Has he really won?

Note: that is not just one party. They bulldozed their agendas through the last ZANU-PF congress; there may still be some zanies who don’t like being bulldozed or don’t like CAB3. The non-zany MPs who voted for it showed their true allegiance – to the Tarwireyeis, Chivayos and the ED clan, which means to the power of money.The FPP would be an abomination to the brave men and women who took up arms to fight for a free Zimbabwe and to those who worked in the early years of independence and suffered for something better than minority rule, whether black or white.

What have they got beyond one man’s signature purportedly to preserve his own power? They may have cast a searchlight on the fragments of opposition; we are on our way to distinguishing the cowards and moneygrubbers, whatever their party label, from those who truly oppose plutocracy (=rule by the rich). The picture isn’t clear yet. Nobody is perfect, so there may be some who oppose this bloodless coup because they didn’t think of it first and there may even be some who are silent so far because they are licking their wounds and trying to regroup.

Let’s not be too quick to label everybody. There are some who wear their label as a sign of triumph. There are some who wear a label as a figleaf to cover their naked greed and ambition; now is the time to wait and observe. They will all show their true colours if we give them a bit of time.

In the meantime, we don’t pretend to accept the unacceptable. We may find allies among those who don’t usually take sides in politics, even those who distrust any professional politician. The facts remain: changing the term of office for president or parliamentarians requires a referendum under the Constitution, sections 328(6) & subsection (7) requires a special referendum if the change affects the present or any past holder of that position. When we approved this Constitution, in 2013, we obviously felt strongly about this issue and the recent chicanery only makes a lot of thinking and feeling people support the restriction more strongly.

Considering this man’s expertise in rigging elections, if he refuses a referendum that must be because this time a referendum cannot be rigged: the strength of feeling on this issue is too strong to be concealed, even using all the tricks he did in the last couple of elections.

This time, he is really scared. That gives me hope that we can resist effectively, but don’t expect me to see how at this stage. A people united cannot be defeated!