via We let our eyes off election ball, MDC admits – DailyNews Live by Fungi Kwaramba 13 OCTOBER 2013
Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has admitted taking eyes off the election ball during the inclusive government, saying participating in the July 31 elections without key reforms was suicidal.
Tsvangirai suffered a huge defeat at the hands of President Robert Mugabe during the July 31 elections, triggering calls for him to step down to pave way for a new leader.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily News on Sunday, MDC organising secretary Nelson Chamisa said participating in the July 31 elections without reforms was akin to going to an examination without a syllabus.
Chamisa however, shot down suggestions that the party’s 61-year-old leader should quit.
“It is not time to change the commander,” he said.
“Every struggle has its face. President Tsvangirai is the face of the struggle. Any other shrill calls or comments for him to step down are just but voices in the wilderness.
“It’s good to express oneself but looking at the circumstances, the challenges we face, its not the time to change the commander. We are in the middle of a mortal combat with challenges that are so clear in the country.”
In retrospect, Chamisa regretted that the party “entered a stadium which was filled with water, stones and of course thorns”.
“There is no chance we should have gone to elections without electoral, media and political reforms,” he said. “We left and lifted our eyes off the ball. We were supposed to continue with the reform mantra. We were supposed to focus on the reforms as a precondition for free and fair elections.”
Tsvangirai was railroaded into an election after the Constitutional Court directed that elections be held on July 31.
The buoyant MDC participated in the polls under protest.
Now out of power, the MDC says it is going to make sure that it will not take part in future elections without necessary reforms.
“We should never enter into darkness hoping that we just grope around and locate that which we are seeking to identify,” Chamisa said.
“We need to make sure that we bring light to the elections. We need fundamental reforms to how elections are conducted, who conducts elections, the technical staff of Zec (the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission), the issue of institutions of government doing government business and not necessarily partisan business, those are things we have learnt and things we could have done better and now with hindsight, we are even twice sharper, once beaten, twice shy.”
Chamisa, who served as a minister for Informatio and Communication Technology (ITC) in the inclusive government, said being outside government was not a handicap to the MDC’s goal of attaining political and institutional reforms.
“We don’t necessarily need to be in government to achieve reforms; the theatre of politics is not just transacted in government. We are political stakeholders by the virtue of support that the people of Zimbabwe continue to give to president Tsvangirai,” said Chamisa.
COMMENTS
MDC…..dumb and dumber……so many mistakes along the way over the last 5 years……
Chamisa-you may blame yourself and the party…from the looks of it you had no option considering the enemy you faced and the pressure from the people, who less the rigging and the manipulation of the system were convinced you were going to win. Also remember crocodiles like Ncube were sitting in the wings and waiting to pounce and participate and win 50 seats or so, hence legitimising the elections. Had you not participated, ZANU a party with no conscience would have claimed victory and you were still going to be blamed for giving them victory over the plate.
Don’t regret, dust yourself and move on, the struggle for Zimbabwe continues…we are still behind you. Who ever said a struggle is a 13 year marathon. At least age is on your side and I am happy you are standing with Save just like Caleb/Joshua stood by Moses.
Go out and continue encouraging your people and I admit its not easy.
True Tsuro Wabaya dede nemukamwa
Can we then expect an open/Official acceptance of loss from MDC?
Country needs this kind of reasoning from MDC and surely Zim could be rebuilt and of course we need a strong opposition.
how many times were the party warned about reforms ,5 more years of destitution because people don’t listen,,,
The MDC were enjoying power for the first time that they were too blind to see what any person could see,the voters roll is where all the trick was,even a fool could see that but they decided to ahead damn fools
MDC must must have radical change of leadership,policies or perish ,unfortunately its seems there are no other options
The leadership thing is nothing the elections were rigged. Even if there was Bit or Chamisa as leader the rigging was going to happen.
How can they admit the loss they did not incur? Chamisa is only highliting in hindsight that they should have known that some of the institutions where reforms should have been done first before elections turned out to be the ones which instituted the rigging e.g. the security institutions.
We are sick of hearing excuses, the buck stops with the leader & he has lost 3 times!!! Plse we want change. Leadership renewal must take place now inorder to be ready fo 2018. Why do we only want change when it is associated with the ruling party but not us? Charity must begin @ home otherswise we are in conflict with the name of the party ” Movement for Democratic Change” when there is no such movement within MDC. People need to do the right thing, accept responsibility, declare key leadership positions vacant & call for an open & transparent ballot.
very predictable and immaturity of MDC. even a grade 7 child could tell that participating in such an election was suicidal. no miracles and ‘chancers’ in politics. CHECKMATE.
DONT MAKE THIS MISTAKE AGAIN. INFACT YOU NEED LEADERSHIP RESTRUCTURING. MAKONEWA VARUME CHICHINJAI MAITIRO FROM WITHIN. SERIOUSLY.
As long as SADCC and South Africa continue to support Mugabe
any opposition party is going to lose future elections.
Change, unfortunately will only come with violence, it,s the African
way and has been proved time and again, why should Zimbabwe be any different?
Chamisa is a day dreamer par excellence. In 3 years from now MDC will be no more. Even if the MDC limps on to the next election, the so called reforms Chamisa dreams of- which in reality are the destruction of our armed forces, the surrender of our electoral process to imperialists- will not be there. The MDC has no means to effect those reforms. If they decide to boycott the 2018 elections, Maduku’s party will get more than 50 seats in parliament and replace the MDC as the opposition party in parliament and the MDC will be doomed. The MDC is finished. Why does Chamisa and other stupid people in this sell out party accept it? If you persist on being a mennece we can always deal with you in our best tried and tested way- and I am sure you know very well what that is, period.
Blame Ncube, SADC and everyone but nt yhe failef idiot next to you callef Tsvangirai snd his pathetic generals.
Fours prior to elections Prof Ncube outlined the process leading to elections. He indicated then that elections should around September 2013. Morgan Tsvangirai boasted that he can take on Zanupf any time. He is the same MDCT leader who was in cahoots with RG/Zanupf & AM changing principal venues dodging W. Nube. Warumwa neche kuchera (shot himself in the foot.
You had them on the ropes in 2008 but you entered into the GNU,Madness, you gave them 5 years to plan and recover. You trusted MBEKI/SADC/JZ , Madness. You capitulated in respect of every “reform” written into the GNU, Madness. You agreed to go into an election with no reforms, Madness. Your Hierarchy fell into the trap of fancy cars/houses/women and lost touch with the grass roots, Madness. What funds were available were spent on the good things in life as opposed to ensuring that you were ready for the election and influencing the voters (Especially the security forces), Madness. You capitulated on the Diaspora vote without an argument, Madness. You were told many times that ZPF was going to rig the vote to hell but you believed implicitly that SADC and JZ would save the day, Madness.
You deserve what you got, next time listen and learn, that is if there is a next time. Unless you reform get in decent leadership, especially at the top. Ensure the leadership sticks to party principles and is not influenced by hangers on many of whom are higly suspect individuals, your party will just dissapear into the mists. You let down Zimbabwe/Zimbabweans/all those who lost their lives and many who suffered so terribly for their beliefs. You are a disgrace.
It is time to drop the “T”. Too many mistakes made and too clever by half to even an ounze of common sense. There will never be change in Zimbabwe unless there is a change of leadership at the top end. Chamisa must also go with his designer suit and his mirror and go preaching with his mirror and facebook admirer’s club. He is a control freak and a useless politician. He hopes to replace Tsvangirai kikikikikiki.
LETS CALL IT ZIMBABWE MDC (zmdc)!
I m happy that this experience opened all your eyes. Goodluck next time. MDC is the change we want. More-gain is more!!!!!!!!!
Its time for renewal.
We put on all the MDC Party regalia , sang all the songs , enjoyed the food and drinks , toured the country for free and went on to Vote Zanu pf .
What kind of fool does not know what politics is . Its a f’ck game , You do what ever it takes to be on top – not of woman like Tswangirai but top job.
Chamisa is a day dreamer par excellence.
Shallow suicidal politics by the likes of Tsuro. I thought Tsuro refers to a small clever animal but this one who writes makes one imagine an unknown very stupid creature. Ncube Ncube there was Ncube. then Tswangirai went on to lose because Ncube would go for the election legitilising the elections! Did Tswangirai not boast that he had had chosen a Zanupf Jacob Mudenda to be chairman of the human rights commission? Was it Ncube who told him to be the spokesperson of Mugabe and Mtambara? Come on Tsuro with all due respect. Tswangarai, guys is either extremely dull,just terribly confused or genuinely managing the anti-Zanupf feelings of the population on behalf of the very Zanupf. Maybe this is an arguement too advanced for the unfortunate ones who do not ask questions, those who just see someone then they admire him/her just being part of what goes on at that moment.
I know Zimbabweans are good at destructive criticism while turning a blind eye to reality. MDC-T was faced with two difficult choices. The first was going ahead with elections without the reforms since the election date was by decree- the hope was that they would monitor and supervise elections to eliminate rigging. This handed ZPF victory when it did the unthinkable by manipulating the voters’ roll and refusing its accessibility till election date (and beyond). The second option was for MDC-T to boycott the elections. This would again have handed ZPF victory unopposed (with other sell-out parties participating to confer legitimacy). Don’t tell me that ZPF was going to be worried this time by the issue of legitimacy. So it was always coming. Instead of the majority of the Zim population criticising Tsvangirai, as a people we should be mapping a way forward. Lets not pin our hopes on 2018 since there is nothing to guarantee a change in the status quo- time can not effect reforms. As Zimbabweans lets stop being cowards who put all their hope in one man while we are not prepared to effect the change we want to see. It’s high time we stand up for our rights collectively not in 2018 but now. Tsvangirai has tried as an individual but we have failed him due to us not supporting him- I mean by means of action and not verbal support. So until we move out of the cowardice shell, we will remain enslaved by a minority until Jesus comes! Let’s stop casting the blame on people like Tsvangirai who have suffered many abuses at the hands of ZPF. We are a bunch of cowards!
But makambodyawo! Manje muchakuvara nehurovha kana mabenz muchashaya mari ye petrol! It was easier to call for reforms fron with a governing position. Now u will jst be making noise and they wont listen to you. Matova povo zvehu supasoniki zvakatopera!!
Tsvangirai tried his best people are just jelous ,we let him down we are cowards nt Tsvangirai.People who want change of leadership can u please bring yr prefared line up ihope it wont include the top Six because they are the once u want to change Tsvangirai is not the only person who dicide what to do.plse do not wait for Tsvangirai organise yo who know and we wl congratulate u gentlemen.no change until we reach Canaan Sory Magents
No change unil you reach… Lets wake up to reality. In any democratic institution….the same MDC purports to be, a track record of Morgan calls for change of leadership period. he either steps down and appoint caretaker leader followed by elections for leader. Thats the way.
You got so blinded by tribalism such that whatever we in the MDC green team advised you as the main opposition party you would not listen, because, according to your gkurawundi upbringing, our party is led by a person from the wrong region/tribe.
You thought it better to listen to Mugabe, to the extent of even ignoring a SADC resolution.
There you are today, enjoy your defeat quietly or better still as advised by your erstwhile tribesman comrade, commit suicide!!
Chokwadi munochiziva is spot on.ndoinonzi analysis yawaita iyoyo.Mdc had very very difficult choices to make on whether to participate or not.Bravo Mdc we will never abandon our party of excellence.All passive members i am urging you to start paying membership contributions to support the party.
MDC T had only made mistakes 4 the past 5 years.going into elections without key reforms.anyway who dosen’t lean from his past mistakes.Pasi nehurumende ya Mugabe.TSANGIRAI DON’T GIVE UP NOW.Zimbabwe is not 4 Zanu P.F It belongs 2 brave sons and daughters who fought 4 us 2 demand our own rights