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Zim not ready for elections
Jennifer Dube, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
August 22, 2010

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/opinion/26129-comment-zim-not-ready-for-elections.html

Zimbabweans who have tasted some semblance of peace during the past 19 months have started to hear growing calls for elections to be held next year.

The calls grew louder last week when South African President Jacob Zuma called for elections to end the impasse between parties in the inclusive government which have failed to resolve their outstanding issues.

Zuma's proposals were endorsed by the Sadc leaders who met in Namibia last week though no time frame was set for the elections.

While there is no doubt that for any country that purports to be a democracy an election is the only way to determine who governs the country, the problem is that Zimbabwe is not ready for elections.

Almost two years after the formation of the inclusive government, there is nothing to suggest that conditions now exist that will allow Zimbabweans to express their views freely without fear of the marauding Zanu PF militias.

There is also nothing on the ground to suggest instruments of terror that have propped up President Robert Mugabe's regime have been disbanded. Memories of the 2008 violence are still fresh in people's minds.

Many victims of the violence are yet to fully recover from the injuries that were inflicted on them by Zanu PF militias.

In some parts of the country, people who fled political violence are yet to return to their homes.

For them, the situation is still far from being conducive for peace as war veterans who unleashed untold violence on them remain out there, untamed and ready as always to haunt MDC activists.

Despite being Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai has not succeeded in convincing Mugabe to disband militias whose activities prompted him to boycott the June 27 2008 run-off poll.

One doesn't need to go far to see evidence that yesteryear's militias are still active.

Reports from the rural communities where Copac teams visited to solicit for views for the new constitution, show that some axe-wielding militias are ready to attack those who oppose the Zanu PF-favoured Kariba draft constitution.

The recent activities of war veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda in Bikita are enough to remind villagers that the veterans of the liberation struggle stand ready to defend Mugabe's rule.

Though Sibanda laughs off any suggestion that he and his cronies have been intimidating villagers in Bikita, there is cause for concern about security issues.

So, whenever the issue of elections is raised, people should think about what is likely to happen if Mugabe unleashes again the army and the Zanu PF militias to campaign for his party.

The most likely scenario is that Zimbabwe will once again degenerate into a political hotspot it was two years ago.

The resurgence of unmitigated violence would not only be bad for hapless people who would either be killed, maimed or raped by Zanu PF goons, but would hurt an economic recovery process that had started to take root.

After about 10 years, we had started to become accustomed to seeing bread on shelves and petrol at service stations, but there is no guarantee that if the election produces a disputed winner, this recovery won't be thrown off track.

Apart from just calling for elections, Mugabe should demonstrate that he is sincere. The starting point would be to disband militias. The police and the spy agency, Central Intelligence Organisation are also in dire need of reform.

The public broadcaster ZTV is among the other institutions that need to be reformed.

The Registrar General's office also needs to sort out the voters' roll which is replete with ghost voters. A national healing process, that remains a mirage, is also needed to heal the wounds of the past before we embark on another divisive election.

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