Opinion / Columnist
We're ready for elections
30 Jul 2023 at 08:50hrs | Views
THE political environment has been relatively calm and peaceful.
His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, has been calling on everyone to campaign peacefully and to ensure that we respect each other as one people. The police, as the regulator, has been trying as much as possible to ensure that incidents of political violence are kept to a bare minimum.
Political reforms
We have repealed the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and brought in a new law, the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act, which ensures smooth management of public gatherings and affords more freedoms.
It also affords conveners of political meetings a clear and simple procedure for application and appeals. Also, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is playing a part in ensuring that they advocate peace during this period.
Apart from repealing POSA, the President has also, over the last five years, amended laws to do with elections. He has repealed the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and brought in the Freedom of Information Act, which gives more freedoms and is less restrictive.
In addition, the Data Protection Act came into being and again it gives effect to freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and other international legal instruments that we are party to.
The Electoral Act was amended in 2018 and again this year, bringing in much-needed electoral reforms to level the playing field.
Now, access to the voters' roll is guaranteed by the Electoral Act. We also found each other as political parties in Parliament and we were agreed on the need to bring back a Delimitation Commission and free the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) from this function.
The role of registering voters was removed from the Registrar-General's Office and moved to ZEC by the 2013 Constitution. We are now agreed that this function is best done by the RG as before. We have extended the women's quota in the National Assembly. We have also introduced a youth quota in the National Assembly.
The President has, in addition, introduced a 30 percent quota of women councillors. This is meant to ensure greater participation of women at local authority level. Also, to ensure that we are not always in campaign mode, His Excellency established the Political Actors Dialogue so that we foster a spirit of dialogue and find each other. It has been a good platform, which has been preaching unity of purpose.
Election-related court challenges
The ongoing court applications are part of our democratic process. While they may delay ZEC in finalising preparations for the elections, they are part of the electoral process and have to be accepted. As such, the ZEC will work within the available timelines to make sure they produce a credible election.
Preparations
Our elections are held for us and by us, and, as such, Government always endeavours to ensure that adequate resources are provided to ZEC. So far, Treasury has been doing its best to ensure the success of these polls.
The Electoral Act signed into law recently by the President will not be used in this plebiscite.
However, like l said earlier, it allowed us to find each other on a lot of critical processes that have a bearing on elections, such as the delimitation exercise and voter registration.
Turning to foreign observers, we are very happy to have them, especially those that treat us as partners and equals coming to observe how we conduct our elections. Mind you, we brought democracy through a protracted armed struggle and we have never missed an election since 1980.
We are doing all this for ourselves and not to appease foreign observers, but we want them to learn and copy from our good practices.
Of course, we are open to recommendations that help improve our electoral process.
So, we are happy to receive observers to be part of our electoral process.
Zanu-PF campaign
Zanu-PF is the party in power and we started writing our manifesto in 2018.
We came up with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1), which outlines what we want to achieve.
If you go through the document, it touches all the facets of life — from governance to the rule of law, to economic development strategies.
Our manifesto, this time, is in the form of the achievements by His Excellency.
Look at the infrastructure development that has taken place over the last five years.
For roads that the MDC- or CCC-led councils failed to revamp and repair, the President came up with the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, which has revamped our road network.
That work is another piece of our living manifesto, which says give ED another chance to complete what no other President has managed to do.
We have, for example, the Beitbridge-Masvingo-Harare Highway that is almost complete.
This is another project where the President bravely declared that we will do ourselves, without external or foreign funding.
Hence, he came up with the mantra "Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo" (A country is built by its own people).
Look at the Beitbridge Border Post.
Again, it has been modernised, allowing free movement of our people.
Anyone who has been there will attest to the good work that has been done.
In 2018, we were suffering from perennial power shortages.
Our President built Hwange Units 7 and 8, and for the first time in a long time, we no longer have power shortages.
Fuel shortages are also a thing of the past.
In agriculture, the sector has been transformed from a US$2 billion industry to an US$8 billion industry.
Zimbabwe is now ranked among countries that are food self-sufficient.
Wheat production has gone up, and this year, we are poised to export part of the produce.
Our conservation agriculture, Pfumvudza/Intwasa, is a marvel to the world because of its success.
The mining sector has grown rapidly under the President.
In 2018, he embarked on an ambitious programme to turn the mining sector into a US$12 billion industry by 2023.
We have surpassed that target!
In terms of infrastructure development, we now have a new parliament building that was built in record time.
Lake Gwayi-Shangani is coming up, notwithstanding several other dams that have been constructed.
I can go on and on.
So, as Zanu-PF, we are saying our deeds are there for all to see.
Let us go all out and vote for a tried and tested President in ED, the game changer.
So, our thinking behind this strategy is to parade our successes and our NDS 1 programme as the basis of our campaign.
It allows us to speak to tangible and identifiable things the President is doing.
A manifesto is a document of promises.
We are saying we wrote a manifesto in 2018 and, as the governing party, we will parade our successes as our manifesto while seeking re-election.
Our chances of winning by a landslide, given the work done by Dr ED Mnangagwa, are very high.
He has delivered and everywhere you go, people are singing praises about his works.
Our chances are, indeed, very high and we are awaiting a resounding victory for Team Zanu-PF.
Come August 23, our President will be putting all the pretenders into their rightful places.
Mr Ziyambi Ziyambi is the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, and President Mnangagwa's chief election agent.
His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, has been calling on everyone to campaign peacefully and to ensure that we respect each other as one people. The police, as the regulator, has been trying as much as possible to ensure that incidents of political violence are kept to a bare minimum.
Political reforms
We have repealed the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and brought in a new law, the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act, which ensures smooth management of public gatherings and affords more freedoms.
It also affords conveners of political meetings a clear and simple procedure for application and appeals. Also, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is playing a part in ensuring that they advocate peace during this period.
Apart from repealing POSA, the President has also, over the last five years, amended laws to do with elections. He has repealed the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and brought in the Freedom of Information Act, which gives more freedoms and is less restrictive.
In addition, the Data Protection Act came into being and again it gives effect to freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and other international legal instruments that we are party to.
The Electoral Act was amended in 2018 and again this year, bringing in much-needed electoral reforms to level the playing field.
Now, access to the voters' roll is guaranteed by the Electoral Act. We also found each other as political parties in Parliament and we were agreed on the need to bring back a Delimitation Commission and free the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) from this function.
The role of registering voters was removed from the Registrar-General's Office and moved to ZEC by the 2013 Constitution. We are now agreed that this function is best done by the RG as before. We have extended the women's quota in the National Assembly. We have also introduced a youth quota in the National Assembly.
The President has, in addition, introduced a 30 percent quota of women councillors. This is meant to ensure greater participation of women at local authority level. Also, to ensure that we are not always in campaign mode, His Excellency established the Political Actors Dialogue so that we foster a spirit of dialogue and find each other. It has been a good platform, which has been preaching unity of purpose.
Election-related court challenges
The ongoing court applications are part of our democratic process. While they may delay ZEC in finalising preparations for the elections, they are part of the electoral process and have to be accepted. As such, the ZEC will work within the available timelines to make sure they produce a credible election.
Preparations
Our elections are held for us and by us, and, as such, Government always endeavours to ensure that adequate resources are provided to ZEC. So far, Treasury has been doing its best to ensure the success of these polls.
The Electoral Act signed into law recently by the President will not be used in this plebiscite.
However, like l said earlier, it allowed us to find each other on a lot of critical processes that have a bearing on elections, such as the delimitation exercise and voter registration.
Turning to foreign observers, we are very happy to have them, especially those that treat us as partners and equals coming to observe how we conduct our elections. Mind you, we brought democracy through a protracted armed struggle and we have never missed an election since 1980.
We are doing all this for ourselves and not to appease foreign observers, but we want them to learn and copy from our good practices.
Of course, we are open to recommendations that help improve our electoral process.
So, we are happy to receive observers to be part of our electoral process.
Zanu-PF campaign
Zanu-PF is the party in power and we started writing our manifesto in 2018.
We came up with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1), which outlines what we want to achieve.
If you go through the document, it touches all the facets of life — from governance to the rule of law, to economic development strategies.
Our manifesto, this time, is in the form of the achievements by His Excellency.
Look at the infrastructure development that has taken place over the last five years.
For roads that the MDC- or CCC-led councils failed to revamp and repair, the President came up with the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, which has revamped our road network.
That work is another piece of our living manifesto, which says give ED another chance to complete what no other President has managed to do.
This is another project where the President bravely declared that we will do ourselves, without external or foreign funding.
Hence, he came up with the mantra "Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo" (A country is built by its own people).
Look at the Beitbridge Border Post.
Again, it has been modernised, allowing free movement of our people.
Anyone who has been there will attest to the good work that has been done.
In 2018, we were suffering from perennial power shortages.
Our President built Hwange Units 7 and 8, and for the first time in a long time, we no longer have power shortages.
Fuel shortages are also a thing of the past.
In agriculture, the sector has been transformed from a US$2 billion industry to an US$8 billion industry.
Zimbabwe is now ranked among countries that are food self-sufficient.
Wheat production has gone up, and this year, we are poised to export part of the produce.
Our conservation agriculture, Pfumvudza/Intwasa, is a marvel to the world because of its success.
The mining sector has grown rapidly under the President.
In 2018, he embarked on an ambitious programme to turn the mining sector into a US$12 billion industry by 2023.
We have surpassed that target!
In terms of infrastructure development, we now have a new parliament building that was built in record time.
Lake Gwayi-Shangani is coming up, notwithstanding several other dams that have been constructed.
I can go on and on.
So, as Zanu-PF, we are saying our deeds are there for all to see.
Let us go all out and vote for a tried and tested President in ED, the game changer.
So, our thinking behind this strategy is to parade our successes and our NDS 1 programme as the basis of our campaign.
It allows us to speak to tangible and identifiable things the President is doing.
A manifesto is a document of promises.
We are saying we wrote a manifesto in 2018 and, as the governing party, we will parade our successes as our manifesto while seeking re-election.
Our chances of winning by a landslide, given the work done by Dr ED Mnangagwa, are very high.
He has delivered and everywhere you go, people are singing praises about his works.
Our chances are, indeed, very high and we are awaiting a resounding victory for Team Zanu-PF.
Come August 23, our President will be putting all the pretenders into their rightful places.
Mr Ziyambi Ziyambi is the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, and President Mnangagwa's chief election agent.
Source - The Sunday Mail
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