Zanu PF will never deliver free, fair polls

IS a free, fair and credible election possible in Zimbabwe in 2023? Certainly not.

The ruling Zanu PF party will never accede to the demand for free and credible elections as that will certainly push it out of power.

Zanu PF is planning to force the opposition into rigged and fixed polls in 2023.

Parties went into the 2018 elections after they had already been rigged as Zanu PF had implemented cosmetic electoral reforms.

The electoral playing field remains uneven and tilted in Zanu PF’s favour.

The so-called biometric voters’ roll is not meant to deliver a transparent election, but only seeks to clean the voters’ roll as it does not address violence, intimidation and votebuying, which have been Zanu PF’s trump cards.

As long as Zanu PF is free to use youth militia, traditional leaders, overzealous civil servants and members of the security services without check, it means the 2023 elections already have a winner and that winner is Zanu PF.

The best the opposition can do amid Zanu PF political intransigence is to galvanise its supporters to vote en masse so that there is little room for manipulation of the results.

Boycotting the coming elections as announced by MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende at the weekend is not even an option. The opposition must prepare and harden its membership for the impending “war”.

Arbitrary arrests of opposition officials and human rights defenders will escalate as 2023 approaches.

All the Makomborero Haruziviishes of this world will be locked up in prison on frivolous charges.

Expecting Zanu PF to agree to hold free, fair, transparent and credible polls is like expecting the devil to follow the biblical 10 commandments.

That will never happen — not in a thousand years! What Zanu PF is prepared to have are rigged and predetermined elections.

In short, people must not expect free, fair and credible polls. That is a myth. It will never happen as long as the Zanu PF regime is in charge of national affairs.

Removing the ruling party from power in elections needs diverse and intricate planning. It needs more than just forming a coalition.

It is time Nelson Chamisa — Zimbabwe’s only hope — shows that he is determined to fight for change. Zimbabweans no longer want token change.