There has been divided opinion about the weekend’s election victory by Themba Mliswa who pipped the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front candidate Ronald Chindedza in the Norton by-election.
On paper, Mliswa’s victory was impressive. He polled 8 927 votes against Chindedza’s 6 129, but some critics have described the win as a ZANU-PF victory.
Mliswa himself did not make things any easier.
“I felt l was unfairly expelled from ZANU-PF, remember me saying l will be back and now l am back,” he was quoted by The Herald as saying as if implying he was back in ZANU-PF.
“l am a rural person and l simply maximized on the in-house fighting in ZANU-PF. How can l fail to win against a party whose political commissar (Cde Saviour Kasukuwere) is always firing people instead of recruiting? This is a message to ZANU-PF that if you don’t deal with your manifesto and concentrate on in-fighting people will speak out like they did in Norton.”
For ZANU-PF, Mliswa’s victory, was a wake-up call for the party to put its house in order and not take the electorate for granted. The stands, offered at the last minute to the electorate, did not sway their vote.
Whispers say Mliswa’s victory was a demonstration that war veterans were still in control. The Norton seat became vacant after war veterans leader Christopher Mutsvangwa was expelled from the party and whispers say the war veterans ditched the party to show they were still in control.
Opposition political parties including Mliswa’s former colleague, Zimbabwe People First leader Joice Mujuru, have rubbished Mliswa’s victory insisting that the country needs comprehensive electoral reforms not just election victories.
“Free and fair elections are not defined by just winning elections,” Mujuru said. “Free and fair elections are defined by a level playing field. We demand electoral reforms now. The struggle continues.”
Average Zimbabweans were more forthright.
The people of Zimbabwe are not fools who can be bought by overnight stands and food, one remarked.
ZANU-PF offered some 9 000 stands in Norton just before the by-election.
Another quipped that something was not right. There were too many congratulatory messages from ZANU-PF which probably meant “bhora musango”.
National Electoral Reform Agenda national organising committee chairman Joelson Mugari summed it up: “The victory of an opposition candidate does not explain or justify the level of electoral field. It is actually the unity of purpose that made the results we see today and not forgetting Mliswa's hard work. We are not sleeping and relaxing for we know exactly what we are demanding from ZEC. Nothing has, so far, shown that Mliswa's victory was a result of free, fair and credible elections.”
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