Political Space Keeps Shrinking as Poll Dates Near in Zimbabwe

By Robert Ncube

23 August is the day that Zimbabweans from all walks of life will head to the polls to choose the country’s next president, House of Assembly members as well as Local Council officials. However, with the poll date now just over a month away, the opposition party hasn’t officially launched its campaign yet. This is owing to a combination of police restrictions and judicial interference.

The incumbent, Emmerson Mnangagwa, officially launched his campaign on Saturday, 24 June 2023. The campaign launch was held in Chipinge, which is about 440km from the capital, Harare. Addressing thousands of party supporters, some of which came from distant corners of the country, President Mnangagwa reminded them of the successes his party has achieved in the last five years.

“We resolved the fuel crisis; we resolved electricity shortages… In a short period of time, we have grown our agriculture from a 3.8 billion U.S. dollar industry to 8 billion,” President Mnangagwa.

While President Mnangagwa had a successful campaign launch, his rival Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, who had earmarked Sunday, 9 July 2023, to be the official launch date, encountered a different scenario. In the lead-up to the launch date, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on 7 July refused to grant permission for the CCC to have their rally, citing “a lack of toilets and unsuitable roads at the venue”. The police went on to say that due to “no passable roads, water or sewerage,” its mandate “to protect life and property would then be compromised”.

CCC quickly appealed the decision to the Magistrate Court. The Magistrate Court said it would hear the matter on 11 July, two days after the supposed launch date. This forced the CCC hierarchy to approach the High Court, which in turn ordered the Magistrate Court to hear the matter on 9 July, the day that CCC had planned to have its official launch.

Before the campaign launch, CCC had previously had three rallies banned by the police for various reasons. At one of the very few rallies which were given the green light by the police, CCC leader Nelson Chamisa was given a very strict deadline to address his supporters. The police, in turn, became timekeepers as they constantly reminded him every few minutes of the time remaining. As soon as the allocated time lapsed, the police quickly dispersed the crowd and cleared the venue.

The banning of the elections shows how the political space is shrinking rapidly as the poll date nears. The spokesperson of CCC, in a televised interview on a South African state channel, said that “ZANU-PF can never win a free and fair election which is why they’re resorting to rally bans and abusing the police service to try and stop our campaign activity”.

Some political analysts lamented the lack of early electoral observer missions saying that current bans on opposition party campaign activities should be recorded. They said by coming on the eve of the election; there is a huge risk that electoral observers will end up sanitising an unfair election as free and fair as they would not be privy to the happenings which tilted the election to one’s favour beforehand.