This is your opportunity to use your voice as a people, with respect to the Diaspora VOTE in this Unitary REFERENDUM.
The past and what has happened
The war for independence was all about “One man One Vote, One Woman One Vote“. There was no condition placed upon this right to Vote. In 1971 retired British Judge Edward Pearce, Baron Peace, was tasked by the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Sir Alec Douglas Home, to look into the matter of “One man One Vote, One Woman One Vote “ and a way forward for the Rhodesian crisis. Hence The Peace Commission. The Smith government had proposed a “ qualified franchise “for the majority. That is to say that one had to meet certain conditions, before being allowed to vote ie a Qualified Franchise. Both Zanu PF and ZAPU totally rejected the very idea of a condition being placed upon a person before they were allowed to vote. Today sixty years later to the day, Zanu PF has resurrected and brought back, what they rejected in 1971, the same “Qualified Franchise “to over 50% of the electorate“. That Zimbabweans must qualify in order to be allowed to vote. That they cannot vote if they are outside the country. Now as a result of the Kasukuwere case, if they have been outside the country for a limited period they will not be allowed to vote Inside Zimbabwe.
This is the main question that all election observer teams are going to have to answer and justify their answers. For this qualified Franchise brought in by Zanu PF is against the Zimbabwe Constitution. So, if one was trying to craft an answer that replies upon the Zimbabwean Domestic Law it is found that it does not hold water. Meaning that one has only one option and that is to say this election is technically not free and fair, without the need of a Supreme court.
If the Opposition wins these elections even with such odds against it, the election stands because had it been fair the Opposition would have won by an even greater majority.
If Zanu PF seeks to claim electoral victory, that has to be rejected because of the gross unfair advantage it put into the system in order to rig the outcome. An analogy is to say Zanu PF is like the football player who has put himself in an offside position who then proceeds to score a goal from that offside position. The goal is not allowed and a penalty awarded to the Opposition from where he was Offside. Advantage the Opposition.
Zanu PF government has reduced the voters role in the following ways over any years ;-
• The descendants of the Ndebele Genocide were denied the death certificates of their parents by the Zanu PF government. This was because Zanu PF perpetrated the Genocide and they would have had to write that into each death certificate as the cause of death. Zanu PF was not prepared to admit guilt in this way. However as a result of no death certificate for the survivors , that resulted in that they could not obtain their own Identity card, that requires the parent to be there present with them as they apply and if the parent is deceased they should produce a death certificate. In order to Register to vote one requires an identity card. So, for the descendants of this genocide it resulted in them not being able to Register to vote because they could not obtain an identity card. Tens of thousands to this day remain as Zimbabweans without identification and unable to vote. Without an identification card these individuals lose out on everything from local and central government, health care, education. A massive reduction in the Voters Registered.
• There are a number of nomadic First Nation peoples in Zimbabwe (eg in Matabeleland North Province and Zambezi Basin) to which the Zanu PF government has not really extended the Human Right to Vote. They number tens of thousands. Yet another reduction in the Voters registered.
• In answering questions in the Zimbabwean parliament the Minister of Education stated that each year about 800,000 children leave school at the voting age. When answering a written question in Parliament the Zimbabwe Election Commission stated that they had only managed to Register only 156,000 new in that given year. So, if we do not include all the other groups that were note registered and we assume they are school leavers, what happened to the other 644,000 school leavers. Just over half a million each year disappear and are not Registered. Yet another reduction in the Voters Registered.
• There are the already mentioned 6.5 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora who have been denied the right to vote. Yet another massive reduction in the Voters Registered.
• In the Christmas Festive season last year 2022 tens of thousands of Zimbabweans returned from South Africa to spend the festive season with their families and friends. But also, to Register to Vote. The Zimbabwe Election Commission closed its doors over the whole season, for registrations.