South Africa-based political analyst Philani Zamchiya has warned President Emmerson Mnangagwa to guard against manipulation by Zanu PF hardliners bent on derailing his economic recovery plans.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
Speaking during a post-election discussion organised by Mass Public Opinion Institute in Harare last Thursday, Zamchiya said: “There are contradictions within the ruling party – not everything is rosy, and, therefore, hardliners within Zanu PF must not dictate the way forward if there is to be economic recovery.”
“If they do so, the financial sustainability of Zanu PF will be difficult and demonstrations will derail economic recovery,” he said.
Zamchiya said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) cannot be trusted with running the country’s elections as there were many discrepancies that happened during the July 30 elections.
“The integrity of Zec as a post-mortem comes under spotlight because it has become difficult to say, if Mnangagwa won, then by how many votes? Chief Justice Luke Malaba said what was important was to get 50 plus one vote, which means that Zec must be thorough because you need that one vote to win and you might miss it.”
Zamchiya said what baffled him most about the Mnangagwa win was that whenever Zec made an error in their figures, it was always in favour of Mnangagwa.
“If there was an error, why not give another candidate some votes, why always favour one candidate with votes?” he queried.
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Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean academic based in Namibia, Admire Mare said there was need for inclusivity in Mnangagwa’s government as any election which promotes the winner takes-all mentality was likely to foster divisions.
“Winners will exclude the losers. The losers will fight tooth and nail to make sure winners do not succeed. In the end, ordinary people suffer. Winners reward each other with perks and patron client benefits. Losers try to sabotage and throw spanners into the works.
“This is a vicious cycle. We need a new Constitution which allows for proportional representation of both losers and winners in Cabinet and other government structures so that we move away from vindictive politics. The root of our vindictive politics stems from the lack of inclusivity,” Mare said.
