Kennedy Mavhumashava

Kenyan politician, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and millions of his supporters are celebrating his stunning electoral victory in last week’s elections, with the resonance of their party being heard as far south as Number 44, Nelson Mandela Avenue in Harare.

Mr Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister going into the elections, soundly beat Mr Raila Odinga to the presidency by a staggering 832 887 votes. The Jubilee Alliance leader polled 6 173 433 votes or 50,07 percent of the valid vote to Mr Odinga of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) who got 5 340 546 or 43,31 percent. While the difference between the two frontrunners’ individual tallies is decidedly huge, Mr Kenyatta only scrapped through the 50-percent-plus-one constitutional threshold to avoid a run-off by just 4 099 ballots.

They both structured coalitions for the poll. Mr Kenyatta and his party, The National Alliance, united with others to form the Jubilee Alliance. On the other hand, Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement          had its own pact, which campaigned under Cord.

For Mr Kenyatta, it was a massive feat that looked daunting for any candidate to achieve if one considered the fact there were five more presidential candidates. Such a large field of candidates, pollsters calculated, had potential to split the vote, thus frustrate a 50-percent-plus-one performance. Indeed, the five smaller candidates garnered a cumulative 707 047 votes.

Mr Kenyatta (51), went into the elections with a sword hanging over his head. It is still there, only now it is hanging over the head of a president-elect. He is wanted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 2007-8 politically motivated violence that left at least 1 200 Kenyans dead.  His indictment made him a butt of sinister jokes from his opponents, particularly, Mr Odinga who used to say Mr Kenyatta would rule Kenya if he won the elections by Skype from The Hague.

Mr Odinga (68) enjoys western support, like the leader of the party headquartered at Number 44 Nelson Mandela Avenue, Harvest House in Harare, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai. So the west wanted him to win, though most opinion polls always gave his main rival the edge, a few others projecting a tie and a run-off thereafter.

Mr Odinga is Mr Tsvangirai’s friend. Some say he is his closest. Their relationship derives much from the nature of their politics and the primary influence behind it. The Kenyan opposition politician was in Bulawayo in late April 2010 at the invitation of Mr Tsvangirai to officiate as guest of honour at the MDC-T congress. He is probably the first foreign politician to perform that function at an MDC-T congress since the formation of the party 14 years ago.

In his speech at Barbourfields Stadium, he spoke of the so-called second liberation of Africa, that euphemism for acceptance of neo-liberalism and diligent subordination of Africa to western dictates. Mr Tsvangirai also subscribes to that view, as does Malawi president, Ms Joyce Banda in Sadc. She has spoken about this liberation a number of times. Genuine liberation movements which fought bitter, protracted armed struggles, which killed hundreds of thousands and injured as many find the “second liberation” narrative offensive.

Said Mr Odinga:

“That a constitution is indispensable in a modern society is underlined by the fact that the struggle for the second liberation in Africa, which began in the early 1980s, has centred on demand for the enactment of new constitutions. That was our aim in Kenya and it is no less true of Zimbabwe. We have seen that the mere re-introduction of multi-party politics in Africa, after decades of single-party and military dictatorships, has not solved the governance problem. We have seen that multi-party elections alone will not propel us from institutionalised authoritarian systems to more democratic modes of governance.”

Substitute Kenya for Zimbabwe and his speech reads like Mr Tsvangirai’s. A new constitution and a message of “democratic” governance failed to deliver the Kenyan presidency to him.

Mr Odinga has made more direct disparaging remarks on Zimbabwe, particularly Zanu-PF, but this defeat is sure to deflate his ego. In defeat, he is bound to look much more at himself, his party and coalition, than outside his country. It means fewer, muted noises directed at Zimbabwe from East Africa.

Therefore, judging from their ideological and personal closeness, a victory for Mr Odinga was billed to be a moral booster for his Zimbabwean friend, equally a pro-west politician, who is prime minister in an inclusive government and whose party is also a “democratic movement”.

By and large, Mr Kenyatta’s politics, like his first name, leans towards the nationalistic. Uhuru means “freedom” and “independence” in Swahili. Many derivatives of uhuru in a host of other Bantu languages communicate the same fundamental message.

That nationalistic tone was evident in his campaign and his victory speech on Saturday.

At some point, his Jubilee Alliance running mate, Mr William Ruto, issued a statement expressing anger over western machinations to direct the electoral process in Kenya saying: “We are very concerned at the level of involvement of ambassadors and foreigners canvassing for various positions in these elections. We know for sure that certain embassies have had positions in respect to these elections. We are deeply concerned about the shadowy, suspicious and rather animated involvement of the British High Commissioner in Kenya’s election.”

On Saturday Mr Kenyatta said:

“We expect the international community to respect the sovereignty and democratic will of the people of Kenya. The Africa star is shining brightly and the destiny of Africa is now in our hands.”

It is unclear whether his nationalistic stance will be sustained or it is simply a response to his present circumstances of a man being haunted by a western instrument of control — the ICC — and whose campaign was under attack by westerners.

We have learnt this lesson before and we got it again in the Kenyan elections — that western machinations are a present and continuing feature in African politics.  Zimbabwe — which is heading for her own elections shortly, learnt that western support for any party can be defeated. A record turnout of about 86 percent of the registered 14,3 million Kenyans voted against an inclusive government and a pro-west prime minister.

Technology, we also learnt, does not necessarily make elections more efficient and transparent. It can fail too and it did in Kenya.  A nationwide system failure put a dent to the much-touted “Silicon Savannah” (named after the seat of technological innovation in the US, Silicon Valley in California) in the east African country. It meant ballots had to be transported to the capital Nairobi for tallying and counting. This posed logistical headaches, delays and a crisis of confidence among Kenyans. Mr Odinga is raising issues with technology, among other factors, in his Supreme Court challenge of the election results.

In the US in their November 2012 election, there was also a technological glitch. It was on a much smaller scale, but most hilarious.  Former Republican President, George W Bush voted “by mistake” for a Democratic Party presidential candidate, Mr Barack Obama after he had been “confused” by the instructions on his electronic voting machine. He mistakenly cast a ballot he intended to discard and went on to blame the “incompetence” of the firm that designed the system, not his own.

“Yes, unfortunately because of the incompetence of the folks who designed the ballot, my vote counted for the other guy,” Mr Bush admitted when a reporter inquired.

“First of all, everything was very mis-maladjusted (sic) on the screen. You shouldn’t put the senators and the congress people and the presidents all jumbled together like that. It’s too crowded. Just confuses folks.”

After marking the wrong candidate, he tried to correct his error by clicking the red “Cast Ballot” button, thinking that it was designed to “cast away” the ballot and bring up a fresh one.

“Usually,” he continued, “red means stop and green means go. I thought I was stopping.”

Local authorities’ core business is to provide services to their respective residents. The essential services residents expect from their councils include among others, provision of water, collection of refuse and road maintenance.

The councils are also expected to provide health services at their clinics and also run schools. The residents on their part are expected to pay water and other service charges, bills and rates.

The mandate of councillors therefore is to ensure that residents are provided with these essential services and that the service delivery is as efficient as possible. Councils’ failure to provide these essential services could result in a disaster. There is therefore a need for proper forward planning to avoid a breakdown in service delivery.

The councillors led by the mayor or chairperson should see to it that council workers deliver to expectations.

Zimbabwe witnessed one of the worst cholera outbreaks in 2008 that claimed more than 4 000 lives throughout the country and this was largely blamed on poor sanitation.

The worst affected was Harare and this prompted non-governmental organisations to intervene and assist in improving sanitation and water provision. This saw organisations such as Unicef providing water treatment chemicals to local authorities.

We have already alluded to the fact that it is the responsibility of councils to provide safe drinking water to residents and assistance in providing water treatment chemicals by Unicef for example, should be regarded as just a temporary relief and not permanent arrangement.

Councils should set aside adequate resources for water treatment chemicals in their budgets every year.

Announcement by the Bulawayo City Council that it is fast running out of water treatment chemicals should be a cause for concern.

According to our sister paper Sunday News, the local authority is left with 23 days’ supply of chemicals yet the ideal situation is to hold a six-month supply.

The Mayor, Clr Thaba Moyo, tried to play down the city’s precarious position, saying there was no need to panic because three weeks was a long time. The city engineer Mr Simela Dube who is an expert in water provision, has already pressed the panic button.

In his urgent email to the Town Clerk, Mr Middleton Nyoni, Engineer Dube said there was urgent need to take action to address the problem of fast dwindling stocks of water treatment chemicals. He said the city had moved from holding a six-month supply to just 23 days.

Bulawayo, we want to believe, was not seriously affected by the cholera outbreak which affected other cities and towns mainly because the council managed to maintain a high level of hygiene due to good sanitation and constant provision of safe drinking water.

We do not want to witness an outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases in the city because of council’s failure to treat water. The 23 days supply is just too little and there is need for council to prioritise the buying of water treatment chemicals.

Council should maintain the six- month supply given the cumbersome process involved in the buying and delivery of the chemicals. The city fathers should take seriously Eng Dube’s panic.

The council has over the years found it difficult to raise adequate working capital and for Clr Moyo to claim that council will be able to mobilise adequate resources to replenish the water treatment chemicals in just 23 days, is playing dangerous games with the residents’ lives.

The council needs to source the required funding from within and outside before it is too late. We want to once again implore local authorities such as Bulawayo to plan ahead and avoid putting the residents’ lives at       risk.

Panganai Kahuni

Africans suffered immensely; Africans endured helplessly western ill-treatment even in churches where, before God, humans are supposed to be equal. Africa suffered mental, physical, sociological, cultural and spiritual western torture and yet perpetrators of these inhuman acts are coming back as messiahs of hope under the guise of democracy, rule of law and good governance. Sadly, some Zimbabweans do not see how the EU is treating them as buffoons in its quest of advancing EU interests. Today, the EU continues to profit on its buffoonish strategy using neo-liberal politicians, academics and civil societies for regime change in developing countries.

History tells us that on the coastline of Ghana, Europeans constructed a tall building that was used for warehousing Africans who were captured for slavery. Imagine fellow Africans being driven to a warehouse like animals. In this building the natives were warehoused on the ground floor where they were not allowed to visit any form of a latrine. They lived together like pigs, cramped in human sludge, standing waiting for their time to be loaded into a vessel destined for Europe or America where they were employed as free labour.

Ironically, European priests established a church just above the slave warehouse, which they used for praying for slaves to arrive safely to their slave destination. The main objective of the prayers was to make sure that the slaves arrive in Europe and America alive. The questions that arise are does it sound inhuman to be treated in this manner? Were the prayers not the start of satanism?

A buffoon is an individual who is usable or controlled like a drone or pon on a chase board to behave in a manner the controller likes. A buffoon regardless of his/her academic stature does not reason in a constructive manner. Many African neo-liberal scholars and politicians are easily used as buffoons by the west especially the European Union. Most neo-liberal academics and politicians behave in a buffoonistic way whenever they relate with Europeans.

Europe and America continue to profit in Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular on the theory of divide and rule. This theory has been applied effectively through the use of money by the west. Most Africans, especially Zimbabweans in the MDC formations, have been severely affected by this buffoonistic theory as the Europeans easily use them to do things that hurt their fellow citizens in order to receive thirty pieces of silver.

Fellow citizens, remember how Zimbabwe’s economy was intelligently destroyed by the west through the illegally economic sanctions that were imposed at the behest of the MDC formations? Remember how the MDCs carefully orchestrated violence under the guise of freedom of assembly? Remember how the buffoons in the so-called highly educated MDC formations spearheaded mass stay aways: destroying mainly indigenous businesses in western suburbs.

In fact, most of the political activities of the MDC formations radiated mainly on falsehoods and violence that was targeted at blacks in western suburbs. It was buffoons fighting their own while Whites watched grinning or smiling while neo-liberal Zimbabwean MDC political activists committed genocide in townships. Fellow Zimbabweans, remember the petrol bombs that rocked western suburbs? Remember the bussing of violent individuals to commit acts of violence in rural areas, all with an objective of making the EU have a case against Zimbabwe whenever there was an international conference. Fellow Zimbabweans, remember Pieter Willem Botha’s statement while addressing the Apartheid Parliament in South Africa (1985) where he said “lizards were not crocodiles as Africans were not humans being as whites”. This reminds me of words of a colonial European historian Henry Johnson(1966) who said: “An African is possessed of great physical strength, docility, cheerfulness of disposition, short memory for sorrows and cruelty, he has no sympathy for other Negroes. He recognises, follows and imitates his master. Is this not what we see happening in the MDC formations where they always behave in favour of EU interests? Does this not vindicate President Mugabe when he said the MDCs were mouthpieces of the west?

Zimbabwe fought a bitter struggle where thousands of people died and yet some of our people, hardly a quarter of a century, have forgotten or do not care about what happened during the struggle. Some born frees do not care about reading the history of the liberation struggle and yet sing the European history. Some scholars, intellectuals and academics damn the history of our great nation and yet they empathise with European values. Some urbanites no longer value African traditions and cultures and yet endorse those from Europe and America.

It is saddening how fast some of our people have forgotten the reasons why we waged a revolution to liberate ourselves; opting to embrace the same colonial principles against which we fought. The cabinet which is the executive organ of the inclusive political power in Zimbabwe directed the Co-Home Affairs Ministers to investigate the inferno in Headlands. However, before the investigation results were presented to cabinet, the MDC-T engaged itself on an illegal regional diplomatic crusade to confuse SADC. The MDC-T Co-Home Affairs Minister gave Media interviews and talked about the upsurge in violence in Zimbabwe. Minister Theresa Makone and her MDC-T colleagues’ utterances should be viewed as contempt of the cabinet authority; demonstrating their disrespect of a sovereign institution of governance opting for foreign actors to solve our problems. For how long are they going to be seeking for foreign actors to intervene on internal issues that are on the path of being solved? If they can’t follow through governance issues to conclusions how then do they dream of ruling Zimbabwe?

It was saddening to hear Minister Matinenga demonising the police arrest of people who distribute and listen to pirate radio stations. This was in Gweru where he had gone to talk about the constitution. It was also saddening to hear the same Minister skirting  the question that was asked by one of the attendants on whether pirate radio stations were not banished by the GPA. Do you see any resonance of Matinenga’s comments and that of the British Ambassador?

Fellow Zimbabweans, when a person of the stature of an advocate deliberately misinterprets legal issues well spelt out in the GPA what more of a lay person? The MDC formations have legal technocrats that are surprisingly treated as buffoons by the European Union in order for them to champion foreign interests. The only reform they asymmetrically interpret is the security sector reform. Their main idea here is to weaken the state security so as to allow Europe and America to once again colonise Zimbabwe.

The recent MDC-T so-called regional diplomatic outreach was an EU buffoonish strategy that they are employing against Zimbabwe. It is the same divide and rule strategy that was applied during colonial days that is being applied differently today. The main objective of the MDC-T diplomatic crusade is to enhance the divide and rule theory. Fellow citizens, remember how the theory of divide and rule nearly divided SADC in Livingstone when Tsvangirai lied to President Zuma during a traditional ceremony in the rural home of President Zuma? Remember when the MDC-T sought to gain political mileage by engaging the same diplomatic outreach before the Livingstone summit. I just hope Zanu- PF has not gone to sleep over it.

The so-called MDC-T regional diplomatic outreaches are masterminded by the former Rhodesian Selous Scouts. These are the architects of divide and rule tactics which they were thoroughly schooled by Alan “Taffy” Brice, an SAS assassin who held dual British and Rhodesian citizenships. Fellow Zimbabweans, read the book See You In November for you to understand more about this notorious Rhodesian Selous Scout. It would not be surprising that those who advocate for dual citizenship are taking the idea from this Rhodesian satanic soldier who held several citizenships. This writer finds it difficult to understand the MDC formations’ resonation with the unrepentant ex-Rhodesian Selous Scouts.

These murderous individuals cannot mentor Zimbabweans on real democracy and rule of law, never. If the EU believes in African adulthood then that must be demonstrated by refraining from treating some Zimbabweans as buffoons. As Zimbabweans, we must take offence to anything that reminds us of colonial patronage which we and our grandfathers and mothers endured helplessly. Let the EU not treat any of our fellow Zimbabweans as buffoons so as to neo colonise us. That shall be resisted. Let some of the born frees and some urbanites be wary of the West’s divide and rule strategy. Be alert, Icho!

l Panganai Kahuni is a political socio-economic commentator

Peter Kagwanja

The triumphant end of Kenya’s March 4 election is a masterstroke achievement in peace diplomacy. It is also a monumental triumph of democracy.

Coming against the backdrop of the 2008 national mayhem and shame, a peaceful democratic election is what Kenya needed to reclaim its glory as a stable and modern multi-party state.

Kenya’s democracy may have bounced back from the setbacks of the 2008 post-election dispute and violence, and is now on the surge. But a very close race, coupled with an electorate polarised along ethnic lines, has left in its wake a divided Kenyan nation in dire need of healing and reconciliation.

The road to the election was mined by insidious fears that the nightmare of the past cycles of post-election violence would happen again, potentially rolling back one of Africa’s better multi-party democracies.

Feeding these fears were waves of militia violence in old and new flashpoints from communal violence in the Tana Delta to the cattle-rustling and massacre in Baragoi to internecine strife in Nairobi’s Mathare slums fed by long-standing grievances.

Additionally, the reappearance of old militias and formation of new ones like the secessionist movement, the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), posed serious threats to electoral stability.

The MRC called for poll boycott, its military wing attacked election officers and recently killed 14 people in Changamwe, Mombasa. A reformed police force acted swiftly and reined in the MRC menace, fostering an environment of stability.

Kenya’s fragmented political elite campaigned along ethnic lines, polarising the Kenyan electorate. The three main alliances competing in the elections  — Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD), Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Alliance and Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani Coalition — were no more than blocs of Kenya’s five main ethnic communities adding up to over 70 pc of the country’s 40 million people.

Perhaps the largest and most cohesive ethnic bloc was Mr Kenyatta’s Jubilee Alliance based on the Kikuyu (22 pc), the allied Meru (6 pc) and Embu (1,5 pc) and the Kalenjin (12 pc).

Mr Odinga’s CORD was a last-minute move to bring together the Luo (13 pc) and the Kamba (11 pc) led by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Although hewed almost exclusively from Kenya’s second largest community, the Luhya (14 pc), Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani Coalition remained a less cohesive bloc.

As these ethnic blocs rolled out their campaigns, they transformed their ethnic turfs into Jamaica-style garrison communities”. As the badly flawed party nominations process revealed, this strategy has exerted a heavy toll on internal democracy within parties and ethnic enclaves.

As opinion polls reported a neck-and-neck contest between Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta, a convincing victory of over 50 percent plus one                 as required by the constitution became absolutely necessary to break the jinx of the 2007 disputed presidential election to avoid a national meltdown.

Manifestos of party coalitions clearly focused on such developmental issues as job creation, health, agriculture, education and infrastructure. But all the three main political formations campaigned on a different logic.

The biographer of former President Daniel         arap Moi, Andrew Morton, might have been sardonic when he noted in 1998 that “land and tribe” are the “two mighty rivers of Kenya’s political landscape”.

“Land” and “ethnic” grievances dominated the campaigns as two wedge issues instrumentally used to consolidate ethnic blocs.

Paradoxically, the ICC cases against Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto, became a formidable fault line that helped forge a common alliance between the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin, thus reducing the risk of violence in flashpoints in the Rift Valley.

Similarly, the Cord Coalition tapped into the politics of grievances relating to land to win the hearts, minds and votes of marginalised communities and ethnic minorities, thus dominating large swathes of the Coast, Eastern, Western Kenya, Nairobi and Nyanza regions.

As such, one of the salient challenges in post-election state-building and reconstruction is how to demobilise ethnic politics and return to integrative politics based on a pan-Kenyan vision and “national consensus”.

In its aftermath, the election has tested Kenya’s reformed institutions to the limit. Notably, the election was perhaps the single most important step in the implementation of the structures created by the new constitution.

The supreme law doubled the number of contested positions from three to six with the electorate expected to directly elect a president (and his running mate), a total of 290 members of the National Assembly and 47 women’s representatives, senators and governors and members of the 47 county assemblies.

The IEBC performed above average in managing the election despite serious technological glitches.

The coming into force of the new national and devolved government structures after the elections is expected to dismantle the entrenched culture of “imperial presidency” and the patronage networks, thus reducing tensions at the national level and transforming how power and resources are shared at the national and county levels.

The election heralds the coming of age of a national democratic culture.

The failure of the much-touted “third force” to take off, coupled with the poor show by fringe parties during the elections reduced the elections, reduced the contest into a two-horse race between Cord and Jubilee.

This has potentially turned Kenya into a de facto two-party democracy at the national level. However, small local parties remain important in many counties.

In the emerging web of party relations where governors, senators, and county representatives may come from diverse parties, bridge-building is required to make the new government work.

Some pundits predicted a scenario of legal challenges to the election and potential melt-down, but the election is a triumph of peace. The decision by the incumbent, President Mwai Kibaki, to remain “neutral” in the succession tussle has helped calm the electoral environment.

Sustained peace efforts by the media, political class and by ordinary peace advocates and organisers in multi-ethnic spaces in rural areas and urban slums like Kibera and Mathare helped ease tensions and establish mechanisms of resolving conflict.

Further, a sharp international spotlight on Kenya served to deter the threat of violence.

But the election results which show an almost even divide between Jubilee (50,3%) and the rest (49,97%) have, indisputably, left a nation divided along a delicate majority-minority fault line.

Strategically, the country must reconcile Mutahi Ngunyi’s “tyranny of numbers” with the dictates of an inclusive democracy to unite and build a just and stable future.

Kenya’s fourth Republic must invest in nation healing, reconciliation and bridge-building strategies as the basis of a just, united and prosperous Kenyan House. — www.nation.ke

l Professor Peter Kagwanja is a Kenyan academic

The bottom line of sporting facilities is that the world’s grandiose stadia are much more than simply infrastructure for giving the local team a place to play and music stars a stage to perform on.

Jephiter Tsamwi

Sometime last year, the debate on whether condoms should be given to schoolchildren made headlines but surprisingly, the topic died without tangible and conclusive results.

Gibson Mhaka

A recent meeting in Harare by women from different political parties to discuss how they can use the forthcoming referendum and harmonised elections to politically empower themselves highlighted that women across the political divide feel under-represented in decision-making processes.

Martin Stobart

It is an established truism that a myth, repeated often enough, can easily be assumed to be the truth.

As the count-down to the constitutional referendum gathers momentum, the din of accusations

Stephen Mpofu

ZIMBABWE has certainly reached a critical milestone in her political development with a referendum on a new constitution just a week away and harmonised elections within earshot, but the country should expect vicious political kickboxing by countries that have been denied an observer status in the two processes when their known heinous desire is to have this country as their Other.

Zimbabweans will on Saturday next week vote in a referendum to either endorse or reject the proposed draft constitution. The Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee (Copac) has for the past two weeks been holding publicity campaigns throughout the country to explain  the provisions of the draft constitution.

Non-governmental organisations are also assisting in the campaigns. The three parties in the inclusive Government are also holding meetings to explain the provisions of the draft constitution as well as campaign for the “Yes” vote.

Government institutions such as the district administrators and provincial administrators’ offices are assisting in distributing copies of the draft constitution. The objective is to ensure that before the voting on 16 March, the people know what they are voting for and as such can make an informed decision.

It is our fervent hope that with just a week before the holding of the referendum, most of the logistics to do with the holding of the referendum are now in place.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should have by now identified the 9 000 polling stations, mobilised all the required voting material, secured adequate transport and other such requirements. What the nation is looking forward to is the successful holding of the referendum which is a precursor to the general elections scheduled for later this year.

The challenge to ZEC therefore is to ensure that everything is in place to enable it to hold a successful referendum. Zimbabwe has since the announcement of the referendum date been on the spotlight.

The country’s detractors are already trying to put spanners in the works to spoil the referendum. The western countries such as Britain, are already pre-judging the polls saying they can only be free and fair if the European Union observers are invited.

The Government has already said it is not inviting the EU and US observers but has invited observers from Sadc, Comesa, the African Union and other friendly countries. The countries that have not been invited to observe the referendum are obviously looking for shortcomings to rubbish the whole electoral process.

The referendum polling is over one day with polling stations opening at 7am and closing at 7pm. ZEC should put in place mechanisms to ensure that all those intending to vote are able to do so between 7am and 7pm.

In the past, opening of polling stations has been delayed by logistical challenges such as late delivery of voting material. This time it must be all systems go come 16 March. The polling officers should be at their respective working stations well in advance so should be the voting materials.

The system should be able to react swiftly to changing circumstances given the fact that people are free to vote at any polling station. What this means is that some polling stations might find themselves with numbers far higher than they were expecting and as we have said, the response to such changed circumstance should be swift.

The referendum has once again afforded the country an opportunity to demonstrate that it has the capacity to handle events of this magnitude. What is comforting is that the country has already shamed the prophets of doom by going ahead with the referendum without outside funding. The Government has announced that it has mobilised adequate resources for the referendum from within and this is as it should be.

The country’s resources should be able to fund such important national events so that the holding of such events is not influenced by outsiders.

We want to once again implore ZEC to ensure the referendum is hitch free.

THE tragic death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (58), who succumbed to cancer after a two-year battle with the disease on Tuesday, leaves a void that will be hard to  fill and is a blow to the oppressed and downtrodden people of the world who have endured the yoke of imperialism for so long.