A contribution from a Kubatana member:

Reform traditional leadership. I think one of the key reforms necessary for a sustainable election in our country is traditional leadership reform. Most rural districts in the country are not free to exercise their rights due to the influence of traditional leaders. They execute their duties partisanly & are in political party structures which is unconstitutional.This raises suspicion from people of credibility of elections. The government & civic groups must engage traditional leaders & massively educate them about their role in the community & avoid being horse ridden by political parties.

Check out a recipe for free and fair elections published on Kalabash – from the streets to the web. Ingredients include:

4 tablespoons of dignity
A pinch of pride in Zimbabwe and the people outside of party politics
Half a cup of democratic processes
A splashing of reflection on the last decade
An ounce of foresight

The function of a civil resistance is to provoke response and we will provoke until they respond or change the law. – Gandhi

This morning I heard a guy say “Ah, that Chris Mutsvangwa is a hard headed fellow.” Pressed by a colleague who asked “What has Mutsvangwa done this time,” the first fellow simply continued, “Ah, he is just impossible!”

I sensed he was referring to Mutsvangwa’s performance at the SAPES Trust public meeting where the apoplectic Cde stormed out during proceedings because the audience and panelists did not take kindly to his comments that all of them should be grateful to Zanu PF for giving them anything from ministerial jobs to the freedom they presently enjoy.

The arrogance was galling.

It was classic Mutsvangwa having given the same condescending remarks live on national television during a debate on the constitution where panelists included Qhubekani Moyo (MDC-N), Jessie Majome (MDC-T), Blessing Vava and Job Sikhala.

Mutsvangwa simply dismissed them, telling them that they should be grateful to Zanu PF for giving them free university education, thank Zanu PF for ending white minority, else they would still be serfs in a white man’s world.

At the SAPES public meeting, the arrogance Mutsvangwa portrayed, and what incensed the guy I referred to above, only highlights Zanu PF’s perverted sense of entitlement and “ownership” of the country and its people.

You cannot own people as if you are some feudal lord, but then the dictatorship of Zanu PF only highlights that indeed the party is steeped in the feudalism of yore where it continues to see everyone as vassals!

How many times have you heard President Mugabe say “my people?”

I certainly ain’t anyone’s person! God’s YES’s, man’s NO!

But then good thing for the SAPES meeting that Paul Themba Nyathi was there to remind Mutsvangwa that he (Nyathi) fought for the country and he certainly ain’t Zanu PF!

There are many lessons to be drawn for Zanu PF arrogance. And these lessons are what the party itself will learn rather painfully!

Yesterday a friend made a remark that puts the coming polls into perspective.

He said surely Mugabe knows he is no longer wanted by the people of Zimbabwe, and even if he loses, he may still simply refuse to accept defeat.

I said, well, hasn’t that happened before?

And with a guy like Mutsvangwa fighting from Mugabe’s corner, we could sure still have a long way to go before we get to the Zimbabwe we want.

And again it does magnify the folly of these rushed polls, because Mutsvangwa and other so-called Zanu PF hawks seem to know they hold the four aces, and these are not hidden anymore! What arrogance.

The kleptocrats in Zimbabwe are trying all recipes to redefine patriotism. It unfortunately can never be confined to doing as they please, as a don’t ask don’t tell, but it is exactly the opposite of that wish. Patriotism entails the liberty to exercise my rights for the good of my country rather than individuals. Maybe they should try to transpose patriotism with brainwash instead. A sellout is the greedy politician who exploits our resources only for the good of his clique and family.

Simba Makoni is not enigmatic. He apparently can be read like an open book. And this is the guy whose presidential ambitions President Mugabe once dismissed, calling the former finance Minister a “political prostitute.”

Recall that early this year, Makoni did invite Mugabe into a coalition which many are still trying to figure out how it was going to work.

Sometimes Simba Makoni does make statements that could easily have come from Idi Dada Amin who famously said “Sometimes people mistake the way I talk for what I am thinking.”

Now he has withdrawn from the presidential race, and following accusations in the past that he was a spoiler effectively stealing victory from Morgan Tsvangirai’s mouth, his latest proclamation that he is willing to work with the same people he only yesterday said were worse than Robert Mugabe makes his chameleon persona something those he seeks to work with must certainly watch.

Makoni does give meaning to the aphorism “This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests.”

One does not need to use language borrowed from the Zanu PF hate speech lexicon, but can this guy be trusted?

Someone tweeted yesterday after Makoni made his BREAKING NEWS announcement that “His family, his only supporters must be disappointed!”

Some would say Makoni is looking for relevance, but that should not sway Zimbabweans from the bigger picture, and that is a tolerant Zimbabwe of which Zanu PF has been the antithesis.