Ahead of elections: Let’s put everything into perspective
BARRING unforeseen circumstances, Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold harmonised elections this year, where the choice will be between the ruling Zanu PF party and an array of opposition political parties.
Opposition political parties that have expressed interest to contest the elections include the MDC-Alliance led by Mr Douglas Mwonzora, the CCC led by Mr Nelson Chamisa (both have parliamentary representation), the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) fronted by Madam Elisabeth Valerio and Democratic Union of Zimbabwe (DUZ) led by Mr Robert Chapman.
It is not yet clear whether UZA or DUZ will also participate in the parliamentary and local authority elections.
However, it will be a first for Zimbabwe to have candidates of mixed race vying for the highest office in the land.
Mr Chapman frames himself as an orphan who lost both parents in an accident at a young age and appears to imitate former United States President Barack Obama in both language and demeanour.
He says he is a pilot and entrepreneur whose mission is to modernise Zimbabwe.
Very little is known about Madam Valerio.
She claims to have been born in Zimbabwe and grew up in Old Highfield tending her parents’ grocery shop at Machipisa.
This is not an exhaustive list of political parties contesting the elections.
As has become the norm, other opposition political parties are likely to mushroom just before the elections to try their luck.
However, the main contest is likely to be between Zanu PF and the CCC, a splinter group from the MDC Alliance.
But just like the MDC Alliance, the CCC models itself as a post-colonial party that leans more to the West in its orientation and perspective.
Zanu PF is rooted in the liberation nationalist struggle, while the opposition has done everything since its formation to show that it is adversarial to the nationalist liberation project.
It gives credence to the suspicion
that it is an agent of the West bent on reversing the liberation map in southern Africa.
As CCC’s Tendai Biti comically put it last year: “We have powerful friends. When we walk into rooms, they call me ‘Mr Beaty, Mr Beaty’. You don’t know who is behind us”.
Who can forget supporters cheering as Biti promised he would get investments from France’s Paul Pogba?
The CCC’s main promise is that it has powerful foreign friends. They will pour money into the country. That is the whole idea.
In stark contrast, on the other end, is a revolutionary party famed for undertaking an empowering land reform exercise and is striving to modernise Zimbabwe with its rallying call of “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”.
Zanu PF’s rallying call is different in both substance and vision to the CCC slogans of promises of foreign support, “Ngaapinde Hake Mukomana”, and other self-serving hollow chants occasionally spiced with Bible verses.
Zanu PF’s vision to modernise Zimbabwe is informed by the need to use the country’s own resources to support its own growth, led by its own people.
On the other hand, the opposition believes that the panacea to the country’s problems is an influx of Europeans coming into the country with bags of money.
Chamisa’s address when he launched a by- election campaign on February 20, 2022 buttresses the
man’s admiration of former colonisers: “If you give me one week in office, you will see white people coming with money.”
While there is nothing wrong with having foreign direct investment, how it is framed by the CCC leader gives the impression of whites being Father Christmases coming with goodies to dish to helpless Africans.
Chamisa’s “white people coming with money” statement prompted President Mnangagwa to remind him that no country has ever prospered through the charitable benevolence of outsiders.
Said the President: “I was troubled yesterday when my young brother said if he becomes president whites will come in numbers in five days. It is a shame, a shame because a nation can only be built by its citizens, not foreigners. Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. Zimbabwe can be built by Zimbabweans, Zambia can be built by Zambians and Mozambique by Mozambicans and Botswana the same.”
It is one thing to associate with foreigners to promote one’s country, but it is quite another banking all your political strategy on the promise of foreign support.
No one really knows what CCC stands for, not even its supporters, many of whom are expressing frustrations online and elsewhere.
It has not articulated its vision, beyond harping on about fuzzy aspirations. It has no structures or a constitution to govern its operations.
The party relies only on the word of its leader. Whatever Chamisa says at the last rally is the guiding principle.
With no constitution, CCC supporters have no idea how they are going to select representatives for both the parliamentary and local authorities’ seats.
This means we are likely to witness double candidates in some constituencies. It has happened before, and it is likely to happen again.
This plays in favour of Zanu PF, which is structurally and organisationally strong.
While the opposition enjoys some support in urban areas, things are likely to change. In all local authorities under the management of opposition political parties, standards have plummeted, leaving hordes of residents disgruntled.
It is not the same with the ruling party, which has managed to win in some of the opposition strongholds in urban areas.
A fair assessment of what is likely to come sees Zanu PF consolidating its popularity in rural communities and managing to nip off some seats in some urban constituencies that are now known for being opposition strongholds.
The Urban Renewal Initiative has seen the Government directly refurbish roads, construct civil servants’ accommodation, including catering to their transport needs and drilling of boreholes to provide safe drinking water.
Voters are awakening to the mediocrity of opposition councillors who have run down urban areas in pursuit of personal greed.
And after years of denying responsibility, CCC senior member Chalton Hwende recently admitted to his party’s dereliction of duty.
On Twitter Space discussion, Hwende said councillors had no excuse not to collect garbage in areas they control.
He finally put to rest allegations of Government interference in the affairs of local authorities.
Ahead of the announcement of the election date, all political parties are busy holding voter registration mobilisation campaigns with the hope that the more people are registered, the more votes tilt in their favour.
However, it appears the most vocal opposition sympathisers are mainly present on social media and a sizable number are domiciled in the diaspora.
It is thus misleading to judge the popularity of either party based on social media activities.
What is clear, though, is that Zanu PF is more prepared for the elections than all the other parties.