Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has thrown all hopes that the country could allow itself to be subjected to robust international scrutiny after telling observers monitoring Wednesday’s general elections that they could not determine how democratic polls should be held since none of them can define the term “democracy” better than his administration.

Addressing his final rally in Midlands Province, his backyard, in the run-up to the general elections, Mnangagwa said it was a futile attempt by the international community, through its deployed observers, to tell Zimbabwe how to conduct its elections, given that its freedom had been fought for brutally against the white majority.

“I want to make this clear: no one is qualified to teach us democracy. We were never given our democracy on a silver platter, we spent 16 solid years of an armed struggle for us to become independent,” said Mnangagwa.

Speaking largely in English to a crowd bused in from the country’s 10 provinces, Mnangagwa said it was nonsensical for anyone to determine whether the poll would be free and fair.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa attends his party’s last election campaign rally in Shurugwi on 19 August 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Aaron Ufumeli)

“No one can come and tell us if our elections are free and fair, nonsense! It is us who want free, fair elections, we are not doing this to please anybody, and we want it ourselves,” Mnangagwa said, departing from his much-publicised re-engagement rhetoric. 

Zimbabwe has a history of disputed elections and with Mnangagwa’s tone at the rally, another contested poll beckons.

Come with an open mind

The issues that the opposition has raised, and highlighted to international observers, include problems with the voters’ roll and access to public media. But Mnangagwa said the election observers – who include the European Union, which his party accuses of already interfering in the process – should come with an open mind and not with a foregone conclusion.

“I say to all our observer missions, please do not come to observe us with your foregone conclusions from your homes or countries. Come with an open mind. We are a peaceful people and I am happy that all our political parties contesting in the current elections have committed themselves to a peaceful electoral process,” Mnangagwa told the rally that was also attended by Joachim Chissano, the former Mozambican president, in his capacity as head of the facilitation team for the country’s debt resolution.

If polls are held in a peaceful and credible manner, according to the Commonwealth and other international bodies, Zimbabwe could unlock its unlimited potential. 

But the Zanu-PF leader said his party was ready to go solo if anyone attempted to teach them how the process should be done.

“No one should assume any role to teach us democracy. We fought for it. We acquired it ourselves,” he said much to thunderous applause. 

Credibility crucial

More than 50 missions, including the Commonwealth, the EU, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union allies were invited to observe Zimbabwe’s 23 August elections, the credibility of which has been emphasised as necessary if the country is to be officially accepted on various international forums. 

Zimbabwe has been isolated by the international community for several years after Mnangagwa’s predecessor, the late Robert Mugabe, who was ousted in a military coup in November 2017, presided over fraudulent polls and violated human rights.  

The attempt to intimidate the international observers through malice and outright lies has no place in modern day society.

The vote is seen as key to ending the country’s prolonged economic crisis, but hopes could be dimmed by concerns that the contest is skewed in favour of a party that has been in power for more than four decades and is unwilling to reform.

The main opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change, led by Nelson Chamisa, has complained that they are denied the right to campaign freely and that access to public media is limited. 

CCC national spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said that, against all odds, they are ready for tough elections and to dislodge Mnangagwa.

“They will try to ban our rallies, close the media space for our champion-in-chief and kill our supporters, but the time has come for change. The attempt to intimidate the international observers through malice and outright lies has no place in modern day society,” said Mahere

International relations analyst Alexander Rusero said Mnangagwa was driving Zimbabwe back into the dark days of Mugabe and this worked against his engagement re-engagement drive that he preached for the past five years.

“Mnangagwa knows the best way to handle his concerns. But by and large, Zimbabwe foreign policy is not so straightforward under Mnangagwa. Today he will be attempting to please the Western powers (and) tomorrow he will be trying to dine with Russia, China and the like-minded. The biggest casualty of his utterances is his re-engagement drive. He is sliding back to the old Zanu-PF settings, which is regrettable,” Rusero opined.

Former Zambian deputy president Nevers Mumba – who is leading the SADC observer team tasked by his country’s president in his capacity as the chairperson of the regional bloc’s organ on politics, defence and security – said his team was concerned more about the processes that would produce a democratically elected government than the results.

“The legitimacy of the results rests with the processes. If the rules of the game are not followed then the results can’t be accepted,” said Mumba. 

To this end, the US’s top diplomat in Harare, Elaine French, called on Mnangagwa and his fellow contestants to hold democratic polls.   

Supporters attend the last Zanu-PF election campaign rally in Shurugwi, Zimbabwe, on 19 August 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Aaron Ufumeli)

“We encourage all citizens to vote in peace. Zimbabwe’s constitution, like the United States of America’s, guarantees the right to freedom, peace and equality under the laws, and we call on all political actors to uphold those guarantees. We believe in a democracy and the rights of citizens to make their voice heard through the ballot. The United States strongly supports a free, fair and peaceful election that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people,” said French.

Read more in Daily Maverick: It’s ‘foolish bravery’ to take part in these Zimbabwe elections 

However, Mnangagwa said his administration was geared for credible polls.

“We have nothing to hide,” said the president, whose party has been accused by the opposition of running a violent campaign that left one opposition member dead while some opposition activists in the countryside have reportedly fled their homes with some living in the mountains.

Previous Zimbabwean elections were disputed by the opposition.  

Real battle

On Wednesday, 11 candidates will run for president but many believe the real battle is between 80-year old Mnangagwa and Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer and pastor who leads the year-old CCC that he formed after breaking away from the Movement for Democratic Change following leadership wrangles with his former comrades.

In 2018, Mnangagwa won the presidential election by a small margin and the results were disputed by Chamisa, the then leader of the MDC Alliance. At least six people were killed in post-election violence but there has not been justice for them despite recommendations by the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission to fully investigate the killings orchestrated by the Zimbabwean army.

‘Illegal’ texts

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has also been accused of favouring the ruling Zanu-PF through its selective availing of the voters’ register and contact details of all eligible voters – a breach of the country’s data laws.

This has caused an uproar, with human rights activists accusing the ZEC of  leaking voters’ mobile numbers to Zanu-PF, which is now using the numbers to solicit for votes via SMS.

Electoral watchdogs have questioned how Zanu-PF accessed the phone numbers of registered voters after the ruling party started broadcasting Mnangagwa’s campaign messages ahead of the 2023 polls. This is not the first time this has come up, with many questioning the motive behind the move and the safety of the voters.

Zanu-PF election campaign posters in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 18 August 2023. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Aaron Ufumeli)

Human rights lawyer Chris Mhike said he has been engaged by concerned Zimbabweans to challenge the unsolicited texts.

“At the moment I have been asked to challenge that. This is illegal. How did Zanu-PF get the phone numbers for people who are not their supporters and have never been in the database for Zanu-PF? ZEC is acting illegally and we want an explanation for that. More specifically, we want assurance that people will not be victimised through this illegality,” said Mhike.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Zimbabwe 2023 Elections

He is also demanding to know if the ZEC established a media monitoring committee with a mandate to ensure they promote the free flow of information to enable citizens to make informed decisions.

“From the look of things, that committee has not been established and ZEC has not responded to our queries on the matter. In the event that this committee has been established, then it is not doing its work,” Mhike said.

We fed our people because we could not afford to have them going hungry and this should not be misconstrued as vote-buying.

The 2023 elections, according to some analysts, will see Zimbabwe determine its future by tackling corruption and high unemployment among young people.

These are the second polls since the fall of Mugabe, who had isolated the country from the rest of the world after he embarked on chaotic land reforms that displaced more than 4,500 former white commercial farmers and left thousands of their employees without an income. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Zimbabwe deports activists and bars media ahead of Wednesday elections

Chamisa says that if he is elected to office he will drive the country back into the global village and end the measures that the country finds itself under due to alleged human rights violations.

But Mnangagwa says he has done enough over the past five years to warrant an outright victory, singling out his infrastructure development undertaken so far. 

Many of the people bused in for and fed at Mnangangwa’s rally walked out during his speech, and some journalists who were filming this had their equipment briefly confiscated.

Zanu-PF national spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa defended the busing-in of people to attend Mnangagwa’s rallies held in all provinces. 

“Some of our rallies were being held in remote areas and we could not afford to have people walking long distances, so we had to provide transport for them. We fed our people because we could not afford to have them going hungry and this should not be misconstrued as vote-buying,” said Mutsvangwa. DM