1. Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Electoral System comprises 3 elections: Presidential, Parliamentary & Local Authority. A political party can compete in all or some of the 3. However, to govern effectively & unhindered, a party must win both Presidential & Parliamentary elections.
2. Winning the presidential election but losing the parliamentary race means the President will be at the mercy of Parliament which he needs to pass any laws. It creates an impasse & in the worst case scenario, the majority party might use its power to remove the President.
3. Mugabe faced this problem after the dubious 27 June run-off election in 2008 because his party had lost its parliamentary majority. He would have needed the MDCs to pass laws & govern effectively. It was a factor that helped push the logic of the Inclusive Government.
4. One way by which a President without a parliamentary majority could work his way out of the conundrum is to form a governing arrangement with the other party. He might appoint some members as Ministers & also make some policy concessions. This would be a post-electoral pact.
5. I have not said much about local authority elections because they really don’t matter in the bigger scheme of things. I have written in the past how power in local authorities is an illusion because real power is retained by central government via the Local Government Ministry
6. That is why, although the MDC Alliance has traditionally won most of urban council elections, the Minister of Local Government has controlled & dominated their affairs. As I said in a BSR, the MDCA councils have a huge responsibility but they do not have any power.
7. The irony is that the MDCA is blamed for local authority failures but it is devoid of power. As long as the legislative & governance structure retains power in the Local Government Ministry, local authority elections are a charade & a huge waste of money.
8. To have meaning, there’s a real need to reform the legislative & power structure in local government, giving more independence & control to local authorities. But ZANU PF would rather maintain the charade than undertake any serious reforms.
9. Back to what really matters, both in 2013 & 2018 ZANU PF took the presidential and parliamentary races, the latter by two thirds majority. Although much controversy centred on the presidential elections, it’s very important to pay attention to the parliamentary races.
10. It’s important because even if an opposition candidate were to win the presidential race, he would be faced with a hostile Parliament in which his nemesis has immense power to even remove him from power.
11. He must also have control of his parliamentary party. That’s why any coalition building must be carefully watched. You don’t want a coalition with rogues who will leave you high and dry when you need them the most. They will leave you & say we are not members of your party!
12. Events this year provide a precedent that you cannot rely on a person just because he ran under your coalition ticket. You have no control over them & a coalition is not regarded as a political party. Only the sponsoring party has the power to discipline & recall the MP.
13. The long & short of it is that under current system, local elections are a pointless waste of money. You must win both the presidential & parliamentary elections, but if you can’t, win at least one of them. Of course, try to avoid losing both!

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More from @Wamagaisa

30 Dec
1. In some countries, voter registration is tied to the political economy and this provides important incentives for people to register. You have to make the system make sense beyond voting. I will use this thread to explain how voter registration is incentivised in the UK.
2. In the UK, being on the voters roll is useful for when one is applying for a loan, mortgage or even a job. It’s an easy way for the bank or employer to verify your identity and it helps improve your credit score. That’s why I urge every Zimbabwean who settled here to register Image
3. It’s therefore in the best interests of every person to register on the voters’ roll. Of course, the process of registration is much easier. Once registered, the local authority will remind you each year in case you decide to change residence. I attach some advantages: ImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
30 Dec
1. It’s incredibly myopic to characterise @ZECzim’s poor voter registration record as a failure of the opposition & civic society when it’s a clear sign of systemic institutional failure. Just look at @ZACConline & its similarly poor record in fighting corruption.
2. So within days you have 2 critical national institutions reporting extremely poor performance of their constitutional mandates. This is a sign of chronic institutional weaknesses. You would think people would place responsibility on the institutions & their leadership.
3. But not in Zimbabwe. It’s yet another chance for naysayers to hammer the opposition as if it controls the pace of voter registration. The principal authors of ZEC’s failure Chigumba & all are given a free pass. In a normal country they would be resigning for failure of duty.
Read 6 tweets
30 Dec
1. Perhaps it’s something that comes with the professions, but confidentiality is the hallmark of any professional & advisory relationship. It’s a mark of good faith. The other party must be comfortable that what you discuss will never be revealed; that it will stay between you.
2. Even journalists whose main job it is to tell stories swear by their duty to protect the confidentiality of their sources. Recognising the importance of confidentiality in such relationships, the law has several rules that are designed to protect it. It’s given sacred status.
3. For lawyers, there’s attorney-client privilege. For journalists, there’s protection of confidentiality of journalists’ sources. Doctors & therapists are also bound by rules of patient confidentiality. It gives confidence & freedom to both parties in that relationship.
Read 6 tweets
29 Dec
1. The Tenerife air disaster 1977 is among the biggest aviation disasters. It’s often used as an example of the role of the Human Factor in causing problems. Behind every system are humans who make decisions. Those humans are responsible for the success or failure of the system.
2. The aircraft involved were perfectly fine. It was the humans operating the traffic control system & the pilots who got it wrong. Miscommunication & fog resulted in 1 aircraft taking off while another was still on the same runway. 583 people in both aircraft lost their lives.
3. Oft-times people blame the system when something goes wrong, but it might just be the human factor. We blame machines, cars, computers, but really it’s the decisions we make that could be more significant. The human factor is very important in how systems work & evolve.
Read 8 tweets
28 Dec
1. We have always stood by the movement. From 1999 we don’t have to tag leaders for approval. We don’t owe them anything & we don’t require their approval. If they lose track we will tell them in a convivial way. We have never hurt them & they know they are dispensable.
2. The party is the people. That’s why Nelson succeeded Morgan & people approved of him despite the challenges. Those who want to come in & hang on to the leadership are gravely mistaken if they think they can mock the people just because they can blackmail the leadership.
3. The politically homeless must not overestimate their worth. They must be humble & appreciate the hurt they caused. The system is what it is because of their actions. The human factor. Haikonai kutiudzira zvekuita. You think elite pacts will buy tickets to glory. They won’t.
Read 4 tweets
19 Dec
1. @PatrickZhuwao you say I want to silence you and your friend, Prof Jonathan Moyo. I have no such power. You silenced yourselves by the egregious abuse of power during your time in govt. You lost the moral authority to speak on issues that you now claim to be champions of.
2. Check your friend’s record when he was Information Minister & how many journalists, media houses and citizens he mocked & silenced when he had the power to promote freedom. Daily News press bombing, Capital Radio, ZBC journalists, foreign journalists like Andrew Meldrum.
3. You behaved like demigods, as if power would not end. And I haven’t even mentioned the abuse of Morgan Tsvangirai, the name calling & the disgusting, cruel and hurtful words when Itai Dzamara was abducted and caused to disappear in 2015, when you were all in government.
Read 6 tweets

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