God save Zimbabwe

| Thursday August 1, 2013 00:00

The absence of the voters' roll a day before the polls has the potential to impact negatively on the credibility of the elections and the outcome. All this mess is taking place despite the presence of the chief observer of the African Union (AU), former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo who is leading 60 observers from the continental body. They join a total of 600 foreign observers, mainly from African organisations, and 6,000 local observers. This is a huge number of observers and will prove a huge cost for the countries and organisations that sent them there. It is an understatement to say the elections that must decide the future of Zimbabwe should be marred by the absence of such a key element as the voters' roll. The elections come at a critical time for Zimbabwe, this being five years after the Global Political Agreement that created a government of national unity from inimical rivals ZANU PF of Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Morgan Tsvangirai.

There may be less violence today than in the run-up to the last elections in 2008. However, though a welcome atmosphere, it is not enough to raise hopes that the elections will be free and fair, especially in the unfathomable development of no voters' roll in sight. It is unbelievable that at his doddering age, Robert Mugabe should hold Zimbabweans hostage when he should be making way to give the country a chance to move forward. How many more years of suffering does this man want to see Zimbabweans go through?

We hope that the AU is taking stock of all that is happening in Zimbabwe in order to be ready to spring to action in defence of Zimbabweans, should that become necessary. We hope too that the Southern African Development Committee (SADC) is also watching keenly as Zimbabwe, which should be in the cusp of a new dawn, teeters on a precipice of uncertainty.Indeed, these two should have ensured that no one, least of all Mugabe, did anything to endanger the poll. Even so, it is never too late. 

On the home front, it is also our hope that the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will take note of the misdeeds of its ally in ZANU PF for which it recently declared undying love. We trust that when they announced that it was learning a lot from ZANU PF, it did not include manipulation of elections.We appeal to the opposition and civil society in our country to continue networking with other countries, including Zimbabwe, on how best to hold electoral authorities accountable to citizens instead of being in thrall to ruling parties. They cannot afford to lose the fight for free and fair elections, no matter the threats of harm. Africans are simply tired of leaders who pose a danger to their civil liberties and therefore prosperity.

                        Today's thought'Voter caging and voter ID laws exist to disenfranchise voters.'

                   - Cynthia McKinney