This is criminal

Zimbabwe is facing a serious economic problem; unemployment has soared to 90% and as much as 72.3% of our people are living on US$1.00 or less per day. The economic situation is socially, economically and politically unsustainable. We need a solution and fast!

The root cause of our economic problems is the decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption caused by Zanu PF misrule. The people have known this for many years but have failed to do anything about it because Zanu PF rigs elections and so the nation has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime.

So the solution to our economic collapse is a political one – stop Zanu PF from rigging the elections. But, like many such political problems, saying stop Zanu PF rigging elections is the easy bit; how has been mission impossible until SADC leaders spelt it out in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA).

The GPA stipulated that Zanu PF and the two MDC factions in the 2008 to 2013 GNU will be tasked to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging future elections. Sadly, not even one reform was implemented throughout the five-year life of the GNU.  
SADC leaders advised Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends that they must not contest the 2013 elections with no reforms in place for obvious reasons – Zanu PF will just rig the vote as it has done countless of time in the past.
 
"If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done," SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai & co. in June 2013, according to Dr Ibbo Mandaza who attended the Maputo summit.
 
As we know, MDC leaders paid no heed and contested the flawed and illegal July 2013 elections with disastrous consequences to the nation. SADC leaders' advice is even more relevant today vis-à-vis the coming 2018 elections; it was very foolish of us to have ignored SADC leaders' warning not to contest the flawed July 2013 elections, it would be unforgivable for us to repeat the same mistake and contest next year's elections still with no reforms in place. And yet this exactly what Heal Zimbabwe Trust (HZT) people are asking people to do on the basis that the Trust's will deliver peaceful, free, fair and credible elections even thou not even one reform has been implemented.
 
HZT has been holding meetings up and down the country promising people free and fair election.

telling the people greatest problem with these NGO initiatives is that they are totally misleading; people believe they are the cure to these problems when in reality they are only a placebo.

"The objective of the interface meetings was to create a platform for community members to interface and interact with duty bearers on critical issues affecting the community. Some of the major issues that came out during the interface meeting include 1) partisan conduct of traditional leaders in issuing proof of residence for the BVR process ii) forced attendance to political gatherings iii) unfair food aid distribution," reported Heal Zimbabwe.

"The interface meetings were attended by a total of 250 people (101 men and 149 women), nine Traditional leaders, one councillor, two School Development Committee members SDCs), seven Village Development Committees (VIDCOs) and three Ward Development Committees (WADCO) members.

"As a way forward, the interface meetings resolved that the CAATs together with the traditional leaders and other opinion leaders collaborate and carry out public awareness campaigns on the importance of peace, tolerance, social cohesion ahead of the elections. During the public awareness campaigns, Heal Zimbabwe Trust (HZT) shall also facilitate for organisations working on elections such as ERC and ZESN to attend and raise awareness on the BVR process as a contribution towards peaceful and credible elections."

The nature of the blatant vote rigging and wanton violence we witnessed during the 2008 elections beyond the political powers of the local traditional leaders and community leaders to stop even if they wanted to. ZEC officials who are responsible for the chaotic voter registration exercise going on right now do not take their orders from SDCs, VIDCOs and/or WADCO members. The only way to ensure ZEC carry out the voter registration exercise properly and competently and deliver a verifiable voters' roll and free and fair elections is by making sure the democratic reforms designed to make ZEC independent and free are implemented.
 
It is therefore totally irresponsible of an organisation like HZT to be misleading innocent villagers that they can deliver peaceful, free and fair elections when that is not in their power to do. Whatever HZT people are doing; it is NOT a cure to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote and it is criminal for them to be administering placebos to unsuspecting povo especially when they should be taking the cure.

The people of Zimbabwe cannot afford another rigged elections and for someone to be telling them the elections will NOT be rigged knowing fully well that is a lie is totally unacceptable. If next year's elections are indeed rigged, contrary to HZT's stubborn repeated assurance to the contrary; the Trust and its funders will be held to account!