By Wilbert Mukori- “You never want to do anything that you don’t want your mother to see, because it will haunt you and eventually come back to bite you!” advised the TV personality and author, Kimora Lee Simmons. Advice that served the late Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC cum CCC friends the trials and tribulations of the past coming back to haunt them.

Zanu PF’s blatant cheating and, worse still, the wanton violence of 2008 Zimbabwe elections should have been dealt with during the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unity (GNU). SADC leaders played the motherly role of forcing Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need for Zimbabwe to implement the raft of democratic reforms to ensure cheating and wanton violence would not the repeated ever again.

The task of implementing the reforms was left to Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. Credit where credit is due, SADC leaders notably SA’s Lindiwe Zulu, did their best to remind the MDC leaders to implement the democratic reforms throughout the GNU but were ignored.

When it became clear that Zimbabwe was going into the 2013 elections with not meaningful reforms in place, SADC leaders stepped in and tried to have the elections postpone.

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Journalist Violet Gonda.

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the (2013) elections are done’.”

As we know MDC leaders ignored the last plea by the SADC leaders just as they had ignored the advice to implement the reforms. Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections, as SADC leaders had feared would happen.

Again, MDC leaders have ignored the call to implement the reforms before holding the 2018 elections. As expected, Zanu PF again blatantly rigged the 2018 elections too.

In the 2013 and 2018 elections, Zanu PF was fairly confident of winning these elections.

However, Zimbabwe’s worsening economic situation has left the country’s basic services such as education and health care in total collapse and millions are now living in abject poverty. The people are desperate for change and Zanu PF is definitely feeling the political pressure for change. And Zanu PF’s response is to step up the blatant cheating and wanton violence to the same levels as 2008 or worse.   

MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and stop Zanu rigging elections; they wasted the opportunity. And now the blatant cheating and wanton violence is back to haunt the nation!

“It is now a political tinderbox, the political situation in the country is worsening, the dark cloud has once again formed and you can see the whole purpose is intended to plunge the country into bloodshed, vulnerability, incessant instability and of course that paves way for those who would want to raid state coffers and those who would want corruption to thrive,” admitted Nelson Chamisa, the leader of CCC following the wanton violence in Midlands over the weekend.

The Police had used teargas and water-cannon to disrupt the CCC rally on Saturday. The following day CCC supporters were attached with stones and machetes. Two people were killed, and several were seriously injured.

“They (Zanu PF) wanted bloodshed and I was informed prior that they wanted to do this. I am reliably informed that the police were aware.

“We cannot have a repeat of 2008. We cannot have a repeat of the scenes we have seen in the region where there is instability. To our church, I urge you to pray so that we don’t have the demon of violence does not engulf our country. We don’t want bloodshed.”

Chamisa also called for the African Union (AU) and SADC to “immediately act before Zimbabwe is plunged into bloodshed”! He did not say what exactly he wanted SADC to do.

Indeed, what can SADC leaders do; given MDC/CCC leaders are not exactly the repented prodigal son.

What SADC leaders can do, is repeat the sound advice they gave MDC leaders in 2013: postpone the 2023 elections until democratic reforms are implemented to stop the cheating and violence. This is the advice MDC leaders did not want to hear back in 2013 and don’t want to hear now for the same reason – greed.

In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, readily admitted that boycotting the elections, as SADC leaders had advised, was the “obvious” solution. He confessed that greed had trumped reason!.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” wrote Senator Coltart.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

For the record, four of the main MDC factions joined three other parties to form the MDC Alliance (MDC A) before the 2018 elections; they went on to participate in the elections, the possibility of boycotting the elections was never even mentioned. The rump of the MDC A has gone on to form CCC and everyone is determined to participate in the 2023 elections and will not listen to any talk of boycotting the elections for the same reason as before – greed.

As Coltart rightly pointed out, by participating in the flawed elections MDC leaders were undermining SADC leaders’ ability to pressure Zanu PF to implement the reforms and stop the curse of rigged elections. By participating in the flawed elections MDC leaders were giving “credibility” to the flawed process and thus legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.

“SADC must act immediately before Zimbabwe is plunged into bloodshed!” What can SADC leaders do to force CCC leaders to stop participating in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy?

What can SADC leaders do to team Chamisa and company’s greed? Chamisa and company’s greed has come back to haunt CCC and us all!