Zimpapers Logo

VP Mnangagwa

WATCHING Western governments losing sleep over Zimbabwe’s electoral system, one wonders when they will realise that imperialism actually has a sell-by date. Zimbabwe came off their leash on April 18, 1980.

Zimbabwe is a sovereign state which does not need the holier than thou attitude from Western governments — the European Union and the United States in particular. If the African Union has never been invited to observe elections in these Western nations, why should they use their so-called exceptionalism to impose their will on others, Zimbabwe in particular?

Just recently, the European Union, at the instigation of Britain, wanted Government to allow United Nations emissaries to supervise the 2018 elections. All they were saying is that they would want to come in under the banner of the United Nations, and try and achieve what they failed to do in 2008, when Zimbabwe became an issue in the UN Security Council. This would also be their opportunity to see how best to impose that Chapter VII of the UNSC — a mandate to invade Zimbabwe as they did other nations on the pretext of spurious reasons.

We laud Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa for reasserting Zimbabwe’s stance when he said, “Our position as Zimbabwe has not changed. We are a sovereign state and we run our own elections like a sovereign state and we choose as to who will observe our elections. I hear that the media is talking about such a push but as Government, we have not been approached by the EU to say they wish that the UN observes our elections.”

What is there for the EU to show that they are paragons of democracy and rule of law they claim to be when the “Race for the White House” in the US is nothing but a soap opera, a sham that continues to play before millions of people globally? Is that the meaning of democracy when billions of dollars are raised in order to choose someone who will serve the interests of the elite? Is that democracy when real issues that affect ordinary citizens are ignored as US presidential contenders are at each other’s throats through the infamous social media?

Is that democracy when a nation that prides itself of exceptionalism allows presidential hopefuls to spew hate, thinking that the US is a standalone nation? We also guess that is the American Dream when people who voted for the destruction of sovereign states like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria are allowed to run for the 2016 presidential race!

But while the EU loses sleep over Zimbabwe’s 2018 harmonised elections, why don’t they for once pay attention to scandalous allegations by leading Republican contender, billionaire Donald Trump that, the rigging did not have to wait for November, but as he claimed, he was robbed in the first primary poll held in Iowa this week.

We never thought we would live to hear that the world’s self-appointed policeman and grandmaster of democracy, human rights and rule of law would be mired in electoral fraud 10 months before the people go to the polls in November.

Of course, the EU cannot of course interfere in the US’s internal affairs. They did not even call on the United Nations, headquartered in New York, to monitor these primary polls.

While it was an open secret that George W. Bush stole the election from Al Gore in 2000, and the verification process almost threatened the US electoral process, it has taken the unorthodox Republican front runner and billionaire Trump to alert the world that the American voting process is not as pristine as they would like everyone to believe, especially the Zanu-PF leadership.

Trump, who initially was declared the loser in the first primary election in Iowa is breathing fire and brimstone. The property mogul, who is used to counting dollars and cents, and would quickly tell when and how something is amiss.

Politically correct language to him is non-existent, and he said before the world’s very eyes that he was robbed in the primaries, and the alleged fraud was committed by fellow Republican contender Ted Cruz. So mad was Trump that he said there has to be a re-run in Iowa, and if the system denies him his right to a free and fair election, he will sue.

As for Hillary Clinton, she might have won the Iowa primary poll, but the difference was razor thin, and results were announced after a “meticulous verification” of votes cast. That’s the US for you with their “do as I say, not as I do” prescriptions.

When their election system sounds like an algorithm, and gobbles billions when people starve all over the word, why should they be the first to set bench-marks on what they deem as free and fair elections,

But, we hope that Trump’s bare it all is a wake-up call for some, especially those in the opposition, and their cohorts in the NGO community that from now on, the rules are being rewritten. Those who think that Africa and its friends is not capable of monitoring and observing a Zimbabwean election, and still come up with favourable and/or unfavourable outcomes.

Our advice to the EU is to deal with this mother of elections in the US, and as they do so, they must also bear in mind that from now on, they do not have any moral standing to impose on Zimbabwe that which they are failing to observe in their backyards. For, Donald Trump is rewriting the rules of what was once considered sacred.