Rural Council Elections.

Although a considerable number of people are generally becoming demoralized with MDC participation and losses, MDC Nelson Chamisa is quoted in ZimOnline saying that his party has gained new ground by at least having councilors in the rural areas, something his party did not have.
Attached Is A Statement From The MDC

We applaud and salute the hundreds of thousands of heroes and heroines across Zimbabwe who continue to invest in the electoral route to achieve a new Zimbabwe. This is a major victory which shows that the people have issued an eviction notice to the regime. This is against the background of our candidates being hounded out of their areas by Zanu PF thugs. There are thousands who voted for MDC candidates in Muzarabani, even after those candidates had since fled those areas after their houses were burnt down by identified Zanu PF hooligans and state agents. The people continue to invest in the MDC even after the orgy of terror and violence, the politicized food distribution system and victimization by chiefs and village heads. The MDC has compiled a comprehensive report with over 500 cases of assault, arson, intimidation and torture of our candidates and supporters in the run-up to these elections. .

The results clearly show that the MDC is a reality across the length and breadth of the country. The results now at hand show that for the first time, Zimbabwe shall have opposition councillors in rural Kariba, Shamva and Bikita. For the first time, we have a national rejection of Zanu PF and its representatives, and all that it stands for, namely poverty, persecution of perceived political opponents and failed socio-economic policies in the rural areas. For the first time the people shall have MDC representation in Shurugwi and Gutu South rural district councils. We now have councillors deep down in rural Gokwe, Chimanimani, Buhera, Chipinge North and South. Our candidates shall be representing people’s interests in the rural district council chambers in Guruve, Matobo, Binga, Lupane, Chirumanzu and Mutasa communal lands. It is significant to note that all these council seats that we now control across the country were previously held by Zanu PF. The people have given the regime a vote of no-confidence. Perched on a lofty pedestal in their world of make-believe, Zanu PF may rant and rave about a landslide, but statistics show that about 44 percent of the rural electorate voted MDC. They braved massive intimidation, threats and violence to vote for the only party that represents the last hope of a brutalized and repressed nation. It took great courage and unmitigated bravery for the hundreds of thousands across the country to vote for the MDC by defying directives from certain chiefs and headmen.

Once again, chicanery and electoral fraud were the victors in the Kadoma mayoral election where thousands of supporters were bussed from Ngezi and other surrounding areas to vote in the polls. Apathy won the polls because the electorate no longer has confidence in the electoral system and its outcome. In the past, popularly elected councilors and executive mayors have been unceremoniously dismissed and replaced with Zanu PF commissioners. This makes a mockery of the elections as a way of changing the system of governance. Elections cannot be free and fair when we have a Zimbabwe Electoral Commission which is prisoner to Zanu PF whims and caprices. Election management has been heavily militarized. Under the current system, it is only Zanu PF which is privy to important functions such as the compilation and access to the voters roll, the designation of polling stations and the announcement of the results from the various polling stations.

The MDC believes that unless the electoral system is demilitarized, unless electoral management is removed from the clutches of Zanu PF and unless the compilation of the voters roll is placed under a truly independent body, the electoral route will continue to breed illegitimate and sterile outcomes. The continued manipulation, tampering and impediment-throwing that Zanu PF has perfected with respect to elections is a hugely negative indictment to the peaceful competition for political power that elections should be about. The closure of democratic options to express disapproval to the regime in power fertilizes consequences that are too ghastly to contemplate. Zimbabwe needs a new, people-driven Constitution. Zimbabwe needs an independent electoral body to run a free and fair election; a body that punishes transgressors and perpetrators of violence, intimidation and thuggery. The whole nation is geared for a new Zimbabwe. The hour of change is upon us. Zanu PF must clear the deck and prepare for a people-inspired exit.

Nelson Chamisa, MP

Secretary for Information and Publicity

What do you guys think, is this a valid point.