This came after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced on
Wednesday that by-elections, which have been pending since June 2020 following
the recall of 133 MDC Alliance MPs and councillors, would now be held early
next year.
But Chinamasa said: “Zanu PF wishes it to be known loud and
clear that it is ready to wallop opposition parties by whatever name called and
will take no prisoners.”
“But it must be put on record that the by-elections, when
promulgated will take place with barely a year to go before the 2023 harmonised
elections, a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.”
He added: “Notwithstanding, it is, however, Zanu PF’s
primary revolutionary duty to politically bury counter-revolutionary,
anti-people sanctions seeking, political sellout outfits masquerading as
democratic change makers and this duty has to be performed anytime anywhere.”
MDC Alliance, however, said the by-elections were likely to
produce a disputed outcome if held before implementation of electoral reforms.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said proclamation
of an election date should have been accompanied by reforms.
“The consistent position that has been taken by the MDC
Alliance is that any proclamation for elections must be accompanied by a clear
reform roadmap that paves the way for an undisputed election,” Mahere told
NewsDay.
“The bad governance and legitimacy crisis that continues to
plague Mr Mnangagwa’s regime is a direct result of the disputed election of
2018. Their failure to deliver basic services, including public health,
education, housing, water and food security as well as the attendant broken
economy stem from the fact that they are not a people’s government.”
Mahere said the “broken social contract” could only be
mended by electoral reforms before holding of free and fair elections.
“This is the only way to solve the bad governance crisis in
Zimbabwe,” she added.
“This is why we continue to champion a reform agenda on
behalf of the citizens. To this end, we reiterate our call for the alignment of
electoral laws to the Constitution, the full implementation of existing
electoral laws, especially as they pertain to State media, the full disbandment
of the partisan and militarised Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)
secretariat.”
Mahere, whose party was snubbed by Zec in September for
stakeholder consultations as the
electoral body waited for orders “from above”, demanded bona fide engagement
with the institution.
“To set an election date without addressing the vexed
electoral reform question is to put the cart before the horse. The need for
reforms is non-negotiable.”
The Douglas Mwonzora-led MDC-T spokesperson Witness Dube
said elections without reforms would produce a disputed outcome.
“We are comfortable with elections coming. We were ready
for elections when we made the recalls, however, it must always be known that
we believe we need electoral reforms before any elections can take place,” Dube
said.
“There is enough time to effect those reforms so that we
don’t have a broken record whereby after every election there is always the
question of legitimacy hanging over our political horizon.”
Zanu PF director of information Tafadzwa Mugwadi said the
ruling party was ready for polls which he said would be a rehearsal of the 2023
elections.
“For us, we want to see how much we are prepared for 2023
and our target of five million votes not that they will change anything, they
will not change anything.”
By-elections were necessitated by deaths of some elected
officials and recall of MDC Alliance MPs and councillors by Mwonzora’s outfit.
The MDC Alliance accused Mwonzora of working with Zanu PF
to decimate the opposition by recalling its elected officials, grabbing its
headquarters with the assistance of the military and trying to take over its
party name as well. Newsday
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