The just ended by-elections in Matabeleland North have once again cast the spotlight on the urgent need for comprehensive political reform...
The just ended by-elections in Matabeleland North have once
again cast the spotlight on the urgent need for comprehensive political reforms
in Zimbabwe.
The by-elections were held in Lupane East constituency,
Ward 22 at Bubi constituency and at Ward 23 at Nkayi South Constituency.
Indeed, in all the three separate by-elections, what is
emerging clearly as the decisive factor is coercion and manipulation. The
electoral process in Zimbabwe is neither credible nor free and fair.
Instead, what we still have in place is an electoral
process dominated by other factors whose net effect is to leave everything
heavily skewed in favour of Zanu PF.
lndeed, what is apparent in these particularly recent
by-elections is that the MDC did everything it could in the most difficult of
circumstances; but in the end it was clear that the odds were heavily staked
against the voters in the villages.
In particular, the MDC conducted one of its most
comprehensive ward level door-to-door campaigns. lt also maintained a much
higher than usual level of local visibility as evidenced by the large number of
campaign teams that it deployed across all the wards.
But still, despite such a marked rise in the level of
investment in the recent campaigns, the will of the people was not reflected in
the by-elections.
The people of Matabeleland North who voted for the MDC must
be saluted for the resisting all the obstacles and going against all odds to
support change in Zimbabwe.
What Zanu PF has decided to do is to invest more on various
intimidatory tactics that have in effect engineered a lot of fear in the rural
electorate.
lndeed, it is crucial to consider the outcome of the three
by-elections, in the context of the following decisive factors among others:
1. Vote Buying
Over the years, Zanu PF has perfected the art of massive
vote buying. Its electoral strategy is build on the distribution of some
material benefits during its campaigns. The most obvious of these are the food
parcels that are shared freely to the prospective voters. This is a very
crucial factor when considers the deep level of poverty and higher exposure to
hunger in the rural parts of Zimbabwe.Food is being used as a political weapon
against citizens so vulnerable to hunger and poverty.
2. Systematic lntimidation
Zanu PF has also perfected the art of systematic
intimidation of voters. The strategy of intimidation is mostly enforced by such
crucial local institutions as the traditional leaders, who always ensure that
all their subjects vote for Zanu PF as a community. At times, various forms of
violence are also used to intimidate the voters. ln resettlement areas, local
residents have very limited land ownership rights. This is used effectively to
force them to vote for Zanu PF.A case in point is a ward where all the people
were given notices (elaborate)
3. Abuse of State Resources
Zanu PF also usually abuses all the available State
institutions or resources to consolidate its electoral campaign strategy. All
the relevant parastatals like ZBC, Zimpapers, GMB, ZESA, ZUPCO, etc are always
thrown into the fray. A recent court judgment confirmed that State media was
systematically used to favour Zanu PF, while also undermining the MDC at the
same time. Civil servants such as the local District Administrators and
security personnel such as those from the CIO and ZRP, also play a crucial role
in the roll out of the Zanu PF campaign strategy
4. A Compromised ZEC
The other crucial factor is the apparent lack of
independence of the electoral commission, ZEC. This starts from the budget
allocation process, appointment of both staff and commissioners. ln this
regard, a lot of State security personnel have already been deployed to the ZEC
Secretariat. Further, ZEC deliberately avoids being open or transparent in the
way it conducts its operations. For example, the voter registration process
always has problematic issues. Related to that, the voters roll is not readily
available to the opposition. Worse still, during election day some voters are
turned away after being told their names are no longer appearing or they are in
another polling station. lt is time that ZEC underwent major reforms to make it
more independent or professional just like its counterpart in South Africa, the
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
So in other words, what we currently have is an electoral
system that may not necessarily be capable of reflecting the democratic will of
the majorities.
The on-going participation of the MDC in the by-elections
should be used to actively highlight the urgent need for comprehensive reforms.
The MDC already has a plan in place. The plan is the
recently launched RELOAD strategic document.
RELOAD is a roadmap that seeks to ensure that Zimbabwe
finally evolves out of its perennial crisis mode into a truly freely,
democratic and prosperous country
Jacob Mafume
MDC Secretary for Elections
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