Mugabe regime silent on council elections

By Violet Gonda
5 September 2006

The Zimbabwe government has further illustrated that it is above the law by remaining mum on the issue of when the local government elections are going to take place.

Constitutionally the government should have made a statement regarding the date during the month of August in order for people to inspect the voters’ roll and prepare for nominations, but there has been no explanation for the delay.

We were not able to get a comment from the Ministry of Local Government, the administrators of the elections, but Paul Temba Nyathi the Elections Director of the Mutambara MDC believes the elections are not happening because the government has no money. Nyathi also believe problems within ZANU PF are also be responsible.

The Elections Director said it’s frustrating because normal procedure is not being followed making it difficult to prepare structures. He said this shows that the state has become unable to discharge its responsibilities “and the fact that it doesn’t seem to be able to do so is an indication of a bigger malaise that is in the country’s administrative structures.”

According to the Rural Councils Act, notice for the nomination courts for elections in all the 57 Rural District Councils should have been sent out last month to allow the nomination court to sit during the first week of September with the elections scheduled in 21 days’ time.

Asked about the significance of participating in the council elections at a time when the country is imploding Nyathi said; “ZANU PF has to be harassed wherever possible and it has to be engaged wherever possible.”

He added that participating helps to test the electoral system in the country and would tell the rest of the world how flawed the electoral process is in Zimbabwe.

Last Maengahama the Deputy secretary for Local Government in the Tsvangirai led MDC recently said his party will be fielding candidates in all the 1600 wards but “as usual Zanu (PF) will try to see to it that it does not happen. By law we should have been notified of the nomination court date and the date for the elections by now. But because Zanu (PF) has a monopoly over the elections they’ve kept everyone guessing. By all accounts their party is in disarray so this delay doesn’t surprise us.”