Nomusa Garikayi |In two weeks, 21 st January 2017 the people of Bikita West will be casting their votes to elect a new MP. However, there is overwhelming evidence already to show the whole electoral process is not free, fair and credible and thus the outcome will not be a credible reflection of the democratic wishes of the constituency.

“Muno, munonetsa kutamba namo. Ukada kutamba nemadh**** pasina mvura unoshaiwa pekumagezera. Unofamba uchinhuwa. (This Province does not tolerate political descent and those who have dared to do so have been punished severely.)” Masvingo’s Provincial Affairs Minister, Shuvai Mahofa told the people attending a Zanu PF rally at Gwindingwi Primary School.

“This is what we are telling Mai Mujuru.  . . . acting president (Mnangagwa), we do as we say. What we want to assure you as Masvingo province is that we are going to give you the highest percentage vote. This is Bikita West, Bikita Best … let us go and vote wisely.”

Zanu PF is a party of thugs and the party’s use of all manner of vote rigging tactics including tampering with the voters’ roll and, worse still, use of wanton violence is well documented. In the 2008 elections, the most violent elections in Zimbabwe’s turbulent history, President Mugabe told his party thugs “What is achieved by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” Hundreds of thousands of people were beaten and/or raped that year and over 500 were murdered.

The fact that Minister Mahofa evoked these murderous memories in such a matter-of-fact way and in the presence of VP Mnangagwa only goes to show that when the going gets tough Zanu PF will revert to its tried, tested and proven methods dirty tricks to rig the vote including wanton violence.

After 37 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship millions of our people are out of work and living in abject poverty.

The Zanu PF dictatorship controls all the state institutions like Police, ZEC, Judiciary, hence the reason why it has been impossible to hold free, fair and credible elections. The regime also controls all facets of the nation’s economic activity hence the reason there is the criminal waste of the nation’s human and material resources.

To break Zanu PF’s strangle hold on the economy, a prerequisite for economic recovery, we must first end the party’s dictatorial rule by holding free, fair and credible elections.

The cure to all our economic and political problems is a simple one – we must implement the democratic reforms designed to stop all the vote rigging. Anything else is a waste of time!

Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement even one reform during the GNU, when the task was significantly easier that it was since the rigged July 2013 elections, because he believed he could still deliver political and economic transformation with no reform. We all know what a waste of time that has been as Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections.

Not even one reform has been implemented since the 2013 elections; it is clear, Zanu PF will rig the 2018 elections. Uniting the opposition parties will do nothing to stop the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut!

“These guys are crazy they think they can intimidate the electorate,” commented Lameck Muronzwa in Nehanda Radio in response to Mai Mahofa’s threats. His was just one of the 70 comments or so in the first 24 hours of publishing the story, most of the comments were vulgar cursing and swearing.

Of course, the people are intimidated, if I was in Bikita West I would vote for Zanu PF and argue other to do the same. As we speak, there are many people in Bikita West are hungry and whether or not they get food aid will depend on whether or not Zanu PF win the by-election in two weeks. This is the reality these people are facing and people like Muronzwa can afford to bury their heads in the sand and deny to see it.

After 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule, with 90% plus out of work and millions now living in abject poverty instead of doing something concrete to end this madness and human tragedy all we can do is curse and swear! No wonder we are in a mess!