WHEN Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the MDC Alliance entered into the fray and uttered something that he called ‘Generational Consensus’, those in the know immediately knew that his political end would come sooner than anticipated.
They cautioned time and again that this election, like others before would be determined by the land issue.
Land, they said, was a key component of our past, of our future and of our life.
Land brought us war.
It brought us tears.
It brought us victory which we revel in, a people’s victory that brought us a record 238 million kilogrammes of tobacco just a few days before July 30, 2018.
It is the same land that has brought smiles to the faces of small-scale miners who have been mining and selling gold to relevant units.
These form the bulk of the folk who delivered victory to the ruling ZANU PF.
The land issue resides within us, following us wherever we go and constantly pricking our consciences.
Keeping that alluring fact of our lives is what the maligned rural folk did when they cast their vote for ZANU PF.
Still the discussion is with us.
Again we find ourselves in familiar territory.
We find ourselves having to pluck from history the narrative of land and how it has determined the outcome of the election gone by.
Do not despair Wamba, you have not lost alone.
You have lost together with those who have refused to subscribe to the land question.
Let us get deeper into this discussion.
By the time the country’s electoral mother body, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba announced the presidential election results in the early hours of Friday August 3, 2018, there was little doubt that the crown had been taken by President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
It was a relatively easy contest for ED and ZANU PF.
It was an affair in which he who had the ideas to attend to the country’s needs would carry the day.
ED’s impressive powers of persuasion had been on display as he sought to extricate the country from the economic ruins that he inherited.
But there was much more than his flair to woo the electorate.
It was his tactful idea to lure Zimbabweans from the old order of placing politics at helm of everything and tuck economics firmly on the top of the country’s list of priorities that steered him to victory.
Every now and then, ED demonstrated that the country could not survive on politics alone.
This is the message the people of Zimbabwe embraced and carried through right to the ballot box.
Yet, when everything is said and done, this election will rank as the platform from which Zimbabwe wove its way to the heart of international capital and a key stakeholder in the global political affairs.
While those who emerged victorious are celebrating, it was natural that the opposition would try to destabilise this process.
The MDC, or people associated with that stuttering party, are certainly no strangers to outlandish utterances.
The chaos that we witnessed in the CBD in Harare is one of the many plans they have to negate the land from being bountiful.
They have adopted a strategy that was carefully nurtured by their leader, the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
According to them, any election that does not pronounce them as winners is not free and fair and, as such, would have been rigged.
Unlike Tsvangirai, they have resorted to provoking the authorities by causing anarchy and despondency.
Let us borrow from Tsvangirai’s verdict of the July 31, 2013 harmonised elections in his interview with VOA:
“It is our view that this election is null and void, does not meet Sadc and AU (African Union) international standards for a credible, legitimate and free and fair election. 
“First, there is the issue of the voters’ roll which was only availed in hard copy, which is difficult to verify and analyse, yesterday (Wednesday). . . We are aware of the role of traditional leaders, unauthorised voter migration, especially voters bussed into constituencies like Mount Pleasant, Hatfield North, Epworth . . . Overprinting of ballots — more than 35 percent — and lack of accountability for ballots.
“I have met with the chair of the AU observer mission, former Nigerian President (Olusegun) Obasanjo, head of the Sadc observer mission, (Tanzanian Foreign) Minister (Bernard) Membe and I have given a diplomatic briefing. The message we have given is that this is not a credible election. It does not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe. For the above reason, the election has been heavily manipulated. We, therefore, call for Sadc and the AU audit teams to look into this process, in particular the voters’ roll, the ballots and the manner in which the whole process was conducted.”
The then South African President Jacob Zuma challenged him to provide evidence of the alleged rigging but that never came.
Chamisa and cohorts are crying foul, but they have been challenged to provide evidence and the truth of the matter is that there is no such evidence and it will never be availed to the people of Zimbabwe.
Focus must now be on developing the economy.
We should come together and work towards reviving our economy.
Zimbabweans spoke and their will must be respected!