Mujuru's NPP trashes Nikuv claims

Dr Joice Mujuru's National People's Party (NPP) has trashed claims by other opposition parties, mainly the MDC-T, that Zanu-PF used an Israeli company, Nikuv International to rig polls before, saying those angling to remove the ruling party should advice their supporters to register to vote in next year's harmonised elections.

NPP national chairperson designate and former Zanu-PF Politburo member Mr Dzikamai Mavhaire described as "nonsense'' claims by other local opposition parties that the ruling party used Nikuv to cook up election results.

The utterances are likely to widen rifts among proposed coalition members, who are already fighting over who should lead the group, with the NPP insisting its leader, Dr Mujuru, should take charge ahead of MDC-T's Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.

Local opposition parties, particularly the MDC-T, have in the past claimed that the ruling party used Nikuv to rig previous elections, but the party failed to proffer evidence.

Mr Mavhaire said the opposition would not have won elections in some constituencies in previous elections if the ruling party cooked up figures.

In an interview with The Herald last Friday, Mr Mavhaire said instead of accusing Nikuv of rigging polls for the ruling party, opposition parties were supposed to do their homework to win voters.

"That (claims Nikuv rigs elections for Zanu-PF) is nonsense, politics is about numbers and opposition parties should do their homework,'' said Mr Mavhaire.

"Nikuv does not rig elections, that is nonsense, figures do not jump from one to two, that is not possible, election figures are not cooked up. If elections results were cooked up as claimed, why did they (MDC-T) or other opposition parties win elections in some areas in the past.''

Mr Mavhaire said NPP did not have major problems with the introduction of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

He said BVR had already received thumbs up from the United States and other opposition parties, an indication that the new system was credible.

"We have no problem with BVR, the only point of departure on our part was a very small issue," said Mr Mavhaire. "Our problem is on the issue of funding. Why did Government reject funding that had been pledged?

"We know that our Government is struggling with financial problems, why did they reject funding from those who wanted to donate. That is our only problem, otherwise we have not qualms about BVR.''

Local opposition parties and the private media have already started making claims ahead of elections next year, insinuating that Nikuv was already planning to rig next year's harmonised elections on behalf of the ruling party.