“Five years prior the election was held on the 29 March 2008. The results were announced by the chief electoral officer on 2 May 2008.Total votes: 2 537 240; Valid votes: 2 497 265. Registered voters: 5 934 768. The percentage voter turnout was a mere 42.75% .In other words over 3, 397, 528 registered Zimbabwean voters did not bother to vote in 2008. The presidential election results were delayed by over 30 days and when finally announced they showed that Tsvangirai had outpolled Mugabe by 48% to 43%. Simba Makoni had 8% of the vote. Crucially, however, he failed to secure 50% plus one, resulting in the electoral commission declaring a runoff”, Brian said.

“The runoff was held on June 27 amid speculation that the additional time was used by Mugabe and the joint operation command – the top brass of the military, police, intelligence and prisons – to plan and launch a spoiling strategy.

“A countrywide orgy of violence followed, orchestrated by war veterans, Zanu-PF militia and security force members. Despite fuel shortages, troops were deployed countrywide.”

For someone who readily acknowledges that the run-off was marred by “a countrywide orgy of violence, orchestrated by war veterans, Zanu PF militia and security force members”, one has to question why then he failed to question what went before. Why did it take ZEC from 29 March to  2 May 2008 to recount a mere 2 537 240 votes? A closer examination would have shown the authorities were cooking up the figures!

Zanu PF was divided that year, then VP Mujuru instructed her followers to vote for the Zanu PF MP and Senate candidate but vote for Tsvangirai president and not Mugabe, the Zanu PF candidate. This was operation “Bhora Musango” (Kick the ball into the bush). Mugabe acknowledge that Bhora Musango costed him the elections and yet the declared result of 48% for Tsvangirai and 43% for Mugabe does not show it.

Zanu PF has since learned that it must never go into the elections again unless it has vote rigging schemes in place to deliver a Zanu PF victory without an need for recount, the party cooks up the figures before the voting and not after as in the March 2008. The vote rigging is augmented with the violence that the party can turn up if in doubt the vote cheating schemes alone will deliver the desired results.

ZEC, Police, Judiciary and all the other State Institutions are in Zanu PF’s pocket, the party has total control of the whole electoral process; the party can fine tune the whole process to fit its diabolical vote rigging schemes. The regime has unfettered access to State resources including the billions looted from Marange diamond field; the party has the cash to buy the services of some of the best vote-rigging schemers on the market, NIKUV, bribe the hundreds of thousands of officials and minions to execute its schemes, etc., etc.

Zanu PF’s reputation as a party of ruthless thugs is well earned and those on the coal face of Zimbabwe’s fearsome culture of political violence KNOW this is no trivial matter.

So, given Zanu PF’s limitless opportunity to blatantly rig the vote plus the party thugs’ licence to harass, beat and even murder; it is no exaggeration to say it is impossible for Zanu PF to lose elections. Whereas the ordinary Zimbabwean has a vote on who governs Zimbabwe, if that vote should go against Zanu PF’s wishes the party has the power to overrule the people. Zanu PF has the veto!

“The 2018 election is winnable on issues and strategy,” Brian Kagoro argued.

It does not matter what issues and strategies you have and how well you articulate them; as long as all you get for all your troubles is a vote against Zanu PF’s veto, you will lose. If you have a veto your say carries the day regardless of what the mob with a vote have to say!

As long as Zanu PF is allowed to wield the veto our elections will always have a pre-determined winner – Zanu PF – regardless of what the electorate want. After 38 years of participating in such pre-determined and utterly meaningless elections, the least we can do now is acknowledge the political reality and stop deluding ourselves with the foolish notion that a vote can ever trump a veto!