Fredrick Moyo

The just ended much awaited by-elections were sadly marred by a massive voter apathy with only 35 percent of eligible voters casting their votes and this could repeat itself in the upcoming 2023 polls if ever the March 26 elections are anything to by.
At stake were 28 parliamentary seats and 105 local government wards that are up for grabs in the by-elections left vacant due to recalls and death. The main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change won 19 out of 28 parliamentary constituencies while the other nine went to Zanu PF.
However it is the voter turnout that characterize these polls that has raised eyebrows as in Masvingo province, urban council elections saw 26 percent of the voters taking to the polls while in the rural areas a 50.1 percent was witnessed.
Speaking to TellZim News political analyst Dr Gift Gwindingwe said voter apathy might repeat itself in the harmonized elections set for 2023 as by-elections are a barometer to measure the political temperature in the country.
“By-elections can be taken as a barometer that has been used to measure political body temperature of Zimbabwe that is to measure the democratic elasticity of our political participants and it has also been used to test even potential of the main contesting political parties that is Zanu PF and CCC so what it definitely means is that both sides have noted their potentials, strengths and weaknesses and I want to believe they are working on such strengths and weaknesses because what has happened is partly a true reflection of the growth of the democratic space in Zimbabwe,” said Gwindingwe.
He also added that there will be stiff competition in the upcoming general elections as both parties will try and capitalize on their strengths, also work on their weaknesses and urge political parties not to talk much about vote rigging as it demotivates the electorate.
“My projection of the upcoming 2023 polls is that the competition is going to be very tense and each political party that has an ambition to win must pull up their socks, do their homework and fulfil their promises as people do not want to be taken for a ride.
“Regarding voter apathy, I have a totally different perception altogether, this idea of speculating about vote rigging can keep away voters so I think this speculation about rigged elections before it is rigged can keep away certain voters. So it is high time we do not hyperbolise and exaggerate some of these issues, contesting political parties should not shift blame especially those represented in parliament because it is in parliament that they should amend the laws,” added Gwindingwi.
He also said that youth participation is questionable in the electoral process hence there is massive voter apathy because the youth form the bulk of population in the country.
“Youth participation is questionable especially during elections and their reluctance to register to vote. The youth form the bulk of the population and if they have to participate in the electoral processes, definitely voter turnout will be good for the nation. The youth need to be properly socialised into the essence of voter registration and participating in voting and exercising their right to vote,” added Dr Gwindingwe.
Youth Decide Executive Director Learnmore Munhangu said they are concerned with the voter apathy as the youth were so reluctant and unconcerned with casting their vote in the just ended by-elections.
“As a youth-driven organization, we are so worried with the just ended by-elections results. The elections were marred with massive voter apathy. Citizens, especially the youth, were so reluctant and unconcerned.
“Apprehending from the past and not only in Zimbabwe, the voter turnout was very low during by-elections. Citizens prefer to vote just once in every five years. We expect a positive change in 2023 general elections,” said Munhangu.
He also said ZEC and other stakeholders should encourage citizens to register to vote so that the turnout improves.
“We implore with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to engage more stakeholders especially youth organizations and associations in mobilizing citizens to register to vote as well as turning out on election day. The situation can improve only if all forces join hands towards the intended goal. We want masses to determine their future,” said Munhangu.
Another political analyst Dr Davison Mugodzwa said the 2023 general elections will not be affected by voter apathy as citizens have seen the outcome if they do not participate in the voting processes.
“I do not think that the same scenario is going to be repeated. The youth and citizens have seen the results of the just ended by-elections and many who remained sceptical that they will not go and vote because elections are rigged have seen the outcome and I think a lot of people will go out in their numbers to vote,” said Mugodzwa.
He also added that CCC will gain more support in the urban areas and ZANU PF will remain strong in rural areas if the political field remains the same.
“If the situation remains the same on the political arena, CCC is likely to have overwhelming support in the urban areas because the electorate in this area is angry and hungry therefore the policy of the stomach will prevail as it has been evidenced with the just ended by-elections. In urban areas, people responded to their daily meal and the economy is biting therefore people will go for a party that is likely to solve their economic and political problems.
“In rural areas as it has been evidenced, Zanu PF is likely to remain strong if state apparatus deny CCC progression into rural areas to market their projects or ideas will have little impact in rural areas and this is going to repeat itself in 2023,” added Magodzwa.
Another political analyst Proffessor Nhamo Mhiripiri said voters have a tendency of not casting their votes during by-elections hence the upcoming 2023 general elections will not be affected by voter apathy.
“I would not worry much about voter apathy next year. The stakes will be high with more interests drived from the presidential elections. That one alone can induce interest around voting for MPs and councilors, since citizens throughout the country will vote for various representatives at the same time. Mind you, in most cases in the by-elections voters vote for one representative instead of the usual three,” said Prof Mhiripiri.
The recently held elections saw limited participation in terms of voters as most people feel the elections are of little significance as compare to presidential elections usually associated with more hype than local authority and parliamentary elections.

Cephas Shava

Mwenezi –With regular/periodic free and fair elections being a yardstick for thriving democracy in a nation, Mwenezi East’s successive by-elections which on March 26 is set to hold its 4th election inside seven years, a factor proving nothing more than a double-edged sword for the long-standing orphaned constituency.
Since the recall of former Zanu PF Mwenezi East legislator Kudakwashe Bhasikiti in 2015, his two successors’ tenures ended prematurely before implementing any meaningful project.
Joshua ‘MaZebra’ Moyo who took over from Bhasikiti in July 2015 died on December 24, 2016. Moyo’s successor Joosbi Omar who won the Mwenezi East ticket following the April 2017 by-election was during the 2018 harmonised elections re-elected legislator only to succumb to Covid-19 in October 2020 leaving the constituency vacant again.
The constituency has for the past seven years been the province if not the entire country’s leading by-election host district owing to short-lived legislators. This has left the legislator’s office a disservice to the electorate who for long have been kept in electoral mode and at the mercy of politicians who merely offer nothing other than voluminous unfulfilled promises.
Bhasikiti’s successor, Moyo whom many locals regarded as the constituency’s hardworking, modest legislator served only from July 2015 and died on December 24 the following year. Given his short stint as legislator, judging Moyo could be a misnomer.
Replacing Moyo in the April 2017 by-elections, Omar, resourceful as he was managed to win the hearts of many who re-elected him in 2018 to represent Mwenezi East only for him to die in October 2020 following a short illness.
Although some critics are of the view that Omar made many promises during his campaigns and delivered too little when he got hold of the legislative steering, with at least some pointers of development attributed to his name still existing. A bakery pioneered by himself is functioning at Rutenga Growth Point. Some schools also got a share of desks and cement from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and some from his own personal resources.
The untimely death of previous Mwenezi East legislators within the past seven years is a major setback to the electorate. The sentiment was shared by longtime ward 3 councillor, Samuel Mabena.
Mabena who was also signatory to the late Omar’s CDF account told TellZim News that the short-lives of the Constituency’s legislators was a huge blow to the electorate.
“Before the late Omar’s death, we received CDF and managed to purchase sizeable bags of cement and desks among several other goods for some schools around the constituency. However, after the MP’s death, the district has not accessed any CDF funds but other areas with parliamentarians are receiving their share. So the absence of a legislator is greatly disadvantaging the constituency,” said Mabena.
Other locals felt the successive by-elections have done nothing for the betterment of the electorate except empty promises.
John Moyo a resident of Mwenezi East’s ward 13 argues that the by-elections have for the past years save as a wastage of resources which could have better been channeled towards the upliftment of stagnant projects which can usher a fresh dawn for the ordinary village folk.
“These regular by-elections are proving to be a disservice to the constituency and the entire country. Right now no meaningful project has yielded any result by these short-lived politicians who have been feeding us with fake promises. A notable example of a district’s dummy was the ground breaking ceremony to open the much awaited Manyuchi Irrigation which was conducted decades ago and thereafter politicians of different caliber visited the site with grand promises but to-date the area that was destined for the irrigation has developed a thick forest.
“There are no meaningful developments to showcase here despite the fact that the constituency has vast riches which include lucrative game reserves, mighty underutilized Manyuchi dam and high quality cattle among several others,” said Moyo.
Given the little resourced Mwenezi East candidates who will stand in the March 26 by-elections namely Zanu PF’s Master Makope, Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC)’s Tendekai Mandizvidza and FreeZim Congress’s Turner Mhango, critics argue that nothing much if any is going to be implemented by whoever is going to win the seat before next year’s harmonized polls.
The electorate only waits to see if ever their fate will change.

…caregivers face violence, lack of medical, psychosocial support

Rutendo Chirume

United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) stipulates that each government should ensure that persons with disabilities get access to free services at a mental institution which include sexual and reproductive health rights, medication and even care from skilled personnel but Zimbabwe still lags behind and is not walking the talk with many women and mothers left vulnerable and exposed to attack from their children or relatives having mental challenges.
Life has been a somewhat horror experience for women who take care of their relatives with mental illnesses where they are expected to be primary care givers by virtue of societal gender roles and therefore bear the brunt of all that comes with it.
Such an example is that of an elderly woman named Shylet Mutekede from Masvingo South Ward 14 who has been taking care of her three daughters who were born with mental challenges and are not able to do anything for themselves, therefore in need of intensive care 24\7.
Narrating how they have been living, Shylet said she has been striving to take care of her daughters and access to medication and sexual reproductive health services is something she can only dream of for her daughters.
“It has been a very tough experience for me taking care of my children. The clinic is a long distance away almost 10kms and sometimes when their situation gets worse, we will have to use an ox-drawn cart to the clinic. When having their monthly cycles, sometimes I just make them use black t-shirts then go to the fields the whole day and no one can change them so they will just have to wait till I come back,” narrated Shylet.
Whilst women like Shylet are expected to take care of their children since no one will be there, mentally challenged persons can also turn violent and their care givers are often exposed to physical assaults, rape and even sometimes mental breakdown since there is no one who would be helping them.
The 2022 International Women’s Day celebrations were marked under the theme ‘gender equality today for sustainable tomorrow’ which seeks to break gender bias and promote fairness in terms of gender in society where due to patriarchy women are often burdened through taking care of their mentally ill children alone.
Whether deliberate or unconscious, gender bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead since society attribute them to certain specific gender roles and action is needed to level the field.
In an interview with TellZim, president of Women Action Group (WAG) Medina Musiiwa said more efforts should be put on sexual and reproductive health services, especially to the mentally disabled to ease the lives of caregivers.
“We expect that focus should be put on sexual and reproductive health issues considering that women are the ones expected to give primary care unto their children. We need an improvement of the health delivery system. We cannot have a sustainable tomorrow if our people are not having these services,” said Musiiwa.
Besides being expected to be natural care givers, women who take care of mentally challenged people need to be at least trained since people like that require special care.
Musasa project director Rotina Musara said it is high time society recognize the burden of unpaid care work especially when that goes in where someone has to nurse mentally challenged patients and would require skill or training on how to take care of them.
“Unpaid care work is critical in development and it is unfortunate that sometimes as society, we fail to cost the burden of unpaid work. We expect that it should be like that yet we tend to be ignorant of the caregiver’s work and portray it as gender roles. This women’s month, we are saying let us recognize the value of women and mothers who do unpaid work especially those who nurse mentally challenged persons who have various needs that require more attention that is administering medications, how to relate and talk to them.
“This is an area where training is not offered but we assume that a woman should have the expertise to handle a mentally challenged individual. Therefore as a society and even government, we need to recognize unpaid care work that mothers do and invest emotions into that work. Women double with nursing and we should look out for challenges that they might face in terms of abuse or being assaulted,” said Musara.
Masvingo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa raised his concerns over the rise in cases where mentally challenged people are involved in murder and assault and advised that caregivers should be mindful of medical prescriptions and where women are involved, their safety should be guaranteed since these patients can sometimes turn violent.
“Sometimes mental challenges can be managed as long as the caregivers are taking caution on how to administer medication as prescribed by the doctors. If they are not at a mental institution, mentally challenged people should report to clinics or hospitals for their medication. Also in case where caregivers are women, their safety should be guaranteed as these patients sometimes tend to be violent,” said Dhewa.