Opinion / Columnist
'Give you vote to those who deserve it' argue ZCBC. Can't give what was never ever yours!
10 Jul 2023 at 09:03hrs | Views
There were times when the church, especially the Catholic Church, used to be the voice of the oppressed and downtrodden and spoke the truth to power. Alas, those days are long gone and the nations is truly lost. Oh how I miss them days when the church was the light in the darkness, the beacon of hope.
Ever since Zimbabwe's independence, in 1980, the church has pandered to the whim and diktats of the ruling elite and lost their moral and spiritual compass. The church leaders have continued to pretend they still had the spiritual authority but they did not, for no one can serve two masters especially contrary masters. Either you travel the straight and narrow path to salvation or go down the broad and ease broadway to damnation. There is no deny which route the church in Zimbabwe has been traveling - the broadway to damnation.
Zanu PF is rigging these 2023 elections. Nothing new, the regime has rigged elections ever since the country's independence in 1980. The country's main opposition party, CCC, and the rest in the opposition camp are participating in these flawed elections knowing fully well that the whole process is a mockery and, worst of all, that doing so will give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship and the tragic human suffering it has brought. They are soldiering on regardless because they also know that Zanu PF is offering a few gravy train seats and POLAD freebies to entice the opposition.
David Coltart has summed up Zimbabwe's precarious political situation in one paragraph.
"The (2013) 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," confessed Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
There is absolutely nothing to be gained by the long suffering povo out of these flawed and illegal elections. Indeed, it is insane for povo to participate in these elections when all they are doing is giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating their own misery. Povo are participating in these flawed elections to perpetuate their own suffering out of ignorance and/or fear.
Credit were credit is due, in the late 1990s the people of Zimbabwe came to the consensus that the nation was being dragged deeper and deeper into hell-on-earth by the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime and the only way to end this ruinous reign was for the country to implement democratic changes designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. It was a belated consensus for Zanu PF had had two decades to dig in and was deeply entrenched in every facet of society; up rooting the dictatorship was, per se, going to be a challenge.
Still, better late than never!
The nation's golden opportunity to implement the democratic changes came during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Alas, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, who the people had risked life and limb to elect into power on the promise the party would implement the changes, sold out. MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in 5 years of the GNU for the same reasons they have been participating in these elections - greed and breath-taking incompetence.
Mugabe bribe Tsvangirai and company with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4m mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. In return, the MDC leaders throw democratic reforms out of the window!
Although the people had reached the consensus to demand democratic changes, they clearly had no clue what these changes are much less how they would be implemented. Ignorance, the people's worst curse. And because of their ignorance of what the reforms were, they failed to realised MDC leaders' betrayal in failing to implement even one reform during the GNU.
Worst still, it is ignorance that has stopped the people from realising the sheer folly of participating in elections "so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw" and that participating will give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate their own suffering.
"Any party or politician that incites violence or persuades you to join in violent attacks, is not worthy of your vote," said the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) in a Pastoral Statement ahead of the country's general elections scheduled for 23 August 2023.
"Give your vote to those who deserve it. Of the many choices that you are presented with, be discerning with the aid of the Holy Spirit and choose who you want."
How naive! How insane!
The millions of rural voters are routinely frogmarched to attend Zanu PF rallies and in like manner will be frogmarched to vote for the party on 23 August. These people are no more than medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Zanu PF landlords; they have no choice.
Zanu PF has already denied 3 m Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote for the obvious reason they were not going to vote for the party. How can these elections be anything but a mockery when one contestant is allowed to cherry pick the electorate to the tune of denying 37% of the potential voters the vote!
Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections and the EU recommended 23 reforms to bring Zimbabwe's elections to accepted international electoral standards. Not even one reform has seen the light of day. It was SADC who proposed the 2008 Global Political Agreement leading to the GNU and they too wanted democratic reforms implemented before elections. They took were ignored by both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC.
Both Zanu PF and CCC are hell bent on these flawed elections going ahead for their own selfish reasons. They both need the people to participate to give the process legitimacy and who would have guessed that the church leaders are now doubling up as political commissars encouraging people to participate in a flawed and unGodly process.
Having encouraged people to participate in these flawed and illegal elections on the presumption the nation does not need reforms, it can win rigged elections; the church leaders cannot complain the elections were rigged. The church leaders know all that and they have played along and issued a muted criticism of the election process in the past. They will do so again in six weeks time!
Of course, it is insane and unGodly to keep participating in elections processes "so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw", etc., etc., expecting a different result; especially after 43 years of Zanu PF Mafiosi rigging elections. Who would have guessed that even our clergy would join in in this unGodly insanity! They have and it underlines the sicken depths of depravity our nation has sunk.
Ever since Zimbabwe's independence, in 1980, the church has pandered to the whim and diktats of the ruling elite and lost their moral and spiritual compass. The church leaders have continued to pretend they still had the spiritual authority but they did not, for no one can serve two masters especially contrary masters. Either you travel the straight and narrow path to salvation or go down the broad and ease broadway to damnation. There is no deny which route the church in Zimbabwe has been traveling - the broadway to damnation.
Zanu PF is rigging these 2023 elections. Nothing new, the regime has rigged elections ever since the country's independence in 1980. The country's main opposition party, CCC, and the rest in the opposition camp are participating in these flawed elections knowing fully well that the whole process is a mockery and, worst of all, that doing so will give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship and the tragic human suffering it has brought. They are soldiering on regardless because they also know that Zanu PF is offering a few gravy train seats and POLAD freebies to entice the opposition.
David Coltart has summed up Zimbabwe's precarious political situation in one paragraph.
"The (2013) 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," confessed Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
There is absolutely nothing to be gained by the long suffering povo out of these flawed and illegal elections. Indeed, it is insane for povo to participate in these elections when all they are doing is giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating their own misery. Povo are participating in these flawed elections to perpetuate their own suffering out of ignorance and/or fear.
Credit were credit is due, in the late 1990s the people of Zimbabwe came to the consensus that the nation was being dragged deeper and deeper into hell-on-earth by the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime and the only way to end this ruinous reign was for the country to implement democratic changes designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. It was a belated consensus for Zanu PF had had two decades to dig in and was deeply entrenched in every facet of society; up rooting the dictatorship was, per se, going to be a challenge.
Still, better late than never!
The nation's golden opportunity to implement the democratic changes came during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Alas, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, who the people had risked life and limb to elect into power on the promise the party would implement the changes, sold out. MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in 5 years of the GNU for the same reasons they have been participating in these elections - greed and breath-taking incompetence.
Mugabe bribe Tsvangirai and company with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4m mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. In return, the MDC leaders throw democratic reforms out of the window!
Although the people had reached the consensus to demand democratic changes, they clearly had no clue what these changes are much less how they would be implemented. Ignorance, the people's worst curse. And because of their ignorance of what the reforms were, they failed to realised MDC leaders' betrayal in failing to implement even one reform during the GNU.
Worst still, it is ignorance that has stopped the people from realising the sheer folly of participating in elections "so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw" and that participating will give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate their own suffering.
"Any party or politician that incites violence or persuades you to join in violent attacks, is not worthy of your vote," said the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) in a Pastoral Statement ahead of the country's general elections scheduled for 23 August 2023.
"Give your vote to those who deserve it. Of the many choices that you are presented with, be discerning with the aid of the Holy Spirit and choose who you want."
How naive! How insane!
The millions of rural voters are routinely frogmarched to attend Zanu PF rallies and in like manner will be frogmarched to vote for the party on 23 August. These people are no more than medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Zanu PF landlords; they have no choice.
Zanu PF has already denied 3 m Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote for the obvious reason they were not going to vote for the party. How can these elections be anything but a mockery when one contestant is allowed to cherry pick the electorate to the tune of denying 37% of the potential voters the vote!
Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections and the EU recommended 23 reforms to bring Zimbabwe's elections to accepted international electoral standards. Not even one reform has seen the light of day. It was SADC who proposed the 2008 Global Political Agreement leading to the GNU and they too wanted democratic reforms implemented before elections. They took were ignored by both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC.
Both Zanu PF and CCC are hell bent on these flawed elections going ahead for their own selfish reasons. They both need the people to participate to give the process legitimacy and who would have guessed that the church leaders are now doubling up as political commissars encouraging people to participate in a flawed and unGodly process.
Having encouraged people to participate in these flawed and illegal elections on the presumption the nation does not need reforms, it can win rigged elections; the church leaders cannot complain the elections were rigged. The church leaders know all that and they have played along and issued a muted criticism of the election process in the past. They will do so again in six weeks time!
Of course, it is insane and unGodly to keep participating in elections processes "so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw", etc., etc., expecting a different result; especially after 43 years of Zanu PF Mafiosi rigging elections. Who would have guessed that even our clergy would join in in this unGodly insanity! They have and it underlines the sicken depths of depravity our nation has sunk.
Source - zimbabwelight.blogspot.com
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