By Patrick Guramatunhu | There is no denying that Zimbabwe’s in serious economic and political trouble. The economy is in total meltdown after 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness that has earned the country the burdensome title of pariah state. 

The political trouble is because the country has not only a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical ruling party, Zanu PF, but an equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition. And to crown it all, we have an electorate that has no clue what is going on and hence are given to follow the corrupt and useless leaders blindly like sheep to the slaughter. A recipe for political paralysis; and that is exactly what we have. 

“A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership,” said Chinua Achebe, one of Africa’s great intellectuals.

For Nelson Chamisa, the leader of MDC A, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party; forget about being educated and moral grounding: he lacks common sense. He really has no clue what is going and and hence keeps repeating the same foolish mistakes over and over again – proof he has no common sense.

“ED (Mnangagwa), you have been working so hard, 24/7, to try and bury Nelson Chamisa. Note this: when you try to bury him, you are only planting him and he will only germinate even more viciously,” boasted Chamisa, in an interview with The Standard.

“ED will never forgive us for drubbing him in 2018. The people’s crime is that they showed him a red card in 2018 only to get relief and extra time through the ConCourt.”

If there is one thing that the July 2018 elections proved beyond all reasonable doubt, for the umpteenth time, it was that Zanu PF would never lose an election in which the regime has the carte blanche powers to rig. 

The 2008 Zimbabwe elections were a watershed because that year Zanu PF showed the noun-sphere of its vote rigging capabilities. The party order the recount of the March vote and held up announcing the result for six week whilst it cooked up the figures. Tsvangirai’s 73% vote count, by Mugabe’s own Freudian slip, was whittled down to 47%; enough to force a presidential run-off. 

In the run-off, Zanu PF unleashed it party thugs, war veterans backed by the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Service officials to punish the electorate for having rejected Robert Mugabe, the party’s presidential candidate in the early March vote. Millions of Zimbabweans were harassed and forced to go into hiding; hundreds of thousands were severely beaten and/or raped and over 500 were murdered. 

“Zanu PF has declared war on the nation!” said Tsvangirai, as he announced his withdrawal from the run-off. 

Mugabe went on to win the one-horse race with 84% of the vote. 

For the first time ever, SADC and AU, renowned for giving a thumbs up to Zanu PF rigged elections in the past, refused to accept the 2008 elections as free and fair and Zanu PF as the legitimate government. 

SADC leaders forced Mugabe and Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) in which Zimbabwe was to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop the blatant election cheating and wanton violence and ensure future elections were free, fair and credible. 

A Government of National Unity (GNU) comprising Zanu PF and the two MDC factions led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara was tasked to implement the reforms. SA’s President Thabo Mbeki signed the GPA on behalf of SADC which was the guarantor of the agreement. 

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, the forgot about implementing the reforms. Even the constant nagging by the SADC leaders failed to get MDC leaders to implement even one token reform in five years! 

SADC leaders made a desperate last minute attempt to get Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections postponed until democratic reforms are implemented.  

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza latter told Journalist Violet Gonda.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; ‘If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!’.”

As we know, Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections, as SADC leaders had predicted. 

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A went participate in the 2018 elections too, knowing fully well that with no reforms in place Zanu PF will rig those elections too. ZEC failed to produce something as basic for free and fair elections as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake. And still Chamisa et al participated in the elections regardless. Why?

The same reason MDC leaders had failed to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU – greed. 

The one lesson Mugabe learnt from the GNU was that Zanu PF can continue rigging the elections without risking plebiscite being declared null and void as happened in 2008 as long as the opposition participated in the flawed and illegal elections in numbers. Zanu PF would give away a few gravy train seats; a honey trap the opposition found irresistible. 

Chamisa et al participated in the 2018 election out of greed and gave all manner of excuses for doing so knowing the elections will be rigged. “MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” he boasted.

When the stringent measures failed he has another feeble excuse why; Mnangagwa “only to get relief and extra time through the ConCourt!” 

Of course, if we had implemented the democratic reforms fully before the 2018 elections then Mnangagwa would not have got the relief from the ConCourt or from anywhere else. The reforms are designed to end Zanu PF’s  corrupting hold over all the state institutions including ZEC, Police, ConCourt, etc.! 

“Through the hurdles, attacks and downs of 2020, we remain standing and marching towards a free and new great Zimbabwe. Fighting for freedom is a national duty and a patriotic act. 2021 will be incredible and full of surprises,” Chamisa told The Standard. 

Chamisa and his MDC A friends are gearing to participate in the coming 2023 elections with not even one token democratic reform in place. Mnangagwa knows that as long as the opposition participate Zanu PF has every chance of rigging the elections and get away with it as before. 

The biggest mistake the people of Zimbabwe made was to risk life and limb electing Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into power in the hope the party will bring about the democratic changes necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. 

The people themselves had no clue what the changes were much less how they were to be implemented and so when MDC leaders sold-out during the GNU; the people failed to comprehend the blatant betrayal. 

As long as the Zimbabwe electorate remain a naive and gullible lot given to believe such feeble excuses as “MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging” and be dragging by MDC A into flawed and illegal elections; the opposition will claim to command a national following and thus have credibility. And a credible opposition participating in flawed and illegal elections will give Zanu PF some modicum of legitimacy! 

Educate the Zimbabwe electorate so they understand what the democratic reforms are and how Chamisa et al not only sold-out on implementing reforms but, worst of all, how participating in these flawed elections is only helping to perpetuate the curse of rigged elections. An enlightened electorate will desert the corrupt, incompetent and sell-out opposition opportunists in droves! 

A discredited opposition can participate in flawed elections but it will never give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy!

So, the most important task before us is to educate the Zimbabwe electorate so that as many as possible understand what the democratic reforms are needed to ensure free, fair and credible elections. It is for the people to then demand that the reforms are implemented before the next elections and to reject the elections as null and void if no reforms are in place. This is a mammoth task but not an impossible. 

What good is it to the nation for Chamisa to drag us into yet another flawed elections, boasting he will drub Mnangagwa if ZEC, ConCourt, Police, Army and the other Zanu PF captured state institutions will see to it there is no regime change. This is just foolish grandstanding and posturing that has failed to deliver the changes the nation has been dying for. 

After 20 years of MDC blundering from pillar to post and not even one reform to show for it; it is insane to continue following blindly Chamisa and company. 

2023 elections must be free, fair and credible; all the reforms must be implemented before the plebiscite. 

Chamisa is no more than the boastful dog claiming to put out the forest fire with his punny fart! It will be unforgivable to once again entrust the destiny of this great nation into the hands of such a village idiot!  – SOURCE: zimbabwelight.blogspot.com