Karl wa Chamunorwa | Watching the Zanu pf meetings and conferences is a sickening experience that always compels me to ask whether voting is really for everyone. My question is, should voting rights be granted only to a certain class of people or we should just sacrifice our life and future to uneducated, easy to control and politically blindfolded people in the name of democracy. I think that, politically ignorant people should not be allowed to vote. Voting rights should be enjoyed by educated people who are able to discuss and understand the policies for which their political candidates stand for. Voting should be for people who can think critically and make wise decisions.
My working definition of ignorant is the WordWeb definition that defines ignorant as, “Uneducated in the fundamentals of a given art or branch of learning; lacking knowledge of a specific field”. People who are politically ignorant should not vote. Voting rights should only be limited to intellectual ability not simple criteria like citizenry and age.
Zanu Pf has 3 classes of people. The first one is comprised of big wigs. These are usually in the government or just associates in the whole game of stealing. They reap and get it big. They steal large sums of money and benefit from the rotten system on a grand scale. The second group is composed of those who feed on crumbs falling from the big guys table. This class also includes brain-washed civil servants and they think that they are in control and feel to be part of the ruling elite. A huge percentage in this group comes from the security forces. They are not happy or satisfied in their position yet they feel contend when they abuse their borrowed power on non Zanu pf members. The last and third class is full of blind followers who neither benefit nor have the chance to enjoy borrowed powers. This unfortunately is the voting majority who toil and dance at rallies so that the first class guys get elected. If they misbehave or become uncontrollable like the war veterans, the first class can use the second class to control or use ‘minimal force’ to just ‘remind’ or should I say, ‘put them into their place’. The last group is so big yet so powerless. They dance and sing at rallies on empty stomachs and never realise or open their eyes. These are the people that I think should not be allowed to vote. Representative democracy isn’t the best form of government.
If I were to ask you to ingest an unknown medicine from someone who knew nothing about the medical field, you probably wouldn’t do it. And I doubt many of us would feel comfortable as a shareholder in a company that asked people who knew nothing about business to hire its next CEO. Looking at Zanu pf third class, I now think that voting rights should be for those people who really understand what it means to vote. This class gleefully reflect their ignorance on politics. They don’t have time to find out what the current issues are or even know how the government works, but go out and vote. They believe cheap politicking by the first class, clapping hands and cheering at rallies to messages delivered in deep English that they don’t even understand. Come elections they blindly vote whilst still intoxicated by campaign mantra and don’t have the mental capacity to look into the future. Some of them go to the extent of voting for or against candidates because of their visual appearance. They don’t know basic economics, science, history and politics. They lack access to information and exposure such that they think what is around them is the alpha and omega of this world. And these are the people we trust our lives and future with. Many times they influence decisions due to their numbers. One fundamental bungle with representative democracy is the belief that what the majority wants is good for everyone including the minority groups. This is one of the reasons why we have discrimination of minority groups by the majority.
I am not advocating for some sort of elitism. Neither am I saying one needs to be a philosopher or an Albert Einstein to vote. But it helps a lot to have voters who can at least dissect issues and understand how the 3 arms of government work. That’s why we have some people diverting government money to fund party activities. They don’t know the differences between a party, government and state. It’s so damaging to a country to have a bunch of ignorant voters hitting the polls and they are duped in and out yet they possess very important powers (voting powers). It’s up to Zimbabwe as a country to decide on the criteria. That’s another area for discussion. The big move is to remove every Tom and Jerry from a very important seat that affects people’s lives.
We wouldn’t issue a driver’s license to someone unable to pass the written test, knowing the potential damage that person could do behind the wheel. Why do we look at voting differently? Just because one happens to be a citizen over 18 doesn’t guarantee you the right to take part in such a serious decision making opportunity. Voting is so important such that only those who understand it should be given the right to exercise it. I know a lot of critics will argue that it’s elitist, against what people fought for and overall, undemocratic. But for your own information, democracy is not the only form of government. Colonel Muamar Gadhafi’s popular conferences and people’s committees are better forms of government than the representative democracy that we have. If at least 50-73 percent of the population in most democratic nations don’t exactly understand what voting is, what about Africa and Zimbabwe in particular. You have this group of people, whose only qualification for such an important task is being over 18 years, dragging the country into a quagmire. I personally think that voting is very important and it should be done by people who know it. These are the people who understand life after casting a mere X at the polling station. To have a bunch of people who vote using their stomachs and can be duped easily is unproductive, undemocratic, and sickening to those who know politics.
@Karl wa Chamunorwa can be reached at [email protected]
“Voting rights should be enjoyed by educated people who are able to discuss and understand the policies for which their political candidates stand for. Voting should be for people who can think critically and make wise decisions,” you said.
This is the argument we use to deny those under the age of 18 years the right to vote. The minute you extend the argument beyond the age limit it becomes a problem because it because an incentive to keep the ignorant, ignorant and thus deny them a meaningful say in the governance of the country. This is exactly what we had before independence!
Giving everyone above the age of 18 the right to vote has not worked because the Zanu PF regime has deliberately kept the masses ignorant by stifling all debate, democratic competition and denying them freedom of expression and a free media. The regime has gone on further and used dirty vote rigging tactics to force the people to vote for it or else falsify the result to create the impression the people voted for it.
The solution to our flawed electoral system is to reform it so that everyone is well informed and the election process is free, fair and credible. The wheel is a great invention and it works; we should not try to re-invent the wheel just because we have people, for their own selfish reasons, are not using it properly.