HARARE – THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has lurched into a new confidence crisis following two separate radio appearances by its chairperson Priscilla Chigumba and commissioner Qhubani Moyo on Monday and Tuesday.

Chigumba’s interview with Capitalk FM and Moyo’s appearance on ZiFM on Tuesday night have infuriated the opposition who accuse the two of lying and bias ahead of elections on July 30.

Chigumba was tackled by interviewer Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa about her apparent impartiality after she was photographed wearing a Zanu PF campaign scarf designed by Celia Rukato.

The Electoral Act specifically says “no commissioner shall knowingly wear any article of clothing that is reasonably likely to be associated with a political party.”

The former High Court judge claimed she wore the scarf prior to her appointment as ZEC chairperson in late January.

“The scarf which is now associated with a particular political candidate, that scarf was designed by a brilliant Zimbabwean girl who then approached a group of us when I was a High Court judge to say, ‘look I’ve designed a scarf in an effort to build national consciousness’… I did want to support her and I was very grateful for the present she gave me and I took a picture,” Chigumba says of the photograph which was first posted on Facebook by the designer on February 5, 2018.

She added: “Yes, I did take a picture and this was before I became the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. I was a High Court judge.”

However, in a caption posted with the picture on Facebook on February 5, the designer said she was “extremely honoured to get an opportunity to interact with Justice Priscilla Chigumba, the newly appointed ZEC chairperson.”

Opposition activists immediately set out to expose Chigumba as a liar, pointing out that in another photograph posted on Facebook on February 3 by journalist Hopewell Chin’ono in the same setting as Justice Chigumba’s infamous picture, and with Rukato wearing the same clothing, the journalist says the picture was taken “today”.

Opposition activists say they can argue definitively that Chigumba wore the scarf after her appointment, which raises questions about her impartiality.

Blasted Pedzisai Ruhanya, a political analyst: “Justice Chigumba lied live on radio about the ED scarf that she got it before her appointment. She was appointed in January 2018 and appointed in February 2018. Now, what else does the ZEC chair and judge lie about? Why should we believe what she says about elections?”

Professor Jonathan Moyo, a former government minister now in exile after the military-led coup that ousted former President Robert Mugabe last November, said it was “thoroughly disgusting and totally unacceptable” for Chigumba to “shamelessly lie through her teeth” and demanded: “It’s awful for a judge to be a liar… she must resign.”

Chigumba also walked into another row over the design of the presidential ballot paper, which the opposition parties say is illegal and designed to favour Mnangagwa.

The Electoral Act in section 57 sets parameters for the design of the presidential ballot paper. Names must be listed in alphabetic order, and the ballot paper must have six columns.

If that had been followed, Mnangagwa would slot in 15th out of the 23 candidates for President. Instead, ZEC created a double page ballot paper, with the first column carrying 14 names so that Mnangagwa’s name is listed at the top on the second page.

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa accused ZEC of “rigging the ballot paper” while Coltart called ZEC’s actions “blatantly illegal”.

Chigumba insisted the design was recommended to ZEC by designers who said it was the most “cost efficient”, again drawing derision from the opposition gallery.

Coltart said on Twitter: “Justice Chigumba says it is our right as ZEC to design the ballot as we choose, justifying her favouring Mnangagwa by putting him at the top when he should have been further down. No, it’s not your right judge – your obligation was to act without favour or prejudice.”

With ZEC still reeling from Chigumba’s car crash performance, Commissioner Moyo appeared alongside Coltart on SkyzMetro FM in a discussion moderated by guest presenter, Violet Gonda.

Challenged on alleged postal voting violations at the Police Ross Camp HQ, where officers allegedly voted in front of their superiors and were made to write their names on envelopes containing their ballot papers, Moyo insisted that no police officer had been asked to write their names on envelopes.

Not true, Zimbabwean Twitter fired back.

Journalist Nqobile Bhebhe, who was at Ross Camp when MDC Alliance officials and foreign election observers went there in response to claims of irregular voting, posted a picture showing a ZEC postal ballot envelope with personal details of a police officer, including their name and ward.

Coltart said the law made no provision that requires police officers to submit their postal envelopes to their bosses after voting, but merely to return the ballots to ZEC.

Coltart also accused ZEC of releasing ward-specific voter phone numbers to Zanu PF so that they target voters with unsolicited text messages.

“Our precise complaint is that the law has been broken,” he said on SkyzMetro FM. “We have seen a series of actions by ZEC breaking the law, with the postal ballot, with the voters’ roll and now with the presidential ballot. We have a demonstration that wearing that scarf back in February wasn’t just symbolic, it indicated a fundamental bias, a determination to benefit one party against the will of the people.”

Favouritism … ZEC designed Presidential paper unevenly to benefit Mnangagwa