The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema, has strongly encouraged Zimbabweans residing in South Africa to return to their home country and participate in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for August 23.
Malema emphasized that Zimbabweans must take responsibility for their own liberation and exercise their right to vote for a government of their choice. He also urged the incumbent party, Zanu PF, to refrain from violent practices against political opponents and citizens to coerce their vote. He said:
We call on all Zimbabweans who are here in South Africa to go back home and vote. If it means coming back, they can come back, they are more than welcome, but they must do the right thing and go and vote.
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 are called upon to go home and vote, and stop blaming other people for their own misfortunes which they have got solutions to. That solution is August 23, 2023 where they will vote for a government of their choice which will restore peace in that beautiful country.
If they need help to go and vote, they must approach the EFF offices. We will be more than happy to rent buses for them to go home and vote.
The elections mark a critical opportunity for the people of Zimbabwe to elect a government of their choice to uplift the nation from the poverty that defines what was once known as the bread basket of Africa.
We call on the incumbent Zanu PF to resist the urge to practice violence against its political opponents, and any form of intimidation of citizens to coerce their vote.
Zimbabwe needs to enter an era of political tolerance that is not defined by the history of violence and suppression, but the possibility of peace, prosperity and continental unity.
Eleven presidential candidates have entered the race, including the incumbent President Mnangagwa, Nelson Chamisa of Citizens Coalition for Change, and other independent candidates.
South Africa has become a destination for hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who migrated there since the turn of the millennium due to the unstable economic and political conditions in Zimbabwe.