Elections possible this year: Mutambara
06/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
DEPUTY Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara has insisted that elections could still be held this year, ending the shaky inclusive government which has run the country since 2009.
President Robert Mugabe is pushing for fresh polls before year-end saying the coalition arrangement is no longer workable because of policy and other differences between the parties.
But his rivals, the MDC-T in particular, has insisted that the polls should be held after political reforms have been implemented to ensure the election outcome cannot be disputed.
A meeting of the SADC Organ on Defence, Politics and Security Co-operation in Luanda, Angola last week said new elections should be held within the next 12 months.
However, responding to a question in Parliament Wednesday, Mutambara said the country could hold elections this year.
Mutambara explained that SADC had outlined that there was need to agree on outstanding issues stalling the drafting of the new constitution.
"It is possible to have elections this year according to SADC," he said, adding,
"Our GPA allows us that if we reach a deadlock and its no longer workable then we have no choice we can have elections without a new constitution and the reforms. It is very likely.
“The other scenario is that we can actually do an analysis of what needs to be done and maybe agree that it will take us 13 months, which will take us to June 2013, which is when this Parliament expires because that is when the President was sworn in, the ultimate deadline is June 30, 2013."
Mutambara however, said it would be ideal for the country to hold elections with a new Constitution adding there was need for COPAC to "get their act together."
"Copac Select Committee must get its act together, the Management Committee must get their act together," he said.
“If we want reforms before the elections, we have to stop this dilly dallying. This House should also pass Bills, the Human Rights and the Electoral Amendment Bills, so we should get those done if we want reforms."
He said with the current delays in producing the draft Constitution the term of the current Parliament might expire without the new supreme law in place.
Mutambara also underscored the need to refrain from political violence as the nation edges towards the next polls.
"As you are now all aware there is now talk of elections but it does not make sense for us to envisage having a free and fair election when our people are violent to each other.
"You cannot legislate values and culture. These things must be built into the people to make sure that they are not violent," said Mutambara.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), ARTHUR MUTAMBARA
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Propaganda frameworks for Zim elections
Wednesday, 09 May 2012 21:46
Depending on the interests of the world’s super powers, various devices are used to either endorse and bless elections in weaker states, or condemn and vilify them.We are heading for elections in Zimbabwe this year and
for largely unexplained reasons, the Western-sponsored MDC formations are quite reluctant to participate, pushing the chaotic drafting of a new Constitution as more pressing than the
illegal 18-month unexplained extension of the Inclusive Government, itself a product of lengthy talks between six hand-picked politicians; three lawyers, an accountant, a diplomat and a woman political activist turned politician — talks that were purely about three political parties coming together to form a government of politicians, by politicians and for their respective political parties.
In the Tendai Biti tradition of cooking up political vocabulary from thin air, the so-called Global Political Agreement (GPA) created for Zimbabwe what could be called a “politicocracy” — the rule of politicians, by politicians and for their political parties.
In refusing to have elections this year, the MDC formations and their Western sponsors have an identifiable agenda of issues they want stressed, as well as others they want ignored or down-played.
We are told that there has to be a new Constitution before elections, that despite the fact there are three possible outcomes to the constitution-making process.
Firstly, the drafters will have to wait for the GPA Principals to agree on the draft before a decision to go for a referendum is made. There is no guarantee such an agreement will be reached, and as such there is also no guarantee there will be a referendum.
Secondly, the referendum itself carries a further two possibilities. The draft may be accepted by the voters or it may be rejected, depending on who sponsors the NO Vote. In the event the draft is rejected, surely this thing called the Inclusive Government cannot last forever — especially with its spectacular political clowns masquerading as Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials, top of the list being the Chief Minister, who carries the title of Prime Minister.
The logical position must be that in the event the President is in agreement with the draft constitution, perhaps in consultation with the other GPA principals, a referendum on the draft constitution must be carried out before elections. The outcome of the election will not have a bearing on the holding of elections — that will still be held under whatever constitution will be in place after the referendum.
For some unscientific logic we are made to believe that the mere existence of a new constitution will come with “free and fair elections.”
What the MDC formations and their Western sponsors want ignored or down-played is the argument that Western financial backing for political parties in Zimbabwe is not conducive for free and fair elections, just like the illegal travel bans imposed on Zanu-PF politicians are not, more because of the diabolical image the sanctions paint on the sanctioned, and less for the material effect the ban has on the persons involved.
In supporting the MDC rhetoric of refusing to have elections in 2012, symbols and agendas are manipulated to give the position of the MDC a positive image.
The posturing of the MDC is associated with the happy word “democracy”. We are tacitly told that only an election held when the MDC feels ready to win will create democracy for Zimbabwe, and as such the unpreparedness of the MDC is associated with Zimbabwe’s unreadiness for democracy.
In fact, an election won by Robert Mugabe will by definition be undemocratic, regardless of the facts on the ground — and that position is emphatically held by the MDC and its funders in the West. A win for Mugabe in this sense becomes synonymous with defeat for democracy, only considered valid through an MDC-T win.
In this propaganda framework that promotes the MDC-T everything that Tsvangirai advocates is portrayed as democracy and everything he blames is portrayed as tyranny. We are told of how wonderful it is to have “a face of democracy” in Morgan Tsvangirai, and it must be a moral triumph that Morgan Tsvangirai became the
Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 2009, and a true reflection of African civility that he becomes president one day.
Each time Morgan Tsvangirai commits to issues that require thinking he usually makes a perfect fool of himself, but he is not too worried because in the context of him playing puppet to his Western puppeteers he can almost safely consider himself above foolishness and stupidity.
The insistence of Zanu-PF that 18 months in illegal extra time for the GPA’s Inclusive Government is unacceptable is now being projected as an effort to thwart democracy, in fact a rejection of democracy, and proof of the party’s anti-democratic tendencies.
Each time Zanu-PF says an election should be held this year the utterances are transformed by sections of the media into a dramatic struggle between a tyrannical party and a civilised democratic party so committed to bringing happiness to the people of Zimbabwe.
In this context the dramatic denouement of an election must be a new constitution, which we are made to believe will measure freeness and fairness of the electoral environment. Each time Zimbabwe has held elections involving the MDC the West has insisted on dispatching election observers, more to assure the success of the MDC’s public relations, and less to observe the actual electoral process.
The nominal function of these observers is to assess the fairness of elections, but their real role is to provide an appearance of electoral fraud whenever Zanu-PF is winning, and to provide an image of fairness whenever the MDC is having its way. Fairness is simply testified on the basis of MDC politicians’ smiling faces.
The opinion of Western politicians is always part of the measure of fairness or lack of it when it comes to elections in Zimbabwe, or anywhere else in Africa. Cases of political violence are exaggerated against the opponents of the Western-sponsored party, or ignored when the sponsored party is at fault.
The way the West employs superficialities to support puppet parties in weaker states is quite consistent with staged fraud. Fairness is measured on the basis of fundamental conditions established in advance — conditions that define fairness as only possible when a preferred electoral outcome materialises.
Western observers have a script they always follow and rarely do they ask relevant questions. They ask questions well designed to incriminate the political party they seek to help oust from power, when they are not asking questions meant to glorify the puppet party they want to prop to victory, or to portray it as a victim of the hated party.
Charles Taylor is convicted for aiding and abetting atrocious rebels in Sierra Leon, with many questions asked about his role in arming and morally supporting the monstrous killers. But Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron are hailed for “showing leadership” by aiding and abetting murderous war criminals in Libya, even providing Air Force cover for them to help graze down cities like Sirte.
That is simply the way it is in this unjust world.
When an election is happening in a country where the hated party holds incumbency, as is the case with Zimbabwe, the West is always vocal about issues like freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of the press, freedom to organise, freedom to form political parties, the absence of state terror and the absence of violence.
The Military Council in Egypt does not receive such lectures from the West when it disqualifies presidential candidates on the flimsiest of excuses, like saying “his mother successfully applied for an American passport.”
This is precisely because the Egyptian military is well placed to manufacture a Western preferred civilian government in Egypt, and for that they can violate any human rights laws. What is always down-played is the role of the West in funding and organising puppet parties across Africa, as well as the external propaganda campaign to portray these puppet parties as democratic and civilised, regardless of the fact that blacks are always treated as the same in the eyes of Western elites, when the political scenario is stripped of Western interests.
The agenda of the West is to disguise the purpose of an election in Zimbabwe. It is widely reported that the election is about bringing democracy to the country, and Zimbabweans are placated and misled on the actual intentions of Western powers. The real purpose for an election in Zimbabwe is to topple Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF from power; in as far as the West is concerned.
It is not about the people of Zimbabwe choosing a government of their choice. Robert Mugabe has just become a hated institution threatening Western hegemony.
When an election is happening in a disfavoured state, the West will simply turn their agenda upside down.
Elections are no longer equated with democracy, unlike when Western-favoured governments are carrying them out.
They do not commend the Zimbabwean army for openly supporting a Government in power, but they gloriously commended elements of the Libyan army for defecting and openly supporting the rebels that finally toppled Gaddafi, just like they commended so well elements of the Ivorian Defence Forces that openly defected and supported puppet leader Alassane Quattara when he was fighting to topple Laurent Gbagbo.
Now Gbagbo faces charges similar to those faced by convicted Charles Taylor at The Hague.
It is only when the army is supporting a Western-hated political party that we get reminded of the need for the army to remain neutral in matters political.
If the Zimbabwe Army Generals were to go on television vowing never to recognise a Robert Mugabe-led government, there is no doubt that the action would be applauded in the West as the climax of democracy in Zimbabwe. We would never be reminded that the military should “serve under whichever government wins an election.”
We are only reminded of this virtuous value when the military vows never to salute a leader who questions the values of the liberation struggle, or one who is supported by those against whom the liberation war was fought.
When a US official was asked by the Latin America Studies Association on why the Reagan administration was not applying the criteria used in the 1984 Nicaragua election in regards to the El-Salvador and Guatemala elections held the same year, this is what the official had to say:
“The United States is not obliged to apply the same standard of judgement to a country whose government is avowedly hostile to the US as for a country like El-Salvador, where it is not.
“These people (The Sandinistas) could bring about a situation in Central America which could pose a threat to US security. That allows us to change our yardstick.”
Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!!
* Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in SYDNEY in Australia.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), CONSTITUTION, PROPAGANDA
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Mugabe’s 32nd Independence speech watershed moment
By Psychology MaziwisaPolitics Last updated on: May 8, 2012
IT MIGHT be too early to make any conclusions, but it looks quite likely that historians will look back at President Robert Mugabe’s hour-long speech on Independence Day two weeks ago and conclude that it changed our politics forever.
Already, that dazzling speech has set in motion a political earthquake that could shack Morgan Tsvangirai off the political stage for eternity, for it is now President Mugabe who is seen as the agent of change. He has replaced the Prime Minister in that role by correctly reading the national mood of growing disgust and mistrust for the political process.
Very few people expected him to speak so passionately about human rights and the importance of guarding against their erosion. Indeed, until the afternoon of April 18th, it was easy to find fault with the way President Mugabe had responded to some of Zimbabwe’s most serious concerns.
Well-founded allegations of violence and coercion during elections had constantly been brought to his attention and, despite the fact that these deeply shamed Zimbabwe as a nation and caused great damage to his reputation as a leader, action was thin on the ground.
Then, on April 18, 2012, he called for political tolerance in a way that stunned his enemies and supporters alike, drastically transforming the political landscape in Zimbabwe. Eloquent and confident, he spoke with the brilliance of a rising star.
The importance of his message lay not so much in the significance of the occasion as in the sincerity of his tone. Voters crave authenticity and they got it in abundance on April 18th.
In fact, a senior MDC-T official told me soon after the president’s Independence Day speech that after listening to Mugabe he was convinced, for the first time, that Morgan Tsvangirai might never become President of this country and that the inclusive government was about as far as he had gone.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Between now and the next election, Zanu PF will be subjected to a rigorous and microscopic examination. By and large, Mugabe’s party has made some fine accomplishments not the least of which is the on-going indigenisation and economic empowerment drive.
Yet some very troubling questions remain for Zanu PF. A few months ago, many in Zanu PF, including this writer, condemned the worrying levels of corruption, sleaze and greed currently being displayed by officials from Morgan Tsvangirai’s party. Of course we were right in pointing this out. But there was something very hypocritical about our criticism. We spoke of corruption in the MDC-T as if Zanu PF itself was sanctimonious.
And it is here that President Mugabe’s call for change will be tested. At the attainment of independence, many in his government were acclaimed for their strong belief in public service. They were well aware of the difference between public office and private life. They put nation ahead of self, duty ahead of greed. In short, they did not join government so they could make money. Yet in the recent past, we have seen public funds being used for private purposes and, with it, the deterioration of public life. The recent diversion of farm inputs meant for the less privileged graphically tells the story. Nor is that all. Time and again, money has changed hands and tenders have been awarded without due process. National wealth has been used to benefit only a few selfish individuals.
And as those who belong to this league of shame have lived lavishly, the entire nation has suffered. Little wonder this country is without electricity (an essential service) jobs, safe water and decent roads.
Of course there are few men and women of definite integrity in Zanu PF whose names remain uncontaminated and it would be a little unfair to put them in the same blanket as the disgraceful ones. But there is no doubting the fact that something has gone horribly wrong with our political system. A troubling culture of illegality has developed and it is now incumbent on President Mugabe to reverse it.
Regrettably, there is very little time remaining between now and the next election for the president to put things right. Yet a lot could still be achieved. Here is what needs to be done if Zanu PF is to regain public trust.
President Mugabe needs to show some steel and turn his back on all of those ministers whose names have been implicated, one way or another, in any form of corrupt activity- and there are no fewer than twenty such names. Not only have these wretched souls done terrible damage to the party, they have destroyed this once great nation in an almost unforgivable way. It’s time the country was grabbed from the reprehensible and handed over to the responsible.
Admittedly, it might be a bit tricky for President Mugabe to ditch some of his loyalists at this stage but that’s a risk he will have to take for the sake of this nation. He needs to demonstrate that he is as genuine as he appeared at the National Sports Stadium a few weeks ago. Should he fail, he will soon be treated with contempt again and that would be desperately sad.
If he succeeds, the price for him will be great and this year will be seen as the year that gave decency to his legacy and renovated Zimbabwe’s political culture.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), MDC
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Mugabe warns over party clashes
04/05/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has made a direct intervention in a bid to mend divisions in his Zanu PF party sparked by district elections. Mugabe warned that elections for district party committees, which had spilled into violence in Masvingo and Manicaland, were “destroying the party”.
Speaking at the Heroes’ Acre, where national hero Edson Ncube was buried on Friday, Mugabe also warned that candidate imposition and disputes over alleged vote-buying could wreck the party’s electoral chances.
“We don’t want people who say don’t vote for so and so... you are destroying the party, do your work, let the people judge you if they don’t like you or if they like you.”
Mugabe said political power contests in Zanu PF were increasingly being influenced by money over policy and principle.
“The leadership is transforming and is becoming too materialistic. That is going to destroy the party. Let us be like Cde Edison Ncube who never questioned the positions he was given,” he told mourners.
At Shumba Primary School in Nyajena, Masvingo, police reportedly fired warning shots in the air last weekend after running battles which saw classroom windows being smashed.
The clashes followed similar disturbances at a country club in Nyanga where fist fights broke out over disputed district elections. Manicaland party chairman Mike Madiro faced protests over accusations of vote-rigging and imposition of candidates.
The clashes are said to mirror an internecine national power contest between Vice President Joice Mujuru and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa who are strategically trying to win control of the grassroots party in a battle to succeed Mugabe.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), ROBERT MUGABE, ZANU-PF
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COMMENT - If the MDC is so in favour of democracy, why do they want to postpone elections all the time?
Tsvangirai: Elections in March 2013
22/04/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he is
pushing for national elections to be held in March 2013, setting the stage for what could be a bitter showdown with President Robert Mugabe.
The MDC-T leader told a local weekly newspaper that although the process of writing a new constitution is still under way, elections will be possible less than a year from now.
"It's just not possible to hold elections this year, there is no constitution and no referendum has been held," he said.
"Elections will be held at the outer limit; that is in March 2013 when the current term of the lawmakers would have constitutionally expired."
However, President Robert Mugabe called for "violence-free" elections before the year is out.
Although Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party passed a resolution in December calling for elections to be held in 2012, Tsvangirai stressed the country is not ready yet.
He however, said the constitution is coming along, telling the newspaper, "There is still a lot of work to be done and we need to flatten the political space that at present is dominated by Zanu PF."
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Mugabe vows to call elections by May
Poll push ... VP Nkomo, Defence Minister Mnangagwa and President Robert Mugabe (file photo)
31/03/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe issued his ruling coalition partners an ultimatum on Friday: conclude the new constitution by May or Zimbabwe holds elections under the Lancaster House constitution. Mugabe told a meeting of his Zanu PF party’s central committee that elections would certainly be held this year to end what he called a “government of negatives”.
“Let’s conclude the new constitution, whether we agree or disagree. The dance we have had for the past four years is over. Let us have an election and end this animal called inclusive government,” Mugabe said.
Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC-T’s co-chair of a parliamentary committee leading the process to draw up a new constitution, said earlier this week that he envisaged a referendum in September.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Industry Minister Welshman Ncube, leaders of the MDC factions in the ruling coalition formed after disputed elections in 2008, are demanding a raft of media, security and electoral reforms before a new vote.
But Zanu PF is increasingly concerned that its candidate Mugabe, 88 this year, will not handle the rigours of campaigning if elections are delayed even by as little as a year.
On Thursday, Mugabe warned some within his party who were opposing his election push to “go and join the MDC”.
He thundered: “They [MDC factions] are delaying the constitution arguing on small matters, but we are saying no, no, no. They are out of step. We must conclude this process. If they haven’t finished in time, we will do it our way.
“If they reject the constitution, we will go back to the Lancaster House Constitution, which gave us our independence. That is what we are going to tell the facilitator [South African President Jacob Zuma].
“Their days are numbered and one should expect that by May we have a referendum. It is this referendum that should give us the way forward.”
Mugabe fired advance warning to Zuma in anticipation of opposition to his renewed election push.
“We are a sovereign State and we cannot be led by the government of South Africa,” he vowed.
So determined is Mugabe to push through with elections that he has offered to complete the draft constitution over a roundtable with Tsvangirai and Ncube.
“We want to move on unhindered by little thoughts and in some cases sheer ignorance. This government is a government of negatives. It’s a government of people who do not want to do things for the people,” said Mugabe, who chided Finance Minister Tendai Biti for failing to deposit US$200 million with a fund to revive industries in Bulawayo.
“Bring the document [uncompleted draft constitution] we will complete it ourselves. We have done it before,” he said.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), ROBERT MUGABE
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Time to park COPAC and go to elections
By Jonathan MoyoPolitics Last updated on: March 25, 2012
IF THE idea that every dog has its day is indeed true, then the day has come for Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) to be parked. COPAC’s final moment of reckoning beckons, with its discredited constitution drafters who are now better known as drifters, preparing to re-write the already discredited draft constitution from Tuesday.
It is very worrying that the “vision thing” is so lacking from the COPAC architecture that the political principals in the GPA must now seriously consider un-parking the contentious issues that have retarded the drafting exercise by parking COPAC itself to pave the way for general elections that must be held this year without fail under the current Constitution.
It is a truism rooted in biblical times that where there’s no vision, the people perish. COPAC has characteristically lacked a demonstrable, visible and shared national vision with a redeeming capacity to rally Zimbabweans across the political divide around a common cause with inter-generational value.
Instead, COPAC has thus far proven to be a pathetic visionless and opaque regime-change and succession-seeking process driven by unaccountable so-called co-chairs totally co-ordinated by the UNDP and supervised by a self-indulgent management committee whose combined numbers have in turn proven to be clueless, frivolous, mischievous, devious, delinquent, defensive and deceptive all rolled into one in the misplaced name of making a new democratic constitution for Zimbabwe under the cover of a GPA that has since expired.
If COPAC was based – as it should be – on a requisite national vision to inspire the crafting of a Constitution intended to sink deeper the roots of our hard-won independence in order to widen the gains of our liberation struggle for the benefit of all Zimbabweans across generations beyond regime change and succession politics, then we would be free from the incapacitating political pranks and mischief of the moment which have put our country in harm’s way.
More specifically, if COPAC was a genuine and national constitution-making commitment that most Zimbabweans have expected it to be, its gladiators would have by now realised and accepted that the GPA is not an appropriate framework or forum for crafting an all-inclusive constitution for all Zimbabweans and all times.
For this reason, the same gladiators would have also by now unequivocally delinked the COPAC process from the holding of the next elections because they would have understood that it is neither desirable nor necessary for Zimbabwe to hold its forthcoming general election under the proposed COPAC constitution as a product of the very contentious, narrowly based and frankly divisive GPA process.
The understanding of the foregoing is reinforced by a critical examination of the following six considerations taken together: First, it is irresponsible for COPAC gladiators to ignore the fact that – even if the GPA process is put aside – elections are now practically and legally due in Zimbabwe under the current Constitution whose electoral provisions are as democratic as they come.
This is because on Friday, March 30, the countdown to Zimbabwe’s second harmonised presidential, parliamentary and local government elections will start in earnest. President Robert Mugabe can be expected to fix the date of those elections any day from that date as Zimbabwe’s Seventh Parliament enters its last 12 months.
All elected members of the current Parliament and elected members of local authorities were declared duly elected between March 29 and 30, 2008, and that legal declaration will be four years old on Friday with the result that their tenure is subject to end legally anytime between next Friday and March 30, 2013.
Experience and wisdom dictate that a prolonged election campaign period which stretches for 12 months can be politically disruptive and economically costly as it invariably invites public anxiety and unpredictability for the business community.
If we were to do things with a clear vision, the implication of this reality for COPAC is not to rush the Constitution-making exercise but to delink it from the next elections which can – as they indeed must – be free, fair and non-violent under the current Constitution.
Rather than recognising this point, COPAC gladiators have sought to use their process to be part of the next elections including influencing if not determining the date of the holding of those elections. A constitution-making exercise which gets entangled with the politics of an impending election becomes necessarily corrupt and therefore utterly useless and thus objectionable in the extreme.
Second, it is as amazing as it is disconcerting that COPAC’s lack of an enabling national vision because of its fatal preoccupation with political issues of the day has caused it to ignore the clear and present constitutional challenge that the electorate in 16 House of Assembly and 12 Senatorial constituencies across the country are not represented in Parliament. The number of electoral vacancies in local authorities is even more staggering.
Surely this is unconstitutional and the time has come for voters in the affected constituencies to approach the Supreme Court for immediate redress without fear or favour.
The point to keep in mind is that the holding of these by-elections today would in fact constitute a mini-general election and maybe that explains the anomaly. But there’s absolutely no legal or constitutional reason why by-elections must not now be held in these 28 Parliamentary constituencies. There is no political reason either given the expiry on September 15, 2009, of the provisions of Article XXI of the GPA which placed a moratorium to the effect that the signatories to the GPA would not contest each other in any by-election for a period of 12 months from the date of the signing of the GPA.
The self-serving claim from some electoral cowards in the GPA that the 12-month moratorium was extended for another 12 months is of no effect because that alleged extension expired on September 15, 2010. In any event, Article XXI of the GPA did not prohibit the holding of by-elections but simply prohibited the GPA signatories from contesting against each in any by-election for 12 months from September 15, 2008.
Is it COPAC’s view that these 28 Parliamentary vacancies should be filled under its proposed draft constitution? Indeed is it the view of anybody else out there including in SADC that 28 Parliamentary constituencies must remain unrepresented until COPAC comes up with a new Constitution even when that is clearly not only a deviation from the GPA but also and more seriously a violation of Zimbabwe’s Constitution? Why are people failing to keep their heads above dirty waters of the day in order to see the very clear and straightforward issues of the day in Zimbabwe?
Anyhow, if these long overdue by-elections were to be held today, as they really must, the result could be equivalent to a mini-general election. That could see one of the GPA parties in Parliament emerging with a majority of at least 106 seats out of 210 with the consequence of sinking the GPA and its so-called unity government, not to mention kissing COPAC goodbye.
Could the fear of this very real possibility be the reason behind the unconstitutional silence of conspiracy about the stunning number of the long overdue Parliamentary by-elections? There’s no need to beat about the bush here. The national leadership faces a very urgent and important question: whether to hold the outstanding Parliamentary by-elections whose effect would be that of a mini-general election and would thus bring the GPA to an end, or to hold the full general election whose effect would also be the same.
What this means is that however one looks at the issue of general elections in Zimbabwe, the fact is that they are now constitutionally due either in the form of at least 28 Parliamentary by-elections that would be as good as a mini-general election or in the form of a full general election.
Parenthetically, those who – like Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti – keep making perfunctory noise that there can be no general election without self-serving so-called reforms first; or that President Mugabe cannot call for a general election without the agreement of the Prime Minister; or that there’s no money for elections; or that COPAC must first complete its draft which should then be put to a referendum and a Parliamentary vote for adoption so that elections can be held under a new constitution; or that SADC must first give its nod to the holding of the general election in Zimbabwe, should all please take note and appreciate that if they had a requisite national vision beyond cheap politics they would understand the simple fact that none of their nonsense about preconditions for elections in Zimbabwe would apply to the holding of the 28 Parliamentary by-elections whose effect could be a game changer in a fundamental way.
Third, the time has come for our nation to understand that 80 percent of the views gathered during COPAC’s outreach programme did not say or show that Zimbabweans want a new constitution.
In fact, an objective and neutral analysis and reading of the outcome of COPAC’s outreach exercise clearly and unambiguously shows that Zimbabweans, whose Constitution has been democratically amended 19 times since 1980, are by and large happy with the current Constitution. This is mainly because more than 80 percent of the views they expressed most definitely and without any doubt whatsoever confirm the fundamental provisions of the current Constitution as amended 19 times. This is why the position that we should go ahead with the holding of the long overdue harmonised general election is more than justified and thus unassailable.
As such, the notion or proposition that Zimbabwe must have a new constitution which should be used to run the next harmonised presidential, parliamentary and local government elections is very strange, foreign-driven and, in fact, quite weird as it has no basis in the GPA or the Constitution or the outcome of COPAC’s outreach programme.
While Article VI of the GPA does indeed provide for constitution-making and proscribes a timeline for that process, it does not guarantee the success of the process not least because such success is dependent on the agreement of the three GPA signatories to support COPAC’s draft constitution and for that draft to be endorsed by a referendum and supported by a two thirds majority vote in Parliament, none of which can be prejudged or guaranteed by anybody.
If COPAC was run by honest Zimbabweans of integrity guided by a requisite national vision with no foreign influence from South Africa and through the UNDP from the Western countries that have illegally imposed sanctions against our country, they would not pretend to be drafting a new constitution based on the views of the people when they know only too well that the people did not say that they want a new constitution.
But alas COPAC is one heck of a daylight sham and that is sad but the good thing is that its days are now numbered and if its gladiators and supporters do not understand this then they will not understand anything.
Fourth, if the truth were to be told guided by an indigenous vision without fear or favour about the state of our country today and its prospects down the line; it would be that the contentious issues that we need to sort out are political and not constitutional.
There’s nothing in our current Constitution which engenders or protects political intolerance or political violence. Our major challenges have to do with political intolerance and political violence which have become two sides of the same terrible coin spinning around some of our politics.
As President Mugabe has said on too many occasions to mention, we have tended to abuse politics to the unacceptable extent of seeing each other as enemies where we are just political opponents who are otherwise compatriots with a common belonging just like Dynamos and Highlanders in football.
Yes, even sell-outs – and there are there among us – are compatriots whom we need to persuade and not fight not least because violence is never persuasive as it begets more violence followed by contempt.
The point though is that the intolerance and violence in question are political problems and not constitutional issues to sort out. Yet here we are – with COPAC on the loose – doing between little and nothing to tackle political intolerance and political violence while doing all sorts of silly things pretending that we need a new constitution when there’s no demonstrable basis to support that pretension. It’s a pity that COPAC gladiators and their supporters do not get this such that they might have to end up learning the hard way.
Fifth, it should be pointed out in the strongest possible terms that a major fact that explains why COPAC gladiators do not get it is because the entire COPAC constitution-making process is driven by a combination of strange bedfellows who are preoccupied with either regime change within the MDC formations and succession politics within Zanu PF ranks and some SADC circles.
If people have something to say about regime change and Zanu PF succession let them come out in the open through the political process where they will find their opponents. Politics is politics and nobody has a monopoly there. But nobody should think or imagine that they are smartest in town or that they are so cool that they get away with using the constitution-making process to effect regime change or achieve their succession ambitions. The constitution-making doors are shut for that and they will never be opened.
Sixth, while the now expired GPA has admittedly been very useful beyond what has been acknowledged in creating conditions for political tolerance and against unwanted, unneeded and unrepeatable political violence in our country especially during elections, and while the GPA was indeed a necessary instrument for the setting up of the coalition government following the inconclusive Parliamentary elections of March 29, 2008, it must nevertheless be said, and as loud as possible, that the GPA is just not the right instrument or framework for making a new constitution for all Zimbabweans and for all times.
Everybody has seen how since its signing on September 15, 2008, the GPA partners themselves have remained a bickering and quarrelsome lot to the point of not only having a dysfunctional Cabinet but also having endless and very contentious negotiations oddly being undertaken by the very same negotiators who negotiated the GPA and who are also Cabinet Ministers.
As a result the GPA has since 2008 remained a political forum for endless negotiations that has distinguished itself more for doing nothing through the so-called Inclusive Government than for doing anything.
Why does anybody anywhere think that such a hopeless three-party forum is necessary and sufficient to function as an instrument for making a democratic constitution for all Zimbabweans for all times?
The fact of the matter is that the GPA forum upon which the COPAC process is based is not only rife with internal divisions that explain the endless negotiations and dysfunctional Government but it is also absolutely inappropriate for making a national constitution whose vision must necessarily be beyond the assured limitations and even stupidity of the GPA parties.
As a political creature of the GPA, COPAC carries all the dirt and problems of its creator. Things would have been different if COPAC was a creature of the law and if it had a competent, transparent, accountable, believable and thus credible leadership prepared to stand up for Zimbabwe without appearing to be selling out at every crucial turn under the cover of the GPA.
A constitution is a national and not three-party matter. If Zimbabwe needs a new constitution — and that is not as obvious as it should be, given the outcome of COPAC’s outreach programme — then the instrument and process for making that new constitution should not be run or determined only by three political parties or by the parties that make up the government of the day as a creature of their agreement such as the GPA but should be truly national as a creature of the law.
In other words constitution-making should be legally and not politically driven. Examples in countries such as Kenya, Uganda and South Africa speak to this fundamental point.
The confusion between the political process and constitution-making in Zimbabwe today is compounded if not made even more poignant by the fact that, notwithstanding the predictable denials when their draft speaks for itself, COPAC gladiators and their supporters are clearly using the COPAC constitution-making process to effect regime change in Zimbabwe and pursue succession politics in Zanu-PF.
COPAC is therefore fatally flawed and this is why it is failing to produce a draft constitution based on the views of the people and has instead resorted to a negotiated process as if the same three parties that are negotiating did not negotiate before using the same negotiators that are now COPAC’s Management Committee.
Those negotiators previously agreed and signed a draft constitution called the Kariba Draft which was not implemented even though they are the same parties that are now in government and are once again negotiating under COPAC the same Kariba constitution that they signed in January 2008.
This is basically a circus gone too far and the time has come to park it in the same way COPAC has itself parked a number of constitutional issues despite the fact that the people of Zimbabwe pronounced themselves very clearly on those issues during COPAC’s outreach programme.
If COPAC can park the people’s views, as it has indeed done during the drafting exercise that has drifted away, then surely the people can also park COPAC and get on with their business, starting with the holding of either the 28 Parliamentary by-elections as a mini-general election or the holding of the harmonised presidential, parliamentary and local government elections under the current Constitution which remains the only viable alternative.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), COPAC, JONATHAN MOYO
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SA must lead on Zimbabwe: Cameron
22/03/2012 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has said “it is critical” that South Africa and the rest of the region take the lead in ensuring that Zimbabwe implements political reforms before new elections can be held. Cameron was speaking during a meeting with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the House of Commons in London this week.
“Both (leaders) agreed that the international community should insist on constitutional reforms before the elections so that they are free and fair and that whilst the UK was fully supportive, it was critical for South Africa and other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries to take the lead,” the UK premier said in a statement.
“The Prime Minister re-stated how passionate he was about wanting Zimbabwe to succeed and commended the MDC on progress made on the economy.”
Tsvangirai, who was in the UK to attend an investment conference, had earlier urged the international community help ensure that elections likely to be held this year are free and fair.
"My call to the world is, 'You must insist on the necessary reforms to create a conducive environment for free and fair elections and a lasting solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe,'" The MDC-T leader said in an interview.
“We need the international community to ensure that the will of the people is respected."
Tsvangirai believes he can win the next election but fears that security chiefs -- who are seen as pillars of support for President Robert Mugabe -- would not allow him to take over power.
"The latest polls reinforce the long-held view that the people want change, that people have invested in the MDC because it provides hope for the future, and President Mugabe is still engrossed in the past," he said.
"You can't have an 88-year-old provide vision for the future."
Tsvangirai claims military leaders have privately told him they would accept no other leader, and wants political reforms implemented in full to ensure that the election outcome cannot be subverted.
However, Mugabe has threatened to call new elections without the reforms, frustrated by delays in completing work on a new constitution.
He accuses his rivals of undermining ongoing constitutional reforms to delay elections, fearing certain defeat.
Meanwhile Tsvangirai’s office also said the MDC-T leader also met Vince Cable, the UK secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills “to discuss the business environment in Zimbabwe (as well as explain) the vast opportunities that lie in the country.”
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), NEOLIBERALISM, SOUTH AFRICA, UK
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SA can’t dictate to us: Gumbo
06/03/2012 00:00:00
by AP
ZANU PF said Tuesday that elections can be held this year even if political reforms requested by meditators aren’t ready in time. Party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said a new constitution can be ready within weeks to satisfy mediators. But he says Mugabe can still call elections without it.
South Africa’s foreign minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told that country’s parliament Monday that
constitutional and democratic reforms required under Zimbabwe’s three-year power-sharing deal must be finalized before a new poll can be held.
She said South African President Jacob Zuma, chief regional mediator on Zimbabwe, expects the power-sharing pact to be “fully in place” with a new constitution approved by a referendum before new elections.
Gumbo told The Associated Press it is possible to put a new constitution to a referendum this year, followed by elections soon after.
“That has always been our position but if the constitution isn’t complete this year we will go for elections without it,” he said.
He said an all-party parliamentary panel in charge of rewriting the constitution has promised a first draft will be submitted to Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, this month.
It then has to go through several more technical and legal stages, including a conference of politicians and voters, before a referendum.
The parliamentary panel has slated the referendum for August or September at the earliest.
Mugabe has said he wants early presidential and parliamentary elections to end the troubled three-year coalition government brokered by regional leaders after disputed and violence-marred elections in 2008.
Mugabe has called the coalition dysfunctional but Tsvangirai’s party blames Mugabe for stalling on media and electoral reforms. It also accuses him retaining control of loyalist police and military commanders and wants Zuma to take a firmer stand to resolve these and several other outstanding disputes in the coalition
In nationwide broadcasts marking his 88th birthday on February 21, Mugabe vowed to defy regional leaders over elections and said he is not afraid of angering them and facing possible regional isolation.
Mugabe has described the often-delayed constitution rewriting as “flawed and manipulated” by his opponents and has threatened to withdraw from the coalition “if others continue to play dirty tricks that we can’t put up with any more. Then we return to the existing constitution,” which was adopted after independence in 1980.
Rights groups have warned of an imminent upsurge of violence against Mugabe’s opponents when there are calls for elections.
Mugabe has also threatened to disregard Zuma’s mediation efforts.
On Tuesday, Gumbo said South Africa as a nation did not have the mandate to tell Mugabe what decisions to take.
“South Africa can’t dictate to Zimbabwe what to do,” he said. “All we have is a mediator who is a South African. South Africa has nothing to do with Zimbabwe.”
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), CONSTITUTION, MAITE NKOANA-MASHABANE, RUGARE GUMBO
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Tsvangirai vows to block Mugabe election push
24/02/2012 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai vowed Friday to block a push by President Robert Mugabe to hold new elections this year insisting political reforms must be completed to ensure the poll outcome is not disputed. "Only after the necessary reforms have been implemented with the president and I agree on the date of elections," Tsvangirai told a press conference in Harare.
“I agree with the President that we have cowards who are afraid of a poll. Cowards refuse to implement reforms that will result in a free election.
“Cowards beat up people to coerce them into supporting them.
“Cowards are afraid of facing me in an election. Their best bet is to field a tired candidate because they believe he is the only one who can stand against Morgan Tsvangirai.
The MDC-T leader’s remarks came after Mugabe insisted in interviews marking his 88th birthday this week that he would call new elections this year.
Mugabe claims the coalition administration is no longer workable and has expressed frustration with delays in the writing of a new constitution, one of the key reforms parties to the coalition deal agreed must be completed before new elections can be held.
But Tsvangirai accused Zanu PF cabinet ministers of stalling the reforms but said he would not be pushed out of the shaky power-sharing government.
"I want to assure everyone, yes we have had to bear with frustrations but thank goodness we are made of sterner stuff. No one is going to push us out," he said.
Tsvangirai also accused Mugabe of breaching the country’s constitution by unilaterally reappointing police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri.
The Zanu PF leader recently defied his coalition partners and extended Chihuri’s contract arguing that as commander in chief of the security services he did not need to consult anyone.
"I don't know why the appointment of security chiefs was being discussed. How were they appointed in the first place? They continue to be appointed by those who appointed them in the first place,” Mugabe said in an interview with state media.
"This is an important issue to do with national security. It is an issue that rests with the President only. The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.”
However, Tsvangirai said Friday his party would not recognise Chihuri’s reappointment.
“The Police Service Commission which according to the Police Act, must be consulted in the process of the appointment of the Commissioner General has not been re-constituted,” he said.
“The President’s re-appointment of Augustine Chihuri is therefore contrary to the unambiguous dictates of the Constitution.
“I have made it clear to the President that he is in breach of the Constitution and that I and the party I lead will not recognise Chihuri’s appointment as legitimate.
“He is a party appointee. This is nothing personal, but it has everything to do with abiding by the laws of the land.
“Let me put it this way. We have a President who indicates left and turns right.”
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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COMMENT - Oh no, the dictator and tyrant is threatening to hold elections that should have been held last year but were objected to by the 'democratic opposition'.
Mugabe threatens to reject Zuma
19/02/2012 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
PRESIDENT Robert has stepped-up his campaign to force fresh elections this year by warning Zimbabwe could reject SADC-appointed mediator and South African president Jacob Zuma.
Mugabe wants new polls held this year but faces stiff opposition from long-term rival and coalition partner, Morgan Tsvangirai who is demanding that reforms agreed under the terms of their power-sharing pact must be implemented first.
And President Zuma and his facilitation team have riled Mugabe and his Zanu PF party by appearing to side with Tsvangirai and insisting political reforms must be completed to ensure the poll outcome is not disputed.
But speaking in a series of interviews with state media ahead of his 88th birthday Tuesday, Mugabe – who is frustrated by delays in completing work on a new constitution -- said Zimbabwe may be forced to reject Zuma as mediator.
“Zuma tinokwanisa kumuramba masikati machena (we can reject Zuma very easily). Takatomuudza izvozvo tikati aiwa (we have since warned him that) we are not forced to, but we don't want to do that, tinoda kunzwanana,” Mugabe was quoted as saying in an interview with Radio Zimbabwe expected to be broadcast Monday night.
He said rejection of Zuma would not affect Zimbabwe’s relations with South Africa emphasizing that the ANC leader was mediating on behalf of the regional SADC grouping and not his country.
"Facilitators that we are given are leaders selected on the basis of their standing to assist a country that has differences so that the country can find a common ground and resolve its differences," Mugabe said.
"Facilitators do not carry the name of their home country to the countries they would be facilitating."
The Zanu PF leader said there was precedent for such change of mediators in the region, recalling that ex-Botswana President Sir Ketumile Masire was rejected by Lesotho after the government there accused him of bias towards the opposition.
Mugabe has previously expressed exasperation with Zuma’s efforts to broker a deal leading to new elections between the country’s warring coalition partners.
The Zimbabwean leader reacted angrily last April when a report by Zuma resulted in Zanu PF getting an unusually strong rebuke from regional leaders at a SADC meeting in Zambia.
Mugabe returned home to tell a Zanu PF meeting that he would not take instructions from Zuma on how to run the country.
"We will not brook any dictation from any source. We are a sovereign country. Even our neighbours cannot dictate to us. We will resist that,” the Zanu PF leader charged then.
"The facilitator is the facilitator and must facilitate dialogue."
"He cannot prescribe anything. We prescribe what we should do in accordance with our laws and our agreement."
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), JACOB ZUMA, SADC
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COMMENT - Notice how they are trying to spin it that President Mugabe wants 'expedited' elections this year because he is turning 88. The truth is that elections should have been held last year. It is ironic that the 'dictator' wants to hold elections, but the 'democrat' want to postpone them. Did the ANC want to postpone elections for reasons they wouldn't name in public, and call them 'toxic issues' or 'outstanding issue'? The Zimbabwean people are beginning to see through the MDC's lies, which means they are likely to lose the elections, and lose badly. That is why they want to postpone elections, they want to enjoy the fruits of power just a little while longer.
2012 elections ‘definite’: Mugabe
19/02/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter I AP
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe says he will “definitely” call elections this year to end a fragile three-year coalition with the former opposition and describes as cowards politicians who say polls cannot be held until well into 2013.
In an interview to mark his 88th birthday in the state media Sunday, Mugabe dismissed objections to early polls.
“That (objections) is what cowards say. Elections can happen at any time. ... Definitely yes this year," he said.
Mugabe turns 88 Tuesday. Speaking to the loyalist Sunday Mail newspaper, he said money will be found to pay for presidential and parliament elections.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party says polling cannot go ahead until constitutional reforms are complete, and rights groups have warned of an imminent upsurge of election violence.
Mugabe also vowed to block the new constitution if it contains a controversial clause regarding age and term limits for Presidents which his Zanu PF party claims is targeted at its candidate.
A draft of the constitution publised recently proposes a limited presidential term of 10 years and prohibiting candidates older than 70 years of age.
Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/02/18/1832337/zimbabwes-president-says-2012.html#storylink=cpy
Mugabe said his rivals were pushing the clause because they had failed to defeat him in elections.
"We wanted to get the views of the people. Whether President Mugabe should stand (for the next election) or gays should wed is something else,” he said.
“If the President stands, what prevents the constitution from going forward? It is the thinking of the MDC. They are afraid. They are just cowards. Vanotya kudyiwa nekuti VaMugabe vanovatya (They are afraid of being defeated by President Mugabe."
"The issue is that what is not the views of the people and not in the present constitution or has not been discussed, we will reject.”
The country is writing a new constitution as part of reforms expected to culminate in fresh elections.
The process has however been undermined by the lack of funding as well disputes between the political parties.
Zanu PF surrogates recently demanded the sacking of the drafters claiming they were ignoring public views gathered during a nationwide outreach exercise.
Meanwhile, Mugabe also acknowledged that there were "negative forces" along with factions who had wanted to see him defeated in the disputed 2008 elections.
He also ruled out grooming a successor.
"There is no one who can stand and win at the moment," he said, adding to that to groom a successor "will cause much more division in the party."
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), ROBERT MUGABE
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Mugabe seeks AU support for 2012 poll
Posted by By Our reporter at 30 January, at 02 : 32 AM
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and the Zanu-PF party say the inclusive Government is dysfunctional and
accuse the Movement for Democratic Change factions of scuttling constitutional reforms, demanding elections be held in 2012.
A report by Voice of America claims that President Mugabe will make a pitch to fellow African Union leaders gathered for next week’s summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to support his push for elections in 2012.
African leaders met Sunday and will meet today (Monday) to discuss various continental issues.
This is the first time African Union leaders have met since the death of the bloc’s founder Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, with intense lobbying for its top jobs overshadowing the start of the talks.
In a statement, Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo urged the African Union to “demand the holding of elections in Zimbabwe this year as well as the unconditional removal of economic sanctions by Western countries.”
Gumbo accused the two MDC formations in government of delaying completion of the new constitution to avoid new elections. He told VOA that elections cannot be put off beyond 2012. He said Zanu-PF is confident AU leaders will endorse this stance.
But Douglas Mwonzora, spokesman for Tsvangirai’s MDC faction, said Gumbo is mistaken in claiming the MDC is sabotaging elections.
Meanwhile, heads of state and government from across the African continent on Saturday witnessed the inauguration of the new headquarters of the African Union, a gleaming conference and office complex that towers over central Addis Ababa.
The building consists of a circular conference hall, alongside which is a 27 storey tower for the organisation’s offices. The tower is 100 metres high, which makes it the tallest building in Addis Ababa.
The building cost 200 million US dollars, and is a donation from the Chinese government.
The gift was announced by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Beijing Summit on China-Africa cooperation in 2006. China describes it as the largest single Chinese aid project to Africa since the construction of the Tan-Zam Railway, built between 1970 and 1975 in order to give landlocked Zambia a route to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, thus freeing it from dependence on trade routes that went through countries then ruled by white minority regimes (Ian Smith’s Rhodesia, apartheid South Africa, and Mozambique, then still under Portuguese minority rule).
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), AU, ROBERT MUGABE, RUGARE GUMBO
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COMMENT - Unlike what the reader seems to believe, Zimbabwe doesn't need to ask anyone's permission to hold elections. He already has 'AU support', in that they wills send election observers - whose thumbs up will be drowned out in gory headlines about alleged violence, which will serve the purpose of the United States and the UK stating how they won't recognize the outcome, when Morgan Tsvangirai doesn't win. They want the diamonds, and nothing else will do - certainly not the will of the Zimbabwean people.
Mugabe seeks AU poll backing
29/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is expected to use the African Union summit under way in Ethiopia to secure the backing of continental leaders in his push for new elections in the country this year. Mugabe is already in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa for the key summit which started on Friday.
Zimbabwe is not on the agenda of the meeting and South African officials confirmed that President Jacob Zuma – the regional SADC grouping’s point-man on the country – would not present a report on the situation in the country. Still, Mugabe is expected to press AU leaders to endorse his push for new elections in the country.
The Zanu PF leader wants to end his partnership with long-term rival and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, insisting the arrangement -- facilitated by SADC after inconclusive election in 2008 -- was no longer workable.
In a statement issued ahead of the summit, party spokesman, Rugabe Gumbo said the AU should “demand the holding of elections in Zimbabwe this year as well as the unconditional removal of economic sanctions by Western countries.”
Zanu PF would have been buoyed by indications that some regional leaders would back fresh polls, with Zambia’s Michael Sata publicly stating he would not block the move.
"You people, the Western countries, you taught us that democracy is elections. Now somebody wants elections and you say no," Sata said in a recent interview with the UK-based Telegraph newspaper.
However, Tsvangirai insists a new constitution and a raft of other political reforms must be completed first before new elections can be held.
"We have a deadline; March 2013 is the end of this parliament so we have to go to an election. We have to go to an election between now and March 2013,” Tsvangirai said last week.
He added that conditions must be put in place first to ensure the election outcome is not disputed.
"You can't have an election under conditions in which there is no credibility. We can't talk of elections when we have not even adopted the constitution, we have not even gone to the referendum," he said.
"We have to make sure that things are implemented for the conditions for elections to be free and fair."
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), AGRICULTURAL MARKETING AUTHORITY, JACOB ZUMA, ROBERT MUGABE
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Zambia backs Mugabe election push
26/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
ZAMBIAN President Michael Sata has said he would not block President Robert Mugabe’s push for new elections and dismissed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a “stooge” of the West.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF party want new elections to end the coalition government insisting the compromise, negotiated by the regional SADC grouping after inconclusive elections in 2008, was no longer workable.
But MDC-T leader Tsvangirai, with the backing of SADC mediator and South African President Jacob Zuma, want work on a new constitution completed first along with a raft of other political reforms.
But Sata, who last September defeated incumbent Rupiah Banda and took over power in a peaceful transition, said the reforms demanded by the MDC-T leader were unnecessary, adding he would not block Mugabe’s call for new elections.
"You people, the Western countries, you taught us that democracy is elections. Now somebody wants elections and you say no," Sata said in an interview with the UK-based Telegraph newspaper.
"There will be elections and Mugabe will go and someone else will take over, but not someone imposed by the Western countries."
Sata also dismissed Tsvangirai – who is generally well regarded by the West -- as a stooge.
"We don't know the policies of Morgan – he has other people speaking for him rather than speaking for himself," he said.
Mugabe’s critics had hoped Sata would use his strong mandate to increase pressure on Zimbabwe but the Zambian leader said his country would do better to solve its own issues before meddling in those of others.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), MDC, MICHAEL SATA, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, PF
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COMMENT - Well right on. :)
Zambia backs Mugabe election push
26/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
ZAMBIAN President Michael Sata has said he would not block President Robert Mugabe’s push for new elections and
dismissed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a “stooge” of the West.Mugabe and his Zanu PF party want new elections to end the coalition government insisting the compromise, negotiated by the regional SADC grouping after inconclusive elections in 2008, was no longer workable.
But MDC-T leader Tsvangirai, with the backing of SADC mediator and South African President Jacob Zuma, want work on a new constitution completed first along with a raft of other political reforms.
But Sata, who last September defeated incumbent Rupiah Banda and took over power in a peaceful transition, said the reforms demanded by the MDC-T leader were unnecessary, adding he would not block Mugabe’s call for new elections.
"You people, the Western countries, you taught us that democracy is elections. Now somebody wants elections and you say no," Sata said in an interview with the UK-based Telegraph newspaper.
"There will be elections and Mugabe will go and someone else will take over, but not someone imposed by the Western countries."
Sata also dismissed Tsvangirai – who is generally well regarded by the West -- as a stooge.
"We don't know the policies of Morgan – he has other people speaking for him rather than speaking for himself," he said.
Mugabe’s critics had hoped Sata would use his strong mandate to increase pressure on Zimbabwe but the Zambian leader said his country would do better to solve its own issues before meddling in those of others.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), MICHAEL SATA, ROBERT MUGABE
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Zanu PF or MDC: A hard but simple choice
By Psychology MaziwisaPolitics Last updated on: January 19, 2012
ZANU PF’S reputation had become severely adulterated by 1999, especially in the face of ever mounting evidence that its officials were selfishly feeding upon public funds and national resources and were now neglecting the very country and people they were supposed to care about.
And so when the MDC surfaced, promising to change that state of affairs, many were readily seduced. In theory, the promise looked appealing, almost genuine. But that was before compelling evidence started to emerge of the MDC’s true intentions.
Even at the very beginning, the party had tellingly incorporated within its top ranks white officials of questionable backgrounds who had accumulated obscene wealth out of farming on some of Zimbabwe’s most productive land.
These whites, of whom Roy Bennett and Eddie Cross are the most notable, were prepared to do anything to circumvent any pro-people policy that had the potential to divest them of their privileges. And so they supported, campaigned on behalf of and even funded the MDC.
Thirteen long years since its formation, and despite clear proof that millions of Zimbabweans have now seen through the façade, the MDC’s general character has not altered one bit.
Instead, they have maintained their treacherous disposition, even reinforced it. For a party that claims to champion the aspirations of the common man, it bodes ill.
Time after time, the MDC-T has been blamed for the economic sanctions that have weighed down Zimbabwe’s economy and led to the country’s isolation internationally. Curiously, it has not denied the allegations.
When this admission of guilt is viewed in conjunction with the British government’s confession that it would accept guidance on the subject of sanctions only from the MDC-T, there is no doubt as to whose interests the MDC-T was created to promote.
Meanwhile, Tendai Biti, a terrible appeaser of the west who has made a name for himself internationally by starving his own people, has been widely rumoured to be America’s point man in Harare.
He has been influential in determining who goes off the sanctions list and who stays, which companies to target and which ones to forgive – a task that is now the subject of a heated exchange between himself and the US government ostensibly because the latter did not consult with him when it included Mbada Diamonds and Marange Resources on its latest sanctions list.
If it smells like treachery, looks like treachery and sounds like treachery then it is bloody treacherous.
Let’s put it this way: Zanu PF may have had its fair share of blame as far as Zimbabwe’s economic challenges are concerned, but by a very long distance, the real culprit has been the MDC-T.
Whereas the former has consistently embarked on pro-poor policies (like the land reform exercise which benefited hundreds of thousands of families and now the indigenisation drive whose capable driver, Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, has given even the pessimists reason to hope), the MDC-T seems to think the only way out of our economic mess is if we remain in positions of perpetual subservience.
Quite evidently, Morgan Tsvangirai and his pseudo-liberal apologists in the MDC-T establishment don’t get it: Zimbabwe is an independent nation and that freedom includes the right to guard jealously against the unfair exploitation of the country’s natural resources.
To be a guest on Studio 7’s Live Talk about a week ago was to debate MDC-T’s so-called jobs plan with Douglas Mwonzora (an otherwise great man who, like many in the MDC-T enterprise, finds himself playing the devil’s advocate not really because he believes in what his party stands for but apparently out of sheer financial necessity).
Mwonzora fluently stated his party position and argued that the MDC of Morgan Tsvangirai wanted foreign investors virtually to take charge of Zimbabwe’s economy. That way, reasoned Mwonzora, unemployment would be done away with and our economy would be considerably enhanced. Nonsense!
There was massive direct foreign investment coming into the country in the 1980s and 1990s yet that didn’t do much to improve our infrastructure or the general welfare of our people. In their heart of hearts those in the MDC-T know this is the truth.
Contrastingly, the land reform exercise has helped scores of our people become self-reliant and economically stable even as the traditionally powerful nations struggle financially. The astronomical rise in tobacco production in recent years tells the story and the benefits of that to the country’s revenue cannot be overstated.
With more experience and more support from government (which support has lately not been forthcoming because Biti’s wickedness knows no limits) it is hoped that agriculture will once again contribute substantially to the country’s GDP in the not too distant future.
In the meantime, the benefits of the indigenisation drive have been quite palpable. Scores of hitherto impoverished communities have been empowered in a way that is unprecedented not just in Zimbabwe or Africa but anywhere in the world. It is no small thing and it is ample evidence of Zanu PF’s determination to address the socio-economic disparities of the past once and for all.
Of course Eric Bloch, an apologist for evil and one of Tsvangirai’s foremost supporters, sees absolutely no reason why locals should own a majority stake in the management of their resources. It is part of the exploitative mentality that lies at the very heart of MDC’s existence and it is a mindset that should be viewed with contempt not least because it does nothing to improve our economic situation.
In circumstances where there is, on the one hand, a party that appears genuine in seeking to liberate the country from decades of economic bondage but whose record in government has been anything but liberating and, on the other hand, a party whose purported message of democracy is appealing in principle but whose officials have incessantly demonstrated that they just cannot be trusted, it is fair to say Zimbabweans face quite a tough choice at the next election.
At present, it’s better to go for the tried and tested, and to remember that wolves often come in sheep’s clothing. Treachery, selfishness and sycophancy are the hallmarks of the MDC-T and it would be naïve to assume that they are sincere just because Zanu PF has made some serious mistakes.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), LAND REFORM, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, NEOLIBERALISM
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Election Watch 2012: The MDC-T Perspective
Thursday, 19 January 2012 08:48
The last time this writer engaged Senator Obert Gutu on his routine publications on political commentary was when he wrote about the indigenisation policy and what he thought of its chief presiding executive, Minister Saviour Kasukuwere.
Then Senator Gutu profusely expressed his allured admiration for Direct Foreign Investment as the panacea to economic growth for Zimbabwe, arguing that FDI would “inevitably” grow the economy to a point where local entrepreneurs would also “inevitably” pop up from our midst. It was an argument akin to telling a man to wait for roast chicken to fly into the mouth. That wait can only be forever.
The piece was an effort by Gutu to spin Morgan Tsvangirai’s Marondera shallow attack on the indigenisation policy, pretty much as uncalculated as Fidelis Mhashu’s infamous promise to return Zimbabwean commercial farmland to dispossessed white farmers.
Recently, Obert Gutu commented with a lot of disapprobation on the pending 2012 Election. This was on Tichaona Sibanda’s pirate radio program “Election Watch 2012”.
Givingan exposition of his intentions and goals, Tichaona Sibanda gave a revealing preamble of the interview transcript to would be readers.
The pliant journalist said Gutu “fears that as long as ZANU-PF remains with its tenacious hold on instruments of state power like the police, the CIO, the army, and also the national radio and television stations, it might not be possible to have free and fair elections.”
This is the kind of preamble you do when you want to imbue the reader towards a desired perception, to manipulate the reader’s mind so that they read your script from your viewpoint and not their own. Lance Guma is a master of this art and this is why he would phrase a question like this: “Betty Makoni, here is a question for you from the Australian based ZANU PF supporter and Mugabe apologist Reason Wafawarova. He asks……”
Tichaona Sibanda and Lance Guma both work for a media unit that requires them to facilitate a Mugabe-targeted regime change agenda, and as such they have to be impressive in carrying out this mission.
The interview began with Sibanda asking about electoral reforms that have or have not taken place during the lifespan of the current inclusive government.
Gutu authoritatively stated that “the problem we have in this country is that there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation, most of the time it is actually deliberate misinformation.”
This could have been an honourable response if only the allegations were not limited to blaming ZANU-PF and Zimbabwe’s public media, exonerating and even applauding guiltier parties like the very pirate radio station to which Gutu was giving an interview.
We are dealing with private media units that once went absolutely crazy about baseless and defamatory allegations of infidelity targeted at personalities like the Reserve Bank Governor at one time, but now they are dead silent on factual substance about the philandering ways of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai; who has evidently bedded not less than half a dozen women since the death of his wife just over three years ago, jilting and ditching some of them in the process. Of course these media units will deliberately misinform the Zimbabwean public that “we do not cover petty personal affairs in people’s private lives,” unless of course when these alleged private affairs involve people associated with ZANU PF.
It would be absolutely appropriate and correct for a Zimbabwean paper to run a screaming headline “Our Prime Minister is a Fornicator!” one morning, only because that is the fact. But for media units like The Daily News and SW Radio the sin has been committed by the wrong person.
Senator Gutu went on: “We are still a very long way from having what one might want to call a level playing field for the purposes of holding an election that will pass the test of legitimacy.”
Surely we cannot be anywhere near such a level playing field for as long as political parties engage in acts of political violence at intra and inter party levels. And there is absolutely no way such a level playing field can ever be achieved for as long as political parties like the MDC-T continue to be funded and directed by foreign powers like the United States and Britain.
There is no way we can ever achieve a level playing field for as long as some Zimbabwean political players are isolated from some international platforms through illegal travel bans and murderous illegal economic sanctions unilaterally imposed by the West.
Senator Gutu raised issues to do with unfinished business regarding the Electoral Amendment Bill, the Human Rights Commission Bill, and the debate over polling station-based voting system versus multi-station voting system where one can vote anywhere within a ward or a constituency. In a true democracy this debate must administrative and not political.
Both the MDC-T and ZANU PF are simply after pursuing illicit political interests on this matter.This is why Gutu and his party would also want to retrospectively apply the Human Rights Commission Bill to 18 April 1980, but not as far back as 1890, when the descendants of the MDC-T’s current funders carried out heinous crimes against our people.
According to Senator Gutu, only the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission can come up with an “accurate, credible voters’ role.” It is ironic that the Senator in the same breath says the Commission is infested with pro-ZANU-PF intelligence and security agents.
Gutu might find it expedient to describe Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll as “shambolic,” which it is; but it must be noted that this description only pops up when the MDC-T is trying to run away from the prospect of an imminent election, and it is absolutely silent when the same party wants to misinform us that Morgan Tsvangirai “won the election hands down” in March 2008. It appears the “shambolic” voters’ register is of no consequence when it gives Obert Gutu or anyone else from the MDC-T electoral victory, suddenly becoming an issue whenever the same party disagrees with anything else related to elections.
Gutu describes the contentious issue of civic society carrying out “voter education” as a “deal breaker” for his MDC-T. He mentioned in particular Zim-Rights, ZESN, Zim-Lawyers for Human Rights and NANGO, organisations he described as “the democratic train,” and he correctly pointed out that “ZANU-PF distrusts these civic organisations”.
Does the MDC-T trust these organisations for human rights interests or for political interests? Does ZANU PF distrust these organisations for human rights interests or for political interests? Do these organisations pursue a human rights cause in their relationship with the MDC-T or they pursue a political relationship? Are the strained relations between these organisations and ZANU PF of a human rights or political nature? These are the unanswered questions that Senator Gutu chose to overlook in his preoccupation of vilifying his political opponents from ZANU-PF.
He rhapsodised further: “The whole issue is about ZANU PF being scared of losing power.” But why would ZANU PF be comfortable of losing power to people they view as traitors for their undisputed sponsorship from Western powers? Losing power to a British-sponsored political party is indeed a scary thought and ZANU PF are better off doing something about it if at all they are the revolutionary party they say they are – entrustedwith safeguarding the gains of post-colonial independence.
This writer is not sure if the Senator was serious when he said: “So you will notice that they are keen in having all other non-governmental players not being given an opportunity to carry out voter registration.” Who on this planet gives that role to non-governmental strangers?
And what is this “voter education” that the civic organisations want to “teach” people about? Making a political choice and expressing it through an X on a piece of paper is not a process that should “take a lot of funding” for a relatively highly literate community like Zimbabwe, especially after having carried out nine general elections since 1980 to date. It may just be a question of the voters being educated in a way the civic organisations do not like, and we must determine if that is of any importance to the people of Zimbabwe.
In a clear case of contrived meanings Tichaona Sibanda juxtaposed Morgan Tsvangirai’s victoryless lead in the March 2008 first-round presidential race with the victory of Michael Sata in Zambia, going on to ask Gutu if Zambia taught us a lesson or two about “transfer of power”.
Whichever way one looks at it, Morgan Tsvangirai never won any election. He only led in votes without winning anything out of it, simply because the lead was not good enough to warrant a win. This is what Gutu calls winning “hands down”.
So there was never a need to transfer any power after the March2008 harmonised election, and as such there was no “failure” to transfer such power.
It is like the unfounded lie that the MDC-T is “the largest party in Zimbabwe” when the party garnered only 43% of the majority vote to ZANU PF’s 47% in the 2008 March elections.
Senator Gutu made politically motivated predictions of violence to push home his point of opposing elections in 2012. It was a simple case of “there will be violence if ever we allow elections to take place,” without much objective analyses to the prediction.
The claim that there is “total blackout on TV” and on “all activities” to do with the MDC-T is frivolous and as pretentious as the vainglorious title “Doctor” to the name Tsvangirai. Gutu used this title at least five times in the interview. We can only pretend that Tsvangirai is a Doctor of anything, and that is the best we can do for the man. The less said on this the better.
Gutu accused The Herald of “lampooning our leader” and portraying him as “someone who can’t be trusted.”
Despite the fact that this writer has read substantial positive coverage of Tsvangirai in The Herald, it is surely not the media’s fault that the man “can’t be trusted.” This is a legacy solely created by Tsvangirai himself. He is the man who called for ruinous sanctions on his own country, the man who habitually flip flops on policy, who arbitrarily boycotts political processes, a man who notoriously opposed the land reforms in 2000, a man who recently expressed unexpected support for gay rights in Zimbabwe, and he is the man who portrayed himself as a philanderer who is not only promiscuous, but who also jilts and ditches women after stinging them.
Gutu ended by saying “ZANU PF and violence are synonymous”. Maybe this is why Welshman Ncube chronicles a sad narration of Morgan Tsvangirai-led intra-party violence that used to happen when Ncube was still Tsvangirai’s Secretary General.
It may also explain why the late Tonderai Ndira and his thug colleagues just fell short of callously murdering Trudy Stevenson in Tafara in 2005. And ZANU PF’s “violence DNA” probably explains why the MDC-T Bulawayo provincial elections were so bloody just a year ago.
Was this writer not chased by two MDC-T marked vehicles in a hot-pursuit road chase in 2003 for simply driving an NYS marked vehicle along the Bulawayo-Gwanda Road? And if truth be told, was Senator Gutu himself not recently threatened with violence by youths from the MDC-T’s Harare Province for his alleged demeaning of Morgan Tsvangirai through Wiki-Leaks?
Do we pile all this primitive culture of political violence on ZANU PF just because ZANU PF has its own undisputable share of the culture which the West selectively chooses to see and often exaggerates? How would we ever heal?
Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!
· Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in SYDNEY, Australia.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), FDI, INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), NEOLIBERALISM, OBERT GUTU, REASON WAFAWAROVA
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MDC-T sleepwalking into electoral T-saster
By Jonathan MoyoPolitics Last updated on: January 9, 2012
20 Comments and 2 ReactionsComment on this article
WHEREAS all along the “T” suffix in MDC-T was thought or understood to mean or represent “Tsvangirai”, it now turns out that in some pretty influential quarters it means “Theresa” (Makone). In other equally influential quarters the “T” in MDC-T stands for “Tembo” (Locadia) while some elements within the party’s religious wing say it actually stands for “TB” (Joshua) who has been abusing God’s good name to promise Tsvangirai bad political lies.
If there’s one thing which can be said with absolute certainty about 2012, whose political diary begins today with schools opening this week under the unfortunate dark cloud of a threatened civil service strike whose timing is cynically opportunistic, it is that Zimbabwe will, as a matter of fact, hold harmonised presidential, parliamentary and local government elections this year.
This is a pragmatic promise and not a threat or a wish. This promise is a fact. If you ask anyone who is in the know or is in a position to know, they will confirm this fact, but if you ask someone who does not know or is in a position not to know or does not want to know, then they will give you a wish. But as everyone knows, while wishes are okay, they are nevertheless not facts.
The basis of the promise or fact of elections this year is not just the balance of preponderant forces on the ground in the national interest but also Zanu-PF’s compelling 60 resolutions of the party’s 2011 national people’s conference held in Bulawayo last month. Anyone who doubts this combined and grounded reality is either an ignoramus or a malcontent or confusionist or all three rolled into one. Otherwise, make no mistake about it, 2012 is the year of our general election, come rain or shine.
As such those among us who are given to the ritual of making new year resolutions and who are already breaking or forgetting about their 2012 pledges made only eight days ago should understand that the political reality on the ground and the 60 momentous, unforgettable and unbreakable 2012 resolutions made by Zanu-PF last month are not forgettable or breakable New Year wishes but serious facts which will undoubtedly define national politics this year and whose implementation starts in earnest today with the end of the festive season and the commencement of serious national business.
Out of the 60 Zanu-PF resolutions for 2012 covering six thematic areas, there are 13 which stand out in paradigmatic ways that call for national attention in order to highlight their important implications which are certain to be topical throughout the year.
The six thematic areas include:
(i) the state and performance of the Party;
(ii) the state and performance of the national economy;
(iii) regional and geopolitical developments;
(iv) state and performance of social services;
(v) state and performance of the media, science and technology; and
(vi) religion, culture and the liberation war heritage.
The gravitas and seriousness of the Zanu-PF 2012 resolutions is already evidenced by the panicky, confused and confusing reactions to these resolutions by the MDC formations and their media mouthpieces along with their donors who have been running very scared over the last month claiming that, while the inclusive Government is indeed dysfunctional with virtually all key ministries failing to perform because of the politics of the day, there should be no elections before reforms.
But their argument is inherently silly and untenable as it is equivalent to arguing that we should first build hospitals before treating any sick patient!
There’s no doubt that hospitals are useful as part of a long-term programme of improving the architecture of healthcare, but they are useless where and when they are used as a precondition for treating critically ill patients.
By the same token, reforms are very useful as part of political, constitutional and institutional development, but they are useless and irrelevant when they become preconditions for elections in an independent and sovereign country with a dysfunctional government.
The treatment of a dysfunctional government in a constitutional democracy such as ours is an election and not reforms. Any political party interested in reforms in such a situation must include its proposed reforms in its election manifesto and seek votes on the basis of its proposals without dragging other parties in its reform agenda.
Where the confused and confusing reactions to Zanu-PF’s resolutions have not claimed that there should be no elections without reforms, they have asserted that there should be no elections before the conclusion of the Copac constitution-making process, including the holding of a referendum on a Copac draft constitution.
But the constitution-making process has become a dead and already stinking donkey given that the MDC formations and their founders and funders are now using the drafting process to subvert the views of the people gathered during the Copac outreach process. Since the exercise is necessarily an interparty process, it is not possible and, in fact, there is no chance in heaven for Zanu-PF to go along with and support a drafting of a new constitution which is not guided by the views of the people.
It is also unthinkable that anyone in Sadc would use such an exercise, which is an affront to the views of the people, as a precondition for the holding of elections in Zimbabwe.
The die is therefore now cast. Elections will be held in Zimbabwe this year in accordance with the Constitution, but without any reference to the Copac process, because that process has become irrelevant and useless after being hijacked by the drafters and those behind them who want to smuggle alien provisions that are detrimental to the views of the people as gathered during the Copac outreach process at great financial cost, time and human effort.
Some of the positions which some Copac leaders have taken in defence of their nonsense have been crude and shocking such as the threat to take The Herald to court to stop it from either using the Copac logo or to publish Copac’s reports.
If this is not nonsense then nothing is. Copac is not an entity on its own but merely a parliamentary select committee and is therefore bound by the standing orders and rules of Parliament. For a parliamentary committee to threaten going to court presumably to enforce its own standing orders and rules against the media is a joke which is not funny and even a political lawyer like Copac’s Douglas Mwonzora from the MDC-T should know better.
Meanwhile, of particular note is the jittery and discordant reaction of the MDC-T whose politics are now threatened, poisoned and irreversibly weakened by an intensifying battle of the “Ts” inside the embattled party.
Whereas all along the “T” suffix in MDC-T was thought or understood to mean or represent “Tsvangirai”, it now turns out that in some pretty influential quarters it means “Theresa” (Makone). In other equally influential quarters the “T” in MDC-T stands for “Tembo” (Locadia) while some elements within the party’s religious wing say it actually stands for “TB” (Joshua) who has been abusing God’s good name to promise Tsvangirai bad political lies.
There even have been some suggestions, perhaps quite naughty, that the “T” stands for “Tracy” (Mutinhiri). But the compelling view is that, because Tsvangirai is manifestly content-free since he demonstrably does not have a mind of his own to independently exercise self-judgment, the MDC-T is in fact MDC-Theresa and not MDC-Tsvangirai ostensibly because Theresa Makone is behind what Tsvangirai does even though others might be behind what he says in the countless instances in which he typically contradicts himself with no qualms about it.
Whatever the case, the battle of the “Ts” has transformed the disaster in the MDC-T into a monumental tisaster! In a desperate ill-fated effort to cover up the ensuing mess of this tisaster that has effectively put paid to the electoral prospects of the MDC-T as a political party capable of winning a national election to govern Zimbabwe, the embattled party’s disappointed founders and funders have been trying in vain since last month’s Zanu-PF’s national people’s conference to use their thoughtless, mindless, uneducated and very corrupt media mouthpieces to create confusion around Zanu-PF’s 2012 resolutions in the hope of derailing and delaying the holding of elections in a futile bid to steal more time in the hope of averting the tisaster in the MDC-T.
Yet the simple fact that is screaming out loud for everyone and anyone to hear and see is that it does not matter whether the “T” in the MDC-T stands for Tsvangirai, Theresa, Tembo, Tracy or TB Joshua because the days of the “MDC this” and “MDC that” are not only numbered but they are, in fact, over and the MDC phenomenon as we have known and experienced it is kaput, finito and gone.
As already pointed out, among the 60 Zanu-PF resolutions for 2012 covering the six thematic areas outlined above, there are 18 which are as good as unforgettable and unbreakable 2012 national resolutions not just for Zanu-PF as a party but for the country as a whole. Below are the 13 key 2012 resolutions out of 60 to watch out for and the compelling reasons behind them, grouped under the six thematic areas.
The first thematic area of Zanu-PF’s key 2012 resolutions covered the state and performance of the party whose premise is that Zanu-PF “shall forever uphold and entrench the spirit of our heroes as enshrined in the national values for unity, freedom, dignity, peace for all our people and for peace with our neighbours” and this thematic area had the following three key resolutions:
# To declare the President and First Secretary, Cde R. G. Mugabe, as elected at the last Congress to be the Party’s Presidential Candidate in the Harmonised Elections to be held in 2012.
# To denounce and condemn any form of violence as a tool to influence political events and to direct Government to de-register any NGO departing from its mandate and interfering in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe
# That the GPA and its inclusive Government be terminated and allow for Harmonised Elections in 2012 without fail given the fact that the inclusive Government has become dysfunctional.
What is clear from the three resolutions above is that our Party is unequivocal about the fact that elections must be held this year given the widely acknowledged fact that the so-called inclusive Government has become dysfunctional. The time has also come for Zimbabweans to be robust and emphatic that no organisation which receives foreign funding should be involved in any political work in the country whether direct or indirect. This rule is observed around the world by constitutional democracies.
If you review any Zimbabwean media assessment of the performance of the so-called inclusive Government you will find without exception that the agreed position is that we have a government full of incompetent ministers from the Prime Minister all the
way down. This is not to say all the ministers are competent but that most of them are across the political divide. For example, the Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, did not score better than four out of ten marks from MDC media mouthpieces.
The situation is so pathetic that the ICT minister, Nelson Chamisa, was judged to be the best minister by the same loquacious sections of MDC media mouthpieces run by some editors whose corruption and incompetence is yet to be told and yet the same editors reported without any irony that Chamisa is a minister without a ministry allegedly because the content of his ministry was stripped and given to Minister Nicholas Goche.
How then does a minister without a ministry become the minister of the year? If Chamisa is not embarrassed by this then he is doomed.
So what did he do? Is it because he allegedly donated computers to his Cabinet colleagues or is it that the founders and funders of his party donated something we do not know to the media mouthpieces that would have us believe that a do-nothing minister is the best in the land?
Have we become so corrupt that as a country we are made to congratulate without any protest a minister who is doing absolutely nothing as the best among all? What’s going on here?
Is this not lunacy only possible in a terribly dysfunctional government which is surviving on stolen time and which must face an election as a matter of urgency?
And the confirmation of President Robert Mugabe’s candidacy has triggered reactions whose import is clearly that the MDC formations and their founders and funders are understandably afraid of contesting against him.
The tired line, with no proof besides unsubstantiated rumours mostly taken from WikiLeaks whose sensational claims have had no serious takers around the world, is that Mugabe’s age and health make him an unsuitable candidate for the presidency. To be clear, this cannot be an argument for the opposition because, surely, if President Mugabe’s age and health give Tsvangirai an advantage as claimed, then Tsvangirai and his supporters should be happy about that.
While a lot of rubbish has been said about President Mugabe’s health, the fact is that his public performances on numerous occasions have not shown even the slightest hint of a health issue to be concerned about. He actually has out-performed his supposedly younger and healthier opponents as was publicly witnessed at the interparty indaba last November where the best that Morgan Tsvangirai could do was badly read a badly written speech which was totally out of context and meaningless.
In any event it remains a fact that, following very embarrassing disclosures that he is sexually promiscuous and indulges in unprotected sex with multiple partners during which he has impregnated various women, Tsvangirai has exposed himself to HIV and may have exposed others to the same such that he cannot claim to be healthier than anybody else, especially since he has refused to take a credible public HIV test.
When President Mugabe’s detractors are not using his age or alleged poor health against his candidacy, they push inane claims that Zanu-PF leaders, including this writer, have previously criticised the President and called on him to resign.
So what? Isn’t that evidence of democracy in Zanu-PF? What is relevant is not what anybody said yesterday about President Mugabe but what we are saying today and the reasons.
Over the last three years since the formation of the so-called inclusive Government, President Mugabe has demonstrated his strength as an iconic leader and this explains why he is a worthy candidate while Tsvangirai has over the same period proven beyond any doubt that he is hopelessly incapable of doing anything of value or taking responsibility for anything beyond keeping his mouth and zip open with a shut mind.
On the national economy, the crux of Zanu-PF’s resolutions that follow below is that Zimbabweans must be free to exercise their sovereignty over their God-given natural resources and endowments as a matter of national pride without any fear whatsoever. This is why the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme is paradigmatic in Chimurenga terms hence the following two key resolutions on the economy:
# To strongly condemn the continuation of the illegal sanctions by the imperialist powers and to direct the Government to respond with greater breadth and depth including instituting counter-measures such as mounting legal action against all nations that have imposed sanctions against Zimbabwe.
# To instruct Government to work out modalities for the re-introduction of domestic currency alongside the multi-currency system in order to address the current liquidity crisis and to enable our people to carry out their transactions.
It is important to note that Zanu-PF has not called for the re-introduction of the Zimbabwe dollar to replace the current path-breaking multi-currency system introduced by the Party on January 29 2009 but for the working out of modalities for the return of the domestic currency to function alongside the multi-currency system which is here to stay well into the foreseeable future.
One thing that should be clear about this is that, along with the fact that the local currency will not be brought back to replace the multi-currency system; the Zimbabwe dollar will not be reintroduced under any circumstance without prior institutional, policy and leadership changes at the Central Bank to inspire the necessary national confidence through a fresh start and a fresh mandate that we all must now seek across sectors going forward.
On international relations the following two resolutions will define Zimbabwe’s engagement with its international friends in 2012:
# To condemn the abuse of Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter by Nato countries to effect regime changes in developing countries in pursuit of their imperialist agenda to exploit and plunder the natural resources of those countries.
# To condemn the use of homosexuality by EU, USA and the white Commonwealth countries as an instrument of foreign policy and a condition for development assistance.
At the 2011 Commonwealth conference in Australia, it became clear from the pronouncements of the likes of British Prime Minister David Cameron that Western countries are now unashamedly bent on imposing their cultural decadence on developing countries as exemplified by the new tactic of abusing development assistance to spread and entrench a whole range of evil and unnatural acts such as homosexuality. Zanu-PF’s position on this is clear and unapologetic whatever nonsense our detractors say.
On the state of social services, the nation should expect to see action on two fronts captured by the following two resolutions:
# To urge Government to prioritise construction and maintenance of road infrastructure at local authority and national levels.
# To urge Government to revitalise key pillars of the national transportation system with particular reference to recapitalising National Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe and Zupco.
As is clear from the above resolutions, the state of our national transportation system, with the situation at Air Zimbabwe being but a tiny example, is deplorable, unacceptable and very embarrassing and the time for action by accepting responsibility and doing something about it without making excuses has come.
On the state of the media, the following two key resolutions speak for themselves what remains is the implantation of the letter and spirit of these resolutions in 2012 without fear or favour:
# To urge Government to find a regulatory framework that will ensure a balance between, on the one hand, media industry interests, protection of privacy and concerns of the public and individual citizens as well as national security on the other hand.
# To condemn the abuse of the social media as communication tools by agents of regime change and merchants of violence as exemplified by recent experiences in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Libya and the Russian Federation as well as in England during the July 2011 riots and in USA during the Occupy Wall Street protests and to urge the Party to be vigilant against the potential for the social media to be used as a tool for the promotion and propagation of violence and regime change.
And finally on the cultural and religious front, Zanu-PF’s two key resolutions for 2012 are as follows:
# That Government should accord the traditional leadership due respect and recognition and that it should give consideration to granting the traditional leadership appropriate protocol status.
# To condemn homosexuality as an evil practice against Zimbabwean culture, values and religions.
The time to give more and better respect and responsibility to our traditional leadership has come; the time to make a clear cultural, legal and constitutional statement against homosexuality given the MDC-T’s support of this evil and unnatural practice which is now part of the foreign policy of Western imperialist countries that are now in pursuit of a new agenda to recolonise developing countries.
This is a very serious matter which must be dealt with in conclusive terms in 2012, this year of assured elections.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), JONATHAN MOYO, MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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