The ManicaPost
Wendy Nyakurerwa-Matinde
Editor’s Musings
WHAT a race!
The recently held by-elections dragged me out of my sabbatical, I just had to; especially with ZANU PF snatching Mutasa South from under the opposition’s nose.
Congratulations Cde Misheck Mugadza.
You have a very small period of time to fulfil those election promises and all eyes are on you. The year 2023 is just around the corner!
But first things first, I need to celebrate a fellow woman; and that is none other than Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) president, Madame Linda Masarira.
With 28 National Assembly seats and 122 council seats up for grabs across the country, her party, the only female-lead party in the by-elections, contested in three constituencies and three wards.
She threw her hat into the ring for the Harare Central Constituency.
However, despite her resoluteness, she lost (dismally if I may add).
But what stood out after the defeat is how she chose to handle the whole debacle.
“My one vote at David Livingstone strikingly visible like the morning light . . . Tiri kufamba nhanho nenhanho (We are progressing bit by bit),” declared Madame Masarira.
Indeed, the vote she cast for herself really stuck out.
What is subject for debate is whether it stuck out like a sore thumb or shone bright like a light.
Closer to home, we had musician and Patriotic Zimbabweans’ Mr Hosiah Chipanga throwing his hat into the ring for a tussle of the Dangamvura-Chikanga seat.
Speaking to The Manica Post on the eve of the elections, the poetic Mr Chipanga did not disappoint with his choice of words.
“They want to be called city fathers (Mutare City Council authorities), but they are not worthy of that title. They are city children because they are milking residents through rates and levies being charged for services that are not being provided. There is no water in Dangamvura and I think that suburb should be rechristened to Dangazuva.
“Otherwise it feels really good to be contesting pamamonya ipapo (among the heavyweights),” he said.
Despite the silver tongue, Mr Chipanga is licking his wounds after suffering heavy defeat at the polls.
He will have to try harder in pursuing the electorate if there is going to be a next time.
For now, we turn to more pressing issues.
Looking at the numbers, the by-elections in the province and beyond were probably decided by less than half the eligible voters.
The rest of those who could have cast their votes chose to believe that the support they displayed for their preferred candidates at the rallies and on Twitter was enough.
The low voter turnout noted across most parts of the country is an indication that all political parties need to do so much more to mobilise their supporters to register to vote and then cast their votes in next year’s harmonised general elections.
The thousands of supporters chanting party slogans and propagating politics on social media need to be turned into actual votes.
After all, a higher voter turnout is a cornerstone for democracy.
It needs to be reiterated that when voters don’t exercise their right to vote, they are allowing the voting minority to make decisions for them.
While the voter turn-out that was witnessed was most likely caused by various reasons, the perception that one’s vote won’t make any difference might also have contributed.
In their analyses of the plebiscites, most political parties probably focus on who would have voted for them or their opponents and why.
However, the low voter turnout recently witnessed should see them asking who did not vote and why.
I submit here that the primary focus for all political parties should be voter education for the young and disengaged.
Youth turnout during elections, not just in Zimbabwe but across the entire globe, is around 20 percent due to their perception that their vote doesn’t count.
Even more worrisome, Zimbabwe is a youthful country, with approximately 67 per cent of its population under the age of 35.
Therefore, this is a crucial component of the national population that needs to be schooled on the importance of voting.
Any person above 18 should never be too busy to vote.
Democracy comes with responsibilities, one of which is to exercise your right to vote and chose befitting leaders for your ward, constituency and country.
Till next time, let’s chew the cud.
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