Stop advance sabotage of harmonised elections

Stephen Mpofu, Perspective

YES, members of opposition political parties solid on the lip beyond many seas while dithering on porous political ground back here at home must stop their apparent attempt to besmirch the run-up to the harmonised elections on August 23 and with that ultimately sabotage the outcome of the polls, causing the outside world to cast aspersions on the political maturity of the people of this country.

Three days ago, a representative of a bigger opposition political party in Zimbabwe made a horrendous claim to Voice of America to the effect that Zanu-PF youths were violently disrupting political rallies organised by his organisation to drum up support for the party in the forthcoming elections.

The claim about pre-election violence comes just a few days after a joint African Union and Comesa team now in the country lavished praise on Zimbabweans for the absence of violence in the run-up to the polls, saying that sister African republics should take a leaf from the commendable pre-election conduct that Zimbabweans demonstrated to the observer team.

In contrast to the claim that the opposition party representative in the USA made in a radio interview with Jonga Kandemiri, a native of this country and employed on the Voice of America’s Studio 7 in Washington DC, here at home peace-loving Zimbabweans no doubt concur with the foreign observer team’s observations on the current pre-election calm as no reports of ruling party youths beating up members of opposition political parties and in the process disrupting their campaign rallies as claimed by the diasporan Zimbabwean opposition party representative.

Another America-based representative of a smaller Zimbabwean opposition political party claimed in the radio interview that Zimbabweans in the American diaspora were now reluctant to return home and vote, fearing for their lives at the hands of the alleged rival political party youths.

But Zimbabwean sources close to officials preparing for the elections assured Zimbabweans in the diaspora that they should feel free to return home to cast their votes. The sources also disclosed that arrangements would be made closer to the elections for local buses to ferry registered Zimbabwean voters based in South Africa to return home and cast their ballots on August 23 and warned shoppers against taking advantage of the presence of that transport to ride back home from their shopping sprees from that country, and in the process shutting out voters intending to come back home.

A woman representative of diasporan Zimbabweans in that neighbouring country said that because of Zimbabwe’s proximity to the sister Sadc country in point, Zimbabweans could fly or use other quick transport means to this country to vote and return to their base the same day.

Now let us all, readers of this discourse, for a moment regard the name Zimbabwe as a tall billboard rising skyward for all in the global village to read what will be clearly written on it and which the outcome of the August 23 elections should have immortalised on that board in bold capital letters: “DEMOCRACY REIGNS IN ZIMBABWE, THANKS TO DAUGHTERS AND SONS OF THE SOIL WHO SACRIFICED THEIR PRECIOUS LIVES IN THE REVOLUTION THAT HERALDED INDEPENDENCE AND DEMOCRACY, BANISHING WHITE MINORITY OPPRESSIVE RULE THAT REGARDED BLACKS AS SUB-HUMAN. LONG LIVE THE ARMED REVOLUTION.’
And so, democracy must live on ad infinitum.