By Wilbert Mukori | “It is stupid to think Zanu PF will reform itself out of power. It is also dumb stupid to suggest boycotting of elections when Mwonzora is lurking in the shadows to fill that void,” shot Osama23. Shooting from the hip!
It is indeed stupid to expect Zanu PF to reform itself out of office hence the reason the people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC/CCC for the express purpose of implementing the reforms. If I have said this once, I have said it 100 times today alone!
If you think it is dumb stupid “to suggest boycotting of elections when Mwonzora is lurking in the shadows to fill that void”. It is even worse to participate in the flawed election to stop Mwonzora winning the few gravy train seats because the principal beneficiary here is Zanu PF who set the trap.
A rat on it’s own will avoid a trap. Introduce the competition and the rat throws all caution to the wind. It doesn’t matter how many other dead rats it has seen caught in the trap, all it is thinking about is “If I don’t get that nut quick, some other rat will!” VHAMBU! Pwete-e-e!
Mnangagwa is a buffoon, the recent Al Jazeera Gold Mafia documentary proved that point beyond all reasonable doubt, still he, just like Mugabe before him, understands that Zimbabwe’s opposition leaders are as greedy and reckless as competing rats.
Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections took place when the country was facing its worst ever economic meltdown; inflation was a nauseating 500 billion %, the economy had all but collapse, unemployment had soared to 90% plus, etc., etc. The people were restless for meaningful political change, as one might well imagine! Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies resorted to blatant cheating and wanton violence to retain their iron grip on political power.
However, the cheating and wanton violence were so outrageous that not even SADC and AU, who had always turned a blind eye to Zanu PF rigged elections in the past, could endorse the 2008 elections as a legitimate process. Mugabe was forced to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) agreeing to the need for Zimbabwe to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free elections.
Properly implemented the reforms would have stopped Zanu PF rigging future elections.
The task of implementing the reforms were left to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends for the obvious reason – Zanu PF would never reform itself out of power.
Alas! MDC leaders took their eyes off the ball, and they failed to implement even one token reform in five years of the GNU. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the ministerial E-class Mercedes Benz, the generous salaries and allowances, the US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. In return the MDC leaders throw the reforms out of the window. Not even one token reform was implemented in five years!
So, Zanu PF emerged out of the 2008 to 2013 GNU with all the party’s dictatorial powers including the carte blanche powers to rig elections. The party was careful to ensure it gave up a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in the election no matter how flawed and illegal the process got. Zanu PF needs to maintain the multi-party democracy façade to avoid SADC dismissing the election as a farce as happened in 2008.
Mnangagwa has spiced up the opposition bait by creating POLAD a political body composed of the losing presidential candidates who publicly endorsed the 2018 elections as free, fair and credible and endorsed him as the legitimately elected president. They were rewarded with a new car each plus other freebies.
I once taught an adult education “O” level Mathematic class. It was hard work. And soon realised that for many of the students it was mission impossible because, forget doing form one and two, they had not completed grade seven. How can anyone comprehend the complexities of trigonometry when they have not mastered simple Arithmetic!
Similarly, if one has failed to understand the democratic reforms are and that MDC leaders sold out big time by failing to implement even one reform during the GNU, this is primary school stuff. It is naïve to expect them to comprehend the futility of participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating the dictatorship.
Nelson Chamisa and the few of his CCC friends who win the few gravy train seats on offer as bait benefit. Douglas Mwonzora and Lovemore Madhuku and the rest in the opposition camp benefit too from the POLAD freebies. The real big losers here are the ordinary Zimbabweans who are paying dearly for the consequences of 43 years and counting of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule. Explaining all this to Osama23 is a complete waste of time, it is teaching University stuff to a grade one!
Osama23 is blissfully content participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating his/her own suffering just to stop Mwonzora winning any gravy train seats on offer as bait. He/she will not stop Mnangawa giving Mwonzora the POLAD freebies.
If Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance had boycotted the 2018 elections, for example, it is rich to argue that SADC and AU would not have noticed. The opposition boycott would have been even more effective is they had done so in 2013 because it was none other than SADC leaders themselves who had proposed a boycott. But, again explaining all this to Osama23 is a waste of time, it is all water off a buck’s back.
Of course, the POLAD freebies are a small price for Mnangagwa to pay for the guaranteed participation in the flawed elections of Chamisa, his supporters and all the misguided Osama23s out there.
If I had to name one reason why Zanu PF has ridden roughshod over this nation then it must hubris. Hubris in the form of greed and breath-taking incompetence on the part of the MDC/CCC leaders. Naivety and ignorance on the part of the populous; the stubborn ignorance of people like Osama23 who think they know when in fact they don’t know.
It is most disconcerting that anyone would participate in flawed elections to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy, boast of the worthless trophy they have won and yet remain blissfully ignorant of the priceless price they have paid. Even after 43 years of rigged elections they are the one failing to see the trap and are caught by the neck like a rat! –
SOURCE: zimbabwelight.blogspot.com