Voter registration going full steam ahead but, Mr new President, can you guarantee verified voters' roll W Mukori

As of 26 November 2017, nearly half of the expected 7 million voters have registered to vote according to a report by Bulawayo 24. Of country’s ten provinces Mashonaland Central is leading with 52.8% registered voters and Bulawayo has the lowest with just over 30%.

It is impossible to register 7 million voters from scratch in four months and have the voters’ roll verified and certified in another three months in a third world country like Zimbabwe. Zanu PF knows this and has knowingly delayed the voter registration process to suit its sinister vote rigging purposes. Many of the opposition’s supporters, especially in known opposition strong holds where the process has been slowed down even further for a myriad of excuses, will never get the chance to register. Meanwhile Zanu PF supporters have no problem registering. None!

With no verified voters’ roll, many of the opposition’s registered voters will fail to vote on the day because their details will not be in the voters’ roll they expected. Nearly one million voters were denied the vote for this reason in 2013; this was a very significant number given there was a total of 5 million cast votes that year and Mugabe’s winning margin was just over one million. Because there was no verified voters’ roll, Zanu PF bussed it supporters from one polling station to the next casting multiple votes.

There is no doubt that the regime will reach its target of registering 7 million voters; easy when no one knows how many are multiple entries. The opposition have made heavy weather of getting their supporters to register in numbers, how many of their registered supporters will have their data posted correctly so they can vote in numbers too is on the lap of the Gods!

Zanu PF has pointedly refused to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections and come the elections the party always wins with a landslide victory. The regime has pointedly refused to produce a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement for obvious reasons, the verified voters’ roll is the smoking gun to many of the vote rigging shenanigans.

SADC leaders advised Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to contest the July 2013 elections without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF blatantly rigging the vote. Sadly, MDC leaders heard the warning but failed to comprehend its meaning. They contested the flawed elections and Zanu PF rigged the vote.

MDC leaders vowed they would not contest future elections until the reforms are implemented. “No reform, no elections!” they said.

Not even one reform has been implemented since the latest rigged elections and yet the MDC opposition are all tripping over each other to contest next year’s elections regardless of SADC leaders’ advice and in violation of their own party resolutions.

Of course, it is insane to contest elections knowing fully well the process flawed and illegal and the ordinary voters will be denied the fundamental right to free, fair and credible election.

Zanu PF learnt that as long as it allows the opposition to win a few of the gravy train seats, they will contest the elections regardless how flawed, illegal and a downright betrayal of the people’s trust the whole process happened to be.

Zimbabwe’s economy, the victim of the country’s failure to elect competent leaders, is in total meltdown sending unemployment soaring to 90%, most basic services such as education and health have all but collapsed, 72.3% of the people now live on US$ 1.00 or less a day, etc. Zimbabwe is teetering on the edge of economic collapse and instability. The military coup of two weeks ago was a warning of just how unstable Zimbabwe is today. A rigged election next year could send Zimbabwe tumbling down into the abyss. SADC leaders know they cannot let this happen because Zimbabwe’s instability can drag the whole region down her.

Whilst there is nothing else SADC leaders can do to stop next year’s elections going ahead since the opposition have refused to listen to their advice not to contest with no reforms in place. What SADC leaders can do is reject the election process as a sham and reject election result. This is exactly what happened after the sham 2008 elections and Zimbabwe, as back then, will be forced to go into some political arrangement whose principle task will be to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to stop the vote rigging. This time SADC leaders must to put their foot down to ensure all the reforms are implemented!

President Emmerson Mnangagwa talked a lot about “new era, a democratic Zimbabwe and next year’s elections occurring as scheduled” the one thing he has pointedly refused to say is that those elections will be free, fair and credible. The current voter registration process is going full steam ahead although he, of all people, knows that ZEC will not produce a verified voters’ roll in time for the elections.

Mr. President, you are in State House today because of the coup, a treasonous act of a few of your cronies. Your legitimacy to stay in State House must now be earned by winning the majority vote in a free, fair and credible elections complete with verified voters’ roll, free media, etc. The days of rigged elections are over and there is no compromising on this matter.