Zambia has a vital role to play in protecting Zimbabwe’s elections

Today six and a half million registered Zimbabwean voters will decide the future of their country as they vote for the country’s next president. The people of Zimbabwe will also vote in new parliament and local government representatives, but in truth all eyes are on the state of the presidential race.

Incumbent President and leader of the ZANU-PF party, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is looking to secure a second five-year term as Head of State. Leading the way for Zimbabwe’s opposition is Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party president Nelson Chamisa, a 45-year-old pastor looking to unite the people of Zimbabwe and begin a “healing process” after years of suffering.

Half of all people in Zimbabwe live in poverty. The Zimbabwe dollar is exchanging at a rate of 6,800 per $1 USD, having reached an annual inflation rate of 175.8% in June. The COVID-19 pandemic hit Zimbabwe hard; its effects, together with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have triggered a spike in food prices.

Eldred Masunungure, director of Zimbabwe’s Mass Public Opinion Institute, has described the economy as “in a comatose state”. Nelson Chamisa has promised a $100 billion economy and the creation of 2.5million jobs by the end of the next 5-year presidential term. It is now up to the people of Zimbabwe to decide if they think he is the man for the job.

Chamisa’s rise to prominence has overcome a number of roadblocks startlingly similar to those faced by Zambia’s democratically-elected President Hichilema. In 2007, Chamisa spent five days in the Harare hospital’s Intensive Care Unit after being beaten by men believed to be ruling-party thugs, with truncheons and an iron bar. In 2021, Chamisa survived an assassination attempt, when a bullet passed through the left rear seat of his car, his preferred place to sit, as his opposition party convoy drove through Mutare city.

As the election has drawn near, violence has worsened. On 4 August, CCC activist Tinashe Chitsunge was stoned by a mob of ZANU-PF supporters, and died after falling under the wheels of the truck on which he was attempting to escape. Amnesty International has accused the ZANU-PF government of “systematic human rights violations and criminalization of state critics”, with opposition figures abducted, tortured or imprisoned on a number of occasions since 2018.

Zambia had its own watershed moment in 2021, when then-opposition figure Hakainde Hichilema was elected president.

Like Chamisa, President Hichilema faced a government using dirty tactics. He endured police beatings, an attempt on his life when he, his wife and children were teargassed in their own home, and an imprisonment for “treason” in solitary confinement so deplorable that Kenneth Kaunda attempted to visit Hichilema, only to be turned away by police.

Since his election, Hichilema has promoted democracy, fought corruption and pulled the economy away from the precipice, having been the first country in the world to default on its debts during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 before HH took power.

Since Hichilema became President, Zambia’s economy has begun to recover, thanks to proper management and broad-based debt deals. Zambia has been rewarded for hosting peaceful, free and fair elections in 2021. Zimbabwe deserves the same fate, and Zambia has a role to play in ensuring that its neighbour experiences democratic elections.

President Hichilema is passionate about democracy, and knows that whoever becomes next President of Zimbabwe must be chosen by the people. As Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), President Hichilema has appointed former MMD vice-president Nevers Mumba as head of the SADC’s Electoral Observation Mission in Zimbabwe.

As an historic advocate of multi-party democracy, Dr. Mumba must be rigorous in ensuring that Zimbabwe’s elections are transparent, credible and fair, in line with SADC’s ‘Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections’ demand. Any wrongdoing in how Zimbabwe’s election is conducted – violence at the polling stations, arrests of opposition figures, the disappearance of ballot boxes or any other violation of Zimbabwe’s right to democracy – must be properly called out and condemned.

This will not be easy but the world is now looking to SADC to ensure that democracy continues to flourish in Southern Africa. If we, Zimbabwe’s closest friends and neighbours do not protect her citizens, who will?

Finally, we, the people of Zambia, know well how important free and fair elections are for the future of Zimbabwe and its people. Our voices matter. Encourage your friends in Zimbabwe to go to the polls and vote. Use social media to condemn anti-democratic acts as and when they arise tomorrow and demand that our government protects the rights of Zimbabweans to choose their leaders. It is time for Zimbabwe to become the next beacon of democracy in Southern Africa.

Choolwe Chibomba.