The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Correspondent
ONLY a week before Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections, voters in some of Zimbabwe’s rural outskirts are enjoying a period of unprecedented peace and calmness, as violent encounters that characterised some of the country’s past elections seem to have died with the old order.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has used almost every function and rally to preach the gospel of tolerance and on the evidence of an incident free campaign period, his message seems to have hit the right chord with peace loving Zimbabweans.
Sunday News last week went to rural Umzingwane District in Matabeleland South to see whether the country’s rural areas, so often reported to be the scene of bloody encounters between political opponents in the past, have been truly violence free.
Violet Tshuma (89) said although memory now failed her because of her advanced age, she considered this year’s poll as peaceful she has ever participated in. She said although she could not remember the year in which she had first voted in a democratic Zimbabwe, she remembered the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo as the defining figure of when political activists first knocked on her door and begged for her vote.
“I’m old now and I can’t tell you much. I don’t even remember the year in which I first voted but all I remember is that this was during the time of Joshua Nkomo. But I’m proud to be taking part in this election which is the most peaceful even though memory fails me now. I’m also proud to have raised children that are aware of the fact that voting is a right that they have to acknowledge and use,” Mrs Tshuma said.
Although she is mostly stuck to a chair from where her children tend to her, Mrs Tshuma said she was determined to cast her vote on 30 July, as she felt her tick on the ballot would go a long way in honouring the memory of her late husband, a colonial era political activist.
“The man who was head of this house was also a politician and helped during the liberation struggle. So he made his sacrifice and if he were alive today he would be proud of the way that his own children and grandchildren seem to be utilising their right to vote wisely,” Mrs Tshuma said.
Mrs Tshuma was flanked by her son, Mr Jonny Tshuma (62), who unlike her mother vividly remembers the 1980 election that ushered in black majority rule.
“When I voted for the first time I was 25 years of age and that was during the country’s first democratic elections. The difference between that election and this one is that people now have freedom to campaign as they see fit. So far everything has been good because we haven’t seen vandalism or anything of that sort. The posters that you see falling off the trees and buildings are those that were put there some time back by political parties,” Mr Tshuma said.
Unlike past elections that pitted family against family and turned friends to foes, Mr Tshuma said that 2018’s elections have not severed the ties that bind the people of Mawabeni and Zimbabwe at large together.
“In my lifetime, this has been the best election so far. We’ve had tense elections before but this year’s elections are quite different. As it is we know in our area who supports which party. Even with that knowledge there are no bad feelings because I still go to my neighbors’ house and ask for salt when mine runs out even though I know that he supports a rival party,” Mr Tshuma.
Completing three generations of voters in the Tshuma dynasty family was Mr Lukamba Mhlanga (39), who first voted in an election in 2000 as a 21-year-old. Although he has missed some elections in between his maiden election appearance and 2018’s historic poll, Mhlanga said that even he knew that there was a difference this time around.
“My first election as a voter was in 2000 and things were very bad back then. There was a lot of intolerance. When the 2008 elections happened I was in South Africa so I didn’t get a chance to vote but from the stories I heard from people, things seemed bad. With this election you sometimes sit and wonder if there’s actually any voting going to take place because everything feels so relaxed. One day people from the MDC are at the grounds campaigning and then the next we have people from Zanu-PF doing the same in the exact same spot. It seems like people are not eager to get violent over politics. Maybe it’s the way we live and treat each other in this particular area,” he said.
For Mr Enock Dube (83) of Ward 15 in Esigodini, this election has been an example of Zimbabweans political maturity as they learn to live with each other’s political differences. Mr Dube first cast a ballot in 1980 and remembers vividly how even that historic election was punctuated with violent encounters.
“I don’t understand what’s happening because this level of peace is unknown to us. I personally think that after all these years, Zimbabweans are now politically mature. There’s no one going door to door saying if you don’t do this or if you don’t vote this way, we will do this to you. One thing that I like, something which was a problem in 1980, is that party regalia has been kept at a minimum. That’s one thing that I always felt was provocative especially on election day,” Mr Dube said.
He added that he felt that the tone had been set from the top, with the country’s leaders, led by President Mnangagwa sending the right message to their foot soldiers on the campaign trail.
“I think all this comes from the leadership. If the people at the top love violence, then elections also become violent. However, if the party’s leader preaches peace then the outcome is an election period like the one that we are having right now,” said Mr Dube.
Mr Able Ndlovu (52) of Esihlangeni, said this year’s election would be the benchmark for future elections in Zimbabwe.
“Even opposition parties are going around canvassing for votes door to door. No one is intimidating anyone. There’s no fear of reprisals which was a very fearsome prospect in the past,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Zanu PF candidate for Umzingwane Constituency, Cde Levi Mayihlome, will tomorrow hand out blankets and some provisions at Esigodini hospital.
“We will also do a clean up in and outside the hospital. I led a team of party members last week to visit some people admitted at hospital and we call on everyone to be peaceful. Those who are conducting whatever business must do so freely and in a peaceful and lawful manner.”
