New Era of Democracy Dawns in Zimbabwe

Opinion

By Mandla Tshuma

Bulawayo – Looking at how Zimbabwe conducted her elections yesterday, the first ever since the ouster of the longtime iron-fist ruler and former president Robert Mugabe in November last year, there is no doubt that the political situation in the country has changed for the better.

It appears it is no longer business as usual in the Southern African country; a new era of democracy in Zimbabwe has indeed dawned.

Personally, I initially lacked faith in the so-called new dispensation, which has become a daily song for President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling Zanu-PF supporters, but events of yesterday’s elections left me somewhat reconsidering how I felt.

Yesterday’s polls were peaceful and so was the period preceding them, a complete departure from the past where our elections were characterised by violence, kidnappings, voter intimidation and all sorts of evil deeds one could imagine.

Just like any other citizen of Zimbabwe and registered voter, I woke up early in the morning and headed for Emganwini Secondary School, which was my polling station. Despite long winding queues, the voting process went well.

Within an hour I had decided through my ballot, who should govern the affairs of Zimbabwe in the next five years.

What struck me was the jovial mood the electorate was in, with people freely chatting to one another while waiting for their turn to cast their votes, a rare occurrence in Zimbabwe polls, where people literally do not trust the next person because of our poisoned politics.

As a journalist, I took time to visit other polling stations in Bulawayo, which included Pick’n Pay Hyper in the Central Business District, Large City Hall, Burnside and Stanley Square polling station in Makokoba.

Apart from the queues, which however had cleared by 7 pm when most polling stations closed, the voting process in Bulawayo by and large went on peacefully.

The police and polling officers worked harmoniously in manning the voting centres to the advantage of the electorate.

Private media and freelance journalists who in past had been harassed or denied access to polling stations, were yesterday freely moving from one polling centre to another without interference from security agents.

My colleagues and I managed to access and interview presiding polling officers without being unduly quizzed. We could even record interviews without any hassles at all.

We could also freely take pictures without being interrupted or asked why we were taking them or even being instructed to stop or delete them.

I did not see any soldiers close to polling stations, which in the past have been a source of intimidation to voters.

The July 30 polls were undoubtedly the people’s election in that for the first time, to large extent, citizens were freely expressing themselves without intimidation. I also managed to visit the Bulawayo Provincial Command Centre where I spoke to the Provincial Elections Officer, Innocent Ncube, who gave me an overview of the situation which also confirmed that the 2018 polls were the freest ever.

Having witnessed the counting at one of the polling stations, which was thorough and meticulous, I can only hope and wait for a credible outcome once results begin trickling in.