Enough of candidate impositions

So as the 2018 elections draw nearer, the call is to the ruling party to set out a clear candidate selection criteria, one that is not easily manipulated by corrupt, factional politicians.

ONE can smell, see and feel the election fever. It is almost electric, testimony being the over-subscribed Presidential Youth Interface Meetings that have been held around Zimbabwe with each province trying its most to outdo the previous host in terms of attracting bumper crowds.

But sometimes the more things change, the more they remain the same.

As with the run-up to the last general election in 2013, the ruling ZANU-PF party finds itself preoccupied with factionalism and tribalism.

I am living evidence of the effects of factionalism and as 2018 nears, I am at sixes-and-sevens — I don’t even know what to do, where to start. A brief background might help. In April 2013 I launched my campaign to join the political fray and represent my home, Guruve South, in the House of Assembly.

I did all I could do on the ground, visiting each and every ward in the constituency selling my candidature.

I met the different party structures in the different wards, impressing on them why I wanted to become their Member of Parliament.

My reasoning, then, as it is now, was simple.

I have been in the media industry for over two decades, in fact next January marks 25 years with Zimpapers.

Given this quarter-of-a-century of exposure through the media, it should be a stroll in the park representing my folk in Parliament.

My campaign was also staked on consistency and a high degree of patriotism.

Over the 25 years I have been with Zimpapers, I have had numerous opportunities to leave the country, moreso in 2000 when many people my age left, and I even travelled to the United Kingdom on a British Airways-sponsored reporting trip.

Instead of slipping into thin air, having flown to London on a free ticket, I made the trip back home because the desire to serve my nation has always coursed through my blood.

It has never crossed my mind, even in the face of the so many tempting chances to emigrate, to leave my country of birth.

I also made it clear to the people in my constituency that they should not be hoodwinked by money-flaunting politicians, reality being that no-one ever uses their personal wealth to develop a constituency.

Rather, the trick lies in knowing which door to knock on at what time.

Journalism has offered me that platform.

My campaign, almost on a shoestring budget, was like a whirlwind and between April and June 2013, when we presented our CVs for consideration, I believe I was the front-runner to take Guruve South.

Even the late Edward Chindori-Chininga, may his soul rest in eternal peace, confided to his close associates soon after we presented our CVs at Guruve centre, that his only fear was Mazara and nobody else.

Within two days of submitting our CVs, the verdict was out. I had been disqualified.

The Provincial Elections Directorate, meeting in Bindura, vetted prospective candidates and recommended who could contest primary elections.

Since there was no formal communication backwards, the reasons for disqualification came through the grapevine and it was rumoured that I did not have “enough” years in the party.

This was the time Joice Mujuru was the “kingmaker” in our province, Mashonaland Central, and as was to be proved later, she held ulterior motives and was positioning her stooges strategically.

When she was booted out at the December 2014 ZANU-PF Conference, her stooge in our constituency — Chris Mutematsaka — was not to last much longer. A by-election was held in 2015. Given the frustrations I met in the run-up to the 2013 general election, I was not sure if I should stand in the by-election, which, again, was marred by a lot of bickering (which is largely expected in an election campaign).

Now that 2018 is around the corner, I’m asking myself: should I try another bite of the cherry?

But with factionalism, won’t I innocently — again — be a victim? More so after using meagre resources to campaign?

Politics, by its nature, is a rough and tumble arena. But it does no harm to have order, to have decency, and to have principles.

In essence, people should be allowed to vote for the person they want. There should be no imposition of candidates.

Being a representative of the people should not call for a million-dollar bank balance, but being people-centred.

Many of the people who have been voted into Parliament over the years have tended to disappear after the votes are counted, only to reappear when another election is around the corner.

That is not how an MP should behave.

An MP shouldn’t promise to build a bridge where there is no river. Many politicians promise what is beyond them, and that is why they vanish after the polls because they simply cannot deliver on what they told the electorate.

So as the 2018 elections draw nearer, the call is to the ruling party to set out a clear candidate selection criteria, one that is not easily manipulated by corrupt, factional politicians.

The selection process, as much as it must be controlled and monitored, has to be people-driven, so that the people have the final say as to who should lead them.

If people are allowed to choose their representatives, the ruling party is assured of a resounding victory.