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TWO major political developments this week could have far reaching and welcome implications on the state of our democracy.
Zanu PF, the party of liberation and government, has suspended elections for its provincial leadership in seven provinces while taking the extraordinary but necessary step of convening a special Politburo meeting this Saturday.
The trigger for this feverish activity is the shambolic and demonstrably illegal manner in which the party conducted its elections in the Midlands and Mashonaland Central provinces – whose purported outcomes, and the processes used to arrive at them, will be tested by the Politburo.
There can be no doubt that in the three elections held so far in Manicaland, the Midlands and Mashonaland Central, there was a detectable problem with party registers, the deployment of voting materials, exclusion of some voters, the composition of the advisory teams and communication of results.
The Politburo has a perfect opportunity to exercise its authority to not only start the whole election process afresh but to set rules that will ensure the party constitution is observed.
Zanu-PF and President Mugabe got a thumping mandate on 31 July because the party was united.
But this unity is under threat, imperiled by the rapacious ambitions of factionalists who would rather we all looked away and let them get on with their sham.
The way to win hearts and minds is to run elections in a way that will inspire confidence.
The three elections held so far have clearly fallen short of this standard.
In Bulawayo, there were attempts driven by some senior Politburo members, led by Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu – who should know better – to have Professor Callistus Ndlovu foisted on the people.
Dr Ndlovu told this newspaper that a “submission was made to the Presidium and the national commissariat about the decision to endorse Prof Ndlovu’s chairmanship… the position of the chairman will not be contested.”
The logic for this patently undemocratic statement would be elucidated by Prof Ndlovu himself who said the Provincial Coordinating Committee “had come up with an idea that there should be no contest for the post of chairman as it felt any change of leadership would affect developmental work that is going on at Davies Hall.”
It is not this newspaper’s view that Prof Ndlovu is a bad leader – but the attempts to prevent him from being challenged were certainly in bad taste, and we are pleased that there will now be a full contest.
The Bible says in Songs of Solomon 2:15: “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.”
Zanu-PF is in bloom, after the most emphatic electoral mandate that any political party can dream
of, but the party should guard against the “little foxes” – chiefly the refusal to embrace democracy.
President Mugabe said recently that Zanu-PF is ready for democracy, but the leaders are not.
On Saturday, the Politburo can begin laying foundations for the democratisation of the party – and this should start with nullifying the purported results of these three elections and the holding of truly democratic and fair contests that engender public confidence in the revolutionary party.
The people are watching!
Online Reporter