How can one share what he has stolen from you. We tried it before with the GNU and who was running the show? It was Zanu PF! This time around if MDC takes up the posts then in a way they will be accepting the poll results. Let’s stand aside  to show the world that we are saying no to poll result and allow Zanu fail on their own. – Joshua

Simba Makoni’s MKD – unsurprisingly – has joined the chorus condemning the July 31 election results, saying it’s surprising that some SADC leaders were jumping to congratulate Mugabe’s purported victory when SADC as a bloc was yet to issue any official declaration.

These “congratulations” are something that has made the whole business of challenging the election result Herculean for disgruntled parties, and as one journalist asked Makoni, if these SADC leaders are already singing Mugabe’s praises, and if the courts throw out the MDC-T challenge, what then?

Makoni is a firm believer in the human spirit to overcome evil, perhaps even on the same convictions as MLK Jr. himself.

The former FinMin believes complaining to SADC itself about the election is not a waste of time, but an issue of presenting formal protests, and it is also interesting to watch the role CSOs will play now as SADC once again is called upon to “deal” with the Zimbabwe question in summits to come.

But like Makoni said, SADC leaders have been quick to make proclamations because they want to move on. And that’s the same message Zimbabweans are being told: accept the bitter poll outcome and move on. But is it that simple?

No wonder soon after it emerged that Mugabe was taking the trophy, the police were quick to warn that they would brook no street protests.

However, the question remains, what are bitter Zimbabweans and political parties going to do about it, and that’s what some SADC leaders in their Africanist wisdom imagine are addressing.

There is now Zimbabwe-fatigue, Makoni said, yet warning that any attempts to brush aside complaints that have emerged about the July 31 election could prove to be regrettable folly for the regional leaders as they will face the same problems in their own backyards come election time.

Not only that.

There is no way the endorsement of this election by some SADC leaders can be seen as an attempt to steer Zimbabwe from further crisis because a crisis has already been created by apparently endorsing these results.

And these flawed aspirations to “stabilize” Zimbabwe could blow in their faces as Zimbabwe de-stabilises the region by the massive movement of its people across the borders spurred by disgruntlement. But then what’s new?

What’s new is that this election had been expected to stem that tide and as the law of unintended consequences would have it, the opposite could well be very true!

In that regard, Makoni believes the endorsement of the election results could in fact have worse possible outcomes for the region.

It is obvious then that Mugabe has once again been able to keep everyone in the region busy laboring on what to do next, but the truth is that considering the many summits held to deal with Zimbabwe’s political crisis over the years, some countries want to attend to other issues, domestic issues that the incumbents know have a bearing on their own political fortunes.

But then such has become the position of the regional bloc where its teeth have turned out to be nothing but dentures.

Makoni believes the SADC leaders who have sent congratulatory messages to Mugabe are taking the easy route, and like Pilate perhaps, are simply washing their hands and leaving the country to the wolves.

Some inspiration from DailyOm:

My train has pulled in for interior refurbishment. How about yours?

Our lives stretch out in front and behind us like train tracks, and we are the train, its passengers, and the engineer. The way you choose to live your life and the goals you are working toward are the route and destinations you have chosen. Like a passenger riding a train, you have the choice to get on and off, find new routes, pick new places to visit, or just stop and enjoy the view for awhile. Perhaps you like to move quickly through life as if you were an express train. Or maybe, like a commuter passenger, you like taking the same routes over and over again. You may even want to stop just riding along and choose a different direction you’d like you’re life to take. If you have examined the tracks of your life and are feeling unsatisfied, you may want to explore changes you could make to find a more fulfilling path to follow. Perhaps you’d like to slow down a little bit more and take a windier path rather than just traveling down the straight and narrow. Or maybe, you’d like to experience your life more as an adventure rather than just a ride that gets you where you need to go. Changing your route can sometimes give you a chance to “get on the right track.” You may even discover that the something new you’ve been waiting for is just around the bend.

Last Friday a group of us got together to have a drink and speak about our week, and the election. Just for the fun of it we composed a small and unsophisticated questionnaire which people gamely filled out. Here’s our favourite:

Wondering why all people in Matebeleland are not obsessed with Gukurahundi is like saying that there is no understanding an African who does not hate whites for human abuses committed during the colonial era. Duh! People move on and deal with pragmatic matters even if the issues retain historical importance. – Kubatana subscriber

“From your discussions, one would like to find out how Gukurahundi victims in Matabeleland could suddenly bury the hatchet and vote for Zanu PF, a party which committed those atrocities, and also given that Zanu PF had never won a single seat there since 1980.” Rudo Gaidzanwa.