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The nine National Assembly constituency by-elections triggered by the first round of recalls by CCC interim secretary general Sengezo Tshabangu proved to be a major victory for Zanu PF which won seven, six in contested polls and one in a walkover because the opposition could not even nominate a valid candidate in the midst of its disorganisation.
So, Zanu PF must be congratulated on this swathe of victories, largely achieved because it had respectable candidates and could mobilise its own supporters to brave the heatwave across Zimbabwe and turn up yet again for a second vote in just under four months.
This set of voting was required because the CCC had basically imploded, become fragmented, riven by infighting and plainly more concerned about personal spheres of power rather than trying to contribute to Zimbabwe’s development.
That backstabbing and infighting in the opposition must have been a major factor as to why a huge majority of those who voted CCC in August simply stayed at home.
They were just totally fed up, and in the longer term that provides Zanu PF with a major opportunity to show them there is a better solution that just giving up.
Neither the Government, nor the presiding officers of Parliament, nor Zanu PF had any hand in the events that led to the by elections.
The Government had to find the money for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to organise the polls and President Mnangagwa had just one decision to make, to choose the election date, basically automatic once he decided that a Saturday would give most voters in the affected constituencies a chance to vote. But they had no hand in the implosion.
But the results go further than showing the irritation of most opposition voters over the antics of their party and its fragmented leadership.
The serious gain by Zanu PF is in that belt of marginal constituencies across the northern half of Matabeleland North, which mostly flipped to the opposition in August although by very narrow majorities, leaving Zanu PF with just one, again by a very narrow majority. This could even be considered just the luck of the draw, so narrow were most victories.
Now Zanu PF has won two more, Binga North and Lupane East, and the two new MPs won them by very large totals of votes they personally polled, unusual in a by-election.
The margins of victory were very large, thanks to the crash in CCC voting, but those solid Zanu PF totals show the party gaining strength in that part of the country.
In other words, while the CCC implosion gave huge victory margins, the actual number of votes showed a growth in real support for Zanu PF, something that would have given victory even if against a far more coherent and organised opposition.
Beitbridge West saw a significant number of the August Zanu PF supporters turning up again, and these gave their party a huge win over the two minor candidates, the CCC being unable to find a candidate who had not been expelled from the party.
Mabvuku-Tafara, was a walkover, again because the CCC had no candidate and there were no minor candidates.
Considering that this constituency was among the more marginal CCC wins in Harare Province in August it was a pity that there was not a decent test of Zanu PF’s growing strength in Harare.
The party would have won anyway, with the CCC slump, but the totals would have been important.
The other five by-elections were all in Bulawayo, and three of these were won by Zanu PF and two by CCC, a major turnaround on August.
However, voting numbers were low and that should be of concern to all. These are urban seats, where polling stations are generally within a maximum of 2km of every voter, and most are much shorter distance away, so even the heatwave was not a major factor.
While the huge crash in CCC totals followed trends, with these voters being totally fed up by the party they had supported, Zanu PF was not immune from the apathy.
More than half its August support did make the minor effort to go back to their polling stations, and that turned all five constituencies into marginal with Zanu PF gaining victory in three. But it could have been all five with a few hundred extra votes. What seems to be the political suicide of CCC in its fractious intra-movement warfare, with even its most loyal supporters now totally fed up, opens a window of opportunity for Zanu PF.
Just because the party can now whip the opposition almost everywhere, does not mean it can sit back, and its local constituency, district and provincial leadership has a major responsibility to work with communities and individuals.
The opposition has gone through many incarnations and the next one might actually be effective. To bet otherwise would not be sensible.
The new seven Zanu PF MPs will need to work very hard now. The issues and grievances that caused the majority in their constituencies to vote for another party in August have not gone away. Now those seven have to take on the duty of articulating those grievances and working with everyone and all Government agencies to find solutions to the issues.
A constituency MP is the direct representative of a constituency community in the corridors of power, and needs to represent everyone in that community regardless of who they might have voted for the last time they voted.
So the work goes far beyond attendance in Parliament and the odd contribution to debate.
Most of the work is in the constituency and in the necessary contact with agencies, authorities and the like that operate in the constituency and can help or hinder the constituency. So the MP needs to know as many as possible in the constituency, and have supporters who can help them understand what their community wants and needs. It even goes right down to individual level, if someone has a problem, for example, with officials and get the right solution there.
Come 2028 these seven, and for that matter the rest of the 144 Zanu PF constituency contingent, need to be able to campaign on two fronts, first that as a member of the party of Government they contributed to the major successes of the President and the party, but secondly that they have been the best MP their constituencies have ever had so keeping them makes sense.
Zanu PF tries hard to discourage the lazy MPs and tries to ensure that all MPs are actively involved in their communities, know their communities and can be effective within their communities and in the ties these constituencies have with the rest of their province and the country at large.
That policy now needs to go into overdrive as the party translates the gains against an imploded, useless and fragmented opposition into something more permanent.
Online Reporter