Beware of the violent past
Banker Nigel Chanakira described it as the picture of the year.
The picture of a Zanu PF supporter in party regalia standing next to a rival supporter of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in his yellow outfit set social media ablaze.
It was a picture that reminded supporters that there is still life after elections: your neighbour will remain your neighbour whether the party you are rooting for wins or loses.
The picture came to light after candidates filed their nomination papers for the March 26 by-elections to replace legislators and councillors that either died or were recalled by the Douglas Mwonzora led MDC political party.
Campaigning for the polls has begun as parties fight for the hearts and minds of voters.
A lot is at stake at the polls as the three main political parties—Zanu PF, CCC and MDC Alliance—jostle to win seats and wards for the plebiscite that had been delayed by the Covid-19 regulations which discouraged large gatherings as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus.
The polls serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2023 harmonised elections.
Zanu PF sees by-elections as an opportunity to cement its grip on power. The ruling party controls Parliament and another victory will prove it is still the people’s party.
For CCC, this is the only opportunity to show the world the opposition 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 ever since with some being recalled by Mwonzora creating the vacancies which will now be filled on March 26.
Chamisa’s party recently dumped the MDC Alliance tag for CCC after Mwonzora’s MDC party said they would use the name in the by-elections.
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.
The stakes are high in these polls. However, as candidates pitch their manifestoes, this is not the time to recede to the dark past of 2002 and 2008 where supporters would murder rivals in the name of a political party.
It should be a contestation of ideas, a market place where politicians come with their ideas to get takers.
The onus is on political parties to refrain from fuelling violence and whip its candidates when they step out of line. When that happens, the yester year violence will not recur.
There is life after polls. As former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos once said: “Win or lose we go shopping after the polls.”
Candidates will come with outlandish dreams, promising Heaven on earth. This should not surprise the voter because this is a season of madness where lying becomes the staple food.
Former German chancellor Otto von Bismark had foreseen that when he said, “ people never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election”.
