The assumption that ZANU-PF was idle in their plans gave MDC-T an early victory celebration before even the elections were done. Taking down a party, which has enjoyed power for 33 years, is no mean feat and half way through the journey MDC-T’s struggle train took some unnecessary stops. Many are still asking themselves questions on how the MDC-T lost the election when victory was written all over it. The election defeat of 2008 was painful for ZANU-PF but their wounds healed fast helped by the lifeline they received from the inclusive government. MDC-T was deceived into thinking that the revolutionary party was out of the game, and limping. Little did they know that hit and run guerilla tactics had been born? With almost every resource at its disposal ZANU-PF out maneuvered MDC-T in every way. Regional and continental institutions like SADC and the African Union gave MDC-T a false sense of hope, forgetting that they were going against the odds since nationalist and former liberation movements like ZANU-PF formed these institutions. The countless court cases and trips across Africa to mobilize support from regional leaders kept MDC-T busy and out of touch with the reality of what was happening on the ground.  It seems this election defeat gave former allies of MDC-T some ammunition to castigate Tsvangirai’s leadership especially when he dumped them during the constitution campaign. But credit should be given to Tsvangirai for giving his best under a hostile environment. Besides the party’s losing streak in the courts let’s hope August’s dusty wind will not erase Tsvangirai’s hopes of seeking redress through legal means.

In the past few days I’ve been musing about the poll results in rural Matebeleland and couldn’t help but wonder how the psychology of political persuasion works.

I even tried – and actually I’m still trying – to understand it as extending from the psychology of political violence itself as informed by events of the early 1980s in that region, and wondered what could have changed for a people who for so long have demanded among other things that range from compensation and retributive justice to “overwhelmingly” elect the very political animal at the centre of these nightmares.

Time sure must be greatest healer!

I recalled Owen Maseko’s work “Sibathontisele.” Maseko’s exhibition that documents the Gukurahundi atrocities – not surprisingly for many – only got him into trouble, and my reaction to the Matebeleland vote was to ask myself: what is Maseko’s reaction to this?

Of course not just Maseko, but indeed many others for whom Matebeleland remains a symbol of Zanu-PF antipathy, and it shall remain a mystery for me how Zimbabwe’s south-west was won.

I recalled Maseko’s work specifically because of the trouble it got him into with the “authorities,” the same “authorities” who today are claiming the subject of Maseko’s work have “seen the light” and today are jubilant with terrific amnesia!

This is no way to stoke anything (some political egos and other things phallic were long stroked!) but the Matebeleland vote count is plainly outside the realm of credible all things considered.

And as McDonald Lewanika writes elsewhere: “something less sophisticated than politics that will put them on their deathbed.”

And THEY know who they are!

Following the MDC’s statement on 1 August declaring Zimbabwe’s 31 July harmonised election illegitimate, and their 3 August decision to boycott institutions of government, we asked our subscribers the following question:

Kubatana! With the MDC-T calling the election illegitimate should their elected MPs & councillors take up their seats or boycott Parliament & local government?

Around 2/3 of respondents said the MDC should boycott Parliament and local government, and not take up their seats as MPs or councillors. (This is about the same ratio that thought the 31 July election date was too soon in the first place.) The main reason for this was that to take up their seats would be to legitimise an election the MDC has called illegitimate. There was a strong sense from subscribers that “the MDC cannot have it both ways. Some respondents also thought that the MDC wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything by taking up their seats, or that Zanu PF should be left to govern the country on its own.

About 30% of respondents said the MDC should take up their seats, primarily because they had a mandate or responsibility from the people who had elected them. A few thought it was unrealistic to expect the MDC to boycott their seats, because of the benefits individual MPs and councillors get from being in office.

A small percentage were undecided or had mixed opinions on the issue.

We’ve published all of the feedback we’ve received so far here. Also, where we knew where a subscriber was writing from, we plotted their response on a map, to show the geographic distribution of opinion.

A small sampling of responses includes:

• I’m so angry at the moment that I would rather not answer that question.
• The should not and let them rule the country vari vega if the elections were free and fair the winning party why is it victimising the losing one s suporters
• yes they should boycott coz once they participate they will legitimize the fradulant election
• They should stay with the pple! Why go to parly when we know that even their results were doctored to mollify us. Mugabe and his party won – let him rule alone!
• They shd let zanu pf go it alone or since zpf intends to subvert the wil of e pple thru constitutn amndments mdc shdnt be part of it
• MDC-T elected MPs & councillors should take up their seats so as not to dissapoint pple who chose them.
• Only if they have something to do
• Plse advise mdc-t mps not to boycot. We know what happened and we heavily backing the mdc-t party. Let the skeleton mp representation fill their places in the palamnt even if they are going to snow there. They should sit in parliament and preserve the smoldering light of mdc-t. Don’t they learn frm zanu ndonga which kept its 1 seat for 20yrs? Its falling down in an unfortold political playground tricks. When politicians fall down they should stand up and run again. Why boycoting? Be like solders! We will there one day.
• They must boycott taking up of seats 2 show our disappointments. The people will speak what next. Dont be traped using money. We mustn’t be greedy about salaries.
• Mgabe’s silly, did anounced presidential results in 2 Days. In 2008 it took him a quarter year, his a typical thief. We will not loose hope. In protest our MDC MPs shoudn’t get in the parliament of cronies.
• They should not take part in council or parliament business bt Mdc must give them allowances so that they are nt tempted by the lv fo money
• That has always been the problem with MDC.They must not participert in anyway.Look at what GNU begot and the Zumas are now saying to Tsvangirai accept results.
• Participating means legitimising the illigitimate they should not b part of it people are angry
• The MDC-Ts must not take the seat because if they take the seat that means they have agred with the results
• They shoud have nothing to do with this guvnment of thieves.If they do they will have betrayed us, themselves as well.
• These are crying babies.those who won deserve their seats
• Now it’s tight it was better to boycott 31 July polls coz if they do that what about those people who elected?
• They should boycott to show the illegitimace.
• They should not take part in any part because if the election is rejected and participating amounts to acceptance which is a contradiction.
• Mr T may keep quiet but shld let Spksman, Sec Gen, Org Sec rouse the bulldust if not satisfied. Tell him so. Chiefs did lot of damage for playing fierce dragon.
• Stupid and foolish MDC candidates without Zimbabwe at heart can boycot.In elections one loses or wins. Respect results and the law.
• The must not sit with those wolves.They stole our vote and try to make it a normal process.Obasanjo, may the Lord forgive him for tellin’ the opposite of what he saw.
• They should not boycot they were elected by people who want them to serve them .they are boycoting the electorate
• They should boycot, otherwise taking up the duties will legitimise the illegitimate
• They should boycot becoz if they take office posts it will be free &fair election
• They shld not even try to work with wolfs, instead they shld concerntrate about giving their party members information about the way forward & the stance to take so that the will of the pple of zimbabwe are met without fear of the unknown person.we demand our right now !
• They should boycott .Their presents would legitimise everything after all they will never have an impact

Read more

So what is wrong? The election result was as predicted, so why so sad? Shocked, yes. The scale of the result is a bit of shocker, but maybe Nikuv is looking for future business. “Zimbabwe – poster child for Nikuv.” Zimbabwe – top of the list of satisfied clients.” “You think you got bad? Just look what we can do. Look at Zimbabwe!”

It is not unexpected, for many reasons. The biggest to me is the failure of the MDC. They failed to be change. They were the Ruling Party for five years, and what did they do with their parliamentary majority? They had the most seats. The power to elect the Speaker of the House. Seems they did all they wanted to do – just replace Zanu PF snouts at the feeding trough with their own snouts. But even that was not well done; they only got in five years of gravy train. Nice house for the boss though (has he called the movers yet?).

Did they learn how to service the electorate? Seems not. Six days before the election, I went to the MPOI public discussion. A neutral, a Zanu PF, and MDC were the speakers. Douglas Mwonzora, MDC, was scheduled to speak, but phoned just before. He could not make it, was sending someone else. Someone else never came! You would have thought, six days before the election that MDC would be falling over itself to get a chance to talk to the electorate. But no, they failed to pitch. They failed.

A week before the election, Tendai Biti complained that they could not campaign with POSA. However, one would think, as the ruling party of five years, they would have repealed POSA after four years. They failed.

Also in the week before elections, some Brigadier somewhere – Chegutu, Kadoma, Masvingo, Chinoyi – what does it matter, a ZNA Brigadier General in Zimbabwe threatens the locals (and all of us) that if Zanu PF does not win, they would go back to the bush and fight (as an aside, I would have loved to see one of those fat bastards sleeping under a tree overnight!) But, you would think, in five years as the ruling party, the MDC would have called to account some of the Generals for previous “treasonable utterances”, when they state who they will or will not salute. For a military commander to state he might disregard the nation and it’s constitution – treason! Failure.

The Urban Councils Act gives too much power to the Minister. Generally agreed to by all, but most especially by the MDC councils. So, did they change the Urban Councils Act? No. Failure.

To look forward, so now what are they going to do? AU and SADC have ‘let them down’. So, they will go to court. Great idea! And yet… have they reformed the Court system in their five years as Ruling Party? Failure. How do you (or anyone else with an IQ higher than a potted plant) think the courts will rule?

Well, those failures are in the past. And I think so is the MDC. Morgan has failed three times for President. Third time most unlucky! Don’t think he will be running again. He may get used a bit on his way out, maybe get one of the compromise cabinet posts offered to the former ruling Party by the magnanimous victor.

Other, future ‘end of tunnel’ lights. The security sector is stronger. It is proven above the law. It can beat the rap. It has been through the fires of hell, and emerged, better, stronger, brighter.

It has now been proven that legitimacy counts for nothing. Only power. Parliament is of no concern. And the next election will really be a non-event as it is proven that the electorate is not needed. It has been proved – they (the national rulers) do not need popularity, or the popular vote, or legitimacy. They only need power (physical and financial), and window dressing.

Well
the AU and SADAC have endorsed this strange charade!

Congratulations pour in from the region:
Zuma, after all his posturing, positioning and promises
of a position of morality and justice
welcomes the old liberation father back with open arms

A complete denial of the voices of the people
who lined up in trusting, peaceful queues
often patiently joining new lines in other places
as their registration areas had been changed
resignedly being turned away
unable to get transport

unwittingly validating this farce of freedom
lending a complete mockery to the democratic process

today is the tomorrow of our outrage:
‘how dare they ?’

seeking places to point our blame:
‘why haven’t ‘they’ done something?’
‘taken to the streets?’
‘demanded a re-run?’

voicing our self-condemnation:
‘ we Zimbabweans are always like this – we are so  passive’
‘we don’t stand together’
‘we can’t fight’
‘we should have known’
‘this time we had hope’
‘we are too tired to do this again’

and our fear:
‘there will be reprisals’  
as we hear the first reports of displacements of people from their homes

In the face of such a blatant daylight robbery
we easily slip back to where we started
a sense of despair
a place of fear
and fight and blame of team A versus team B
winner and looser
the good and the bad

back to seeking solutions from an old reactions
which birthed the source of the problem
a frustrated  call  to the young men and mothers and fathers
back into the fray
to once again be beaten and assaulted and imprisoned

but as tomorrow becomes tomorrow
we begin to see that situations around us have changed…
we are NOT the same
we are not back there where we were before

we have learned so much in this time

we have finally understood that political leaders and parties are not the source of our redemption
(for the abuse of power and abandonment of the people comes from the best of our heroes)

we have learned that poverty and violence, and witnessing of violence, is destroying our lives
and most particularly those of our children
inflicting on them the battle wounds of yesterday

today is the tomorrow
when we learn that it is us
who must take responsibility
no longer to wait for our recovery to come from the hands of unknown redeemers
to mend our spirits/our places/our spaces

and today
we remember that this work has already begun
everywhere …

this time was different
we have recorded every step of this unlawful process
we have voiced our findings and spoken our frustrations
we have used public media
we have written of the inconsistencies and travesties
spoken our truth
been heard across the world

this time,
we are different
for in the yesterdays of enduring the hardships of unemployment and displacement
we began to come together again as ordinary people
began witness our own stories
and heal ourselves and our communities

we have been to workshops learning of our civic rights/human rights/women’s rights/food rights
learned the language of conflict resolution and sustainable dialogue

we have begun to take care of our own AIDS victims
begun circles of support to take care of our orphaned children
begun community gardens growing organic vegetables

we have begun the work in small circles of disabled women recycling plastic into wonderful bags
and in large community circles with our leaders from across the ‘political divide’
circles where headmen no longer sit outside/above his people – but on the rim of the same circle
we have held dance days and community days
and  days with the youth from both parties
and we have seen that we have been able to cross the cracks and gaps and deep divides
that have disabled us

and seen ourselves grow into wider people
able to look at things from a longer perspective

perhaps today is the tomorrow we have been waiting for
as we walked  through the interminable grey cloud
learning there is no real A and B
but a mixed blessing of dark and light

looking for a way to live the responsibility of empowered people

looking for a way to walk into tomorrow

Hey, but this woman rocks. More fire Everjoice:

I will vote in 2018, not this year

I did not go home to vote today. I already knew my ‘candidate’ was not on the ballot paper. All of the ballot papers, Presidential, parliamentary, local government. She was not there. No, this had nothing to do with rigging, lack of identity documents, lack of adequate time to prepare or any of the logistical issues – before you consign my candidates’ absence to all the alleged stereotypical issues that everyone has been rattling on about. No.

My candidate gracefully chose to step aside. Walked away from this election – literally and metaphorically, because she knew that this was not that sort of election. My candidate figured out five years ago that the 2013 elections were never going to be about the issues or things she, myself and probably millions of other Zimbabwean women care about. She knew already, that this was merely an election to choose one man over the other. Yes. A man. Women like my candidate have been quite clear for some time now that it didn’t matter how clever, analytical, or clear they were about what the problems are in our country and what the solutions could be, they did not stand a chance. Their voices would get drowned out in this all male contest. And if we were ever in any doubt as to what this election was about, a young man representing MDC-T told us categorically on South Africa’s E-TV last weekend – “this election is not about VALUES”, he thundered, “all we want is to remove Robert Gabriel Mugabe”. I have never understood why or when it became necessary to pronounce his name in full like that? Interestingly the other contestants are now referred to in that way…’Morgan Richard Tsvangirai’ Hee hee. Is that supposed to give them more gravitas? (Or more curiously, referring to them by their totems/clan names. Each time this happens I have visions of their wives kneeling on the floor wiping their penises after sex). Let me not digress. We were told the truth. Or more accurately we were reminded. The message was broadcast across the region. Whatever little denial I had left was banished from my head. I cancelled my ticket.

Values. A concept that has largely deserted our politics and our people. Honesty. Integrity. Humility. Care for another one. Heck – just being a good person! We forgot what that means many years ago. It is now person eat dog and its owner. It is not just the political leadership who lack values. It is most leaders, from so called Civil Society, to religious bodies to even the family. Everyone just wants what is good themselves. The fanciest car. The biggest house. The largest amount of cash. The longest weave. The latest Apple product. The biggest Bible. Let us not forget this last one. The biggest fashion accessory of my people. This is what matters. How you get it is not that important. You just have to have it. In NGOs – that part of the population with which I am most intimately connected, we made sure we generated these material things from our vantage point. It started with us being the ones getting forex, trips outside Zimbabwe, (to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe), and the fuel coupons. This was back during the hyper-inflation period. Soon we got hooked onto these lovely things. We generated trips to Joburg and London. As Directors and Senior program staffers we made sure we did not miss the next per diem. If there was no per diem we threw such tantrums that the money just had to be found. Our donors did not disappoint. After all we were the leaders furthering the democracy and good governance agenda. Development? Rural development? Urban poverty? That agenda is coming later, for now we just needed Mugabe to go.

When the ‘crisis’ eased after dollarization, we struggled to keep up our lifestyles. We almost fell into the bottom 5%! We had to do something. So we generated more trips. The smallest altercation with a police officer became global news. Even if it was for an infringement of the road rules. We organized workshops, preferably after hours, or out of Harare, just so we could award ourselves the $30 per diem. Why we had to get a per-diem to participate in our own workshops I still don’t get. Actually I do. There is a name for it. Greed.

Greedy. Selfish. Now there are two words that define who we have become. At the top of the greed ladder are the ones who want to control all the diamond mines. In the middle the ones who fleece anyone fleece-able; the plumber charging an exorbitant amount to fix a mere broken pipe, the mechanic stealing car parts instead of fixing your car, the school teacher charging for extra lessons when she should have been teaching properly during normal school hours, and the home affairs officer wanting a ‘Coke’ to give your baby the birth-certificate to which she is entitled. On the same spectrum, the church leader/founder screaming around town in a 10 fancy- car- convoy while his congregants have not had a decent meal in many months.

Most of us have, over the last decade forgotten what this clamour for change was about to begin with. For some of us it was as that political party person said – not about values. It was only about getting rid of Mugabe. He could never do anything right. Nothing that he said could ever be true, or good, or useful. And if the uninformed among us were to be believed, the man and his government had never EVER done a single good thing for Zimbabwe since his mother Bona delivered him. Mugabe and anyone associated with him were just bad because….they are intrinsically bad. Gone was the critical perspective. Even those of us who went through doors of UZ thanks to his social development policies did not ever want to be heard acknowledging it.

Across the street, our newspaper editor friends and journalists in the non-state media joined the ‘party’. Besides the entertainment good news, everything and anything that Mugabe and his party said or did was just to be trashed. Ditto, across the borders, and across the seas. Ours became the single narrative – MDC good, ZANU PF bad. Simple. No room here for nuance, or complexity. And we all know, to quote Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi ‘the danger of the single story’.

My candidate is not on the ballot paper because she would simply be hounded off the political stage by the sexist, misogynistic, homophobic and violent political culture that pervades Zimbabwe. From a whole elder statesman who swears at a diplomat from another country and calls her a ‘street woman’, to the average Tendai and Senzeni, who take to Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms to abuse others using the most degrading Shona and Ndebele words ever seen in print! ZANU planted and cultivated this political culture, it got nurtured by other political parties, sections of civil society and ordinary citizens. In between the swearing at ‘your mother’s vagina’, it is hard to pick out what is at political stake and how the one whose mother’s vagina is better/cleaner/smaller,(or whatever it is one’s vagina is supposed to look like on public platforms), will do anything different.  Political violence and intolerance is certainly not the preserve of ZANU PF.

Zimbabweans should stop being driven by ideology and be more driven by economic pragmatism’, advised one economist on twitter.  For many days I have wondered what this meant. I guess it is in the same vein as saying this election must be devoid of VALUES. The economist should have said in simpler English, don’t think, just focus on making money. Be good capitalists and your problems will be solved. It doesn’t matter where the money comes from, who gets hurt in the process or who you shove out of the way. My candidate is not on that ballot paper because she thinks too much about ideology. She worries a lot about what some of the choice phrases mean; attracting foreign investment (of what sort? To invest in what?); Reengaging the North/West (Because? How will we make sure we don’t lose power and control over our resources?); Attracting donors (so that they can support whose development?); Unlocking Zimbabwe’s wealth (so that it goes into whose pocket?);  Media freedom, (to promote whose rights and will black women in Mkoba township get to speak for themselves? On their rights?). See what I mean? My candidate asks too many questions. She wants to have conversations that are about ideology, values and principles. In the current atmosphere, she will not be heard. She might as well be speaking to herself and her few friends like me who make her helpful cups of coffee but aren’t enough to win her an election. She will not have an inch of space in the media. She will have very few NGO friends, religious ones, or media ones because that is not our language at this moment.

I will vote in 2018. My candidate will run in that election. The dust will have settled. I am optimistic that come the next elections Zimbabweans will put values back on the agenda. We will debate and be clear about our leaders’ political ideologies.  I see NGOs in another five years discussing and implementing human rights based DEVELOPMENT for all Zimbabweans– not just the heterosexual.  In the next five years, I want to have honest conversations about the unfinished business of RACE and RACISM. Honest conversations, inside Zimbabwe and outside Zimbabwe, rather than the current dishonesty that says it is one of the present male leaders’ sole agenda. It is still my agenda. By the time we vote in 2018, we will have a definition of democracy and participatory governance which is not just about personalities but about my favorite topic- street lights. Yes really. Streetlights. to increase safety and security for my granddaughters when they walk late at night in the township.

By 2018 we will have developed a new political culture, one which at the very least allows each Zimbabwean to speak, act, chose, and be who they want to be.  I will vote when my country and its women’s broken souls have healed. When we relearn how to just be what my mother used to call ‘good people’. Simply that.  I so wish that by the next election – Zimbabwe will have reverted to being a secular space. Jesus will be removed from the ballot papers and we will keep him off forever. As a black Zimbabwean woman, it is my deepest wish that this is the last election in which the only choices in front of us are ‘BULLS’, (their party’s words not mine!), and a bunch of great-grandfathers who have never heard the phrase ‘sexual autonomy and choice’.

Originally published on Everjoice Win’s blog

Posted by Everjoice Win at 8:50 AM, 31 July 2013