Get rid of the chancers

This is fostering a culture of disservice to the electorate, who have been taken for granted for long enough now. It is clear that, for the past three decades or so, many individuals seeking political office have behaved in a dishonest, indifferent and unprofessional manner.

The effect of this attitude has been that of short-changing the electorate. Candidates have tended to emerge in the run-up towards a poll and make all sorts of promises – sometimes even unethically luring voters with material gifts.

Opportunists have tended to view politics as some kind of cash cow and all manner of chancers, among them charlatans and unemployable failures, have tried their luck – seeing public office not as a service to the people but as a ticket on the gravy train. In many cases, they have succeeded. Once elected, the majority of these candidates have turned their backs on their constituencies and dedicated their efforts to using their acquired office for selfish gain. Some of them have even stolen from the electorate and, consequently, hardly any development has taken place. This has ruined the name of politics and brought public office into disrepute.

The tragedy of Zimbabwean politics is that many people of ability who took office in the past have had had their careers destroyed. We have many capable people whose participation in local and national government would be of enormous benefit to the entire nation. But they will not seek public office because they know that politics is a dirty game.

In the light of this all-too-familiar pattern, today’s political parties have a serious duty to ensure that the right candidates are chosen. The first thing they should do is vet their candidates thoroughly, with fear or favour.

Every sitting candidate who wishes to run again for council or Parliament should be required to submit a sworn affidavit to the party detailing: 1.What s/he has done for his/her constituency or ward during his/her tenure of office, 2. What is outstanding in his/her list and, 3. What s/he promises to achieve during the next term. Evidence should be provided to back a candidate’s claims and may include affidavits signed by representatives of the constituencies and wards.

The party would be expected to study this record and decide if the candidate is worth giving another nod. Similarly, new candidates must produce a tangible plan of action using a template that the party would have agreed on.

After this, at the stage of nominating candidates before the poll, the parties must lodge the candidates’ proposals with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which ought to further scrutinise them as one of the requirements before a person can be approved as a candidate.

There will need to be legislation, through the Electoral Act, that provides for this type of vetting. In addition, the law must be tightened to make sure that candidates conduct their campaigns in a professional way, while the respective parties should adopt mechanisms of monitoring how the aspiring office holders engage voters in their pursuit of election.

We wish for a day when it would be criminal for a candidate to lie to voters and fail to deliver on promises made.