SHAMBOLIC ELECTIONS

No amount of grandstanding can redeem the shambolic Zimbabwe election that saw thousands of voters denied their right to  vote.

The vote failed regional and international standards.

Voters turned up at polling stations, which either opened late, or had insufficient ballot papers and more seriously discrepancies  between the voters roll and names posted outside the stations denied many would be voters a chance to exercise their right.

The voters roll itself was a matter of contention. It was never  availed to opposition parties and observer missions and yet this a very basic  document that underpinning any valid election.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has never denied these shambles as a result an extra day had to be added to make up for the deficiencies and irregularities that challenged the credibility of the exercise.

In reality a pattern of abuses and sheer incompetence by the ZEC  worked to disqualify the election from being free and fair. 

It is regrettable that the shambles are being blamed on Nevers Numba who led the SACC observation team. 

It is just as well that former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano was not the leader of the SADC team otherwise these deficiencies would have been swept under the carpet, as had been the case in the past.

Mr Chissano says that he had never heard of a foreign observer mission criticising a sovereign country’s legidlstive frame work during polls observation.

True previous observer missions were perfunctory. No more, the continent must be disabused of this notion.

Elections must not only be seen to be free and fair, but must be held in a framework that truly enables all eligible voters to exercise their right without fear, intimidation and interference. Nothing should be sacrosanct. If  the law transgresses this principle a clear condemnation must be made.

It was not the team that fell short of providing voting materials and availing the voters roll. This was the fault of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission which effectively defranchised citizens.

It is a notorious fact that voters in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe and opposition stronghold stood in line for more tha 12 hours becaujse ballot papers and other materials were not available. The opposition has rightfully charged, voter suppression in their strongholds.

To its credit, it is not only the SADCC observers that have cried foul, the European Union has equally questioned the credibility of the elections on account of blatant irregularities that included intimidation of rural voters.

It is about time that we Africans began to accept that elections on the continent are hardly the tools that democracies envisage for holding the leadership to account. The tradition is either that elections are an ethnic census or indeed a highly manipulated exercise to give power to a corrupt regime.

We salute Dr. Mumba and his team for their courage for exposing deficiencies that would have gone un-noticed.

Compromised as the Zimbabwean judiciary has already indicated, we would still want the opposition, for the sake of posterity, to challenge the election in order to give full vent to discrepancies that marred the elections.

Time has come for election observers to be forthright and tell speak the truth in the interest of promoting democracy and social justice.

There is no room for diplomatic nicecities and ideological nonsense.

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