June 27- Defending our vote!

Civic society in Zimbabwe commemorated Africa Day with a call against oppression and violence; and encouragement to fellow Zimbabweans to defend their vote by participating in the June 27 presidential run-off. 

At an Africa Day reception held in Zimbabwe’s Capital city, Harare at the Monomotapa Crowne Plaza Hotel on Monday 26 May, human rights activists criticised Zimbabwe’s Vice President, Joseph Msika, who, in a speech the day before, was quoted as rubbishing elections saying people must not think that they can change the destiny of Zimbabwe by ‘dipping a finger into ink’.

Zimbabweans go for the second round of the presidential election after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced three weeks after the election of March 29, that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change(MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirayi ‘s  47.9% win meant that he and Robert Mugabe go into a run off, as the electoral law 50%  had not been attained.

Meanwhile Robert Mugabe has began his presidential campaign, characterised by his usual utterances that monopolise of the liberation struggle and the right to rule; and threats that the ‘price of freedom is death’.

The celebrations were attended by amongst others, activists from the Crisis coalition, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, National Constitutional Assembly, Media Institute of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe National Students Union, Christian Alliance and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights.

Solidarity messages given during the commemorative reception reflected mainly the human rights abuses committed by the current government, particularly in the last month as Robert Mugabe’s ZANU Pf party becomes increasingly uncertain of its future as ruling party, despite Zimbabwe being a member of the African Union that is signatory to African Declarations set to protect Africans. The result of March 29 has seen a surge of violence in the country resulting in the deaths and displacement of  particularly MDC supporters.

The celebrations were also an opportunity for reflection on the People’s Charter, adopted earlier in February at the People’s Convention. The People’s Charter echoes the ideals of the Zimbabwean people in seven critical key areas; The Political environment, elections in Zimbabwe, Constitutional reform, national economy and environment, national values, gender and the youth.

The Africa Day commemorations focussed on the Section 3 thematic issues of Constitutional reform that states the need for a new constitution people driven constitution that guarantees a democratic Zimbabwe with a clear separation of powers and a justiciable bill of rights that recognises social and economic rights. The section concludes that the issue of constitutional law would address all the problematic areas in Zimbabwe’s governance structure such as election management processes, the judicial system, labour rights, social justice and the impartiality of state security apparatus.

The commemoration resolved that Zimbabweans need to take part in the June 27 election by supporting the weakened structures of particularly the rural voter who has been harassed, tortured or displaced such that they would not be able to cast their second vote.