# Introduction ven the neutrals among them the Author of thi s Paper were shell shocked to hear through the one and only Zimbabwe television (ZTV) channel on 03 August 2013 that the opposition MDC-T party had resoundingly lost in the 31 July 2013 poll they were expected to resoundingly win. The preamble to this astonishing episode was that in the 29 March 2008 poll His Excellence President Mugabe had been run rugged by Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition MDC-T. Come the 31 July 2013 harmonized election the general assumption was that Tsvangirai was entering this election which meant that he was coming home to finish the unfinished business. But this was not to be. Tsvangirai had been resoundingly thumped by His Excellence President Mugabe to trigger the question how and why did it happen? To answer this question convincingly up next for public scrutiny is Morgan Tsvangirai. # II. The Review of the Aptitude of Tsvangirai as the Spiritual Leader of the Democratic Struggle for Change in Zimbabwe The year was 1999 in October when the then vibrant MDC party was formed with Morgan Tsvangirai as both its substantive and spiritual leader in their democratic struggle for change in Zimbabwe. Morgan Tsvangirai then had a storming start in his job as the substantive and spiritual leader of the democratic struggle for change in Zimbabwe. All civil society groups such as unions, student's movements among others, came under the then charismatic leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai. The party formed from labour movements was then so vibrant even His Excellence President Mugabe started having sleepless nights. All the people in Zimbabwe, black, white, yellow, among others were all convinced they had finally found a character with the correct aptitude to deliver democratic change to Zimbabwe. Little did the celebrating people in Zimbabwe know Morgan Tsvangirai was flattering to deceive. The turning point for the then impressive Tsvangirai came on 6 March 2009 when Tsvangirai's wife for more than three decades was killed in a road accident on the 80 -90 kilometer peg on the Harare to Masvingo highway. From media reports then Tsvangirai and his wife were occupying the back seat of the government supplied vehicle. On this fateful day instead of Tsvangirai sitting on the right side of his wife he chose the left side of the wife. When what the Author believed was a stage managed road accident happened, the wife Susan Tsvangirai instead of Morgan Tsvangirai was killed on the spot to leave behind Tsvangirai and six children born out of the marriage. From then on, life for Tsvangirai with his mediocre educational background never looked the same again ). All said and done time is now ripe to painstakingly address how Tsvangirai and his wayward personality in the post Susan Tsvangirai era contributed to the once upon a time vibrant MDC party finding its place in the political wilderness and with Morgan Tsvangirai himself one foot in the political dustbin. The sad and heart-wrenching story not user friendly to people of a nervous disposition pens out as below: i) With the position of prime minister safely in his pocket, a luxury house in plush and leafy Highlands's suburb of Harare and the deceased Susan Tsvangirai conveniently out of the way suddenly the media in Zimbabwe was awash with heart-wrenching st ories that the once impressive Morgan Tsvangirai was going all places with his zip open. People with questions to ask then said if Tsvangirai as aspiring presidential candidate can allow himself to sink so low what more if he becomes substantive President of Zimbabwe. Party supporters, waxing lyrical about Tsvangirai's delinquency categorically demanded that the cynical Morgan Tsvangirai be ousted from the leadership at the MDC party in a 'Leadership renewal movement' whose chorus for change then was growing louder and louder. ii) According to Nyamutata (2014) Tsvangirai's life had been a roller coaster since the untimely death of his wife Susan Tsvangirai on 06 March 2009. He became Prime Minister in February 2009, remarried Locadia Karimatsenga whom he tried to pay a bride price for in the month of November 2011 knowing fully well that any marriage ceremony in the month of November is culturally forbidden in Zimbabwe. For that cultural mischief alone Tsvangirai stole the lime light for the wrong reasons. The latest episode relating to separation with his new wife, Elizabeth, daughter to a Senior ZANU PF member was only a sequel of the MDC leader's turbulent private life. The promiscuous life by Tsvangirai torched yet another public outrage by concerned supporters from within and without his party then showing signs of a sunset party. That then he aspired to be the next president was about the only legitimate reason people should subject him to public scrutiny rather than celebrate his personal misfortunes. For a presidential aspirant then, it was most unfortunate that negative private affairs about him had often spilled into the public domain which was to the detriment of his political career. All these misfortunes had made Tsvangirai to become too susceptible to attack from his opponents that he should c onsider stepping down as leader of the MDC party. iii) And finally is his political and personal judgmentssome argue hi s marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of a ZANU PF seni or official, was a reflection of such impaired judiciousness -that has spawned serious misgivings about his suitability as a national leader. In a nutshell, what marriage to a daughter of a senior ZANU PF member effectively meant was that as leader of the main opposition M DC party he had sold out to ZANU PF. And by that he was telling every one of his supporters to also sell out to ZANU PF which idea was as delusional as it was stupid. Hence the MDC party then finding its place in the political wilderness and the unfortunate Tsvangirai with one foot in the political dustbin. Up next are the reactions or responses of the rank and file in the MDC-T to the astonishing Tsvangirai shenanigans. # III. The 2005 mdc Split on Tribal Ground Against the backdrop of the lack of effective political activity in Zimbabwe and the defeat of the MDC in the parliamentary elections of March 2000 the last thing Zimbabweans needed then was a fragmented opposition MDC party. The battle then for the soul of the movement for Democratic Change in South Africa had reduced Zimbabwe's main opposition to a tribal wreck at a time when they should be regrouping and launching a fresh onslaught on the iron rule of His Excellence President Mugabe, then aged 83. And this came as sad news for Zimbabweans, then battling to overthrow the country's then ruling ZANU PF of Hi s Excellence President Mugabe, the ageing dictator who had been in power for an uninterrupted 25 years since independence from Britain in 1980. In March 2000 the MDC had lost parliamentary elections to ZANU PF, scattering into the ground the people's mood s and hopes for the long awaited refreshing change. The party was now picking up the pieces and mobilizing more of international pressure to then save Zimbabwe, from the then political and economic meltdown that had reduced the country from the breadbasket of Africa just two decades ago to the begging bowl case it had then become (Ncube 2014). The MDC then represented fading hope for Zimbabweans, but after their defeat in the March 2000 parliamentary elections, which some ob servers said were rigged, but which South Africa endorsed as free and fair, those hopes had been dashed. The MDC al so lost to Mugabe in 2002, the elections being declared a political fraud by international observers but surprisingly being okayed by Pretoria. The tribal in-fighting within the MDC structures in Johannesburg had claimed the life of Lungile Moyo, a then young activist from Lupane in Matabeleland, who was found dead on the streets of Hillbrow barely 24 hours after he reportedly gave police information on the abductions of two other activists, Liberty Ncube and Musa Mhlanga. The two then were feared dead or tortured after they were abducted in Hillbrow on June 7, 2005. With South Africa, in particular the former South African President Thabo Mbeki and two other unnamed forces being cited as the forces behind this unfortunate split the inevitable had to happen. Professor Welshman Ncube, then founding Secretary -general of the original MDC broke away on tribal lines t o form his MDC -Ncube and in the process wal king away with three Matabeleland Provinces 4 IV. The Narrative of the Heart-Stopping events Leading to Yet Another Devastating Split this Time based on Intellectual Appeal within the mdc-t in the name of Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South to leave a once upon a time vibrant MDC party at its weakest point ever. Ironically the parliamentary seats won by both the MDC -T (Tsvangirai) and MDC -N (Ncube) put together the MDC formation became the majority party in parliament to blow yet another golden chance to overthrow ZANU PF from power. There were more drama and comic episodes awaiting the Reader as the Author approaches the nerve wrecking MDC leadership renewal era beginning in April 2014 which is up next. Buoyed by the astonishing win against the treacherous ZANU PF party in the 29 March 2008 harmonized elections and weighed by the comfort of high office in the four year Government of National Unity (GNU) (2009 -13) and the nerve wrecking Tsvangirai shenanigans during this dark period for the M DC -T and the distant rumblings of a leadership renewal agenda within the main opposition MDC party, the embattled MDC -T party mistakenly entered the watershed 31 July harmonized elections with a one mistaken mindset i.e., they were coming home to finish the unfinished business of 29 March 2008) harmonized elections. But against this backdrop, they, unlike the wounded lion in the name of ZANU PF, the lackadai sical MDC-T had not done its homework as thoroughly as did the shrewd ZANU PF to torch a resounding loss in an election they cynically dismissed as another cake walk in the park for them. After a serious soul searching and self introspection in the MDC -T party there was inevitably a witch hunt in the same beleaguered MDC-T to degenerate into another disastrous break -up of the party to leave the clueless MDC party lost at sea and in the political wilderness. According to Chiripasi (2014) and Zulu (2014) in April 2014, the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai expelled Tendai Biti and this Democratic Renewal Campaign team for gross indiscipline. All members of parliament who had attended the Mandel Training Centre meeting were al so expelled to leave the beleaguered party devided between the intellectuals and the not so intellectuals in the then torn apart MDC party. Up next is what the people in general said to contribute to the MDC-T resoundingly losing an election they were expected to resoundingly win. V. What the People in General said about the mdc-t Glaring Failures which Contributed to its Election Defeat in the 31 July 2013 Harmonized Elections For the long wait of 14 years people in general said they had waited long enough for the democratic change which was proving elusive. Four election defeats at the hands of the same ZANU PF was enough confirmation democratic change via the MDC-T was and will forever remain a pipe dream. Above all the endless break-ups first on tribal lines (2005) and later in 2014 on intellectual appeal in the main opposition MDC-T party while there was none in the ruling ZANU PF was confirmation yet again that for now and in the foreseeable future ZANU PF will continue to steal the limelight. The opposition MDC party for a long time flattered to deceive (Chinepfu 2014). Up next is the literature review on how the ruling ZANU PF contributed to the MDC resoundingly losing an election they were expected to resoundingly win. Bel ow are the graphic details of how it all penned out. VI. How did Zanu Pf Contribute to mdc-t Resoundingly Lose an Election they were Expected to Resoundingly Win Dube and Makaye 5 "Against general expectations of an MDC-T victory it was the former ZANU PF party that claimed victory that stunned all and sundry. Out of 210 contested seats In the National Assembly the born again ZANU PF garnered 160 seats while the opposition MDC-T managed a paultry 46 seats with the remainder going to the independent candidates". With respect to the Presidential election Dube and Makaye (2013) went on to say: "Mugabe of ZANU PF outpolledTsvangirai of the opposition M DC -T party by 61% to 34% thereby giving Mugabe of ZANU PF the presidency of the country to send the perennial cry baby Tsvangirai that the harmonized elections were a huge farce". The pertinent question to ask then was: How did ZANU PF achieve that against a backdrop of a seemingly less popular party than the opposition MDC-T party? "A combination of factors could be proffered to explain that phenomenon. First and foremost ZANU PF went all four front gears to organize itself following the defeat in 2008 harmonised elections and its indigenization programme sold well with the electorate than the MDC-T's juice (Jobs, upliftment, investment, capital and environment", explained Dube and Makaye in their published thesis. According to Kuvirimirwa (2014) the M DC-T's pledge to create one million jobs in five years from 2013 through foreign investors was going to be still born as no funding will come from the West which is grappling a severe financial crisis, analysts had said. On why the tactless MDC-T remained in deep slumber with a few months to g o before the do or die 2013 harmonised elections, Dube and Makaye further explained as below: "Second, the tactless MDC-T had laxity until a few months before the 31 July 2013 harmonised elections. Third and most importantly were a series of electoral shenanigans unjustly employed by ZANU PF in complicity with the partisan Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). It was therefore the electoral shenanigans which were at the centre of ZANU PF's victory which mattered most than anything else". Below are the sumptuous details of comic drama and theatrics that accompanied the ZANU PF stunning victory in the 31 July 2013 harmonised elections. Coming your way is the shocking and sudden resignation of one of the ZEC Commissi oners, who out of better conscience cited heart wrenching shenaningans in the conduct of the theatrical harmonized elections of 31 July 2013. # VII. Another of the zec Commissioners Resigns Citing Heart Wrenching Shenanigans in the Conduct of the Harmonized Elections (Dube and Makaye 2013) According to Dube and Makaya (2013) on 03 August 2013, just three days after the date of the 31 July 2013 harmonized elections and hours before the announcement of results one of the commissioners with a good conscience M khululi Nyati abruptly resigned. In his resignation letter to His Excellence President Mugabe, Nyati stated: "I do not wish to enumerate many reasons for my resignation but they all have to do with the manner the Zimbabwe harmonized elections were conducted and proclaimed" (Zimbabwe light 2013). This was a mouthful statement from a man who had seen it all and with a good conscience had said enough of this was enough and he had no choice but to resign and of course being careful not to disclose the full reasons for his abrupt resignation for security reasons. And what was then certain about this disputed election was that any statement made or picture sighted had 'a special meaning' "Beside this extra-ordinary episode there had been a lot of speculation about who was exactly in charge of these disputed harmonized elections. The major force behind this election was the military with the assi stance from Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) 6 , Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) 7 and the ZANU PF mafia. ZEC was merely there with its truckloads of ineffectiveness as a toddler playing referee to an adult football game, who i s just there in name only but otherwise could just not be there (Zimbabwe Light 8 All said and done what is never to be missed is the new concept of the theoretical framework from the fertile imagination of Dube and Makaye (2013). It was a political strategy employed by the astute ZANU PF to turn the tables against the then clueless MDC-T then boasting the presence of more and better intellectuals 2013). 6 Augustine Chihuri is the current Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police who, as a former freedom fighter under ZANU PF has vowed that he is so much ZANU PF in blood he would never ever serve Zimbabwe under presidence of none other than His Excellence President Mugabe (Staff Reporter 2014). 7 The Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is the national intelligence agency or 'secret police'of Zimbabwe under the leadership of Happyton Bonyongwe. Historically, it was conceived as the external intelligence gathering arm of the British South Africa Poli ce Special branch in the early 1960s, under Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister Winston Field (Staff Reporter 2014). 8 Zimbabwe Light is an organization based in the Sceni c Victoria Falls which reviews and advise on hotels, resorts, flights, vacation, rentals, travel packages and lots more (Staff Reporter 2014). # Volume XIV Issue VI Version I # VIII. Zanu Pf Employs a Theoretical Framework to Crash and then Usurp (Dube and Makaye 2013) On this new concept of a ZANU PF theoretical framework to crash and then usurp , Dube and Makaye (2013) had this to say: "ZANU PF made use of two theories, one micro and the other macro. The micro theory says that in adult politics politiciams demonise first in order to have a justification for destruction of the enemy. In this case the more shrewed and astute ZANU PF labeled the MDC-T party and Tsvangirayi as sellouts and stooges of the Western Imperialism (Bond and Manyanya 2003) and (Blair 2005). They were described as being very unpatriotic and against the historic land reform programme. The more astute and shrewed ZANU PF politicians demonized the opposition MDC-T party to justify their popular slogan. 'Pasi naTsvangirai' (meaning down with Tsvangirai). And for the clueless Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party they had no viable strategu on which to launch an equal fight back but sleep and sleep on the job until 'Tsvangirai ne bato rake vave marengenya kana kuti madzoto evanhu" (meaning Tsvangirai and hi s then clueless MDC-T party had been reduced to mere bystanders in a carefully planned strategy to usurp political capital from them). According to Dube and Makaye all this vitrial against the opposition MDC-T, then rueing why they were ever born in Zimbabwe, was meant to dissuade any remaining voters from voting for the 'voetsacked or pfut seke Tsvangirai' (meaning get away from here Tsvangirai and his sellout party). There was no worse dressing down than this. Beside all this what was most damaging to the already vulnerable MDC-T then on its knees with fartique and stress, more so when this was communicated to the gullible rural voter most of them putting on no underpants because of abject poverty, most if not all of them lack sophistication to decide what the truth is from propaganda by the astute ZANU PF. Even to the neutrals, among them the on looking Author, it was as obvious as th sun rises from East and sets in the West or one did not need the second home coming of Jesus Christ to convince himself or herself that it was game over for the MDC-T party. The only hope for them was to assume they would live long and fight another day. # Dube and Makaye (2013) went on: "To ZANU PF, this was enough damage to an ever sleeping opposition MDC-T party which had been not only a seri ous opposition party but one that paused a serious threat to the p ower dynamics in Zimbabwe. The other undeniable or irrefutable theory about election in Zimbabwe is that they are always rigged. On how and why elections in Zimbabwe are always rigged affair Dube and Makaye explained thus: "The partisan institution and all the actors siezed with elections in Zimbabwe such as the media, civil servants and the election management body ZEC 9 Chigora and Dewa are so diverse in character and objectives such that there is no way they can be totally impartial and therefore can never be free from bias. 10 A fascinating story which should never be a miss for any reader is to find out how the astute and shrewed ZANU OF reorganized itself from scratch after their first ever embarrassing electoral defeat by an opposition party in the famous 29 March 2008 (2012) also made a very valuable contribution on vote rigging as below: "Vote rigging is directly related to electoral fraud. Electoral fraud is the illegal interference with the process of an election and vote rigging involves a whole range of pre, during and post voting activities whose objectives would be to work in the direction of assi sting a preferred candidate or party. Vote rigging involves the following institutions/individuals tasked with particular election duties: media (both print and electronic, election management body (ZEC) constituency delineation commission, polling officials and peace officers. Therefore, given the diversity and vested interests of these appointed institutions having elections that are completely free and fair is almost impossible. 9 ZEC is an acronym of Zimbabwe Electoral Comission whose vision, mission and core values are as below: ? Vision To be a centre of excellence in the management of elections and referendums. Really? The media is awash with stories that most of the judges that make up ZEC are benefi ciaries of commercial farms given to them by His Excellence President Mugabe under the controversial and chaotic land reform programme of 2000 to compromise their integrity in their professional conduct of elections whi ch is biased in favour of ZANU PF (Staff Reporter 2014). ? Mission To conduct elections and referendums in accordance with the laws of Zimbabwe and electoral management and best practice through a well resourced commission and in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. This is again not true and mere paper work to appease its paymasters who are government and ZANU PF. Poll material had to be destroyed at the orders by ZEC to stop Tsvangirai from proving that the 31 July 2013 Poll was rigged (Matambanadzo 2013) # ? Core Values -Voter education -Voter's roll removals and additions -running the 31 July 2013 harmonised elections etc on any of the above listed core values ZEC has never come out cl ean (Staff Reporter 2014). 10 Chigora and Dewa are co-authors of an African journal of political science and international relations from Zimbabwe Open University where both are political science Lecturers. Their journal was titled 'Surviving in a hostile environment: An analysis of Zimbabwe's foreign relations in 21 st Century international relations (Staff Reporter 2014). Part and parcel of the reorganization included the revamping of its party structures from cell up to provincial leadership countrywide. ZANU PF was not contend with just a membership card but to vote and vote for the party. Since a number of development programmes were co-ordinated by the traditional chiefs and district Administrators aligned to ZANU PF it can be insinuated that this ZANU PF reorganization had undertones of compulsion, explained Dube and Makaye. # Dube and Makaye (2013) further explained as below: "A number of villagers would register for fear of being left out of development and other programmes, not leasr among them, being the issue of food in a perennially drought stricken Zimbabwe to unleash hunger and starvation on people. As the party went about feeding the people in the drought stricken rural areas, it was also the opportune time to lambast and discredit the unsuspecting MDC-T party for corruption and running a parallel government among other evils. Unknown to the eversleeping MDC-T party, War Veterans were deployed full swing to compaign for ZANU PF during the tenure of the government of national unity such that during the duration of the dysfunctional government of national unity (GNU) ZANU PF remained in a campaign mood spearheaded by War Veteran leader Jabulani Sibanda while for the fast asleep MDC-T party it was tea and booze celebrating their first ever defeat of ZANU PF". On the time spent on campaigning Dube and Makaye said: "The time spent in the field and the timing of the harmonized elections meant that the once beaten and shy ZANU PF party had awakened from its deep slumper"of 2008. Unknown to the MDC-T Party he ZANU PF reorganization included the exploitation of the country's mineral resources from under the carpet. The windfall from such murky activities such as the covert management of the sale of diamonds would then be used to finance the party and its campaign activities". His Excellence President Mugabe had this to amusingly say: "If you are eating from the same tabke with the enemy you must use the long spoon". Said Dube and Makaye (2013). According to Dube and makaya (2013) what was clear from this mouthful statement was that there were a number of things that were hidden from the partying MDC-T which were meant to advantage ZANU PF party in the long term and at the expense of the MDC-T then famous for eversleeping on the job as if there was no tomorrow. While for ZANU PF it was Bhora mughedhi (meaning score goal s in a soccer match) it was bhora musango (meaning scoring no goal s in a soccer match) for the eversleeping MDC-T. More details coming your way in just a moment. X. Mdc-t in a Surprise Re-Awakening Late in the Day Much to the Disappointment of its Dear Supporters for many Years (Dube and Makaye 2013) Proverbially speaking, a fool is known by cutting his/her nose to spite his/her face. Like a fool the then everpartying MDC-T party after its defeat of the ZANU PF party in the 29 March 2008 harmonized elections it simply joined the Government of national Unity (GNU) to make fools of themselves and for that alone the Author wishes to have it on record by lambasting them as: "Shame, shame, shame on you MDC-T for your disservice to the people of Zimbabwe". On corruption Dube and Makaye (2013) did not mince their words. They had this to shame and expose the MDC-T: "There was corruption involving the MDC-T in all places like Harare, Chitungwiza, Gweru, Kwekwe, to name just a few. Another glaring error of commissi on was to spend so much time and energy seeking high posts in local and central government". On corruption Simvula (2013) had put the issue beyond doubt when he said: "MDC-T expended most of its energies in fighting for self enrichment of its top elite by insisting on hefty appointments to centrak and provincial governors, attorney general and minister of Agriculture instead of focusing its energy on constitutional reforms". Simvula (2013) was right when he highlighted that the eversleeping MDC-T party totally and unforgivably misplaced its priorities. Reorganisation of the party structures mationwide and campaigning were ignored for a l ong time until a few months before the landmark elections. The youthful national organizing secretary was given a rude awakening by the partisan supreme court judgment that the elections originally thought to be a year or so away were in fact to be held on or before 31 July 2013 to put everybody in a Volume XIV Issue VI Version I ) quandary as to whether to go for the impromptu elections or g o for a boycott because nob ody except ZANU PF was ready for them. Even the joining hands by the two MDC formation at the SADC summit in Maputo to push for a delay in the holding of the watershed elections so that the outstanding reforms could be implemented. With the election date of 31 July 2013 proving unstoppable at the behest of ZANU PF, the caught unawares MDC-T had to hurriedly hold primary elections in which candidate impositions were among other errors of commi ssion to result in many disgruntlements which were destructive to the then limping MDC-T losing focus at the adavantage of the shrewed ZANU PF. The nationwide disgruntlements resulted in the then limping MDC-T having 29 of its members standing as independents while for the shrewed ZANU PF party that number was only as few as 3, a confirmation that the then visibly injured and limping MDC-T was destined for the graveyard in the landmark 31 July 2013 harmonized elections. But the ZANU PF electoral shenanigans are a good prospect for you the Reader. And these and other details certainly on their way coming to you in just a moment. # XI. Zanu Pf's Electoral Shenanigans Destine the Clueless mdc -t to the Graveyard Accompanied by a Prayer "Zororai Murugare md c-t" (Meaning mdc-t Rest in Peace) ( "To ensure its victory in the harmonized elections, the re-energised ZANU PF party machinery engaged a plethora of electoral shenanigans that could be described in simple language as vote rigging. These ranged from coming up with more constituencies in its traditional strongholds, gerrymandering, the surprise unilateral announcement of election date without consultations with other opposition parties, a voter registration exercise driven by a conc oction of baboon and monkey tricks, voter migration to the intimidation of the gullible rural voter and for the first time ever, the involvement of the criminally enterprising Israeli company called Nikuv in the electoral processes of the c ountry. Like the Germans in the just ended World Cup 2014 in Brazil the praparations were so thorough and meticulous nothing eas left to chance until final victory on the night of 13 July 2014, at the Marakana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Sky Sp orts 214). Below is a chronicle by Dube and Makaye (2013) of how the shrewed ZANU PF party turned the tables against the MDC-T party. On electoral shenanigans to ensure ZANU PF electoral victory over the MDC-T party Dube and Makaya (2013) had a long list of shenanigans that ZANU PF employed to ensure its resounding electoral victory over the clueless MDC_T party. Below is a chronology of what the two said: 1. Delineation of constituencies (Dube and Makaye 2013) "The drawing of the constituency boundaries was done in a manner which favoured ZANU PF at the expense of the MDC-T party. Since the inception of MDC party in 1999 rural areas which bore the brand of the liberation struggle of the 1960s and 1970s are home to the rural folk which are traditionally ZANU PF strongholds. The gullible rural folk are easily intimidated. By merely being told there would be war again if ZANU PF lost to the sellout MDC oarty, meant that, with the memories of the brutal armed striggle still lingering in their minds they tend to be gullible and vote ZANU PF "en masse", said Dube and Makaye (2013). # Gerrymandering (Chigora and Dewa 2012) "This is another form of vote rigging that was upheld by the partisan ZEC commi ssioners. It is a form of redistributing in which electoral districts or constituency boundaries are manipulated to disadavantage one party at the expense of the other. A typical case of gerrymandering is Harare South constituency which has components of Harare urban as well as peri-urban areas where there was land redistribution, spearheaded by ZANU PF party", said Chigora and Dewa (2012) in explaining what gerrymandering is all about . # Surprise announcement of election date (Dube and Makaye 2013). On the surprise announcement of the election date of 31 July 2013 Dube and Makaye said: "The announcement of 31 July 2013 as the election date caught many contestatnts by complete surprise to give ZANU PF an electoral advantage at the expense of the other contestant s eg MDC-T party. The expected was to consult the MDC-T party but to catch the MDC-T off guard the astute ZANU PF decided to go it alone without Global Political Agreement (GPA) reforms such as electoral, media, security sector reforms and a road map to the elections", explained Dube and Makaye (2013) on the reasons behind the surprise announcement of an election date for the harmonized elections. # Voter registration and voter migration (Dube and Makaye 2013) "The demand for voter registration in the urban areas was cumbersome while in the rural areas it was a cake walk in the park. The national identity document was the basic requirement but in urban Global Journal of Human Social Science areas an additional burden was proof of residence. In the end a huge number decided to vote with their feet. For those who took the burden to register, come polling day, quite many had been placed in wrong constituencies or wards. The forced voter migration disenfranchised many especially in the MDC-T strongholds which was to the advantage of ZANU PF at the expense of the MDC-T and other opposition parties. The partisan ZEC reported that as many as 305 000 had been turned away from p olling stations for a variety of reasons such as inappropriate documentation and turning up in wrong constituencies or wards", explained Dube and Makaye (2013), the shenanigans which characterized voter registration and the reasons behind the benefit of ZANU PF at the disadvantage of MDC-T and other opposition parties. # Voters'roll (Dube and Makaye 2013) On the voters roll Dube and Makaye (2013) had this to announce which was certainly anomalous to advantage ZANU PF and to disadvantage MDC-T and other minor opposition parties: "According to the electoral laws Zimbabwe's register of voters is kept by ZEC and anyone who needs to access it must do so at the payment of an appropriate fee. In this election of extra-ordinary episodes political parties and individuals were not allowed free access to the voters' roll which in actual fact was not in the general custody of ZEC but in the Registrar General's Office, Tobaiwa Mudede, a distant relative to His Excellence President Mugabe. Any attempts by Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition MDC-T party to force the Registrar General's Office to make the voter's roll availed to Tsvangirai found no takers at the material time Dube and Makaya (2013) painstakingly explained how anyb ody else except ZANU PF were denied free access to the voter's roll which impeccable sources said was teeming with not only dead voters but names of 114 year olds or more. 6. Intimidation of and by traditional chiefs on a country that prides itself with the highest literacy in Africa (Chetsanga 2010). According to Chetsanga (2010) he explained the intimidation of and by traditional chiefs as follows; "It becomes ironical that the country had such a very high number of assisted voters. The partisan ZEC had reported that as many as 207 000 people were assisted voters who needed help from partisan polling officers to cast their votes (Tapiwa 2013). What seemed to have happened was that there was gross intimidation of traditional chiefs by ZANU PF so that they would whip into line people under their jurisdiction to vote for ZANU PF compared with the 29 March 2008 harmonized elections where there was no such questionable numbers of assisted voters and it becomes preposterous to think that five years later Zimbabweans had become less literate", deliberated Professor Chetsanga (2010). According to Zimbabwe leads Africa in having an adult literacy rate of approximately 90% which compares favourably to Tunisia at 87% (Wikipedia 2014). 7. More polling stations to cope with the large numbers of voters who turned up for voting (Dube and Makaye 2013) The partisan ZEC was said to have came up with an additional 65 polling stations (Shumba 2013). This was an irregularity on the part of ZEC because the law stipulates that participants in the election should be notified of the places where p olling stations would be set up three weeks before p olling. Echoing this sentiments Dr Simba Makoni, leader of Mavambo Kusile Dawn who had forged an alliance with Morgan Tsvangirai then said: "ZEC acknowledged the irregularities and that an additional 65 polling stations were established on polling day in contravention of section 51 of the Electoral Act which stipulates that they should be published 3 weeks before polling day (Shumba 2013). This requirement of publication is not frivolous as it gave the belligerents enough time to prepare for deployment of polling agents well in advance. It is not clear whether or not the opposition political parties were able to deploy their election agents at the new polling stations. If they could not then that could give credence to allegations of rigging or ballot stuffing or even double voting", said Dube and Makaye (2013). "Naisni projects, a South African company claims that a delicate ballot paper was issued to rig the election alleging that the ballot that was used had a water mark X against Mugabe and ZANU PF's name such that i f any ink was placed on the paper the substance remove the ink and that activated the water marked X into print (Shumba 2013). The same paper reported that some teachers who took part in the counting of ballot papers claimed that some of the Xs were very faint. A number of claims on the ground gave credence to such claims. First there has been considerable secrecy and suspicion regarding the place where the ballot papers were printed. In a transparent, free and fair system there is no need for such secrecy. Second, as the MDC-T was preparing for its court challenge against the credibility and fairness of the poll it requested for material used in the election but domain was that those election materials were not given forcing Tsvangirai to withdraw the petition from the constitutional court", ( prove that the 31 July 2013 harmonized elections had something somewhere which was terribly amiss to give credence the said election cpould have been massively rigged in favour of His Excellence President Mugabe to disadvantage Tsvangirai of the main opposition MDC-T party. 9. More ballot papers printed (Dube and Makaye 2013) "Nikuv allegedly assisted ZEC to print 35% more ballot papers than the registered voters (Pindurai 2013). This raised eyebrows given that international standard of best practice pegs the extra threshold at 5%. Allegations of vote rigging became difficult to rebut under difficult circumstances. The question to pose was: Why would election management authorities waste so much paper ink and time printing a lot more ballots that were not necessary unless they had something up their sleeves? The printing of such a big number over and above the required ballots gives substance to allegations of vote rigging. The state media was in a way a c ontributory factor to the problem under investigation. And below was the contribution of the state media to the eventual downfall of the opposition MDC-T party," said Dube and Makaye (2013) to convince the Author that every picture that one saw and every word that was uttered about this election had a 'special meaning'. 10. Dube and Makaye (2013) went out of their way to explain how the partisan public media, print and electronic, played a major roll to contribute to the eventual premature death and burial of the opposition parties after the 31 July 2013 harmonized elections by saying that: "The post 2000 society of Zimbabwe had been faced with a myriad of complex ethical dilemmas in the public media. The public and general media reforms were part of the fundamentals the GNU was mandated to tackle before the 31 July 2013 harmonised poll. The public media ie the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and Zimpapers are owned by government and they are expected to report their news in a way that favours ZANU PF at the expense of the opposition MDC-T party. They are also expected to give equal coverage to the activities of all political parties. During this poll in 2013 ZANU PF and its presidential candidate His Excellence President Mugabe held 10 provincial rallies in all the ten provinces of Zimbabwe with live coverage as if they were state or national events. This is called a 'contrdictory dual decay of democracy and wuthoritarianism' (Rauming et al 2000). Quite evident was that the single television broadcasting and ZBC were controversially assisting one party to campaign at the expense of the other opposition parties. The Zimbabwe media Commi ssion failed to register other independent players before the 31 July 2013 poll to effectively ensure that come elections, the public would be starved of election campaign broadcasting for the opposition MDC parties and others like ZAPU. The public media fought in the corner of ZANU PF by labeling ZANU PF as a patriotic party while the MDCs especially the much hated MDC-T were labeled derisively as parties for traitors. The impact of this message was to sway voters away from the MDCs in favour of ZANU PF. The state media, a version of mationalism that essentially divided Zimbabweans into two groups ie, either patriotic and therefore supporting ZANU PF or traitors supporting the MDC-T (Ranger 2005). Between the dissolution of parliament and the announcement of the election in 2013 the public broadcaster had depicted Morgan Tsvangirai as a person in a state of confusi on and a person who approaches issues with a 'shut mind and an open mouth'. The perpetuation of unmitigated propaganda journalism greatly aided ZANU PF to run riot against the MDC-T", said Dube and Makaya (2013) in protest against the public media taking sides with ZANU PF while Tsvangirai of the MDC-T is 'voet sacked' (meaning rubbished) as a sellout and traitor to the Westerb Imperialists. And finally another factor which contributed to ZANU PF running riot against the MDC-T was the unfair legal framework which is on its way c oming to you. 11. The unfair legal framework "Under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) which can be seen as the colonial Law and Order Maintanance Act (LOMA) incarnate, it is a requirement for organizers of political meetings to first of all notifying the partisan and ZANU PF aligned Zimbabwe republic Police (ZRP) to provide them with protection. However, in practice the politics of incumbency has been at play. In almost all the instances, ZANU PF would hold its campaign rallies without much ado, while the MDC-T would be frustrated in its attempts to hold its campaign rallies. For its last star rally at Freedom Square near the Harare Raibow Towers on 29 July 2013, the MDC-T was nearly denied permi ssi on to hold the star rally by the partisan police who argued that they had already deployed their officers to polling stations and therefore did not have the capacity to provide security (Mapako 2013). This was just a tip of the iceberg. The senior police officers who have liberation war credentials have not hidden their covert support and bias for ZANU PF and have been on record for frustrating MDC-T. One of the senior police officers, Olivia Mandipaka, left the force and went on to contest in the harmonized elections on a ZANU PF ticket and he went on to win a Buhera constituency seat. All this goes to show that by and large the legal framework is tilted in favour of ZANU PF at the expense of the opposition MDC -T party and thi s had scuttled all operations of the MDC-T in a big way", said Dube and Makaye (2013) much to the full agreement by the Author. Up next is to find out how the unprincipled SADC contributed to the MDC-T being run rugged by the SADC favoured ZANU PF party turning the tables against the MDC-T party? Coming your way in just a moment is this fascinating story. XII. How did sadc Contribute to mdc-t Being Run Rugged by the sadc Favoured Zanu Pf in the 31 July 2013 Poll? For strategic reasons, in disc ussing the SADC's contribution to the governance problem under investigation the Author will abort his favorite narrative approach in preference to the question and answer approach. And below i s how he kicks the ball to start the soccer match. As SADC and AU are one and the same thing the Author will again opt to discuss the two as one and the same at the same time. 1. According to SADC and AU were the Zimbabwe harmonized elections free, fair and credible? Initially SADC said the elections were 'free and peaceful' but withheld the 'fair and credible' stamp to leave His Excellence President Mugabe still facing a legitimacy problem in the aftermath of the 31 July 2013 poll. And two days after the poll the AU observer mission had expressed satisfaction with Zimbabwe's electoral processes to effectively shut the door on thi s chapter. 2. Did His Excellence President Mugabe have the merit to be elevated to the SADC Vice Chairmanship position. Given the manner in which he had gate-crashed hi s way to State House, His Excellence President Mugabe did not deserve to hold any position in SADC. His elevation was vindictive to the wounded MDC-T then leaking its wounds after its disastrous performance in the 31 July 2013 poll. The body language to the MDC-T then was come to SADC for an appeal at your own peril and humiliation with His Excellence President Mugabe then elevated to SADC Deputy Chairperson (M oyo 2013). 3. Did Zimbabwe meet its side of the bargain during the 31 July 2013 poll declared 'free, fair and generally credible' by SADC? According to Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, there was non-compliance with eight guidelines and only partial compliance with six. "It is difficult to accept the SADC election observer mission report as a true reflection of the credibility of Zimbabwe's 31 July 2013 p oll. Only one principle was fully complied with which relates to the holding of elections at regular intervals. 4. Did Zimbabwe ensure 'full participation of its citizens in the political process as demanded by the SADC guidelines? Apart from the partisan SADC observers, other internal observers said, "full participation was effectively compromised by di senfranchisement through the failure to register and vote". The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said 730 000 potential voters were turned away by the Registrar General office while many cases of intolerance were cited including the Security Service Chiefs' statements that they would not accept a Morgan Tsvangirai election victory beside their partisan campaign for ZANU PF in flagrant disregard of the country's c onstitution which prohibits such unconstitutional practices. 5. Did Zimbabwe take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging or any other illegal practices throughout the whole electoral process? Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe said SADC's endorsement was a clear message to the MDC parties especially Tsvangirai's M DC-T that the regional bloc considers the elections 'water under the bridge' and all Zimbabweans must now refocus on the future. "This implies that the doors have been firmly shut in the face of the MDC-T and it can no longer pursue any diplomatic channels to resolve what it calls a massive electoral fraud," said Masunungure. Addressing journalists in Harare after the polls, ZESN Chairperson Solomon Zwana said urban voters had been systematically disenfranchised as many were turned away for various reasons including anomalies on the voters' roll. "Over 750 000 urban voters were missing on the voters' roll compared to rural voters. In contravention of the law the final voter's roll was not made available in electronic format prior to election day. Thus there was no way to assess the bias on the final voter's roll." The voter turn away in urban areas was 82% of the polling stations while in the rural areas that figure was 38% to effectively mean Tsvangirai was worse off on statistics than His Excellence President Mugabe (Moyo 2013) XIV. # Summary The governance problem under investigation in this Paper is how and why the opposition MDC-T party resoundingly lost the 31 July 2013 poll which the opposition party was widely expected to win . First to come up for public scrutiny was the aptitude of Morgan Tsvangirai as the spiritual leader of the democratic struggle for change in Zimbabwe. After the loss of his wife in 2009 in a road accident the life of Tsvangirai had been a roller coaster hooking up with many women with known ZANU PF links such as Locardia Karimatsenga and Elizabeth Macheka to influence his loss of focus on the democratic struggle for change in Zimbabwe. To weaken the opposition MDC-T party there was the first tribal split in 2005 followed by the second in April 2014 spearheaded by Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma in the aftermath of a disastrous electoral performance in the 31 July 2013 poll in which Tsvangirai was outpolled by His Excellence President Mugabe in the presidential, senatorial, parliamentary and local government elections. ZANU PF had employed electoral shenanigans to turn the tables against the opposition MDC-T party. For SADC it ignored all its guidelines on Zimbabwe elections to influence ZANU PF to have a cake walk in the park in an election they were not supposed to win. The same can be said about the partisan AU. Zuma, the SADC facilitator on the Zimbabwe long running political saga disappointed the people of Zimbabwe when he became the first one to lead the SADC leaders to communicate their hearty congratulations to His Excellence President Mugabe and ZANU PF for winning the 31 July 2013 Zimbabwean poll with flying colours. But contrary to this SADC solidarity, the international community spearheaded by the USA and the EU rubbished the elections to condemn and confirm Zimbabwe's place in the political wilderness. Up next is the Conclusion given in the context of this depressing Summary of events in Zimbabwe then. XV. # Conclusion From the foregoing , it was evident that the two theories informing this study were quite robust in explaining the phenomenon under investigation in this study. The 31 July 2013 poll was characterized by atrocious demonization of the opposition MDC-T party to sway votes in favour of ZANU PF and not to mention vote rigging. In assessing the combination of factors that explain a ZANU PF victory the Author averred that it was the cocktail of electoral shenanigans rather than popular support that were pivotal in ensuring ZANU PF's sham 'victory'. In all this, it appears that the election management body, ZEC was a willing accomplice, no small wonder two of its c ommissioners resigned, one of them, Mkhululi Nyati during the disputed poll citing lack of professionali sm in the manner the partisan ZEC was handling the elections without giving much away at the time for security reasons. The other one to call it quit was Professor G. Feltoe immediately after the elections without shedding light on the reasons for doing so obviously with personal security uppermost in his mind. If peaceful avenues for the transfer of power can be frustrated with this kind of impunity then the future and the serious implications that this will have on the security and development aspects of this country are certainly bleak. Zimbabwe is neck deep in the throes of a liquidity crunch because of this 'd on't care attitude'. A case in point is ably demonstrated by the Table 1 below on the unattractiveness of Zimbabwe and a perception of high risk as an investment destination in the SADC region of modest economic growth. For the year ended 31 December 2012 Zimbabwe's attractiveness for foreign direct investment destination was assessed against the likes of the neighboring Zambia and Mozambique. The results do not look good for Zimbabwe at all. ![ZANU PF(Dube and Makaye 2013). Details on this concept c oming your way in just a moment.](image-2.png "") XIII. Did Zuma Negatively Contribute tothe md c-t Getting a HumiliatingDefeat in 31 July 2013 Poll? 133Volume XIV Issue VI Version I( F )CountryForeign DirectRankingPercentage (%)Investment Inflow(Billion Us$)Mozambique51 st78Zambia12 nd16Zimbabwe0.43rd66.4100 Ethnically Zimbabwe has many tribes, chief among them Shonas domiciled in the four Mashonaland provinces of Mashonaland East, West, central and Harare. Ndebeles domiciled in the three Matabeleland provinces of Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South, Karanga in Masvingo province and Manyika in Manicaland Province. Dube and Makaye are co-authors of a published thesis titled "How ZANU PF won the 2013 harmonized elections in Zimbabwe. Dube is a lawyer by profession and has law firm in Gweru, Zimbabwe by name Gundu and Dube Legal Law Firm. Makaye is a development studies © 2014 Global Journals Inc. (US) How and Why the Opposition Mdc-T Party Resoundingly Lost The 31 July 2013 Poll Which the Opposition Party was Widely Expected to Resoundingly Win (2013-2014) © 2014 Global Journals Inc. (US) -How and Why the Opposition Mdc-T Party Resoundingly Lost The 31 July 2013 Poll Which the Opposition Party was Widely Expected to Resoundingly Win (2013-2014) © 2014 Global Journals Inc. (US) How and Why the Opposition Mdc-T Party Resoundingly Lost The 31 July 2013 Poll Which the Opposition Party was Widely Expected to Resoundingly Win (2013-2014) ## Source: Matomb o (2013) While the traditionally lowly countries of Mozambique and Zambia in the SADC region were winning gold and silver in the race for fdi in the SADC region respectively, Zimbabwe was happy with winning a wooden sp oon prize money from her distant 3rd position in Table 1 above. Put differently for every $100 of fdi brought to the three countries as in ## Recommendations The Author once and for all would want to put the record straight here and now to benefit the sick Zimbabwe and its comatose economy now on life support system in the intensive care unit of a rural missionary hospital. Unknown to delinquent Zimbabwe the United States of America and the European Union are the emerging prefects of this modern world of increasing complexity. They are again the custodians of fdi for which the poor Zimbabwe is in desperate need given its extensively destroyed and damaged infrastructure. The two super p owers are not the sort of countries any, sane person would willy nilly dare tell 'to keep your money while I keep my Zimbabwe' as once said by His Excellence President Mugabe'. That mouthful of a statement coming from His Excellence President Mugabe was highly deplorable. Closer home l ook at South Africa and its elevated status in the SADC region and Africa. The polished country is an envy to every well meaning Zimbabwean, African, European and even American. A short story and a good prospect for the Reader is when the Author took his first ever flight to South Africa in the early 1990s, on hi s touch d own in Johannesburg, the beauty and sophistication of the buildings around him convinced the Author, coming from Zimbabwe with its extensively destroyed and damaged infrastructure that he was in a vastly developed Europe and not a developing and Third World South Africa who joined the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) organization in 2010. President Barrack Obama was last in South Africa in July 2013. But the nearest ever that Obama has been to Zimbabwe was Botswana and South Africa. Why? The two have a history of good governance based on democracy whose spiritual home is USA. To the Americans democracy and respect for human rights are the cornerstones of their religion. Any one like Zimbabwe who glaringly comes short on these international standards of best practice such as democracy and respect for human rights is a cursed country not worth to receive financial aid or state visit from them (Table 1). Those who do not want to change risk to enjoy irrelevance in this modern world of increasing complexity. For today the Author will rest it here but not before the short prayer to benefit Zimbabwe reportedly drowning in deadly sin, 'Mwari neVadzimu tibatsirei kuti Zimbabwe iponeswe' (meaning God and the Ancestral Spirits please help the cursed Zimbabwe to embrace good g overnance (democrac y and the respect for human rights. Amen). ## XVII. Key Assumption In presenting this Paper the Author would, right from the outset , wish to reassure the beloved Reader that all the facts and figures contained herein are stated as they are on the ground without fear, favour or prejudice. * Degree in violence: Robert Mugabe and the struggle for power in Zimbabwe DBlair Continuum 2005 * Zimbabwe's plunge: Exhausted nationalism, neoliberalism and the search for social justice PBond MManyanya 2003 Weaver Press Harare * Speech on accepting the Honorary Doctorate awarded to him for his immense contribution to science in Zimbabwe CChetsanga 2010 * Politics in Zimbabwe in the 21st century PChigora 2012 Lambert Academic Publishing Company * TChiripasi 2014 July 18. 2014 Zulu, B Tsvangirai Expels Tendai Biti. 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Dewesternising media studies London Routeledge 2000 * Sadc Secretariat SADC mi ssion 2014 July 16 * ) More polling stations MShumba 2013 August 5 * Zimbabwe elections: Contest that never was. The Herald JSimvula 2013 21 August, Harare, Zimbabwe * SkySports 2014 July 14 32 Kings of the world. Newsday * MSU student in love triangle counter sues/the Herald 2014 October 4. 2014 October 5. October 2012 1 Research and Publications. Zimbabwe Open University. By Dewa, D. and Chigara Staff Reporter * Bibliography Wits University of the Witwatersrand. The dual legacy of democracy and Authoritarianism: The media and the state in Zimbabwe by Rauming Kupe T VictoriaFalls>ThingstodoinV ictoria 26. Staff Reporter 2014 October 5. 2014 October 7. 2000 Zimbabwe in the early morning light * RTapiwa The number of assi sted voters on the 31 July 2013 August 9. 2013 * Wikipedia Susan Tsvangirai 2014 July 16. March 2009 * AugustineWikipedia Chihuri 2014 October 5 * Wikipedia Central Intelligence Organisation. Wikipedia. Retrived on Zimbabwe. Wikipedia 2014 October 5. 2014 October 6 * Wikipedia 92014 October 6) Christopher Chetsanga. wikipedia 2013 August 3