Zimpapers Logo

out of his senses that he actually saw it fit to rush to involve the Sadc and AU to persuade them to push for delayed elections in Zimbabwe.
Don’t they say you reap what you sow and elections cannot be wished away?

Tsvangirai behaves as if it’s only his party which is going to participate in the next general elections. It’s as if he is the one with the prerogative to decide on when Zimbabweans should go for elections.

The MDC-T leader forgets that there are various political parties which according to Zimbabwe’s democratic laws should also be accorded the same status as any other political party. The days of a few political parties calling the shots in the inclusive Government are soon going to be over. Dumiso Dabengwa and his Zapu, Simba Makoni and his Mavambo, Job Sikhala and his MDC-99 and a plethora of other known and unknown political parties will also be competing for public office in the up-coming elections.

The elections are no longer about the two MDC formations and Zanu-PF. If Tsvangirai makes the mistake of boycotting the election then he will be digging deeper and deeper his political grave, which anyway, will soon be filled up with concrete, steel and cement. On it will be written an epitaph that reads “Buried here, is a political party which gave its whole soul to imperialism.”

President Kenneth Kaunda once boycotted the Zambian elections citing various irregularities in the electoral process and the elections went ahead giving the late Fredrick Chiluba and his Movement for Multi-party Democracy a landslide victory.

Elections are not based on the interests of individual political leaders but they are about citizens making informed choices on who should occupy political or public office. It is the constitution that guides government on how and when elections should be held  in any given state. It is not Tsvangirai, Sadc and the African Union that decide on such issues. No, never!

States remain sovereign entities. South Africa allows gay rights and abortion and no Sadc or African Union state can change that. Zimbabwe’s laws cannot be changed by any Sadc country too.

In one of our articles we clearly pointed out that even if the Prime Minister was to go to the moon today, he would get all the publicity like what Armstrong and his team of astronauts did, but that would never ever give him the edge over President Mugabe. For quite some time, the MDC has been calling for President Mugabe to go but what’s quite surprising is that they are now fearful and vacillating to go for elections in order for President Mugabe to go as they so wish. Isn’t this hypocrisy? How can President Mugabe go without an election defeat? Only if wishes were horses then the MDC-T leadership would surely ride.

If these Western surrogates are really serious about the going of President Mugabe then they should call for elections and see if they can defeat him. In the MDC-T camp, there seems to be an unwillingness to go for elections yet all along they have been calling for the President to go. What cheap politics! We forgive a child for fearing the dark — but we find it very disturbing when an adult fears the light. How can the electorate take the MDC-T seriously when the two Ezomgido clowns domiciled in the UK and smelling of Blairite treachery want to represent the party in the coming elections? The choices some political parties make are pregnant with gross error and are inane.

It is now an indisputable fact within the MDC camp as well as that of their sympathisers that no matter what strategy they might come up with, their chances of putting Humpty-Dumpty together again are next to none, otherwise it could be the greatest miracle in human history which would lead to a re-writing of the Humpty-Dumpty rhyme to suit this earthly marvel or wonder.

If the President, who is under Western sanctions can raise millions of dollars to help both peasant and urban farmers with seed and fertiliser, imagine what more he could do for the people if he was not placed under such evil and diabolical shackles. On the other hand, the Prime Minister, who is not under any form of sanctions, has failed to give the peasant and urban farmers even a single gram of seed maize. What more do we expect from him other than inviting poor Buhera peasants to witness him officially opening his own mother’s drip irrigation scheme. That smells of self-centredness and very poor leadership qualities! The masses should bury this heartless euro-centric political party which was sired by a brutal illegitimate imperialist father once and for all.

Can this outfit of misfits be trusted by all right thinking Zimbabweans when it calls for security sector reforms? In times of peace states should always prepare for war. The Zimbabwean security sector is one of the best in Africa and we cannot simply let these Western controlled surrogates play hide and seek with such an indispensable sector that jealously safeguards our independence, freedom and aspirations. America is what it is today because of its security sector. This has absolutely nothing to do with democracy, good governance and rule of law. Democracy can only survive, be maintained and preserved by a strong security sector. The advantage that the Americans have in accessing oil in the Middle East is not about democracy, free and fair elections and transparency. That’s far from it. It is all about military preponderance. If American democracy or Chinese socialism can best be safeguarded by a strong security sector then Zimbabwe’ liberation ethos also need to be preserved through a strong security sector.

It’s very pathetic when the technocrats or think tank of a political party such as the MDC-T suggests that if they ever get into power (which they will never do) they will fire all serving security chiefs with Zanla or Zipra background and hire retired and serving senior security sector staff from western countries. Whose interests will these hired western security agents safeguard? Political parties which think in such a backward way should never be voted into power. Nicollo Machiavelli, the Italian political philosopher states that any wise leader should never rely for the security of his state on a foreign security sector.

We need not mention any names, but we wonder why Political Science and International Relations graduates in the MDC-T are failing to advise their party leadership accordingly. We believe that these young men and women are more or better informed in such sensitive areas of a state’s security.

American Republicans and Democrats might differ on some issues but they never differ on questions of the security sector. All states exist in a state of anarchy in the international arena , they all pursue self interest and they try to acquire power to secure themselves and ensure their survival in a system where no other state or authority will come to save them if they fail to do so themselves. We wonder whose interests these hired security personnel will represent in the event that war breaks out between their country and Zimbabwe?

Because some states may use force on other states it is therefore imperative that a state relies on its own people to defend its territory, sovereignty and independence. Hired security personnel might sympathise with the invaders thus leaving the state they are supposed to defend vulnerable and open to invasion. The MDC-T must live in the real world with men as they are, and not in some ideal world where men behave as they ought to. Over the years, we have seen what has happened to states in the international system after hiring security sector personnel from other countries.

Had it not been quick military intervention by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola in the DRC crisis of 1998 Kabila’s government would have easily fallen to these hired military traitors. Leaders who hire the security sector of other countries have not been very successful in maintaining peace and stability within their territories. Come election time, all progressive Zimbabweans should in their thousands bury this outfit of political charlatans devoid of any sensible ideas to run this beautiful country of ours. They have been breast fed on imperialistic and treacherous sour milk for so long that they have totally lost their senses. Is there really any sane man in the MDC-T party today? We absolutely doubt that.

The MDC-T support base is dwindling each passing day due to its very flawed and warped mentality. It has been a party that has been thriving on the suffering of the masses hoodwinking them through the donor funded media that Zanu-PF’s economic policies have created poverty among the general populace. Most urban Zimbabweans actually believed in this idiocy unaware that it was the very MDC party which had actually called for sanctions against the people.

The irony of it all is that the same workers who had overwhelmingly voted for the MDC were the very first casualties of the Morgan Tsvangirai induced sanctions as many industries which had been very vibrant and productive started closing down citing operational challenges. Tsvangirai saw the closure of these industries as a big advantage towards his political party since the whole blame would be put on Zanu-PF mismanagement. He even went on to brag that he had the keys to open up all closed industries only if he was voted into the highest office of the land. The urbanites saw him as a saviour who would uplift them from the shackles of poverty.

Tsvangirai was acting more like a sorcerer, who after poisoning the village well, would then go around the same village healing the affected victims as to gain respect and popularity. The day the villagers would come to know of such treachery then all hell would break loose. Zimbabwean retrenches now know the person who poisoned their employment well. Civil servants have actually learnt the hard way as they have not had any reasonable salary increment in this inclusive government. The promises made by the MDC-T leader have come to naught. Farmers are struggling to stay afloat as no credible assistance is coming from the Ministry of Finance.

The Chiredzi community and its surrounding areas now know exactly which political party is throwing spanners to the whole ethanol project and they are eagerly waiting for elections to come so that they will bury this imperialist intermediary once and for all. A majority of university students now know that the only political party that can re-introduce grants in the near future is Zanu PF. A neo-liberal outfit like the MDC would rather maintain the user fees on state institutions as per IMF and WB conditionality.

There is absolutely nothing that can be admired from a political party that was solely formed to safeguard and serve imperialist interests. The coming elections should not be about the urban populace versus the rural masses but it should be a plebiscite in which all Zimbabweans bury once and for all a political party that has given its soul to imperialism.

Bowden B.C. Mbanje and Darlington N. Mahuku are lecturers in international relations, and peace and governance with Bindura University of Science Education.