VIOLENCE UP AS ELECTIONS DRAW CLOSER IN ZIMBABWE
Police have arrested two more members of staff from the Prime Minister’s Communications Office, caretakers, Spiwe Vera and Elizabeth Banda. This brings to six the number of staff members from the Office of the Prime Minister arrested inside five days. Lawyers have been dispatched to Harare Central Police Station to attend to them.Four party officials were arrested Sunday, along with prominent rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who was trying to represent them during police searches of their offices and homes. The four top officials are accused of compiling information on the state’s failure to prosecute cases of high level corruption.
Critics accuse ZANU-PF of abusing state security organs to intimidate its rivals ahead of crucial elections. The harassment of ZANU-PF’s perceived opponents extends to civic society groups, human rights lawyers and the private media.While the police have been quick to arrest suspected MDC-T perpetrators of violence, they have not done the same to ZANU-PF supporters and officials fingered in acts of violence. Nearly all ZANU-PF supporters and members fingered in attacks against MDC-T supporters continue to walk free. ZANU-PF has been buoyed by opinion polls that have placed its leader ahead of PM Tsvangirai, his main rival.
At this eleventh hour, ZANU-PF is once again revealing its true colours , true to the idiom that a leopard does not change its spots. The ZANU-PF election machinery has been set in motion and, true to our predictions violence has flared up once more as the party’s agents provocateurs hunt down their rivals. Poor MDC-T is only realising the lack of sincerity on the part of ZANU-PF when it has become doubly difficult for it to disentangle itself from the electoral processes that it has signed up to without discrediting itself. In the next few months, the nation would be headed for polls to retire the unity government with all indications pointing to a repeat of the sham 2008 elections that gave rise to this triumvirate. There is really nothing on the ground to suggest that the country would for once stage free and fair elections whose outcome would be regarded as legitimate.
The only thing that has changed since the MDC-T joined the coalition in 1999 is that the party has totally discredited itself so much such that its ratings have tumbled as evidenced by the results of recent opinion polls by Afrobarometer, Zimbabwe Vigil, Freedom House and the Mass Public Opinion Institute. The MDC-T has found itself failing where it mattered most: It has failed to push for the change that it has been promising an expectant populace since its formation in 1999. Its former allies, including the National Constitutional Assembly and the Commercial Farmers Union, are crying foul; they argue that the MDC-T has lost its cause.
While the party has found a convenient scapegoat in ZANU-PF, blaming its rivals for frustrating reforms agreed to under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and sabotaging its Government Work Programme, nothing could be further from the truth. The party has simply proved to be out of its depths, it has lacked the skills, depth and stamina required at that level. MDC-T officials have easily fallen for the trappings of power, very few of them have been able to translate their newly-found bling into something that could change the lives of the ordinary citizens wallowing in poverty.
To a lot of people, nothing distinguishes the MDC-T from ZANU-PF anymore both political parties have deviated from their founding principles. The past four years have also seen MDC-T officials joining the gravy train abusing their positions in order to enrich themselves. Even at the very top, the party’s leadership has struggled to prove its worth. Take for instance the premier who, apart from marrying a young beautiful wife and acquiring a luxurious mansion in the leafy suburb of Highlands has been known more for controversy than delivering on issues that really matter to the electorate.
During the sustenance of the unity government, it can be argued that poverty has actually worsened as a result of the catastrophic closure of companies, the infighting in the coalition and the collapse in disposable incomes.
What the MDC-T claims to be among its achievements in the inclusive government, the new constitution, merely entrenches the status quo. It has left intact the President’s overbearing influence in the operations of the State despite the deafening calls for the dilution of excessive executive powers. It is shocking that the MDC-T leader now sees nothing wrong with an all too powerful presidency. But like a sheep being taken for slaughter, the MDC-T will go into the elections on the same terms and conditions as happened in 2008: Nothing really has changed on the ground.
The arrest of its officials over what many people see as trumped-up charges should come as a rude awakening for the MDC-T. The tempo is being upped in terms of the intimidation and harassment of MDC-T officials, the private media, non-governmental organisations and human rights lawyers ahead of the elections to prepare the ground for “a resounding ZANU-PF victory.”
As is usually the case, the police have been quick to arrest perceived MDC-T offenders but turning a blind eye to perpetrators from ZANU-PF. The State-owned broadcast and print media are also throwing punches at ZANU-PF’s rivals. Once again, PM Tsvangirai and his party have been led down the garden path. They have been made to supervise electoral processes and giving legitimacy to an exercise they absolutely have no control over. While the premier has become the face of the electoral processes in Zimbabwe, the political environment has remained tilted in ZANU-PF’s favour. The MDC-T, as we have pointed out before, has got itself to blame for it. The party has not used its time in the inclusive government to lobby for meaningful reforms capable of producing a credible electoral outcome.
It should not come as a surprise to the MDC-T that police are behaving in this manner because their leadership has long pledged its loyalty to ZANU-PF and has taken to mobilising support for their favourite party and removing any impediments along the way that could scuttle a ZANU-PF victory. In fact, all security apparatus have proven beyond any shred of doubt that they are under ZANU-PF’s wings. Under the circumstances, the MDC-T should have done a lot more to press for reforms. After all the GPA had envisaged a situation whereby the army, intelligence service and police would conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner. The GPA was also desirous to see Zimbabweans enjoying unrestrained democratic rights among them freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly.
But with a few months to go before the unity government comes to its logical conclusion, the MDC-T is still behaving as if it was operating outside government whose mandate was to implement the GPA.
The MDC-T should have seen this coming. It should have emphatically and unequivocally pushed its position regarding the need for reforms before the referendum and the main elections to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) who are the arbiters in the Zimbabwe crisis.
Stanley Mauro Jensen
Critics accuse ZANU-PF of abusing state security organs to intimidate its rivals ahead of crucial elections. The harassment of ZANU-PF’s perceived opponents extends to civic society groups, human rights lawyers and the private media.While the police have been quick to arrest suspected MDC-T perpetrators of violence, they have not done the same to ZANU-PF supporters and officials fingered in acts of violence. Nearly all ZANU-PF supporters and members fingered in attacks against MDC-T supporters continue to walk free. ZANU-PF has been buoyed by opinion polls that have placed its leader ahead of PM Tsvangirai, his main rival.
At this eleventh hour, ZANU-PF is once again revealing its true colours , true to the idiom that a leopard does not change its spots. The ZANU-PF election machinery has been set in motion and, true to our predictions violence has flared up once more as the party’s agents provocateurs hunt down their rivals. Poor MDC-T is only realising the lack of sincerity on the part of ZANU-PF when it has become doubly difficult for it to disentangle itself from the electoral processes that it has signed up to without discrediting itself. In the next few months, the nation would be headed for polls to retire the unity government with all indications pointing to a repeat of the sham 2008 elections that gave rise to this triumvirate. There is really nothing on the ground to suggest that the country would for once stage free and fair elections whose outcome would be regarded as legitimate.
The only thing that has changed since the MDC-T joined the coalition in 1999 is that the party has totally discredited itself so much such that its ratings have tumbled as evidenced by the results of recent opinion polls by Afrobarometer, Zimbabwe Vigil, Freedom House and the Mass Public Opinion Institute. The MDC-T has found itself failing where it mattered most: It has failed to push for the change that it has been promising an expectant populace since its formation in 1999. Its former allies, including the National Constitutional Assembly and the Commercial Farmers Union, are crying foul; they argue that the MDC-T has lost its cause.
While the party has found a convenient scapegoat in ZANU-PF, blaming its rivals for frustrating reforms agreed to under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and sabotaging its Government Work Programme, nothing could be further from the truth. The party has simply proved to be out of its depths, it has lacked the skills, depth and stamina required at that level. MDC-T officials have easily fallen for the trappings of power, very few of them have been able to translate their newly-found bling into something that could change the lives of the ordinary citizens wallowing in poverty.
To a lot of people, nothing distinguishes the MDC-T from ZANU-PF anymore both political parties have deviated from their founding principles. The past four years have also seen MDC-T officials joining the gravy train abusing their positions in order to enrich themselves. Even at the very top, the party’s leadership has struggled to prove its worth. Take for instance the premier who, apart from marrying a young beautiful wife and acquiring a luxurious mansion in the leafy suburb of Highlands has been known more for controversy than delivering on issues that really matter to the electorate.
During the sustenance of the unity government, it can be argued that poverty has actually worsened as a result of the catastrophic closure of companies, the infighting in the coalition and the collapse in disposable incomes.
What the MDC-T claims to be among its achievements in the inclusive government, the new constitution, merely entrenches the status quo. It has left intact the President’s overbearing influence in the operations of the State despite the deafening calls for the dilution of excessive executive powers. It is shocking that the MDC-T leader now sees nothing wrong with an all too powerful presidency. But like a sheep being taken for slaughter, the MDC-T will go into the elections on the same terms and conditions as happened in 2008: Nothing really has changed on the ground.
The arrest of its officials over what many people see as trumped-up charges should come as a rude awakening for the MDC-T. The tempo is being upped in terms of the intimidation and harassment of MDC-T officials, the private media, non-governmental organisations and human rights lawyers ahead of the elections to prepare the ground for “a resounding ZANU-PF victory.”
As is usually the case, the police have been quick to arrest perceived MDC-T offenders but turning a blind eye to perpetrators from ZANU-PF. The State-owned broadcast and print media are also throwing punches at ZANU-PF’s rivals. Once again, PM Tsvangirai and his party have been led down the garden path. They have been made to supervise electoral processes and giving legitimacy to an exercise they absolutely have no control over. While the premier has become the face of the electoral processes in Zimbabwe, the political environment has remained tilted in ZANU-PF’s favour. The MDC-T, as we have pointed out before, has got itself to blame for it. The party has not used its time in the inclusive government to lobby for meaningful reforms capable of producing a credible electoral outcome.
It should not come as a surprise to the MDC-T that police are behaving in this manner because their leadership has long pledged its loyalty to ZANU-PF and has taken to mobilising support for their favourite party and removing any impediments along the way that could scuttle a ZANU-PF victory. In fact, all security apparatus have proven beyond any shred of doubt that they are under ZANU-PF’s wings. Under the circumstances, the MDC-T should have done a lot more to press for reforms. After all the GPA had envisaged a situation whereby the army, intelligence service and police would conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner. The GPA was also desirous to see Zimbabweans enjoying unrestrained democratic rights among them freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly.
But with a few months to go before the unity government comes to its logical conclusion, the MDC-T is still behaving as if it was operating outside government whose mandate was to implement the GPA.
The MDC-T should have seen this coming. It should have emphatically and unequivocally pushed its position regarding the need for reforms before the referendum and the main elections to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) who are the arbiters in the Zimbabwe crisis.
Stanley Mauro Jensen
Comments