Chamisa appointed ZEC commissioners

MDC Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa yesterday revealed that he played a crucial role in the appointment of commissioners to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which today he condemns as lacking capacity to run a credible election.

Addressing a Press conference in Harare, where he raised a litany of charges against ZEC, Mr Chamisa claimed during interviews for the job the ZEC commissioners proved intelligent and capable of running elections. He now accuses the same of lacking in everything to run the polls 25 days before election day.

Zimbabweans vote on July 30.

"By the way I want to share with colleagues, I was responsible for the interviews of most of ZEC commissioners, but from a parliamentary perspective," said Mr Chamisa.

He added: "But I am now doubting them. Some of the credentials they were showing when we were interviewing them are not manifesting . . . They are beginning to show a huge gap."

Mr Chamisa conducted the interviews on May 9, 2016 and the panel of interviewers also comprised academics, former ZEC commissioners, educationists, lawyers and a member of the clergy.

The interviewing panel was co-chaired by a sub-committee of SROC chaired by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mabel Chinomona and Mr Chamisa.

Mr Chamisa played a crucial role during interviews to select ZEC commissioners in his then capacity as the chairperson of the legal and procedure sub-committee of the Standing Rules and Orders committee.

The confession by Mr Chamisa, which exposed his hypocrisy, came as political parties yesterday scoffed at calls by the MDC Alliance leader for sadc, African Union and the United Nations to intervene in the forthcoming elections saying only ZEC was mandated by the constitution to run the election.

Mr Chamisa yesterday told a Press conference that he would be sending an envoy to sadc and the AU, and also called for their intervention in the running of the elections, accusing ZEC of failing to manage the electoral process.

"We, therefore, call upon SADC, the AU and the international community to intervene and save a collapsing process and abate an imminent legitimacy crisis," he said.

The ruling Zanu-PF said the only role the AU and sadc or any other international body could play was observing the election.

"Since when have the AU and sadc taken over the conduct of elections in any country?" said Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo. "They are all coming as observers. The whole world has been invited, so why should they come to conduct the elections? We are a sovereign State.

"If there are issues, they should raise them with ZEC, it is an independent body."

Khaya Moyo dismissed issues raised by the MDC Alliance as "tired". MDC-T spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu said only ZEC had the responsibility to run elections.

"ZEC has the constitutional mandate to run elections in Zimbabwe," he said on his Twitter handle.

"Anyone who dreams that SADC and the AU will come to run elections in Zimbabwe is obviously out of their mind, they would have taken leave of their senses."

Rebuild Zimbabwe presidential candidate Mr Washington Chikanga said they had no problems with ZEC.

"As a party, we have no problems with ZEC because it is an independent body," he said.

"They produced the voters' roll and people went to inspect and those who had problems were given an opportunity to make amendments.

"So, for us there are no problems and no need to call outsiders to run our elections." United Democratic Front presidential candidate Mr Peter Gava said while they had concerns with ZEC over some issues, it was not proper to involve foreigners in the running of elections.

"There have been discrepancies we have noticed, but I do not think it calls for the involvement of outsiders because we will end up creating confusion and might also mean that we postpone the elections," he said.

"We will end up not going anywhere if we keep raising new issues." Mr Tonderayi Mapfumo of the People's Progressive Party of Zimbabwe said foreigners could not manage the country's elections.

"To be honest, we would have wanted more reforms before the elections," he said.

"However, there is no way sadc and AU can come to run our elections. We also blame the MDC-T in that they failed to push for those reforms during the time they were in the inclusive Government."

Government has committed itself to running a free and fair election and has extended invitation to observers from across the world. Some of the observers, notably those from the European Union, have already deployed teams throughout the provinces.