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'Zanu-PF has gone down the drain & Mugabe will lose' says Mandaza
16 Jul 2013 at 03:58hrs | Views
Some academics believe Zanu-PF has lost its social base and have predicted a heavy defeat for the party in the upcoming harmonised election on July 3, amid claims that President Robert Mugabe lost the 2002 presidential election dismally but survived through rigging.
Speaking at a civic society organisation meeting convened by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition at a local hotel recently, a political analyst, Ibbo Mandaza, said Zanu-PF was resorting to using state security organs as its survival tool.
"I can confirm to you that Zanu-PF has totally lost its control of communities countrywide and will lose this election dismally," said Mandaza.
"President Mugabe's party lost its support long back in year 2000. I had a friend of mine who worked with ZEC as a senior official who confirmed to me that during the presidential election in 2002, Mugabe only polled 18 percent of votes while Tsvangirai amassed the remaining percentage.
"This only shows how Zanu-PF has gone down the drain. I am optimistic that PM Morgan Tsvangirai will pull another land slide victory in this election no matter what situation as Zimbabweans are now aware how Mugabe uses his rigging election machine," said Mandaza.
Mandaza , a former senior public service official with strong contacts in Zanu-PF, urged Zimbabweans to expose the party's rigging instruments to further cripple it.
"If Zimbabweans expose Zanu-PF's rigging patterns this will help completely blow this party off as it has caused a lot of problems to the masses."
Sabelo Gatsheni, another commentator, said using state security officials and violent campaigns towards elections indicated fear of losing.
"Using soldiers, police and intelligence officers in his campaigns signals that (Mugabe) knows that the masses have turned against him. Use of the country's security men might lead to a sham election. Zanu-PF is no longer relevant to masses but they will surely fight until the end using uniformed forces as their tool," he added.
Also present was Brian Raftopoulos who said Zimbabwean opposition parties have fought and won elections but were denied the opportunity to rule the country.
"Zanu-PF has always denied hard fought victories to opposition parties which simply indicates that they are no longer wanted by masses of Zimbabwe. It's unfortunate that SADC and AU have also failed people of Zimbabwe by allowing Zanu-PF to remain in government even if they have been losing elections."
He went on to urge SADC and AU to protect the vote of Zimbabweans. "Zimbabweans have always voted against Mugabe and his party despite the fact that elections were not conducted in a free and fair environment. Regional and continental bodies must guard against Zanu-PF's rigging tendencies," he added.
Speaking at a civic society organisation meeting convened by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition at a local hotel recently, a political analyst, Ibbo Mandaza, said Zanu-PF was resorting to using state security organs as its survival tool.
"I can confirm to you that Zanu-PF has totally lost its control of communities countrywide and will lose this election dismally," said Mandaza.
"President Mugabe's party lost its support long back in year 2000. I had a friend of mine who worked with ZEC as a senior official who confirmed to me that during the presidential election in 2002, Mugabe only polled 18 percent of votes while Tsvangirai amassed the remaining percentage.
"This only shows how Zanu-PF has gone down the drain. I am optimistic that PM Morgan Tsvangirai will pull another land slide victory in this election no matter what situation as Zimbabweans are now aware how Mugabe uses his rigging election machine," said Mandaza.
Mandaza , a former senior public service official with strong contacts in Zanu-PF, urged Zimbabweans to expose the party's rigging instruments to further cripple it.
Sabelo Gatsheni, another commentator, said using state security officials and violent campaigns towards elections indicated fear of losing.
"Using soldiers, police and intelligence officers in his campaigns signals that (Mugabe) knows that the masses have turned against him. Use of the country's security men might lead to a sham election. Zanu-PF is no longer relevant to masses but they will surely fight until the end using uniformed forces as their tool," he added.
Also present was Brian Raftopoulos who said Zimbabwean opposition parties have fought and won elections but were denied the opportunity to rule the country.
"Zanu-PF has always denied hard fought victories to opposition parties which simply indicates that they are no longer wanted by masses of Zimbabwe. It's unfortunate that SADC and AU have also failed people of Zimbabwe by allowing Zanu-PF to remain in government even if they have been losing elections."
He went on to urge SADC and AU to protect the vote of Zimbabweans. "Zimbabweans have always voted against Mugabe and his party despite the fact that elections were not conducted in a free and fair environment. Regional and continental bodies must guard against Zanu-PF's rigging tendencies," he added.
Source - zimbabwean
