Opinion / Columnist
ZUNDE calls for 'massive voter turnout to ensure people's will' - didn't stop Zanu PF whittle 73% to 47%
23 Mar 2018 at 09:02hrs | Views
The trouble with some people is the argue round and around in circles.
"ZUNDE respects the right of every Zimbabwean to make their own free choice. What we urge is a massive voter turnout to ensure that the true will of the people is unmistakably expressed," you said.
We know that in 2008 the people voted in drove for MDC giving Tsvangirai a massive 73% of the vote in the March vote. Joint Operations Command, the Zanu PF Junta that has ruled the country with an iron fist for decades led by Robert Mugabe, at the time, assisted by Emmerson Mnangagwa order a recount of the votes which lasted six weeks. At the end, Tsvangirai's 73% had been whittled down to 47%, forcing a run-off. In the run-off the Junta used wanton violence to boost Mugabe's vote from less than 27% to a massive 84%.
Even ZUNDE must accept that the March vote repressed the true will of the people but it was ruthlessly disregarded and what followed is an insult to the people.
SADC leaders who set in after the barbarism of 2008 have suggested that Zimbabwe must implement a raft of democratic reforms to ensure the 2008 madness is never repeated ever again. Sadly, not even one reform was implemented by the GNU partners tasked to do this. SADC leaders have since advised that Zimbabweans should not take part in any elections without first implementing the reforms.
"If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done," SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai and the other MDC leaders in June 2013 at the regional summit meeting in Maputo, Mozambique.
Sadly, MDC leaders paid no heed, once again, and the elections went ahead, and Zanu PF blatantly rigged those elections.
We all know that not even one reform was implemented since the July 2013 elections and therefore SADC leaders' advice is even more relevant and poignant this year given the nation gained nothing from taking party in an election process so flawed the result was known before the first ballot was cast!
So, we have two camps here; those who believe that with no democratic reforms, the "elections are done" and therefore it is pointless taking any part in the flawed process. Indeed, taking any part will only give the flawed and illegal electoral process credibility.
Then there are those in the second camp who are saying people must take part in the elections, "a massive voter turnout to ensure that the true will of the people," ZUNDE said. Perhaps ZUNDE knows something that some of us do not know; in the interest of democratic debate and accountability, please answer the following questions:
a) Does ZUNDE want the people to take part in these elections because the party is convinced all the reforms have/ will be implemented to make process in free, fair and credible and the result will be a true expression of the people?
b) Does ZUNDE want the people to take part in these elections because the party is convinced the electoral process in free, fair and credible and the result will be a true expression of the people, regardless of whether the reforms are implemented or not?
c) Does ZUNDE want the people to take part in these elections because the party is convinced the true democratic will of the people will prevail regardless of all the Zanu PF vote rigging shenanigans coming from the failure to implement the reforms? In other words, ZUNDE believes in "Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies," as former MDC-T spokesperson so aptly put it.
The nation is not asking for detailed answers to any of the above questions as we would not want to steal ZUNDE's thunder. Surely, you cannot expect the people to go out and vote in droves on the basis of a two-sentence appeal especially in a country that has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections in 38 years!
Massive voter turnout alone is no guarantee the result be the democratic will of the people; not unless the process is free, fair and credible. After 2008, we stop burying our heads in the sand and acknowledge the political reality Zanu PF's vote rigging capacity is unparalleled. It is insane to believe one can still win an election when 73% is not good enough to do so!
"ZUNDE respects the right of every Zimbabwean to make their own free choice. What we urge is a massive voter turnout to ensure that the true will of the people is unmistakably expressed," you said.
We know that in 2008 the people voted in drove for MDC giving Tsvangirai a massive 73% of the vote in the March vote. Joint Operations Command, the Zanu PF Junta that has ruled the country with an iron fist for decades led by Robert Mugabe, at the time, assisted by Emmerson Mnangagwa order a recount of the votes which lasted six weeks. At the end, Tsvangirai's 73% had been whittled down to 47%, forcing a run-off. In the run-off the Junta used wanton violence to boost Mugabe's vote from less than 27% to a massive 84%.
Even ZUNDE must accept that the March vote repressed the true will of the people but it was ruthlessly disregarded and what followed is an insult to the people.
SADC leaders who set in after the barbarism of 2008 have suggested that Zimbabwe must implement a raft of democratic reforms to ensure the 2008 madness is never repeated ever again. Sadly, not even one reform was implemented by the GNU partners tasked to do this. SADC leaders have since advised that Zimbabweans should not take part in any elections without first implementing the reforms.
"If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done," SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai and the other MDC leaders in June 2013 at the regional summit meeting in Maputo, Mozambique.
Sadly, MDC leaders paid no heed, once again, and the elections went ahead, and Zanu PF blatantly rigged those elections.
So, we have two camps here; those who believe that with no democratic reforms, the "elections are done" and therefore it is pointless taking any part in the flawed process. Indeed, taking any part will only give the flawed and illegal electoral process credibility.
Then there are those in the second camp who are saying people must take part in the elections, "a massive voter turnout to ensure that the true will of the people," ZUNDE said. Perhaps ZUNDE knows something that some of us do not know; in the interest of democratic debate and accountability, please answer the following questions:
a) Does ZUNDE want the people to take part in these elections because the party is convinced all the reforms have/ will be implemented to make process in free, fair and credible and the result will be a true expression of the people?
b) Does ZUNDE want the people to take part in these elections because the party is convinced the electoral process in free, fair and credible and the result will be a true expression of the people, regardless of whether the reforms are implemented or not?
c) Does ZUNDE want the people to take part in these elections because the party is convinced the true democratic will of the people will prevail regardless of all the Zanu PF vote rigging shenanigans coming from the failure to implement the reforms? In other words, ZUNDE believes in "Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies," as former MDC-T spokesperson so aptly put it.
The nation is not asking for detailed answers to any of the above questions as we would not want to steal ZUNDE's thunder. Surely, you cannot expect the people to go out and vote in droves on the basis of a two-sentence appeal especially in a country that has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections in 38 years!
Massive voter turnout alone is no guarantee the result be the democratic will of the people; not unless the process is free, fair and credible. After 2008, we stop burying our heads in the sand and acknowledge the political reality Zanu PF's vote rigging capacity is unparalleled. It is insane to believe one can still win an election when 73% is not good enough to do so!
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
