Let us respect the people’s vote

The people have spoken- through the ballot box. Those who have lost should do bow out in dignity instead of wishing chaos in the country.

This smacks of the biblical story of two women who were fighting over a baby. The woman who knew it was not her baby wanted the baby cut in half while the real mother said it was better to give the baby to the other woman.

Zimbabwe is more important than individuals so no one should ever wish chaos to reign because he or she has lost an election. After all, we have elections every five years.

African Union observer mission leader Olusegun Obasanjo was today reported to have said: “I have been able to witness an election that is free…yes there are incidences here and there but they are not incidences that will flaw the election to the point of not reflecting the will of the people of this country, so we wish all the people of this country all the best.”

Southern African Development Community observer mission chairperson Adv. Notemba Tjipuejan said the elections were “peaceful, credible and efficient”.

The ECF said there is no country that can claim to have a clean voters roll. “Zimbabwe’s voters roll was not in the hands of ZEC and we are a peer support group and we are happy that ZEC will have the function of registering people on the voters roll. This election is credible even though there are issues,” the team said.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai declared the elections a huge farce and said the elections do not reflect the will of the people. He said this before the release of the results which are still coming.

His lieutenant Roy Bennett even called on Zimbabweans to cripple the nation. “There needs to be resistance against this theft and the people of Zimbabwe need to speak out strongly….I’m talking about passive resistance. I’m talking about people completely shutting the country down – don’t pay any bills, don’t attend work, just bring the country to a standstill,” he said.

But, who can claim to know the will of the people other than the people themselves?

Tsvangirai or Mugabe cannot claim to know or represent the will of the people until the people themselves say what they want. Sixty percent of Zimbabweans do not support the Movement for Democratic Change or the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, but they vote. It is only after the vote that someone can claim to represent the people.

So the majority of Zimbabweans only speak through the ballot box. And they have spoken. Let us respect their vote.

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