A statement just in from ZESN:

HARARE, 25 July 2013 – With a few days left to the Harmonised Elections, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) is appealing to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to publish the final list of polling stations ahead of the polls to enable party agents and observer groups to deploy. ZESN urges ZEC to release the final list in advance in case there are additional polling stations or any changes to the initial polling station list. This would ensure there is sufficient time for the deployment of party agents and observers to the new polling stations.

At a briefing for international, regional and local observers on Wednesday, 24 July, ZEC announced that the final list of polling stations would be published on the actual polling day. While ZESN commends ZEC for being aware of the concerns raised after the March, 16 Referendum on the inadequacy of polling stations in highly populated areas, ZESN is concerned that the initial list published did not address some of the problems noted during the referendum. For example, Epworth, Ward 7 according to the 2012 Census has a population of 39,031 people. ZESN estimates there are 22,638 eligible voters in the ward. However, for the 2013 Constitutional Referendum there was only one polling station in Epworth Ward 7.

ZESN therefore appeals to ZEC to release the list of polling stations in advance as part of international good practice and, in order to enhance transparency and accountability of the whole electoral process.  ZESN is concerned that the last minute publishing of polling stations provides limited time for interventions on the adequacy and accessibility of polling stations. We note that the final list will be published in the print media. However, ZESN is concerned that there is no guarantee every voter will have access to the newspapers to access the final list of the polling stations.

“We urge ZEC to release the final list in advance in the spirit of promoting transparency, credibility and the smooth running of the elections as this is also in line with good international practices”, said ZESN Chairperson, Dr Solomon Zwana.

The Network encourages ZEC to ensure that polling stations are adequate to avoid long queues that may discourage potential voters from voting. ZEC should distribute the polling stations based on demand and the potential number of voters in each ward.

ZESN calls upon ZEC to seriously take all concerns raised to ensure the credibility of the impending harmonised election and to ensure that every voter has adequate information about where to cast their vote in good time. ZESN urges ZEC to ensure that there are adequate polling stations to ensure that all eligible are processed timeously. ZESN remains committed to promoting a free and fair election in Zimbabwe.//Ends

For more information please contact the ZESN Chairperson REV Dr Solomon Zwana on +263 773 434 169 or the ZESN Director Mrs Rindai Chipfunde Vava on +263 771 692 039

Did you know that since 15 July, ZTV’s given Zanu PF 90 minutes (favourable) coverage, and MDC-T 10 minutes (mostly negative).
- Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe

Whoa, Zanu PF who cleans up after you then? This morning all along Arcturus Road in Harare East there were gobs of Zanu PF election leaflets strewn on the side of the road. Clearly they’re running out of time to distribute their millions of dollars worth of political advertising before the election, and clearly they are just so damn disgusting, occupying a position of arrogance and disrespect. Already our cities struggle with litter, and Zanu PF wantonly adds to it.

It is always refreshing watching what you can only interpret as genuine zeal to better a politically and economically wounded country, this is despite some of that enthusiasm bordering on what can only be described naïve optimism.

Yet in a time like this, optimism can be the only thing to have.

That’s the sense I got when I attended the Women in Politics Support Unit-led Why Vote for a Woman series in Harare yesterday where female candidates got to stand in front of other women and take questions on why they think they deserve the people’s vote.

Most of the female candidates who spoke at one such platform were eying office as councilors, and local government issues of service delivery naturally became their focus.

The passion was astounding as female candidates from MDC, MDC-T, UDM, Zanu PF stated their cases, much to the applause of the virtually all-female crowd who had an opportunity to fire questions at the candidates.

The fact that this was a mix of political parties under one roof articulating issues pertinent to women was refreshing considering the kind of sparring we have seen on the national stage among men who see themselves as entitled to our vote one way or the other.

A contribution from the floor did make some pause to reflect on the push for more women to take up public office, with the question: “is it mere breasts and vaginas we want to take to parliament or issues?” and this was apparently asked in reference to what was felt were poorly formulated responses to questions about what exactly of value these candidates were bringing to public office.

Yet my humble submission would be not to judge the women candidates too harshly, like their male colleague, they also must start somewhere, and a chap sitting next to me actually commented that it is time women got their time in the sun as public officials, adding that “at least women are not as corrupt as men.”

Another “well-meaning” stereotype perhaps, but the fact that someone could actually make such a comment does indeed say a lot about the need for leadership renewal in this country.

Minister of Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Paurina Mpariwa was there to provide inspiration, and the jolly crowd certainly forgot they were from different political backgrounds and it was the kind of thing that political parties always waffle about but see no need to practice.

Like one candidate declared: “ITS NOT A MAN’S WORLD SISTAZ, ITS A WOMAN’S WORLD.”

And these are issues of gender and class Zimbabwe has to grapple with. These elections offer that opportunity.

As we approach the home run in the final stretch of the 2013 harmonized elections the talk of a grand coalition among political parties will just lead us to another blame game in the face of defeat. Looking back at how the two MDC parties have worked together in the inclusive government will tell you the that the relation wasn’t rosy at all so efforts to forge an alliance at this ninth hour are just futile. The only time these two parties teamed up was during the election of Speaker of Parliament and after the relationship went sour especially when then Ncube faction was embroiled in its own succession battle with the then leader Arthur Mutambara. Legislators from MDC-N were expelled from the party faction when they crossed floor to join Mr Tsvangirai’s faction. We later heard reports of the leaders of the unity government teaming up together and having closed door meetings singling out Welshman. In Maputo a grandstanding was staged at an SADC meeting when Tsvangirai and Ncube tried to humiliate President Robert Mugabe.

Just when people thought that the relationship had normalized the two leaders started their election campaigns by trading insults at each other, with Tsvangirai boasting of a huge support calling Ncube a village politician bent on peddling tribal politics. This tirade has turned out to be like a “dissing” contest at a rap concert. The lack of tangible policies in this year’s campaign is a clear sign of how politicians are trying to fill gaps in election manifestos with insults. If we are going to elect a leader should we base that on how eloquently the candidate disrespects opponents like a recent campaign advert I heard on radio about Tsvangirai’s sex life which is being peddled by ZANU-PF.

No amount of justification or guise can cleanse tyranny and so the people of Zimbabwe should wake up to that fact and call a spade by its rightful name. The conspiracy of Western domination and neo-colonialism should never in this world be the green light to take human life or suppress the natural dictates of freedom for all in the name of weeding out ‘sellouts’ to safeguard sovereignty. The people of my country should now stop looking at politics as a neighbourhood community with closed circuit but rather at a broader and open national society level. This should now be our starting point. A life lost and a right denied in Checheche should send shockwaves and quakes of concern to a fellow citizen in Gwabalanda. The country has been heavily divided at the moment and that is why the spirit of tyranny is still flourishing and the heavy hand of suppression striving as supreme. Our people should envisage and grasp spirit at a national level to completely stamp out this rule of the blue bloods that has deemed it worth to sacrifice every other soul in the country for the sake of personal accumulation.