By Dr Masimba Mavaza | If promises of political parties were to be legally binding many will be in prison today. Politicians promise you heaven before elections and give you hell after.”
It is true that the rate of compliance with election promises is erratic for most parties after coming to power. Political promises have a long history as they are written statements of the beliefs or aims of a party. Political promises are interesting because people get a glimpse of what is in store for them if the party they vote for comes to power. Political promises can be described as “a party’s contract with the electorate. The 21 year old new party CCC which was formed in 1998 and changed its name to CCC in 2022 could be asked one question, how they would achieve the poll promises of making an economic turn around in few weeks in office. It is true that CCC is making unrealistic promised because they know they will not come to power any sooner. While offering freebies CCC does not calculate the cost of implementing them.
So it is not the number of pledges a party makes but the intention to fulfill them, which matters. In ZANU PF manifestos are policy-based, generally covering the economic and foreign policy, healthcare, governance reform, environmental issues, this ZANU PF has done and can point to the developments done so far. The new dispensation has all its achievements in three years to show.
Poll chancers pretending to be politicians who make false promises must be punished.
Politicians knowingly making promises during elections campaigns that are pie-in-the-sky, should be charged for undermining voters’ ability to make informed choices.
Knowingly making false, unachievable and illegal campaign promises amounts to a political lie, breaches ethics and honesty. It is true that Chamisa and lies are from the same mother the devil. He no-longer feel ashamed of his lies.
In his party there are enough clowns like him. Imagine Tendai Biti telling the voters that Pogba a football player promised to come to Zimbabwe if the CcC wins. Seriously?
It is intended to deliberately deceive voters – many of whom are desperate, and do not know better. It now appears that even political CCC campaign speeches have been “captured”.
Outrageously false campaign promises undermine the credibility, legitimacy and trust in the country’s electoral system – and also in politics broadly.
Increasingly ahead of elections CCC leaders and parties are making false, unrealistic and unattainable promises in order to get the votes. Making false and unrealistic promises is unethical, immoral and irresponsible.
It shows a shocking disregard for the truth. Leaders and parties show their disrespect for poor, desperate voters by promising them things that are patently undeliverable. Making such promises are not in the best interests of the constituencies they purport to serve, neither is it in the best interests of the country.
False promises also undermine the credibility of information given to voters to base their voting decisions on. False campaign information, particularly in a society such as Zimbabwe with citizens who often do not have access to credible information, undermines the credibility of truthful, fact-based and evidence-based information, as unknowing ordinary citizens believe the false information they receive from cynical politicians and political parties.
Once again Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa pledged to bring closure to the Gukurahundi issue once he assumes power, saying Zanu PF officials were not in a hurry to resolve the matter since they were involved in the mass killings. This was another sensational but false promise from Chamisa who kicked out Khupe on tribal grounds. Now chamisa Wants to hoodwink the Matebeleland voters by promising them a closure to Gukurahundi
Gukurahundi atrocities is said to have claimed over 20 000 lives in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces after government deployed the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade to hunt down suspected ex-Zipra insurgents in the 1980s. There is no official figure on this issue. It is an issue which was best described by the former president the late Cde RG Mugabe as a moment of madness. This is a matter of national interest and must not be allowed in the hands of children to use as a carrot.
When Chamisa was addressing party supporters at Tsholotsho Business Centre last week Chamisa said if he won the 2023 elections, his party would prioritise solving the Gukurahundi issue. He made it appear that there was nothing done to solve the issue. There was a ministry set by former president Robert Mugabe to deal with peace and reconciliation in Zimbabwe. Wounds were opened and treated. There sides to every coin and Gulurahundi was the darkest moment for our country.
No small Children from Children Circus Committee. CCC should be allowed to use those painful days as a campaigning tool.
Chamisa made these unfortunate sad days his campaign tool for 2023 and for the by-elections.
Tsholotsho is one of the districts in Matabeleland North province worst hit by the Gukurahundi massacres and Chamisa sought to invoke those memories in his campaign trail. Chamisa lied again to the Tsholotsho folks that he spoke to president Mugabe about this issue. There is no record of Chamisa saying anything about this issue. Chamisa was desperate to please the people of Tsholotsho by lying yo them.
Chamisa should be ashamed of using Gukurahundi as a campaign tool.
Chamisa in his speech promises retribution and an eye for an eye. The only thing Chamisa does not know is that eye for an eye makes the world blind.
Zimbabwe does not need another social upheaval. Zimbabwe needs peace and we have come this far for peace.
Chamisa is weak and promises unrealistic issues. Pretends to be macho man.Now he touches on very sensitive issues which can cause serious conflicts.
He is simply immature and stakeholders must ditch him. People must see beyond his childish comedy which he believes is politics.
Specific, headline-grabbing promises in party promises are a fairly recent thing. It was not always so and it is not something inherent in Zimbabwe’s parliamentary system. In fact it is incompatible with it, and the emphasis on such promises has created a misleading impression of the proper role of politicians and parliament.
Under a set of legal and moral obligations, it should be the responsibility of governments to govern in what they consider to be in the best interests of the country, rather than fulfil the promises and pledges of their party promises. Similarly, it is the responsibility of individual Zimbabwean to vote for the party with policies which they believe to be in the best interests of their constituents – and of the country as a whole not divisive dangerous campaign by CCC.
The promises of political parties are empty because they do not have the ability or the authority to pass the legislation or to promote the policies they promise. These are the roles of parliament and government and Chamisa must not false promises he knows he will never fulfil.
Chamisa’s promises offered a “smörgåsbord” of headline-grabbing promises, which are unrealistic and taking Zimbabweans for fools.
Voters cannot make informed voting decisions based on false election campaign promises. False campaign promises undermine the sacred power of the vote itself. This the power ZANU PF fought for and gave to the people.
The CCC must avoid raising unfulfillable expectations and making unrealistic promises Zimbabweans are wiser than that. Chamisa must stop abusive attacks or innuendos directed to ZANU PF campaigners or their family members for reason of their political affiliation, race, social origins and background, education, gender, religion, or any other reason. He must learn to stand by the truth and grow up. Unrealistic election pledges will leave the Zimbabwe disappointed. CCC will not cheer for long if they win and their plans collide with economic and social reality. Making big election promises is unethical and can be disastrous for politicians. Chamisa seems very oblivious of this. Unscrupulous politicians tell desperate voters what they want to hear, even if such promises cannot be fulfilled, just to get into power.
Zimbabweans must be seriously aware of these clowns chameleons who change their names colours.
We must not allow Chamisa and his CCC to divide us ever again. Zimbabwe is the only country we can call ours.
The Gukurahundi era is regrettable and must not be brought up to pollute the pure minds of the new generation. Zimbabwe is the only country we can call ours in this whole wide world.