Opinion / Columnist
Msipa backs Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe - what happened to one-man-one-vote
08 Jun 2016 at 04:16hrs | Views
Msipa backs Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe - what happened to one-man-one-vote. By Wilbert Mukori
"THE late former army commander, Solomon Mujuru, reportedly suggested Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa - then State Security minister - should succeed President Robert Mugabe as the next Zanu PF leader, a former ruling party politburo member has claimed," reported Newsday.
"Former Midlands governor Cephas Msipa yesterday said in 1983 Mujuru had suggested Mnangagwa's name to him as a potential successor, although this was no longer relevant, as this was said before the 1987 Unity Accord."
"He (Mujuru) told me something similar to what war veterans are saying today. So you have to understand what Chris (Mutsvangwa, the war veterans' chairman) is saying today is in that context," Msipa continued.
What is at issue here is that leaders must be elected by the people in a free, fair and credible election and Zanu PF's failure to hold such elections is at the very heart of the country's economic meltdown and political chaos. The solution is to slam down hard all those seeking to perpetuate this failed one-party cum one-man dictatorship and thus end the system a.s.a.p. in favour of a healthy and democratic system of government in which every Zimbabwean has a meaningful free, fair and credible one-man-one-vote.
The Genesis of Zimbabwe's present economic and political mess can be traced by to the country's Black Nationalist leaders' failure to appreciate the critical importance of securing all Zimbabweans' right to a meaningful free, fair and credible vote not only as a fundamental human right but also as the foundation of good, just and accountable government. Zimbabwe's leaders only paid lip-service to freedom, liberty, fair distribution of the nation's wealth, etc.; they had their beady eyes on securing absolute power for themselves and the unfettered access to the nation's wealth to feed their insatiable greed.
South Africa's Black Nationalist leaders, in contrast, gave the matter of what kind of post-apartheid did they want the serious consideration the matter demanded as can be seen from the 1955 Freedom Charter, the Bible of SA's fight for independence.
"The People Shall Govern!
Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws;
All people shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country;
The rights of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, colour or sex;
All bodies of minority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities shall be replaced by democratic organs of self-government."
Boldly states the very opening section of the Freedom Charter.
SA has held a number of elections since its first post-apartheid 1994 elections and no one has ever complained of any of them was rigged. Every man and woman, regardless of race or colour, had a meaningful free, fair credible one-vote. No one had more than one-vote much less a veto. Sadly the same cannot be said of Zimbabwe's elections, all of them including the first 1980 elections were rigged.
Zimbabwe wasted nearly $100 million and God knows how many MPs man-hours writing a new 68 page constitution which the MDC leaders insisted was a democratic constitution, it is "an MDC child" Tsvangirai said. They assured the nation it will finally deliver the free and fair elections the nation had yarned for since independence. It did no such thing!
The new 2013 constitution was in fact too weak and feeble to deliver free and fair elections and by noon of voting day, 31 July 2013, Tsvangirai acknowledged that Mugabe had indeed "rigged the elections". The MDC leader had been warned that as long as the elections are held without implementing the 2008 GPA democratic reforms first, the elections will never be free and fair.
Whilst Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies have enjoyed 36 years of absolute political power, the fruit of rigging elections; the nation has paid a heavy price as mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness have thrived under the dictatorship. The country is facing serious economic meltdown and, with both Zanu PF and the opposition fighting and subdividing like amoebas, political chaos. The situation is socially and politically unsustainable; it is causing untold human misery, many lives are being lost unnecessarily and it now threatens national and regional stability.
With human lives and national survival at stake, one had hoped that the penny would have finally dropped and Zanu PF grandees like Cephas Msipa would now finally see the error of their failure to secure good, just and accountable government by safe guarding everyone's freedoms and basic rights including the right to free and fair elections
Wisdom comes with age! Sadly this is clearly not the case with these Zanu PF grandees like Cephas Msipa, worse still Robert Mugabe himself; they are still devoid of common sense and as myopic as ever! They are no different from the brainwashed Chris Mutsvangwa who still believe that war veterans are "stockholders of Zimbabwe" and thus have a veto on who the country's president should be.
The only way to end Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and political chaos is by clearing the political deck of the failed Zanu PF dictatorship by implementing all the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections.
The nation should have never allowed Zanu PF nationalists to impose the de facto one-party cum one-man dictatorship we have lived under since independence, it was a big mistake and the nation has paid dearly for it. If anyone in Zanu PF thinks they can still impose the dictatorship on the nation, they are wrong; the system has failed the nation and it must and will be scrapped without further ado!
"THE late former army commander, Solomon Mujuru, reportedly suggested Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa - then State Security minister - should succeed President Robert Mugabe as the next Zanu PF leader, a former ruling party politburo member has claimed," reported Newsday.
"Former Midlands governor Cephas Msipa yesterday said in 1983 Mujuru had suggested Mnangagwa's name to him as a potential successor, although this was no longer relevant, as this was said before the 1987 Unity Accord."
"He (Mujuru) told me something similar to what war veterans are saying today. So you have to understand what Chris (Mutsvangwa, the war veterans' chairman) is saying today is in that context," Msipa continued.
What is at issue here is that leaders must be elected by the people in a free, fair and credible election and Zanu PF's failure to hold such elections is at the very heart of the country's economic meltdown and political chaos. The solution is to slam down hard all those seeking to perpetuate this failed one-party cum one-man dictatorship and thus end the system a.s.a.p. in favour of a healthy and democratic system of government in which every Zimbabwean has a meaningful free, fair and credible one-man-one-vote.
The Genesis of Zimbabwe's present economic and political mess can be traced by to the country's Black Nationalist leaders' failure to appreciate the critical importance of securing all Zimbabweans' right to a meaningful free, fair and credible vote not only as a fundamental human right but also as the foundation of good, just and accountable government. Zimbabwe's leaders only paid lip-service to freedom, liberty, fair distribution of the nation's wealth, etc.; they had their beady eyes on securing absolute power for themselves and the unfettered access to the nation's wealth to feed their insatiable greed.
South Africa's Black Nationalist leaders, in contrast, gave the matter of what kind of post-apartheid did they want the serious consideration the matter demanded as can be seen from the 1955 Freedom Charter, the Bible of SA's fight for independence.
"The People Shall Govern!
Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws;
All people shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country;
The rights of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, colour or sex;
All bodies of minority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities shall be replaced by democratic organs of self-government."
Boldly states the very opening section of the Freedom Charter.
SA has held a number of elections since its first post-apartheid 1994 elections and no one has ever complained of any of them was rigged. Every man and woman, regardless of race or colour, had a meaningful free, fair credible one-vote. No one had more than one-vote much less a veto. Sadly the same cannot be said of Zimbabwe's elections, all of them including the first 1980 elections were rigged.
Zimbabwe wasted nearly $100 million and God knows how many MPs man-hours writing a new 68 page constitution which the MDC leaders insisted was a democratic constitution, it is "an MDC child" Tsvangirai said. They assured the nation it will finally deliver the free and fair elections the nation had yarned for since independence. It did no such thing!
The new 2013 constitution was in fact too weak and feeble to deliver free and fair elections and by noon of voting day, 31 July 2013, Tsvangirai acknowledged that Mugabe had indeed "rigged the elections". The MDC leader had been warned that as long as the elections are held without implementing the 2008 GPA democratic reforms first, the elections will never be free and fair.
Whilst Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies have enjoyed 36 years of absolute political power, the fruit of rigging elections; the nation has paid a heavy price as mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness have thrived under the dictatorship. The country is facing serious economic meltdown and, with both Zanu PF and the opposition fighting and subdividing like amoebas, political chaos. The situation is socially and politically unsustainable; it is causing untold human misery, many lives are being lost unnecessarily and it now threatens national and regional stability.
With human lives and national survival at stake, one had hoped that the penny would have finally dropped and Zanu PF grandees like Cephas Msipa would now finally see the error of their failure to secure good, just and accountable government by safe guarding everyone's freedoms and basic rights including the right to free and fair elections
Wisdom comes with age! Sadly this is clearly not the case with these Zanu PF grandees like Cephas Msipa, worse still Robert Mugabe himself; they are still devoid of common sense and as myopic as ever! They are no different from the brainwashed Chris Mutsvangwa who still believe that war veterans are "stockholders of Zimbabwe" and thus have a veto on who the country's president should be.
The only way to end Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and political chaos is by clearing the political deck of the failed Zanu PF dictatorship by implementing all the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections.
The nation should have never allowed Zanu PF nationalists to impose the de facto one-party cum one-man dictatorship we have lived under since independence, it was a big mistake and the nation has paid dearly for it. If anyone in Zanu PF thinks they can still impose the dictatorship on the nation, they are wrong; the system has failed the nation and it must and will be scrapped without further ado!
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk
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