Tsvangirai Can Only Lead Coalition For Presidential Elections
25 March 2017
Kennedy Kaitano | 2018 is not too far, and elections can be held 12 months away from now, hence the opposition parties, most of whom seem agreed on the need for one presidential candidate to fight President Robert Mugabe. It is encouraging that most of those who have spoken now believe the MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is the preferred candidate. I am fully agreed Morgan Tsvangirai should be the candidate, but I think it should be that the party which has or is assumed to have the biggest support base should be the one to provide the Presidential candidate.
Regarding parliamentary candidates, I would support Dr. Joice Mujuru’s earlier position that while opposition parties must come up with one Presidential candidate, all parties should be free to field candidates wherever they are confident. This provides an opportunity for the parties to prove their worthy, and should the agreed Presidential party supported by the oppositions parties win, he will then appoint a cabinet that includes members of other parties based on the number of seats secured in the election, considering the skills specific individuals will bring into the new government.
However, agreeing on a candidate alone is not the biggest issue that should be addressed, the biggest challenge to our election system is the rigging machinery which Zanu PF is perfecting with each election. Particularly appalling is the system where villagers in the rural areas are forced to vote for a candidate who they do not like. A brother of mine who teaches in a rural area told me about how known teachers had to pretend they were not able to read and right and requested to be assisted to vote. Stories about teachers and nurses who were forced to bandage their hands to justify being assisted to vote have also been reported. A cousin of mine living in Wedza told me recently that it is only the fear in people that may lead them to vote for Zanu PF, but the people want Mugabe and Zanu PF out of power yesterday. So even though Zanu PF may no longer enjoy mass support, they can still win the elections through this form of election forgery.
What then is the way forward? The opposition parties must continue to push for electoral reforms, but reforms alone are not enough, Zimbabweans need to be practical.
In the past, the MDC-T and other political parties have identified, listed and published the names of people being used as tools for electoral fraud, but I think we need to go beyond that. Naming and shaming shameless people does not help, so a step further in my opinion would be for groups composed of members of the opposition parties to visit and confront these tools for electoral fraud and tell them to stop it hence forth, or else risk the full wrath of the citizens should they choose to continue doing so.
Come election day, Zanu PF has used a system whereby people are force marched to polling stations and queue behind traditional leaders, and some forced to pretend they are unable to cast their vote on their own so that they are assisted by the polling officer, who will be a known Zanu PF agent. Opposition election agents should watch out for such instances and confront the abusive polling officer and prevent them from abusing the electorate that way. I strongly suggest polling officers who refuse to comply with the demands of the opposition election agents at this stage should be beaten up, and the election will be condemned and a fresh election held under international supervision. This is also where it pays for all opposition parties to field parliamentary candidates, so that the Zanu PF election agents in the polling station will be outnumbered and will be easy to over power.
Let us be serious Zimbabweans. Let us take the law into our hands where we should. If we don’t, Zanu PF will rule Zimbabwe for ever, and I can guarantee you there are people more evil than Mugabe in Zanu PF. A good example is Mnangagwa who recently unashamedly said Zimbabweans in the Diaspora should stripped of their citizenship if they don’t pay tax. Evil Mugabe hasn’t said such, so Mnangagwa is more evil than Mugabe, and should be exposed for what he is.
Zanu PF will never willingly implement election reforms which the opposition parties are crying for, and even if reforms were agreed on on paper, Zanu PF will always behave otherwise, and this requires Zimbabweans to collectively mobilise and confront Zanu PF to liberate themselves. Zanu PF will never grant us the Transitional Authority that some of us are crying for, an authority which though necessary is not in the constitution after all. Zanu PF will simply laugh its lungs out when you suggest a transitional authority that is not reflected in the country’s constitution.
Change Demands Action, but the action must be well calculated to produce the desired results.
I agree the playing field needs to be levelled but disagree with your ‘simple arithmetic’ reasoning because it is based on an assumption that the 78% for Zanu is an inflexible quantum regardless of changes in any other variables. An example is this; say there is a constituency of 5 000 eligible voters when an election is held. Two candidates stand (contest), both unpopular. There is voter apathy and only 200 people cast their votes. 156 of the 200 vote for one of the two, that is 78%. Any suggestion that the percentage margin would have been unaffected even if candidates of different political persuasion had stood should surely be deemed simplistic and unlikely.
If the Zanu PF won 78% of the vote the single opposition candidate will have won 22% of the vote, that is simple arithmetic!
Zanu PF now know that to avoid the legitimacy problem of July 2008, they must allow the opposition to win some seats as long as they win the 66% in parliament plus the presidency. The opposition are fighting for the 34% or so gravy train seats. The people of Zimbabwe are dying for meaningful political change and that will never happen until the country has free and fair elections. The opposition know the next elections are not going to be free and fair and they are avoiding making any comment on the matter because they know this is one blatant lie they cannot get away with.
They are talking about the coalition, mobilising for voter registration and voting and pretending this allow will be enough to overwhelm Zanu PF’s vote rigging, just to create the impression they will win!
The opposition have settled for the bait seats Zanu PF gives away, the people should understand that and if they think that is worth them risking life and limp over, at least they will be doing so knowing what is what. But as far as I am concerned no Zimbabwean should even be harassed much less beaten just to get a few opposition politicians back on the gravy train. It is not worth it!
If the opposition has done nothing to ensure free, fair and credible elections then vote for Zanu PF until we can get opposition politicians who will do the job. The scraps from Zanu PF need a seat on the gravy train for the opposition politicians but nothing to povo who will still be stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship. So why should povo put their safety and more on the line to get scraps for the opposition?
“Vanofira mafufu sengozo vanopenga!” (It is madness, to die for scraps like a rat!)
What good message? These people have not done anything to stop Zanu PF harassing people, Tsvangirai was told during his country wide tour about this, if he did not know, and has done nothing. These opposition politicians are taking advantage of the people’s suffering to get back on the gravy train!
Exactly!
We do not need a coalition, what we need is democratic reforms to stop our people being harassed, beaten, raped or worse to force people to vote for Zanu PF. Why are these opposition politicians doing nothing to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible. Unless something is done to stop Zanu PF intimidation, the people, especially those is the rural areas and urban centre like Mbare where Chipangano gangs rule the roost, will vote for Zanu PF. I would advise my family and friends to vote for Zanu PF and not take any unnecessary risk supporting an opposition that no chance of winning and do not care about their safety!
You people talk about the coalitions but refuse to take about free, fair and credible elections. All you care about is getting back on the gravy train and do not care about the price others pay to get you there. Once in power you forget what you promised povo. MDC had the golden opportunity to deliver democratic change during the GNU, they failed to deliver even one reform. NOT EVEN ONE!
You and I do not know the answer to that but it is clear the chances of the opposition winning would have been higher. Plus why would you use an isolated event as a measure. There are many toss-up constituencies that would benefit from a sense of oneness. It is a strategy worth intertaining because politics is fickle (tomorrow we may witness povho ichidzingirira those that are oppressing them today. It has happened several times over around the world and likelihood of it happening in Zimba is infinitely higher than that of rocks in Chinhoyi producing diesel) )
Will that have helped to opposition win in Bikita West?
Did he implement the democratic reforms necessary to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections?
This is just a fallacious argument because it is founded on the falsehood that the opposition will lose the election because they will split the vote.
President Mugabe had 63% of the vote in 2013 and recent by-elections has seen his party win 78% in the Bikita West; fielding one opposition candidate will have made no difference to the winner. Zanu PF’s electoral success is based on the party’s licence to used all manner of dirty tricks to blatantly rig the vote.
Tsvangirai and everyone else in the opposition agreed that Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections, they resolved not contest any future elections without implementing the reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote, they will not deny that not even one reform was implemented since the July 2013 rigged elections and yet they are all tripping over each other to contest next year’s elections.
The opposition know the elections will be rigged but they also know that Zanu PF will always give away a few seats, bait to the opposition. It is for these seats that the opposition are fighting over.
What the people of Zimbabwe must know is that whilst they are fighting Zanu PF for free and fair elections the opposition are helping the dictatorship stay in power by giving the vote rigging legitimacy by contesting the flawed elections in return for the bait gravy train seats the regime gives away.
Tsvangirai and his opposition friends know the elections are not going to be free and fair and that they have a snowball in hell chance of defeating Zanu PF, they are not honest enough to admit this to the people because they cannot admit they are contesting for the sake of the freebees from Zanu PF! It is for the people themselves to figure the truth here or be forever taken for a ride by both Zanu PF and the opposition!
Candidates for constituencies should be under one umbrella, and if necessary be selected via rainbow primaries, otherwise there will be unnecessary fragmentation which could lead to avoidable losses.
Action plz Mr Tsvangirayi.leave plple to take action.
Good message.l wish Tsvangirai can read and implement some of these great ideas