Elections are a numbers game, not about coalitions

With presumably a year and a few months away from the next general election in Zimbabwe, a harmonised election for both the Executive and Parliament, the campaign season has undoubtedly begun.

Last week, Zanu-PF held a gigantic rally in Marondera, the Mashonaland East capital. It was the first in a nationwide tour of "Presidential Youth Interface Rallies", where President Mugabe will meet and engage with the youth of Zimbabwe.

The intention of these rallies is to galvanise the youth to first register for the 2018 elections and ensure that when they come, they (youths) vote in numbers.

This was the start of Zanu-PF's campaign season and what a start it was. Tens of thousands (reportedly) of people turned up at Rudhaka Stadium to meet and hear from their President, the First Secretary of Zanu-PF.

One is tempted to posit that the million-man march held in May last year was a dry run for the gathering that took place last Friday and what is to come in the weeks following.

Zanu-PF has realised that the youth are a key constituency in the coming election. The sheer size of the youth population means that they are a potentially powerful voting bloc.

Traditionally, though the youth have had an apathetic attitude towards elections. Many below the age of 30 years old don't vote or even bother to register to do so.

Technically, therefore, the number of potential virgin voters in the 2018 elections has the ability to make a significant difference, and Zanu-PF is courting them.

The results of the 2013 elections and their performance in the by-elections since then shows that they have quite a large base going into the election and now they only aim to grow it.

President Mugabe spoke for longer than most might have expected on Friday.

His message was not only directed to the youth, but carried with it policy issues that have a bearing on the long-term future of the country, something key to the youth of today.

In his address, the President mentioned housing. He spoke about how land was a finite resource and the manner in which it was being parcelled out by local government in urban areas was unsustainable.

"Land in urban areas is inadequate for us to parcel out to you," said President Mugabe to the youth gathered.

"You are wedding and having children and your children will in turn have their own kids. If we give stands, it is all the land that will be going and will the future generation get the stands?"

The President mentioned that there was need for a programme where Zimbabwe took advantage of vertical space by building high-rise apartments rather than lateral space.

This is certainly futuristic thinking and one that needs to be considered carefully by local government and town planners for the future of Zimbabwe.

As the country continues to grow in terms of population, more people will seek accommodation.

Currently, there seems to be a haphazard manner in which the land and housing issue are being handled with new neighbourhoods sprouting on the periphery of cities like Harare and other towns.

Some of these settlements were situated on wetlands and when it rains the homes have been destroyed. Others have been bulldozed as they were built on what was said to be illegal land.

These areas do not have running water, sewage or electricity. The land is not serviced and there are no proper road networks.

Relooking the way residential areas are constructed and turning to high- rise apartments is a solution that could make the servicing of land in terms of water, sewage and electricity easier and allow for the provision of services such as police, schools and entertainment facilities better in terms of people per square kilometre.

Such policies will have a positive effect on future generations and are a key concern of the youth today.

Another policy mentioned by the President which has a bearing on the youth is that of the land reform programme.

When this key agricultural and economic activity took place some 17 years ago many of the youth, those between the ages of 15 and 35, were too young to be direct beneficiaries of the programme.

Since then farming has changed from being an activity dominated by whites and now is open to all Zimbabweans.

Young black Zimbabweans have since taken an interest in the economic affairs of the land and some have enrolled in agricultural programmes or experimented with what little space they might have had.

In his address on Friday, President Mugabe spoke of a land audit being carried out by Government which would see the number of people owning land for agricultural purposes increasing.

"We are going to cut the farms of those not utilising them and those with multiple farms," he said.

"We are doing that after having an audit of those farms not fully using the land. Government is not taking the land completely from you, but we want to give others who do not have."

A large number of those that do not have but are eager to use the land fall under the youth who were too young to participate in the land reform programme of the early 2000s.

This is yet another futuristic policy that speaks directly to young people that President Mugabe was addressing.

In distributing land, though, one of the key areas that should be considered is capacity of the farmer.

Young people who wish to be recipients should demonstrate an aptitude for farming and the potential to make good of this important economic resource.

By turning its attention to the youth not only through rallies but also in policy, Zanu-PF has illustrated that it is thinking about the future generations of Zimbabwe.

This will certainly be an advantage for them in the 2018 elections and attract the virgin youth voters who could swing the election. In contrast, where Zanu-PF is organised and focused on enticing voters, the opposition is confused and whining.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission recently announced the winner of a tender to provide the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits – Chinese firm Laxton Group Limited.

True to form, the opposition has found something to cry foul about, accusing the State Procurement Board of influencing the decision and citing the relationship between Zanu-PF and the Communist Party of China as a problem.

They offer no evidence though to suggest that the company selected was the wrong one or that there were any problems with the kits. Rather than focus on attracting voters, the opposition has decided to spend its time working on building what they termed is a grand coalition.

The irony of this grand coalition in the making is that most of the serious political parties in it are breakaways of MDC, a party which Zanu-PF has already beaten in elections several times since its inception.

The only other addition worth mentioning for the sake of looking outside the MDC is Joice Mujuru's NPP, formerly Zimbabwe People First which already proved too weak to stand against Zanu-PF.

Elections are a numbers game, who can amass the most votes.

The votes come from the people, the people who turned up at Rudhaka Stadium last Friday, the people who will turn up at the other youth interface rallies, not those who sit and negotiate posts in a coalition.