Opinion / Columnist
Mawarire accept elections will NOT be free, it is a 'process' - rubbish, if ED fails to implement reforms get someone competent
06 Mar 2018 at 06:57hrs | Views
Pastor Mawarire tells France24 restoring basic freedoms and human rights "is a process that cannot be accomplished in one election."
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because of 38 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by Zanu PF. The ruling elite have profited from the misrule at the expense of the majority as the national economy suffered total meltdown. The people could not remove the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF thugs from power because they rig elections. The nation has been stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical de facto one-party dictatorship for 38 years.
The primary focus of the nation's political activity for the last 20 years, at least, was to ensure there was democratic change and thus end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Zimbabwe's tragedy is that the struggle has often been championed by individuals like Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who have failed to deliver the changes even when they had the golden opportunity to do so.
It is a matter of historic record that MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms which would have ended the Zanu PF dictatorship during the GNU. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not one!
It is clear that Pastor Mawarire has no clue what the GNU was about; what the democratic reforms are about or why they are important. If he did, then he would know that by implementing the reforms would restore the individual freedoms and human rights including the right to a free, fair and credible elections and the right to life eroded away by the dictatorship.
So, you either implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections or you do not and the elections are not free, fair and credible; there is no half-way house. This is an event and not a process!
But, of course, if the people of Zimbabwe will accept elections in which President Mnangagwa retains some or even all his carte blanche powers to rig elections the regime will certainly do that. In fact that is exactly what the regime is aiming to do; hold the elections with not even one democratic reforms in place confident that many Zimbabweans like Mawarire will vote for regime regardless.
Zanu PF leaders like Professor Jonathan Moyo and even President Mnangagwa himself have admitted that they will not implement the reforms "and reform themselves out of office". Who would! If the electorate are foolish enough that they will do so then this is one process that the ruling elite will want stretched out to the end of time!
No, the coming elections must be free, fair and credible; that is not negotiable. Zimbabweans have been denied this fundamental right by the white colonial regimes and now by this Zanu PF regime; they must not be disappointed ever again.
If Zanu PF fails to implement all the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair election, then the process must be declared null and void. The nation, with the help of SADC, UN, etc., must appoint a transitional government that will be tasked to implement the reforms and hold the country's first free, fair and credible elections.
The last thing Zimbabweans want is find themselves stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical regime unable to remove it from office because it rigs the vote.
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because of 38 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by Zanu PF. The ruling elite have profited from the misrule at the expense of the majority as the national economy suffered total meltdown. The people could not remove the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF thugs from power because they rig elections. The nation has been stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical de facto one-party dictatorship for 38 years.
The primary focus of the nation's political activity for the last 20 years, at least, was to ensure there was democratic change and thus end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Zimbabwe's tragedy is that the struggle has often been championed by individuals like Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who have failed to deliver the changes even when they had the golden opportunity to do so.
It is a matter of historic record that MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms which would have ended the Zanu PF dictatorship during the GNU. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not one!
It is clear that Pastor Mawarire has no clue what the GNU was about; what the democratic reforms are about or why they are important. If he did, then he would know that by implementing the reforms would restore the individual freedoms and human rights including the right to a free, fair and credible elections and the right to life eroded away by the dictatorship.
So, you either implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections or you do not and the elections are not free, fair and credible; there is no half-way house. This is an event and not a process!
But, of course, if the people of Zimbabwe will accept elections in which President Mnangagwa retains some or even all his carte blanche powers to rig elections the regime will certainly do that. In fact that is exactly what the regime is aiming to do; hold the elections with not even one democratic reforms in place confident that many Zimbabweans like Mawarire will vote for regime regardless.
Zanu PF leaders like Professor Jonathan Moyo and even President Mnangagwa himself have admitted that they will not implement the reforms "and reform themselves out of office". Who would! If the electorate are foolish enough that they will do so then this is one process that the ruling elite will want stretched out to the end of time!
No, the coming elections must be free, fair and credible; that is not negotiable. Zimbabweans have been denied this fundamental right by the white colonial regimes and now by this Zanu PF regime; they must not be disappointed ever again.
If Zanu PF fails to implement all the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair election, then the process must be declared null and void. The nation, with the help of SADC, UN, etc., must appoint a transitional government that will be tasked to implement the reforms and hold the country's first free, fair and credible elections.
The last thing Zimbabweans want is find themselves stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical regime unable to remove it from office because it rigs the vote.
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk
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