Welshman Ncube: 'That the elections were rigged is not debatable'

THE MDC is aware that the just ended elections were neither fair nor free in the strictest definition of the terms and as such the outcome is not a legitimate one.

That the elections were rigged is not debatable, it is a fact.

The glaring inconsistencies in the process leading up to and during the election make it impossible to absolve the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) or to refrain from calling the credibility of the election outcome to question.

These inconsistencies include the failure to provide the voters' role until voting had commenced the printing of duplicate ballot papers, disqualification of our rural council candidates among many other breaches which culminated in incidences of multiple double voting and bussing of voters.

While all this glaring failure of the electoral process is real, the party having considered all available options has opted to refrain from taking the disputes to court.

The futility of going to the courts must be read with the Jealousy Mbizvo Mawarire Constitutional Court ruling, which led to the frog marching of Zimbabweans into an election for which Zec were ill prepared to run.

It is therefore our well considered view that taking this matter to court will be akin to going to President Robert Mugabe and asking him to reverse his "victory".

The party has further discounted the option of taking the dispute to the regional and continental organs principally Sadc and AU.

These institutions have already made known their views about the process and outcome of the election.

That they have already pronounced satisfaction with both the process and outcome of the elections signifies the futility of taking that course of action with any hope of a positive intervention.

In 2008, our party went into a negotiated process and in doing that our sole and primal interests were to save Zimbabwe from burning at the hands of Zanu PF.

Sadly we ended up saving Zanu PF who have turned around and sunk their teeth into the hand that pulled both them and Zimbabwe from the precipice. We do not regret saving our burning country then.

We, however, will not be helping Zanu PF again in government or indeed any way shape or form this time around.

It is therefore incumbent upon all of us to accept that the solution to our national political problems will be delivered by us as Zimbabweans facing Mugabe and his party head on and defeating them.

We have come through the fire, learnt lessons through our experiences and we are ready to prove that we are visionaries, builders and the party of the future.

We have taken stock of all that happened and while there are no easy answers, we have resolved to continue the fight for a fully devolved Zimbabwe because we believe that the problems, which we find ourselves in as a country, can only be solved through making a paradigm shift diametrically different to the centralized system of government which landed us where we are today.

We remain absolutely committed to the devolution agenda because for us it is not an election gimmick or slogan but a matter of ideological conviction.

We accept our situation and embrace it as our rite of passage. There can be no Egypt without a Canaan. It is for us a test of faith in the system we believe in and know that it will be achieved.

As your president I say," Fear not, I will be with you all the way, I will neither retreat nor surrender. Let none of us give up, we will walk hand in hand to the bitter end if need be for our cause is necessary and just. What we stand for is absolutely important."

Therefore from this day forth we commence re-building on all fronts for the 2018 elections. We have no privilege of taking a rest. Let's keep the faith, together we will win.

Professor Welshman Ncube is the President of the MDC