Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe elections 'are bare-knuckle fight' said Daily New - sadly, perpetuated by contesting
04 Jul 2017 at 21:55hrs | Views
Zimbabwe is in a real political and economic mess today because of 37 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption under this tyrannical Mugabe dictatorship. It took the average Zimbabweans 20 years or so for them to finally acknowledge that Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs; not the just, rational and wise liberation heroes and heroines Mugabe and others had portrayed themselves to be.
After the first decade of independence the national economy was already in trouble and the Zanu PF regime had already murdered over 20 000 in the Gukurahundi massacre; proof the regime was incompetent and had a tyrannical streak. The people ignored all these reality for another decade. It was not until the late 1990s that the people finally decided Mugabe and Zanu PF must go.
The people entrusted Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC with the task of end Mugabe's reign of terror. MDC has had many opportunities to end the Mugabe dictatorship in the last 17 years, with the best chance coming during the GNU; but sadly, has wasted them all. MDC leaders had five years to implement the democratic reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented because they are corrupt and incompetent.
After the disaster of electing Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs one would have thought the people would be more careful to elect competent leader with some common sense, at least! It seems some people still have no clue what kind of leaders the nation should be looking for even today.
"(Dr Nkosana) Moyo's resume can easily hypnotise any reader, the way men drool over Candice Swanepoel," reported the Daily News, in one breath.
"At the risk of being seen as too quick to judge, Moyo comes across as a futuristic politician who is saying the right things that any normal citizen would want to hear but at the wrong time," continued the writer in the next breath. "His type of politics will struggle to gain traction in today's Zimbabwe, which favours aggressive opposition politicians that can toyi-toyi in ghettos, and in far-flung rural areas to mobilise the masses.
"Moyo appears to be speaking to the academia, the middle class, and the top class, who constitute a small percentage of the voting population. The real deal, or call it the game changer, is the voter in the rural areas, where over 60 percent of the country's population resides.
"The time for the soft-type politics that thrives on the understanding that elections must be won on the basis of ideas will come at some point, but not before the 2018 polls. If Moyo is to be taken seriously, he must toughen his style, connect with the downtrodden, and join Morgan Tsvangirai and many others in efforts to hammer out a coalition, which presents the only realistic chance of achieving change in governance."
1) If the current political system suits the like of Tsvangirai then why has he failed to deliver even one democratic change in all his 17 years in politics?
2) Well if the solution to Zimbabwe's political crisis is getting simpletons with no clue what the country needs who can speak to the rural population then we could not get a better simpleton than Morgan Tsvangirai. So, again, why has he failed to make any difference after all his years in politics and five of which as Prime Minister?
3) There is no nation on earth that has suffered because it had clever and visionary leaders just as much as no nation on earth has prospered by having village idiots running its affairs. Zimbabwe is in a real political and economic mess if there was ever a time we needed men and women of ideas it is now!
4) It is very patronising to dismiss the rural people as buffoons who will respond to meaningless slogans and incapable of comprehending "ideas". The white colonialists instituted a political system designed to deny the black majority access to information and to deny them a voice. Sadly, Zanu PF has even extended the system to consolidate its own tyrannical rule. The rural povo are ignorant but they are not stupid!
5) Anyone who is anyone will tell you that Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections and, since no even one reform has been implemented since the last election, it goes without saying that Zanu PF will rig next year's elections just as readily. With no reforms Zanu PF will rig the vote and win all this talk of the coalition and the MDC during the GNU, have opposition "presents the only realistic chance of achieving change in governance," is just wishful thinking.
SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai & co. in June 2013 "If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done". Of course, MDC leaders were foolish to ignore the warning and contest the elections because Zanu PF blatantly rigged the vote.
SADC leaders' warning against contesting flawed elections is just as valid today as it was in 2013 since no even one reform has been implemented. Indeed, the warning carries even greater weight since the rigged elections proved SADC leaders were right. Who would can a fool a man of "ideas" with the "resume can easily hypnotise"!
"It is a bare-knuckled political fight that Moyo has entered, and the earlier he takes those gloves off the better," concluded Daily News.
Zanu PF has corrupted our political system and, without implementing the democratic reforms first, it is not just a bare-knuckle fight but one so heavily loaded in favour of Mugabe it is near impossible for anyone else to win. The truth is elections should be free, fair and credible and an opportunity for the electorate to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country. By contesting the bare-knuckle fight Dr Moyo is helping perpetuate the system when he should be helping end it and restore povo's right to free and fair elections
After the first decade of independence the national economy was already in trouble and the Zanu PF regime had already murdered over 20 000 in the Gukurahundi massacre; proof the regime was incompetent and had a tyrannical streak. The people ignored all these reality for another decade. It was not until the late 1990s that the people finally decided Mugabe and Zanu PF must go.
The people entrusted Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC with the task of end Mugabe's reign of terror. MDC has had many opportunities to end the Mugabe dictatorship in the last 17 years, with the best chance coming during the GNU; but sadly, has wasted them all. MDC leaders had five years to implement the democratic reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented because they are corrupt and incompetent.
After the disaster of electing Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs one would have thought the people would be more careful to elect competent leader with some common sense, at least! It seems some people still have no clue what kind of leaders the nation should be looking for even today.
"(Dr Nkosana) Moyo's resume can easily hypnotise any reader, the way men drool over Candice Swanepoel," reported the Daily News, in one breath.
"At the risk of being seen as too quick to judge, Moyo comes across as a futuristic politician who is saying the right things that any normal citizen would want to hear but at the wrong time," continued the writer in the next breath. "His type of politics will struggle to gain traction in today's Zimbabwe, which favours aggressive opposition politicians that can toyi-toyi in ghettos, and in far-flung rural areas to mobilise the masses.
"Moyo appears to be speaking to the academia, the middle class, and the top class, who constitute a small percentage of the voting population. The real deal, or call it the game changer, is the voter in the rural areas, where over 60 percent of the country's population resides.
"The time for the soft-type politics that thrives on the understanding that elections must be won on the basis of ideas will come at some point, but not before the 2018 polls. If Moyo is to be taken seriously, he must toughen his style, connect with the downtrodden, and join Morgan Tsvangirai and many others in efforts to hammer out a coalition, which presents the only realistic chance of achieving change in governance."
2) Well if the solution to Zimbabwe's political crisis is getting simpletons with no clue what the country needs who can speak to the rural population then we could not get a better simpleton than Morgan Tsvangirai. So, again, why has he failed to make any difference after all his years in politics and five of which as Prime Minister?
3) There is no nation on earth that has suffered because it had clever and visionary leaders just as much as no nation on earth has prospered by having village idiots running its affairs. Zimbabwe is in a real political and economic mess if there was ever a time we needed men and women of ideas it is now!
4) It is very patronising to dismiss the rural people as buffoons who will respond to meaningless slogans and incapable of comprehending "ideas". The white colonialists instituted a political system designed to deny the black majority access to information and to deny them a voice. Sadly, Zanu PF has even extended the system to consolidate its own tyrannical rule. The rural povo are ignorant but they are not stupid!
5) Anyone who is anyone will tell you that Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections and, since no even one reform has been implemented since the last election, it goes without saying that Zanu PF will rig next year's elections just as readily. With no reforms Zanu PF will rig the vote and win all this talk of the coalition and the MDC during the GNU, have opposition "presents the only realistic chance of achieving change in governance," is just wishful thinking.
SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai & co. in June 2013 "If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done". Of course, MDC leaders were foolish to ignore the warning and contest the elections because Zanu PF blatantly rigged the vote.
SADC leaders' warning against contesting flawed elections is just as valid today as it was in 2013 since no even one reform has been implemented. Indeed, the warning carries even greater weight since the rigged elections proved SADC leaders were right. Who would can a fool a man of "ideas" with the "resume can easily hypnotise"!
"It is a bare-knuckled political fight that Moyo has entered, and the earlier he takes those gloves off the better," concluded Daily News.
Zanu PF has corrupted our political system and, without implementing the democratic reforms first, it is not just a bare-knuckle fight but one so heavily loaded in favour of Mugabe it is near impossible for anyone else to win. The truth is elections should be free, fair and credible and an opportunity for the electorate to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country. By contesting the bare-knuckle fight Dr Moyo is helping perpetuate the system when he should be helping end it and restore povo's right to free and fair elections
Source - Nomusa Garikai
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