The Best Presidential Candidate

Who Should Be President –Key Qualities By Dumisani O. Nkomo Elections are upon us like a thief and it is imperative for Zimbabweans to be clear about what kind of person they want to lead the country .It would be critical for citizens ,the media and civil society to be debating on what kind of president we need as a country at this time .It is also critical for people to interrogate the ideas and issues which the presidential candidates are bringing to the electoral table .My article will thus not focus on individuals contesting in the elections but rather what kind of individuals should occupy the office of the president .People will then be free to pass their own judgements and make their own choices depending on whether their preferred candidates pass this test or indeed other tests as this template is by no means exhaustive Presidential Candidates The person who is elected as the next president of Zimbabwe must be somebody who is capable of steering the country from economic stagnancy to the path of sustainable economic growth epitomized by increased investor confidence translating to direct foreign investment .This will lead to increased to economic activity culminating in job creation .The new president must also be able to harness the rich economic potential which the country has already in the form of bountiful mineral reserves , and resource .The president should be somebody who has a vision of a Zimbabwe of the future and not necessarily be fixated with the past .The president should be in touch with global economic ,social ,political and developmental trends .He or she but unfortunately there was no woman who submitted her name must be a person who is in touch with the people ,in touch with reality and emerging governance trends .This is tragic because many African leaders are obsessed with the past ,obsessed with themselves and obsessed with accumulating wealth at the expense of the masses . The head of state and government should be more than a politician but also a statesman who is able to inspire support from various stratas of Zimbabwean community including diverse political parties ,government institutions ,the business sector ,churches ,traditional leaders and the citizenry .The president should be a person of integrity ,this is not to say that he or she should be a paragon of virtue as a president is not called to sainthood but governance .Morality is important but should not be a sole determinant as this is an election for a president not a pope .A president should thus be morally responsible but this alone is enough as other skills and competencies are needed to govern a country . Whilst Nicollo Machiavelli postulates that the leader or the Prince as he refers to the leader must “be feared rather than loved “, I would like to say that the leader should be loved and not feared .He or she must not be a person who personalises state institutions and processes but subjects himself or herself to democratic processes .The president must not be a lion but rather an eagle that is able to identify future challenges and take the country forward. The president must be a person who respects the constitution and constitutional processes .Those who aspire to the office of president should thus have a record in respecting their own party constitutions and processes. The president must be able to distinguish between the party and the government and not confuse or fuse the two as the two are separate and distinct .The party may have the mandate to rule but it governs on behalf of all Zimbabweans .A president should thus be able to inspire support and confidence from Zimbabweans from across the political,racial ,gender and ethnic divide . The quality of the presidential aspirant should be measured by what is constitutionally required of a president which includes but is not limited to : Upholding and defending the constitution, conferring awards ,appointing and receiving diplomats ,oversight over foreign policy etc .The head of state also declares war and peace in accordance with social the constitution .All this means the president should have mix or be imbued with social entrepreneurship ,political acumen and craft competence in leadership . Zimbabwe need s a president with the integrity of Daniel and the vision of Joseph [both bible characters for the purposes of the spiritually uninitiated].He or she but since we have concluded that current reality dictates that the person will be a he should be like a son of Isaac –who understands the times and understands what should be done [1 Chronicles 12:32 ] .The president should not be obsessed with making war and love but peace and stability . The citizenry should be able to decipher clearly what a president has to offer and how they proffer to make their vision into policy ,policy into reality .Our electoral politics is bereft and destitute of substance but focuses on peripheral issues of ethnicity and personality .In a proper democracy the presidential candidates should be summoned to live electoral debates beamed on national television and radio both state and private .They should clearly articulate their party manifestoes and justify why people should vote for them .This will only be possible with a media that is non partisan [both private and state ] .Elections should be a contest of ideas and ideologies not just personalities .This is not to say the country necessarily needs rocket scientists to take it forward as wisdom can be learned but not taught. Let us scrutinize the quality of presidential candidates, the quality their party manifestoes, the quality of the ideas and not just be carried away by the quantity of people making noise on their behalf as nations are ruled by ideas not noise .Admittedly this may only be relevant to future elections as our electoral democracy is still evolving and growing .The tragedy of politics is the fact that the most popular politician may not necessarily be the best man or woman for the job.

Attempted Political Suicide

ZANU P.F ‘S ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

 By Dumisani O Nkomo

The disastrous attempt by ZANU P.F to unilaterally declare the 31^st of July 2013 as the election date has proven to be an act of unprecedented suicide by the former ruling party which had to bear the indignity of a colossal diplomatic defeat in Maputo at the hands of the M.D.C formations .Whilst observers have noted that ZANU P.F shot itself on the foot my opinion is that they shot themselves on the head and not the foot.

SADC Diplomatic Defeat

The SADC Extra ordinary summit on Zimbabwe was in itself a huge diplomatic defeat for Robert Mugabe and  ZANU P.F in that in the first place the party fought tooth and nail to ensure that the summit did not happen .They tried to delay the summit as it became clear that they were not ready for  the regional body and the subsequent resolutions that emanated from there .Reports clearly indicate that Professor Welshman Ncube floored and mauled ZANU P.F with a polished and eloquent presentation focussing on the legal morass brought about by the unilateral declaration by Mugabe. He was ably assisted by Morgan Tsvangirai who made a mature and stately presentation. Mugabe had clearly identified Ncube as an obstacle and had tried to isolate him from the meetings of the principals and the summit proved why as the man was simply on fire and; an earlier tag team with Tsvangirai would have long resulted in reforms and results .Tsvangirai on the other hand found a worthy tag team partner and must be kicking himself as to why he sided with Mugabe in sidelining Ncube  who has proved to be a political colossus on the negotiating table

Regional Isolation

The SADC resolutions which included the  immediate annulling of   Mugabe’s fast tracked “ reforms” or is it “deforms “to the electoral  laws through presidential powers and the need to pass the laws through parliament .Importantly Minister Patrick Chinamasa was asked to approach the Constitutional Court to seek an extension to the election date and  SADC also demanded reforms to AIPPA and POSA .Quite clearly SADC is taking a hard line stance to ZANU P.F ‘s  chicanery and the ailing ruling party is being increasingly isolated in the region  .

International Attention

The election quagmire has not only attracted the attention of SADC but also the African Union which has already dispatched an observer mission .This means it may be very difficult for ZANU P.F to engage in open acts of unilateralism or overt violence .They have invited the international community to one’s again focus on Zimbabwe and in doing so scored a spectacular own goal.

Uniting Enemies

The unilateral act by Mugabe has brought the country’s opposition parties together  with the M.D .C-T,M.D.C , Z.A.P.U and Mavambo Kusile Project coming together to condemn Mugabe’s actions .Much to ZANU P.F ‘S  horror  their actions have culminated in the possibility of an electoral pact between the opposition parties .This would surely seal the party’s electoral pact and dissipate their chances in the Presidential and parliamentary elections .Although most of the parties have concluded their primary elections for parliament and local government an electoral pact continues to be an unfolding reality .All of a sudden the opposition political parties or rather the former opposition parties have been united because of ZANU P.F unilateralism  .They have calculated that they can only deal with the former liberation movement by combining their energy and effort .ZANU P.F ‘S  actions can thus be described as attempted political suicide as the key strategy in politics is to ensure that you keep your opposition divided .

Division in ZANU P.F

It must be borne in mind that ZANU P.F like any political or social entity is not homogenous but is composed of various interest groups ,factions ,differing personalities and so forth .Not surprisingly not everyone in ZANU P.F was and is for an early action for various and different reasons .Surprisingly in spite of their bravado and apparent misplaced Dutch courage ZANU P.F  is the only party of the inclusive government parties which still  has not held primary elections .Their only known candidate is the 89 year old Robert Mugabe  .

However the primary elections within the party which are due on Wednesday the 26^th ,have resulted once more in rampant factionalism and open defiance of  party directives .Allegations of candidate imposition and double standards have marred  the ZANU P.F  Primary elections process which had to be postponed by the party’s national chairman Simon Khaya  Moyo .

All this commotion within the ruling party has been caused by a rushed decision which has intensified factionalism and the battle for succession within the party.

Whilst some argue that ZANU P.F played everybody a dummy by getting everybody to focus on the dates of the elections and the legal conundrum surrounding the issue whilst they would then focus on grassroots mobilization there is no evidence of this as the proclamation and political panic generated by the election date saga has caused more organized confusion in the ZANU P.F camp.

Undoubtedly ZANU P.F is becoming increasingly isolated and is almost entirely dependent on the state security apparatus and control of key state organs for continued political survival.

Dumisani O. Nkomo is an activist and opinion leader

Ten Ways of Rigging An Election

Ten Ways of Rigging An Election

By Dumisani O. Nkomo

The country heads for historic elections in the next few months and I would like to throw a few thoughts on how elections can be rigged .It is also interesting to note that rigging is not the preserve of ZANU P.F but even some opposition parties have mastered the art as well judging from accusations from some people who lost in their parties primary elections .However this article looks at how the current system can be used to rig elections in favour of ZANU P.F which has been accused of rigging elections from as far back as 1980 .As to whether there is substance to this, is another story altogether and the subject of an entirely different article .

 

Voter Registration

Whilst on paper voter registration appears to be going on well with two phases of registration being done, voter registration  has  been done in such a manner  that registration centres are concentrated in ZANU P.F strongholds  whilst limiting numbers in opposition strongholds .This means more ZANU P.F supporters will be registered to vote in the elections

Aliens

The so called aliens will experience difficulties in practising their right to vote as it may take time for their citizenship to be regularized in the next 75 days .An early election [31 July ] or even 14 August will be too early for them to have dealt with the administrative hurdles of rectifying their new citizen status .Once again thousands of voters most of whom would have voted for the opposition will be disenfranchised  .It is a fact that most migrant labourers from Zambia and Malawi were employed in then thriving industries ,mines and the rail sector but after the economic collapse presided over by ZANU P.F  most of them will vote for the alternative to ZANU P.F

Soldiers

Many soldiers will be forced to apply for special votes which is a status usually given to members of the uniformed forces who are on duty and are not in their normal places of residence .They may be forced to vote in barracks and camps under compulsion from their superiors and if monitoring is weak they will be compelled to vote for ZANU P.F . This will swell ZANU P.F votes for both presidential and parliamentary elections

This coincides with the massive recruitment of new soldiers and policemen many of whom were previously unemployed and unemployable .Many of the new recruits may be bracketed under the category of special voters and this may result in manipulation of ballots .In the rural areas quasi police units such as the Neighbourhood Watch Committees [Ongxoza ]will be used not just to intimidate voters but  will also be compelled to vote in police camps .

Returning /Absentee Residents

Zimbabweans who are continuously  absent for a period of six  to twelve months may find themselves deleted from the voters roll and finding their way into supplementary voters’ roll which may be used for facilitating ghost voting  Zimbabweans resident in South Africa or Botswana  will be systematically frustrated at border posts resulting in few of them registering to vote or checking their names in the voters roll and consequently  in many being disenfranchised on voting day

Social Engineering

There has been in the past, massive social engineering typified by resettlement of  people to opposition strongholds  deliberately, systematically and purposefully .New ZANU P.F strongholds have been established in places such as Harare South ,Marula in Mangwe ,Insiza North ,Bubi ,Umguza just to name a few .This has been done through the creation of new settlements with the use of formal and informal processes such as resettlement ,allocation of land or stands .Urban settlements which are opposition strongholds have been a target for such activities with so called co-operatives getting stands and land  in previous opposition strongholds  .These new settlements owe their status ,rank and possessions to ZANU P.F and will vote for ZANU P.F

The population of army barracks, police camps and training depots will be swelled as a result of social engineering to boost ZANU P.F votes.

Special Voting

There remains great potential for special votes to be manipulated in favour of ZANU P.F .Special votes are usually votes cast by members of the uniformed forces after having applied to do so due the constraints of duty usually when serving members are deployed to places which are beyond their home areas. Members of the security forces may be intimidated into applying for special votes which may if monitoring is not thorough result in the voting process being skewed in favour of ZANU P.F  .Postal votes  will also be manipulated if there is poor monitoring .

Voter’s Roll

The Voter’s roll remains the single biggest potential source of rigging with allegations of ghost voters and the elimination of perceived oppossion supporters from the voters roll .This is not helped at all, as the process of maintaining the voters roll continues to fall under the office of the discredited Registrar General’s office which is seen by some as being partisan.

Security Sector

State security structures such as the old Joint Operations Command will campaign for ZANU P.F either covertly or overtly right up to ward and village level .The state security structures have in effect been fused with the structures of ZANU P.F and are being used to monitor and police activities of opposition parties and civil society organizations.

The large number of C.I.O. operatives, police and army members participating as candidates for ZANU P.F in the elections effectively means that state security organs will be manipulated to serve the interests of one political party in the elections.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Registrar General’s office

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Registrar General’s office will be populated with security officers  all with the same mandate of maintaining the political status quo .These are just a few ways in which the elections may be rigged excluding counting ,collation, tallying, ballot stuffing ,multiple voting  etc which are used in other countries where political fraudsters use sophisticated techniques  .More brute methods such as vote buying through food aid and hand outs are already being used but these will largely fail because people just consume the food and vote for the opposition in many cases

However in spite of all these machinations ZANU P.F will lose to a united front of the two M.D.C ‘S even if they do rig the elections .It must be noted that not all members of the security forces are pro ZANU P.F as noted by Baba Jukwa in one of his /her /their instalments and the plan of using the army and police to manipulate the electoral process will fail.

 

Dumisani O Nkomo is an activist and opinion leader

He can be contacted on Dumisani .nkomo@gmail.com