Vince Musewe reminds Zimbabweans that we have a major role to play in keeping our politicians accountable and our electoral process credible. We must not accept a flawed election:

Zimbabwe’s 4th Chimurenga; a battle of ideas and not guns

As Mugabe sleeps on the bed he has created, so, must those that have been complicit in creating that bed.

It is incontrovertible that, when leadership ceases to be sensitive to the needs and aspirations of its followers, the followers will rebel and choose those leaders whom they think are most likely to represent their aspirations.

The art of leadership, therefore, is the ability to anticipate and understand the shifting trends, opinions and aspirations of the people you may seek to lead, and then act to meet those needs otherwise, one will be rendered irrelevant.

By criminalizing open dialogue, criticism, freedom to associate and stifling personal liberties, as a leader, you inadvertently starve yourself from information on new ideas and trends, which are critical for you to continue to be an effective leader. Inevitably that vacuum, is then filled by informers, spies and charlatans who manufacture and manipulate the information you get so that they may continue to gain favor from you.

That eventually makes you irrelevant as you become unaware and uninformed of the true reality on the ground. You can be then are perceived as insensitive to the needs of your followers and incompetent, no matter what good you may have done in the past.

That is the bed Mugabe has made and must now sleep on it. The use of violence and coercion, to force Zimbabweans to agree with his ideas has not created a loyal followership, but an unwilling and anxious people who will at the first opportunity they get to vote, dismiss him from power.

This is the reality that those in the military, the police and intelligence services have help him to create but are refusing to accept the inevitable consequences. As Mugabe sleeps on the bed he has made, so, must those that have been complicit in creating that bed.

The 4th chimurenga has arrived; it is a battle of ideas about the future and cannot be won through the use of a gun as was the 3rd.

I think this should be instructive to those that are seeking political power in Zimbabwe. Our politics have to change, and the relationship between the governing and the governed has to be based on respect. In order for that to happen, it is up to all of us Zimbabwean citizens to realize that as long we remain quiet and unconcerned, we are bound once more, to afford an opportunity for our leadership to abuse our vote.

I expect that we will insist that it cannot be business as usual when a new government comes into power. No longer must we expect them to shape our future without our participation. No longer must we allow them to prescribe solutions to our problems while ignoring what we think should happen.
We will need to be activists to breathe life into a new participative democracy enshrined in our new constitution. Zimbabweans can no longer be spectators in their own country nor should they be afraid.

The opening of the media space is going to be critical for this to happen. Zimbabweans have, in the past, been starved of new information that they could have used to think and act differently. This created a sense that there is no outside to ZANU (PF).

The repetitive narrative that has been regurgitated in state media sought to create conformity based on lies and the manipulation of events through the media, to justify a centralized political system with no new ideas about the future. It justified the continued political and economic domination of many by a few.

The suffering we have endured must surely be a lesson to all of us that, as long we remain passive our circumstances will not change.

In my opinion, freedom comes with responsibility and I doubt that most of us are aware of the power we have to change our circumstances.

Vince Musewe is an economist based in Harare. You may contact him on vtmusewe [at] gmail [dot] com
.

Our Zimbabwe needs a new vibrant, corrupt-free government which is pro-poor, people centred & respects people’s rights, freedoms & rule of law. And, more importantly uphold the constitution.
- Obvious in Chikomba East

An excerpt from the latest Bill Watch published by Veritas:

Most of the issues raised in this Bill Watch are basic to the electoral process and should be easily answered, but it has taken a great deal of time and effort wading through the oft-amended, sometimes contradictory provisions of the Electoral Act to find out what the law really is.

If one wants to understand the provisions of the law, one has to look at:
- the Electoral Act, which has been amended five times, the last amendment being published only the day before the electoral proclamation, which was 44 days before polling day;
- the general regulations of 2005, which have also been extensively amended — no fewer than 19 times;
-  specific sets of regulations published in 2013 and regulating such matters as the nomination of candidates and the accreditation of observers.

On the ZEC official website there are two documents purporting to be the consolidated version of the Electoral Act.  The first one  does not show the latest amendments.  The second, which does, is not entirely accurate, e.g. it leaves out a whole sentence in Section 38(1).  The website also purports to have a consolidated version of the Electoral Regulations.  It is impossible to download it or even view it.

This Bill Watch would have been much easier to prepare — indeed, it might not have been necessary to prepare it — if the amendments to the Electoral Act had been more clearly drafted, and if ZEC had done its duty under sections 5(d) and 191 of the Act and kept the public informed about all matters relating to the electoral process and ensured that copies of the Act and regulations were available to members of the public at all times.

The Constitutional Court ruling that the elections had to be held by 31 of July led to a headlong rush into elections.  This undoubtedly caused ZEC considerable problems.  But ZEC should have opposed the application and pointed out its difficulties if the election was held so soon.  It is no use ZEC assuring the public that the logistics are in place for the election when there is a lack of communication and transparency and the very obvious fact that in the special voting there was chaos.

“I have said it and I have said it again and I am beginning to sound like a broken record now, but these elections are illegal, illegitimate, immoral, unfree and unfair.” – Tendai Biti speaking to Al Jazeera

It’s polling day in Zimbabwe’s harmonised election, and Kubatana has been receiving more updates from our subscribers. Get more election information at our special index page on the 31 July election.  You can also check out our crowdmap of citizen reports and read more vox pops here, here and here.

• I am waiting for a big day from Chimanimani
• Pane kusawirirana pawepo kuNyanga  zanu pf  nenyaya yemagwere (There is some misunderstanding in Magwere Zanu-PF, Nyanga)
• Hi, I live in Mbare. I have just received the water, sewer and refuse bill! So Chombo’s promise to cancel these is just hogwash.
• Zec nezanu vaneuttsinye those  registerd to vote were deployed where they cant vote vanogara kwavaigona kuvota vakanyimwa mabasa.manje takatopanduka chose. (ZEC and Zanu are evil. Those who are registederd to vote were deployed where they cannot vote.)
• ZEC has betrayed most polling officers by deploying us outside our wards yesterday, how then are we going to vote. Beitbridge
• I am a mdc-t  staunch supporter. I was greatly disturbed yesterday midnight by messages i received from zanu pf on my  netone line. I was persuaded to vote mr r g mugabe. My question is how did zanu pf got my cell numbers. I know the culprit is netone. May zimbabweans remind netone that it is illegal. I also witnessed it during referendum.
• Bulk sms sending was banned till after the elections bt i received a political msg on my phone. Shouldn’t i sue the network provider? I hear a lot of pple received the same msg too! Seems we have sacred cows!
• Today Zimbabweans are making a mark for their destiny. I have done my part in Kwekwe Central.
• Voted at Kuwadzana 6 Primary, Harare all is well, queues moving fast, many people voting.
• Harare: Courtney Selous 104 places down the queue. Approx 300 ish. Single file mostly. Quiet. Chisi School Friend is 10th in queue.
• KUMAKONI SOUTH mamwe mastations ene very few presidential ballot papers
• No netone to netone One hr talk untill hameno…. No Telcel to Econet call untill hameno. Econet internet is so and so . Whatsup inteferences untill hameno. Who is to be blamed .  No electonic voters roll until hameno.  No education untill hameno. Today zesa was up and down and who is to be blamed kwanzi nerimwe bato masanctions. Hahahahaha