It is also without doubt that the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai is arguably the largest and most popular political party in Zimbabwe judging by the sheer size of its massive grassroots support base.Indeed,President Morgan Tsvangirai is the only opposition political party leader who managed to beat Robert Mugabe in a Presidential election in March 2008.Mugabe himself,in a rare feat of candour and honestly,recently disclosed that President Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March 2008 Presidential election by more than 73%.
Although the MDC is a big political party with massive grassroots support,we have consistently stated that we will never adopt “a big brother” attitude and thus,treat other opposition political parties as minions and fringe political operators.In our quest to establish a new,democratic and developmental state in Zimbabwe,we are always willing to collaborate and synergise with all other democratic political parties,big or small.The MDC is convinced that all Zimbabweans deserve to live in a country that is peaceful and that is governed according to strict democratic principles where respect for the rule of law is sacrosanct.
The MDC is going to forge sustainable and workable alliances with all organisations that cherish the creation of a new Zimbabwe that will abhor autocracy,corruption and dictatorship.We are pleased to note that genuine war veterans,with solid and impeccable liberation war credentials,have,of late,openly shown their appreciation and indeed,respect for the role that President Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC have played over the past seventeen years,in peacefully and bravely confronting the brutal Zanu PF regime.In this context,therefore,it is quite clear that the MDC has,against all odds,always possesed the necessary political credentials and intellectual stamina to establish a new people – centred government in Zimbabwe.
The main challenge remains that the ZanuPF regime has routinely rigged and manipulated the electoral system.This is the major reason why,under the NERA trajectory, the MDC has joined more than seventeen other opposition political parties in fightimg for the adoption of electoral reforms before Election 2018.The MDC strongly believes that without electoral reforms being adopted,the ZanuPF regime will always continue to rig elections and thus,deny the people of Zimbabwe their constitutional right to choose a government of their choice in a free and fair election.
MDC : EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL
OBERT CHAURURA GUTU
MDC NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON
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It is also without doubt that the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai is arguably the largest and most popular political party in Zimbabwe judging by the sheer size of its massive grassroots support base.Indeed,President Morgan Tsvangirai is the only opposition political party leader who managed to beat Robert Mugabe in a Presidential election in March 2008.Mugabe himself,in a rare feat of candour and honestly,recently disclosed that President Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March 2008 Presidential election by more than 73%.
“This is the major reason why, under the NERA trajectory, the MDC has joined more than seventeen other opposition political parties in fighting for the adoption of electoral reforms before Election 2018.The MDC strongly believes that without electoral reforms being adopted, the ZanuPF regime will always continue to rig elections and thus, deny the people of Zimbabwe their constitutional right to choose a government of their choice in a free and fair election,†said Gutu.
There are five key points to be raised here:
1) MDC had five years during the GNU to implement all the democratic reform to ensure the 2013 elections were free, fair and credible; they failed to get even one reform implemented. Zanu PF would not have rigged the 2013 elections and we would not be messing around calling for reforms now if the reforms had been implemented.
2) MDC-T and the other 17 opposition parties keep wittering about “electoral reforms†and yet none of them have ever given any details of even one such reform because they know aligning the existing laws to the new constitution will not be enough to deliver free, fair and credible elections. They have been warned that electoral reforms will deliver nothing but, just as they about implementing reforms during the GNU, they refuse to listen.
3) We need to implement are structural reforms called for in the 2008 GPA as contrast to the realignment of existing electoral laws called for in NERA. MDC-T has carefully avoided the GPA reforms because it will then be forced to admit that it failed to implement these reforms during the GNU. We cannot afford to waste time on the wrong reforms just to help hide the truth that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent.
4) If we agree that the reforms we need must deliver free, fair and credible elections, let us put aside the question of what these reforms are for a minute; it is self-evident that it is naïve to expect Zanu PF to implement such reforms because we all know Zanu PF will never win free and fair elections. And yet MDC and their 17 other opposition friends are out there on the street demanding that Zanu PF implement the reforms. It is clear why it was for MDC not Zanu PF to implement the reforms during the GNU.
Post GNU, the only realistic chance to get the reforms implemented is by an independent body; some people have proposed the National Transition Authority, the name and composition of such body is not important that this point. MDC and their friends have in their usually foolishness rejected the independent body in favour of asking Zanu PF to implement the reforms!
5) The responsibility for getting the democratic reforms implemented must now be with the people of Zimbabwe and not with Zanu PF or the opposition parties because Zanu PF has an invested interest in maintain the status quo, it is the only way the party can ever hope to stay in power. As for the MDC-T and other NERA supporters they are a confused lot who do not know their right hand from the left and it is folly for the nation to entrust its destiny in such irresponsible hands.