Opinion / Columnist
NERA vows to stop Zanu PF rigging vote 'not now, not ever!' - boastful dog putting out fire with it's puny fart
27 Apr 2017 at 21:47hrs | Views
Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess brought on by nearly four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by this corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe led dictatorship. And, it must be said, we, the people of Zimbabwe, have allowed the tyrant to destroy the country's economy and riding roughshod over our rights, dreams and human dignity. If there is one common thread that Zimbabweans have in common, it is so strong and deeply embedded in our psycho it might as well be in our DNA, it is our defeatist inaptitude.
Although there was all the evidence than Mugabe is an incompetent, corrupt and murderous tyrant by the mid 1980s; the national economy was already in decline because of his failed "scientific socialism" policies of reckless spending. By 1987 the tyrant has murdered over 20 000 innocent Zimbabweans in his single-minded drive to completely destroy PF Zapu, the only other political party of note in the country, to create his de facto one-party (Zanu PF) cum one-man (Robert Mugabe) dictatorship. And yet the people still did nothing to remove this corrupt and murderous tyrant from power because they had convinced themselves that they are totally helpless to do so.
It was not until the late 1990s that a national political consensus finally emerged, demanding democratic change; changes designed to uproot the country's tyrannical dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system and restore individual freedoms and rights.
The people risked life and limp to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends on the ticket they will bring about the democratic changes the country so desperately needed. Hundreds of thousands if not millions were beaten and/or raped and over 500 murdered by Mugabe party and state sponsored thugs in 2008 alone; collective punishment for voting for MDC.
In the last 20 years, MDC have had many opportunities, with the golden opportunity being during the GNU, to deliver on the democratic changes. MDC failed to get even one reform implemented in 5 years of the GNU.
SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the agreement that produced the GNU, tried their best to remind Morgan Tsvangirai to implement the reforms but were ignore. After Zanu PF rigged July 2013 election, the regional leaders castigated Tsvangirai & co. for "enjoying themselves whilst they were in the GNU and forgetting why they were there!" in sheer frustration.
If the first 20 years of our independence was characterised by our defeatist indifference then the years that followed can be characterised by our knack to waste time and treasure on "puny dog's fart" trivia, as the late Chinua Achebe would put it, while ignoring the real big life and death problems destroying the people and the country.
"What kind of power was it if everybody knew that it would never be used? Better to say that it was not there, that it was no more than the power in the anus of the proud dog who tried to put out a furnace with his puny fart." Advised the great African intellectual Chinua Achebe in his book Arrow of God.
Of course, Tsvangirai's "puny dog's fart" has failed to bring about any meaningful in the country. If the people of Zimbabwe were diligent and not in a comatose of the living dead then they would be joining Zimbabwe's musical guru, Thomas Mapfumo, and asking Tsvangirai how much longer is the nation going to wait for the democratic changes?
"Kwapura makore mangani, takamira zvakatuura? Haridzo yenyu, zviroto kani? (How many years have passed, whilst we continue to wait for what you promised? Are your promises day-dreaming?) sang Mapfumo.
Sadly, it is not just Tsvangirai who is given to waste time and treasure in applying puny dog's fart to put out the country's raging political inferno. Stopping Zanu PF rigging the next elections and make sure they are free, fair and credible is the biggest challenge the country is facing right now.
Some people have wasted a lot of time talking about the proposed Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system. These people accept that ZEC itself has failed to deliver free and fair elections because it is corrupt to the core. What these people failed to get into their thick heads is the futility of concentrating on the new BVR kits whilst doing nothing to reform ZEC itself. The system is only as good as the people operating.
Events on the ground are already confirming futility of concentrating on the BVR kit whilst doing nothing to stop the regime's many vote rigging tactics; Zanu PF operative are reportedly telling the rural people the party will know how they voted using the new BVR system.
"While Zimbabwe Yadzoka is doing its part in educating people on BVR, our efforts alone are not enough and need to be complemented. We call upon all civic movements as well as opposition parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) to quickly work on this situation. Failure to do so, Zanu (PF) will steal the 2018 elections through misinforming people," said Dr Victor Chimhutu, leader of the pressure group Zimbabwe Yadzoka/Mayibuye iZimbabwe.
Zanu PF has total control of every aspect of the whole voter registration, the voters roll, knows the names of all who voted in each polling station, votes in each polling station are counted there, etc. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to that how someone voted under these conditions. Our Dr Victor Chimhutu and all his NERA friends' voter education is the self-indulgence of the boastful dog!
"You have stolen elections before but not now, not ever. We challenge ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) and Rita Makarau to urgently implement electoral reforms," NERA Youth Forum chairperson, Tawanda Kalonga said.
All stupid grand standing talk. Zanu PF bigwigs have already made it clear that the party was not going to "reform themselves out of office". So Tawanda is instructing Rita Makarau to implement reforms is total defiance of Zanu PF and Mugabe himself.
So, the rural populous finally sleep ease, the days of being frog marched are over. Zanu PF thugs, wherever they are shaking in the boots because the great Tawanda, chairperson of NERA youth forum has spoken: "You have stolen elections before but not now, not ever"! Yeah right!
Zimbabwe is not going to get out of this political and economic hell-hole by trusting the proverbial puny dog's fart to put out the forest fire. Zimbabweans earn a misery $200 per year according to recent AfrAsia report making us the poorest people in Africa. If people think we have hit rock bottom, things can get even worse; we soon run out of goats to pat school fees, prostitution and crime are going up and threat of street protest and worse are hanging over the nation's head.
We are in this mess because we have always sort the easiest solution to our problem of bad governance; the defeatist indifference and now the puny dog's fart. Meanwhile the Mugabe dictatorship has grown in strength and influence and with each lost opportunity to end the dictatorship the task has become that much more difficult. Getting Zanu PF to accept democratic reforms is today a monumental task, there is no question about that; what matters here is accepting that there is no other way out but to grasp the thorny bush or drown!
Although there was all the evidence than Mugabe is an incompetent, corrupt and murderous tyrant by the mid 1980s; the national economy was already in decline because of his failed "scientific socialism" policies of reckless spending. By 1987 the tyrant has murdered over 20 000 innocent Zimbabweans in his single-minded drive to completely destroy PF Zapu, the only other political party of note in the country, to create his de facto one-party (Zanu PF) cum one-man (Robert Mugabe) dictatorship. And yet the people still did nothing to remove this corrupt and murderous tyrant from power because they had convinced themselves that they are totally helpless to do so.
It was not until the late 1990s that a national political consensus finally emerged, demanding democratic change; changes designed to uproot the country's tyrannical dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system and restore individual freedoms and rights.
The people risked life and limp to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends on the ticket they will bring about the democratic changes the country so desperately needed. Hundreds of thousands if not millions were beaten and/or raped and over 500 murdered by Mugabe party and state sponsored thugs in 2008 alone; collective punishment for voting for MDC.
In the last 20 years, MDC have had many opportunities, with the golden opportunity being during the GNU, to deliver on the democratic changes. MDC failed to get even one reform implemented in 5 years of the GNU.
SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the agreement that produced the GNU, tried their best to remind Morgan Tsvangirai to implement the reforms but were ignore. After Zanu PF rigged July 2013 election, the regional leaders castigated Tsvangirai & co. for "enjoying themselves whilst they were in the GNU and forgetting why they were there!" in sheer frustration.
If the first 20 years of our independence was characterised by our defeatist indifference then the years that followed can be characterised by our knack to waste time and treasure on "puny dog's fart" trivia, as the late Chinua Achebe would put it, while ignoring the real big life and death problems destroying the people and the country.
"What kind of power was it if everybody knew that it would never be used? Better to say that it was not there, that it was no more than the power in the anus of the proud dog who tried to put out a furnace with his puny fart." Advised the great African intellectual Chinua Achebe in his book Arrow of God.
Of course, Tsvangirai's "puny dog's fart" has failed to bring about any meaningful in the country. If the people of Zimbabwe were diligent and not in a comatose of the living dead then they would be joining Zimbabwe's musical guru, Thomas Mapfumo, and asking Tsvangirai how much longer is the nation going to wait for the democratic changes?
"Kwapura makore mangani, takamira zvakatuura? Haridzo yenyu, zviroto kani? (How many years have passed, whilst we continue to wait for what you promised? Are your promises day-dreaming?) sang Mapfumo.
Some people have wasted a lot of time talking about the proposed Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system. These people accept that ZEC itself has failed to deliver free and fair elections because it is corrupt to the core. What these people failed to get into their thick heads is the futility of concentrating on the new BVR kits whilst doing nothing to reform ZEC itself. The system is only as good as the people operating.
Events on the ground are already confirming futility of concentrating on the BVR kit whilst doing nothing to stop the regime's many vote rigging tactics; Zanu PF operative are reportedly telling the rural people the party will know how they voted using the new BVR system.
"While Zimbabwe Yadzoka is doing its part in educating people on BVR, our efforts alone are not enough and need to be complemented. We call upon all civic movements as well as opposition parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) to quickly work on this situation. Failure to do so, Zanu (PF) will steal the 2018 elections through misinforming people," said Dr Victor Chimhutu, leader of the pressure group Zimbabwe Yadzoka/Mayibuye iZimbabwe.
Zanu PF has total control of every aspect of the whole voter registration, the voters roll, knows the names of all who voted in each polling station, votes in each polling station are counted there, etc. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to that how someone voted under these conditions. Our Dr Victor Chimhutu and all his NERA friends' voter education is the self-indulgence of the boastful dog!
"You have stolen elections before but not now, not ever. We challenge ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) and Rita Makarau to urgently implement electoral reforms," NERA Youth Forum chairperson, Tawanda Kalonga said.
All stupid grand standing talk. Zanu PF bigwigs have already made it clear that the party was not going to "reform themselves out of office". So Tawanda is instructing Rita Makarau to implement reforms is total defiance of Zanu PF and Mugabe himself.
So, the rural populous finally sleep ease, the days of being frog marched are over. Zanu PF thugs, wherever they are shaking in the boots because the great Tawanda, chairperson of NERA youth forum has spoken: "You have stolen elections before but not now, not ever"! Yeah right!
Zimbabwe is not going to get out of this political and economic hell-hole by trusting the proverbial puny dog's fart to put out the forest fire. Zimbabweans earn a misery $200 per year according to recent AfrAsia report making us the poorest people in Africa. If people think we have hit rock bottom, things can get even worse; we soon run out of goats to pat school fees, prostitution and crime are going up and threat of street protest and worse are hanging over the nation's head.
We are in this mess because we have always sort the easiest solution to our problem of bad governance; the defeatist indifference and now the puny dog's fart. Meanwhile the Mugabe dictatorship has grown in strength and influence and with each lost opportunity to end the dictatorship the task has become that much more difficult. Getting Zanu PF to accept democratic reforms is today a monumental task, there is no question about that; what matters here is accepting that there is no other way out but to grasp the thorny bush or drown!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
