News / National
MDC-T now blaming China for rigging 2013 elections
29 May 2018 at 17:36hrs | Views
The opposition MDC-T has made a sensational claim that an unnamed Chinese company was involved in the alleged rigging of the 2013 harmonised elections, a U-turn from previous claims that an Israeli firm, Nikuv Project International, were part of the said rigging scheme.
In 2013, the MDC-T challenged the results, claiming that Nikuv was paid more than $10 million to rig the elections, a claim they used to take Zanu-PF to court seeking to nullify the results.
MDC-T acting chairperson Morgen Komichi is reported to have said he was informed by the late party leader Morgan Tsvangirai that ballot papers and a machine from China had arrived from China and efforts to follow that up landed him in trouble after he was arrested and spent 100 days behind bars.
"The ballot paper matter is not a laughing matter. In 2013, there is a ballot paper that arrived from China two weeks before we went for elections. The ballot paper was housed at a government building where there was a Chinese machine that printed the ballot paper used to rig the 2013 elections. They arrested me because they feared I had an idea on their rigging strategy," he said.
"What happened is Tsvangirai told me of a paper that had arrived at the airport that day from China. Armed with that, I confronted Makarau over the matter, she panicked and professed ignorance. They arrested me because they thought I was aware of their plot and caged me for 100 days."
"They still have the papers here in Zimbabwe; they still have the machine and want to flood those ballot papers. People must be aware of the plot to rig the elections," he said.
In 2013, the MDC-T challenged the results, claiming that Nikuv was paid more than $10 million to rig the elections, a claim they used to take Zanu-PF to court seeking to nullify the results.
MDC-T acting chairperson Morgen Komichi is reported to have said he was informed by the late party leader Morgan Tsvangirai that ballot papers and a machine from China had arrived from China and efforts to follow that up landed him in trouble after he was arrested and spent 100 days behind bars.
"The ballot paper matter is not a laughing matter. In 2013, there is a ballot paper that arrived from China two weeks before we went for elections. The ballot paper was housed at a government building where there was a Chinese machine that printed the ballot paper used to rig the 2013 elections. They arrested me because they feared I had an idea on their rigging strategy," he said.
"What happened is Tsvangirai told me of a paper that had arrived at the airport that day from China. Armed with that, I confronted Makarau over the matter, she panicked and professed ignorance. They arrested me because they thought I was aware of their plot and caged me for 100 days."
"They still have the papers here in Zimbabwe; they still have the machine and want to flood those ballot papers. People must be aware of the plot to rig the elections," he said.
Source - businesstimes
