By Wilbert Mukori| Let me say, I am impressed by MDC-T VP Nelson Chamisa’s list of objectives of his recent visit to America. (There are similar visits to SADC and AU countries).
“The objectives of the trip are as follows;” he stated.
1. A push for a successful transition to a democratic order through Campaign restore legitimacy and democracy -stating a case for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe
2. Advocacy for political and electoral reforms conducive for free and fair elections.
-A credible voters roll -an independent audit of the BVR -a forensic audit of the ballot and all voting materials -having all parties to collectively agree on the ballot printing company and such procurement -mandatory diaspora vote in line with the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the SADC guidelines -mandatory international observation -A fully independent ZEC including professional and non partisan ZEC secretariat. -equal access to the public media – a stop and cessation of all forms of political violence and harassment”
He listed three more objectives but I will just focus on the two above.
Having called for “mandatory international observation” of the Zimbabwe elections what those observers would want to know from Chamisa and his friends in the Zimbabwe opposition camp is how serious are they about these demands. Whilst there is a convergence of opposition demands to SADC leaders’ own demands what is not clear is whether the opposition are now prepared to postpone the elections to push for these demands, which is exactly what SADC leaders advised MDC leaders to do in 2013!
The regional leaders wanted the July 2013 elections postponed to allow the reforms to be implemented as Dr Ibbo Mandaza, explained.
“Of course, they (2018 elections) can be postponed,” Dr Mandaza explain to Violet Gonda in April 2017. “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.
“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.
“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; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.
It should be noted that MDC leaders contested the July 2013 elections although ZEC had failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, Zanu PF had retained total control of the public media, etc. The international election observers are not particularly interested in being call in to observe elections in which something as basic as the verified voters’ roll is missing.
It is one thing for Zimbabwe’s opposition to contest flawed and illegal elections and claim they have devised Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies. What the opposition must accept is that international election observers are not interested in monitoring rigged elections, they do not even want to know about these so WIRE strategies much less report on whether they worked or not.
IF ZEC FAIL TO PRODUCE A VERIFIED VOTERS’ ROLL AND ALL THE OTHER BASIC NECESSITIES TO ENSURE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS, WILL THE OPPOSITION CONTEST THE ELECTIONS REGARDLESS?
This is the central question Zimbabwe’s opposition parties are refusing to answer but will only make they look even more foolish because their stone silence speaks volumes – of lost political credibility, innocence, career, incompetence, greed, selling-out, everything!
Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends lost a lot of political credibility in 2013 by contesting in the flawed and illegal elections against the sound advice of SADC and many others. Whatever WIRE strategies he and his friends had devised, none of them worked. If anyone had given Tsvangirai & co. any benefit of the doubt in 2013 there will not be so generous this time around.
It is insane contesting an election which everyone knows in advance will be rigged. The only reason anyone outside Zimbabwe is allowing this circus to go ahead is they is very little they can do to stop the opposition from contesting. What the ordinary Zimbabweans will want from the international election observers is for them to declare the result null and void because an election in which something as basic as verified voters’ roll is missing is a sham election, period! – zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk
5 Replies to “Tsvangirai If There’s No Verified Voters’ Roll, Will You Still Contest 2018 Elections?”
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There is really no logic in contesting an election which you know is being rigged already. We know already that there is no free media, there will be no verified voters’ roll, Zanu PF is spending billions in its various vote rigging schemes, etc.
The only reason the nation is being dragged into these meaningless elections is because the opposition will not boycott the elections. Zanu PF knows that as long as it throws away a few gravy train seats, the opposition will contest the elections regardless how flawed the process.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” admitted David Coltart, MDC Minister of Education during the GNU.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
As long as there is a chance of winning the scraps Zanu PF gives away as bait there is no hope on getting the opposition to listen to reason. The opposition camp is now as crowded as ever with some opportunists like Fadzai Mahere who launched their campaign a year before the elections. No one will talk her into boycotting the elections!
The commonwealth struggle is for free, fair and credible elections but, sadly, this has been corrupt with the individual greed, fight for scraps. The tragedy here is most ordinary people are taking part in these flawed elections not knowing they are being used to undermining their own common interest.
No thinking Zimbabwean should play any part in a elections process they know is flawed and illegal! People should not bother to register, attend rallies and do not bother to go and vote! Only a fool will agree to take part in a rat race in which there is no start line, no finish line, blindfolded, etc. knowing their very life is at stake. If you are helpless at stopping the rat race, the least you can do is refuse to take part!
There is no excuse for contesting flawed elections, we know all we need to know about how Zanu PF rigs elections and we do not need the lesson repeated. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends should have never contested the July 2013 elections as SADC leaders had rightly advised.
MDC leaders promised after the July 2013 election “No reform, no elections!” We, the people must hold them to account and make sure they honour that resolution! Zimbabwe cannot afford another rigged elections!
Why are you obsessed about who is speaking and where they are speaking from?
If you are serious about ending Zimbabwe’s culture of political violence and vote rigging then you would focus on making sure we have freedom of expression and free media, a verified voters’ roll, etc. Many people have demanded democratic reforms from within Zimbabwe’s borders and many outside have done the same thing. If someone can do it from Mars, then I for one, would encourage them to do so. The more people making the same demands from every corner of the universe the better; if that helps open the ears and eyes of the thugs who are clearly deaf and blind to the injustice they are inflicting in our land.
My beef with MDC is not that they are bring up the fight for free elections in Washington DC or Botswana. My beef with them is that they are not sincere. They are bringing these issues up as a publicity knowing fully well that they will be contesting next year’s elections with no free media, no verified voters’ roll, etc.
We already know that there is no free media in Zimbabwe, this has been the case for the last 37 years and beyond. We also know that ZEC will never register 7 million voters from scratch and produce a verified voters’ roll in eight months; that is just impossible. The regime delayed the start of the voter registration exercise deliberately know this would happen. With no verified voters’ roll the sky is the limit to the vote rigging shenanigans the regime can perform given the expertise of NIKUV, the Israeli vote rigging gurus Zanu PF has kept on its payroll for donkey years, to help.
We know the wholesale looting in Marange that resulted in “$15 billion being swindled”, by Mugabe’s own admission two years ago, is still going on. No one has ever been arrested and not one red cent recovered. Zanu PF is using the some of the swindled billions to bankroll its vote rigging schemes. One can go on and on because the flaws and illegalities in the electoral process are endless!
Of course, SADC leaders were right in advising Tsvangirai and company not to contest the flawed and illegal elections until reforms are implemented. Any such participation will only give credibility to the flawed process. It is insane, irresponsible and downright selfish to take part in a rat race, especially when the suffering and very lives of millions of innocent people is at stake! The only reason Tsvangirai and his MDC friends ignored the sound advice is greed. It was the same greed that stopped them implementing even one reform during the GNU.
So, asking Tsvangirai and all these in the opposition camp the rhetorical question, why they are contesting these flawed elections, is important. First, it forces them to admit they are doing it out of greed, stupidity or both! Second, more significantly, it helps to highlight to the whole world that people like Tsvangirai have lost all political credibility, they no longer represent the ordinary people’s best interest, and the whole election is a sham!
Ndeyekwako iyo,
couldn’t he just have spoken about those issues at home before rushing to somewhere to do that, remember not many people over there are going to vote, those who will observe will do so by invitation, so the key people to election issues are right here in Zimbabwe, the registerer, the voters, the ones who will invite the observers,