It has been a crazy few days and a nice holiday all rolled into one this week as Zambians stopped to vote on Tuesday 20 September. After a long day of standing in queues for upwards of three hours, everyone headed home to collectively hold their breaths for the next 48 hours, waiting for the results to come in. With all sorts of rumours and fear mongering abounding, most offices including both of ours were closed on and off for the remainder of the week.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) established a website to provide up-to-date coverage, but after reports of hacking, it was closed till further notice! Then the independent TV station and newspaper were banned from reporting voting updates (the government-run TV station’s news is pure propaganda) and the ECZ declared it would only release results for each electorate once all votes were double checked and verified. The black out just made everyone ever the more jittery as they imagined the government finding a whole stack of last minute, false ballots to push them over the line – something many Zambians believe occurred in 2008, when the ruling party came from behind to mysteriously win at the eleventh hour by only 35,000 votes. There were even a few reported cases of ruling party “low-level cadres” (read thugs) caught with boxes of pre-marked ballot sheets, triggering pockets of violence as the perpetrators were bashed and their ballots set on fire.
With many verifiable stories of vote rigging and corruption in the 2008 Presidential Election, some Zambians were primed to erupt in mild-mannered, Zambian outrage if, yet again, a last minute surge of ruling party votes swung the results. In 2008, a friend was an election monitor and tells how he was dragged into the District Commissioner’s office after he had signed off the count. He had refused to sign a new count sheet that converted his booth’s results from a small ruling party win to a much larger one. The District Commissioner threatened him in the presence of a higher official, a policeman and a jailor but he refused to cooperate. How many others would have succumbed to such pressure? With some evidence of this occurring again, everyone felt sure that the public would not stand for it this time round.
So, by the second day of counting, students from the main university were marching to the ECZ tally centre and throwing rocks at passerbys. Riots were erupting in the Copperbelt, an area dominated by opposition strongholds disillusioned by the lack of work and poor working conditions in the copper mines. And by 12 noon, offices were closing and a steady stream of cars were heading out of town, stopping only to empty out the supermarkets and stock their pantries, fearing the worst. Or as one Zambian described it: “heading home to hide under their beds.”
The ECZ had promised an announcement within 48 hours and as the clock ticked by, the National TV broadcaster played music videos and documentaries on rice growing in Asia! No regular updates, no interviews with candidates or vox pops – just endless, boring time fillers. All was too quiet until the midnight deadline came and went, then suddenly around 12.30 am, the entire city erupted as the ECZ announced that the opposition had won and the incumbent President was conceding defeat! And the celebrations continued throughout the night with vuvuzelas, car horns and lots of singing and chanting everywhere. Everyone is ecstatic! Even those who voted for the old party, I think, are at least relieved that democracy is working and a smooth transition is occurring.
It has been an interesting campaign to watch – the ruling party had lots of resources, new cars, posters, billboards, lots of incentives to give out (including fertilizer, clothes and even lollipops with the President on the wrapper), but this just made many question if it was all being bankrolled by the mining companies or by tax revenue. In the last two months, road-works started up all over town but cynics pointed out that this happened last time and the road-works stopped the moment the election was over.
The opposition, with far fewer resources, developed a very clever campaign, based around the phrase “Don’t Kubeba”, or “Don’t Tell!” Not a slogan that would work in Australia, its meaning here was clear, “you can take their bribes but don’t tell anyone who you will vote for!” In two small words, the opposition cleverly inferred that the government was corrupt while reminding people that they were free to secretly vote for change. And it worked. Everyone was saying ‘Don’t Kubeba’ in the lead up to the election and it is the victory chant now!
Who knows what the new government will be like or if anything will change but at least democracy is working and that is something of which Zambians can be very proud. It is also slightly unusual in an African context and hopefully will put pressure on other regional leaders who refuse to acknowledge democratic processes. Importantly, a clear message of the elections is that Zambians did not like the way the previous government turned a blind eye to corruption.
I can also proudly claim that the new First Lady of Zambia helped push my car out of a ditch – we travelled together when we were both at a health workshop and she proved she was willing to get her hands dirty! She is an impressive woman and a health specialist so I hope this means some serious improvement in healthcare for Zambia!
