EDITORIAL COMMENT: Zec should not give in to the whims of MDC Alliance Mr Taye-Brook Zerihoun
Mr Taye-Brook Zerihoun

Mr Taye-Brook Zerihoun

The United Nations (UN) has said Zimbabwe is moving in a positive direction towards achieving results accepted by all in the July 30 harmonised elections. The UN assistant secretary general for political affairs Mr Taye-Brook Zerihoun who was in the country this week, said on Wednesday that his team had received a comprehensive and encouraging briefing from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) on preparations for the elections.

Mr  Zerihoun, who is conducting periodic political consultations in the Sadc region, made the comments after meeting Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Lieutenant-General (Retired) Dr Sibusiso Busi Moyo in Harare. “I think in my personal reading, there is a positive predisposition on the way things are going,” said Mr Zerihoun.

He said his team met the Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba who gave them a comprehensive and encouraging briefing.  President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Government has pledged to ensure free, fair and credible elections and events on the ground are attesting to this.

Political parties for the first time in many years are campaigning freely in both urban and rural areas with police just maintaining law and order at these political gatherings.

President Mnangagwa has been preaching the gospel of peace and tolerance at each and every gathering he has addressed and has repeatedly urged leaders of other political parties to do the same so that citizens can enjoy peace before, during and after the harmonised elections.

It should be all political parties’ commitment to hold free, fair and credible elections and therefore it is incumbent upon the leaders of all political to preach the gospel of peace.

President Mnangagwa has said his administration has put in place concrete measures to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

We have no doubt that Zec which has the mandate to conduct the elections, will do its best to ensure the Government’s objective to hold  free, fair and credible elections is achieved. What is encouraging is that Zec has already received thumbs up from international organisations such as the UN and other organisations set to observe the July elections.

These organisations have been sending their representatives to Zimbabwe to assess the preparations for the polls. It is unfortunate that one of the contesting political parties, MDC-Alliance is threatening to boycott the elections unless their demands are met.

What has to be made clear is that Zec which has the mandate to conduct a free, fair and credible election cannot pander to the whims of one political party.

Why should Zec give in to the demands of a single party when it is supposed to conduct the elections to the satisfaction of not only the contesting political parties but Zimbabwean citizens in general.

The MDC Alliance has threatened to stop the elections and we do not know using what powers given that it is just one of the many political parties registered to contest the elections. We want at this juncture to implore MDC-Alliance to concentrate on canvassing for votes as opposed to making outrageous demands.  Zec cannot be expected to give in to petty, vexatious and preposterous demands.

 

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