The election period was nearly three months long. It started end of May when President Emmerson Mnangagwa proclaimed the election date.

DEAR Dad,

Zanu PF got another five-year term during the August 23 and 24, 2023 elections, albeit without putting any manifesto to the electorate.

The ruling party argued that citizens should vote on the basis of their past experience — promotion of neoliberal economics, stifling and shrinking democratic space and above all, use of violence to settle political contestations.

The election period was nearly three months long. It started end of May when President Emmerson Mnangagwa proclaimed the election date.

Things started to heat up. He had 10 presidential star rallies and his deputies were holding others in different places. The well-oiled Zanu PF machinery was on its way.

I have to say, like all the other years, they had real money, but they did not reveal who financed the broke party based on their last publicly shared financial statement.

Earlier this year, dad, in an investigative documentary series titled Gold Mafia, Mnangagwa’s ally Uebert Angel revealed that the President had an election war chest to the tune of US$240 million.

Every aspiring MP in the 210 contested constituencies received a 4×4 double-cab vehicle.

Mnangagwa’s rallies were beamed live on national broadcaster ZTV and all attendees were served with fried chicken, chips and a fizzy drink.

The party dished out party regalia. Musical bands performed all-night galas after Mnangagwa address, even if it was midweek.

It just shows the majority are not formally employed, hence rallies could be held during working hours across the country.

Mnangagwa dipped into State coffers to finance his rallies. He held them under the guise of the President launching official government projects. That also made it possible for senior civil servants to be on the campaign trail.

One interesting aspect of the campaign was that Mnangagwa relied more on Zanu PF affiliate groups like Teachers4ED, Nurses4ED, Forever Associates Zimbabwe, Pastors4ED, Mahwindi4ED and even Mbavha4ED than the party’s structures.

The Judiciary has become compromised in dealing with political matters.

Former Cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere was blocked from running as a presidential candidate.

They pulled every technicality to stop him from being on the ballot paper.

Many election observer groups condemned the polls as not free, fair and credible according to Zimbabwe laws or the regional Sadc guidelines.

Of the 16 heads of State from the region invited, only three turned up. Those that came have received backlash back home.

Mnangagwa was angry and in his inaugural speech said: “Zimbabwe is a sovereign State and ‘a friend to all and enemy of none’.

“Our membership and engagement within Sadc, the African Union and United Nations and other countries in the comity of nations remain guided by the principles of mutual respect and the sovereign equality of nations, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

“The undermining of our national institutions and laws will not be condoned, under whatever guise. No country or group of persons should disregard the sovereign decisions and views of the people of our motherland, Zimbabwe.”

He did not have respect for the opposition, declaring: “Counter-revolutionary forces and their proxies will never prevail in our free mother country, Zimbabwe.”

I know you remember very well during the liberation struggle what the tags “counter-revolutionary” and “sellout” meant.

They were in many instances a death sentence. They were used to depersonalise, othering, so that one could be tortured or abused without any regard to them as deserving dignity.

Mnangagwa has continued with his fawning and granting a carte blanche to business or capital.

He has moved away from the Zanu PF founding values of gutsaruzhinji — socialism.

In his acceptance speech he said: “The new government shall continue to foster a predictable business environment, where capital is safe. Those who want to invest in our country are welcome, based on respect and mutual benefits, for shared prosperity.”

We have moved away from all the promises of the liberation struggle. The country no longer has discussion on fundamental issues such as health for all, education for all or decent wages for the working class. It’s now a rat race and as you said sometimes each man for himself.

We have become a nation of prepaid services. We now have to pay for water and electricity services in advance.

My friend Takura seriously pondered that now people have to think twice before they give water to a visitor or passerby.

Many families now are worried about taking in relatives. Our social fabric is being broken. We are being individualised — prepared for the day of a full-blown neoliberal system.

After the next five years, I am not sure what Zimbabwe will be like. But I can hazard a guess that we will be more or less like South Africa. We will be having a large inequality gap between the haves and have nots.

The rich have created their own small gated republics, where the poor need a pass to enter. There is even an EmmersonVille in Mt Hampden, the new administrative capital.

I’m hoping that the opposition, which won all urban councils, will make them an oasis of development and good administration.

I dare them to clean up the cities, provide water, street lighting, regular refuse collection and revive the community creches so that mothers can go to the informal markets freely without children in tow.

I dare them to have well-stocked council clinics. And we wait to see what Mnangagwa will do to them for being pro-people.

As a family, we are trying dad, your grandchildren have grown and mom is as healthy as an old person could be under the circumstances.

De-Briujn is now a qualified teacher, but government is yet to give him a job two years after his graduation despite the teaching staff shortages in public schools. We will see what he can do in the meanwhile.

I am not sure when you will get this letter because electricity is now erratic since after the polls.

So, for now, it’s in the outbox and will get to you when electricity is restored.

Sorely missing you Chirandu,

Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist based in Harare. He writes here in his personal capacity.

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