ZIMBABWE: Students insist on reforms before elections

Students have passed a resolution opposing President Robert Mugabe's plans to hold elections this year before the institution of wide-ranging and far-reaching electoral reforms.

Mugabe's Zanu-PF party passed a resolution at its December 2010 conference saying Zimbabwe should go to the polls this year to collapse a unity government established in February 2009 as part of mediation efforts by neighbouring South Africa.

The inclusive government was formed after a political crisis brought about by the withdrawal of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, from a presidential election run-off in June 2008, citing the murder of hundreds of his supporters and members by Mugabe loyalists.

But at a provincial congress for all institutions of higher learning in Harare last week, students said electoral reforms were needed first, before Zimbabwe can hold a credible poll.

In an interview with University World News Tafadzwa Mugwadi, President of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, Zinasu, confirmed the passage of a no-vote resolution at the meeting.

"The provincial congress in Harare, which was an assembly of all institutions of higher learning in Harare province - that is, polytechnics, teachers' colleges and universities - resolved in no uncertain terms that national elections in 2011 are utter nonsense and a non-starter," said Mugwadi.

He continued: "Our reasons for that resolution were very clear. You cannot rush to hold elections in this country before a genuine people-driven constitution, which embodies the people of Zimbabwe's aspirations and becomes the cornerstone of an election whose outcome would be uncontested."

Mugwadi said students also argued that before polls are held there should be legislative reforms to repeal a number of draconian laws. These include the Public Order and Security Act, which has been used to arrest students leaders and others; the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which has been used to shut down at least five newspapers; and the Broadcasting Services Act, which is blamed for the absence in Zimbabwe of privately run television and radio stations.

The student leader added that many people were killed in state-sponsored violence in previous polls. To avert a repetition of that, students also resolved that a national healing programme needs to be effected - for victims and perpetrators alike - before fresh voting.

Mugwadi said the congress also condemned the hiking of fees at state-run polytechnics, at a time when the government has failed to increase salaries for civil servants. The majority of state employees are paid less than US$200 a month, placing higher education beyond the reach of their children.

The student leader said a lot of money was needed to run polls, and he wondered why Mugabe was determined to raise such money, when the state was failing to finance other critical needs. "That is uncharacteristic of a democratic government," Mugwadi said.

Mugabe's election plans have also come under attack from Tsvangirai, South African President Jacob Zuma's facilitation efforts, and the private media, who are all pushing for reforms before the polls.

Zuma's mediation efforts are currently focused on working with Zimbabwean political parties in the development of an election roadmap, to prevent electoral rigging, a charge levelled at Mugabe in successive polls.

In an editorial last year the privately run Zimbabwe Independent said Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, was in a hurry for polls to secure another term before his health further falters. Mugabe's spokesperson recently confirmed that the 87-year-old president has received medical treatment in Singapore.

"If Mugabe waits until 2013 he would be 89 years old and even his sycophantic loyalists would be unconvinced that he could pull it off at that age. There is no precedent in the democratic world where a candidate has gone to elections at 89 years old!" it said.