tawandamusarurwa
VERY soon, political parties will be on the campaign trail to canvass for votes from the electorate ahead of the August 23 harmonised elections.
The proclamation of the election date by President Mnangagwa on Wednesday means the march towards the polls is now inexorable.
By their very nature, campaigns that precede elections are meant to give politicians time to market their ideas and what they have to offer, which means the proposed policies, action plans and programmes should be preponderant enough to be both marketable and sellable.
A lot is at stake in any election, as its outcome consequentially impacts on the current generation and posterity.
Politics is not a game.
It is about bread-and-butter issues that nurture, nourish and sustain life.
It is also a vehicle to national dreams and aspirations.
No one could have eloquently put this point across than former Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew.
On December 1, 1980 — at a time when the city-state’s airline, SIA, was plagued by a long-drawn-out dispute between management and the pilots, which threatened to run it aground — he took the decision to summon the striking pilots to his offices at the Istana for an indaba.
He was to later recount what transpired at the meeting in a famous speech at a campaign rally a few days later.
“I can tell you that when I met the SIA pilots, I didn’t meet them on TV, I met them face to face. Five feet across the table so they can see me, and see whether I am still vigorous, able to campaign and take them on. Whether it’s worth taking me on,” he recounted.
“And I offered them two choices. Either you stop this intimidation, which is what it was, bringing SIA right down . . .
“And let there be no mistakes about it. Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him. Or give it up. This is not a game of cards. This is your life and mine . . .”
This speech, among many others that Lee Kuan Yew made during his political career, later became popular with students of political science, not because they were sweet-sounding political rhetoric, but they helped understand the leadership of the man who transformed the city-state from a backwater to a highly developed and prosperous modern state.
So, the August 23 elections are similarly about “your life and mine”.
And, as a country that still has a lot to do to deliver a prosperous and highly industrial society, we also expect the leaders who will emerge after the elections to have that “iron” needed to deliver.
Empty talk will not cut it, nor will incendiary rhetoric that will distract us from an in-depth conversation on the course this nation should take to lift people out of poverty, create jobs and achieve prosperity.
Above all, this a Zimbabwean election to determine the future of Zimbabweans.
Political leaders, therefore, have a weighty responsibility to unite rather than divide the people.
They also need to preach peace and safeguard the integrity of the electoral processes.
President Mnangagwa has led from the front in this regard.
In his public engagements, he has not missed an opportunity to emphasise the need to observe peace at all times and discourage violence.
We also need to hear the same from other political leaders and their parties.
Most importantly, politicians should not regard polls as credible only when they win and be determined to spoil the whole election for everyone when they lose.
As US President Joe Biden rightfully observed, “democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated”.
So, as political campaigns begin, the electorate are best advised to consider parties and politicians that have compelling and superior ideas which can take this country forward, and shun those who think insults and violence are a convenient tool to win elections.
Online Reporter