HARARE – Former South African President Jacob Zuma says Zimbabwe should take lessons from its recent elections which produced disputed outcomes and deliver a vote which will make citizens “feel at home”.
Zuma, whose government brokered Zimbabwe’s now defunct unity government that subsisted between 2009 and 2013, is in Zimbabwe for the inaugural edition of the African Voluntary Carbon Emissions Forum being held in Victoria Falls.
The forum was also attended by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
South Africa’s third successive post-apartheid leader decried that too many Zimbabweans have had to leave their country because of political “disagreements”.
“Looking forward to the elections, particularly if you take where we come from, from Zimbabwe and what has been happening in Zimbabwe and we know that as a result of probably the disagreements, some Zimbabweans had to leave the country.
“I am hoping that when you come to elections, you would have looked at what happened in the last election and what were the short-comings; what were the mistakes and what were the other things and how to correct them so that in the next elections, you produce better results that will make all citizens feel at home, feel that we are part of the process and I am hoping Zimbabweans will do so,” said Zuma.
Zimbabwe’s elections have in the past been discredited due to political violence and other electoral malpractices.
Meanwhile, South African opposition Economic Freedom Fighters president Julius Malema has urged Zimbabweans based in the neighbouring country to return home on polling day to decide their future.
“No one is going to fight for these Zimbabweans who are loitering the streets here.
“They are their own liberators; for once they must take responsibility and get into buses and go home and vote.
“Zimbabweans must go home and vote and stop blaming other people for their own misfortunes which they got solutions to.
“And that solution is August 23, 2023 where they will vote for a government of their choice which will restore peace and prosperity in that beautiful country,” he said.
Malema said EFF was prepared to offer buses to transport Zimbabweans based in South Africa to come and vote in the August 23 August poll.
“If they need help to go home and vote, they must approach the EFF offices, we will be more than happy to rent buses for them to go home and vote,” he said.
South Africa has remained a big factor in Zimbabwe’s political and economic affairs with former leaders Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe once playing a part in bringing Zimbabwe’s feuding politicians together.
Zimbabwe is on August 23, holding three elections at once for councillors, Members of Parliament and President.
A total of 11 candidates including incumbent President Mnangagwa, his main opponent Nelson Chamisa and exiled former cabinet minister Saviour Kasukuwere are in the race for Zimbabwe’s top job.
