Zimbabwe: 1985 General Elections (continued)
ZANU-Sithole rejected moves toward one-partyism. It urged national reconciliation and a balanced and integrated economy with fuller employment and better health and other facilities. The private sector and external investors were to be mobilised, coaxed and directed in the national interest. The UANC urged national autonomy and unity, a mixed economy, attraction of external investors, concentration upon employment-creation, a ban upon ownership of unused land, and a more positive role for traditional leaders. That the results of the election largely confirmed those of the independence general election that had preceded it is hardly surprising. Mugabe had consolidated his position of leadership and the configuration of interests had remained largely similar. The country's economy had performed well, especially in the first three years of its existence.
ZANU-PF, moreover, had re-organised and restructured itself at the cell, branch, district and provincial levels in a way that enabled it to mobilise electoral support much more effectively than its rivals. Its access to the media was also better. ZANU-PF, in its campaign, characterised PF-ZAPU as a party committed to destabilisation and parochial.
PF-ZAPU had meanwhile become increasingly and predominantly beholden to its Ndebele support base. Its limited ability to use patronage and deliver eroded its support. On the other hand, a perception of government discrimination against non-Shona in the civil service; of repression against former ZIPRA dissidents; and of favouring Mashonaland in resource distribution fuelled support for PF-ZAPU. In its campaign, it condemned victimisation and the declared commitment of ZANU-PF to pursue the objective of a single party state.
In the eastern Chipenge home of its leader where it won a seat, ZANU-Sithole was able to capitalise upon the strategically inappropriate alienating stance of the ZANU-PF candidate towards the people of that region. The CAZ's performance was equally predictable. A tapering force politically it nevertheless continued to articulate the traditional conservative sentiments that had originally impelled it into power.
The 1985 electoral system differed from those of the preceding two general elections insofar as there was a move to the Anglo-American plurality constituency system at the behest of ZANU-PF, ostensibly to heighten geographic representation. An unstated additional motive may also have been the wish to prevent the proliferation of opposition parties that proportional representation tends to promote. In the earlier 1980 general elections, moreover, there also had been no constituencies or registration process. People had voted where they wished. They had then been marked with a safe chemical to prevent repeat votes.
The preparation for the elections themselves had commenced with the appointment of a first Delimitation Commission on 8 June 1981 and a second such commission in November 1984 along with an Election Directorate. These bodies worked hard to ensure a considerable growth in voter enrolment and played important roles together with the Electoral Supervisory Commission appointed in June 1984. Total cost to the state of these provisions was $9 587 050. In the event, the elections, originally intended for March, were postponed to late June and early July. This was because it became clear by 15 February (when registration formally terminated) that a majority of the potential voting population had not yet registered. The delay facilitated the eventual enrolment of 2 989 369 people on the common roll, and this figure was expanded by the subsequent decision to permit all citizens over eighteen years of age with a national identity document to vote. As in 1980, those who voted were marked with a harmless chemical to prevent repeat votes.
In late February 1985, pitched battles between supporters of ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU caused three deaths in Bulawayo. On 2-3 March the city was sealed off as security forces searched for arms and dissidents. The involvement of the Fifth Brigade and members of the ZANU-PF youth league in alleged abductions augured poorly.
Yet the 1985 general elections themselves were characterised by relatively little violence and intimidation during their immediate duration. This was so in part because of their concentration within a short period; in part because a state of emergency had been renewed on 7 May; and in part because of the role of Maurice Nyagumbo, minister of state for political affairs, who sent a disciplinary message to the party youth to restrain their behaviour. The chairman of the Electoral Supervisory Commission, Professor Walker J Kamba, expressed gratification at the fairness of a process.
It was, therefore, an unexpected sequel to the election when celebrating ZANU-PF supporters later went on a rampage in some urban areas. Three days of violence a week later were mainly concentrated in the black suburbs of Harare and left six dead and others injured.
Mr Mugabe was clearly irritated by the recrudescence of white conservatism that the CAZ electoral success signified and he accused white voters of spurning the hand of friendship. In the new cabinet announced on 15 July, Mr Anderson was to be the only non-ZANU-PF member. Dennis Norman, a member of the CAZ and a successful Minister of Agriculture in the preceding cabinet, was dropped along with two deputy ministers.