Make your vote count on July 31

In June 2008 there was a belief that Simba Makoni had a chance of winning the Presidential election. People invested their votes in him. He garnered 8.3% of the valid votes. It turned out that these votes were the difference between Tsvangirai winning a majority in the first round and the country going to a run off. There are clear parallels between the situation in 2008 and the situation obtaining in 2013.

I am not suggesting that in 2008 Simba Makoni was a bad presidential candidate but that he was not a viable candidate. He did not have a realistic chance of winning the election. The coalition between Welshman Ncube and Dumiso Dabengwa creates a situation similar to the 2008 scenario. It brings into the election a presidential candidate with little or no chance of winning the 2013 election; a candidate whose share of the vote will be small but significant in stopping the march to a new Zimbabwe. There are people who are planning on investing their votes in Welshman Ncube as a presidential candidate. While there is nothing to suggest that Ncube is a bad presidential candidate there is clear evidence that he has no realistic chance of winning the July 31 election. Whether we like it or not this election is a two horse race between Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. The other candidates are just spoilers. This has nothing to do with abilities or inabilities of Welshman Ncube as a candidate but reflects the realities on the ground.

Recent utterances by Dabengwa in Chikomba should concern all those who are trying to vote for change. At a rally in Chikomba Dabengwa claimed that he supported Makoni in 2008 in order to block the imminent win by Tsvangirai. Dabengwa is reported to have said, “I think we achieved what we had set ourselves to achieve and that is to make sure Morgan did not win that election…” One can read in this that Dabengwa knew that Makoni was not going to win election but wanted to stop the march towards a new Zimbabwe. Dabengwa has chosen to endorse and support Welshman Ncube knowing very well that he has no chance of winning the presidential election. Is this another attempt by Dabengwa to stop Tsvangirai from winning the election? I believe it is.

I advise the people of Zimbabwe not to vote for Welshman Ncube as a presidential candidate. Our target in this election is to stop ZANU PF from winning power again. We should not help ZANU PF in rigging these elections by voting for Welshman Ncube whose agenda is to stop Tsvangirai winning the election. The selfishness exhibited by Dabengwa in 2008 appears to be the same selfishness driving Ncube in 2013. Dabengwa hoped to get into government through the back door by ensuring that there was no overall winner of the 2008 presidential election. It would appear Ncube is hoping for a similar outcome.

Voting for Welshman Ncube is voting for Robert Mugabe. While the people who will vote for him are not directly voting for Robert Mugabe they are definitely giving Robert Mugabe an advantage. I know that all people who are planning to vote for Welshman Ncube want change; they want a new Zimbabwe. The people voting for Welshman Ncube are patriotic Zimbabweans who are fed up with ZANU PF rule. It is for these reasons that they should make the difficult decision to support the only viable alternative to Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai has enough nationwide support to defeat Mugabe. No other candidate in this election has the national stature to win against Mugabe. Despite loud pronouncements that Ncube is in this election to win it, we all know that he can only come a distant third to Tsvangirai and Mugabe. Dr Simba Makoni has put the nation before his ambition and has endorsed Morgan Tsvangirai. Makoni is arguably the best President that Zimbabwe never had but he is not selfish. He knows that the democratic struggle is about removing the thieving, corrupt and murdering ZANU PF regime from power. He also knows that the man capable of removing Robert Mugabe at this present time is Morgan Tsvangirai. He is the most popular political party leader in Zimbabwe at this time. That is why Dr Makoni has chosen to support Morgan Tsvangirai.

A friend once said ‘I absolutely hate Morgan Tsvangirai but I am going to vote for him and the MDC in order to remove ZANU PF from power’. This is the attitude that Zimbabweans need in this election. In order to make our votes count against ZANU PF we must vote for Morgan Tsvangirai in the forthcoming elections. All those who want to see change in Zimbabwe must cast their vote for Morgan Tsvangirai. Make your vote count!

No more slogans

As Zimbabwe hurtles towards another election whose outcome is likely to be contested I sat down to reflect on the political journey that we have been on for more than thirty-three years. The Zimbabwe that we helped bring to life has not turned out the way we thought it would. Like midwives Zimbabweans prepared for the delivery of the new country. We were there during all stages of pregnancy, labour and the early postnatal period; a community of midwives with each of us doing our part in bringing about the birth of Zimbabwe.

In 1980 the baby finally arrived. We were ecstatic. It was, therefore, fitting that at the ‘baby welcome party’ a legend performed to welcome this special baby. Bob Marley did not just perform but he also wrote a special tribute to the new baby. The song ‘Zimbabwe’ sums up what drove communities - men, women, young and old – to take up arms against a system that made them second class citizens in the land of their birth. The opening lines, ‘Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny, / And in this judgement there is no partiality’ were poignant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7g-niDevcU

Once we were free we started the difficult task of transforming our nation, the laws, the public services, the education system, the health system, etc. We did a brilliant job in those early years; major improvements in education and health led to the improvement in the quality of life for all Zimbabweans. The five year development plans and other slogans summed up what we were trying to achieve as a nation. Then we caught the bug; the bug that infects those who have been in power for too long – self-preservation and the desire to keep power at all costs. The tune changed. It all became about slogans- ‘Pasi na…’, ‘Pasi ne…’, ‘Pamberi na…’, ‘Pamberi ne…’ etc. The baby turned on the midwives! Instead of transforming lives the government now focussed on preserving power. Action was replaced by slogans and jingles – we were sucked into a cultist support for those in power.

As we reflect on the last thirty-three years we now need to say to the party that has ruled us for all this time – slogans will not be enough. We need to make it clear to them that we do not eat slogans. For thirty-three years they have stripped us of the power that we fought for; they have lined their own pockets from the public purse. For more than thirty years they have used slogans to entice us to support them; those who refused were beaten, maimed or killed. Chenjerai Hove deals with the idea of sloganeering effectively in the Mail and Guardian article titled ‘Zimbabwe's war of empty slogans’. Hove poignantly observes that, ‘As the country faints under heavy economic and political burdens, the politicians would rather punch the air with empty slogans and worthless promises that are so unrealistic  that even illiterate villagers wonder how a politician can be so dumb as to promise a bridge where there is not even a  river.’

It is now time to say we will not be swayed by empty slogans. Zimbabweans need to demand actions rather than slogans; they need to demand the right to determine their own destiny. We must not allow the violent slogans to distract us from our collective search for the freedom that we fleetingly enjoyed in the 1980s. Some politicians believe that Zimbabweans are stupid, passive and incapable of seeing through their empty slogans. It is now time to say ‘We won’t take your slogans no more!’ We need to state clearly that we are not going to be swayed by violence, threats or slogans – we are going to be swayed by policies, ideas and actions. I have written elsewhere about the need for us to disabuse ourselves of the notion that we are unable to change our situation. Once we reject the sloganeering and we vote for policies and practical ideas then we will force our politics and politicians to change.

It is to the legendary Bob Marley that I turn to once again. His song ‘Slogans - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZSihzPBt2A ’ says,

  Wipe out the paintings of slogans all over the streets (ooh, ooh, ooh), confusing the people while your asphalt burns our tired feet.

 I see borders and barriers, segregation, demonstration and riots (ooh, ooh, ooh),    a-sufferation of the refugees, oh-oh, when, when will we be free?

We can stop the asphalt burning our tired feet, we can refuse to be confused by empty slogans, we can refuse to be divided by a cabal of politicians’ slogans and we can take down the ‘borders and barriers’ that stop us working as a collective to achieve real freedom. The answer to Marley’s ‘When will we be free?’ lies in us refusing to be used, refusing to accept empty slogans and in working together. The individuality and selfishness promoted by belonging to political parties needs to be subservient to the needs of our country. We must sing like Marley:

Oh-oh-oh, we can't take your slogans no more,

 can't take your slogans no more,

 can't take your slogans no more,

 no more sweet talk from-a culprit,

 no more sweet talk from the hypocrites.

As Hove states, ‘When Zimbabwean parties campaign, they usually produce a chain of newly invented, juicy slogans and clever political sayings rather than persuading voters with substantive issues, analysis of community and national problems and solutions.’ For a long time we have allowed ourselves to be sweet talked into voting people into power; for a long time we have taken slogans without question. We need to vote for people who engage with the substantive issues of our time; those who diagnose community and national problems in order to come up with practical solutions. The time has come to say to our politicians ‘Can’t take your slogans no more!’