As is usual when something is happening in Africa, nations outside our realm send their own people as “observers” in what they say is a mission to record what is going on in the target country.
There are thousands of such missions currently in Zimbabwe to observe the elections of July 30th.
Less than two weeks before elections in Zimbabwe, violence is quietly spiraling out of control, just like the silent coup Zimbabwe witnessed in November last year.
To this day, people are being forced to categorize how Robert Mugabe left office. People say he left on his own then tried to get back while others say it was a well-executed military coup.
Zimbabwe has a problem in that the world always believes that Zimbabweans can take it; that they are tough and accommodating.
No one talks about the abuse, murder, rape and killing of Zimbabwean people by state-sponsored arms like the army, police or the ruling Zanu-PF party supporters.
At this particular point, it is painful to see the violence being perpetrated on people, the obvious pre-election rigging, the unequal political field and how the ruling party is using government money and property to out-campaign its rivals.
It is very distressing that after being welcomed by almost the entire nation, all the army and its installed state president do is to regurgitate Mugabe’s sadistic way of cheating and subjugating people.
Current president, Emerson Mnangagwa, has been a big disappointment in terms of not producing the “new dispensation” he trumpeted after the army installed him last year.
There is no new dispensation and all people see is a continuation of all the evil that Mugabe used on the nation.
Mnangagwa brought no new ideas. None at all. He is being carried on the shoulders of foreign countries that are eager to re-engage Zimbabwe and get a business foothold.
Despite an abundance of multitudes of so-called “foreign election observers” from all over the world, almost none of them is complaining about the ongoing violence against the people. None of them has publicly admonished Mnangagwa and his ruling party over the violence which is steadily increasing as the election date approaches.
They are observers, not fixers; they are not there to assist Zimbabwe to hold free and fair elections but to lie to the world about their presence.
Little attention is being paid to the people. There is big reluctance to criticize the ruling party and government as foreign countries and companies view the government and its ruling party as their business partners of tomorrow.
The European Union is a complete embarrassment. So are delegations from many countries around the world.
Clearly, their priorities do not include the well-being of the people of Zimbabwe or free and fair elections.
If they were interested in that, they all could have raised the alarm over the way the voters’ roll issue is being handled. They could have spoken out about the slick manner the ruling party and government are organizing the elections.
They could have sounded alarm bells over the way the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is handling the election campaign.
There is mayhem in the country; there are open and clear irregularities in the voting process that needed to be addressed. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has shown a clear bias yet the “election observers” are busy keeping up appearances, visiting places of interest while waiting to make a statement after the elections when the damage and irregularities have been legitimised.
They are more of thieves and robbers than election observers. They are busy laying the ground work for exploiting Zimbabwe once again.
Like a woman wearing a wig, Zimbabwe is being targeted for what is under it, not what’s in its head.
Yet in all the suffering Zimbabweans are going through, SADC and the African Union are quiet. These two, idiotic groupings legitimize the abuse of Africans.
It is difficult to tell what SADC wants or what it stands for. Atrocities are committed but you never hear from SADC unless and until a government outside Africa makes a statement.
Let someone convince me that SADC cares about issues that it is supposed to oversee. Let someone show me SADC’s greatest triumphs…just one, not two.
Is SADC not aware of the pre-election situation in Zimbabwe? There are 10 days to go before elections, is SADC saying Zimbabwe has met all of its “principles and guidelines governing democratic elections”?
It would be nice for SADC to call a news conference and tick off all of the “principles and guidelines governing democratic elections” that Zimbabwe has achieved.
If they so wish, they may tell us which of these principles Zimbabwe has not achieved and what they are going to do about it in the remaining 10 days before elections.
They won’t because SADC does not exist. SADC is nothing more than a loophole to syphon off money for the use of corrupt leaders.
Yet they approve of situations that are incompatible with decency.
They look the other way when the leader of a member state commits atrocities.
They support abusive leaders at the expense of the abused people.
By its sheer proximity and location, SADC should be the one to call for outside help to save the lives of its citizens. Yet SADC keeps quiet when atrocities are being committed even after a foreign organization breaks the news about the abuse of people in the region.
I honestly do not know what SADC’s purpose is because I do not see it dealing with issues that have to do with people who are being abused by the Southern African Development Community.
I wish we could have safety before development.
I wish SADC could be there for the citizens and people of the region and not for the leaders of these abusive countries.
I am stymied by the real purpose of election observers sent by many governments and international non-governmental organisations to countries holding elections.
What do they want? What do they do with the wrongs they witness? Or, maybe, is it like going to the movies to watch not edit them?
That is sick and cheap. The whole world seems fascinated to watch what Africa is doing to itself.
Election observers cost millions of dollars. But what purpose do they serve if their presence does not help improve the situation?
And watching over Africa is the African Union…God have mercy!
