In three ways it differed from every previous election:
The rules, even of our own imperfect Constitution, were more obviously and shamelessly broken
We, the people, were more alert to abuses, and shared information more effectively about what we saw
Aafrican observers, so long silent, reported that this election was not free or fair.
We are in a new situation and there is no way we can undo that, but where we go from here is not clear.
This weekend
, the leaders of SADC are meeting to discuss what they will do, but there is a lot we don’t know about the limits to what they or our competing parties can do.
The ideal would probably be a repeat election, properly organised and monitored, but that would be a mammoth task. Can anyone organise a free and fair election?
We don’t even know whether SADC has the resources to take on this task, starting by checking on the 2022 census results and using realistic population figures to delineate constituencies. Where our system; ZEC, the police, the media, the courts (and maybe other operators) cannot be relied upon to provide even the basics of a level electoral playing field, it would require a lot more than strict and impartial observers if such an election is to be remotely free and fair. In some ways the challenge is greater than in 1980, and that took a considerable effort by the British government. I think we are all agreed that we do not want to rely on anyone from outside Africa. Could SADC and the AU afford to do the job?
We don’t really know what is going on in the proverbial smoke-filled back room deliberations of our own political parties, and even less about smoke-filled back rooms in neighbouring countries. It would be progress if the neighbours decided not to recognise the results of our farcical election, which means not recognising those who claim to be the government as a result of that election. We know some in SADC would still like to find excuses for pretending it all didn’t happen, but they will need better excuses than they used last time.There are legal technicalities here.
We don’t know much about how we are expected to convince SADC & the AU that we are serious. Should CCC take part in the by-elections caused by a self-appointed official withdrawing them from parliament? Is that “accepting the system”? Should we vote in those elections? Is that “accepting the system”? At least the leaders seem aware of this problem.
We know that an opposition party that has been constantly harassed and undermined and has its share of infiltrators can only preserve its structures and plans in secret, but that lays them open to charges that they have no plans, policies or structures. An opposition leader can easily be accused in this situation of promoting himself rather than the party if he holds a successful rally, but if it fails his enemies will say he has no support.
We often don’t know people as well as we think we do, but if we let ourselves be drawn into making judgements about, for example, a schoolmate who is now famous. It is easy to go beyond the evidence, invent an image, good or bad, and persuade ourselves it is true.
We can only make the best efforts we can to judge developments: what will work? We can’t do this as individuals; if each makes his or her own judgement, the chances are that even the best tactics get maybe 60% support, weakening their impact. We need to share the little information we have and decide together how to act. That sounds like a difficult task, but we have arrived at a place we were not in this time last year. Progress is possible. We won’t get to a repeat of 1980 in one jump; we didn’t do that in 1980. We can make meaningful steps; can we hope for some compromise that must work because we and people who can undermine them are watching? Maybe the Muzorewa interlude did help, if only because it was a step forward, however small, that could not be undone. I like to think that where we are now, aware and united, is a step further than we made when we rejected the British settlement proposals in the referendum run by a British judge, Lord Pearce in 1972.
I do have hope that we are at last on the way to something better but I can’t see a way clearly.
Post published in: Featured