Whether we like it or not, that time of electioneering, campaigning, and de-campaigning each other is upon us.
Report by Mamuse Maunganidze
Zimbabweans are faced with the mammoth task of putting back on track a country which has by and large been reduced to a pariah state, thanks to the powers that be.
Whether we are going to have a new constitution or not, in 2013 there will be elections. Whether President Robert Mugabe is going to consult his Global Political Agreement (GPA) partners on the date for elections or not, elections are still going to happen in 2013.
Even if Zanu PF wants the election to be deferred by some more years, they are still going to be held next year. It is because constitutionally, the lifespan of the Government of National Unity ends next year.
Among a plethora of issues that the GPA has to address before the nation holds free and fair elections, is the issue of “security sector reform”. There is now a growing list of officials from Zanu PF, elected or appointed, who are desperately trying to cover up for their failures by singing the loudest in support of the uniformed forces’ involvement in politics.
This team of praise-singers is actually doing more harm than good to Zanu PF as a party. The recent utterances by Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF’s negotiator in the GPA, who is also the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, to the effect that Tsvangirai will not be allowed to form government by the army even if he won elections, cannot go unchallenged.
In a recent interview with the British media, Chinamasa is reported to have said that the army will not allow Tsvangirai to lead the country even if he won. “We will not accept it. We will just not accept it. Isn’t that clear?” he is reported to have said. How could Minister Chinamasa forget that he was not talking to ZBC?
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Chinamasa’s utterances show how shaken and stiff scared the party is, on the prospect of losing the coming elections. It is an admission that the party has no chance in free and fair elections. In fact, that statement lays bare the fact that the former ruling party has conceded electoral defeat.
As we slowly but surely edge towards the elections, the nation awaits with abated breath as the constitution-making process enters its last but certainly most important stages. It is the hope of all progressive Zimbabweans that we have a new constitution before the next elections.
After having spent three years writing this charter, having also spent more that US$40 million, most of which was sourced from outsiders, can we just throw away all this effort? I am sure we can get a medal for the worst performance, although some people are working flat out to make sure that we fail in making our constitution so that we use the Lancaster House one, amended a record 19 times for the coming elections.
If one listens when the so-called African Pride programme is on air, sometimes you get the impression that all is not well within the Zanu PF party. Very recently, Vimbai Chivaura and Tafataona Mahoso went ballistic denouncing the three political parties for neglecting the people’s views in the draft constitution.
I was not surprised by their attack on Douglas Mwonzora and his party, it was the attack on Munyaradzi Mangwana of Zanu PF which caught my attention. Reading through the lines, one is tempted to think that all is not well within the former ruling party. Infact, it is not far-fetched to suggest that there could be more than one political party within Zanu PF.
