By LIoyd Mupfudze
Zimbabwe is in a political crisis which the biggest opposition political party the MDC has described as a crisis of legitimacy emanating from July 2018 rigged election.
The political conflict is largely blamed for the economic crisis bedeviling the country.
Elections will take place and there are many forms of mediation that can take place at each phase of the electoral cycle. However, I posit that preventive mediation can help prepare ground for credible elections in 2023.Peventive mediation is about resolving disputes prior to emergency of a full-blown conflict.
The focus in Zimbabwe at the moment is on crisis response mediation to avert the deteriorating political and economic conditions in the country as was the case in 2008 after the disputed presidential run -off election.
Whilst, crisis response mediation is important it is critical to review the full electoral process with the lens of mediation.
Several indicators of conflict existed in Zimbabwe prior to the elections of July 2018 and there are no genuine attempts by the government to address the challenges.
Concerns were raised about Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s independence leading to accusations that ZEC was politically biased.
Issues such as the design of the presidential ballot paper were also raised. The ZEC refused to release an electronic copy of the voter’s roll in time.
In addition, there were extensive reports of efforts to undermine public confidence in the secrecy of the ballot, such as rumours that the BVR system could be used to identify how someone voted and reports of officials demanding to see and record individual voter’s registration numbers, leading the voter to believe that his or her vote would be tracked. The ruling ZANU-PF relied heavily on state resources in campaigning with little differentiation between the state and the party.
There were also widespread reports of the partisan distribution of government food aid and agricultural inputs to coerce support for the ruling party. Traditional leaders are explicitly forbidden from engaging in political affairs under the 2013 Constitution.
However, in some rural areas, traditional leaders regularly led voters to doubt the secrecy of the vote, required villagers to attend ruling party rallies, and encouraged villagers to vote for the ruling party, often implying repercussions for not doing so.
Significant concerns exist about the role of the military in Zimbabwean politics. State-owned media showed systematic and extreme bias in favour of the ruling party.
Electoral processes are made by stand alone activities or processes which provide opportunities for preventive mediation. There is need for preventive mediation around the electoral framework and architecture determined by the legal instruments. It is the legal instruments that define the political context in which the election is held. The electoral framework also pertains to the neutrality of ZEC.
This election management body is supposed to be independent in terms of roles and responsibilities among other things. According to some major political players, civil society and the general public Zac is not independent or sufficiently credible. The effectiveness of the judiciary system to mediate political disputes also depends on their perceived impartiality and credibility. In the absence of credible national mechanisms, third party mediation may be considered.
Looking ahead to 2023 Zimbabwe really need preventive mediation efforts to deal with several toxic issues that will definitely militate against the peacefulness, freeness and fairness of the 2023 general election. Several issues must be fixed for elections to be free and fair. There is still a great opportunity to ensure that Zimbabwe’s 2023 election is credible but the opportunity may soon be lost.
There is currently emerging a great controversy around the delimitation of constituencies, issues around the partisan distribution of food aid and agricultural inputs must be addressed.
The ruling party’s blatant use of state resources in political campaigns, together with the illegal involvement of traditional leaders in political affairs must come to an immediate end.
The registration of voters and the delimitation of constituency boundaries can also be a source of political manipulation and therefore of conflict.
The delimitation of constituency boundaries will be a source of tension in Zimbabwe’s electoral processes ahead of 2023.In this regard the delimitation exercise should be more objective and transparent.
Breaking the secrecy around the printing, storage and movement of ballot papers is key. Lastly, the independence of ZEC has always been a source of conflict.
Preventive mediation can avert conflict and a further deterioration of the overall political and economic well-being of a country.
However, there is a scarcity of nonpartisan domestic actors to mediate the disputes. There is always the direct accusations and perceptions of partisanship. It is hard to find credible individuals with the power to convene, who have not taken sides in the internal politics of the country or who are not perceived as favouring one candidate or the other.
On the other hand, the incumbent government is also reluctant to admit the existence of tensions or the prospects of another failed elections if the toxic issues are not addressed, which makes it difficult for external actors to intervene.
