ZANU-PF’s fear of the secret ballot

ZANU-PF must surely have plucked and perfected a few leaves from Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the man squarely blamed for the outbreak of, perhaps, the greatest war in the history of the world and mankind — the Second World War. Reading through his autobiography, Mein Kempf (My Struggle), written in prison in 1925, one comes across this intriguing sentence: “Sooner will a camel pass through a needle’s eye than a great man be discovered by an election.”  How perfectly does this ring tone with the favoured criterion for selecting leaders in this revolutionary party!

ZANU-PF, which celebrated its golden jubilee by thumping a pocket of opposition parties in last year’s general elections, has only held internal elections once in its entire lifetime and that was at their inaugural congress — a staggering 51 years ago. It was at that congress in Gweru, then Gwelo, where Ndabaningi Sithole emerged as its president. Sithole was later deposed and his position was filled by Robert Mugabe, in 1977.

An incredible 37 years on, ZANU-PF has not held internal elections by the way of secret ballot, largely viewed as the most democratic process in deciding an opinion. Everyone who has held a position in the uppermost structure — the soviet styled Politburo — has made it through an appointment by the party’s first secretary and president.

A few weeks ago, ZANU-PF secretary for legal affairs, Emmerson Mnangagwa, stirred the hornet’s nest when he claimed that the party would use the secret ballot to elect members of the presidium at the forthcoming congress set for early next month.  The ZANU-PF presidium is composed of the President and first secretary; two vice-presidents and second secretaries as well as the national chairperson.

Mnangagwa’s utterances drew an angry response from spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, who said no such thing would happen. Mnangagwa was quoted in October as saying the party constitution provided for one-man-one–vote system and would be amended by his legal committee to create room for a secret vote for members of the presidium. That the two cadres are reported to be deeply rooted in rival factions battling to control the party is itself telling.

Mnangagwa is reported to be leading one faction which is opposed to that which Gumbo is believed to belong to, allegedly fronted by Vice President, Joice Mujuru. Gumbo is on record saying that the party has not held elections for presidium members at any congress since 1963.

“The only time we used the secret ballot system was at our inaugural congress in 1963 and since then we have been using provincial nomination system in accordance with provisions of the party’s constitution,” Gumbo said, adding that ZANU-PF had not made any constitutional amendments to cater for a secret ballot election at congress.

ZANU-PF’s constitution itself is not very clear on the issue. Section 32 (1) of the ZANU-PF constitution says members of the presidium “shall be elected by congress directly upon nomination by at least six provincial coordinating committees of the party, meeting separately in special session called for that purpose.”

The section further says: “Provided that if in respect of any position being contested no candidate succeeds in securing the nomination by at least six (6) provincial coordinating committees (PCCs), the candidates having the highest nomination votes, shall be referred to the provincial coordinating committees for fresh nomination.

“This process shall be repeated until it yields a candidate who commands the nomination by at least six (6) provincial coordinating committees. The candidate, who through this process attains the nomination by at least six (6) provincial coordinating committees, shall stand nominated for election directly by congress.”

This clause pre-supposes that by the time of congress, the candidates would already have been identified with only the formality of endorsing them remaining. Congress’ role, then, is not that of electing but ratifying the candidates. The constitutional debate aside, there are other bigger reasons why the ruling party is wary of internal elections.

One senior ZANU-PF member said internal elections are thought to be extremely divisive.  “You need to look at what happened at the youth league conference in August. The drama that charaterised its elections and the vote buying scandal that rocked it, these things are also possible at congress and this is the main reason why the party has always chosen the nomination way,” said the official who declined to be named.

It was for the first time in ZANU-PF’s history that youths were forced take to the ballot after they failed to reach a consensus in filling up the two most senior positions of deputy secretary for youth affairs and the secretary for administration. The tradition had always been reaching a consensus and avoiding the ballot — at all costs.

President Mugabe, in his speech after the elections, lashed out at the youths for resorting to the ballot and later encouraged members of the women’s league to shun the ballot. The women complied. With the nomination process expected this weekend, some ZANU-PF heavyweights were now reportedly calling on the President to appoint his two deputies and the national chairman as a way to stem factionalism associated with campaigning for key positions.

There is also one point of divergence for the two factions — the logistical question. Who would preside over the electoral process? One suggestion is that it should be handled by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). This suggestion was immediately shot down by the Mujuru camp which suspects that the Mnangagwa faction has control over ZEC given that Mnangagwa himself is Justice Minister under whose portfolio it falls. The previous justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, is also aligned to Mnangagwa.

According to party insiders, the Mujuru camp would favour a situation whereby the party’s elections directorate runs the polls in the event that the proposal is accepted. The problem with that is that chairperson of the directorate, Simon Khaya Moyo, is reported to be in the Mujuru camp, which naturally means that the other faction would vehemently oppose it. It is not possible to see how such an impasse could be broken.

Yet, for a party so widely accused by its rivals of rigging national elections, having a secret ballot during the internal process surely needs not be a point of quarrel or disagreement. If anything, it should be encouraged. What really is wrong with having a secret ballot that people should be at each other’s throats on the simple question of whether or not the best possible practice should be adopted?

Political analyst, Alexander Rusero, ZANU-PF was being consistent with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)’s communist party structure which it adopted. “The history of all parties who follow communist ethos, especially from the former USSR and China, has shown that they are alien to internal elections. They believe and thrive in what they call guided democracy whereby voting is not necessarily about choosing. So to them, elections are not supposed to be for the purposes of contest but they are rituals whose outcomes are pre-determined,” he said.

The secret ballot has its roots in the ancient Greece where it was used as a voting method in which a voter’s choices are anonymous, forestalling possible attempts to influence the voter by either intimidation or bribery on the part of the candidate.

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