'We are monitoring and reporting violation during BVR,' HZT reported - to what end, you will never be ZRP

"Heal Zimbabwe Trust (HZT) through its resident human rights monitors in all the country's 10 provinces is monitoring the environment during the voter registration exercise. This is being done with the objective of monitoring the environment and report on any cases of human rights violations during the process as well as making referrals where possible for redress. In 2016, HZT established an early warning and early response system for easy detection and response to cases of human rights violations," reported the Trust.

This is just madness, the very fact that HZT expects human rights violation during the voter registration exercise is proof we have a serious sick society that needs healing. What HZT is doing and has been doing with its "13 Million Voices for Peace" campaigns is not healing the nation but more like giving a placebo pain killer to someone with a broken leg! It is not working!

"Gokwe Nembudziya ward 24 On 09 October 2017, ZANU PF ward chairperson Christopher Matsike announced to people who were registering to vote at Ukomo Primary school that they should submit serial numbers of the registration slips to him," reported HZT. The report listed 15 more similar incidences. There is no doubt that this is just the ears of the hippo the rest of the beast is hidden in the muddy water. What will it take for HZT to finally admit that "early warning and early response system" is not only a waste of time and money but worse still it is giving our people false hope of free, fair and credible elections only to see their hopes dashed again and again.

What we need is to acknowledge that our state institutions have been captured by President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies for the sole purpose of establishing and retaining the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship. The whole electoral process has been reorganised to deliver President Mugabe's no-regime-change mantra at the expense of the individual right to free, fair and credible elections.

Other than report that Zanu PF Gokwe Nembudziya ward 24 chairperson, Christopher Matsike, asked villagers to give him the serial numbers of their voter registration slips; there is little else HZT can do. What we need is to implement the democratic reforms designed to free the state institutions like the Police to arrest and charge Matsike for threatening to undermine the individual right of the villagers to free, fair and credible elections.

SADC leaders advised Tsvangirai and his MDC friends and the people of Zimbabwe at large not to contest the July 2013 elections without implementing the reforms first.

"If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done," SADC leaders warned.

Sadly, MDC leaders did not listen and dragged the nation into a totally meaningless electoral process with the disastrous consequences we can see today as Zanu PF blatantly rig the vote, consolidated its dictatorial strangle on the state institutions and the opportunity to implement the democratic reforms was lost.

The country has a chance to revisit the reforms if we demand their implementation before the elections. By contesting the elections again with no reforms MDC and the rest in the opposition camp are undermining the clarion call for "No reform, no elections!" And organisation like HZT have no business encouraging ordinary people to take part in these flawed and illegal elections on the false promise that the Trust's activities are a substitute to what statutory bodies like the Police should do. Heal Zimbabwe Trust is not Republic of Zimbabwe Police and will never be, so stop masquerading as one!