MDC-T talks big but delivers little

By Ben Semwayo

Over the years MDC-T has shown that it has the propensity to promise the earth but invariably fails to achieve even the minimum expected of a party of its stature. It is well known for describing its imagined capabilities using impressive superlatives but with nothing to show for the massive support base it enjoys.

That it has the biggest support base of any political party in Zimbabwe is indisputable. It is the Gulliver of Zimbabwean politics and even Zanu PF is reduced to a Lilliputian when compared with it. The latter has clung to power through its bloody rigging of elections.

The electorate is tired of hearing how the MDC has come up with a foolproof election strategy and how, without a doubt, ZanuPF is finally going to be buried. Election history is littered with declaratory phrases and promises such as ‘the final push’, ‘I will beat Mugabe’, ‘We are ready to form the next government’, ‘If I lose this time I will step down’, to name but a few. No sooner are the utterances made than the zeal that prompted them fizzles out and dissipates into thin air.

Now Tsvangirai is at it again. He is continuing with his ill-advised rhetoric, this time vowing to win the next election ‘with or without electoral reforms’ and to win even a rigged election, the same reasons why he lost the previous elections. Using the mnemonic ‘WIRE’, he has described his hare-brained election strategy which he said means ‘Win In Rigged Elections’.

When he lost the 2013 election he explained his loss by saying that although he knew that there was rigging going on he was convinced that he would still win despite the rigging because of the sheer support he had on the ground. So basically he is saying in 2018 he will use the same method that made him lose the 2013 elections.

Tsvangirai sees the massive support he enjoys and thinks that it will automatically be translated into a win, but what he needs to ask himself is why the same massive support he had in 2013 did not win him the presidency. He is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. It is unbelievable that his followers have better political insight than he because they can see that if he proceeds without levelling the playing field he is staring defeat in the eye. And when he loses he will again refuse to make way for a new leader, and prolong the suffering of the nation further as a direct consequence.

It appears he has already given up on pushing for electoral reforms before even trying. How ridiculous! He has not seriously engaged Mugabe on the issue of reforms and he has not appealed to the SADC or African Union. These bodies have not said enforcing the electoral reforms is a difficult task for them. If anything, they are demanding action on the reforms, perhaps even more unwaveringly than Tsvangirai, which is why it is incomprehensible why the MDC jumps the gun and vows to proceed with election even in the absence of reforms. It does not make sense.

This myopic stance is music in Mugabe’s ears because by conceding defeat before making any attempt to demand the right political atmosphere for elections the MDC has sold itself out and let slip that they fear he will not agree to their demand for a level playing field and are prepared to go to elections without the reforms. Even if he was feeling the pressure and was considering giving in he can now see that there is a chance of holding elections without the reforms, which everyone knows are a death warrant for ZanuPF. Needless to say, that only encourages him to dig in and refuse to implement the crucial changes.

Everyone knows that the reason for Mugabe’s win was that the political playing field was skewed in favour of ZanuPF. Since Tsvangirai’s first loss those in the know, encompassing political analysts, foreign politicians and enlightened Zimbabweans have been advising Tsvangirai to turn his attention to the playing field but he has disappointed. He has failed to rectify the one problem that is the cause of all his woes, even after spending five years in the Government of National Unity, whose core business was to create an even electoral climate.

The MDC slogan is ‘change’, the verb form of the word, and was originally intended to advise people to change their way of doing things, specifically to change from the traditional pattern of voting for ZanuPF and vote progressively for the MDC. The electorate heeded the call and in the last three elections where Tsvangirai squared up with Mugabe the nation voted for him en masse and he won each election hands down, but he failed to translate the victories into regime change. The elections were rigged.

It defies logic that after urging the masses to change, the MDC-T leaders have become hardened to their ruts and are themselves badly in need of change, scorned by the electorate that changed its ways in response to their advice.

The saying that only a fool keeps doing the same thing and expects different results has become a cliché, but it is the same argument used by the MDC-T leadership when they were urging the masses to change their ways, though now it is they who have been found wanting.

The failures by the MDC-T leadership have had far-reaching consequences. People who were sympathetic to MDC-T have been plunged into confusion and have become disillusioned. On the international front many leaders, especially those in the western countries who for many years lent the MDC their support, have become so disappointed in Tsvangirai that they have turned their sights to Mujuru and Mnangagwa, grossly vile and corrupt individuals tainted by sickening human rights violations including the Matabeleland massacre.

The problem of Zimbabwe has been so irksome to them that they just want an end to it, whatever the outcome. They are not concerned about the type of government that will emerge. Their patience has run out after backing Tsvangirai and standing by him for eons and they have come to the conclusion that he will never deliver. Patience does not last forever, especially if it involves financial commitments.

On the home front the electorate is so confused that some former MDC supporters are following Mujuru in the vain hope that she is a genuine opposition politician, while others have embraced the if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them mentality, and are retracing their steps back to ZanuPF, knowing full well how it has failed the people. Some have become apathetic and do not want to have anything to do with politics, which makes them unprotected victims of ZanuPF’s aggression during each post-election period.

On the issue of electoral laws Tsvangirai should not even think of contesting the elections on an uneven election field. He should insist on the full activation of the reformed electoral laws. A legitimate, free and fair election climate is sacrosanct and should never be corrupted. It is the duty of the opposition to ensure that the right conditions for elections are created and they should not shirk that responsibility because it would be treasonous.

On the issue of new electoral laws Zimbabwe can sigh a sigh of relief because assistance has come from an unlikely source. Mugabe has suddenly made a spectacular u-turn and is championing the drive to re-align the electoral laws with the constitution. In the speech he delivered at the opening of the fifth session of the eighth parliament he passionately implored the house to expedite the process. How wonderful!

But do not celebrate yet, for that would be a premature celebration. Remember it is the wily Mugabe we are dealing with here, the master of subterfuge. Do not forget that in the 2013 elections he duped Tsvangirai into believing that he had already begged the presidency, to make him relax, and it worked. Methinks he is up to his old tricks again.

When you hear Mugabe overzealously advocating for such a drastic change, a man who loathes electoral reforms and has previously sworn never to implement them, your sixth sense should tell you straightaway that he has a sinister motive up his sleeve. This departure from his initial avowed position is too radical to be a benign change of heart.

It has been revealed that the rigging of the 2018 elections is already under way. Press reports state that it involves the abuse of the biometric voting system that is being introduced. The registration of voters will run from 14 September 2017 to 15 January 2018, when the registration exercise will officially come to an end.

But unbeknown to the members of the general public a parallel registration exercise with no deadline will be conducted concurrently, clandestinely. This will only register ZanuPF supporters and will be wrapped up only a few seconds before voting begins. This exercise will aim to register 3 million ZanuPF supporters.

The total number of registered voters is expected to be 7 million, with 5 million expected to actually cast their votes. That means that with around 3 million votes already in its bag ZanuPF has won even before voting begins. That explains why Mugabe is apparently upbeat about making changes to the electoral laws and why all the staff at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission are handpicked ZanuPF loyalists. The MDC should demand equal representation in the Commission.

The MDC should not fall for Mugabe’s tricks. It should ensure that the changes to the electoral laws are implemented and it should also remain vigilant and make certain that all the other aspects of the electoral process are above board. Tsvangirai needs to abandon his laissez-faire approach to important things such as elections and plug all the loopholes that can be used for rigging.

His dream of winning a rigged election is an act of irresponsible political suicide. If it was his personal suicide maybe we could say that is his decision. But then it is a mass suicide of an entire nation, or more precisely, genocide perpetrated by Tsvangirai because he is making the suicide decision on behalf of the voters, who do not share his wish for such political suicide. This is not the time to carry out costly experiments with people’s lives.

In fact Zimbabwe has become so entangled in electoral problems that it now needs a third party to disentangle it. We have come to a point where opposition parties should demand that the United Nations runs the elections so that we have something akin to the 1980 elections. Mugabe will wave his sovereignty card but he must be shown that that option is necessary because he has not held credible elections since his party came to power.