Zanu PF’s Farai Marapira’s remarks on Diaspora Vote on The Chase an insult to Citizens Living Abroad
The Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Initiative is disappointed by Zanu PF’s Farai Marapira’s remarks that Zanu PF cares for the diaspora and wants the people living outside to participate in the country’s election. Speaking on The Chase programme, Marapira said the country does not have the resources to ensure the diaspora can participate in elections.
In September 2018, the Zanu PF President, in his capacity as President of Zimbabwe, promised Zimbabweans living abroad that Government will prepare for them to vote in 2023. Several approaches were made to the President’s office and Parliament of Zimbabwe by various organisations suggesting ways to lay the ground for the Diaspora vote. On 15 April 2022, the Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Initiative wrote to President Mnangagwa inquiring what progress had been made towards preparing for the Diaspora Vote which he had personally promised, and what the challenges, if any, where being encountered in the process:
“As citizens, we are ready and willing to work with our government and assist in ways we can to make the Diaspora vote a reality in 2023. Please allow us to discuss with relevant officials in government to establish what progress has been made towards implementing the diaspora vote, and what the challenges have been, so that we can offer informed possible solutions to those challenges”.
There was no response from the President. Petitions to Parliament and the President were made to no avail.
During the debate on the Electoral Amendment Bill, Zanu PF parliamentarians strongly objected to the inclusion of Diaspora vote, with some of them heckling the pro-diaspora parliamentarians who eloquently represented the views of the Diaspora community, views which had been shared in numerous letters and statements sent to all political parties represented in Parliament. Honourable Pupurai Togarepi as Zanu PF Chief Whip was the contact person for the Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Initiative and can confirm receiving our correspondence. To our disappointment, Honourable Togarepi was reported by NewsDay as having said those pushing for the inclusion of any additional items to the Zimbabwe Electoral Bill that had been brought before parliament were pushing a foreign agenda. Some outgoing
Zanu PF legislators have confided in officials of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Initiative that Zanu PF is scared of the Diaspora Vote as there was the notion that the majority of citizens in the diaspora were pro opposition. The lies by Farai Marapira that Zanu PF actually want citizens living in the Diaspora vote can, therefore, not go unchallenged. If there is a change of heart, he must clarify.
Farai Marapira does not seem to acknowledge that the Diaspora based Zimbabweans were contributing immensely to national development, a fact that has been acknowledged by President Mnangagwa. Diaspora based Zimbabweans can contribute more meaningfully to national development if their rights to vote are observed and provided for in legislation.
Farai Marapira talks of lack of resources to implement diaspora vote as if Zimbabweans working at Embassies are not already voting. For a start, voting can take place at Zimbabwean Embassies across the world, and ballot papers can be sent to the Embassies for registered voters the same way as the ballot papers for Embassy staff are sent. Besides, the Government of Zimbabwe did request for the funding of the Zimbabwe Elections Commission from the donor community, and the European Union has funded some of the election activities. If resources for Diaspora vote were an issue, a request could have been made to the donor community and support may have been obtained.
Farai Marapira should also know that some current Zanu PF legislators have confided with officials of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Initiative that while they want the Diaspora vote, they cannot speak their opinion freely for fear of reprisals. The evidence for this is the attack on Speaker of Parliament, Honourable Jacob Mudenda when he expressed his concerns over the delays in implementing the diaspora vote.
As a result of the betrayal by Zanu PF regarding legislative reforms to enable the Diaspora Vote, the Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Initiative is encouraging people to vote against the outgoing President and all current Zanu PF legislators who collectively sabotaged the efforts by progressive pro-diaspora vote legislators who debated in favour of the inclusion of the diaspora vote in legislation. It is our wish that the MPs who collectively sold out by blocking provisions which would enable citizens living outside Zimbabwe to vote must lose in this election, and we encourage our families, friends and businesses that benefit from diaspora business and their employees to vote against them.
For further details, please contact Padmore Kufa, Spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote Initiative on +61 414 477 659 or email us on zimdiasporavoteaussienz@gmail.com.
Post published in: Featured