The bottom line is, Zanu (PF) has clogged all avenues that the opposition could use to unseat it through peaceful means. By manipulating all state institutions – ZEC, ZRP, ZNA – and the courts, it would require a miracle or a magic wand to dismantle a system anchored by compromised men and women who have sacrificed all principles on the altar of political expediency.
So, even if the MDC were to provide overwhelming evidence of electoral fraud, justice would have remained a pie in the sky – an unjust system cannot give justice.
Calling for protests would have been another exercise in futility. The well-oiled organs of state terror were ready to crush it ruthlessly. But before one can even point to state terror, the million dollar question is how many of us peace-loving Zimbabweans would have given up the comfort of our cosy homes and dodged bullets in the streets?
Talk is cheap. Pointing fingers is easy. But if we are really committed to democracy, we as a nation are as guilty as the MDC-T. How many times have elections been stolen, how many times have we been short changed, taken for a ride by Zanu (PF), but still acquiesced? We have chosen to be cocooned in illusions, hoping against hope, settling for mediocrity and in the MDC T, we (arm-chair critics) have found our “fix” on which to direct all political diatribe.
It’s high time we stopped running away from ourselves. We need to face reality, renew our allegiance to democratic ideals, be objective and stand and act as one like never before. Democracy will never ever be delivered to us on a platter. – Tich, by email
Post published in: Letters to the Editor