I am Chief Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni of Ntabazinduna.
I was born and raised in Ntabazinduna Zimbabwe where I then completed my primary and secondary education. I came to the United Kingdom in 1981 to complete my further education at Polytechnic and University. I then worked in Local government in the East of London for many years. During this period I was always returning to Zimbabwe and also travelling extensively to some 62 countries.
My father was Chief Khayisa Ndiweni who was a signatory to the Lancaster House Agreement for Rhodesia / Zimbabwe. He was a Paramount Chief for 71 years. On his passing away in August 2010 through the Ndiweni Clan I ascended the Ndiweni Chieftaincy.
I have been assaulted, harassed and victimised many times by the Zanu PF government. I have also been detained and jailed by the Zanu PF government. Because for standing for the principles, of Rule of Law and democracy. Having sustained injury in detention I am now in the United Kingdom where I have and continue to receive treatment
REFERENDUM
FOR THE VOTE
and
THE DIASPORA VOTE
Fighting for the Right To Vote
“DEEDS AND NOT WORDS “
(The slogan for women fighting for The Vote as Suffragettes in 1903)
{There is no country in the world that can indefinitely deny its citizens their Human Right to Vote}
This year 2023 there are 108 political elections world-wide. Should we give or not give, these 108 elections legitimacy, purely on the basis that the word “election “has been used to describe them?
There is now need for a broader and stronger definition of what is an “election“. An international standard for an election.
Regarding the definition of what constitutes an election, we already have Election Observers, who write reports about the election they have observed. However, the Election Observers do not carry the necessary authority to make nation states comply with the international standard for elections.
Across the world we now see authoritarian governments finding ways to reduce the number of people who vote in their elections. They all pretend to be democratic and yet they undercut that very principle by attacking its foundation i.e. The Vote. To vote is a Human Right protected at the United Nations. The governments that restrict The Vote, have a legitimacy problem because they were not given a proper mandate to govern, by the ballot box, since they had reduced the number of voters in that election.
Signing this Referendum is akin to advancing your voice directly into the corridors of power, to ensure that The Right to Vote and The Vote are protected even more. That those governments who have restricted and reduced their people’s Right to Vote and The Vote, are not given legitimacy by the international arena, until that full Right to Vote is implemented. To ensure that those fraudulent “fake-elections” are not rubber stamped as being free and fair. To ensure that the question of legitimacy hangs onto those governments like an albatross, at every turn in the international arena.
Restricting or reducing The Human Right to Vote is far more destructive, than extremism or fundamentalism. The rise of extremism resulted in new international laws and protocols designed to curb and stop extremism. Laws that touched on the movement of people, world finance, technology, information technology etc. Restricting or reducing The Human Right to vote should also have new international laws and protocols designed to curb and stop its practise, like those crafted to reduce and stop extremism and fundamentalism.
The international arena has already made advancements for the protection of the Human Right to Vote in the following forums; -
• The United Nations Human Rights
• The United Nations Human Rights Commission
• The European Community
• The African Unions Peoples and Human Rights Charter
• And other Regional Organisations
• The International Community
Some nations signed up and ratified these protocols to the extent of domesticating them into their respective laws. However, some of these countries do not comply with the Human Right to Vote Articles. As a result, these Articles for The Human Right to Vote, are left on the shelf as a theoretical discussion by those authoritarian governments, who really do not wish to fully implement The Human Right to Vote. To the profound detriment of those people and indeed their respective nations.
This is a moral and ethical problem at the very heart of democracy. A direct challenge to democracy.
In the 1950's there was a moral and ethical matter that galvanised the world to act. This was The Anti-Apartheid Movement Campaign. Apartheid, (segregation between races), occurred in South Africa between 1948 – 1994. The Anti–Apartheid Movement Campaign was a people lead movement, that pushed governments and the international establishment to act. It is intended that this continuous Referendum for The Human Right to Vote and The Vote, will also follow this path. This continuous Referendum will be one of protest and persuasion, one of defiance and passive resistance used in a modern format.
All of the significant international Articles and protocols to date began as a result of a particular event or example that had occurred, that then galvanised nations and Regions and international organisations to Act.
The event and example we have for this continuous Referendum is the Zimbabwe DIASPORA VOTE.
An issue that has pushed back the gains made by those who struggled for The Right For Women to Vote. That has denied the youth The Right to Vote. That has denied Voting Rights to over 50 % of Zimbabwe's voting constituency.
That has denied the Right to Vote to at least Two First Nations Peoples within Zimbabwe. That has led to the largest migration of peoples in Southern Africa. That is about to result in the exodus of at least two million Zimbabweans to South Africa. That is about to light the fire of extremism in Southern Africa the likes of which has never been seen as it feeds off the Islamic extremism in northern Mozambique. That is about to destabilise the whole of Southern Africa. All because the Zanu PF ‘government’ of Zimbabwe chooses not to respect The Human Right To Vote.
The catastrophic results of restricting and reducing The Human Right to Vote can be observed in Zimbabwe over the last 43 years. A country that was once the bread-basket of southern Africa is now a begging bowl. How a once thriving country has now been reduced to an unstable crisis torn country that is now about to destabilise the whole of Southern Africa, should Zanu PF once again, through rigging and force of arms retain power.
On the 8th August 1963 in Highfield Harare at the home of one Enos Nkala, the Zimbabwe African National Union, Patriotic Front, (Zanu PF) was formed. Zanu PF has been in Office since independence for the last 43 years. What President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania described as “The Jewel of Africa“ at Zimbabwe's independence on 18 April 1980, is no more! The Zanu PF government is now identified with endemic corruption, violence, tribalism, racism, bigotry, intolerance, misogyny, homophobia, cultivating a toxic political environment and closing down the democratic space.
State capture and corruption of all the pillars of democracy and the relentless assault against the citizens Right To Vote. What happened to the independence that espoused “One Man One Vote, One Woman One Vote“? Today, 60 years on this very day the 8th August 2023 we launch this “Initiative/Popular “Unitary Referendum” for the Zimbabwean Diaspora Vote.
Join the people and sign this REFERENDUM FOR THE DIASPORA VOTE.
Over 50% of the Zimbabwean electorate have been knowingly denied their Human Right to the “VOTE“ by the Zanu PF gov.
On the 23rd August 2023 Zimbabwe will (have now gone) for elections.
• On this day, there will be 6,147,517 registered voters, ready to vote in Zimbabwe.
• On this same day, there will also be another over 6,800,550 Zimbabweans, who wanted to vote but have been barred from taking part in this election, just because they are outside the country. This is against the current 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Which government in the world would knowingly deny over 50% of its electorate “THEIR HUMAN RIGHT TO VOTE “and think that was acceptable?
The Zanu PF government has stated that if Zimbabweans are out-side the country they cannot vote. This position by the Zanu PF government contradicts directly the Zimbabwean Constitution. The Constitution does not place such a condition on peoples Human Right to Vote or indeed The Vote. The Zanu PF governments fraudulent condition with respect to the diaspora vote, carries the same weight as if the Zanu PF government said all Zimbabweans who wear green clothing are not allowed to vote. It is as ridiculous as that and has no legal merit.
To say 50% of the Zimbabwean electorate have been denied their Human Right to Vote is a profound statement and should make other nations concerned, indeed very concerned. Below as an example we have used the Zanu PF government position of reducing the Zimbabwean voters register by 50% and transposed it onto other countries. The Zanu PF government has used the ridiculous argument that those citizens who are outside the country cannot vote. In equal measure we have also used the equally ridiculous argument that those people that like apples cannot vote. The numbers are large and beg the question as to whether such an election would be credible and deemed to have been free and fair. If such an arbitrary reduction in their respective election registers would be unacceptable for these countries, then why would it be acceptable for Zimbabwe. For Zimbabwe is not subscribing to a third-rate democracy or being a pariah State. Zimbabwe wants a first-rate democracy just like other countries.