A time to decide

On Saturday, Zimbabweans go to the polls to elect MPs and councillors to fill the vacancies arising from recalls and deaths of the incumbent.

It will be a closely followed by-election: one that is seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2023 harmonised elections.

Campaigning for the constituencies and wards began after President Emmerson Mnangagwa gazetted the nomination and election date in January.

Experts call Saturday’s polls as a mini general election with the three major political parties—Zanu PF, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and MDC Alliance—all confident of winning the seats and wards.

The governing Zanu PF sees by-elections as an opportunity to cement its grip on power. It controls Parliament and another victory will prove it is still the people’s party, one that resonates with the masses.

For CCC, this is the only opportunity to show the world the party has more support than the MDC Alliance which the party claims has been aided by Zanu PF to decimate the opposition.

Since the Supreme Court ruling that Nelson Chamisa’s ascendancy to the helm of MDC Alliance was irregular, his candidates have been on the ropes with some being recalled by Mwonzora creating the vacancies which will now be filled on Saturday.

Mwonzora’s MDC Alliance sees the polls as an opportunity to bury the rival CCC and consign the yellow revolution to the dustbins of history.

Campaigning for the polls has not been smooth sailing with the CCC accusing the police of blocking its Marondera rally and had to obtain reprieve from the courts after the police said they were stretched to deploy manpower at the party’s Masvingo rally.

The restrictions on rallies spilled into the Senate last week after MDC Alliance leader Douglas Mwonzora raised matter alongside the beating up of opposition supporters.

Save for the violence that led to the death of a CCC supporter in Kwekwe, the campaign season has been rather peaceful which should be the norm before and after the polls.

That era of violence should be behind us as the scars of the 2008 are still fresh.

The political parties have done their part by selling their ideas to the electorate.

Some have promised Heaven on earth while others have repeated the same lie they have used over the years.

The voter listened to the message and could have been swayed by one political party. There are new voters—the Ama2000—who will be voting for the first time.

There are also seasoned voters who have not missed an opportunity to decide the destiny of the country since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980.

The voters should be left alone to decide the contest as they are the final arbiters. They are the only constituency empowered to decide who should be among the 28 MPs and 122 councillors to be elected on Saturday.