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Prosperity Mzila Correspondent
As the country readies itself for the 2023 harmonised elections, the West, as usual, is working overtime and in overdrive to cast aspersions on the Zanu PF Government over the so-called electoral reforms and other related issues.
Nothing brought this to the fore more than the release by the European Union (EU) Observer Mission of a report entitled European Union Election Follow-up Mission Zimbabwe 2022 last week.
The report was the culmination of the work of an EU Election Follow up Mission ((EU EFM), which was deployed to Zimbabwe from May 2 to 29 to follow up on the 23 recommendations made by the EU Observer Mission, which was in the country to observe the July 30, 2018 elections.
According to the report, the recommendations were meant to align the Electoral Act with the country’s Constitution, strengthen the independence of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and increasing its transparency and effectiveness and to create a level playing field and an environment which is conducive to an inclusive election campaign.
The recommendations were further calculated to reform the media environment and regulations to guarantee the freedom of expression and of the media, as well as to ensure the independence and impartiality of state-owned media.
The report claimed that the observer mission’s recommendations sought to promote transparency in the results management process and providing for the right to an effective legal remedy.
It is interesting to note that the EU was not the only group to observe Zimbabwe’s 2018 watershed elections.
Many other blocs such as the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region also sent in observer missions which also made recommendations, but none of them sent a follow up mission.
Host countries do not need any chaperoning or hand-holding by foreign observer missions to implement poll report recommendations unless such missions have hidden political agendas.
There was, therefore, no need for the EU to dispatch another mission to Zimbabwe.
The timing of the mission, which was less than a year before the next polls, betrays the bloc’s ulterior motive.
This can only mean one thing: the EU is worried that if the 2023 elections are held in the same free and fair environment of 2018, then Zanu PF will definitely win by an overwhelming tally.
It is, therefore, correct to say a plan to disadvantage Zanu PF was immediately hatched and set in motion to benefit the EU’s preferred party, the CCC.
This answers all the hullabaloo surrounding the EU EFM report, whose main theme was electoral reforms, which the European bloc firmly believes would favour the opposition and enable it to use the 2023 polls to win.
The EU EFM report exposed the EU’s impatience with Government over the implementation of its observer mission’s recommendations.
While admitting that ZEC had covered some ground in implementing some of the recommendations indicated, EU doubts on whether or not all its recommendations would be implemented.
The bloc is fully aware of how severely hamstrung Government is financially owing to the debilitating effects of the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
The situation was not made easier by the Covid-19 pandemic which affected Zimbabwe’s economic performance.
Instead of pushing a biased agenda meant to benefit its running dogs in the opposition camp, the EU should be influencing the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) to remove sanctions.
Zimbabwe cannot carry out electoral reforms with its hands pinioned at the back by evil sanctions, which severely affect its ability to function fully, economically.
Even if Government had all the resources to implement all the electoral reforms and recommendations, which the EU is clamouring for, as long as there are sanctions hanging around the neck of Zimbabwe like a millstone, there cannot be a level playing field.
CCC’s friend and handler, author and professor of world politics, Dr Stephen Chan, on his recent visit to Zimbabwe, described how badly the sanctions have and continue to affect the ordinary man on the street.
This was an experience he witnessed first-hand when he visited Chitungwiza, Budiriro and Epworth, among other areas. It goes without saying that unless the EU and the US revisit their sanctions and remove them, then the playing field will not be even, it will be skewed in favour of the CCC.
The electoral reforms which the EU is getting all worked up on behalf of the Western project, the CCC, are about Zimbabwean politics. They are not about an EU member country.
The bloc should be ashamed of itself for meddling in the electoral affairs of Zimbabwe in the name of election observation.
In fact, it should stop involving itself in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.
Instead of sending its handlers to pursue a local process such as pushing for electoral reforms, the CCC should simply join the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD).
The platform’s members came up with their own thoughts on electoral reforms in a declaration dated 14 January 2022. The CCC and the EU think that they can use the European bloc’s “influence” to create a skewed electoral field which favours the opposition.
Zimbabwe is a sovereign country over which the EU has no power whatsoever. Their perspectives will obviously be put into consideration in the on-going process of harmonising the Electoral Act with the Constitution.
The CCC knows that if it wishes to participate in determining the course of this great country’s future as an opposition party, it has to join the POLAD.
For as long as it regards itself as a special species of opposition, the party and its handlers such as the EU will continue to be frustrated.
Anyone who cares to know would be aware that ZEC is an independent and apolitical organisation which is in place as a result of the country’s 2013 Constitution.
It is a self-governing entity with no affiliation to any political party, organisation or individuals. The selection of its commissioners is done through Parliament where all political parties with representatives participate in their selection.
For the EU EFM to insinuate Government interference is a demonstration of desperation on its part.
Zimbabwe’s political landscape has changed since the coming in of the New Dispensation under the leadership of President Mnangagwa.
The political landscape has been very conducive and accommodative of all political parties, ruling and opposition alike. If CCC leader, Nelson Chamisa was honest, he would be the first to admit that the past four years have been refreshingly different from the old dispensation.
He would admit that he held more rallies in 2018 than his predecessor, the late Morgan Tsvangirai in the 19 years that he led the MDC.
Rural areas were no-go areas for the opposition, but thanks to President Mnangagwa for opening up the democratic space, CCC senior members are criss-crossing the rural areas mobilising for support ahead of 2023 in stark contrast to the impression of repression created by the EU in its report.
In March 2022, Zimbabwe held by-elections in a number of constituencies and wards across the country following the death of the incumbents and the recalling of some MDC Alliance legislators by the MDC-T.
The run up to the poll was largely peaceful except for the death of one Mboneni Ncube of Kwekwe who died in intra-party skirmishes involving CCC members.
Obviously, the EU would not be interested in positive news or news implicating the CCC because its main objective is to claim wrong doing by Government or Zanu PF.
The media in Zimbabwe has been deeply polarised.
However, the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services has been seized with the task to reconcile both public and private media so that they can freely, transparently, and truthfully capture and report news accurately and without bias.
It has not been an easy task for the Ministry due to meddling by the West in the country’s private media.
The West continues to pour funds into organisations such as Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) so that it can mobilise private media journalists and coach them on how to write propaganda material against President Mnangagwa, Zanu PF and Government.
The journalists are paid for their trouble. It is these journalistic transgressions that the EU should be railing against instead of claiming non-coverage of opposition activities by the public media.
Many journalists from both the private and public media know how anti-media Chamisa and his party members are. Journalist such as Robert Tapfumaneyi of Sly Media TV have fallen victim to MDC Alliance/CCC members’ mindless violence while on duty.
Instead of worrying about the coverage of opposition activities by the public media, the EU should be disturbed by the American Embassy in Harare, which recently invited private journalists and activists for a three months training programme in Arizona, USA, which is fully sponsored by the US government.
The advertisement indicated that after training, the participants would receive small grants and other resources.
This is part of the US Embassy’s pre-election efforts to capacitate private journalists, who work against Government ahead of the 2023 elections.
This is a shameless attempt at skewing the playing field against Zanu PF ahead of next year’s elections to improve the opposition’s chances of a poll victory.
The West continues to interfere with the internal affairs of Zimbabwe through funding opposition political parties using some rogue civil society organisations (CSOs) in contravention of the Political Parties (Finance) Act.
In line with this law, political parties with legislators in Parliament are allocated funding from Treasury annually.
For this reason, the West should not skew the political playing field in favour of the opposition by illegally funding them. It is for this and other reasons that the Private Voluntary Organisation Act is being amended.
The EU should mind its own politics at home, while Zimbabweans mind theirs.
Zimbabweans do not observe elections in the EU bloc and the European Union should do the same by staying away from Zimbabwe.
The bloc should know that no amount of attempting to create a political playing field which favour the opposition will benefit the opposition, especially the one with no meaningful election strategy.
Online Reporter