‘Poll results betrayal of one man, one vote’

By Fungi Kwaramba

Nelson Chamisa yesterday said in his Heroes Day message that the will of the people, expressed at the polls, must prevail in honour of heroes and heroines.

“It is notable that we are commemorating this year’s edition of Heroes’ Day two weeks after holding a historic general election, whose national spirit is reminiscent of the 1980 election that founded our country’s First Republic under the Lancaster House Constitution as an expression of our country’s heroic liberation struggle,” Chamisa said in his message.

“The unsatisfactory, and in fact scandalous, way this election was conducted is an indictment of the ruling elite, who have monopolised State politics in our country for 38 years, and a betrayal of the heroes and heroines who made an independent Zimbabwe possible in 1980.

“As in 1980, Zimbabwe today is on the brink of the end of an era; after 38 turbulent years of Independence during which the fundamental values and ideals for which our country’s heroes and heroine paid the ultimate price have remained elusive.”

Chamisa’s MDC Alliance has filed a legal challenge to results of the country’s July 30 election, in a move that has delayed the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as President of Zimbabwe.

The MDC Alliance filed their paperwork with the Constitutional Court last Friday, alleging the result of the July 30 vote had been rigged in favour of incumbent Mnangagwa.

Chamisa said the time has come to commemorate and honour the heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle by defending the one ideal and value they selflessly fought for: one person, one vote.

“This ideal is part of our Bill of Rights and which is a sine qua non of the multiparty democratic political system envisaged in Section 3(2)(a) of the Constitution.
It is not possible to achieve this if we allow a militarised clique, which calls itself Zimbabwe’s stockholders, to unleash brute force against unarmed civilians in pursuit of electoral theft.

“We must resolutely do everything in our power under our Constitution to say no to fraud and repression either in our electoral politics or our justice system. We must say no to the rule of men, in favour of the rule of law,” he said.

He said the people are not a free people especially in the rural areas.

“There is need for total liberation in the rural areas. People in the rural areas do not vote freely. They are subjected to torment and terror for freely exercising their conscience,” Chamisa said. DailyNews