By Simba Chikanza | ANALYSIS | Today, as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officially rejects Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance party from the ongoing election prepararion meetings, we are reviewing this book titled No Democracy At All, by Dr Cleopas Sibanda. Dr Sibanda, a medical doctor, is a former ZANU PF Councillor who quit politics disgusted by what he termed an experience of No-democracy At All. His 246 page thick book is like a thriller, while it is a true story, of a Zimbabwean politician who went through it all and now calls a spade a spade.

The 30 Sept 2021 is the day Sen. Douglas Mwonzora has announced he is shutting the door on all Nelson Chamisa MPs and councillors, using what authority he can’t say.

Today Nelson Chamisa also wins big against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission because he refused to abandon his own brand the MDC Alliance, which ZANU PF was hoping he would forsake so they can disqualify him from politics forever on multiple grounds. But alas the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s handlers have no excuse to fault Chamisa.

And now we turn to Dr Sibanda’s book, which is an insider’s account on the futility of politics under the ZANU PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa. Dr Sibanda doesn’t say it exactly this way, but his black ink is the first imprint of the video footage the world has seen of Mnangagwa instructing councillors and MPs that their daily role is that of crushing the public voice whenever it is coming through other parties, not his.

Dr Cleopas Sibanda is a medical doctor by profession. He specializes in Workplace Health and Wellbeing (Occupational Health). His first book entitled “The Management of HIV/AIDS in the Workplace Made Easy” is freely available on the Internet. He tried to be a politician just once in his life. That was about two decades before this book was published when he became Councilor unopposed on the back of the ticket of his by then ruling political party. This was in a small twelve member Town Council. However, he voluntarily and abruptly resigned from the Town Council after completing the first year of a prospective four-year tenure of office as a Town Councilor. He resigned because he was disgusted by the corruption, fraud, theft, factionalism and chicanery which he witnessed both in the Town Council Chambers and also in his own political party during that very short period of time. The factionalism amazed him the most because at that time, the Town Council was one hundred percent a one political party council with absolutely no opposition party representatives at all. This book is partly an effort to talk to and rectify the traumatic experiences which he endured during those days.

In his book, Dr Sibanda says political parties do as they wish not as the people want.

This country uses political party based proportional representation in electing its parliamentary representatives. In this system, voters do not vote for real bona fide people as candidates but they vote for political parties at the ballot box. It is the political party which eventually chooses who goes to parliament to represent it. The electorate just vote for the political party of their choice and not for a real candidate of their choice in person.

We speak to Dr Sibanda on Thursday morning