By Dr Masimba Mavaza | This year our nation will once again have its quinquennium experience of choosing its representatives in a harmonised elections.
Elections are a periodically occurance whose impact reverbets over many years. In most cases, such impact outlives the five-year electoral cycle and affects even unborn or yet to live generations. It is for that reason that we implore Zimbabweans to excercise their vote with deep thought and with a sense of responsibility. This must involve evidence-driven balloting which rises above political gymicking and posturing.
Zanu PF and CCC will be the main political actors in this election. We must look at what these two parties have to offer. In so doing we must look at what they have offered in the past, what they are offering now, as that analysis is the only thing that can give us a credible prediction of what to expect should either party emerge the victor in the election.
It is important to dispel from the outset the notion that CCC is just the oppsition. Such notion is just too simplistic. While Zanu PF is in power in national government, CCC is in power in the majority of major urban centers where Zanu PF is in opposition. For that reason we are comparing like-for-like in that both parties have had decades of governance experience of one way or the other.
Historically Zanu PF is credited with ushering universal education and with universal health in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. It has one of the most-skilled workforce in the world. This achievement did not and cannot occur automatically. It incurred through planning, through intentionality and above all through a sense of service by Zanu PF to the people of Zimbabwe. This is a historic achievement we must applaud.
Similarly, while Americans have an intractable problem about their health provision and are fighting over Obama Care issues and the cost of health insurance in the richest nation in the world; while the National Health Care System in the UK is sick and struck with crisis after crisis, Zimbabweans around the country take free care for granted. We have clinics and health centres for every ward, including in rural areas.
It is true that in recent years both our health abd education infustructure has suffered from the crippling effects of illegal sanctions and from world-wide phenomenon such as the crush in the world economy, international wars and pandemics. The main point is that Zanu PF put in place a system of health and education that has not been paralleled. Save for temporal challenges, we have some of the greatest foundations which are an envy even to the so-called first world countries. It is no surprise that the only people who scorn at our health system are the opposition. In Zimbabwe you can wait for an hour to see a doctor. In England it will be months. Zimbabwe is all covered in achievements.
Thes achievements do not just relate to the past. The Second Republic has renovated schools in all provinces and renovated health centres.
Work is on-going on major highways to improve our people’s travel experience and to drive economic growth. These include the Bulawayo -Harare highway, the Beitbridge Harare Highway Mutare Harare highway and several high ways around Zimbabwe.
In the energy sector the work to increase energy capacity and output of the Hwange grid is on-going. In the face of power shortage in the whole world Zimbabwe is actually shaking the power problems off.
The Second Republic is building at least one dam in each province. In this regard the Second Republic has broken records. For example many governments before it, including pre- independence administrations planned but failed to execute the Gwayi-Shangani Water project. The Second Republic has.
In the land sector, dispossessed indigeanous people have been resettled in millions. The Second Republic empowers them with agricultural imputs via its successful Command Agriculture Programme. Zimbabwe has bounced back into being a bread basket again. This is not a miracle but toil and hard work by ZANU PF.
All these examples and more underline the credibility of Zanu PF’s loudable mantra which is ” no one and no place must be left behind”.
All the past and current achievements of Zanu Pf are an index of what the party will do when reelected. The leadership of ED MNANGAGWA. has been a hands on type of leadership.
Just let us look at CCC and its predicessor party the MDC. They have bern in power since 1995 in urban centres. They took over from Zanu PF thriving city centres and neighbourhoods. Their councillors have turned the towns and cities to lamentable stares with roads raveged by pot-holes and eye-sore city centres. Their councillors are profoundly corrupt and have a unique way of combining gross- incompetency with corruption. Look at the scandal in stand allication all over our urban centres. Not even a word of condemnation from their national leaders. That eloquent silence is so important because it is a hint of what will happen if CCC takes the reigns of national power. They will not tackle corruption because corruption is their singular badge in local government.
Zanu PF government has produced a blue print for the economy in the form of its National Economic Strategy and Vision 2030 . CCC does not even have a document describing how to elect its own president while clamouring to elect a national president.
For them the fact that CCC is policy-less and constitution-less is treated in a cavalier manner. To Zimbabweans it is the very height of insult and insolence that they would presume to run a state, with the intricacies of legislation, including a myriad of statutory instruments that are promulgated daily when its leaders do not buy in to the concept of policy and legislation.
Even as the election approaches CCC has presented no proposal for the country and no program for the economy, whose decline CCC contributes daily by inviting the continuity with sanctions.
Perhaps one of the biggest differences between the two parties, outside issues of competency, is the issue of patriotism. Zanu PF will govern, as it does, for and in the name of Zimbabwrans. CCC will govern for and in the name of its imperialist masters.
ZANU PF has always been for the people while CCC is controlled by a remote force which has no business of building Zimbabwe.
ZANU PF teaches us that Zimbabwe is the only country which we can call ours in the whole world. It came through blood and sweat so we need to handle it with care.
We need to vote wisely. Vote for ZANU PF.