Lessons from Hon. Mliswa victory

By Don Chigumba

Hon. Mliswa’s success is a victory to all democratic forces in Zimbabwe. ZANU PF and opposition parties have a lot to learn from the victory of Hon. Mliswa. The victory is sending a strong signal to ZANU PF that Zimbabweans are tired of the revolutionary party.

The victory of Hon. Mliswa also exposes credibility of opposition parties in delivering change to the masses. Zimbabweans are ready to support any leader who is ready to fight against ZANU PF oppression. The leadership of NERA is too weak to deliver change to the Zimbabweans and a total reformation of the movement is highly called for!

There is no doubt that ZANU PF has been shocked by the victory of Hon. Mliswa. They tried to distribute 5000 residential plots  but the disgruntled Zimbabweans punished them. It is a misnomer for a revolutionary party like ZANU PF to be defeated by an independent candidate. What it means is that ZANU PF is gone. The opposition forces should direct much of their effort on electoral reforms.

ZANU PF tried to dish out residential plots in Norton but the disgruntled Zimbabweans punished them. Zimbabwean should now be ready to face ZANU PF violence. The ZANU PF national commissar has already indicated that his party has learnt a lot of lessons from Hon. Mliswa’s victory. Zimbabweans should therefore expect serious violence from ZANU PF ahead of 2018 election.

The opposition political parties should put their house in order because NERA has failed to perform up to the expected standards. I have never seen a serious political organization scheduling its demonstrations over weekends! There is need for a total reformation of NERA in order for change to be achieved.

The opposition forces in Zimbabwe are not lacking votes. They need only to push for electoral reforms and will definitely win under free and fair election. They should push for the removal of ZEC leadership and electoral reforms. They should not agree to participate in any election before the reformation of the election process and ZEC should be forced to go.

ZANU PF regime believes that the victory of Hon. Mliswa shall improve the confidence of ZEC before the political parties and Zimbabweans. There is a belief within ZANU PF that opposition forces shall be coerced by Hon. Mliswa victory to participate in 2018 election before electoral reforms. The opposition will never win any election before the reformation of Zimbabwe’s electoral process. I am therefore urging the opposition to remain focused on electoral reforms and the victory of Hon. Mliswa should not change their position.

Reformation of NERA

It is true that NERA has failed to deliver change, it has failed to push ZEC out of office. As long as NERA is not reformed, we should not expect electoral reforms in the near future. I strongly believe that NERA should be under the leadership of non politically aligned movements like Tajamuka, #tag movement, war veterans etc.

Politicians are to blame for the inefficiencies of NERA. All is not well among MDC-T, PDP and ZPF and the division is another blow to NERA. We have leaders in the opposition who are after power at the expense of electoral reforms. The ZPF is already pushing for Mujuru presidency and MDC-T for Tsvangirai. This is against the main goal of NERA. The main goal of NERA is to deliver on electoral reforms and not on who is to become the president.

I have a feeling that MDC-T and ZPF will shun their coalition proposal before 2017 and that shall be the death of NERA. MDC-T and ZPF differ on many issues, Mai Mujuru (when addressing Zimbabweans in London) indicated that her party is ready to face ZANU PF with or without electoral reforms. She also indicated that she is against the Transitional Government Authority (TGA). MDC-T on the other hand is totally against ZPF’s views. Trust is no longer existing among the political parties in Zimbabwe.

Conclusion

The political parties should hand over NERA to non politically aligned movements and Zimbabweans should be geared for ZANU PF violence ahead of 2018 election. The victory of Hon. Mliswa should not change the focus of opposition political leadership on electoral reforms and ZEC should pack and go now.

Don Chigumba is a political activist based in South Africa