DETHRONED Ntabazinduna chief, Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni, who is based in the United Kingdom, has formed a pressure group — MyRight2Vote — aimed at pushing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to give Zimbabweans based in the diaspora their rights to vote.
Ndiweni said people in the diaspora were sustaining the
country through remittances back home and should, therefore, be given the
rights to vote.
MyRight2vote conducted a virtual meeting to discuss its
course of action and strategies towards pushing government to consider
legislating for diaspora voting.
Ndiweni chairs the group with Adrian Lunga as secretary,
while Ntunja Mphoko is the deputy chairperson.
Speaking during the meeting, Ndiweni said MyRight2Vote was
an independent, non-political and non-partisan organisation for Zimbabweans in
the diaspora whose concerns were to be granted the right to vote considered.
“We are a people’s movement trying to bring diaspora people
together for a cause,” Ndiweni said.
“MyRight2Vote is pushing for democracy and the rule of law
so that we are not suppressed on what we want as citizens.”
He added: “In the 2018 elections, the total number of people
who voted was 4,8 million. We are reliably informed that the Zimbabwe diaspora
is in excess of five million people who have all along been denied their right
to vote. They were denied through the High Court three times.”
Opposition parties have been pushing for people in the
diaspora to vote, a demand rejected by the ruling Zanu PF party.
Last month, acting Zanu PF national commissar Patrick
Chinamasa said diaspora votes could only be considered once the West removed
travel restrictions imposed on ruling party bosses so that they could travel to
Western countries.
He said people in the diaspora could vote through the
postal ballot, arguing that if the police and top civil servants were allowed
to do so, nothing could, therefore, stop people living in the diaspora to do
the same.
“Zimbabwean people in the diaspora, in 41 years, have not
uttered a word about the future of the country, the people who remit over US$1
billion to the country must have a say about how the country should be run.
There must be no taxation without representation,” Ndiweni said.
Lunga urged those in the diaspora to join MyRight2Vote so
that they fight for their rights together from across the world.
Chief Ndiweni was dethroned by Mnangagwa in December 2019
under controversial circumstances after he openly showed support to MDC Alliance
leader Nelson Chamisa and also backed the Western-sponsored sanctions against
the Zanu PF government. Newsday
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