Is Kasukuwere Chamisa’s unlikely saviour?
The election countdown has begun and campaigning is now in full swing.
Major political parties are all over the place trying to win the hearts and minds of voters while also claiming victory ahead of August 23 polls.
An election survey by Afro Barometer, which placed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the favourite over his rival, opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, became a laughing stock on social media as people question its findings considering just over 1, 000 people were interviewed – bear in mind Zimbabwe’s population is slightly shy of 16 million!
What is also interesting to note about the survey is that 85 percent of the people interviewed said they were not happy with the current state of the country’s economic situation.
How, then, can the same people say they will still vote for the current regime despite its failures?
And perhaps, in a clutching-at-straws type of campaign, the government has announced that it will erect statues of the late former President, Robert Mugabe and the late Vice President, Joshua Nkomo at different locations in Harare.
No issue with Nkomo but why honour Mugabe, a man whose ego they shamelessly bruised when they kicked him out of power.
The answer, as someone said, is to appease Mugabe’s supporters who are still bitter about the 2017 coup.
Mnangagwa needs those supporters more than ever before seeing that a former Mugabe loyalist will be on the ballot paper.
In as much as former cabinet minister and ZanuPF commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere is not a big threat, the fact that he might sway a couple of ruling party supporters to his side should be a cause for concern for Mnangagwa as it could work in the opposition’s favour.
Some political analysts have said there might not be an outright winner in the first round because of ‘the Kasukuwere factor’ hence the regime is doing all it can to make sure that doesn’t happen by trying to glorify Mugabe in the hope that his supporters will be happy and cast the ballot in favour of the ruling party.
Not sure if the statue will mean anything to the people but what cannot be denied is that the regime is no doubt having sleepless nights.
And I must say they are going all out to campaign as their posters can now be found in every corner.
Sadly the opposition and their campaign materials are still not visible in some areas, including in our farming community, yet the elections are only a few weeks away.
On a different note and on the positive side, our local currency has in the last couple days strengthened against the American dollar, both on the official and parallel market.
A small win for a country battling hyperinflation; at least we have been saved from being millionaires, for the time being anyway!
