The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
Peaceful and highly subscribed ZANU PF primary elections, in which millions voted, indicate that “all our people can vote in peace, thereby delivering a clean, free, fair and non-violent poll”, which the Government intends to achieve in the forthcoming national elections, President Mnangagwa has said.
Zimbabwe is set to hold its harmonised elections by August this year.
Writing in his weekly column for The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa said upholding peace and harmony during the election period was essential for the country’s democracy.
“We have the onerous obligation and responsibility to set example on non-violence in the Party and in the country, and to send a clear, undiluted message against any such acts of political violence. This we did, without fear or favour. This we continue to do as we review results which those party primaries yielded. Any instances of infractions against core values and expectations of our Party automatically lead to disqualification, which then trigger internal by-elections,” he said.
“Such a stance puts us in very strong stead to preach, and, in turn, to demand non-violence from all players in the forthcoming national plebiscite, which we insist must unfold in total peace and harmony: before, during and long after.”
President Mnangagwa said the maturity the ruling party had exhibited during the internal polls was testament that it had come of age.
“Today, ZANU PF can lay credible claim to being the author, example, keeper and guardian of democracy in a free, post-colonial Zimbabwe. Our primary elections showed that with will and strong Party leadership, all our people can vote in peace, thereby delivering a clean, free, fair and non-violent poll,” he said.
“We aim for no less in the forthcoming national elections.”
However, Zimbabwe, he added, will not brook condescending and even racist views of a pecking order when it comes to measuring electoral democracy unfolding in the country.
“Never again will we subject ourselves to such false, humiliating equivalences.
“We go to elections as sovereign nations; indeed, as State Parties of the United Nations; its hallowed Charter makes all Nations equal, regardless of size and age, however these are reckoned or claimed,” he said.
“The time will soon come when we will not accept that condescending and even racist view of a pecking order
when it comes to measuring electoral democracy unfolding in our sovereign countries, and which, in any event, is meant for our people.
“A pecking order with white super-dogs who must observe elections of lesser beings, on the one side; and black underdogs whose elections must be observed, passed or failed …”
President Mnangagwa said he was confident the ruling party will triumph in the coming elections on account of people-centred policies and progress in addressing Zimbabweans’ aspirations.
“We are now food-secure, thanks to massive agricultural support and effort we have deployed over those five years. We are building roads, dams, power projects, border posts, schools, hospitals, clinics and residential homes for our people, right across the country.
“At grassroots levels, our people are determining their own priorities, thanks to our policy on Decentralisation and Devolution. We continue to deliver clean water to families, principally those in hitherto neglected rural areas,” he said.
Going forward, President Mnangagwa said, Zimbabwe, which is proudly African and sovereign, shall be insisting on the principle of reciprocity when it comes to the practice of international election observation.
