The collective decision of Zimbabweans is wiser & must prevail

I voted for Mr Emmerson Mngangagwa and a Zanu-PF MP but I am not celebrating these results. Instead all I have been having were nightmares that started when I saw all those videos of soldiers firing live ammunition at unarmed protesters in the streets of Harare. Of course Zanu-PF won two thirds majority in parliament but this is not the true representation of the will of the people when you look at the voting numbers in urban areas. In my constituency of Goromonzi South, the total number of votes cast are almost 50 000. There was a deliberate ploy to limit the number of seats in urban areas and increase the number of seats in rural areas. However for presidential elections each and every votes counts and I suspect that Chamisa might be saying the truth when he says he won this election especially when you look at the conduct of the government after the election.

The results for each of to the 10 800 election were counted on-site and the results were posted outside each polling station and there was no dispute there. The problem arose when those results were collated at the national centre. It is an open secret that Emmerson Mnangagwa is deeply unpopular across the country and this was an election that he desperately needed to win at all costs. Everyone is asking Chamisa to go to court and this is unnecessary as all that is required is to engage the expertise of independent mathematician to properly collate the figures provided by each of the 10 800 polling stations to come up to the true votes for each candidate as that will truly represent the true will of the people.

 We warned Mr Mnangagwa not to rush into an election after he took over in November 2017 and instead put up a government of national unity for a few years and sort out the economy. Now we have a disputed election and citizens know how they voted and they are not accepting results. Some in the international community can accept the results but without the buy-in of citizens both in the country and outside the country the country cannot move forward. Some professionals have decided to leave the country and those in the diaspora will post pone investing in the country. In April this year, I decided to go back to work and during the induction in the presence of other 40 recruits, my CEO asked me on my assessment on Zimbabwe and I told him my honest opinion then to say there was hope then. In fact when I was self-employed or when I went for interviews at many companies, I would meet many influential people and the question on Zimbabwe always comes up and I have to give my honest opinion. How many Zimbabweans have hope for our country at the present time?

Zimbabwean election needs the thump-up of its citizens both at home and abroad. Zimbabweans of all walks of life are the true ambassadors of our country as we are in touch with policy makers throughout the world and when they ask us of our opinion we will tell them the truth. This past Friday, I was supposed to go back to Zimbabwe to finalise preparation for the coming tobacco farming season and I was too depressed about the events in Zimbabwe to even go back home. This morning, I was talking to one of my trusted associates back in Zimbabwe and he was telling me of soldiers continuing to assault people in the townships at night. Also the international media are carrying stories of the military brutality and the heavy handedness of the police. It seems we are back to Mugabe era or worse.

 

For this country to move forward, the true will of the people must prevail and I am reminded about what the Late Professor Masipula Sithole wrote in 2000 before the 2000 Constitutional Referendum, "The collective decision of Zimbabweans is wiser". Mr Mnangagwa made an unwise decision to call for an election and he must accept the true result and not rule by the gun. Mr Mngangagwa must fall on his sword.