Opinion / Columnist
Sikhala et al join in the scramble for land - they're now indistinguishable from Zanu PF
23 Apr 2021 at 04:09hrs | Views
Let us start by defining the primary task the late Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were entrusted to do by the people of Zimbabwe. The people risked life and limb to MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will bring about the democratic changes, as the party's name implied, the nation was dying for.
MDC was launched in 1999 and after 21 years on the political stage, 5 of which in the GNU, the party has failed to bring about even one meaningful democratic change. Not even one. Why?
Corruption, is the short answer!
MDC leaders were elected into positions of power and authority on the ticket of delivering the democratic changes to restore the people's freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life itself. Sadly, as soon as they got into power they forgot about the democratic changes in pursuit of their selfish interests.
Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders with the trappings of high office during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; the ministerial limos, generous salaries, US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough, MDC leaders forgot about implementing the democratic reforms, the primary reason they were in the GNU.
A seat on the gravy train was enough for the greenhorns MDC leaders but after a while they have matured and so has their greed. Now they want it all!
Zimbabwe's economy was already in serious trouble but the seizure of the white owned farms, ostensibly to give to landless peasants but in reality to give the Zanu PF ruling elite, was the hammer blow that destroyed the economy and from which it has never recovered. The farm grab was and still is the apex of Zanu PF corruption and greed.
MDC leaders have openly criticised the Zanu PF land reform policies and their disastrously economic consequences. For years the MDC leaders have refrained from joining in the scramble for land but not any more.
"There are many people from the opposition who have applied for land," Job Sikhala, MDC A MP reminded Minister for Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Anxious Masuka.
"We have heard that land is being distributed on a partisan basis."
"MDC members refused to apply at the advent of the allocation programme, and now like other late applicants, who include deserving youths with a background and qualifications in agriculture, have to wait for land to become available. Zanu-PF legislators interjected, wondering why the opposition MPs left their allocations so late," commented The Herald.
The Herald was rubbing in the metamorphic transformation of the MDC leaders from the supposedly champions of democratic change to the corrupt and incompetent opportunists, indistinguishable from their Zanu PF counterpart. MDC leaders are now fighting for every scrap of the spoils of power to feed their insatiable greed.
In his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart readily admitted the folly of participating in flawed elections and that MDC has participated out of greed.
"The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections," wrote Coltart.
"The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."
By participating in flawed elections MDC leaders have not only given the flawed "process credibility", as Coltart acknowledged above, but more significantly given the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus are helping to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship.
MDC leaders have conned the people into participating in these flawed and illegal elections on the falsehood the MDC has devised strategies to win rigged elections. They lied because they would never admit the really reason for participating was greed.
All the MDC leaders who have got into a position of power and authority, they have been dazzled by the power, wealth and good living and have completely forgot about the long suffering of those who elected and why. MDC leaders will never implement the democratic reforms the nation has been dying for. Never ever! They are now preoccupied with amass power and wealth for themselves.
"Takatuma mapete kumukaka!" (We send cockroaches to fetch milk!) as one would say in Shona.
41 years of Zanu PF misrule has left the country's economy in ruins, basic services such as health care and education have all but collapsed and millions of our people are living in abject poverty. Zimbabwe is facing its worst ever existential threat and the need for meaningful democratic change have never been more urgent than it is today.
The sooner Zimbabweans finally accept that MDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and will never deliver any meaningful democratic changes; the sooner the nation can get the competent men and women who will implement the reforms.
Zimbabweans must demand the implementation of the democratic reforms BEFORE the next elections. If the elections go ahead with no reforms, the nation must have them declared null and void. It will be insane to participate in the flawed 2023 elections or let Zanu PF get away with yet another rigged election.
MDC was launched in 1999 and after 21 years on the political stage, 5 of which in the GNU, the party has failed to bring about even one meaningful democratic change. Not even one. Why?
Corruption, is the short answer!
MDC leaders were elected into positions of power and authority on the ticket of delivering the democratic changes to restore the people's freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life itself. Sadly, as soon as they got into power they forgot about the democratic changes in pursuit of their selfish interests.
Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders with the trappings of high office during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; the ministerial limos, generous salaries, US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough, MDC leaders forgot about implementing the democratic reforms, the primary reason they were in the GNU.
A seat on the gravy train was enough for the greenhorns MDC leaders but after a while they have matured and so has their greed. Now they want it all!
Zimbabwe's economy was already in serious trouble but the seizure of the white owned farms, ostensibly to give to landless peasants but in reality to give the Zanu PF ruling elite, was the hammer blow that destroyed the economy and from which it has never recovered. The farm grab was and still is the apex of Zanu PF corruption and greed.
MDC leaders have openly criticised the Zanu PF land reform policies and their disastrously economic consequences. For years the MDC leaders have refrained from joining in the scramble for land but not any more.
"There are many people from the opposition who have applied for land," Job Sikhala, MDC A MP reminded Minister for Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Anxious Masuka.
"We have heard that land is being distributed on a partisan basis."
"MDC members refused to apply at the advent of the allocation programme, and now like other late applicants, who include deserving youths with a background and qualifications in agriculture, have to wait for land to become available. Zanu-PF legislators interjected, wondering why the opposition MPs left their allocations so late," commented The Herald.
In his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart readily admitted the folly of participating in flawed elections and that MDC has participated out of greed.
"The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections," wrote Coltart.
"The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."
By participating in flawed elections MDC leaders have not only given the flawed "process credibility", as Coltart acknowledged above, but more significantly given the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus are helping to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship.
MDC leaders have conned the people into participating in these flawed and illegal elections on the falsehood the MDC has devised strategies to win rigged elections. They lied because they would never admit the really reason for participating was greed.
All the MDC leaders who have got into a position of power and authority, they have been dazzled by the power, wealth and good living and have completely forgot about the long suffering of those who elected and why. MDC leaders will never implement the democratic reforms the nation has been dying for. Never ever! They are now preoccupied with amass power and wealth for themselves.
"Takatuma mapete kumukaka!" (We send cockroaches to fetch milk!) as one would say in Shona.
41 years of Zanu PF misrule has left the country's economy in ruins, basic services such as health care and education have all but collapsed and millions of our people are living in abject poverty. Zimbabwe is facing its worst ever existential threat and the need for meaningful democratic change have never been more urgent than it is today.
The sooner Zimbabweans finally accept that MDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and will never deliver any meaningful democratic changes; the sooner the nation can get the competent men and women who will implement the reforms.
Zimbabweans must demand the implementation of the democratic reforms BEFORE the next elections. If the elections go ahead with no reforms, the nation must have them declared null and void. It will be insane to participate in the flawed 2023 elections or let Zanu PF get away with yet another rigged election.
Source - zimbabwelight.blogspot.com
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