ZEC refusing with poll fraud proof

via ZEC refusing with poll fraud proof: MDC-T 14/10/2013 NewZimbabwe

MDC-T deputy president, Thokozani Khupe, has accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of frustrating efforts by her party to prove the July 31 elections were rigged on a “monumental scale”.

Khupe told supporters at a weekend rally in Gweru celebrating the party’s victory in Mkoba constituency that ZEC was refusing to make available documents that would help prove its claim the vote was manipulated.

President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party won the elections with a landslide; the veteran leader, who turned 89 this, securing another five years at the helm of a country which he has ruled untrammelled since independence in 1980.

But MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, backed by western countries, insists his rival carried out a monumental fraud, although his challenge against the poll outcome was thrown out by the Constitutional Court.

Khupe, who was accompanied by senior officials who included Elton Mangoma and Douglas Mwonzora, said there was a deliberate bid by the elections agency to frustrate her party.

“Everyone was shocked by the July 31 elections and I know most of us are still mourning. As the party leadership, we have been to all the provinces and we have been told ‘chilling stories’ of how Zanu PF stole the election,” she said.

“We are yet to get any substantive information to provide the world. We wanted ZEC to avail us with the material that was used during the voting process, but they refused.

“We also wanted an electronic voters’ roll but they also refused to release it and there is, therefore, nothing we can do.

Mangoma said the scale of the vote rigging was “saddening and sickening”.

“They depopulated some areas, overpopulated others, took massive tracts of land under the guise of cooperatives and ordered the land owners to vote for Zanu PF or face dire consequences, all this for the long rejected party to retain power,” he said.

“But we ask ourselves, do the people of Zimbabwe deserve fraudsters at the helm of their government? That is why the MDC remains united to see to it that Zimbabwe works again.”

Tsvangirai however, told another rally in Mutare that the party had complied a dossier proving the vote was manipulated, adding he would present the “evidence” to African leaders.

“I shall be engaging SADC and the AU because they simply do not have the information of how the people’s verdict was stolen. So I shall visit them and update them on what happened during the July 31 theft,” he said.

Khupe meanwhile, urged supporters to remain united as the party tries to re-group for the next elections in 2018 with some senior officials publicly calling for the ouster of Tsvangirai as party leader.

“I know everyone here is still mourning this defeat, I have come here to give you hope,” she said.

“We should not continue mourning. We should be hopeful like the biblical David and prepare for another fight come next elections. As it is, Zanu PF believes they have dealt us a heavy blow. My advice to you is let’s focus for another fight.

“We will stand by our president, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. In Matabeleland we say Tsvangirai ngenkani, ongafuniyo khayekele.”

 

Back to Home page