Opinion / Columnist
As a first-time voter, I have been robbed of my choice in the elections
09 Jul 2018 at 06:09hrs | Views
In only a matter of weeks I will go to the polls for the first time. While I am a first-time voter, I join millions of my fellow Zimbabweans in what will be everybody's first real and fair vote.
I have no political home and am not a member or supporter of the Zanu PF or the MDC.
I was excited to get engaged in democracy, hear both sides and make an informed decision based on the persuasive but competing visions of where Zimbabwe should go.
Nevertheless, I am deeply disappointed.
On the hand I know what I am getting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa. I have experienced his rule, seen his reforms and felt the change. We are certainly a long way from the Garden of Eden, but no one can say that things are no different to how they were before November when we took to the streets and demanded an end to the rule of Mugabe.
I like the fact that the president is engaging with youth like me on social media platforms and I have signed up to his personal WhatsApp channel where he keeps me updated about what he is doing for the country. While he may be old, he does seem to understand what my needs are.
He recently opened a desperately needed Youth Empowerment Bank, which was formed with the purpose of providing social and financial solutions to the financially excluded population with a greater focus on the youth. From the $12 million already capitalised, people like me can take loans for school and to start a new business.
Additionally, according to statistics from the National Social Security Authority 62,689 jobs were created between January and June 2018. These figures are hard to ignore and give me great hope of being able to find a job when I complete my studies.
I see the president engage foreign leaders and them embracing him in return. He is bringing in investment to get us off our knees. I can't remember the last time I didn't see a headline about the president opening a new factory, plant or mine.
Without even reading the exhausting manifestos, I know what to expect from the president for the next five years.
However, I can certainly not say the same for his opponent Nelson Chamisa.
I was definitely swaying towards Chamisa from the beginning. He was young and energetic so I thought he would be more suitable for me as a young voter.
Nonetheless, in the last five months since he took over from the deceased Morgan Tsvangirai, he has offered me very little of substance and actually turned me off.
In today's world, a person who wants a leadership position can not act the way he has towards women. His constant derogatory attitudes towards women are extremely off-putting and I had personally hoped we left these types of views in the past.
His seeming obsession with his opponent's age and his own physical condition is bordering on narcissistic. His constant exaggerations and lies about meetings that never happened, money that was never promised and rigging that he has never proven have left me wondering about his leadership skills and whether this is all an attempt to deflect and distract from a lack of real vision.
Above all, I have yet to see, beyond vague and unrealistic promises of impossibly fast trains, internet usage for animals and getting the economy back on its feet in days, a coherent and intelligible plan.
I have long looked for a compelling reason to side with Chamisa because for the longest time I felt that when it came time to vote it would be next to his name that I would leave my mark.
Now, I look at the two candidates and I don't even see a choice anymore. Chamisa has robbed me of my informed decision, because, quite frankly, there is no decision.
The president has a vision, leadership and experience and Chamisa has none.
The president has shown he is a unifier, while Chamisa is a divider.
The president is worldly, cosmopolitan and embraces change, Chamisa is locked in a chauvinist and prejudiced past.
The president has given me hope, while Chamisa has robbed me of choice in these elections and for that above all I am truly disappointed.
I have no political home and am not a member or supporter of the Zanu PF or the MDC.
I was excited to get engaged in democracy, hear both sides and make an informed decision based on the persuasive but competing visions of where Zimbabwe should go.
Nevertheless, I am deeply disappointed.
On the hand I know what I am getting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa. I have experienced his rule, seen his reforms and felt the change. We are certainly a long way from the Garden of Eden, but no one can say that things are no different to how they were before November when we took to the streets and demanded an end to the rule of Mugabe.
I like the fact that the president is engaging with youth like me on social media platforms and I have signed up to his personal WhatsApp channel where he keeps me updated about what he is doing for the country. While he may be old, he does seem to understand what my needs are.
He recently opened a desperately needed Youth Empowerment Bank, which was formed with the purpose of providing social and financial solutions to the financially excluded population with a greater focus on the youth. From the $12 million already capitalised, people like me can take loans for school and to start a new business.
Additionally, according to statistics from the National Social Security Authority 62,689 jobs were created between January and June 2018. These figures are hard to ignore and give me great hope of being able to find a job when I complete my studies.
I see the president engage foreign leaders and them embracing him in return. He is bringing in investment to get us off our knees. I can't remember the last time I didn't see a headline about the president opening a new factory, plant or mine.
Without even reading the exhausting manifestos, I know what to expect from the president for the next five years.
However, I can certainly not say the same for his opponent Nelson Chamisa.
Nonetheless, in the last five months since he took over from the deceased Morgan Tsvangirai, he has offered me very little of substance and actually turned me off.
In today's world, a person who wants a leadership position can not act the way he has towards women. His constant derogatory attitudes towards women are extremely off-putting and I had personally hoped we left these types of views in the past.
His seeming obsession with his opponent's age and his own physical condition is bordering on narcissistic. His constant exaggerations and lies about meetings that never happened, money that was never promised and rigging that he has never proven have left me wondering about his leadership skills and whether this is all an attempt to deflect and distract from a lack of real vision.
Above all, I have yet to see, beyond vague and unrealistic promises of impossibly fast trains, internet usage for animals and getting the economy back on its feet in days, a coherent and intelligible plan.
I have long looked for a compelling reason to side with Chamisa because for the longest time I felt that when it came time to vote it would be next to his name that I would leave my mark.
Now, I look at the two candidates and I don't even see a choice anymore. Chamisa has robbed me of my informed decision, because, quite frankly, there is no decision.
The president has a vision, leadership and experience and Chamisa has none.
The president has shown he is a unifier, while Chamisa is a divider.
The president is worldly, cosmopolitan and embraces change, Chamisa is locked in a chauvinist and prejudiced past.
The president has given me hope, while Chamisa has robbed me of choice in these elections and for that above all I am truly disappointed.
Source - R Mujuru
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