Opinion / Blogs
Elections: Zanu PF has no candidate
06 Jun 2011 at 04:04hrs | Views
NOW that it has become clear even to the doubting Thomases that the next harmonised elections in Zimbabwe will only be held in 2013 when they are constitutionally due, the focus in the public discourse is fast shifting to analysis of the candidates for the elections than the self-indulgent demand to rush to the polls without necessary reforms and adequate preparations.
The debate about an early election which Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai naively started and President Robert Mugabe ran away with has proven to be unhelpful as the majority of Zimbabweans –– except for a few individual political players collaborating with securocrats –– remain resolutely clear that elections should only be held in 2013 when they are constitutionally due.
The compelling and undisputable reason for this argument is that the GPA –– which was a necessary political agreement –– has no timeframe for elections. Therefore the people cannot be rushed to serve individual interests at the expense of the majority of the citizens. Only a few misguided elements are pushing this mad rush for elections.
The level of socio-economic and political decay in the country has reached rock bottom and as such more time, planning, resources and commitment are required to bring Zimbabwe back to the levels before Zanu PF plunder. The damage to the economy was so severe that it would be many years before full recovery is realised.
Recovery can only be achieved if politicians desist from their theatrical demands for elections whose purpose is nothing but to fulfil narrow party-political and individual interests. Everyone knows the situation that we found ourselves in due to Zanu PF's political failures and economic looting cannot be solved overnight. Given the divisive nature of our elections and concomitant political violence, a trademark of Zanu PF since Independence, one cannot doubt that those calling for rushed elections have ulterior motives to use the state security apparatus to coerce citizens to vote against their will. Their agenda is clear and thinly-disguised: they want to steal the elections again and entrench themselves in power.
Those calling for early elections are clearly merchants of chaos who have no national interest and well-being of the nation and people at heart. They are merely working to secure their own political future and thus economic benefits at the expense of the nation. This agenda is being driven by a power-hungry group within Zanu PF which has failed over the years to gain control of that party and wants to use violent elections as a weapon to usurp state power and use the state apparatus to annihilate dissent both in that party and the nation. A close analysis of these individuals will show you that these are the same people, in one form or another, who have been in at forefront of indescribable horror against the people of the country.
It is the same group that is identifiable with the Gukurahundi genocide, the bloody 1985 general election in which people literally walked on top of corpses to vote in Matabeleland. It is indeed the same group that plotted the 1990 violence against the Zimbabwe Unity Movement in which Patrick Kombai was mercilessly shot with an AK 47 by known Zanu PF assailants who were rewarded with an undeserved presidential pardon. It is factually correct again to say that the same group has been in charge of the reign of terror in the bloody 2000 and 2002 elections as well as the attack and killings of innocent Zimbabweans in the run-up to June 2008 presidential election run-off.
Now this group of terror, which lacks political charisma and has been subject to constant defeat and humiliation in Zanu PF, has no formula of getting to power by democratic means and can only rely on the most evil method: political violence and intimidation. What these myopic individuals fail to read is that the world is changing and changing fast. All those involved in human rights violations are being brought to book as a collective and in their personal capacities. Of course, in Zimbabwe unrepentant violators of human rights abuses have been rewarded with high positions and perks but that will soon come to end. It will end in grief for them. They will be held to account.
These are the same intransigent elements who would like to refuse to hand over power to a democratically-elected leader and government. Before every election they make threats to block leaders without liberation struggle credentials from assuming power even if democratically elected.
However, it must be made unequivocally clear to these people that they should perish the wicked thought of thwarting the will of the people by blocking democratically and popularly elected leaders. The world will not sit and watch them rape democracy. Gone are the days that they would slaughter over 20 000 defenceless people like they did in Matabeleland and Midlands with the world watching. The securocrats and their lackeys can only underestimate the new global approach and determination to protect civilians from the wrath of dictators at their own peril.
The danger that the country is facing now is that Zanu PF wants to make their own succession crisis and resultant divisions a national issue. This is purely an internal political issue and they should desist from trying to plunge the country into chaos because of their failure to put their house in order. The truth of the matter is that they have failed completely to manage their succession issue and that is their own business; let them not burden Zimbabweans by their own failure to have a smooth succession plan.
This is what happens when people have wants in authoritarian systems and when leaders cling to power for far too long. Such kind of systems always have a dead end. Once the centre cannot hold, the whole edifice comes crumbling down. Zanu PF is going to end this way. Instead of trying to stampede the nation into early elections, Zanu PF political dinosaurs must be trying to resolve their succession and renew their deadwood leadership.
What further puts Zanu PF in a panic mood is that the other two parties in the coalition government have successfully dealt with the issue of who will be their candidate in the 2013 elections. For the MDC-T it is clear that Tsvangirai will be the candidate and in the MDC Professor Welshman Ncube is the candidate. Zanu PF is in a quandary; effectively it has no presidential candidate and finding one will be very difficult given its simmering factionalism and internal strife.
To imagine that in 2013 Robert Mugabe at 89 can run a successful campaign and have a programme for the future of the country is to stretch the imagination. To imagine that the future of this country can be entrusted to Mugabe at the age of 89 in 2013 is pure madness. Honestly how does a leader aged 89 take the country forward and embody aspirations of the youths who are the majority in this country?
Zimbabweans must not allow Zanu PF power-mongers and securocrats to hurry them to elections just because they want to field Mugabe when he can still manage to campaign and milk him of whatever political capital he still has.
The debate about an early election which Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai naively started and President Robert Mugabe ran away with has proven to be unhelpful as the majority of Zimbabweans –– except for a few individual political players collaborating with securocrats –– remain resolutely clear that elections should only be held in 2013 when they are constitutionally due.
The compelling and undisputable reason for this argument is that the GPA –– which was a necessary political agreement –– has no timeframe for elections. Therefore the people cannot be rushed to serve individual interests at the expense of the majority of the citizens. Only a few misguided elements are pushing this mad rush for elections.
The level of socio-economic and political decay in the country has reached rock bottom and as such more time, planning, resources and commitment are required to bring Zimbabwe back to the levels before Zanu PF plunder. The damage to the economy was so severe that it would be many years before full recovery is realised.
Recovery can only be achieved if politicians desist from their theatrical demands for elections whose purpose is nothing but to fulfil narrow party-political and individual interests. Everyone knows the situation that we found ourselves in due to Zanu PF's political failures and economic looting cannot be solved overnight. Given the divisive nature of our elections and concomitant political violence, a trademark of Zanu PF since Independence, one cannot doubt that those calling for rushed elections have ulterior motives to use the state security apparatus to coerce citizens to vote against their will. Their agenda is clear and thinly-disguised: they want to steal the elections again and entrench themselves in power.
Those calling for early elections are clearly merchants of chaos who have no national interest and well-being of the nation and people at heart. They are merely working to secure their own political future and thus economic benefits at the expense of the nation. This agenda is being driven by a power-hungry group within Zanu PF which has failed over the years to gain control of that party and wants to use violent elections as a weapon to usurp state power and use the state apparatus to annihilate dissent both in that party and the nation. A close analysis of these individuals will show you that these are the same people, in one form or another, who have been in at forefront of indescribable horror against the people of the country.
It is the same group that is identifiable with the Gukurahundi genocide, the bloody 1985 general election in which people literally walked on top of corpses to vote in Matabeleland. It is indeed the same group that plotted the 1990 violence against the Zimbabwe Unity Movement in which Patrick Kombai was mercilessly shot with an AK 47 by known Zanu PF assailants who were rewarded with an undeserved presidential pardon. It is factually correct again to say that the same group has been in charge of the reign of terror in the bloody 2000 and 2002 elections as well as the attack and killings of innocent Zimbabweans in the run-up to June 2008 presidential election run-off.
These are the same intransigent elements who would like to refuse to hand over power to a democratically-elected leader and government. Before every election they make threats to block leaders without liberation struggle credentials from assuming power even if democratically elected.
However, it must be made unequivocally clear to these people that they should perish the wicked thought of thwarting the will of the people by blocking democratically and popularly elected leaders. The world will not sit and watch them rape democracy. Gone are the days that they would slaughter over 20 000 defenceless people like they did in Matabeleland and Midlands with the world watching. The securocrats and their lackeys can only underestimate the new global approach and determination to protect civilians from the wrath of dictators at their own peril.
The danger that the country is facing now is that Zanu PF wants to make their own succession crisis and resultant divisions a national issue. This is purely an internal political issue and they should desist from trying to plunge the country into chaos because of their failure to put their house in order. The truth of the matter is that they have failed completely to manage their succession issue and that is their own business; let them not burden Zimbabweans by their own failure to have a smooth succession plan.
This is what happens when people have wants in authoritarian systems and when leaders cling to power for far too long. Such kind of systems always have a dead end. Once the centre cannot hold, the whole edifice comes crumbling down. Zanu PF is going to end this way. Instead of trying to stampede the nation into early elections, Zanu PF political dinosaurs must be trying to resolve their succession and renew their deadwood leadership.
What further puts Zanu PF in a panic mood is that the other two parties in the coalition government have successfully dealt with the issue of who will be their candidate in the 2013 elections. For the MDC-T it is clear that Tsvangirai will be the candidate and in the MDC Professor Welshman Ncube is the candidate. Zanu PF is in a quandary; effectively it has no presidential candidate and finding one will be very difficult given its simmering factionalism and internal strife.
To imagine that in 2013 Robert Mugabe at 89 can run a successful campaign and have a programme for the future of the country is to stretch the imagination. To imagine that the future of this country can be entrusted to Mugabe at the age of 89 in 2013 is pure madness. Honestly how does a leader aged 89 take the country forward and embody aspirations of the youths who are the majority in this country?
Zimbabweans must not allow Zanu PF power-mongers and securocrats to hurry them to elections just because they want to field Mugabe when he can still manage to campaign and milk him of whatever political capital he still has.
Source - Qhubani Moyo
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