Source: ‘More independent candidates to emerge’ – DailyNews Live
Blessings Mashaya 21 May 2018
HARARE – The squabbling in the ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition
MDC, is likely going to create a serious crisis that will result in many
aspiring candidates contesting as independents, analysts have said.
There are currently serious fights in the ruling party and MDC as
disgruntled candidates are planning to contest as independent candidates.
A number of Zanu PF MPs and Cabinet ministers lost in the ruling party’s
primaries, hence failing to proceed to the eagerly-awaited general
elections due either in July or August.
A variety of malpractices unravelled during the Zanu PF emotive polls,
among them inordinate delays in supplying voting material to polling
centres, vote rigging and violence, which forced the party to sanction
re-runs in 14 constituencies.
On the other hand, long-serving Harare West MDC MP, Jessie Majome, this
week announced that she will contest the impending national elections as
an independent candidate after withdrawing from the MDC primary elections.
Political analysts canvassed by the Daily News on Sunday said both the
opposition and the ruling party are going to face tough opponents in the
parliamentary elections as most of their losing candidates will stand as
independent candidates.
“The parliamentary contest is going to be littered by a hotchpotch of
independent and other opposition candidates then Zanu PF and MDC
candidates. It’s not going to be easy for either MDC Alliance or Zanu PF
to claim easy victories,” political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said.
“With (former opposition leader Morgan) Tsvangirai and (former president
Robert) Mugabe gone so is voting for parties. People will now vote for
individuals at MP level. So we are likely to have a Zanu PF president
after polls and a parliament with Zanu PF, MDC, other opposition and
independent MPs.”
Saungweme added that the two major parties in Zimbabwe failed to follow
the principal of free and fair elections.
“The dust around primaries in both parties is due to dearth of internal
democracy in these institutions. Primary elections procedures and
processes are left to be determined by the president or other leaders
instead of the constitution of the party.
“Both MDC and Zanu PF are not democratic but dictatorial entities with
power vested in party presidents who in both cases are de facto, more
supreme than the Constitution or are the Constitution themselves.
“This dictatorship and arbitrariness in both parties is what breeds
factionalism and birthed many political parties.
“It is also what’s causing chaos in both camps at primaries. And when main
parties lack internal democracy the outcome is multiple splinter
opposition parties and independent candidates,” Saungweme said.
Another political analyst Rashweat Mukundu said the primary fiasco in the
MDC and Zanu PF has exposed the leadership of the two parties.
“I think political parties are failing to be transparent and strategic on
their candidates’ selection. Contestations remain on lack of democratic
processes many of which appear to be crafted on the go.
“The second issue is will primaries necessarily produce the best candidate
or the most popular person for whatever reasons. Parties therefore need a
combination of transparent and democratic processes as well as strategic
leadership development. Parties must avoid use of primaries for patronage
and building political nests for friends, relatives, boyfriends and
girlfriends.
“The current Parliament with its huge deficit on leadership demonstrates
that it is far more about primaries but also about quality leadership
hence the need for criteria for qualification into primaries.
“The primary fiasco in the mdc and Zanu PF has exposed the leadership and
spawned violence which may spill over into the real election contest. Our
parties are now vehicles for primitive accumulation and are not promoting
democracy which could translate into national democratic culture.”
However, writing on his blog, the Big Saturday Read, political analyst
Alex Magaisa said President Emmerson Mnangagwa can promise to carry allies
who lost in the primaries in exchange for their continued loyalty and
support in his presidential bid.
“Mnangagwa could turn the defeat of his allies into an opportunity for
himself. There is no shortage of opportunities in the system of patronage
that Mugabe built and Mnangagwa inherited. In any event, the Constitution
allows him to appoint up to five ministers from outside Parliament.
“He can promise to carry allies who lost in the primaries in exchange for
their continued loyalty and support in his presidential bid. In that case,
such people will know that their political fortunes stand or fall with
Mnangagwa’s fate.
“They will have every incentive to give everything to ensure that he wins.
For Mnangagwa, it is the presidential election that matters and he is
better off with close allies putting their undivided attention to his
cause.
“They won’t have parliamentary seats to distract their attention and they
will fight with and for him to the bitter end. And because their political
fortunes are tied to Mnangagwa, they will forever be beholden to him.”
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