A lot of people are talking as if I am responsible for the MDC's loss (if that's what is happening because I don't know the results). Yet I did not even vote.
A relative has warned me not to go to my rural home anymore. A friend says Zanu-PF should give me a diamond mine or make me the director of a parastatal. Another friend has told me 'wakadyiswa neZanu.' Yet I am not even a Zanu-PF supporter.
On the other hand, even if the MDC had won by 120%, it would not have changed my opinion that they are a bunch of dubious opportunists not worthy of the boots they were trying to fill. That is an opinion that I have held from the time they were formed.
Right now they are making a lot of claims about having been cheated. I am inclined to think it is part of a strategy to try and negotiate their way into government posts so as to stay in the money.
As usual the claims of cheating are speculative and not substantiated by hard evidence. Take for example the claim that there are people with the same name but different IDs registered at the same address.
For most Zimbabweans the 'address' is the village of origin. Take any Zimbabwean ID card and check, it is there. If you happen to have cousins, nephews and uncles also called Tapiwa (and we do have a tendency to name children after relatives) then it is quiet possible to have 3 or moreTapiwa Chimutis whose address is Chimuti Village. A lot of Zimbabaweans also use the houses of relatives as addresses because they are lodgers.
We have not even talked about totem based surnames like Moyo or Ncube. Get the Zimbabwe telephone directory and check how many pages those surnames covers. Unless your parents were to choose a rather exotic name like Welshman, you are likely to share a first name and surname with hundreds of other Ncubes.
Also remember that we Zimbabweans for reasons other than voting, sometimes register multiple times. When I was in primary school (1970s) I had three birth-certificates. I know of a cousin who once had 4 IDs until she was caught, triggering a big investigation at the registrar general's office. That was maybe 20 years ago. It is us ordinary people who duplicate IDs as we cheat and bribe our way through life, not politicians.
I am not ruling out tampering with the voters roll. But I wouldn't hold a press conference until I have done thorough and competent investigative work. I wouldn't hold a press a conference because I have seen two Thabani Moyos from Moyo Village. Or even two Thabani Moyos living in the same house in Harare. It could be grandfather and grandson.
As for voters turned away. Every party had polling agents at polling stations. Surely it was a simple matter to count the number of people turned away at each polling station and add the numbers to come up with a definitive figure, rather than to speculate on an overall figure that no one has any way of checking.
The MDC only have themselves to blame for wasting a good opportunity to get into power.
It is simply foolish to let people who grew up among the high rises of New York and Los Angeles, people who have never seen a tsombori, gwiredembo or dug for a fifi, to be your guiding light when you are seeking the votes of people who grew up doing these things.
I remember sometime ago I wrote that I will not take political advise, on Zimbabwe, from someone who has never been part of proceedings at a village court. Well the MDC did exactly that, borrow strategies and plans from New Yorkers almost word for word. They borrowed everything including the half-hearted attempt to champion gay rights. Now they are surprised that they are not winning elections in Zimbabwe. Hint, their strategy would have won them elections in Washington DC.
To me the election does not make much of a difference because the structural deficiencies of our governance system have always been unlikely to be addressed by either party.
First and foremost is the failure to collect revenue. The tax system has virtually collapsed with high income individuals in the informal sector largely untaxed.
Second is the excessive consumption of the executive. We have an excessively large executive branch, that is consuming far beyond the means of the economy. (http://punungwe.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-zimbabwes-economy-can-recover.html)
The MDC and Zanu-PF have been concentrating on throwing insults at each other and I never heard them addressing these tough but critical issues. Both parties focused on their traditional matakadyakare issues.
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