When I recently talked to Douglas Mwonzora first, and then Rugare Gumbo, the mood they showed was one of celebration. They both said it was a positive development for the principals to have put Tsvangirai in charge of electoral structures and processes.
Mwonzora’s endorsement of the move seems to be inspired by the fact that he firmly believes in his boss’s capacity and integrity to superintend the elections. Reading between the lines of Gumbo’s remarks, one finds reason to be unsettled. I interpret them as a quest to seek legitimation around likely electoral trickery and subterfuge.
Gumbo plainly acknowledged that putting Tsvangirai in that position was a way of ensuring that there would be no criticism of the election outcome.
That is where the whole tragedy lies. It is clear that the Zanu (PF) side of government is not motivated by Tsvangirai’s personal, political and professional merit in allowing him to steer the electoral process, but want to use him as a shop mannequin—to window dress the elections and their outcome.
It would be difficult, maybe even senseless, for SADC and the greater international community to cry foul in the event that the elections are rigged, stolen or undermined by one party. Let us assume that Tsvangirai fails to reform ZEC, the media et cetera, and elections go ahead – who would be blamed if ZEC, as it has done in the past, rigs the polls on behalf of President Robert Mugabe? Who would say the elections were neither free nor fair?
It should be noted that even the MDC would severely be limited in this regard. No-one would take seriously a referee who allows goals during a game but goes on to complain that the result was bad because the playing field was uneven and one of the teams behaved badly. Fans and observers would always ask: “But were you not in charge of the game yourself? Are you not culpable?”
By the way, it is always the head cook who is blamed when the broth turns nasty. The diners are hardly concerned about the fact that one chef threw in some sand, or that the head cook hardly had control over the ingredients. Tsvangirai has accepted the post of head cook, and should be aware of the pitfalls that accompany that status.
In the meantime, naturally, Zanu (PF) would be smiling all the way from the polling command centre. After all, guys from that party are not worried about the rules of the game; they are only interested in the outcome, particularly where the score favours them.
And it looks like the score might favour them, if one closely examines what obtains on the ground.
As I pointed out last week, there is something very smelly about the manner in which the police are cracking down on civil society, raiding offices and arresting people willy-nilly. It is abundantly ominous that Mugabe, on one hand, has remained mum about this flagrant excess, and Tsvangirai has not raised a finger over it.
Yet it is clear that the crackdown on civil society has a direct bearing on the outcome of the elections. Voters have been rattled and there might apathy. The electorate is being reminded of what happened in 2008, and election years before, and it has every reason to be scared. Communities remain starved of information as radios they could have used to gain access to much-needed news are being illegally confiscated.
That is not all. As we twiddle our fingers, the voters’ roll remains chaotic and people are being intimidated by militias. ZEC remains firmly in the hands of Zanu (PF). Never mind the commission board, it is the secretariat that rules, OK, and who does not know what kind of people are running the day-to-day affairs of ZEC?
Soldiers are stuffing the roll, and villagers are being bussed into urban wards and constituencies to register as voters. God knows how many other instances of voter registration fraud are taking place, or what the state of constituency delimitation is.
If I were Tsvangirai, I would certainly not want to be used as an endorsement figure for such a mess. I do not have a good reason to believe that Tsvangirai has the capacity to clean it up before the elections are held.
I would not like to believe that Mugabe, Rugare Gumbo and others in Zanu (PF) have suddenly seen the wisdom of respecting Tsvangirai. The catch lies somewhere and the MDC boss should proceed with utmost caution. – For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis
I now see sense MDC-T did a big mistake by taking on board such responsibilities.
ndizvo zvinoita hondo, dambudziko ratinaro izvozvi ngerekuti vamwe vakadziidza chaizvo havaoni zvakavanakira asi kutoti vanoda kuudzwa kuti zvakakunakira ngeizvi, regai mukoma morgen vanyatsekuona kuti zec irikushanda zvakanaka here.izvozvi apiwa chigaro chekuti aone kuti zvinhu zviri kufamba sei,dzimwe shasha dzakadziidza zvikuru dzave kuti ”itsitsi wai kubvisa madzihwa mwana we mvana” manje zvoitwa sei vakomana??????? nyika ngeyedu tese zanu,zanu-pf,mdc-t,mdc-n, zum, ndu,nag nevamwe vasina pavari chaipo.
This is one of the best articles I have read for a long time, thank you.
After five years twiddle with his fingers Tsvangirai is please he now has been given a job to do or be it drink out of a poisoned chalice. He is to stupid and naive to see that and hence is going ahead blindly.
Having failed to get even one of the agreed reforms implemented PM Tsvangirai and MDC have invested all political capital in the copac constitution and they are dead set on seeing it accepted in the referendum although it is clear that it will not deliver free and fair elections. If people voted no then the nation will have the only chance left to force the implementation of the reforms. A yes vote will be the coup de grace to that last chance.
And yet the very man, Tsvangirai, who should be fighting tooth and nail to make sure that chance is not wasted if the one fight for a yes vote with the blind zeal of the madman Chandagwinyira who will seat before a blazing camp fire on a roasting hot day because having set his mind on a course of action nothing, absolutely nothing, will stop him seeing it through.
It is the people, the whole nation, who will pay the heavy price of all Tsvangirai’ blundering!