EDITORIAL COMMENT: Chamisa should heed wise counsel from Elders Advocate Nelson Chamisa
Advocate Nelson Chamisa

Advocate Nelson Chamisa

IN African culture, the words and advice of elderly people are valued and cherished because of their wisdom. More often than not, their counsel is taken for the gospel truth.

Former United Nations secretary general Mr Kofi Annan, former President of Ireland, Mrs Mary Robinson and Algerian career diplomat Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi — who constitute The Elders (an independent group of global leaders that work together for peace and human rights) — were in Zimbabwe for the past three days and met President Mnangagwa, MDC Alliance presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba ahead of the July 30 elections.

Their mission was to assess the pre-election environment. From their remarks, it is clear that the Elders were satisfied with the prevailing peaceful environment ahead of polls and expressed confidence with the country’s preparedness to hold elections.

They described the atmosphere in the country as generally free, with all parties being able to exercise their rights to campaign freely. They, however, took exception to the abuse of female Zec commissioners by the MDC Alliance. The commissioners, who include Justice Chigumba, have been victims of consistent abuse with the vitriol getting vicious as the clock ticks towards the plebiscite.

The Elders also chided the MDC Alliance for making unreasonable demands to Zec. Addressing journalists in Harare at the end of their tour on Saturday, Mr Annan —who is also chair of The Elders and a Nobel Peace Laureate — said opposition political parties should stop making “unreasonable” demands to Zec as they risk inciting public unrest, which has the potential to spawn grave and unintended consequences.

He said parties who feel aggrieved by the conduct of the elections management body should seek legal recourse. Mr Annan said making unreasonable demands will only help to muddy the electoral process. “Politics is a tricky business. There are demands and there are demands.

“What is important is that we all play by the rules and we make reasonable demands; if we make demands which are unreasonable and which cannot be fulfilled, we are complicating the process. So, I would urge everyone to be reasonable and operate within the rules. Question where there is need for questions and if they feel aggrieved, use the legal mechanisms to get redress.

“But we should be careful of what we say and what we demand, because the main thing is not to incite. If you incite the population, you never know what happens and this is the last thing that the nation and the people of Zimbabwe need. No incitement! And I think they should stay within the code of conduct, but reasonable demands they should be able to make,” he said.

President Mnangagwa has also said if there is a political party that is not happy with the operations of Zec, it should approach the courts for redress.

Addressing Zanu-PF supporters in Mutare on Friday, President Mnangagwa said Zec was an independent body created   through parliamentary processes and does not take instructions from any political party.

The MDC Alliance has been making unsubstantiated claims that Zec is working with Zanu-PF to rig the elections. Mr Chamisa repeated the claims at a rally at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday, saying his party would not seek legal recourse to solve electoral grievances with Zec but would instead picket the Zec offices in order to stop the election.

He said “the people” would be the arbiter to his party’s concerns as he had lost trust in the Judiciary. “Yesterday (Friday), (President) Mnangagwa was now saying, Chamisa, if you are not happy, go to the courts. We are not dull; I will not go into your bedroom . . . I will not go that route. We will go to the people, and we will discuss this issue in the court of public opinion. Let the people decide. . .

“What we used to do at university, we will do times 10 (tenfold),” the youthful politician said in an incendiary speech to his party supporters. We find his remarks juvenile, reckless, regrettable and unfortunate coming as they do exactly a week before elections. By seeking to incite Zimbabweans to embark on an orgy of anarchy and violence to torpedo a democratic process, Mr Chamisa is subverting the will of the people.

We understand that politicians are given to making grandiose statements when faced with multitudes at rallies but Mr Chamisa must be made aware that the lofty position he occupies demands a degree of maturity and responsibility. Some of his supporters are simpletons who take his word for the gospel truth and could cause mayhem around the country.

We therefore appeal to Mr Chamisa to exercise restraint and desist from making inflammatory statements that could lead to anarchy. He should heed the wise counsel of the Elders.

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