“The right to stand was provided for, the elections were competitive and political freedoms during the campaign were respected,” reads the EU Election Observer Mission Final report. “On Election Day, voters enjoyed the right to vote and both the campaign and election day were largely peaceful.
“However, the right to an effective legal remedy was not adequately provided for, there is no equal suffrage and shortcomings in the registration of voters somewhat compromised universal and equal suffrage. Notably, major shortcomings in the pre-election environment impacted on the free expression of the will of electors, state resources were misused in favour of the incumbent and coverage by state media was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party.
“Further, the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability.
“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
President Mnangagwa and his regime’s official position is that the elections were free, fair and credible. The regime has never acknowledged much less explain why ZEC results “lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability”, for example.
ZEC’s task was to tally the votes for each presidential candidate from the 1 100 or so V11 forms from each polling stations in each of the 10 provinces. The only logical reason why ZEC officials could not tie the results to any relevant V11 is that they did this deliberately. A close look at the country’s election history shows the Genesis of ZEC deliberately mudding the electoral process.
In 2008, Zimbabwe had 2 000 polling stations and Robert Mugabe, the Zanu PF presidential candidate lost to Morgan Tsvangirai’s 73%, by Mugabe’s own Freudian slip. It too six weeks to cook the result and announce with the 73% whittled down to 47% to justify a run-off. In the 2013 elections Zanu PF increased the number of polling stations to 9 000 and this year it was over 11 000; a staggering 550% increase compared to 2008!
The more polling stations the easier it would be to make the result untraceable!
So President Mnangagwa and his junta blatantly rigged the recent elections and, as the EU reported also noted in its report, this is not the first time the regime has done this.
“Many previous elections have been contentious and with reports of abuses, and so while the commitment to hold credible elections by the interim president was welcomed, a legacy of the past was a low level of trust in the democratic process and institutions, which permeated the electoral environment,” noted the report.
Rigging elections is NOT a victimless crime! Zimbabwe is suffering from serious economic meltdown with the consequences of 90% soaring unemployment rate, the collapse of the country’s basic services such as supply of clean water and health care, etc. have brought about heart-breaking human suffering and deaths. The people have failed to remove Zanu PF’s office even when it was evident the party was corrupt and incompetent.
The country has also suffered from political oppression with the Zanu PF ruling elite riding roughshod over the people’s freedoms and rights denying them the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life. Over 30 000 innocent have been murdered to establish and retain the de facto one-party dictatorship that has ruled the country for the last 38 years. As the EU report, rightly noted, Zanu PF continues to terrorise the nation in pursuit of the one-party state agenda.
“Following the declaration of results, there were reports of violence, and human rights defenders documented over 150 human rights violations between 1-7 August, including retributive acts against supporters, agents and candidates of the opposition. Reports of such of such acts persisted in the post-election phase. “(On 1 August) Soldiers fired live rounds into the crowd leaving at least six people dead and 14 injured.”
The six murdered are part of the over 30 000 murdered and the “retributive acts” are to sow fear in the populous so come the next elections the regime will remind everyone the party will punish those who fail to vote for the party, “operation harvest fear” as the Zanu PF thugs call it.
Indeed, the relative peace Election Observers noted was the party harvesting on the wanton violence of 2008 and 2013 elections!
The age of criminal responsibility in England is 10. This means that you cannot be charged with a crime if you are younger than that, but there are other things that can happen. You may be banned from being in a public place between 9pm and 6am, unless you are with an adult.
President Mnangagwa and his junta are criminally responsible for blatantly rigging the recent elections. The immediate question is what can the people do particularly when the regime has captured all state institutions such as ZEC, Con-Court, etc.?
Still, there is one institution Zanu PF has not captured, at least not completely, the court of public opinion.
The international community public opinion has given President Mnangagwa their verdict on the recent elections; Zanu PF rigged the elections. They have also dished out the punishment; the regime will NOT be receiving any economic assistance.
“We, in the international community cannot accept the result of the election and the UK government must take a lead to ensure that the Zimbabwean government is seen for what it is a mark 2 Mugabe regime and one that deserves no support whatsoever,” stated British MP, Kate Hoey. She too was in Zimbabwe to observe the elections.
The Americans have told Zanu PF leaders the targeted sanctions will remain firmly in place.
The British government itself was slow in responding but respond it did. The outgoing UK Ambassador told the regime to its face “the electoral playing field was not level” and the next thing was the British called off talks they were spearheading to reschedule Zimbabwe’s debt with IMF, WB, etc.
There is no doubt that Zimbabwe needs massive foreign currency injection to kick start the country’s comatose economy. President Mnangagwa himself has readily acknowledged this hence his now family “Zimbabwe is open for business!” dawn call. Sadly, they have been no takers.
Investors have continued to shy away from investing in Zimbabwe because by rigging the elections Zanu PF confirmed the country is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. No one wants to invest in a country whose next regime change is through yet another military coup or a river of blood following countrywide protests!
The notable players missing in the Court of Public Opinion are the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves. It is Zimbabweans themselves who must now stand up and demand that President Mnangagwa and his junta must step down.
What is the point of people demanding free, fair and credible elections if they are not going to do anything about it when elections are blatantly rigged!
What is the point of demanding that no one should be above the law when we allow those who commit high treason to get away with it scot free!
After 38 years of rigged elections it for the ordinary people to demand free, fair and credible elections and mean it. And what better way to show they mean it than demanding that the regime must resign because it rigged the elections.
The EU EOM final report is clear, Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 30July 2018 elections. It is now for Zimbabweans ourselves to see to it that Zanu PF is punished for this treasonous crime against the nation. Zanu PF must be forced to step down and not be rewarded by being allowed to stay in power.
If Zanu PF remains in power to 2023, the party will rig those elections just as blatantly as they rigged this year and past elections. The time to act and demand Zanu PF to step down is now, not next year! NOW!
18 comments:
It would be most unfortunate if the EU, USA or the Zimbabweans themselves were to fail to see the rigged elections for what they are - a deliberate and calculated move by Zanu PF thugs to deny the ordinary Zimbabweans their freedoms and human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country for the sole of maintain the party's iron grip on absolute power. If people do not act know and act decisively Zanu PF will remain in power till 2023 and we can be 100% certain the party will rig those elections.
Zanu PF has managed to remain in power for the 38 years because the party has rigged the election confident there will be no consequences. The only sure way of putting an end to this madness is show the party that rigging the elections is high treason and there are consequences for committing high treason!
If Zanu PF rigs 2023 elections then all those who want Zanu PF taken off the hook must be held to account for all the human suffering and deaths that will follow!
Those who live is democratic nation MUST not be seen to be encouraging dictatorial rule they would violently oppose in their own home! Zimbabweans find this sicken hypocrisy totally unacceptable!
OPPOSITION MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has called for the international community to come to Zimbabwe’s rescue “and correct the election mischief” in the wake of a report by the European Union (EU) that claimed the July polls results could not be verified and that the vote did not meet international standards.
MDC were a party to the electoral "mischief". Why did they participate in the elections when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a voters' roll?
If MDC leaders were to join Zanu PF in government then they too must be slapped with sanctions for sell-out!
The report appears to confirm assertions by opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa and other stakeholders that the tightly contested July 30 polls were stage managed to ensure a Mnangagwa victory and failed the credibility test on many fronts.
The report does NOT appear to confirm the elections were rigged it spells that out in no uncertain terms. The EU fail to trace 1 100 or so entries from each polling station in the province not because there were too many entries but because the entries were fraudulent. It that is not rigging then what is!
As a nation we seem to take one step forward followed by three or more step backward. The government is ill advised arresting ZCTU members!
South Africa is always willing and ready to assist Zimbabwe at any time that the authorities request assistance, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said on Thursday.
SA did not assist Zimbabwe by passing the rigged elections as free and fair!
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown continued on Wednesday as several shops closed down, while those that remained open want to raise prices in defiance of a threat by the government.
This is just kiya kiya! How many none productive man-hours, man-years are being wasted in these queues!
“At least allow us to drink. How else can we drown our sorrows?” one man shouted as he stared at a notice limiting customers to two beers per purchase. Drinkers have formed WhatsApp groups to share tips on where favorite brands can be found.
Good one! So whilst there is beer to drown your sorrows you will do nothing to end them!
In elementary terms, the core function of monetary policy as a tool for central banks is to regulate money supply, thereby stabilising prices and, in the long term, induce employment creation.
However, the monetary and fiscal interventions by Mangudya and Ncube fell far short of stemming the rising tide of commodity prices, massive company closures and the multi-tier pricing system prevailing on the market.
The authorities are at sixes and sevens in their attempt to deal with rampant arbitrage emanating from the now glaring disparities between the bond currency introduced in 2016 and the United States dollar. The disequilibrium between the fiat currency and the greenback has triggered alarming speculative tendencies on the market, fuelled by individuals seeking to profiteer, while others are looking to store value. At its inception, government, then led by long-time ruler Robert Mugabe postulated that the surrogate currency, introduced to incentivise exporting firms, would trade at par with the greenback.
By rigging the recent elections President Mnangagwa confirmed Zimbabwe's status as a pariah state and, as we should know by now, investors do not do business with thugs.
Zimbabwe's economic recovery will never happen, not until we address the political instability that fuelled the economic chaos.
@ Tolexy
"The whole hullabaloo about the prices that are rising every minute is attributed to the disputed harmonised elections of July 2018 in which Emmerson Mnangagwa won with a narrow margin. Nelson Chamisa from the main opposition refused to accept the victory of his political revival due to the political dossiers that he identified," you said.
The economic meltdown is not so much because Chamisa refused to accept Mnangagwa's victory but rather because the elections were rigged and thus confirming that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by thugs. Zimbabwe's economic recover depends on a large injection of foreign currency in the form of foreign investment and loans and none of this has come because no one would want to do business is a pariah state.
All this talk of Chamisa holding the key to economic recovery and political legitimacy is wishful thinking. Investors are not going to see Zimbabwe has a stable democratic nation just because the Zanu PF thugs have in their midst Nelson Chamisa. We know that Zanu PF remained a party of thugs throughout the last GNU and saw to it that no meaningful political changes took place hence the reason the party was able to rig the 2013 elections. MDC leaders were there for the joy ride. A hyena does not change its nature just because it has picked up a few ticks!
The only hope for any meaningful economic recovery now is for Zanu PF to step down and allow meaningful democratic change to finally take place.
@ Calvin Mans
"Usatinyangadza the election is over. Where was he when the election was stolen? He told everybody that he has watertight anti rigging systems in place what happened?" you say.
"Why would we expect him to accept defeat when he boasted before elections that only his victory would make the election free and fair? why did the EU not capture that in their report?
"Economic saboteurs will tire very soon and our country will go back to normal."
No one would dispute that Chamisa made a complete ass of himself with all that nonsense of "MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections." But this is not about Chamisa and MDC Alliance, this is about Zimbabwe and making sure the country has free, fair and credible elections and shed off its pariah state status.
The people you are dismissing as "economic saboteurs" are the foreign investors and lenders whose money the country needs to kick-start its comatose economy. It is us we want investment and not the other way round.
Mnangagwa rigged the elections and thought he would rig economic recovery too - that is proving to be a bridge too far. The rigged elections is hanging round his neck like the albatross. He must step down so we can have fresh free and fair elections, there no other way out!
@ Marailas Mechavio
"Stupid idiot. European standards are not African standards."
And you are the clever one advocating a situation in which those tasked with the simple task of adding up 1 100 or so figures in each of ten provinces come up with a result that even they cannot trace and verified as acceptable. Your sheer stupidity knows no bounces.
One thing one can say about Ian Smith is that he was smart enough to know when the game was up; Mnangagwa and Mugabe are too stupid to do that. Mnangagwa is hanging to the bitter end just like Saddam Hussein or Gaddafi.
POLICE armed with truncheons, tear smoke canisters and water cannon laid siege on the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) head office in Harare yesterday and arrested top officials as government brutally clamped down on worker protests against the introduction of a new 2% tax on electronic transfers.
Police gangs randomly beat up ZCTU members who were at the offices before arresting president Peter Mutasa and secretary general Japhet Moyo.
The regime is in a panic.
The foreign currency shortage was one of Mnangagwa's own making after squandering hundreds of millions of dollars in buying cars for Chiefs, Zanu PF candidates and all manner of vote buying and vote rigging activities. The chickens have return home to roost and the regime expect the ordinary person to bail the regime out!
@Clever Magovoh
"Wilbert Mukori You start with a very balanced argument. However you seem to support the contradictory EU position that the elections were free and fair but the results were rigged. This position by the EU is based on pure opinions.
"They(EU) do not provide evidence of the popular V11's which by the way were public documents. It remain difficult to understand the EU's position in that case. They even refer to Morgan Tsvangirayi's 2008, 73% win as if it was fact. A report on an actual event cannot be based on opinions but facts."
There is nothing contradictory in the EU report nor in Zanu PF's behaviour. Zanu PF's plan is to rig the elections and to hide as much of the evidence as it can. Hence when it comes to violence the party saw to it that its dogs were kept on the leash during the two months election observers were around.
Other things like free media, abuse of public funds, etc. the party ignored all that. The multiple voting, dodgy counting, etc. were all done behind ZEC closed doors only those with a keen eye were able to see the rigging.
Hence our naïve and gullible election observers like those SADC and AU were easily fooled and gave a thumbs up to the election process. If the EU observer had been in the country much earlier they would have pick a lot more of the subtle voting rigging that took place but even then they still picked enough to know the elections were rigged.
Even if one had only picked that there was something dodgy in one stage in the electoral process, e.g. the counting it is enough to condemn the whole process. How can the elections be judged a true reflection of the democratic wish of the people when you cannot trace and verify the result relate to the electorate?
EU report mere stated an established fact that some of the V11 forms were made public others were not, some of the tabulated figures in ZEC's results could be traced back to V11 forms others could not, etc.
The EU report did not mention Tsvangirai's 73% victory in the March 2008 elections, I did. One of these fine days there will be a thorough inquiry into what really happened that year. There is lot that happened that year and Mnangagwa is at the very heart of it all.
What you have to accept here is that Zanu PF rigged the elections and deliberately mudded the water to hide the true. "Where is the evidence!" they will argue.
The table has been turned on them, the regime promised to hold free, fair and credible elections and claims that Mnangagwa won but failed to produce traceable and verified evidence who the 2.4 million voters were. There is no verified voters' roll, no V11 forms, etc. and yet these are all legal requirements. If you cannot verify the result then you rigged the result.
So Mnangagwa rigged the elections and that makes him illegitimate, period. He must step down. Zimbabwe is in this serious economic and political mess because, for the last 38 years, the country has had the great misfortune of being ruled by illegitimate thugs! Enough is enough!
I am arguing Mnangagwa to go peaceful or he will smoked out as happened with Gaddafi! Time is running out for our corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thug! This show is over!
Chiwenga critically ill and airlifted to SA hospital.
Well this confirms one thing Zimbabwe's health service has completely collapsed all the chefs are going to SA, Singapore, etc. for all their health needs. The irony is, it is their extravagance that have accelerated the collapse of the country's own health service.
Mugabe went to Singapore for no fewer that 8 times for his health service at a cost of US$3 million a trip. The country would have had a state-of-the-art health centre for $24 million!
All this talk of the new dispensation doing things different is all hot air - all the filthy rich ruling elite now see it as their right to suck the little the nation still has left to maintain their extravagant lifestyles. If Mnangagwa can charter a plane for Grace Mugabe for US$1.4 million how can he say no to one of his cabinet minister doing the same. No wonder they rigged the elections, they have no intention of seeing their no expense spared lifestyle brought to an end even when it is at the expense of the lives of millions!
Clearly, there was really no need for the police to bar the ZCTU demonstration, arrest their officials and members when they had planned to protest against the introduction of a new 2% tax on electronic transfers.
It is regrettable that Zimbabwe has slowly been reduced into a police State over the past years, and it had been citizens' hope that since Mnangagwa had promised a "new era", this would extend to the conduct of the arms of the State, including the police.
We all know the claim that the demonstration was barred for fears that it could trigger a fresh cholera outbreak was just a ruse, given Zanu PF has been holding rallies in the past few weeks.
When President Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections soon after the November 2017 coup but pointedly refused to implement even one democratic reforms to make this possible it was clear the "new era, new dispensation, etc." were all catchy phrases meant to deceive the naïve and gullible!
President Mnangagwa and his junta thugs were the ones behind most of the corruption, vote rigging and lawlessness throughout Mugabe's years as Zanu PF top dog. It was really naïve for anyone to believe that the replacement of Mugabe with his chief enforcer, Mnangagwa, will transform the Zanu PF dictatorship into a democratic party. Very naïve, indeed!
When Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 30 July 2018 elections, that should have opened the eyes of even the political sloths!
The sickness of two main coup architects, Moyo and Chiwenga, at the same time is too much of a coincidence to be ignored by people with functional brains.
There is no honour or trust among thieves especially after a successful coup d'etat. Your best friend becomes your worst enemy as there is too much at stack. As we opined before the post-coup era is the time to watch your back, that is if you are a player participating in dirty political games. Here, there are no sacred cows.
It is at this crucial stage one suddenly discovers that are better surrounded by blameless angels than experienced coup plotters with fresh blood stains of their former President on their hands.
As cause for more concern, disturbing reports of two centres of power in Zanupf and government have been flying all over. It makes sense for Emmerson Mnangagwa to remove stumbling blocks that stand on his way of assuming total power to be in full control of Zanupf and government. Even if it means getting rid of his best Cdes and fellow coup plotters.
The one who strikes first wins. Strike or be rattled! That is the game in the criminal worlds.
But there are always consequences, both intended and unintended. In this case how is the army going to react to news of death of their commanders turned politicians?
Is it possible that the November 2017 coup plotters are already fighting amongst themselves? Yes, why not! Zanu PF has always been a party of ruthless thugs held together by sharing the spoils of power. As soon as the country's economic fortune started to sink the glue was no longer there and the dog-eat-dog fighting started in earnest. And, once started, there is no stopping it until there is only one thug left standing.
The thugs turned on Mugabe to wrestle power from him and his wife's G40 faction. As soon as that was done the thugs turned to rigging the national elections to ensure power remained in their hands. Once that was done, they turned on each other.
What is really tragic here is that not just is Zanu PF imploding but that the regime is taking the whole country down the abyss with it! The party has rigged elections to stay in power against the democratic wishes of the people.
It is absolutely imperative that Zanu PF must be force to step down after rigging the recent elections. We must decouple Zanu PF from the nation or the regime will do what Saddam Hussein or Gaddafi did to Iraq or Libya respectively!
Currently, civil servants earn between $400 and $600 monthly in bond currency, and if this was converted into the Unites States dollar, it will be way below $150 and far below the poverty datum line at $575. The World Bank in 2016 released new poverty datum lines which stated that extreme poverty was living on less than $1,90 per day.
President Mnangagwa has his priorities up-side down and back to front; how will he justify denying the civil servants who earn an extreme poverty wage already their bonus and yet did not even hesitate to charter a plane for a cool US$1.4 million for Grace Mugabe whose net worth is counted in billions of dollars! And, just to rub it in well and proper, he rigged the elections denying the people a meaningful say on how the nation is to be governed and its resources shared out.
If there was ever a time when Zimbabwe must stand up and demand that this Zanu PF dictatorship steps down this is it! THIS IS IT!
Chimhini bemoaned lack of political will to implement reforms by authorities.
“Sadly attempts to compel election authorities to adopt the necessary changes to improve elections in the past have fallen on deaf ears and have largely been ignored,” the ERC boss said.
These are crocodile tears ERC shedding, “bemoaning lack of political will to implement reforms”. What has ERC ever done to compel MDC Alliance and Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms?
Where is ERC’s report condemning the recent elections as flawed and illegal?
If anything ERC and most of Zimbabwe’s utterly useless civic society have all cheered and applauded the flawed and illegal electoral processes which have become the norm in Zimbabwe!
Mucheke dzafa!
Post a Comment