Zimbabwe Demonstrates Highest Level of Political Maturity

Rita Makarau has been chosen as the director of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The Southern African state will hold elections in March and July of 2013., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Zim demonstrates highest levels of political maturity

Wednesday, 20 March 2013 00:00
Zimbabwe Herald

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission yesterday released the final results of the referendum held at the weekend where the “Yes Vote” triumphed over the “No Vote”.

The plebiscite was a historic one that gave the nod to the first home-grown national Constitution since independence and truly, the people spoke their minds nationwide.

Announcing the referendum results yesterday, ZEC chief elections officer Mr Lovemore Sekeremayi said 3 079 966 people voted “Yes”, 179 489 said “No” while 56 627 were rejected.

Now that parties in the inclusive Government have fulfilled one of the contentious issues that has been capitalised on by Britain and its allies to bludgeon Zimbabwe, we urge them to mellow their stance and focus on constructive engagement.

We managed under very difficult circumstances, characterised by undue interference by the West to fulfil one of the major objectives of the Global Political Agreement.

The West should congratulate us for demonstrating high levels of political maturity by voting peacefully during Saturday’s referendum.

No petrol bombs or grenades were thrown at polling stations as is the case with other countries and the way ZEC ran the poll is beyond reproach.

The three parties in Government have been working in unison, championing the “Yes Vote” and sooner or later, they will be the major gladiators in harmonised elections scheduled for anytime this year.

The war of words among the three parties in the inclusive Government and little known others that will emerge, should not, as the parties sell their election policies to win votes, be allowed to escalate into political violence.

It is against this background that we call on all parties to maintain the spirit of unity demonstrated during campaigns for the referendum and the ultimate voting at the weekend.

We condemn, in the strongest terms, all those bent on fanning, manipulating and stage-managing acts of violence in their desperate attempt to influence the West to condemn the country’s electoral processes.

We have demonstrated that no one deserves to die while exercising his or her constitutional right.

Enough blood was shed during the liberation struggle and let no one repeat that without dire consequences.

The mission sent by the Sadc Troika to observe the referendum should be lauded for making it abundantly clear that in an election, there are always cases of misguided elements that commit crimes.

The team led by Mr Bernard Membe should be lauded for making it public that the excellent manner in which the referendum was conducted should not be discredited by a few incidents.

We call upon the MDC-T to reform and demonstrate maturity and not to rush to Sadc, pushing it to convene a summit whenever one or two members are involved in skirmishes with their political rivals.

The Mbare incidents during the referendum and recent death of Christpowers Maisiri in an inferno in Headlands do not warrant a Sadc summit.

It’s unfortunate that the 12-year-old boy died in the fire incident, but it’s wrong for the MDC-T to use these incidents to call for its financiers and the entire region to categorically condemn the country’s electoral processes.

The MDC-T should not be a cry baby that bothers the region with insignificant matters.

The party should be reminded that these leaders have countries to run that have their fair share of challenges and therefore, do not want to spend their critical time discussing internal matters of other countries.

The President and First Secretary of Zanu-PF, President Mugabe, the MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and the leader of the MDC Professor Welshman Ncube are on record condemning political violence, and here we are, we held a free, fair and democratic referendum.

Zimbabwe has an excellent record of solving internal challenges, including the historic Unity Accord between Zanu-PF and PF Zapu in 1987.

What makes the MDC formations think that it’s only the West and Sadc that should come and impose their will on a sovereign state?

The leaders of the parties in Government and churches spoke against violence and it worked during the referendum and it is our hope that the same will happen during the harmonised elections and peace will prevail over evil.