August 23rd will be forever etched in Zimbabwe’s history as a day of electoral farce. Exactly one year ago, we woke up to the orchestration of election sabotage starting with flyers with disinformation filling the streets telling voters not to vote.
By midday the plan had clearly evolved with the missing ballots – voters in their thousands turned up only to find their polling stations with no ballots.
In Harare, Bulawayo, and Manicaland, missing ballots exposed the extent the regime was prepared to deliberately suppress voters in urban areas that were predicted to favor the CCC.
This ritual revealed institutions devoid of democratic substance, stripping the process of its legitimacy in toto!
These events marked the latter stages of rigging machinery that had been set in motion throughout the election season.
Ranging from exorbitant registration fees (US$1000 for MPs and $25,000 for presidential candidates) and the disqualification of the Bulawayo 12.
The courts’ acceptance of double candidates sponsored by the regime’s agent, Sengenzo Tshabangu, further tainted the process, as he exploited tribal rhetoric to dupe some elite citizens, revealing the regime’s desperation.
The remote areas were not spared from this farce FAZ being a key enabler of voter intimidation and reported incidences of assisted voting.
Even to date there continues to be revelation of the regimes preparedness to suppress the vote and undermine the voting process. The Wicknell and Chimombe scandal, involving Zanu PF apologists in charge of ballot printing, laid bare the extent of electoral malfeasance.
The public’s discovery of this scandal, was met with the heartache perhaps experienced by someone in relations with an abuser who seems to enjoy your pain.
In any country such blatant acts would have invoked Section 69 , alas for Zimbabwe we were plunged into a deep dark cloud of illegitimacy.
Observer missions condemned the charade, labeling it a “ritual without democracy.” The regime’s announcement of fake results was met with silence, even at the Sheraton hotel, where Justice Chigumba shamefully declared the loser the winner.
Even they remain so ashamed that they have never published the results since the announcement.
In the aftermath, President Chamisa’s significant gains in the countryside and urban cities, coupled with the CCC’s denial of a two-thirds majority in parliament, sparked purges, assaults, and power struggles.
Many fell by the wayside, with their stories etched in the “Chitepo School of Ideology.”
As the crisis of legitimacy continues to rage even the emperor in stolen robs knows his days are numbered. His behaviour is that of one who knows that the citizen resolve for a Better New Zimbabwe is getting stronger and from the ashes the people will rise to rebuild this Great Nation.
Comrade Ostallos
