Wilson Chipangura, Guest Reporter
HARARE – The ruling party, Zanu PF, has expressly urged citizens in the Diaspora to forget about their right to vote in 2023 when general elections are due to be held.
Zanu PF acting political commissioner Patrick Chinamasa says the diaspora cannot be allowed to vote as the political field is uneven due to sanctions imposed on most party officials for human rights abuse.
“Diaspora Zimbabweans who have acquired tremendous skills in different fields, profession, medical technology, investments, finance. We would like to urge these Zimbabweans to look home and contribute to the economic development of this country.
“At the moment we are not talking about them voting because as you know if we are talking about voting from now on it cannot be possible because the political field is not level. I can’t apply to be in the UK because of the sanctions, we all know that.
“My colleagues here are all under sanctions. As long as this situation persists and persists, we will not campaign to people in the diaspora. Because then we only allow those who have called for sanctions access to that electorate if they vote, of course that is not acceptable and we will not allow that.
“Sanctions have to fall, so we can talk about giving the right to vote to people in the diaspora, knowing that we can send anyone from our party there to meet our members there and campaign without having to be told this person cannot come because he is under sanctions. I want to make that very clear,” Chinamasa said.
The ruling party’s continued refusal to vote for the Diaspora is in direct violation of Zimbabwe’s new constitution, adopted in 2013, which allows members of the Diaspora to vote from outside the country.
