#PFUMVUDZA
Litmus test
What awaits as Zimbabwe is due to conduct by elections
on March 26, ahead of a major election in 2023
President Emmerson
Mnangagwa has
proclaimed March 26 as
the date for by elections
to fill vacancies for 105
local council and 28
national assembly seats.
This means there is just three
months for the registration,
nomination, campaigning and the
actual voting to take place.
ZPP wishes to register its points
of concern, and to make a call on
government and all political
players to ensure the by elections
are conducted in free, fair and
credible manner. These by
elections by all means, are a test
of what the national presidential,
parliamentary and council
elections will be in 2023.
As we look back, we note that
State sponsored electoral
violence targeting opposition
party members prior to elections
has remains a recurring
phenomenon.
New challenges to campaigning
rights towards elections have
emerged, such as deploying
uniformed forces to disrupt
opposition gatherings, hate
speech, discrimination and
physical violence.
In previous years, the opposition
political parties had not been
able to establish themselves or
expand their operation in order
to capture the hearts of the rural
populace where the majority of
the electorate resides.
The hegemonic ruling party
system has given rise to the
cultivation of executive tyranny
and negation of constitutional
principles. State security agents
are being used to pursue a
partisan agenda, which
compromises their constitutional
responsibility to protect the
rights of all citizens. Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP) have been
on a spree disrupting Movement
for Democratic Change Alliance
(MDC Alliance) gatherings,
campaigning and community
dialogues.
State agents have applied the law
selectively in favor of the ruling
party. ZRP riot, dismissed MDC
Alliance president Nelson
Chamisa’s Christmas charity
event on the 20th of December
this month, in Highfield. This left
disgruntled elderly people
complaining about the way the
ruling party is blocking the party
president’s efforts to help the
people the government is not
able to help. In the month of
November, most of MDC Alliance
campaigns were disrupted.
In the November report,
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)
recorded 54.13% rights violations
perpetrated by the ruling party
Zanu PF, ZRP in second place
with 26,03% rights abuses.
ZPP is appealing to the
government of Zimbabwe to
ensure that uniformed forces
play a neutral role, ensure that
people have freedom of
participation as enshrined in the
constitution. ZRP should cease
politically motivated arrests of
journalists, opposition party
members and human rights
activists.
Perpetrators of rights abuses are
left untouched whilst the
government of Zimbabwe
continuously tries to silence
dissent and close the space for
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)
and the pattern is blatant. The
use of legislation to justify the
irrelevance of CSOs in Zimbabwe
has become the order of the day.
The recent introduction of the
PVO Amendment Bill is one of
the numerous examples that the
government of Zimbabwe uses
legislation to muzzle CSOs. The
Bill attempts to stop CSOs from
community and other
interventions on the pretext that
CSOs are involved in politics.
The impact of the Bill includes
infringement of citizens’ political
and civic rights by the vague and
broad reference to political
lobbying. The PVO Amendment
Bill has a bearing on how CSOs
will operate and hinder them
from performing their watch dog
role. The halting of political
lobbying implies that citizens will
not be able to realise the
fulfilment of not only political
and civil rights but also social,
economic and cultural since
human rights are indivisible.