Easy access at the tip of your fingers, subscribe to our daily ePaper version of our New Era Newspaper.
Home / Mnangagwa wins Zim elections…Sadc, EU and other bodies criticise Zec
Mnangagwa wins Zim elections…Sadc, EU and other bodies criticise Zec
2023-08-28Correspondent The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on Saturday evening declared incumbent Emerson Mnangagwa as the winner of Zimbabwe’s hotly-contested election, amid accusations of various irregularities in the whole electoral system in Zimbabwe.The Southern African Development Community (Sadc), The European Union (EU), the African Union and the Electoral Commissions Forum of Sadc Countries noted various discrepancies, ranging from the methodologies applied through the delimitation process, the unavailability of the voters’ roll to opposition parties and intimidation of voters by the Forever Associates Zimbabwe (FAZ).Further question marks were raised over the independence of the judiciary, controversy surrounding postal votes, coverage of elections by state media, who were biased against the opposition, late arrival of ballot papers and poor administration at some polling stations.The polling stations were said to have been opened more than 12 hours after the stipulated time, while voters were being disqualified from voting for one or another reason, and polling stations were not accessible to voters living with disabilities.Despite all these discrepancies, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) went ahead and declared the elections free and fair, announcing Mnangagwa as the winner of the presidential election with 52.6% of the vote, compared to 44% for his closest rival Nelson Chamisa.Chamisa and his Coalition for Citizens for Change (CCC) have rejected the results outright, saying the elections were neither free nor fair.Stating his lack of confidence in Zec delivering a free and fair election, Namibian political analyst Natjirikasorua Tjirera has advised Chamisa to go to court and expose the ‘blatant rigging’ by Zec.“I would love for him (Chamisa) to go to court and expose this to the world as a matter of principle. The people’s voice has been stolen. The elections were not up to standard, and whoever emerges as a winner will always have a lingering cloud over his head that they were never legitimately elected,” he told New Era on enquiry yesterday.Tjirera added that the judiciary in Zimbabwe is captured by the ruling party, thus proving that the elections were rigged might be difficult, “but the mere fact that Zanu PF and its rigging machinery will be exposed should be victory enough for the people of Zimbabwe”.He praised Sadc for speaking out against Zimbabwe for holding elections that are below standard.“I have always considered Sadc as a group of presidents who are there to bask in glory and cover for each other. But the way they reacted to the situation in Zimbabwe can only mean one of two things: one, Zanu PF rigging is now out of this world; two, Sadc has now come of age and now deals with issues without fear or favour. The latter will be a welcome development,” Tjirera said.He said Sadc has said free and fair elections did not take place; thus, they cannot come around and recognise whoever came out as a winner in this election.Meanwhile, the executive director of the international relations ministry Penda Naanda said they would wait to comment until Sadc releases a final report on the elections.He is also still awaiting a report from the Namibian team that is in Zimbabwe to observe the elections.Meanwhile, President Hage Geingob yesterday extended warm congratulations to Mnangangwa and fraternal felicitations to ZANU PF, the sister party of Swapo, on the victory in the peaceful harmonised elections held on 23 August 2023. He said the re-election of Mnangangwa was indeed a testimony of the trust and confidence in which the people of Zimbabwe continue to repose inPresident Mnangangwa and ZANU PF. Geingob wished President Mnangangwa good strength andwisdom in carrying out his renewed mandate and looked forward to working closely with him to further deepen and strengthen their bilateral cooperation as well as advancing the shared regional development agenda. 2023-08-28Correspondent
