Time is the architecture of change :: Mmegi Online

Zimbabwean politics carries a familiar tension. It is the tension of a nation that has waited decades for meaningful change, yet expects that change to arrive quickly, cleanly and without friction. It is an understandable impatience, but it is also a dangerous one. Because history is clear on one point: change is not an event. It is a process. And processes take time.

This is what makes the current debate around extending the presidential term and reforming the electoral system more than a political contest. At its core, it is a design question. It asks what kind of system gives a society the best chance not just to change leadership, but to transform outcomes.

Zimbabwe has been here before. In 2013, when the Movement for Democratic Change sought a delay of elections through the Southern African Development Community, the argument was not simply about political advantage. It was about timing and structure.

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