The Residents Association Coalition for Electoral Reforms (RACER) says a partisan civil service could compromise the credibility of next year’s general elections.
RACER, a coalition of 42 rural and urban residents associations, expressed concern over the country’s civil servants’ alleged declaration of allegiance to ZANU PF and the party’s presidential candidate President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Addressing journalists in Harare on Tuesday, RACER spokesperson Marvelous Khumalo urged civil servants to remain apolitical. Said Khumalo:
We call upon members of the civil service to desist from pushing partisan political agendas which is in clear violation of the Constitution, which calls for civil servants not to act in a partisan manner and to further the interests of political parties.
Civil servants have always worked as polling officers before, and that cannot be ruled out for the 2023 polls.
But how are they going to be fair when they have already shown that they are for ED who is also going to be a candidate in the 2023 polls?
Khumalo also implored the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to be impartial when dealing with cases of political violence.
Political activists have accused the police of being partisan saying the police are quick to arrest opposition supporters for politically motivated violence while turning a blind eye to ZANU PF members who cause a reign of terror in various parts of the country.
In June, CCC vice chairman Job “Wiwa” Sikhala was arrested and denied bail for allegedly inciting violence in Nyatsime but a senior ZANU PF official, Owen “Muda” Ncube allegedly threatened to unleash an orgy of violence “worse than 2008” against opposition members ahead of the 2023 general elections but has not been arrested.