Suicidal to have election in Zimbabwe this year

By Dumisani Nkomo

Amendment Number 19 to the Zimbabwean constitution, Section 23, enshrines the right of every Zimbabwean to political rights and more specifically the right to free and fair elections and referendums.

The current conditions prevailing in the country make it impossible for a free and fair election to be held in the next 24 months. Holding elections under the current conditions would be an infringement on the rights of Zimbabweans as envisaged and articulated by Section 23[a],[b] and [c] of the country’s supreme law.

Violence has found expression in both overt and physical violence such as the recent outbreak of lawlessness in Harare as well as structural violence embedded in prohibitive legislation. This has been accentuated by Zanu PF’s flagrant disregard of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the imperatives of institutional, legislative and constitutional reform.

Furthermore Zimbabwe is miles away from meeting the requirements of the Sadc Guidelines on the Conduct of Democratic Elections which envisages amongst other things fair and balanced media coverage and the existence of conditions permissive to freedom of association and assembly, adequate voter education and an accessible, up to date voters roll.

To this end I strongly believe that it is not only imprudent but also scandalous to hold elections under conditions which are at variance with minimum requirements envisaged under instruments and frameworks such as the country’s constitution, the GPA and the Sadc guidelines.

I am aware that there is no shortage of insanity in the country and prospects of such a plebiscite taking place are high considering Zanu PF‘s propensity for actions which are suicidal to the country’s well being.After all as Alexander Pope observed: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. There are no prizes for guessing who the fools are in this case.

•Police force: The police have displayed an unwillingness or incapacity to apply the law in a non-partisan manner as evidenced by the manner in which they have arrested hordes of MDC supporters. Once again before there is any talk of any election the conduct of the police should be investigated.

•Voters roll: It is the duty of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to ensure that the voters roll is accessible and up to date. It is alarming to note that according to independent investigations the voters roll is fraught with the names of infants, toddlers and the dead. Before there is any talk of elections the voters roll should be rehabilitated.

•Voter registration: The process of voter registration should be made voter friendly as the process has been made so cumbersome with people being required to provide proof of residence, a situation that has disadvantaged thousands of eligible youths. In other counties people can register using cell phones or the internet.

•Voter education: Sadc guidelines call for voter education before polls and the process has hardly begun possibly because nobody — including ZEC—-knows the official date for holding elections.

Balanced public media and availability of alternative media: The public press is unashamedly campaigning for Zanu PF and even if the media is opened up a month before the elections the damage would already have been done as the former ruling party has been abusing the public media with endless party jingles. There is still no independent electronic media in Zimbabwe.

•Credible, well resourced electoral commission: Admittedly Amendment 19 creates a framework for a fairly independent electoral commission.

However ZEC is not well resourced as its chairperson intimated last year thus compromising the “efficiency, efficacy and independence of the commission”. The amount allocated by Finance minister Tendai Biti under the current budget is barely enough to carry out an election with logistical precision and adequate institutional capacity.

•Timeous accreditation and deployment of observers: This is critical in ensuring that there is confidence in the electoral system and subsequent outcomes as  regional and international observers need to arrive in the country at least three months before the elections.

Already some African countries have indicated that they cannot afford to be in Zimbabwe six months before the elections so three months would be a compromise time frame as most pre-election violence and other antics are carried out three to six months before elections.

•A new constitution: The GPA is abundantly clear in stating that the agreement would be reviewed after conclusion of the constitution-making process and only then can we infer that elections could be held. Already the constitution-making process is a year behind schedule and chances of the process being concluded this year are increasingly becoming slim due to funding constraints Why we should not have elections this year

•There should be a new constitution before elections are held.

Unless there are inbuilt mechanisms and processes birthed by Sadc and  the African Union on how power will be transferred if the incumbent is beaten, the elections will be a sheer waste of time and resources and we will have another disputed election in our hands  with shameless losers singing the familiar Handiende (I will not go) tune.

Dumisani Nkomo is the chief executive officer of Habakkuk Trust and principal spokesperson of the Matabeleland Civil Society Consortium. He writes here in his personal capacity .He can be contacted on [email protected]