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I insist on my right to vote in 2008
Takura Zhangazha, Financial Gazette
August 09, 2007

http://allafrica.com/stories/200708100684.html

IN the first quarter of this year, and on these pink pages, I had promised to vote in 2008, regardless of whether the ruling ZANU PF party would permit it.

Among other reasons, I had declared that because I do not derive my right to vote from the benevolence of ZANU PF, I was going to insist on my right to select leaders of my choice. Now that time has elapsed, and the ruling ZANU PF has been proselytising its intention to hold an election in 2008 with the assistance of an 18th constitutional amendment, my position needs revision. And the revision that I seek to make does not in any way take away my right to vote in the year of 2008.

I still hold that right to be most dear to my existence as a Zimbabwean. But because of the events of the last three or so months and especially because of the proposed constitutional changes that have been gazetted, it is necessary for me to explain and re-argue a number of perspectives vis-à-vis 2008. The first of these perspectives is that of how Zimbabweans must begin to view 2008.

In my view, it is a watershed year in the processes of state making that have enveloped us since independence. This is primarily because the ruling ZANU PF party, in its introduction of Constitutional Amendment Number 18 seeks to manage its arrival to a post-Mugabe era in a number of ways.

They intend to pass the amendment and go all out to win a not so free and fair 'harmonised' election in 2008 in order to allow themselves the latitude to then elect a successor to their current leader and current national president through a joint sitting of what is now known as the House of Assembly and the Senate. This will be done without a national election, as has been the case since the introduction of the executive presidency. They further intend to perpetuate their system of patronage for ruling party stalwarts by increasing the number of Senate and House of Assembly seats whether elected by the people or appointed by the President. This will, in their view, ensure that there is no one within their ranks that will complain of being left out. So, in short, ZANU PF has reduced the art of state making to processes within the arbitrary structures of their central committee and their rubber stamping parliamentary majority.

Their politics therefore is devoid of the people's legitimacy within the framework of such a crucial state changing exercise as constitutional reform.

And this is probably why I still insist on my right to vote, because I have not been consulted on these proposed constitutional reforms, neither do I foresee them trying to do so because they are so embedded in their own struggles for political survival both as a party and individuals, that they do not for once have the nation's greater interests at heart.

Because of these constitutional reform proposals, there is obviously a new ball game in town. The issue is no longer whether the ruling party will go through with amendment number 18, because they are not going to change their minds on that one as it fits smugly into their post-Mugabe scenario planning.

It therefore becomes more imperative to consider what can be done in order to challenge the intended effects of Constitutional Amendment 18. And this task can only be informed by a process that understands the importance not only of the 'no vote' of 2000, but also the potential risk that, if allowed to proceed, No. 18 will severely set back the struggle for democratisation in Zimbabwe.

This is sad because should the ruling party succeed in winning the general election next year, they will essentially guarantee themselves a stay in government for another five years. And that is an open sesame for their succession issues. So, there is an urgent need for comrades in the oppositional movement to target this proposed amendment if the elections next year are to have any national and state making meaning.

As I have argued in other forums, there is need for the equivalent of the 'Vote No' campaign that characterised the 2000 referendum. I know I seem to argue this casually as though I am unaware of the repressive environment, but there is a chance yet that the people of Zimbabwe understand constitutionalism and constitutional reform issues as part of a political change process more than they would an opposition party seeking political power.

This is primarily because of the good work that was undertaken by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) in informing citizens countrywide of the need for a people-driven constitutional reform process. It is also because of the significant political landmark that was the 'no' victory in the 2000 referendum, the first time ZANU PF had ever been defeated in a national plebiscite, a defeat that the population of the country has never forgotten. I also understand the sentiment within leaders of civil society organisations that the country has probably a couple of months left for it to either reform or collapse.

But these are things that are hard to predict because they have been part of discourses undertaken ever since Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi acquired monetary concessions from the ZANU PF central committee. It is important to understand that a ruling party with a semblance of regional support, and 'friends' like China always has an ace up its sleeve. Collapse is an easy word to use, but I dare say, ZANU PF wants to at least stick it out until March next year, force through an electoral victory and start courting international capital through a semblance of democratic reforms.

In raw political discussions, this is normally called the politics of survival. The best option that I have, I now realise, in order to retain my democratic, liberation war won right to vote, is to target Constitutional Amendment 18, and be part of any public process that seeks to make Zimbabwean citizens understand what it is, and what it will do to the future of our country.

I will highlight the sections that allow any newly elected parliament under the amendment's provisions to elect a President of its choice without any input from the masses. I will also highlight this in conjunction with the fact that ZANU PF wants to hold elections next year in order to make sure that it can allow its current leader to retire while leaving its party in power. I will also make sure I offer an alternative constitution, and for this, I will turn to the NCA draft constitution, because it was derived from some of the widest consultations on governance ever before seen in the history of Zimbabwe. I will explain this draft's content to whomsoever I meet, and I will now carry it in my pocket everyday just in case anyone asks me what options do Zimbabweans have. Above all else, I still plan to vote in 2008, at least symbolically if we can't stop Number 18, but I will be voting for a Prime Minister, as is the case in the National Constitutional Assembly Draft Constitution.

* Takura Zhangazha is a senior officer with MISA-Zimbabwe

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