ZEC lacks credibility, say MDC Alliance, NPP, MDC-T, APA

MUTARE – PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa claimed at a rally in Mutare on July 20 that the MDC Alliance was “the only party that is complaining about ZEC” ahead of elections on July 30.

The Zanu PF leader was trying to ease pressure on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which has been accused of batting for the ruling party.

But was he telling the truth?

In the presidential race, which has 23 candidates, Mnangagwa’s main challengers are MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa; Thokozani Khupe of the MDC-T; Nkosana Moyo of the Alliance for the People’s Agenda (APA) and Joice Mujuru of the National People’s Party.

ZimLive.com has checked the record – and it is not true that the MDC Alliance is the only party unhappy with ZEC.

Speaking during a meeting with The Elders led by former UN secretary general Koffi Annan on July 19, APA leader Moyo accused ZEC of being “more unwilling than they are able to deliver a fair election for all”.

Here is what he said: “There have been changes (at ZEC). But the impression one gets looking at the behaviour of ZEC is that these changes were meant to be superficial. The intention was not so much that we feel and behave and everybody actually feels free to do what they want to do. There’s underlying intimidatory stuff going on.

“Is there anything that well-wishers for Zimbabwe can do to help the process? The answer is yes. You can engage the President and make him aware that there’re a lot of things that are worrisome that are going on, contrary to his public pronouncements. He says one thing and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chair (Priscilla Chigumba) behaves in a manner that is decidedly unfacilitative.

“In my opinion she is making a mistake in the following way: she keeps referring to law. Nobody denies that we’re coming form a space where the reputation of ZEC is not a good one. So, we’re managing a process of building trust, not by the book. The book has to be minimum standards; so what is provided for in law and in regulations must be considered as minimal.

“I hope you can encourage her to understand that her behaviour has to be over and above what is required by law, to open up the space for no doubt whatsoever that her intentions are the correct intentions, I don’t think she understands that. Either she doesn’t understand it, or she in fact has got an agenda.

“Let me use a very basic illustration of my point. If I’ve got a wife and I get an innocent message on my phone when she’s with me, and she says can I see because she’s curious, maybe because I smirked or laughed or whatever, and I say no you can’t, that act alone gives an impression, a cause to believe that that message was not innocent. That is how ZEC are behaving. They just need to understand that very basic thing, which they appear not to understand.”

He said he was “as worried about ZEC’s lack of transparency, and question their capacity to deliver a free and credible election.”

Mujuru, meanwhile, used an interview with The Standard last week to decry ZEC’s failure to deliver on a number of issues – the same that are also being voiced by the MDC Alliance.

She said: “The processes around data storage, audit and security are not addressed adequately to avoid data manipulation and voter scattering on Election Day.

“Our fears have been vindicated by the admission by ZEC that hackers have hacked their database. We are all aware that the security of the vote is now in jeopardy.

“We raised issues around traditional leaders, security services as well as ZEC personnel and demanded a code of conduct for the above, which never materialised.

“Yes, we have concern around the ballot paper and printing, which we have no sufficient trust and satisfaction with. Our problem has been with the grey areas around the logistics committee, ZEC staff and issues not directly addressed by the Electoral Act.

“To that end, we have problems with ZEC, but we are not targeting individuals but the institution. We wish ZEC could had been inclusive in all processes from the beginning.”

Khupe’s deputy in the MDC-T Obert Gutu told NewsDay on July 13 that the party had a lot of grievances against ZEC.

He said: “We’re not satisfied with the ZEC processes. ZEC has proved to be stubborn and intransigent in as far as the printing of ballot papers is concerned, and this raises more questions than answers on what ZEC is hiding from opposition parties and whether ZEC can be trusted with the responsibility of running free and fair elections.

“The decision to allow the nomination court to sit on June 14 before the voters’ roll was given to the parties was the start of all problems. It’s like writing a history paper when you don’t know which syllabus it is, whether it’s African or European.”

He said the issue of the printing of ballot papers – done in secret by ZEC – was a serious one.

“This is the age of information communication technology (ICT) and even money can be printed into fake notes, and so security features are critical and the ballot paper is a high security document. ZEC needs to eliminate all doubts.”