The Sunday Mail
Norman Muchemwa
“The voice of the people is the voice of God” has become a punctuating phrase in President Mnangagwa’s speeches and messages.
But what are the origins of this phrase and what could the President be driving at?
It is taken from the Latin phrase “Vox Populi, Vox Dei”.
Attribution of the saying has been made, in non-related references, to Robert Ferguson, Thomas Harrison, Daniel Defoe and John Somers.
But its use can be traced on the Whig tract of 1709.
The Whigs were a political party in the parliaments of England, Scotland and Ireland between 1680 and 1760.
The outfit pushed for constitutional monarchism as opposed to an absolute monarchy.
The Whigs were inspired by the doctrine – the voice of the people is the voice of God – as enshrined and explained in a revised 1710 pamphlet.
That version states: “There being no natural or divine law for any form of government, or that one person rather than another should have the sovereign administration of affairs, or have power over many thousand different families, who are by nature all equal, being of the same rank, promiscuously born to the same advantages of nature, and to the use of the same common faculties; therefore mankind is at liberty to choose what form of government they like best.”
When President Mnangagwa says “The voice of the people is the voice of God,” he is simply saying he stands for democracy.
And Zanu-PF’s primary elections this weekend show that the ruling party has heeded its President’s call and wants the electorate to be liberty to choose its representatives.
Today, the revolutionary party holds its primary elections with over 8 000 candidates competing to represent it the Senate, National Assembly, provincial councils and local government.
Unlike in the past, where it was commonplace to hear of candidate impositions and divisive de-campaigning of rivals,the situation is different this time around.
Prospective candidates are campaigning as a team.
Everyone has been given an opportunity to sell his/her ideas to the electorate in an open and free environment.
The electorate is thus free to choose the best person to represent it: “Vox Populi, Vox Dei”.
Zanu-PF National Political Commissar Dr Engelbert Rugeje says the record number of candidates for primary elections is a sign there is democracy in the ruling party.
“The response from prospective candidates was quite overwhelming, which is a clear reflection of our glasnost (openness), very democratic this time around, no imposition of candidates, no threatening and we saw most of our membership responding very positively in an excited manner to the call to participate in the primaries,” he points out.
Every constituency had a co-ordinator for the joint rallies, and he/she gave candidates equal opportunities to market themselves.
This has helped in solidifying the party as a democratic institution while at the same time removing hate speech and the potential for political violence.
The move cemented intra-party democracy within the ruling party, which should translate to the national sphere.
By bringing candidates under one campaign platform, the use of money at the expense of party ideology was significantly reduced.
The costly tendency of imposing candidates has been done away with.
Time was when “bigwigs” were unopposed in the primaries. Not so this year.
Zanu-PF National Secretary for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Ex-Detainees and Restrictees, Cde Victor Matemadanda, says Zanu-PF should protect democratic values within the party and in Government.
“You will appreciate the fact that Zipra and Zanla, on the verge of a military takeover, guaranteed 20 seats to the Rhodesia Front and had to fight for the remaining seats in an election with other parties. This is a clear sign of democracy in Zanu-PF which dates back then,” explains Cde Matemadanda.
“Zanu-PF as a champion that fought for democracy must take a leading role in cementing that democracy we fought for.”
The democratic process of primary elections precedes the launch of Zanu-PF’s manifesto by the party’s First Secretary and President, Cde Mnangagwa.
The manifesto will set the mood for the harmonised elections, constitutionally due between July and August 2018.
Events taking place in Zanu-PF are in sharp contrast to what is transpiring in the opposition MDC-T, which claims to be a champion of democracy.
The Nelson Chamisa faction is protecting all sitting MPs as a way of rewarding loyalists and trying to consolidate power.
Further, aspiring MPs in the opposition have to pay $1 000 to contest in primary elections.
