Published: 30 June 2018

Zimbabwe is heading for harmonised elections on July 30. The outcome is as unpredictable as it is anticipated.

The world is watching, including those we have ourselves invited to witness the conclusion of what began inauspiciously as "Operation Restore Legacy" on the fateful night of November 14, 2017.

When the nerves are so frayed and the nation is on tenterhooks, political leaders must be extra careful what they say, and more sobriety is demanded of the media who convey the message far beyond their newsrooms and must therefore be even more mindful of the possible effects of reckless reporting on a restless populace.

Remember Mark Anthony's incendiary address to fellow Romans in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar!

We are standing at a critical juncture in the history of our country. No nation can be said to be stable enough not to leap over the cliff. Such a catastrophe knows no opposition nor ruling party.

It knows no leader nor follower. Nor can the media be guaranteed immunity by claiming to be a mere messenger; right or left wing. When calamity does strike, we shall all be in it together. That is how we should take it from the beginning: we are in it together.

There is no room for phoney philosophising about who defines the national interest and how we regard this country as we approach this epochal election. President Mnangagwa has been more than too generous is expressing his faith in the elusive thing called democracy.

Let's all work in good faith towards its realisation in our life time. The President has called for free and fair elections. He wants them to be credible and beyond reproach. He has invited foreign observers from across the globe. Zimbabwe has nothing to hide.

Locally, opposition political parties have enjoyed unprecedented and unparalleled freedom to campaign and broadcast their message everywhere, using every conceivable media platform. His belief, or hope, or prayer, is for Zimbabwe, for the first time ever, to produce, at the least, an uncontested, not uncontestable, outcome.

After all we are only human and anyone can contest the best-run election for a million times two reasons.
- RADAR

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