adminTODAY we go to the elections for the 11th time since Independence in 1980 in line with our country’s strong democratic tradition that has seen us hold elections periodically and consistently whenever they were due to give people the right to elect leaders of their choice.This year is a bit different in that for the first time since 1980, we hold the elections a whole month after the expiry of the life of Parliament, a consequence of attempts by the MDC formations to defer elections to prolong their stay in government without the people’s mandate.
We hope the electorate was watching and now knows that entrusting the MDC formations with a mandate may be akin to surrendering the vote for good as these parties may never return to the people for a mandate.
Indeed, MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has consistently shown his disdain for the law and constitutionalism with his latest stunt being his announcement that he will wilfully violate the Electoral Act by arrogating himself the role of announcing election results when the Electoral Act is clear that such powers vest only in ZEC.
In justifying his pledge to break the law, Mr Tsvangirai bragged that no one would arrest him as he would have been elected president; in so doing Mr Tsvangirai exposed his misplaced belief that a president can break the law without comebacks.
This pedestrian thinking, coupled with the MDC-T leader’s aversion for elections, is very telling and buttresses the view by many who have worked with him that he should never be entrusted with instruments of State power given his penchant for dictatorship.
Contrast that with President Mugabe’s insistence on respecting the law, even where it goes against him and it becomes clear who can be entrusted with State power on behalf of the people, safe in the knowledge that he holds it in trust for them.
The choice that faces the voter today is a simple one: Accept the MDC-T’s offer of Juice or Zanu-PF’s offer of the orchard and the factory that processes the juice.
It’s a choice between continuing on the path to holistic independence that began with the First Chimurenga/Umvukela Uprisings of 1896, or negating the sacrifices of generations to embrace western rule by proxy.
If we are a thinking people, as indeed our much-vaunted high literacy rate suggests, then today’s exercise should just be a fulfilment of a constitutional requirement; but the outcome should not be in question, a resounding victory for President Mugabe and Zanu-PF who must be given the mandate to take our revolution to its logical conclusion.
This is also the nation’s chance to punish the MDC-T and its Western handlers for encumbering us with a ruinous sanctions regime over the past decade, sanctions that cost the nation upwards of US$42 billion in lost revenue; and immeasurable losses in livelihoods and development.
Zanu-PF’s indigenisation and economic empowerment policies contrasted with MDC-T’s donor-driven jobs mantra invoke in us the Biblical story of Esau and Jacob where Esau exchanged his inheritance in return for a bowl of soup.
As you enter the voting booth today, you are effectively choosing either the soup/Juice or your inheritance/your economy not only for yourself but for posterity in perpetuity.
Learn from the folly of Esau, and vote wisely.
Online Reporter