Tsvangirai urges Zimbabweans to demand free and fair elections as ZANU-PF is already rigging the process

I heard the cries of our chiefs, headmen and village heads, who are abused by Zanu PF; being forced to frog-march people and to engage in partisan food distribution. They said for all this abuse, they were paid a measly allowance of $25, which is now several months in arrears.

They also told me that Zanu PF had already begun to violate the Constitution, subsuming village heads into Zanu PF structures as cell chairpersons in a desperate attempt to control the environment around polling station by illegally creating dual role for village heads. 

I heard the cry of the minorities that how they do not feel they are part of the country. The Venda, the Ndebele, the Kalanga, the Ndau, the Tonga and the Shangaan all told me sad stories of abuse that confirm the ignominy of the tyranny of the majority. There is a legitimate concern about exclusion and domination by those that feel they are the majority tribes in our country.

This is shameful, considering that this is the brave 21st century. We certainly cannot afford, in this day and age, to have people with a sense of entitlement by virtue of the fact that they come from a tribe they subjectively regard as a majority tribe.

It was an enriching experience. I will not forget the concerns, the advice and the genuine expectation from across the provinces that in 2018, we will hold a genuinely free, fair and credible poll. Zimbabweans out there expect their vote to count and their will to be respected so that even the skeptics can enjoy comfort and security under a new dispensation.

A message to the change skeptics

The next election holds a key to the future of our country. We will rise or fall as a nation by the choice we make in the ballot.

I have a message to those who have in the past resisted change and who remain keen to subvert the people’s will because of their uncertainty the prospect of political change in the country.

I wish to assure everyone that there is nothing to fear in the change that we seek. We have no intention to engage in retribution and we are only driven by the genuine patriotic spirit to ensure peace, stability and growth. Change will be good for everyone. Change will allow every one of us to pursue and live their dreams under the protection of the State.

In 2008, a large part of our fellow citizens in State institutions were reticent and suspicious about the prospect of change. The people won the election but there was no transfer of power because of the skeptics of change; those whose reticence about a new Zimbabwe cost this country the opportunity to set a new political direction.

I want to say there will be space for every one in the new Zimbabwe that I envision. There will be neither vengeance nor retribution against anyone. There is certainly nothing to fear about a free and fair election and the new political and economic order that it will engender in our country.

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