Opinion / Columnist
ZEC did it's best under very difficult and unprecedented conditions
26 Aug 2023 at 19:44hrs | Views
LIKE GOD, ZEC MUST BE IN IT FOR EVERYONE: THIS TIME ZEC DID ITS BEST UNDER VERY DIFFICULT AND UNPRECEDENTED CONDITIONS FOLLOWING THE SITTING OF THE NOMINATION COURT ON 21 JUNE 2023
It's one thing and a constitutional right for any Zimbabwean to hold ZEC to account, and quite another thing for someone to want ZEC to be part of their cause.
A team whose players violently accost the referee at every turn, in every match, does not belong to the league. That's not fair play.
Rules of fair play are for the players and also the referee.
A clean game is for anyone who plays it to have a fair chance to win. There no born winners or God chosen winners. Everyone must practice hard and play fair to win.
No team is entitled to win any game on account of its self-proclaimed virtue of its cause or on grounds of its exclusive history. Everyone one belongs. It's the work that the team puts in, that determines what comes out.
If there's one positive thing to be said about this election like no other is that, ZEC was not only responsive to an array of public concerns, but it was also seen to be responsive to the point of being a robust and effective first respondent in a court challenge in which a group of registered voters in Bulawayo sought to have the High Court nullify and set aside the nomination of 12 CCC and other parliamentary candidates on allegations that their nomination had been filed late after the Nomination Court had closed.
History shall record that the best opposition to that application on behalf of the nomination of CCC candidates came from ZEC.
If ZEC had not done that, the 12 CCC candidates who are today incoming members of Parliament would have had a different. Today they truly owe a debt of gratitude to ZEC which stood by and with them as part of its constitutional obligation.
It is also true that ZEC stood by and with voters who were affected by the delayed opening of polling stations and the unavailability of ballot papers at some polling stations at the start of polling on election day.
What was notable, significant and commendable in the final analysis is that, unlike in the past, this time ZEC owned up, took responsibility for its omissions and commissions; and produced requisite solutions.
In the past, the criticism of ZEC was that it tended to be deaf to public concerns, but in the 2023 harmonised general election ZEC had a new, encouraging, welcome and commendable change of attitude.
All told, ZEC cannot be or should not be faulted on grounds that some things did go wrong and some of them horribly so.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, goes Murphy's law. This time round, when things went wrong ZEC stood up to be counted and endeavoured to fix what had gone wrong, and in a majority of cases it fixed them well; and even offered public apologies, a first.
It therefore can be said with a high degree of confidence, and without any fear of being contradicted on objective grounds, that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has turned a page in this election, and if it keeps the spirit of 2023 and remains willing to be responsive, it can only improve and even get better in its conduct of future elections.
Chakanaka chakanaka!
It's one thing and a constitutional right for any Zimbabwean to hold ZEC to account, and quite another thing for someone to want ZEC to be part of their cause.
A team whose players violently accost the referee at every turn, in every match, does not belong to the league. That's not fair play.
Rules of fair play are for the players and also the referee.
A clean game is for anyone who plays it to have a fair chance to win. There no born winners or God chosen winners. Everyone must practice hard and play fair to win.
No team is entitled to win any game on account of its self-proclaimed virtue of its cause or on grounds of its exclusive history. Everyone one belongs. It's the work that the team puts in, that determines what comes out.
If there's one positive thing to be said about this election like no other is that, ZEC was not only responsive to an array of public concerns, but it was also seen to be responsive to the point of being a robust and effective first respondent in a court challenge in which a group of registered voters in Bulawayo sought to have the High Court nullify and set aside the nomination of 12 CCC and other parliamentary candidates on allegations that their nomination had been filed late after the Nomination Court had closed.
History shall record that the best opposition to that application on behalf of the nomination of CCC candidates came from ZEC.
If ZEC had not done that, the 12 CCC candidates who are today incoming members of Parliament would have had a different. Today they truly owe a debt of gratitude to ZEC which stood by and with them as part of its constitutional obligation.
It is also true that ZEC stood by and with voters who were affected by the delayed opening of polling stations and the unavailability of ballot papers at some polling stations at the start of polling on election day.
What was notable, significant and commendable in the final analysis is that, unlike in the past, this time ZEC owned up, took responsibility for its omissions and commissions; and produced requisite solutions.
In the past, the criticism of ZEC was that it tended to be deaf to public concerns, but in the 2023 harmonised general election ZEC had a new, encouraging, welcome and commendable change of attitude.
All told, ZEC cannot be or should not be faulted on grounds that some things did go wrong and some of them horribly so.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, goes Murphy's law. This time round, when things went wrong ZEC stood up to be counted and endeavoured to fix what had gone wrong, and in a majority of cases it fixed them well; and even offered public apologies, a first.
It therefore can be said with a high degree of confidence, and without any fear of being contradicted on objective grounds, that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has turned a page in this election, and if it keeps the spirit of 2023 and remains willing to be responsive, it can only improve and even get better in its conduct of future elections.
Chakanaka chakanaka!
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