EDITORIAL COMMENT : Norton by-election results: Lessons for Chimanimani West

28 Oct, 2016 - 00:10 0 Views
EDITORIAL COMMENT : Norton by-election results: Lessons for Chimanimani West

The ManicaPost

The ruling Zanu-PF party needs to take a sobering reflection on what happened in the Norton parliamentary by-election, where it lost to an independent candidate, Temba Mliswa. This is especially important as another parliamentary by-election beckons in Manicaland Province’s Chimanimani West constituency.

After faring so badly, the party leadership should go back to the drawing board and make an honest evaluation, and introspect on what really happened. Mliswa garnered 8 927 votes against Cde Ronald Chindedza’s 6 192 in last Saturday’s by-election. The gap is just too wide and speaks of bigger things that are not right.

There are several factors, which observers cited that led to Zanu PF’s defeat in Norton Among them is the party’s failure to nip factionalism and corruption in the bud, coupled with the inability to sell progressive party programmes to the electorate on time.

It was also observed that the imposition of Cde Ronald Chindedza against the wishes of the people also played a part in his defeat to Mliswa. Other analysts went on to cite the topical subject of corruption and felt that some Zanu PF officials openly defended the cancer during the campaign period.

The big lesson here is for Zanu PF never to take the electorate for granted. The voters are not a gullible lot. They are capable of debating, analysing and drawing their own conclusions on different issues, particularly the bread and butter issues. The Magic Bullet perspective when applied to politics, assumes that voters are passive, think the same and accept whatever politicians tell them as the gospel truth. This thinking has clearly been proved wrong in Norton, where individual opinions, experiences and intelligence matter a lot. What we have all learnt is the fact that voters are a discerning lot.

Indeed, Norton is one example that has taught us that reactions dependent on situational and attitudinal aspects of the various individuals that make up the electorate cannot be wished away.

The ruling party should get more from what people have been saying regarding the Norton by-election and use such concerns in coming up with solutions. On the other hand, some felt that the criteria used to select the Zanu-PF candidate in the party’s primary elections was not up to scratch.

There was also a talk that Cde Chindedza was not popular with the electorate as he was reportedly not permanently residing in the constituency, although he claimed to have been born there. Such concerns from the electorate that the candidate was an outsider imposed on them and that he was not permanently residing in the constituency worked against the party.

It is important for the party leadership to listen to such concerns and let people choose their own candidates who are also known within their constituencies. Candidates who just come during elections to confuse the electorate should be avoided whatever the political position that one holds in the party.

Impositions of candidates seem to have been a cancer within the ruling party. In some cases some leaders lie that a particular candidate was the preference of the President or that a constituency is reserved for some gender groups just because the real candidate who could have made ground work in that constituency is not liked by the these leaders.

However, on several occasions, President Mugabe has called for unity in Zanu-PF and slammed factionalism, candidate imposition, vote-buying and the “Bhora Musangano” syndrome, saying those fanning divisions had no place in the revolutionary party. No one needs to tell Zanu PF that such conduct divides and destroys the party. The President has also publicly underlined the fact that supporters must be earned through political persuasion and nothing else. Preparing a candidate for an election is critical as it involves selling him or her, and the political party’s ideas to the electorate. But when a candidate is imposed, the voters can easily reject him and his party as we have witnessed in Norton.

On November 26, another Parliamentary by-election for the Chimanimani West constituency has been set. We expect that this time around Zanu PF will organise itself and shun unnecessary divisions, some of which are a result of power struggles.

The ruling party held its primary elections and Cde Nokuthula Matsikenyere emerged as the winner. Primary elections are a democratic process of picking the best candidate for a party. It is clear that for Zanu PF, Cde Matsikenyere is the preferred candidate in Chimanimani  West.

The losers should accept defeat and must not be seen de-campaigning the people’s choice. What happened in Norton should not be allowed to happen in Chimanimani West on November 26. Indeed, Norton is a big lesson to all, a clear demonstration that the will of the people cannot be subverted by selfish interests.

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