ZEC investigating circumstances that led to chaotic Special vote

ELEMENTS that allegedly sought to derail special voting last week face the full wrath of the law amid indications that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was investigating the circumstances that led to the chaos that marred the poll.

Only 29 000 out of the 69 000 citizens who applied for the special vote cast their ballots between July 14 and 15 with allegations that MDC formations were working with some elements within ZEC and ministry under their ambit to sabotage the poll in a five-pronged approach to buttress their position that the country was not ready for polls.

Those who applied to cast their ballots under the special vote were drawn from the uniformed forces, election officials and civil servants who will be deployed far from their wards on July 31.

The process was marred by late delivery or non-delivery of ballots at most centres after Printflow and Fidelity Printers which won bids to print the ballot papers allegedly developed faults at a time they were supposed to print the ballot papers but did not communicate the setback to ZEC timeously.

The two companies fall under the Ministry of Finance while Zesa which falls under the Ministry of Energy and Power Development allegedly conspired to load-shed around areas where the printers were in operation.

In an interview, ZEC chairperson Justice Rita Makarau said investigations were under way.

"The major problem was the printers. But we are still investigating what really transpired. One of the printers (Printflow) did not inform us on time that they had a breakdown. We are still looking into the matter. If we discover that there was some form of sabotage and it was a criminal offence, then definitely, the law will take its course whether it was sabotage by ZEC, Printflow or sabotage by outsiders. We do not really care who it was. If it was sabotage, we will let the law take its course," said Justice Makarau.

A ZEC official last week said the commission would institute legal measures against those found on the wrong side of the law.

"This (voting) is a national exercise that has national interests. Therefore it is a criminal offence for anyone found seeking to sabotage national interests. As a commission, we are taking this matter seriously.

"We are investigating to find out what really transpired by we have every reason to suspect conspiracies to sabotage the whole process," said an official on condition of anonymity.

There were allegations that among the strategies to sabotage the electoral processes, the formations were infiltrating ZEC to counter-command the chain of communication, sabotaging the printing of ballot papers and starving the commission of timely funding.

The formations also sought to flood the courts with frivolous and vexatious electoral applications, approach Sadc and the African Union with a view to delay the electoral process that has reached the home stretch.

President Mugabe last week castigated the formations for seeking to scuttle the electoral process.