, 90% unemployment rate, millions now living in abject poverty. At least President Mugabe had some hope of getting funding for his $27 billion ZimAsset recovery plan going into the 2013 elections, misplaced hope as it turned out. This time the party will be going into the 2018 elections knowing ZimAsset is dead and another rigged election will only confirm to the world that the country is not yet ready to accept rule of law.
Zimbabwe has failed to revive the economy since the 2013 rigged elections because no investor and finance house would want to invest its money in a country where there is no rule of law; this message will be rammed home to all Zanu PF hardliners however long it takes them to learn it. If they think they do not have to learn the lesson, they are wrong because the country’s present economic situation of 90% unemployed, etc. is politically, socially and economically unsustainable.
The street protests of last year inspired by the #ThisFlag, #Tanjamuka, etc. are a foretaste of more social unrest to come. As long as nothing is done to end the economic meltdown there will be wave after wave of street protests or worse until there is regime change and/or economic recovery – that is what an unsustainable situation mean!
So, for Zanu PF the choice is to rig the 2018 elections and face the certainty of being forced to give up power following nationwide public unrest. The chance of the regime salvaging any meaningful role in future government under these conditions will be next to nothing – the public mistrust will be too deep rooted.
Zanu PF would be wise to accept the option of forming the NTA, hopefully play the same major role as the party played in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, and emerge, as before, stronger and, this time, hopefully wiser.
As for all Zimbabwe’s opposition parties the reality of Zanu PF rigging the next elections is be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. They are all struggling to justify why they are participating in an electoral process they know is flawed and illegal. Politicians like Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, etc. participated in the 2013 elections although the obvious thing to do then was to boycott the elections as Senator David Coltart readily admitted in his book.
It was only after the rigged elections that the MDC leaders came to their senses and agreed to boycott elections until something is done to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote. Sadly, all the MDC leaders have gone blind again and are now queuing to contest the elections regardless of the certainty they will be flawed.
MDC leaders contested the 2013 elections to secure the few seats Zanu PF was giving away knowing, by participating, they will be selling-out on the primary national objective of fighting for free, fair and credible elections. The nation was slow in holding MDC leaders to account for selling-out in 2013, the nation is already off the mark and will hold them to account if the elections are rigged!
Mai Mujuru and her ZimPF followers have already had their baptism of fire in the Bikita West by-elections where her party was beaten. Zanu PF used the usual dirty trick of threats, vote buying and, come voting day, frog matched the people to vote for its candidate. ZimPF had its own thugs, familiar with Zanu PF’s dirty tactics since they are Zanu PF thugs in all but name, on the ground but their presence was not even felt. There can only be one winner in a clash between ZimPF thugs and Zanu PF thugs – the latter because they have all the state machinery behind them!
If opposition leaders do not know it yet, they will do so soon enough; if they contest next year’s election and Zanu PF rigs the vote, their name is mud! They have got away with selling-out the people in the past, they will not do so this time. “Tsuro haiponi rutsva kaviri!” as the Shona would say.
Supporting the NTA makes a lot of sense for the opposition parties; they will avoid contesting a flawed election whose consequences is career changing if they lost whilst giving them a chance to contest in future free and fair elections where their chance of winning is considerably better. They may even get a chance to play a role in the NTA itself!
The only advice one can give politicians from both sides of the political divide is they must not bank on any hope of playing any role in the NTA if they were major players in the 2008 to 2013 GNU for one obvious reason – they messed up during the last GNU, what is there to stop them doing the same again? The only NTA worthy of public support is one that will delivery free, fair and credible elections; nothing short of that will do!
No to NTA. No to Reforms. Handeyi tione. Why give Zanu Pf another breathing space. Let them rig the elections until common sense knocks into them. Its evident that is not far now.
A new Zimbabwe should not not have any shred of Zanu Pf. Even it takes 1000 years the people can wait. Takafa kare. Zanu pf must go.
NTA blaaah blaaaah. The morning after Ngwena wakes up saying rubbish like pasi ne mhanduuuuuuu yet the same people saved his political career. Zanu Pf is unrependant and should rule to its grave. Zimbabwe will be a better place without Zanu Pf.
A few weeks ago we all saw the people in Bikita West threatened, harassed and then frog marched to the polling stations to vote for Zanu PF. We knew this was going to happen because we saw it happen at national level in 2013! How anyone can say the opposition “can win under the present conditions” beggars belief.
By the way, the opposition are not contesting the elections to win the majority and form the next government; they are contesting to win the few seats Zanu PF will throw away to them for taking part in the flawed elections and thus giving them some veneer of democratic legitimacy. The seats are nothing more than the legs, head and entrails a good hunter would throw to his dogs after a kill!
These opposition leaders who are lining up today claiming they will win the next elections will be the lining up to denounce the blatant vote rigging the day the results are announced. The few opposition members who do win the few seats Zanu PF gave away will be celebrating their lucky break – they will never ever give up their prize not even if they have to walk on the copses of hundreds of thousands killed during the elections.
What the people of Zimbabwe need to “get a grip” on is the political reality that during national elections our opposition politicians are more interested in winning the few seats Mugabe is bribing them with than getting the reform implemented so we can all have free, fair and credible elections.
I agree with you 100%, Mnangagwa will never win a free, fair and credible election which is why Zanu PF has resisted implementing any democratic reforms all these years. Mugabe bribed Tsvangirai and his MDC friends with the gravy train lifestyles plus a $4 million mansion for Tsvangirai to entice them to kick reforms into the tail grass for the five years of the GNU. Mnangagwa would definitely want to keep the present system and rig next year’s elections.
The only reason Mnangagwa will want to cancel the elections next year is simple – he knows that another rigged election will get him nowhere now that he knows Zanu PF cannot rig economic recovery too. Agreeing to form this NTA will hopefully allow for some economic recovery as happened during the GNU. By initiating the NTA he will carve a role for himself in the authority and make sure Zanu PF emerges stronger than any other party.
For the ordinary people another rigged election next year will serve no purpose because nothing will change. The present economic situation cannot continue with millions out of work and living in abject poverty. There will be more street protests sooner or later demanding change, of that we can be certain.
What this nation needs is free, fair and credible elections and the NTA is the only way out. The trick is not to allow Zanu PF or any opposition members who were in the last GNU to place any part in the NTA because they will only be there to disrupt the implementation of the reforms. They had their chance to implement the reforms during the GNU and they failed to get even one reform, that is all that needs to be said about them!
If you want free, fair and credible elections you have to implement the democratic reforms. No one is imposing the NTA on the nation; but unless you can come up with some other way of implementing the reforms; then it is the nation that is demanding the setting up of the NTA!
The only reason why zanupf will be able to rig the elections is the selfish thinking of the parties and thier supporters.
Let Joyce and chemata deal with Emerson, game over, what is this nonsense of postponing the elections. No party in the world will reform itself out of power.
We have to win under the present conditions. Get a grip citizens.
You can have the same flawed elections in which Zanu PF will blatantly rig the vote and get back into power and give away a few seats to the opposition as their reward for giving the process a measure of legitimacy by contesting. Or you can have the NTA to implement the democratic reforms so the next elections are free, fair and credible. Which would you want, you cannot have both!
Both Zanu PF and the opposition will soon learn that holding yet another rigged election is not going to get the nation out of this mess we are stuck in. Another rigged election will only confirm that Zanu PF is still a party of thugs – the whole world knows that already and that is why investors and lender have shied away from Zimbabwe.
We need a return of rule of law to have any meaningful economic recovery. The current economic situation with millions out of work and living in abject poverty is not sustainable. We have had street protests demanding change already, they will be more street protests!
Julius Malema was right, Zimbabweans are cowards but even cowards have limits beyond which they will refused to go. I believe the cowards of Zimbabwe have abused and cheated for so long that the invisible line limit beyond which they will not go cannot be far.
Zanu PF and the opposition can connive to hold another meaningless fraudulent election and share the spoils but what they will have done is locked this nation of a path where the cowardly populous are going to be pushed and pushed until they rebel! And people will rebel, of that we can be certain. The rebellion, fuelled by decades of bottled-up anger, will grow and will not stop until this regime is swept away; of that we can also be certain too.
Thats criinal abuse of Office if it sails through. We want elections.
NTA is a fool’s paradise which will only give Zanupf thugs a life line but no sane Zimbabwean would support such a move. Of cause Munangagwa would definitely support it because he is fully aware people hate him to the core and will never win a free and fair election as long as he lives. This NTA nonsense must never be allowed or imposed on us ……never ever !
What a fertile imagination!