Opinion / Columnist
How Robert Mugabe's corpse will win in 2018 elections
19 Feb 2017 at 19:04hrs | Views
I hate to be a messenger of doom but the idea of opposition coalition in Zimbabwe is: "... a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," Macbeth. The idea lacks originality and understanding of the Zimbabwean political landscape.
I want to give you a simple example why the idea of coalition is a stillbirth move. You see in my village, we are about 35 households with an average of four voting adults. The village comprises of the village head (sabhuku), his lieutenants (secretary, mudhibhisi, village policeman, etc.) Three quarters of the people living in the village are related to the headman. ZANU (PF) pays a monthly stipend to the headman, his secretary and the village policeman. This is just in my village.
I am going to be very generous and say the best the coalition will do is to sway 5 out of 35 households to vote for them in the 2018 general election. There are 25,000 villages in Zimbabwe.
5 households * 4 people * 25,000 = 500,000 Opposition votes
30 households * 4 people * 25,000 = 3,000,000 ZANU (PF) votes
This is the tragedy of the opposition politics and/or coalition in Zimbabwe. All ZANU (PF) needs is to sway one million people in the urban areas and they romp to victory even with Robert Mugabe's corpse.
Opposition has no sway at the village level, they have no organization, no institution; pointing out the inadequacies of ZANU (PF) alone will not sway the vote.
ZANU (PF) understands the importance of rural chiefs, headmen, and village heads. Even Ian Smith understood the importance of rural chiefs. The turning point for ZANU (PF) was when they turned the heat on chiefs. The chiefs became endangered humans who needed Ian Smith's government protection 24*7. I am not advocating a campaign against traditional leaders because such a fight can be ruthless and brutal as witnessed during the liberation war.
What I am suggesting is that the opposition parties in Zimbabwe and the mushrooming pastors must stop making sound and furious tales of coalition, ZANU (PF) brutality, corruption etc. and understand the main problem, electoral reform! What is the use of participating in an election whose results are already known? Would it not be a better approach to demand electoral reform before engaging in any elections? Would it not make sense to build a strong youth organization capable of repelling ZANU (PF) hooligans bent causing mayhem and chaos in our society?
I want to give you a simple example why the idea of coalition is a stillbirth move. You see in my village, we are about 35 households with an average of four voting adults. The village comprises of the village head (sabhuku), his lieutenants (secretary, mudhibhisi, village policeman, etc.) Three quarters of the people living in the village are related to the headman. ZANU (PF) pays a monthly stipend to the headman, his secretary and the village policeman. This is just in my village.
I am going to be very generous and say the best the coalition will do is to sway 5 out of 35 households to vote for them in the 2018 general election. There are 25,000 villages in Zimbabwe.
5 households * 4 people * 25,000 = 500,000 Opposition votes
30 households * 4 people * 25,000 = 3,000,000 ZANU (PF) votes
Opposition has no sway at the village level, they have no organization, no institution; pointing out the inadequacies of ZANU (PF) alone will not sway the vote.
ZANU (PF) understands the importance of rural chiefs, headmen, and village heads. Even Ian Smith understood the importance of rural chiefs. The turning point for ZANU (PF) was when they turned the heat on chiefs. The chiefs became endangered humans who needed Ian Smith's government protection 24*7. I am not advocating a campaign against traditional leaders because such a fight can be ruthless and brutal as witnessed during the liberation war.
What I am suggesting is that the opposition parties in Zimbabwe and the mushrooming pastors must stop making sound and furious tales of coalition, ZANU (PF) brutality, corruption etc. and understand the main problem, electoral reform! What is the use of participating in an election whose results are already known? Would it not be a better approach to demand electoral reform before engaging in any elections? Would it not make sense to build a strong youth organization capable of repelling ZANU (PF) hooligans bent causing mayhem and chaos in our society?
Source - Sam Wezhira
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