Opinion / Columnist
ED envy Ramaphosa's 57.5% free votes, blatantly rigged to get 50.8% and now he is stuck
14 May 2019 at 07:26hrs | Views
"Congratulations @CyrilRamaphosa on your election victory. We wish you success as you build a strong and prosperous South Africa, and look forward to working closely together as we further strengthen the relationship between our two nations," said Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He was commenting on SA's election results in which ANC won 57.5% of the vote. Poor Mnangagwa how it must have pained him to hear that South Africa had a verified voters roll and the elections were free, fair and credible and so the 57.5% votes ANC garnered were all from real people and they voted freely. He could never say the same for Zimbabwe elections.
Fearful that Zanu PF would not be able to coerce and/or cheat the 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora out of their vote the party connived to deny them the vote. When Mnangagwa was in New York for the UN General Assembly in September 2018, just two months after the elections, he said Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be allowed to vote next time. In other words, the regime had deliberately denied them the vote in the July 2018 elections.
In the end under 5 million voted in the July 2018 elections, no one who the voters were, how many cast multiple votes, etc. because the regime failed to produce a verified voters' roll. The whole election process was full of irregularities, flaws and illegalities.
"The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability," wrote the EU Election Mission in its final report.
"Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards."
The numerous errors in the vote tallies, ZEC ended up with three different results which they failed to explain, was to be expected given some of the V11 forms, summary of the vote count at the Polling Station, were never released and so ZEC officials cooked up the figure and then revised the figure again and again to secure Mnangagwa's victory.
After all the vote rigging shenanigans ZEC only manage to secure 50.8% or 2.4 million vote election victory for Mnangagwa. It should be noted this was less than the 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora who were denied the vote. No wonder Mnangagwa in green with envy at Cyril Ramaphosa's genuine democratic mandate.
By blatantly rigging last year's elections Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs. The ramification of this is Zimbabwe's worsening economic meltdown because investors and lenders have continued to shy away from Zimbabwe. No one wants to do business in a pariah state plagued by economic chaos and political instability. No one!
If President Cyril Ramaphosa plays his cards right, so far he has failed to impress with his blundering incompetency, he has a chance of building a strong and prosperous SA. The same cannot be said of poor Mnangagwa; as long as he and his regime remain in power Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is set to get worse!
Zimbabwe's only hope of economic recovery is for Mnangagwa to step down and thus lift the curse of having an illegitimate government. More significantly, by stepping down, Zanu PF will create the political space for the appointment of the interim administration which can then be entrusted to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
If Zanu PF is allowed to remain in office until 2023 then we can be 100% certain that the regime will rig that year's elections too and extend it corrupt and tyrannical rule. That is one evil we must not let befall this nation; Mnangagwa must be forced to step down a.s.a.p. and BEFORE 2023!
He was commenting on SA's election results in which ANC won 57.5% of the vote. Poor Mnangagwa how it must have pained him to hear that South Africa had a verified voters roll and the elections were free, fair and credible and so the 57.5% votes ANC garnered were all from real people and they voted freely. He could never say the same for Zimbabwe elections.
Fearful that Zanu PF would not be able to coerce and/or cheat the 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora out of their vote the party connived to deny them the vote. When Mnangagwa was in New York for the UN General Assembly in September 2018, just two months after the elections, he said Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be allowed to vote next time. In other words, the regime had deliberately denied them the vote in the July 2018 elections.
In the end under 5 million voted in the July 2018 elections, no one who the voters were, how many cast multiple votes, etc. because the regime failed to produce a verified voters' roll. The whole election process was full of irregularities, flaws and illegalities.
"The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability," wrote the EU Election Mission in its final report.
"Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards."
After all the vote rigging shenanigans ZEC only manage to secure 50.8% or 2.4 million vote election victory for Mnangagwa. It should be noted this was less than the 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora who were denied the vote. No wonder Mnangagwa in green with envy at Cyril Ramaphosa's genuine democratic mandate.
By blatantly rigging last year's elections Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs. The ramification of this is Zimbabwe's worsening economic meltdown because investors and lenders have continued to shy away from Zimbabwe. No one wants to do business in a pariah state plagued by economic chaos and political instability. No one!
If President Cyril Ramaphosa plays his cards right, so far he has failed to impress with his blundering incompetency, he has a chance of building a strong and prosperous SA. The same cannot be said of poor Mnangagwa; as long as he and his regime remain in power Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is set to get worse!
Zimbabwe's only hope of economic recovery is for Mnangagwa to step down and thus lift the curse of having an illegitimate government. More significantly, by stepping down, Zanu PF will create the political space for the appointment of the interim administration which can then be entrusted to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
If Zanu PF is allowed to remain in office until 2023 then we can be 100% certain that the regime will rig that year's elections too and extend it corrupt and tyrannical rule. That is one evil we must not let befall this nation; Mnangagwa must be forced to step down a.s.a.p. and BEFORE 2023!
Source - zimbabwelight.blogspot.com
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