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In the village, seasons come and pass.
In the village moons come and pass, albeit slowly.
In the village the sun rises and sets, albeit slowly.
In the short, in the village time lapses!

Once the inclusive Government was formed, it was a sure case that one day its lifespan would expire.
That time is now.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and many, others who were fortunate enough to enter government via the back door, seem to have been shocked by the ambiance and flamboyancy of the life in Government — the Mercs, the houses, the trips, the hotels and the limelight.

The women too!
And, this villager wonders if ever they understood that the moons and the days were passing.
To be honest, there were very few if any, projects initiated by MDC-T to benefit communities during their period in Government.

This villager challenges the MDC-T not to count beyond his fingers, in terms of any projects initiated.
In the village, the notable MDC-T project is the Prime Minister’s marriage that made noise and left chicken laughing throughout the villages.

Compare that with Zanu-PF’s community share ownership schemes, indigenisation, women’s empowerment, President Mugabe’s scholarship scheme and schools computerisation project.

The time for elections has come and that time is now.   
This week has been a busy one, MDC formations battling to score on the Maputo Sadc summit, backed and barked on by a vociferous media that went out of its way to justify this and that position.

The media forgot their basic principle of informing the public and instead, made wide interpretations that further confused the public.
What came out clear was the media’s lack of understanding of Sadc protocols and fundamental principles.

In the end it was all much ado about nothing.
Nothing, nothing and nothing!

Noise!
Media reforms and security sector reforms, done between now and August 14, yet they could not be done in four years?
Security sector reforms done between now and August 14, swinging the vote in favour of MDC formations — my foot!

It is fear and nothing more.
The fear of losing the election, nothing less nothing more.

Why would one be afraid of going for elections, when the prospects of winning are very high?
For as long as the media does not understand protocols and principles, it will forever be abused for selfish gains.

Under normal circumstances, the media must have read that MDC formations are running scared of elections.
Ever since they went into Government their politicians have filled cupboards with skeletons.

They are no longer accountable to the people.
They have lost the trust of the people in all urban councils they are running.

Service delivery in all the council they have been running has collapsed.
The MDC formations have lost power, even the power to have sanction removed.

Everything is against the MDC formations in that, Zimbabweans now know who they are, what they stand for and their unprincipled stance.
Zimbabweans now know that one cannot expect honey from a fly.

Go to Mabvuku and see women and men queuing for water at 2 am.
Go to Mbare, Chitungwiza and Glen View and see uncollected rubbish.

Go to Highlands and Borrowdale and see the houses the new MDC-T councillors now live in, abandoning the voters in the low density suburb, were sewage flows every day.
On average a woman in the rural areas is better placed in terms of fetching water than one in town.

The borehole and wells in the villages are now crowded.
No one fights for water.

A woman in the rural area knows that fetching water is a daily routine; a woman in town cannot plan because today there is water running from the tap and tomorrow there is no water until a month later.

Go to the villages and see the new schools, clinics and boreholes funded under community share ownership schemes.
Go to the villages and see roads maintained under the community share ownership schemes.

Go to the villages and see dams constructed under the community share ownership schemes and the subsequent irrigation schemes.
Go to the villages and see cars, homes, cattle and fancy livelihoods courtesy of tobacco farming.  Go to the villages and see youth projects that have changed the lives of many.

What has MDC done?
We, the villagers are not fools. We know MDC-T in particular, is haunted by its failure to implement meaningful projects.

Its Ministers were satisfied with enjoying Government benefits and not the people who voted them into power.  We are not affected by security sector reforms, we are not affected by media reforms, we are affected by bread and butter issues.

The land, the food and the education is what affects us and not security sector reforms.
Ask villagers in Muchekawaora, Checheche, Chachacha, Gandavaroyi, Madicheche, Binga, Dande and Muzarabani, among others.

What the hell is security sector reform?
Back to Maputo, from the village point of view, it was evident that Sadc identified President Mugabe as the centre of power, the only man who could talk to the courts.
Sadc was able to identify that only the President has the powers to proclaim election dates.

Secondly, Sadc was able to crucially, note that the rule of law should be upheld.
But thirdly and most important of the things that happened in Maputo, Sadc was very diplomatic.

It is this diplomacy that the journalists failed to interpret.
Diplomacy, they say, is the art of sending someone to hell in such a manner that they actually look forward to the trip. After all the noise the MDC formations made in Maputo, Sadc was very clever and diplomatic. It referred back the case to the Zimbabwean courts via Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa.

Sadc did not want to appear to be favouring President Mugabe but at the same time did not want to favour the MDC formations.
Legally, and by its own admission, Sadc cannot override the country’s laws and it showed exactly that.

Essentially Sadc referred the MDC formations back to the same courts that had ruled of the July 31 election but even made it clear that the MDC formations themselves would not be recogniSed by the Constitutional Court in terms of extending the date.

Sadc in effect told the MDC formations that they had to go through Minister Chinamasa, the man, whose voice the Constitutional Courts can legally hear.
Whatever, the outcome of the Constitutional Court appeal, the election will still come and soon.

The delaying tactics can be tried here and there but the bag of tricks will soon run empty.
Like or hate them, the elections are coming.

A two week delay will not do anything to dampen our spirit, our revolutionary spirit.
It is payback time.

The voters will vote for what they know. All this noise is much ado about nothing. It is an impish attempt at painting the air.