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The battle lines have been drawn and it is game on as Zimbabwe’s major political parties hit the campaign trail.
Zanu-PF launched its manifesto at the historic Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield on Friday last week where it also introduced its candidates to the electorate while the MDC-T unveiled its own manifesto at Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera on Sunday. The MDC-T also introduced its own candidates to the electorate.
With 22 days to go before polling on 31 July, the political jostling has heated up as contestants seek to woo the support of voters.
Professor Welshman Ncube’s MDC formation says it will launch its manifesto soon.
It is quite encouraging that the Zanu-PF and MDC-T launches were done without incidents. In the past we would hear of clashes between opponents as party supporters went to the venues of the parties’ functions or on their way back home.
We urge the parties to maintain the spirit of peace that characterised the launch of the manifestos. Zanu-PF and the MDC-T have clearly explained the policies that they hope to implement when voted into power. It is now up to the people, the Zimbabwean voters, to decide what is best for them.
Following the launch of the manifestos, the parties and their leaders will soon be turning their attention to holding rallies and other campaign meetings to further articulate their policies to the electorate. That period must also be peaceful and leaders and all other aspiring candidates in the parliamentary and council elections should carry themselves in a dignified and exemplary manner.
We also encouraged by the discerning nature of the Zimbabwean voter and the parties contesting the 31 July harmonised elections can only take the electorate for granted at their own peril.
Analysts and observers are already giving their analytical assessments of the policies of the parties in the race for the elections.
There shall be a lot of breaking ranks with the usual allies during this period as voters seek to be convinced that their vote will go to the deserving candidate.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions sent the clearest message at the weekend that this election will not be the business as usual mantra that some politicians have become accustomed to.
At a workshop held in Gweru last Friday, ZCTU president Mr George Nkiwane did the unfathomed when he said the labour body, which is an ally of the MDC-T, would urge its members to vote for a president and parliamentary and council candidates who have the will of the people at heart.
Mr Nkiwane said the labour body would not look at whether the candidate is Zanu-PF or MDC but would be guided by the readiness of a party or candidate to serve the people.
The ZCTU boss complained that the labour body had been taken for a ride by its erstwhile partners, the MDC-T, in the past.
The labour movement threw its weight behind the Zanu-PF initiated indigenisation and economic empowerment policy.
Mr Nkiwane castigated the MDC-T’s Agenda for Real Transformation (Art) policy describing it as flawed and not taking into account the need to protect the workers.
He said unlike Art, Zanu-PF’s indigenisation and economic empowerment policy has the capacity to positively impact on the lives of the workers if it benefited people not individuals.
The ZCTU also took a swipe at political rhetoric by the MDC-T to reverse the land reform programme and the empowerment policies. Mr Nkiwane said the ZCTU would not blindly support the MDC-T.
The labour leader’s comments mirror the thinking among voters and we believe that those who stand for the empowerment of the people and push for the masses to have access to and control of their country’s natural resources will carry the day in this election. For now let the campaigns continue peacefully and people will make their choice without coercion.
Online Reporter