Voters queuing ahead of Zimbabwe's Jul. 30 general elections. The election saw Emmerson Mnangagwa win the presidential race but the opposition has lodge a formal petition challenging the results. Courtesy: The Commonwealth/CC By 2.0

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Aug 13 2018 (IPS)

Many in Zimbabwe are questioning whether the country can break with its horrid past or embrace a new future after a watershed election that saw Emmerson Mnangagwa win the presidential race by a narrow margin and the opposition lodge a formal petition challenging the results in the Constitutional Court.

Mnangagwa–a trusted and past enforcer of former president Robert Mugabe–won the vote by 50.8 percent against the 44.9 percent garnered by Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-Alliance).

Mnangagwa’s 2.46 million votes, against Chamisa’s 2.15 million, gave him the mandatory 50+1 percent required to be declared winner.

But the MDC-Alliance on Friday afternoon, Aug. 10, lodged a petition with the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe challenging the results, halting the inauguration of Mnangagwa that had been slated for Sunday, Aug. 12.

The Constitutional Court will consider the matter over 14 days but political watchers say that what the ruling will be, remains unclear. The court could reject the MDC-Alliance petition and confirm Mnangagwa’s win, or it could confirm Chamisa’s presented evidence and rule in the opposition’s favour. The court could also order another election, which could be held within the next 60 days.“The future of Zimbabwe lies in a negotiated settlement now because of what the country stands to lose [rather] than gain if a political resolution is not found soon.” -- Political analyst and human rights activist, Effie Ncube.

Political analyst and human rights activist, Effie Ncube, says that should the court rule in favour of Chamisa and order a rerun, this could stoke tensions. He says that a preferred solution would be inclusive discussions out of court between Mnangagwa and Chamisa.

“Keeping away from a re-run is the best solution for Zimbabwe because the tension on the ground now is not ideal for an election without triggering violence,” Ncube tells IPS. “The future of Zimbabwe lies in a negotiated settlement now because of what the country stands to lose [rather] than gain if a political resolution is not found soon.”

Mugabe may have been ousted, but his brutal legacy lingers over a country desperate for a fresh start. Zimbabwe’s Jul. 30 elections–the first since Mugabe was toppled last November–did not disappoint on the dearth of harmony. Violence, in all its forms, has been emblematic of Mugabe’s rule and is something that president-elect Mnangagwa sought a clean break from.

But violence, intimidation, killings and disputed results soiled the elections.

Two weeks ago police clashed with opposition supporters who staged a demonstration outside the offices of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) over the delayed announcement of the presidential election results. The army fired on protesting supporters, killing six people and injuring scores more. The tragedy stained the polls despite pleas from both the ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) and the opposition MDC for a violence-free election.

“Mugabe’s legacy of brutality has returned to haunt us again but at least it was clear who was in charge,” Dumisani Nkomo, director of Habakkuk Trust, a civil rights advocacy organisation, notes. “Right now it is not clear who is charge and many centres of power seem to have emerged and even within the army there appears to be many centres of command as evidenced by the mystery of who deployed soldiers in Harare.”

Nkomo says the credibility of the electoral process has been severely eroded by issues around the voters roll, postal voting and election results.

“This is a really complex situation because contested election outcomes have been an issue since 1980 and more visibly in 2000, 2002 and 2013 and we seem to be moving in circles,” Nkomo tells IPS. “The election result cannot in all honesty be termed free and fair because of the uneven playing field and the clampdown on civil liberties after the announcement of the results.”

The elections had a semblance of being free on many fronts; the polls were relatively peaceful, there was a new biometric voters’ system, a well-organised and resourceful ZEC, and a plethora of candidates and parties vying for power.

While observers from the Southern African Development Community and African Union have endorsed the elections as free and fair, the European Union has pointed to irregularities.

Economist and lawmaker, Eddie Cross, says he expects the presidential ballot to stand up to the court challenge.

“Any legal challenge should therefore be short lived,” Cross said in post-election commentary on his website. “The big challenge facing Emmerson Mnangagwa is now to unite the country under his leadership and heal the wounds of past battles–the struggle for independence… the struggle against the MDC since 2000 with 5,000 abductees, tens of thousands beaten and tortured, hundreds of deaths and the near total destruction of the economy, all in the name of fighting the restoration of real democracy.”

Time to build bridges

Mnangagwa has scoffed at the idea of a government of national unity, an arrangement his predecessor, was forced to enter into in 2008 with the opposition MDC, which had been led at the time by the late Morgan Tsvangirai.

“I have two-thirds majority and you are talking about me abandoning my two-thirds majority to set a government of national unity?” Mnangagwa commented on Skye News television during an interview last week.

“Not that it’s a bad idea, but it doesn’t show that there is any need. I am saying politics should now take the back seat because the elections are behind us. We should now put our shoulders to the wheel for purposes of modernising our economy, growing our economy together. Those who have voted against me, those who voted for me, we say Zimbabwe is ours together.”

In spite of the violence that has marred the election outcomes, Zimbabwe was banking on a smooth assumption of power as a ticket into the fold of the international community.

However, in a move set to pile pressure on the new government to double its effort to reengage the international community and institute a raft of political and economic reforms, the United States last week renewed sanctions on Zimbabwe, which have been in place since 2001.

The economy remains a key challenge Mnangagwa has to address swiftly.

Mnangagwa has been on an international investment charm offensive, promoting Zimbabwe’s new open business approach.

The country needs an economic vision to ensure growth, unlock business opportunities, jobs, restore trust in the banking sector and hopefully bring back a local currency.

“Mnangagwa has the opportunity to turn the country round, he has made the right pronouncements on the economy that he needs to follow up with action. I think he wants to play a [Nelson] Mandela come in as a person who transforms the country and moves it to democracy and move away from the dictatorship,” says Ncube.

“Should the court confirm Mnangagwa as the winner, there could be less tension. But the credibility and legitimacy of the regime will be questioned and that will challenge its ability to organise international investment and undermine political stability.”

The Commonwealth’s team of observers began their assessment of the electoral process in Zimbabwe, leading up to general elections on Jul. 30. Courtesy: The Commonwealth/CC By 2.0

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Jul 31 2018 (IPS)

Counting is underway today across Zimbabwe as the country voted in an historic election on Jul. 30, which many expect will bring political and economic transformation. It is a long-awaited change for many after autocratic leader, Robert Mugabe, was ousted in a soft coup in November 2017 after 37 years in power.

A post-Mugabe future has provided a kindling of hope among citizens that a new Zimbabwe, which can offer a better life for all is still possible.

The country has survived a myriad of crises that have traumatised its citizens, scared investors and left this resource-rich country isolated internationally. It was an election pregnant with expectations for change and transformation. Economic restoration, jobs, unity, peace and prosperity have been key election expectations. “A non-violent election is a big step but of course at the end of the day the real crisis is still here, the economic crisis." -- David Moore, researcher and political economist.

On election morning in the Bulawayo suburb of Famona, the lines where short and it took most people less then 10 minutes to cast their votes. But people were trickling in. And soon most of the 10,000 polling stations across the country had long queues.

No reports of violence have been reported so far. Though the Zimbabwe Republic Police told a local radio station yesterday that a few voters had been nabbed for sloganeering outside voting stations in direct violation of election rules.

Political analysts told IPS that while Zimbabwe has all the potential to turn around its fortunes, it is a tall ask that this election needs to deliver on. The voter turnout yesterday was high as more than 75 percent of the five million Zimbabweans registered to vote went to the polls to choose a president, members of parliament and local government councillors. There were 23 presidential candidates and more than 100 political parties with registered candidates to contest the 210 seats in the House Assembly.

The presidential contest – the most important of all – appears a largely two horse race pitting current Zimbabwean president, Emmerson Mngangwa (75) of the ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) against president of the Movement for Democratic Alliance (MDC), Nelson Chamisa (40).

Mnangagwa is a lawyer and was Mugabe’s point man for many years, having served in government since independence where he held the portfolios of minister of state security and minister of justice. He was the vice president until he was fired by Mugabe in 2017.

Chamisa, also a lawyer and firebrand activist, is a founding member of the MDC under the late Morgan Tsvangirai. He succeeded Tsvangirai in March 2018 in a controversial manner that split the party and which saw Thokozani Khupe lead a breakaway faction. Khupe is one of four female candidates vying for the presidency.

Calling the presidential race a “male” race, pitting men from the privileged classes against each other, Professor Rudo Gaidzanwa, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and social commentator, told IPS this contest excluded even elite men who are perceived to be competent but “alien” because they do not exhibit the earthy, violent and killer characteristics that can win a party the election and appeal to the grassroots.

“Men of violence and force are admired and accepted because they are perceived as being able to fight for their constituents and followers. This is a legacy of Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence that extolled the virtues and legitimacy of violence as a means of achieving political ends. That legacy continues to haunt us,” said Gaidzanwa.

He said that Zimbabwe needed to transcend the values and politics of the past that focused “on colonists as the enemy and accept that even the elites amongst the former oppressed people are not angels.”

“They have shown us what they are capable of doing to their own people! If you look at Zimbabwe’s political and nationalist elites that pillaged diamonds, agricultural and land you will realise that in Africa, we are yet to embark on a class war that attempts to restore to the working people the wealth of their countries.

“The nationalists continue to use nationalism to justify their pillaging of national resources and they use nationalism to dupe the peasants and workers to think that it is ok for their clansmen, tribesmen to loot “on their behalf” when in fact the clansmen and some women get crumbs.”

A vote for change

Zimbabwe has a harsh history of violence, dating back to before this southern Africa nation became independent in 1980. The price of that violent past has been dear—deep divisions and polarisation along ethnic, and political lines, economic ruin and palpable corruption. These are some of the legacies blamed on Mugabe who led Zimbabwe for 37 years before a coup forced him into permanent retirement.

“Zimbabweans have to break with the violent past, because that will be a real symbol of something that is new no matter who wins,” David Moore, researcher and political economist at the University of Johannesburg, told IPS. “A non-violent election is a big step but of course at the end of the day the real crisis is still here, the economic crisis. What took Zimbabwe out of the 2008 crisis was the Americanisation of the crisis you cannot do that now. How long does it take for a dream of floods of billions of dollars in investment that remains to be seen?”

In 2008 Zimbabwe’s economy had been on the brink of collapse, experiencing hyperinflation of unprecedented levels. The country was forced to abandon its currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, and replaced it with the United States dollar, to stabilise the economy.

Moore said the 2018 elections were different for many reasons. There was no Mugabe—at least on the ballot paper—and neither was there his erstwhile political foe, Tsvangirai.

Former president Mugabe, in an election eve press conference at his home in the capital Harare, on Jul. 29, said he would not be voting for the Zanu PF because it still harboured his tormentors and the reason he was out of power.

“Neighbours have been fooled into believing this was not a coup d’état. Nonsense, it was a coup d’état.. ….I cannot vote for a party and those in power who have caused me to be in this situation.”

Legitimacy and credibility are at stake for political contenders

Chamisa is seeking legitimacy. He is a young contender for the highest political office in the country and has made his own blunders along the way. But he is seeking to prove he can lead and change the future for Zimbabwe. For Mnangagwa, who has been at the helm for seven months, the key is to legitimise his rule and to cement international relations. ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’, has been his campaign mantra.

“Usually processes like an election after a coup are not that successful because a coup has its characteristics of using force and not wanting to give up but when you look at the effort of the coup makers to legitimise this coup by having free and fair elections you have a certain amount of pressure from the donors and the investors,” Moore told IPS.

“It is actually been a pretty peaceful election given Zimbabwe’s history, the Gukurahundi, the 1980s election has a lot of violence and the British were debating whether to let it go. In 2008, there is intimidation but its minor. I think there is a real appetite and hope for serious change. There could be a turning point whoever wins if the elections are seen as credible and the people accept them as credible. It could perhaps be the most important election since 1980.”

A compromise of sorts like a semi-government of national unity could be in the office, Moore believes.

“If Mnangagwa wins, he could bring in a few people inside, people who can interface with capital and people with money. But it’s a volatile situation too and Zanu PF will have to work very hard to make it acceptable to the main opposition,” said Moore. “The MDC has really fired up a lot of people especially young people, who are really hoping for something and if they feel this election has not been credible one could possible expect some pretty tense situations. If it is a victory for the MDC, there will have to be a lot of bridge building and lot of horse trading as well.”

The jury is out still about the choice Zimbabweans made at the ballot this week, and whether that choice will take the country out of its conundrum and raise it to a new level.

Political and economic analysts say that a new government under the Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) is the best solution for Zimbabwe’s economic future. Credit: Trevor Davies/IPS

By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE, Aug 1 2013 (IPS)

Zimbabwean analysts say that it will be historical if President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled this country for 33 years, loses the country’s presidential election to his long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and relinquishes power.

A day before the election, Mugabe had told reporters at State House that if he loses he would concede defeat.

On Wednesday, Jul. 31, Zimbabweans in Harare, the capital, woke up at midnight eager to cast their ballots in the general election. In most towns across Zimbabwe, voters began queuing very early on Wednesday morning, enduring the chilly weather in order to vote.

Many, like 32-year-old Loveness Mbiza, a fruit and vegetable vendor from Harare’s Machipisa high-density suburb, feel this election will bring an improved economic environment.“There has never been such voting excitement here save perhaps for 1980 at independence and this means something much bigger is set to happen here and people want development to kick-start under a new regime.” -- voter and local businessman Jabulani Gumbo

“I have lived under constant surveillance from brutal police in Mugabe’s government who have always chased me from one point to the other, often accusing me of selling my wares at undesignated points in the city, but without providing me with alternatives,” Mbiza told IPS.

“I woke up soon after midnight to be on the queue here so that I could cast my vote early and go back to attend to my vending business. My wish is to see my vote being respected because I know most people are suffering just like me and wish to see President Mugabe shown the door when the results are announced,” added Mbiza.

But Claris Madhuku, a political analyst and director for Platform for Youth Development, a democracy lobby group in Zimbabwe, told IPS that voters should not put their full trust in the new political dispensation that may emerge after this election.

“There is excessive excitement from voters and too much optimism is being invested in a [Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai] MDC-T government that they think will be born out of the elections. But they should allow any dispensation to settle down and gradually manoeuvre its way to rescue this country from its long economic crisis,” Madhuku said.

Zimbabwe is still recovering from an economic meltdown, based largely on Mugabe’s controversial policies. There have also been allegations of widespread corruption and stealing from the state’s coffers by Mugabe and other high-ranking officials within his party.

Between 2003 and 2009, this southern African nation’s year on year inflation was reported as 231 percent. According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, 85 companies closed down in Harare last year and over 100 shut down in Bulawayo between 2009 and 2013. Unemployment is high, with most people being forced to work in the informal sector.

Independent political analyst Rashwit Mkundu said he foresees the country becoming an economic “powerhouse” under Tsvangarai’s leadership, if he wins this election.

“There is certainly going to be rapid economic recovery in Zimbabwe if Tsvangirai is announced winner of this election. Zimbabwe will fast emerge as an economic powerhouse of the rest of the African continent, possibly overtaking South Africa in terms of economic growth,” Mkundu told IPS.

Mugabe and some of his party hardliners in Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu–PF) are under economic sanctions from Western nations for violating human rights. However, in March the European Union suspended most of its sanctions, though Mugabe and a number of his followers remain on the list.

Analysts think this election could be the Zanu-PF leader’s last race before Mugabe disappears from the political scene, as he turns 90 years old in six months’ time.

Chairperson for the Council for Social Workers in Zimbabwe, Philip Bohwasi, told IPS that a victory by Tsvangirai would result in a stampede of investors to the country. A number pulled out after Mugabe implemented the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act of 2007. It states that foreign-owned companies are required to sell a 51 percent stake to locals to stimulate economic growth.

“Tsvangirai warms up very well to nations from the developed world from which most investors come. His victory in this election will spark a scramble for investment chances from investors abroad eager to put their investments here,” Bohwasi told IPS.

But Masimba Kuchera, an independent media analyst in Harare, told IPS that ordinary people should be careful not to build their hopes on impulsive policies pencilled in political party manifestos.

“Yes, I know most people who have voted in this election anticipate drastic changes from the MDC-T, which they widely believe will massively ride to victory when election results are announced. But what has convinced them to so overwhelmingly rally behind MDC-T are mere policies penned in the party’s campaign manifesto, which may be an exaggerated piece of paper designed to lure voters,” Kuchera said.

Although the Zanu-PF government, which entered a coalition arrangement with the two formations of the MDC, stands widely accused of being the architect of the country’s economic crisis, many, like 25-year-old Donemore Dziva, a jobless college graduate with a diploma in marketing, hopes for a Zanu-PF victory.

“I didn’t wake up so early in the morning to come and waste my vote on MDC-T because I didn’t see anything worthwhile it did for young jobless people like me during its tenure in the coalition government. I just hope we shall have President Mugabe back when the results shall be announced and let him finish the economic empowerment of locals here,” Dziva told IPS.

Other political analysts here say any win by Mugabe in this election would spell disaster for Zimbabwe.

“Any win that favours Mugabe in this election will be contestable and there is really nothing new that Mugabe has in store to warrant a justified return to the number one job in the land. His return will only further deepen the country’s economic crisis considering that Mugabe has not been successful in mending his dented relations with the rich European nations,” an independent political analyst, Blessing Vava, told IPS.

Harare businessman and owner of a fleet of trucks, Jabulani Gumbo, 56, thinks the large voter turnout is a signal of future great economic strides for Zimbabwe.

“There has never been such voting excitement here, save perhaps for 1980 at independence, and this means something much bigger is set to happen here. People want development to kick-start under a new regime,” Gumbo told IPS. There are no official figures yet available about the number of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots on Wednesday. Initial reports, however, show that the vote was largely a peaceful one.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told an estimated crowd of 40,000 supporters at a rally in Harare’s Freedom Square on Jul. 29 that his party had not being able to verify the names on the voters’ roll. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE, Jul 31 2013 (IPS)

“We definitely can’t miss this grand chance to cast our vote. It’s like Zimbabwe is just gaining independence; the excitement to see a new government coming into power is just incredible and we hope we get a new Zimbabwe rolling again,” 38-year-old Mildred Saungweme from Harare’s Hatfield suburb, told IPS.

On Wednesday, Jul. 31, the country is set to choose a president. It will be the third time that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T), has challenged President Robert Mugabe for power. Mugabe, leader of the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu–PF), has been in office for 33 years.

However, ahead of Wednesday’s vote, election observers from the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had doubts whether the poll would be credible.

“I’m worried [that the] voters’ current excitement may be hampered by certain forces determined to steal this election,” an AU observer speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS.“The risk of escalating violence and other human rights abuses after the election results are announced remains high because the infrastructure of violence remains intact." -- Human Rights Watch director for Southern Africa, Tiseke Kasambala

Hours before polling stations across this southern African nation opened at 5am, voters were still struggling to find out where they could verify their names on the electoral roll.

Those who knew where they would vote, like 73-year-old Tambudzai Gavi from Harare’s Mabvuku suburb, said they were willing to wait overnight in queues in order to cast their ballots.

“We have had one party, Zanu–PF, which has failed to deliver its promises for 33 years. I will sleep in the queue to make sure nobody will have an excuse to deny me the chance to cast my vote,” Gavi told IPS. Results are expected no later than Aug. 5.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has been criticised by political parties and civil society organisations for failing to make the electoral roll available before the polls. There are an estimated 6.4 million registered voters, but concerns have been raised about the number of dead still on the roll.

According to the Electoral Act, the ZEC is required to provide all contesting political parties and observers who request it either a printed or electronic copy of the electoral roll.

“We wonder how names on the voters’ roll are going to be verified if the electronic voters roll has still not been made public,” Tawanda Chimhini, director of Elections Resource Centre, an independent elections organisation in Zimbabwe, told IPS.

Tsvangirai told an estimated crowd of 40,000 supporters at a rally in Harare’s Freedom Square on Jul. 29 that his party had not being able to verify the names on the voters’ roll. “About a day before the elections, ZEC has not presented us with the electronic voters’ roll, something which renders questionable its credibility to run this election,” Tsvangirai said.

International rights group Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) Africa director, Daniel Bekele, told IPS that as legal and institutional reforms, including those to reform the security sector and the ZEC, had not been implemented, it did not create a space for free and fair elections.

“In spite of the difficult human rights environment, the elections are going ahead as a critical test both for Zimbabwe and the regional observers, SADC and AU in particular, to demonstrate genuine commitment to reflect the will of Zimbabwean people,” Bekele said.

“If the elections are rigged, Zimbabwe risks plunging into a complicated political crisis and the risk of violence and other human rights abuses is high,” added Bekele.

Already, ahead of the election there have been reports of violence, abductions and intimidation. IPS reported claims that local traditional leaders were cautioning villagers against voting for the MDC-T to avoid post-election violence by Zanu-PF. There were also reports of suspected Zanu-PF officials seizing voters’ identity cards.

On Jul. 30 reports by local media stated that riot police had been deployed to potential trouble areas in central Zimbabwe.

HRW’s director for Southern Africa, Tiseke Kasambala, told IPS that it would be difficult for voters to cast their ballots freely in light of these abuses.

“Zimbabwe’s unity government, consisting of the former ruling Zanu-PF and the two MDC factions, has failed to implement legal and institutional reforms to address various political, institutional and human rights issues ahead of elections,” Kasambala said.

She said that although the new Zimbabwean constitution, which was signed into law in May, had implemented some reforms; these were insufficient to level the political playing field as there has been no repeal or amendment of repressive legislation.

The country still needs to amend repressive laws like the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which stipulates that journalists should register annually with the Zimbabwe Media and Information Commission, and the Public Order and Security Act, which criminalises the reporting of falsehoods and leaves journalists open to litigation.

“The risk of escalating violence and other human rights abuses after the election results are announced remains high because the infrastructure of violence remains intact, and there has been no accountability for previous human rights abuses, including the 2008 political violence,” added Kasambala.

In 2008, following the disputed election that saw Mugabe hold on to power, violence erupted across the country. In a 2011 report titled Perpetual Fear: Impunity and Cycles of Violence in Zimbabwe, HRW stated that Zanu-PF had been responsible for abuses that led to the deaths of 200 people, and the beating and torture of 5,000 more.

Despite this, MDC-T supporters were excited ahead of the vote.

“We know Tsvangirai is going to win this election and form a new democratic government to relegate President Robert Mugabe to the dustbin of history,” 31-year-old Patricia Hove, a staunch MDC-T supporter, told IPS.

However, most Zanu-PF hardliners claim that a MDC-T victory means the country runs the risk of falling into an era of neo-colonialism.

“If MDC-T wins this election, we run the risk of falling into the hands of an indirect leadership of Britain again because this party is a puppet of Britain and America, countries which feed it money to garner support from ordinary Zimbabweans,” Goodson Nguni, a well know Zanu-PF leader, told IPS.

Meanwhile, 36-year-old unemployed civil engineer Nigel Samuriwo was looking forward to casting his vote. Samuriwo graduated 13 years ago, but he has not been able to find a job since.

“I’m so excited about this election. I’m so optimistic it will bring change in my life and a job I have never had under Mugabe’s government, which sparked the closure of several companies,” Samuriwo told IPS.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at a party rally on Jul. 29, 2013, two days before Zimbabwe’s election. Economists say that it does not matter who wins the country’s Jul. 31 election as none of the political parties may be able to reverse the country’s economic meltdown. Courtesy: Jeffrey Moyo

By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE, Jul 30 2013 (IPS)

At a recent campaign rally in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai pledged to establish rural-based companies to create employment. It was a promise that appealed to 34-year-old sociologist Agnes Ngwenya who graduated from the University of Zimbabwe 10 years ago, but has not yet found work.

She broke into song and ecstatic ululation, as she jumped and gyrated with optimism, waving a red flag – a distinctive trademark of the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T).

MDC–T promises to create a 100-billion-dollar economy by 2018, anchored by foreign direct investment. Meanwhile the splinter MDC–Ncube, led by Professor Welshman Ncube, pins its campaign on devolution, or decentralising governance.

“Believing that the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu–PF) 2013 campaign manifesto will one day transform the lives of many suffering Zimbabweans after the party’s three decades in power is a definite impossibility and absolutely untrue,” Ngwenya tells IPS.“We strongly believe that we no longer need a government of national unity, because it hampers our economic growth." -- Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Davison Norupiri

Zimbabweans go to the polls on Wednesday Jul. 31, amid reports of intimidation, threats of violence and abductions. But economists here say that it does not matter whether Tsvangirai’s MDC–T or President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu–PF wins the election, neither will be able to reverse Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown anytime soon.

Economist Kingston Nyakurukwa says that both parties have unrealistic plans for solving Zimbabwe’s economic problems.

“While I agree that MDC–T seems to have a better plan to rescue the country from a decade-long economic crisis, generally manifestos pencilled by the parties set to lock horns at this years’ elections are unrealistic, exaggerated and reflect the ambitiousness of the parties racing to govern this country rather than the pragmatic means to arrest the country’s economic woes,” Nyakurukwa tells IPS.

Between 2003 and 2009, this Southern African nation’s year on year inflation was reported as 231 percent. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was forced to issue a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note and eventually the central bank stopped printing money in 2009, opting to adopt a multi-currency regime. Not only that, unemployment is ridiculously high. A 2009 report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that the country’s unemployment rate was 94 percent. A great majority now work in the informal sector.

Much of the country’s economic meltdown has been blamed on Mugabe’s policies, which include a controversial land reform programme that began in 2000 and saw over 300,000 people forcefully occupy land previously owned by an estimated 4,000 white commercial farmers.

Another controversial policy area is foreign investment.

Though for 21-year-old Evelyn Chatsi from Mwenezi district, about 144km southwest of Zimbabwe’s oldest town of Masvingo, it is not controversial at all. She feels it is a solution for her improved economic future.

“I know Zanu–PF will not betray young people. The party crafted the indigenisation policy to empower youths like us and come Jul. 31, our lives will be changed, with President Robert Mugabe back at the helm of leadership,” Chatsi tells IPS.

Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai rally on Jul. 29, 2013, two days before Zimbabwe’s election. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

Under the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act of 2007, foreign-owned companies are required to sell a 51 percent stake to locals to stimulate economic growth.

But some financers fear losing their investments through this policy. Independent economic analyst John Robertson says it has scared away investors and led to several companies closing down after being taken over by locals.

“With indigenisation, we have attracted very little new investments here and caused closure of several companies that offered employment to many people here,” Robertson tells IPS.

According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, 85 companies closed down in Harare last year and over 100 shut down in Bulawayo between 2009 and 2013.

Araj Mouri, a Zimbabwean-based Indian businessman, tells IPS: “We definitely can’t trust a party whose aim is to have its hands on our investments without bringing its own capital. We are therefore watching this election drama with scepticism.”

Claris Madhuku, director of Platform for Youth Development, a democracy lobby group, agrees that Zanu–PF’s indigenisation and economic empowerment policy has failed and says that is has caused “mayhem in the country, with many people linked to it scrambling to grab foreign-owned companies.”

“While MDC-T’s manifesto is reasonable, [it is] too ambitious, which may also be difficult to implement. The political parties want power; they don’t mean what they say,” he tells IPS.

Charles Msipa, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industry, says Zimbabwe really needs a government with a consistent policy framework that addresses the country’s economic opportunities and challenges.

“But whether that policy environment is delivered by a coalition or single-party government, it’s for the electorate to decide,” Msipa tells IPS.

However, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Davison Norupiri says another coalition government would stifle economic growth. After the violence that followed Zimbabwe’s disputed 2008 election, Zanu–PF and MDC–T signed a pact to form a government of national unity with elections this year.

“We strongly believe that we no longer need a government of national unity, because it hampers our economic growth. With our [unity government] here, we haven’t moved much in terms of economic development,” Norupiri tells IPS.

Mike Milton, who runs a plastics manufacturing company in Harare, is also not sure that either party has a concrete solution to save the economy.

“Both MDC-T and Zanu-PF election manifestos lack pragmatic means to arrest the country’s decade long economic woes. They are not clear on how they aim to practically restore investor confidence,” Milton tells IPS.

“But if we have another disputed election, another coalition government may be unwelcome, which will throw this country into a serious and irretrievable economic morass,” he says.

But Prosper Chitambara, an economist with the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute Zimbabwe, an independent economic research think tank, says he doubts that Zanu–PF’s manifesto would yield any positive changes if the party won the elections.

“In its manifesto, Zanu-PF carries the same old story and I don’t think they will change the way they have been doing things for the past [three decades] even if they may win this election. What they are saying in their campaign manifesto only helps to weaken the value of the national assets and in this case, Zanu-PF’s manifesto is more ambitious than the MDC-T one,” Chitambara tells IPS.

“But I think under an MDC government, we shall see numerous positive transformations and developments hence people have so much expectations,” says Chitambara.

An African Union election observer speaking to IPS in Harare on condition of anonymity says political uncertainty has been the biggest factor in crippling Zimbabwe’s bid to grow its economy.