Non-performers have no place in Zim

PRESIDENT Mugabe’s proclamation of 31 July as the date for harmonised elections has undoubtedly send shivers down the spines of some politicians who adopted a pedestrian approach during their tenure in the inclusive Government, which expires on 29 June. Such politicians might have toed party lines or failed to measure up to the demands of national politics as dictated by the justified and dynamic public expectations.

Before they seek re-election on 31 July, it should ring in their ears that non-performance has no place in a country like Zimbabwe that prides itself as a nation of hardworking and knowledgeable people.

President Mugabe announced the elections date in his capacity as Head of State and Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe and in fulfillment of the Constitution and a ruling by the Constitutional Court compelling him to hold elections by 31 July. He also set 28 June as the date for the sitting of the nomination courts to accept presidential, parliamentary and council candidates.

He wrote to his partners in the inclusive Government, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara and MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube last week informing them of the elections date.

Mr Tsvangirai who knows very well that he is a perennial loser and cannot win the impending presidential race against President Mugabe because his party has absolutely nothing by way of policy, has threatened to boycott the elections.

He has foreseen his own defeat. Also, the same fate has been foreseen in several recent surveys by the likes of Mass Public Opinion Institute, Freedom House and Afro Barometer and a leading US think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations which point to a Zanu-PF victory in the forthcoming harmonised elections.

MDC-T party has no policy. It is foreign driven and means nothing to Zimbabweans as a people. The past four years have clearly showed this. Mr Tsvangirai knows that the inclusive Government has exposed him and his party for who they are and that people are ready to judge them harshly by voting them out.

Zanu-PF on the other hand is a direct antithesis of MDC-T. It is a party of the people in every respect. Its track record from its fight for Independence and the post-independence era shows how close to people the revolutionary party is.

In its manifesto titled: “The People’s Manifesto, Team Zanu-PF Bhora Mugedhi/Ibhola Egedini,” the revolutionary party is spearheading the gospel of indigenisation, empowerment, employment creation and national development.

The party’s information and publicity secretary, Cde Rugare Gumbo said the manifesto is a comprehensive blueprint that outlines party strategies to make Zimbabwe an exemplary giant in Africa by preserving the goals of unity, economic security, and respect for values of the liberation struggle, gender equality, freedom of worship and respect for people living with disabilities.

By and large, the manifesto encapsulates all that the majority blacks in this country aspire for.
However, there are no prizes for guessing that as we go for elections, Zimbabwe will again be at the centre of Western attention whose leaders are losing sleep devising strategies to re-colonise the country. Therefore, there is a need by every self-respecting Zimbabwean to rally behind the revolutionary party and help defend the country’s sovereignty.

We must not forget that voting is not only a time to elect political leaders into office but to also vociferously defend the country’s independence and the collective success in repelling the unending attempts by our erstwhile colonisers and other detractors who want to disturb the country’s peace, stability and tranquility.

Indeed 31 July should be a historic day when people resoundingly defend the difficult and bumpy road to freedom, the selflessness with which many of the gallant sons and daughters, the living and departed confronted the enemy’s lethal weapons so that we regain the dignity that we had lost when whites invaded our land.

It should also be that day when through the ballot paper, Zimbabweans roundly reflect on the ideals, values and objectives of the liberation struggle. Furthermore, as people vote they must also appreciate that the peace that some of us are taking for granted did not come on a silver platter but was fought for and some died and were maimed for it.

It is a time to remember that we are constantly under threat from Western powers that want to see us hacking each other to death as they plunder our resources with impunity.

Zimbabweans should not, through the stroke of a pen, betray the pains suffered by gallant fighters who sacrificed their education, families and many who paid the ultimate price by shedding their blood so that the marginalised black majority can have the right to have a leader of their choice, right to education, health care and the right to own the means of production, primarily land.

In the forthcoming harmonised elections people should vote for a leader and party, which have, for a long time, dedicated themselves to the ideals of the liberation struggle. There is no doubt that President Mugabe who is also Zanu PF’s presidential candidate is such kind of a leader who is politically gifted with exclusive abilities to protect the country’s independence.

His leadership capabilities have indeed seen Western powers failing to achieve their goals to exploit our country by sponsoring the two MDC formations. It is not an exaggeration to contend that the opposition formations are an extension or agents of imperialism. Their policies, which are not homegrown, were put together as opposing packages by the British and US governments.

It goes without saying that Zimbabweans should vote for Zanu-PF, a leading revolutionary party that led the masses of this country from colonial rule to independence; a party that spent most of its time trying to eradicate the legacy of injustice left by colonialism and is fighting to eradicate poverty induced by the white settlers during the colonial era.

It is also the party that is spearheading the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive, a programme that seeks to economically empower indigenous Zimbabweans.

Finally, I would like to urge all Zimbabweans that when voting they should remain resolute in their commitment to the values that define and preserve our nationhood. Also, let the spirit of unity and peace continue to prevail during the elections in our quest for a prosperous Zimbabwe.