Incomplete projects, resources could sway vote

Calvin Manika

Political parties have stepped up their efforts to win support as the August 23 elections draw closer. Like elsewhere, voters in Hwange district, a long-marginalised area, will be taking stock of development or the lack of it.

 According to political scientist Antony Mutale, the opposition will not have much to show for its dominance in councils in the districts and will instead focus on raising red flags  corruption, money laundering, and mismanagement of the economy by  the incumbent while the ruling party will cling to  “still-in-progress projects” such as the Hwange Power expansion  and Lake Gwayi projects.

Over the previous five years, government representatives have paid the several visits to the sites of the two mammoth. Residents of Hwange noted that the visits began a few months before the 2018 elections and have also increased in frequency towards the 2023 election. ZANU-PF have utilized the Hwange 7 and 8 expansion  project, which has seen significant progress lately, to campaign.

“That does not demonstrate the government’s competency. Every citizen has a right to receive these services, and they must be provided to the entire country as a basic right,” he said.

Zimbabwe experienced severe power outages across the country until recently when the situation with Hwange 7. It was clear that electricity would be an issue for the 2023 election given that the ruling party had promised to provide electricity to the whole country in its 2018 manifesto.

In its defense, the government cited the Covid 19 pandemic which impacted numerous economic activities around the world, as the project’s main drawback. When Covid 19 emerged in 2019, China was the epicenter. The fact that the expansion project was contracted to a Chinese company and that the majority of the supplies came from the ‘East’ may lend some credence to  government’s explanation.

Construction has been going on in Gwayi also under a Chinese contractor for years. Few locals villagers in the area secured jobs. Authorities have made promises of more employment and a variety of economic initiatives, including turning the isolated Gwayi area into a major fishing and tourism destination.

Democracy campaigner Tineyi Shoko expressed concern about the glacial pace of these projects. He sees the sudden focus on them to be all about elections.

“The current administration will not remain silent about these projects during the upcoming elections. They will continue to present them as accomplishments over the last five years and ask for an additional term to complete them. If they were so committed, they would have surely completed  the projects a long time ago,” said Shoko.

Meanwhile, the ruling party-state conflation and abuse of civil servants and state resources has also come under the spotlight in the execution of government projects. Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) says there is a growing body of irrefutable evidence that ZANU PF is among the leading abusers of civil servants as it seeks re-election ahead of general elections. 

“This misuse and politicization yields a political advantage and benefit (re-election) to ZANU PF. This way, the practice is tantamount to the crime of corruption. Other rampant practices are many incidents of the abuse of public infrastructure, vehicles and stationery; manipulating state media; trading votes for access to public services and extorting donations from the private sector, among others,” says the lobby group.

Democracy according to Act-SA entails that, there is strong need to confront the abuse of state resources for political gain. “Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Zimbabwean citizens and opposition political parties should not watch these developments in silence. The demand side represented by politicians abusing these assets, should be penalized. Other solutions to this problem involve reforming the electoral system, strengthening political parties, and regulating the financing of parties and elections.”

When party-state conflation accusations were made against the ruling party during the general elections in 2018, Obert Mpofu, the Zanu-PF National Secretary for Administration, denied any wrongdoing. 

Mpofu emphasized that his party had its own financing sources that it uses to support party initiatives. 

“We are a group that has a history of self-sufficiency going back to 1980. Projects are managed by our financial department to support party operations. We have a good resource base; I can say that with confidence. We didn’t use state funds for our campaign program to purchase vehicles and uniforms. It is absurd to claim that ZANU-PF misuses State funding given how well-organized the party is,” said Mpofu.

A sport utility vehicle (SUV) was given to every ruling party representative, including those running for the house of assembly, senate, and other party departments like the veterans shortly after this year’s primary elections.

ACT-SA said that the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe were materially substantially skewed in favor of ZANU-PF due to a sizable financial base, the misuse of public resources, and extensive vote buying.

“There are several ways and strategies used by ZANU PF to instrumentalise the public service for political purposes. Public servants are enlisted in organizing committees and given specific duties and responsibilities to implement during working hours. Finally, an entire career in public service hangs on political affiliation. Some public servants give their allegiance to political parties as a strategy to have access to higher positions in government. The separation of state from party becomes very difficult,” adds a statement by ACT-SA.