Mnangagwa condemns 'chicanery' in Zanu PF elections - hypocrite orchestrated wanton violence in national elections

"Irregularities and political chicanery across party structures must be decisively dealt with and expunged from the party," said President Emmerson Mnangagwa. He was referring to the recent Zanu PF elections which were marred by violence and rigging.


What a hypocrite!

The irregularities and political chicanery in the Zanu PF party elections were nothing compared to the blatant cheating and wanton violence of Zimbabwe's watershed 2008 national elections. President Mnangagwa should know this because he was the one who supervised Operation "Mavhotera ani!" (Whom did you vote for!)

When it was clear that Zanu PF was losing the March 2008 vote the Joint Operation Command (JOC); a junta comprising the top brass in Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services plus a few others from Zanu PF headed by Robert Mugabe and assisted by Mnangagwa; stopped ZEC announcing the election results.

It took six weeks to recount 5 million votes; read, to cook up the figures. Morgan Tsvangirai had garnered 73% of vote, according to Mugabe's Freudian slip; this was whittled down to 47%, enough to force a runoff.

Operation Mavhotera ani picked in during the runoff. Of course, JOC knew whom the people had voted for, this was a rhetorical question; the operation was about punishing the people for rejected Zanu PF and Mugabe in the March 2008 vote. And punish the people is exactly what JOC did; the country witnessed the worst wanton violence ever.

"Zanu PF has declared war on the people!" said Tsvangirai as he announced his withdrawal from the runoff.

For once, even SADC and AU, known for turning a blind eye to rigged Zimbabwe elections in the past, refused to accept Zanu PF as the legitimate winner of the 2008 elections given the blatant cheating and wanton violence.

SADC leaders forced Mugabe and Zanu PF to agree to the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms designed to restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. The 2008 to 2013 GNU was tasked to implement the democratic reforms and "expunge" the cheating and wanton violence.

Sadly, not even one meaningful reform was ever implemented. Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about the reforms.

There is no denying Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess; 41 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness that have earned the country's pariah state status have left the country in economic ruins and political paralysis.

The economic meltdown has resulted in the collapse of basic services such as education and health care and left millions of our people living in abject poverty. The economic meltdown has not spared the Zanu PF ruling elite either, many Zanu PF grandees like the late Nathan Shamuyarira lost their seat at the top table and lived thereafter and died as poor as the proverbial church mouse. It is the fear of the rising tide of poverty that is fuelling the dog-eat-dog fight for power in Zanu PF.

If there are no hold-barred in the Zanu PF member on member fight, these Zanu PF members will ruthlessly crash their opposition opponents.  

"I urge the party leadership to always listen to the aspirations of the people at every level.  It is equally important that the party leadership and membership in general work concertedly to achieve a better quality of life for our people," continued Mnangagwa.

"It is after all the people who have entrusted us with the mandate to govern our great country."

Yeah right! Zanu PF has retained its iron grip on absolute power for over 42 years now by blatantly cheating and, if need be, using wanton violence. The party has managed to get away with rigged elections because the opposition have participated in these flawed elections, the few gravy train seats offered as bair, giving the process some modicum of credibility.