Opinion / Columnist
Money can't buy love, votes
29 Aug 2023 at 02:06hrs | Views
AS many Zimbabweans seem to tire from the controversy surrounding the results from last week's harmonised elections, some are still wondering how certain candidates lost the polls.
Yes, the debate around the debacle of an election will continue for years, even after the case has been resolved by the courts.
Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa went into the 2023 harmonised elections refusing to acknowledge President Emmerson Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe's legitimate leader.
Will that end? Time will tell!
For the 2023 elections, the debate would also be how the "moneybags" were rejected by the electorate despite giving the constituencies "heaven on earth".
Two prominent Zanu-PF parliamentary candidates Mthuli Ncube and Pedzisai Scott Sakupwanya entered the race promising so much, but in the end were rejected by the voters in Cowdray Park and Mabvuku-Tafara, respectively.
Ncube surprised many when he left his base in Switzerland as an economics professor at Oxford and several reputable institutions to hob-nob with the ruling elite in Zanu-PF.
He joined Zanu-PF shortly after Mnangagwa wrested the party leadership in a coup. The economist quickly became a member of the powerful politburo as the party's national deputy secretary for finance.
That was quite some rise in a conservative party that treats newcomers with all the suspicion in the world.
It takes years to go through the structures to reach the central committee in Zanu-PF barring the pitfalls in the lower structures where people are usually left with egg on the face after going through the political shenanigans in the party.
That Ncube made it is not the issue, but how he quickly morphed into a political animal seeking a parliamentary seat is a huge surprise.
In Cowdray Park, Ncube did everything that residents in the constituency dreamt of.
He provided free WiFi, a first in Zimbabwe. He took credit for a British company-built clinic, constructed roads and literally gave the electorate all he could to ensure a comfortable victory.
Sakupwanya was nothing but an unknown political player who was more of a socialite flaunting his riches until he decided to include politics in his plethora of achievements.
He won a council seat in the constituency during by-elections last year, and suddenly decided to go for the jugular, the National Assembly seat.
Sakupwanya gave the people in the constituency free buses, rehabilitated the roads, paid fees for all school-going children, and brought the undisputed world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr to Mabvuku.
But the people had other ideas.
Ncube and Sakupwanya are not alone in this debacle. Many candidates spent millions of United States dollars only for the electorate to lift the "middle" finger at them.
Politics for academics is a "tyranny of the masses" and the people remain unpredictable.
Quite a lesson, not only for academics, but for future politicians.
Yes, the debate around the debacle of an election will continue for years, even after the case has been resolved by the courts.
Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa went into the 2023 harmonised elections refusing to acknowledge President Emmerson Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe's legitimate leader.
Will that end? Time will tell!
For the 2023 elections, the debate would also be how the "moneybags" were rejected by the electorate despite giving the constituencies "heaven on earth".
Two prominent Zanu-PF parliamentary candidates Mthuli Ncube and Pedzisai Scott Sakupwanya entered the race promising so much, but in the end were rejected by the voters in Cowdray Park and Mabvuku-Tafara, respectively.
Ncube surprised many when he left his base in Switzerland as an economics professor at Oxford and several reputable institutions to hob-nob with the ruling elite in Zanu-PF.
He joined Zanu-PF shortly after Mnangagwa wrested the party leadership in a coup. The economist quickly became a member of the powerful politburo as the party's national deputy secretary for finance.
That was quite some rise in a conservative party that treats newcomers with all the suspicion in the world.
It takes years to go through the structures to reach the central committee in Zanu-PF barring the pitfalls in the lower structures where people are usually left with egg on the face after going through the political shenanigans in the party.
In Cowdray Park, Ncube did everything that residents in the constituency dreamt of.
He provided free WiFi, a first in Zimbabwe. He took credit for a British company-built clinic, constructed roads and literally gave the electorate all he could to ensure a comfortable victory.
Sakupwanya was nothing but an unknown political player who was more of a socialite flaunting his riches until he decided to include politics in his plethora of achievements.
He won a council seat in the constituency during by-elections last year, and suddenly decided to go for the jugular, the National Assembly seat.
Sakupwanya gave the people in the constituency free buses, rehabilitated the roads, paid fees for all school-going children, and brought the undisputed world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr to Mabvuku.
But the people had other ideas.
Ncube and Sakupwanya are not alone in this debacle. Many candidates spent millions of United States dollars only for the electorate to lift the "middle" finger at them.
Politics for academics is a "tyranny of the masses" and the people remain unpredictable.
Quite a lesson, not only for academics, but for future politicians.
Source - newsday
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