Opinion / Columnist
'We consider free elections as a tool for peace and stability' said SADC chief election observer. Yeah! Since when?
19 Aug 2023 at 12:03hrs | Views
"So our determination is to support every effort that is going to give us a free and fair election," SADC chief election observer and former Zambian deputy president Never Sekwila Mumba said on arrival.
"We consider a free and fair election as a tool for peace and stability in any country.
"So if we do not have a fair election, we are going to be subjected to insecurity for quite a while."
This was sweet, sweet music to every thinking Zimbabwean out there because Zimbabwe is a failed state precisely because we have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections ever since the country's independence in 1980. Former deputy president Mumba are even sweeter because SADC has endorsed rigged elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy and thus contributing to the country's political instability and not ending it.
It was SADC's refusal to endorse Zanu PF's claim of election victory in 2008 that forced Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need for Zimbabwe to implement the democratic reforms designed to prevent a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence by Zanu PF. A GNU was formed comprising Zanu PF and the two MDC factions and tasked to implement the democratic reforms.
Credit where credit is due! SADC leaders tried their best to get MDC leaders to implement the democratic reforms but not no avail. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. And to show their gratitude, the MDC leaders kicked reforms into the thorny bushes.
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life, they will never rock the boat!" boasted the Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
Of course the Zanu PF cronies were right, they knew only too well the corrupting influence of the patronage system behind the gravy train mentality; they were victims of the same themselves.
"Mose murivakadzi vaMugabe!" (You are all Mugabe's concubines, you will never rock the boat!) Margaret Dongo once scolded the Zanu PF MPs and Ministers in sheer exasperation at their failure to stand-up to Mugabe even when they were duty bound to do so. A remarked that, no doubt, tickled the late dictator to his death!
With not even one meaningful reform implemented, SADC leaders called for Zimbabwe's 2013 elections to be postponed until reforms were implemented. "If you participate in these elections, you will lose. The elections are done!" they warned Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends at the SADC Summit in Maputo in June 2013.
Once again MDC leaders paid no heed and Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the elections. SADC leaders went on to endorse the elections, a volte-face since they had condemned the same just weeks earlier, and grant Zanu PF political legitimacy.
"What else could SADC leaders do since their efforts to get democratic reforms had been rebuffed by MDC and the ordinary Zimbabweans (through their failure to back SADC in forcing MDC to implement reforms)" many have argued. Of course, they have a point.
Still, it must be said that granting vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy these last ten years, in 2013 and then again in 2018, has not helped Zimbabwe solve its problem of rigged elections and bad governance. There is crying need for SADC to rethink.
If SADC is truly committed to breaking Zimbabwe's cycle of rigged elections and bad governance, as former deputy president Mumba as the chief of the regional body's observer team, says SADC is. Then SADC must do what it should have done after the 2013 elections - condemn these 2023 elections as a farce and deny Zanu PF political legitimacy.
We all know that not even one token democratic reform was implemented since the 2013 elections. These 2023 elections have being held with no verified voters' roll, there have been many cases of intimidation and wanton violence, the regime has squandered over US$5 billion buying voters and bribing key elections officials, etc., etc. "These 2023 elections are done!" to repeat SADC leaders' 2013 elections warning.
"We consider a free and fair election as a tool for peace and stability in any country.
"So if we do not have a fair election, we are going to be subjected to insecurity for quite a while."
This was sweet, sweet music to every thinking Zimbabwean out there because Zimbabwe is a failed state precisely because we have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections ever since the country's independence in 1980. Former deputy president Mumba are even sweeter because SADC has endorsed rigged elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy and thus contributing to the country's political instability and not ending it.
It was SADC's refusal to endorse Zanu PF's claim of election victory in 2008 that forced Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need for Zimbabwe to implement the democratic reforms designed to prevent a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence by Zanu PF. A GNU was formed comprising Zanu PF and the two MDC factions and tasked to implement the democratic reforms.
Credit where credit is due! SADC leaders tried their best to get MDC leaders to implement the democratic reforms but not no avail. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. And to show their gratitude, the MDC leaders kicked reforms into the thorny bushes.
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life, they will never rock the boat!" boasted the Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
Of course the Zanu PF cronies were right, they knew only too well the corrupting influence of the patronage system behind the gravy train mentality; they were victims of the same themselves.
"Mose murivakadzi vaMugabe!" (You are all Mugabe's concubines, you will never rock the boat!) Margaret Dongo once scolded the Zanu PF MPs and Ministers in sheer exasperation at their failure to stand-up to Mugabe even when they were duty bound to do so. A remarked that, no doubt, tickled the late dictator to his death!
With not even one meaningful reform implemented, SADC leaders called for Zimbabwe's 2013 elections to be postponed until reforms were implemented. "If you participate in these elections, you will lose. The elections are done!" they warned Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends at the SADC Summit in Maputo in June 2013.
Once again MDC leaders paid no heed and Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the elections. SADC leaders went on to endorse the elections, a volte-face since they had condemned the same just weeks earlier, and grant Zanu PF political legitimacy.
"What else could SADC leaders do since their efforts to get democratic reforms had been rebuffed by MDC and the ordinary Zimbabweans (through their failure to back SADC in forcing MDC to implement reforms)" many have argued. Of course, they have a point.
Still, it must be said that granting vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy these last ten years, in 2013 and then again in 2018, has not helped Zimbabwe solve its problem of rigged elections and bad governance. There is crying need for SADC to rethink.
If SADC is truly committed to breaking Zimbabwe's cycle of rigged elections and bad governance, as former deputy president Mumba as the chief of the regional body's observer team, says SADC is. Then SADC must do what it should have done after the 2013 elections - condemn these 2023 elections as a farce and deny Zanu PF political legitimacy.
We all know that not even one token democratic reform was implemented since the 2013 elections. These 2023 elections have being held with no verified voters' roll, there have been many cases of intimidation and wanton violence, the regime has squandered over US$5 billion buying voters and bribing key elections officials, etc., etc. "These 2023 elections are done!" to repeat SADC leaders' 2013 elections warning.
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.com
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