News / Press Release
Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Campaign: Press Release
26 Oct 2011 at 13:15hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Campaign (ZDVC), a non-partisan pressure group based in the USA strongly condemns the myopic view of the testifiers who on Monday, October 24, 2011 at the Electoral Amendment Bill hearing in Parliament agreed that the new electoral law must bar Zimbabweans in the diaspora from casting ballots.
The excuse given by Zanu PF's spokesman Rugare Gumbo that there were no safeguards to prevent fraud is a smokescreen as worldwide elections have been conducted successfully by other SADC countries such as Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa; other AU countries like Ghana and Nigeria also have laws that allow their citizens in the diaspora to vote. Furthermore, we need to stress that ZDVC reached out to all stakeholders, including Zanu PF, with a blue print that has clear proposals on how election fraud can be minimized at these elections. It is a public disservice and a violation of basic human rights to dismiss such an important public demand on frivolous allegations of fraud potential. ZDVC is not by any chance trying to reinvent the wheel. We are simply saying that the diaspora vote is attainable as has been proven by the countries mentioned above and Zimbabwe can emulate the safeguards these other countries have put in place to mitigate fraud.
It is important to mention that the blue print has also addressed alternative methods of funding the diaspora elections.
We as ZDVC will be seeking legal counsel to challenge ZANU-PF's position. We have a strong team of international human rights lawyers that are already looking into this matter and we will challenge the constitutionality of this law. At the moment, ZDVC is circulating a global online petition to gather the signatures of Zimbabwean citizens that are in favor of a diaspora vote. The petition is available online at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/zimbabwe-diaspora-vote-now-support-the-zdvc.html.
ZDVC believes strongly that there can never be true democracy in Zimbabwe when millions of its citizens have been marginalized through no fault of their own. The political intolerance that is prevalent in Zimbabwe has forced its millions to seek refuge outside the country, and these people should not be denied the right to cast votes for leaders that they believe will facilitate their return home. Most of us in the diaspora are eager to return home and participate in the economic reconstruction of our country. We are willing to return home only when there is a government of the people by the people chosen by Zimbabwe's citizens at large.
ZDVC would like to note the following:
1. For ZANU-PF to complain about potential electoral fraud reminds one of Paul Matavire's hit-song about the witch who appears to be scared of a lizard while hiding a snake in his loins.
2. When it comes to stealing elections, ZANU-PF is second to none on the face of the planet.
3. Rugare Gumbo and his party have made a thirty-year career out of electoral fraud and his crocodile tears should not deceive fair-minded Zimbabweans.
4. Zimbabweans are the most literate people in Africa. There is no reason under the stars why we should not be able to conduct a free and fair election across the world.
5. We challenge ZANU-PF and Gumbo to specify what kind of fraud they think might happen in foreign countries which cannot happen in Zimbabwe. Their attitude is reminiscent of the bankruptcy of ideas and failure of imagination associated with ZANU-PF for decades.
6. Our document proposes fraud-proof procedures for registering and voting, including:
a. The production of Zimbabwean documents as the only proof of one's identity.
b. Representatives of all the parties participating will be allowed to observe and monitor both registration and voting.
c. The Zimbabwe government should approach the United Nations and request assistance to make it possible for all observers and monitors to travel and there is a standing offer from that body to make that a reality.
d. The United Nations has an excellent record of conducting watershed elections across the globe and its experience in this regard would go a very long way in legitimizing any electoral outcome in Zimbabwe.
7. The idea that all Zimbabweans in the diaspora should travel to Zimbabwe to register and then return to vote is obviously not a serious one and should be viewed as nothing more than a cynical ploy by a minority party which is facing annihilation and extinction in any free and fair national election.
8. We call upon the people of Zimbabwe and their political parties to do the right thing by the Diaspora. Only ZANU-PF stands to benefit from an election which disenfranchises the Diaspora. Indeed, we believe it would be a strategic blunder for those political parties represented in parliament to allow ZANU-PF's position in this case to prevail, especially the two MDC formations, who between them control a working majority in the lower house of parliament.
9. Finally, it is pertinent to ask: why is ZANU-PF afraid of the Diaspora vote? Could it be that ZANU-PF knows that this is one voting bloc it cannot intimidate and manipulate with threats of violence and starvation? Could it be that ZANU-PF knows that it has damaged the economic prospects of a generation of Zimbabweans to such an extent that the only way it can survive as a party is by exiling as many citizens as possible? Or is ZANU-PF suggesting that the UN would conspire with any other party or body to commit fraud against ZANU-PF?
The excuse given by Zanu PF's spokesman Rugare Gumbo that there were no safeguards to prevent fraud is a smokescreen as worldwide elections have been conducted successfully by other SADC countries such as Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa; other AU countries like Ghana and Nigeria also have laws that allow their citizens in the diaspora to vote. Furthermore, we need to stress that ZDVC reached out to all stakeholders, including Zanu PF, with a blue print that has clear proposals on how election fraud can be minimized at these elections. It is a public disservice and a violation of basic human rights to dismiss such an important public demand on frivolous allegations of fraud potential. ZDVC is not by any chance trying to reinvent the wheel. We are simply saying that the diaspora vote is attainable as has been proven by the countries mentioned above and Zimbabwe can emulate the safeguards these other countries have put in place to mitigate fraud.
It is important to mention that the blue print has also addressed alternative methods of funding the diaspora elections.
We as ZDVC will be seeking legal counsel to challenge ZANU-PF's position. We have a strong team of international human rights lawyers that are already looking into this matter and we will challenge the constitutionality of this law. At the moment, ZDVC is circulating a global online petition to gather the signatures of Zimbabwean citizens that are in favor of a diaspora vote. The petition is available online at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/zimbabwe-diaspora-vote-now-support-the-zdvc.html.
ZDVC believes strongly that there can never be true democracy in Zimbabwe when millions of its citizens have been marginalized through no fault of their own. The political intolerance that is prevalent in Zimbabwe has forced its millions to seek refuge outside the country, and these people should not be denied the right to cast votes for leaders that they believe will facilitate their return home. Most of us in the diaspora are eager to return home and participate in the economic reconstruction of our country. We are willing to return home only when there is a government of the people by the people chosen by Zimbabwe's citizens at large.
ZDVC would like to note the following:
1. For ZANU-PF to complain about potential electoral fraud reminds one of Paul Matavire's hit-song about the witch who appears to be scared of a lizard while hiding a snake in his loins.
2. When it comes to stealing elections, ZANU-PF is second to none on the face of the planet.
3. Rugare Gumbo and his party have made a thirty-year career out of electoral fraud and his crocodile tears should not deceive fair-minded Zimbabweans.
5. We challenge ZANU-PF and Gumbo to specify what kind of fraud they think might happen in foreign countries which cannot happen in Zimbabwe. Their attitude is reminiscent of the bankruptcy of ideas and failure of imagination associated with ZANU-PF for decades.
6. Our document proposes fraud-proof procedures for registering and voting, including:
a. The production of Zimbabwean documents as the only proof of one's identity.
b. Representatives of all the parties participating will be allowed to observe and monitor both registration and voting.
c. The Zimbabwe government should approach the United Nations and request assistance to make it possible for all observers and monitors to travel and there is a standing offer from that body to make that a reality.
d. The United Nations has an excellent record of conducting watershed elections across the globe and its experience in this regard would go a very long way in legitimizing any electoral outcome in Zimbabwe.
7. The idea that all Zimbabweans in the diaspora should travel to Zimbabwe to register and then return to vote is obviously not a serious one and should be viewed as nothing more than a cynical ploy by a minority party which is facing annihilation and extinction in any free and fair national election.
8. We call upon the people of Zimbabwe and their political parties to do the right thing by the Diaspora. Only ZANU-PF stands to benefit from an election which disenfranchises the Diaspora. Indeed, we believe it would be a strategic blunder for those political parties represented in parliament to allow ZANU-PF's position in this case to prevail, especially the two MDC formations, who between them control a working majority in the lower house of parliament.
9. Finally, it is pertinent to ask: why is ZANU-PF afraid of the Diaspora vote? Could it be that ZANU-PF knows that this is one voting bloc it cannot intimidate and manipulate with threats of violence and starvation? Could it be that ZANU-PF knows that it has damaged the economic prospects of a generation of Zimbabweans to such an extent that the only way it can survive as a party is by exiling as many citizens as possible? Or is ZANU-PF suggesting that the UN would conspire with any other party or body to commit fraud against ZANU-PF?
Source - ZDVC
