I would like to thank you for your excellent article in Zimeye. Thank you.
I believe the issue of whether or not these elections were free,
fair and credible is a very important one and one that must be addressed head
on. I do not think you did this.
“Viewing elections through an urban lens can be highly
misleading, as rural voters are often motivated by different considerations to
those of their urban counterparts,” you wrote.
“Without ignoring the fact that
Zanu-PF has considerable and ardent support among rural voters, it is clear
that clientelism plays an important role.
“Many rural voters in Zimbabwe seem to view elections as an
opportunity to show fealty to those in power rather than an exercise of
democratic choice.
“Loyalty is rewarded in the
form of food aid and free agricultural inputs.
“Backing the “wrong” candidate
can attract harsh reprisals – an election “promise” ZANU-PF has a reputation
for keeping.
“A rural voter then may make a
pragmatic and carefully considered calculation as to who will win, and vote
with head rather than heart.”
Are you saying that Zanu PF has the right to use the carrot and
stick on the rural voters and the victims will still be counted as having made
a democratic choice?
Why bother talking about free, fair and credible elections as a
birth right when the reality to the rural voter is that this is a curse because
38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule has left 75% of the population
living in abject poverty. The rural folk are the poorest of the poor. How
anyone can still pretend the rural voter would still support Zanu PF if they
had a free choice beggars belief!
The rural people are the poorest, the least informed, the most
exploited, the most oppressed, etc., etc. but do not ever make the mistake of
thinking they are stupid. If a political environment was ever created in which
they were allowed to cast a free vote confident they will never be punished if
Zanu PF lost the elections you will be surprised how few rural voters will vote
for Zanu PF.
These elections were not free, fair and credible in that the
rural voters were bribed and worse still threatened. The right to free, fair
and credible elections should not be enjoyed by the urban voters alone but the
rural voters too!
“An opinion poll conducted just a month before the election by
Afro Barometer gave Mnangagwa a slim lead,” you argued.
In a country where the rural
voters constitution 70% of the electorate have no free vote opinion polls are
totally meaningless.
These elections should have not taken place without first
implement the democratic reforms designed to take away Zanu PF’s dictatorial
powers, the carrot and the whip, the regime enjoys over the rural population.
MDC leaders were supposed to have implemented the reforms during the GNU but
failed to do so. Still this does not mean we should just give up and leave Zanu
PF to continue to ride roughshod over the people especially the most
disadvantaged and long suffering rural povo.
One of the greatest disappointments to come out of these 2018 elections is how many MDC politicians do not seem to know what constitute free, fair and credible elections. How anyone could anyone expect free and fair elections when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll? It turns out that more than 10 polling stations had more than 100% voter turnout and some even had more than 200%.
Of course, these elections were not free, fair and credible and must be condemned in the strongest terms.
Best regards
Patrick Guramatunhu.
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