A most unkind ruse

It matters little whether this government delivers a new constitution, be it one authored by the people or by the three wise men in the dead of the night in a boat moored in the middle of Lake Kariba. It is even less important that a new Independent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is set up with full authority over elections in the country.

For, a constitution and an electoral commission can never deliver a credible election when the voters register is packed with tens of thousands of names of dead people and some who have never walked this earth but who will most certainly be present on voting day to cast a decisive ballot in favour of the usual suspects.

As we report elsewhere in this paper, a study of the voters roll by the Research and Advocacy Unit has identified names of 74 021 voters aged above 100 who are registered to vote in late 2010 or early 2011 when new elections expected.

This is a truly amazing discovery in a country where very few people outside the Zanu (PF) elite can ever hope to live beyond 50 let alone 100 years.

Thanks to President Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF)s warped polices of the last 29 years, average life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 34 years for women and 37 years for men. Where are all these centenarian voters coming from?

So, we could get a new constitution and as many independent commissions as we like but Zanu (PF) gets to retain the tools of deception such as the fraudulent voters roll.

The Zanu (PF) game is about wining power at all costs. Forget the peoples will!

This explains the indecent haste by Information Minister Webster Shamu more than a week ago to unilaterally appoint boards to all government media and information companies.

Zanu (PF) has always regarded government owned newspapers and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) as vital cogs in the partys vote mobilisation machine. That is why Shamu must ring-fence them to prevent infiltration by the MDC and other perceived enemies.

The Zimbabwe Media Commission can come but it can never retrieve the state-owned media from the claws of Zanu (PF) when former military men and trusted allies of Mugabes party sit on the boards of ZBH and the newspaper companies.

And just in case everything else fails and electoral defeat for Zanu (PF) becomes inevitable, the unreformed security forces are on standby to overthrow the peoples will. Remember June 27, 2008!

It is a most unkind ruse they are playing on us all. But one so impossible to execute should the MDC take a firm stand and demand that Mugabe and Zanu (PF) fulfill all their commitments under the GPA. Its over to you Mr Prime Minister.