'Reforms are essential ahead of 2018,' warns British - but again MDC ignore warning

Zimbabwe's economic and political mess in NOT intractable per se although after 37 years of the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship it is tempting to think there is no solution. The mess has actually got progressively worse and worse over the years because we, the Zimbabwean people, but even more so our political leaders, have blundered from pillar to post not knowing what to do.

It took the nation a good 20 years to accept Mugabe was a corrupt and murderous tyrant and that we needed democratic changes to dismantle his de facto one party cum one-man dictatorship. Morgan Tsvangirai and his band of followers rose to political eminence riding on the wave of popular demand for democratic change and they even named their party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The people have risked life and limp to elect MDC into power on the promise the party will deliver the democratic changes necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. The party has had many, many opportunities to deliver the changes, with the best chance being during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Sadly, MDC has failed to deliver even one democratic reform. Not one! Why?

There two basic reasons for it: Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have turned out to be breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent, a deadly combination that has rented MDC totally useless. The failure by the ordinary people to see Tsvangirai & co. for the corrupt and incompetent individuals they are, even with the mountain of evidence of their failures and blunders, has allowed MDC to continue to occupy the political stage when they should have booted out a long, long time ago.

Even with all the evidence of how Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections in the past it is amazing that Tsvangirai and the rest in the opposition camp are still fail to see implementing the democratic reforms as the only way to stop Zanu PF's corrupt and tyrannical rule. Whilst Tsvangirai and company grudgingly accepted the need to implement the reforms as a condition for the next elections in 2014, they have since changed their minds. They have since shifted their focus onto forming a coalition and mounting a voter registration campaign as the panacea to ending the Zanu PF reign of terror. All nonsense, of course!

Throughout the years of the GNU SADC leaders and others had tried their best to remind Tsvangirai of the pivotal importance of implementing the reforms as the only guarantee of free and fair elections. MDC leaders would not listen. Implementing the reforms still remains the only way out to ensure free and fair elections in 2018 as the British are saying, not for the first time.

"Ahead of the 2018 elections, it is essential that reforms are made to the Zimbabwean electoral system, including strengthening the independence of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and removal of unconstitutional legislation which restricts democratic activity and human rights." Tobias Ellwood, the under-secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, told the parliament.

"Officials remain in close contact with international partners, including the UN, to co-ordinate support in the run-up to the 2018 elections."

It is utterly pointless to expect Morgan Tsvangirai to be coherent and focused, which he will have to be if we retain him as the leader of the opposition camp to deliver free and fair elections. Tsvangirai is breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent and therefore it is too much to expect him be the coherent and focused leader we need.

Whilst SADC, AU, UN, the British and the rest of the international community is willing to help us make sure the democratic reforms necessary to ensure 2018 elections are free, fair and credible are implemented BEFORE the elections; they will need coherent and focused local partners to work with. The onus is on us, the people of Zimbabwe to reject the current crop of breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians and replace them with the people with some modicum of common sense, at least.

We have had many opportunities in the last 37 years to have a competent, just and democratic government but the lack of good leadership has seen us waste one chance after another. We cannot say we do not deserve this incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe regime complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties. If we are serious about ending the economic and political mess Mugabe landed us into then we must sit up and do something about electing good leaders!