Report into vote-rigging during the 2002 Zim elections to be made public

After a five year battle to access a report into vote-rigging during the 2002 Zimbabwe elections, the Concourt has finally ruled in the M&G's favour.

The contents of the disputed Khampepe Report in the 2002 Zimbabwe elections are finally to be made public after the South African Constitutional Court turned down an application by government to appeal a Supreme Court Appeal ruling that the report be handed over.

This is likely to be the final chapter of a five year battle - and at least five court cases by lawyers for the Mail & Guardian - to gain access to a report by Constitutional Court justices Sisi Khampepe and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.

It has been claimed that there was vote-rigging in those elections, but the report has never been made public.

The Constitutional Court on Friday dismissed a request by government to appeal the appeal court ruling, saying that "the application should be dismissed as it bears no prospects of success".

M&G's lawyer Dario Milo of Webber Wentzel said on Friday that they were in the process of applying to the registrar of the appeal court for permission to go and collect the document being stored in Bloemfontein.

Observers, such as those from Norway, claimed that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF had used violence to sway the vote, while others raised concerns about changes in citizenship rules and voter registration, saying this amounted to vote-rigging.

The SA presidency, under Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma, have continued to refuse to allow the contents of the documents to be disclosed.