Prospects of a free and fair elections are quickly evaporating in Zimbabwe

By Youngerson Matete 

As Zimbabwe head to the polls in August this year, serious electoral flaws and human rights abuses by the government has undermined any meaningful prospects of free and fair elections. A few months to go before Zimbabweans elect a president, members of parliament and local government representatives, the country is in a "dizzy" mood. It doesn't feel like its any election year. By this time in an a normal election year the country must have been with political rallies, enthusiasm and a lot of political activities.

The political and electoral playing field remains deeply uneven and stacked in favour of ZANU-PF. As the country stumbles towards the 2023 polls, party and state conflation and lack of implementation of meaningful political and electoral reforms that aligns both the electoral law and electoral practices to the constitution, Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) principles and guidelines governing a democratic election, African charter on democracy and good governance means the journey will be arduous for opposition parties.

 ZANU-PF’s campaign is a mix of state events and party activities, with the national broadcaster doing the party’s bidding. Meanwhile, Nelson Chamisa’s political opposition, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) – which put up a spirited performance during the recent by-elections – is trying to establish itself while simultaneously preparing for the 2023 polls

The Zimbabwe Electoral context

The political and electoral playing field remains as in the days of Robert Mugabe. The ruling party has all but perfected its messaging, its use of the law and security institutions against opponents, and the conflation of party and state resources to boost its position.

Zimbabwe’s electoral management body, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), remains one of the country’s least-trusted institutions. The body is populated by former military officials who are known to be partisan in their operations. Recent efforts by civic society groups and opposition political parties have revealed a lot of impartiality in the operations of the electoral management body. The revelations cast doubts over the commission’s credibility and the integrity of any electoral process it presides over.

The current electoral environment.

Having experienced repeated elections marred by irregularities, corruption and violence. There is little to no hope that this year’s elections will be much different from previous elections. There is lack of enthusiasm as we go towards elections. There is general discontent, fatigue and a lack of appetite in electoral processes by ordinary Zimbabweans. 

The current electoral environment is in favour of the ruling party which has diminished any hopes of a free, fair and peaceful elections. The ruling party is using state apparatus to harrass opposition political party officials. The civic and democratic space have shrunked that even the main opposition party, the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) is not allowed to have political programs. 

The constitution of Zimbabwe, sets out the principles that governs elections and referendums in Zimbabwe. I will not labour much in using regional and international instruments to measure an environment for a free and fair elections. In this article I will rely with principles set out in section 155 of the constitution Of Zimbabwe.

Political motivated violence 

Since the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe has had elections that has been characterised by violence, vote buying, intimidation and harrassment of the electorate by both the security apparatus and traditional leaders working in cohort with the ruling party ZANU-PF. Since the disputed elections in 2018, the ruling party has moved to annihilate legitimate opposition party through dubious Court rulings and systematic violence and arrest of opposition political parties. 

There has been an increase in political violence since the March 26 by-elections last year which the newly formed opposition political party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) won the majority of the seats. The political violence have been meted against the main opposition political party members. A CCC activists have been murdered in the last three years including Mboweni Ncube, Lavender Chiwaya, Moreblessing Ali among many activists who have lost their lives on political motivated violence waged by ZANU-PF , several opposition party supporters were left nursing injuries across the country, many activists have been abducted and tortured including Harare West legislator Joana Mamombe and some inprisoned on frivolous charges. A clear indication that the ruling party is not prepared for a free and fair elections as enshrined in section 155 of the constitution of Zimbabwe.

Partisan practice by traditional leaders and assisted voters.

The traditional leaders have been used to coerce and intimidate rural voters, forcing them to claim that they are not able to write. People are frog marched to vote for ZANU-PF by traditional leaders. A violation of the constitution and traditional leader's act. The traditional leaders have become part of or an extension of ZANU-PF structures. They are now partisan functionaries. In a high court judgement of 2018, in matter against President of the chief's Council Fortune Charumbira, the chief's Council President was found to have violated the constitution when he announced that chief's and traditional leaders must support ZANU-PF. He was asked to retract his statements publicly but he haven't done so publicly, a contempt of court on its own. 

The ruling party continues to weaponize food aid, agricultural inputs and land. Those who are perceived to be opposition supporters are denied food aid, farming inputs and threatened with evacuation from their traditional and communal land. Rural populace leave in perpetual mode of fear. They are not allowed to vote independently. This is the extent to which ZANU-PF is willing to go to rig the elections.

Weaponization of the law against opposition.

When President Emmerson D Mnangagwa took over power from his predecessor, Robert G Mugabe. There was renewed belief that Zimbabwe could be headed on a reform path as the new President promised to restore democratic values, respect of human rights and rule of law. The president promised to bring to an end to persecution of opposition political activists. He instead promised to be a listening president as he claimed that " the voice of the people is the voice of God". 

Since the disputed 2018 elections, the ruling party has used law enforcement agency and courts to persecute opposition leaders contray to his claims that he will respect human rights. The law enforcement have been used to squash opposition gatherings and meetings. Draconian laws have been enacted to persecute opposition activists, journalists and CSOs such as PatrioticAct, PVO bill, mopa and cyber and security act. A week hardly go without an opposition activist, journalists and civil society group members appearing in court. In what is called lawfare strategy opposition activists are arrested and detained for a long time without trial. In worse case scenarios dissidents are convicted on flimsy grounds. It is likely that elections will be held when activists and journalists attending court hearing limiting their time to participate in electoral activities. 

Captured and weak institutions.

For democracy to work, there must be strong checks and balances. As we go to 2023 harmonized elections it is important to note that institutions that promotes democratic practices such as courts, parliament and chapter 12 institutions have been captured and rendered useless by the ruling party. 

They are now used as partisan Chambers to persecute perceived opponents of the state. The majority of the Zimbabwean people have lost faith on courts or the police to assist them if they have been victimised by members of the ruling party. Lower courts are now political theaters where political theatrics and judgements are issued. They are now used as weapons to persecute and subvert rights of people.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's lack of independence

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's independence has always been under question. The body was originally set up as a supervisory commission staffed by government employees and deployed only during elections. It sunk to its lowest depths in 2008 when it failed to declare results for 45 days before claiming a run-off was needed between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

In 2013, the Commission was reconstituted as an independent full-time commission, at least on paper as It still contains some of the same employees as before, however, and there are various allegations that it is staffed by security and intelligence operatives associated with the ruling party ZANU-PF. This has put the commission’s integrity into a serious disrupte. The current commission has lost legitimacy to run a free and fair election. It is not only compromised but hugely fractured along political factions that exists in the ruling party ZANU-PF.

 In January 2023, seven commissioners wrote to President Emmerson Mnangagwa urging him to set aside a delimitation report that was tabled before him by the commission’s chairpersons Justice Chigumba claiming that it was the work of two people (commission). Since then, the seven rogue commissioners have been sidelined and some loosing their jobs after a failed bid to undermine the commission’s chairperson. A serious reflection of challenges at the commission which makes it impossible to function properly and effectively to produce undisputed election results.

Refusal to issue out the voters roll in a verifiable and auditable format.

Since 2000, Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll has been shambolically organised and known to contain the names of large numbers of dead people. In 2013, the voters’ roll, which was not released in time for inspection and verification, became a key source of electoral disputes. In early-2016, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced that it would introduce a Biometric Voter Register for the 2018 elections. A clean and reliable database would improve trust and confidence in the system.

The commission'srefusal to be transparent undermines its claim that it wants to earn the public’s confidence. In several surveys since 2013, the commission has scored embarrassingly low on trust. Refusing to share the voters roll have made things worse. Its opacity has renewed fears that it could manipulate the database by including the names of dead people, facilitating multiple registration, and deliberately under-registering voters in certain areas.

The voter's roll is election manual and template if it is not availed to political stakeholders it is difficult to validate or verify the elections result. There can't be free and fair elections when opposition parties are denied access to a verifiable and auditable voter's roll and only the ruling party given access to a it with names and contact details.

The secrecy around the ballot papers

Ballot papers are the single most important documents in any election and, for a process to be credible, there must be rigorous control over the number printed. If not, extras can easily be produced and used for ballot-stuffing. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s secrecy around the procurement of ballot papers and other electoral materials raises concerns. At best, this approach reveals the commission’s flippant attitude and failure to recognise the importance of building trust in every aspect of the election. At worst, it opens the possibility of a grand plan to influence the outcome.

Lack of universal adult suffrage 

The constitution of Zimbabwe, Section 155 give guiding principles for a democratic elections. The constitution makes it clear that there must be adult universal suffrage, this simple means every Zimbabwean must be allowed to vote. Section 155 is also strengthened by Section 67 of the constitution of Zimbabwe in chapter 4 bill of rights that extend voting rights to every Zimbabwean without imposing any limits. 

The electoral act doesn't provide for the diaspora and prison vote despite that the constitution allows them to enjoy their rights. The irony of the matter is that the commission has refused to implement the diaspora and prison vote claiming that the electoral act doesn't provide for that but acknowledging that the constitution does. They fail to comprehend the supremacy of the constitution enshrined in section 2 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. The electoral act is inconsistent with the constitution and theirfore must be declared null and void in that regard.

Malapportionment of electoral boundaries.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission used a wrong formula in calculating the minimum and maximum number of registered voters in constituencies and wards. The commission misinterpreted Section 161 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The commission’s (mis)interpretation was that the constitution says wards or constituencies must be +/-20% of the average number of registered voters; a formula that gives a 40% variation yet the correct interpretation is that the difference between a smaller and bigger constituency or ward must be 20% which is +/-10% of the average number of registered voters to maintain the principle of equality of voting strength. This led to malapportionment of wards and constituencies and a lack of equality of voting strength.

Political gerrymandering of boundaries

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission during the delimitation processes collapsed and raised several constituencies and wards without a formula or justification. For example, in Harare, despite that there is higher voter registration and population the commission collapsed ward 46 yet there were supposed to increase wards. The commission also increased constituencies in Harare province by a single constituency. If we are to go with what section 161 of the constitution. We should have seen the number of constituencies in Harare province going up to 34 constituencies and 55 wards based on the number of registered voters and population. These were simply acts of political gerrymandering of boundaries by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Heavy involvement of the security personnel 

Zimbabwe’s military has a record of interfering in elections in favour of the ruling party. The military’s removal of Mugabe in November 2017, paved a way for the full militarization of the state and institutions. There are already worrying reports that soldiers have been deployed to rural areas where memories of 2008 may be enough to scare voters.

Zimbabwe’s elections have been characterised by the militarization of villages by the ruling party ZANU-PF to intimidate voters in rural areas. This has been a practice since the turn of the millennium. A practice which hugely affects the outcome of election results as people vote under coercion. This serious undermines the electoral processes of Zimbabwe.The country has always been voting at gunpoint. There is no assurance that in the event that ZANU-PF loses the elections the security will respect the will of the people.

Inbalanced coverage from the state media

While private and commercial media channels have a prerogative to cover parties as they wish, the public broadcasting media belongs, and must be accessible, to all. At the moment, however, coverage by state media is biased and unbalanced. ZANU-PF enjoys a disproportionate amount of air time, including live coverage of President Mnangagwa’s campaign rallies, while the opposition’s activities are largely neglected or portrayed negatively. This is in violation of the constitution, which proscribes editorial interference in state media and enjoins public broadcasters to be impartial (S Malunga)

The state media works as an extension communication department of ZANU-PF, it is used to propagate propaganda, political spinning and smear attacks against opposition parties. Contrary to the provisions of the constitution that obliges the state media to give equal airtime to all political contestants seriously undermining electoral processes.

Conclusively, as the elections draw closer and closer prospects of a free, fair and credible elections are quickly evaporating in Zimbabwe. Although, the president of Zimbabwe keeps promising free and fair elections scheduled for August this year, what his party is doing on the ground is the opposite of what he is saying on public platforms. He is preaching good news whilst practicing bad deeds.

“If southern African leaders are serious about ending Zimbabwe’s political crisis, they need to tell the Zimbabwean government there will be consequences if it again flouts its commitment to hold free and fair elections,” said Gagnon. “Another round of flawed elections in Zimbabwe should not lead to ‘business as usual.’”

 

Youngerson Matete is a pro-democracy and Human Rights activist, a student of Political Science. He is the founder of Project Vote 263, a youth-led initiative to foster inclusive participatory democracy in Zimbabwe. He writes in his own capacity. His views doesn't not represents any organisation.

Cell : +263 773 622 044

Email: youngmatete0@gmail.com/ director@projectvote263.org.zw