Opinion / Columnist
Zim PF again fails to justify contesting flawed elections - POWER First factor now rules the roost!
26 Jan 2017 at 06:34hrs | Views
Joice Mujuru and 150 of her follow Zim PF bigwigs were booted out of Zanu PF in 2014, they formed their own party and, after 34 years of absolute power and a life of leisure on Zimbabwe's infamous gravy train for the ruling elite, they are desperate to get back on the train.
Mai Mujuru admitted a few months ago that many of her ex-Zanu PF are sick and dying of stress. As members of the Zanu PF ruling elite they had lived all these years in their bubble well insulated from the economic rigor of the worsen economic situation the rest of us faced. Poverty is stressful, I know it because I am poor and I am stressed! So, I am not surprised Mai Mujuru and company are stressed now that they are poor. What makes their situation a lot harder for them is their economic fortune have dropped very rapidly, they did not have the time to acclimatise!
It is therefore no exaggeration to say Mai Mujuru et al are absolutely desperate to get back on the gravy train and the luxuries and comforts it offers. This is why she has said Zim PF will contest the 2018 no matter what.
"To all our supporters in Zimbabwe and in the Diaspora, friends and other opposition parties, I would like to assure you that we are committed to democratic elections. We will contest the forthcoming elections regardless of the prevailing conditions," she said referring to the catalogue of vote buying, intimidation and threats by Zanu PF in the Bikita West by-elections.
The by-election underline just how flawed the election process has become and how utterly helpless the opposition is in stopping the vote rigging. The pressure on Zim PF to boycott the elections in mounting; it is the obvious course of action here. The party is scrapping the bottom of the barrel is desperate effort to justify why they should contest the elections.
"If you look at that statement, she says the party supports democratic processes. Democratic processes by nature should be nothing short of an electoral environment that is free from intimidation, violence, coercion and where all existing rigging apparatus that Zanu-PF uses at every election is non-existent," explained Gift Nyandoro, Mai Mujuru's spokesman.
"But I want to state categorially that our party's position is very clear: Boycotting is not an option. If that discourse (on a possible boycott) were to crop up at some point before the elections, we will cross the bridge when we come to it. We hope all opposition parties are not going to connive to give the ruling party the satisfaction of a walkover in the general elections."
Common sense, I have learnt, is not as common as the phase implies!
Zim PF took part in the Bikita West by-election and that did not stop Zanu PF blatantly rigged the vote and "walkover" the electorate's rights to free, fair and credible vote in Bikita West. Worse still, by participating in the by-election "regardless of the prevailing conditions" the Zim PF candidate and all the other opposition candidate have granted the election process the modicum of democratic legitimacy. These are historic facts that Zim PF cannot deny!
Zim PF's argument that they are promoting democracy by giving democratic legitimacy to an undemocratic and fraudulent electoral process is nonsense. We have a vote rigging, corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship, we are not going to transform it into a health democracy by pretending that it is a health democracy holding free and fair elections. We must demand the implementation of all democratic reforms design to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections.
Zim PF knows that during national elections Zanu PF will allow the opposition to win some seat, it helps in maintaining the façade of a democratic contest. It is these seats that Zim PF are hoping to win and alleviate their poverty induced stress.
Zanu PF is the biggest winner here, since it gets to win the lion's share of the political seat and thus maintain its strangle hold on absolute power and all the influence and wealth it brings. The opposition politicians who win the few seats will be overjoyed to be on the gravy train. The biggest losers here are the ordinary Zimbabweans whose lives under this corrupt and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship has been hell-on-earth.
Mai Mujuru should spare us all the platitude about being the champion of democracy and putting people first. She is a Zanu PF thug who played her assign role in the vote rigging, intimidation, etc. for 34 years and would still be playing it if she had not been booted out.
Her blind determination to contest next year's elections just to get back on the gravy train regardless of the setback that causes to the nation's struggle for free, fair and credible elections, is what one would expect from a Zanu PF thug in all but name. Zim PF people are putting power first, is what PF stand for – forget their cheap rhetorical gimmick of "people first"!
Mai Mujuru admitted a few months ago that many of her ex-Zanu PF are sick and dying of stress. As members of the Zanu PF ruling elite they had lived all these years in their bubble well insulated from the economic rigor of the worsen economic situation the rest of us faced. Poverty is stressful, I know it because I am poor and I am stressed! So, I am not surprised Mai Mujuru and company are stressed now that they are poor. What makes their situation a lot harder for them is their economic fortune have dropped very rapidly, they did not have the time to acclimatise!
It is therefore no exaggeration to say Mai Mujuru et al are absolutely desperate to get back on the gravy train and the luxuries and comforts it offers. This is why she has said Zim PF will contest the 2018 no matter what.
"To all our supporters in Zimbabwe and in the Diaspora, friends and other opposition parties, I would like to assure you that we are committed to democratic elections. We will contest the forthcoming elections regardless of the prevailing conditions," she said referring to the catalogue of vote buying, intimidation and threats by Zanu PF in the Bikita West by-elections.
The by-election underline just how flawed the election process has become and how utterly helpless the opposition is in stopping the vote rigging. The pressure on Zim PF to boycott the elections in mounting; it is the obvious course of action here. The party is scrapping the bottom of the barrel is desperate effort to justify why they should contest the elections.
"If you look at that statement, she says the party supports democratic processes. Democratic processes by nature should be nothing short of an electoral environment that is free from intimidation, violence, coercion and where all existing rigging apparatus that Zanu-PF uses at every election is non-existent," explained Gift Nyandoro, Mai Mujuru's spokesman.
"But I want to state categorially that our party's position is very clear: Boycotting is not an option. If that discourse (on a possible boycott) were to crop up at some point before the elections, we will cross the bridge when we come to it. We hope all opposition parties are not going to connive to give the ruling party the satisfaction of a walkover in the general elections."
Zim PF took part in the Bikita West by-election and that did not stop Zanu PF blatantly rigged the vote and "walkover" the electorate's rights to free, fair and credible vote in Bikita West. Worse still, by participating in the by-election "regardless of the prevailing conditions" the Zim PF candidate and all the other opposition candidate have granted the election process the modicum of democratic legitimacy. These are historic facts that Zim PF cannot deny!
Zim PF's argument that they are promoting democracy by giving democratic legitimacy to an undemocratic and fraudulent electoral process is nonsense. We have a vote rigging, corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship, we are not going to transform it into a health democracy by pretending that it is a health democracy holding free and fair elections. We must demand the implementation of all democratic reforms design to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections.
Zim PF knows that during national elections Zanu PF will allow the opposition to win some seat, it helps in maintaining the façade of a democratic contest. It is these seats that Zim PF are hoping to win and alleviate their poverty induced stress.
Zanu PF is the biggest winner here, since it gets to win the lion's share of the political seat and thus maintain its strangle hold on absolute power and all the influence and wealth it brings. The opposition politicians who win the few seats will be overjoyed to be on the gravy train. The biggest losers here are the ordinary Zimbabweans whose lives under this corrupt and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship has been hell-on-earth.
Mai Mujuru should spare us all the platitude about being the champion of democracy and putting people first. She is a Zanu PF thug who played her assign role in the vote rigging, intimidation, etc. for 34 years and would still be playing it if she had not been booted out.
Her blind determination to contest next year's elections just to get back on the gravy train regardless of the setback that causes to the nation's struggle for free, fair and credible elections, is what one would expect from a Zanu PF thug in all but name. Zim PF people are putting power first, is what PF stand for – forget their cheap rhetorical gimmick of "people first"!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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