Comments on: Zimbabweans speak out – Should the MDC boycott their seats?

By: Zimbabwean

Zimbabwean — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 12:05:10 +0000

Since the election process was flawed resulting in flawed results which defrauded the masses of their real choice, the MDC should not legitimise the elligitimate setup which does not represent the will of Zimbabweans. MDC need not participate in protest since they and the masses are the ones who were robbed.

By: Legend

Legend — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 12:42:50 +0000

The MDC is a weak political party. If anyone thinks they had a chance in this election, please get of your high horse and pull your head out of your ass. Last time they had substantial number of people in parliament, what did they do? when the power sharing between the parties came, what did they do? nothing for the nation at least! only sex scandals and titles added to their names. they are a party of losers, always second fiddle. i am by no means a Zanu PF supporter but I have heard enough of this cry for MDC bullishit enough to drive me nuts. Another stupid thing blogs such as this and MDC supporters think is that mugabe has no support. Again pull your heads out of your asses and smell the fresh air, smell the coffee, see you sunlight not just the darkness of your insides (I am not a zanu supporter i remind you but a realist) most of zimbabwes population is rural or small town dwelling and zanu does shit for those people all the time, all they way from rural electrification programs to schools and donating computers and everything, all that on top of the land restructuring programme, what chance do you think tsvangirai has with them when he promises to take the land away…c’mon , be realists people and stop complaining about the obvious. i think the problem with us zimbabweans is we are too chicken shit to deal with shit, the idiot above me called “beryl m” is the type of imbecile who thinks egyptian style violence is the way forward, thank god s/he is just another faceless internet troll, the way to do it is to campaign using brains, give a true manifesto of what you will do for the people and take care of your constituence, show the people what you have done, not like MDC who have done nothing and are losing support. Even the UN said the elections where “fair” they still go around shouting about vote rigging and empty ballot papers, grow some balls and accept defeat. we need real leaders who do shit for people in a modern way… oh and again, boycotting shit by the MDC wont work, when has that ever worked, zanu doesnt need those fools, they have much less support an control than they think they have…. everyday I cry for my country not because of zanu but because the opposition is stupider and would turn our country into a worse mess…

By: beryl m

beryl m — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 09:54:45 +0000

I’m so confused over the current state of affairs in our beloved country. While part of me feels profoundly betrayed, disappointed and even angry with the MDC-T for participating in what was so clearly a set-up and a farce from the get-go, I also acknowledge that as Zimbabweans we just didn’t have a viable alternative. It was either go with the MDC, who were clearly outmanoeuvred & out of their depth, or by our silence and non-participation allow ZANU-PF to just waltz back into State House unopposed.
To be honest though, my disenchantment with ZANU-PF is now overshadowed by my disappointment and disenchantment with the MDC-T. Those 5 years in power that they were ‘granted’ by ZANU-PF were enough to allow them to become complacent, comfortable and very very naïve. Did Tsvangirai honestly believe that popularity alone would be enough to unseat the political machine that is ZANU-PF? They’ve had 5 years to prepare for these elections and perfect their rigging techniques. What has the MDC been doing during this time?! Grown fat and comfortable globe trotting and sitting in Parliament, supping off the crumbs fed to them by Mugabe and his cronies instead of strategising and ensuring that they’re were able to stand if not on equal footing with ZANU PF, but they were at least better able to counteract their rigging techniques. Surely at some point though they should have had the foresight to acknowledge that the playing field was skewed too much in Mugabe’s favour so the only sensible thing to do would have been to withdraw and let Mugabe to attempt another one man race. By participating and staying in what was inn effect a one-horse race they have effectively endorsed this government and given them the credibility they lacked in 2008. The bulk of the smart sanctions have been withdrawn, SADC and the AU have been given reason enough to rubber stamp this sham, and ZANU-PF have a clean slate to proceed with thanks to the efforts of the likes of Tendai Biti and David Coltart.
Essentially it’s a lose-lose situation for us the children of Zimbabwe. I wanted to refer to the analogy of the 2 elephants fighting & the grass getting trampled to describe where we are right now. But the truth is there was only ever one elephant in this battle, fighting with a very small and very naïve mouse with an inflated ego, squeaking at the top of its voice as it dodges being trampled by the older, more confident and much more experienced elephant. Have we just been witness to the proud little mouse being tossed in the air and whacked by the huge, but battle-scarred elephant into the wilderness? Maybe it’s time for us, the grass that has been trampled on incessantly by this raging, rabid elephant. Do we allow ourselves to be ground into the dirt never again to flourish and feel the nourishing rain and the rays of the sun on our heads? Or is it time for us to come together and grow so thick and verdant that we succeed in blocking out the sun creating an impenetrable barrier, and slowly drive this already senile and unsteady beast to its knees in capitulation? We have to take lessons from Egypt and the other middle Eastern countries where popular revolt has unseated despots like Mugabe. Otherwise we’re in for another very cold very harsh winter, and this I fear there’s no coming back.