Opinion / Columnist
We still have no clue how Mugabe rigged 2013 elections so cannot stop next rigging
06 Oct 2015 at 06:51hrs | Views
Right up to elections day on 31 July 2013, many Zimbabweans believed MDC's promise that the elections will be free, fair and credible. So when this did not happen, a more vigilant electorate would and should have demanded to know what happened. It is now over two years since the rigged elections and yet many Zimbabweans still do not have a clue what happened.
How can we say in all honest that we want a democratic Zimbabwe when we do not even care that elections – one of the critical pillars of a democratic system - are blatantly rigged? Of course we deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship and its equally corrupt and incompetent MDC opposition because we have done precious little to end the dictatorship and to secure for ourselves and posterity a healthy and functioning democracy.
Zimbabweans have yet to learn the universal truth that it is not enough to want peace, freedom, economic prosperity, etc. to have all these things one has to earn them through sweat and sinew and, if need be, blood. There is no such thing as a free lunch this side of the grave!
For Zimbabwe, the last 35 years have been a relentless match into political chaos and economic ruin. Today the nation has the world record unemployment rate of 90% plus for a nation not at war; millions of our people in our cities and towns do not have access to something as basic as clean running water.
The country has some of the best land and climate for grow food and before independence we produced enough food to feed the nation and exported the surplus. Today 1.3 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation. We are starving in the Garden of Eden!
Life expectancy, the qualitative and quantitative measure of one's wellbeing, has plummeted from 68 years in 1980 to 34 year in 2004.
Those who will not learn from the past will be forced to repeat the lesson over and over again and pay dearly for each repeat. We are in this political and economic mess because for the last 35 years we have wished for an end of this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship but not with any passion and conviction find out something as basic as find out why and how elections are rigged and most important of all how to ensure that does not happen again! The price for our complacent indifference is the political chaos and economic meltdown will get worse and so will our suffering and misery. We ain't seen nothing yet!
How can we say in all honest that we want a democratic Zimbabwe when we do not even care that elections – one of the critical pillars of a democratic system - are blatantly rigged? Of course we deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship and its equally corrupt and incompetent MDC opposition because we have done precious little to end the dictatorship and to secure for ourselves and posterity a healthy and functioning democracy.
Zimbabweans have yet to learn the universal truth that it is not enough to want peace, freedom, economic prosperity, etc. to have all these things one has to earn them through sweat and sinew and, if need be, blood. There is no such thing as a free lunch this side of the grave!
For Zimbabwe, the last 35 years have been a relentless match into political chaos and economic ruin. Today the nation has the world record unemployment rate of 90% plus for a nation not at war; millions of our people in our cities and towns do not have access to something as basic as clean running water.
The country has some of the best land and climate for grow food and before independence we produced enough food to feed the nation and exported the surplus. Today 1.3 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation. We are starving in the Garden of Eden!
Life expectancy, the qualitative and quantitative measure of one's wellbeing, has plummeted from 68 years in 1980 to 34 year in 2004.
Those who will not learn from the past will be forced to repeat the lesson over and over again and pay dearly for each repeat. We are in this political and economic mess because for the last 35 years we have wished for an end of this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship but not with any passion and conviction find out something as basic as find out why and how elections are rigged and most important of all how to ensure that does not happen again! The price for our complacent indifference is the political chaos and economic meltdown will get worse and so will our suffering and misery. We ain't seen nothing yet!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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