Zimbabwe vote rigging 'mere touting'

The recent claims of vote rigging by Derek Matyszack a senior researcher of Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), Ibbo Mandaza of Southern Africa Political Economy Series (SAPES) and Australian Ambassador Matthew Neahaus in Belgravia - Harare, are delusional and unsubstantiated as they lack an iota of evidence. The attempt to discredit the elections fails detail to answer simple cornerstone questions "who did what, where, when and how".

The unfounded claims of vote rigging are however, contrary to MDC-T Secretary General Tendai Biti's endorsement of the election 2013 harmonised elections. MDC-T is literally a house on fire and the fire fighting is self defeating owing to unreasonable and nonsensical claims. It is high time the MDC-T ceases to be superstitious and be factual and accept reality that they were overwhelmed by Zanu-PF during the 2013 harmonise elections.

Matyszack claims the existence of ghost polling stations during the 2013 elections but fails to name one such polling station. This displays his unparalleled ignorance as the voting process in Zimbabwe is ward based and water tight. How the ballots were then fused into mainstream electoral system remains untold.

Matyzack accuses the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of being partial by failing to provide hard copies of the voters roll. The submission is however unmeritable as the technical challenges that met the Registrar General equally affected all participating parties including Zanu-PF.

The presentation dubbed syncopated, was based on the assumption that Zanu-PF's victory at the 2013 harmonised elections was not expected.  SAPES Trust Director, Ibbo Mandaza, implied that President Mugabe was setting a new record by continuously increasing his votes during general elections against a background of declining popularity. The above implications sealed the fate of the presentation as a supposition instead of being factual and hard hitting with empirical evidence. The actual reading of the submission posits the notion of opinion rigging on the part of Mandaza. Why Mandaza thinks his opinion holds water than the people's choice is questionable and not expected from the so called democracy advocate. The man cannot trust himself either as he has been labelled all sorts of names owing to his political controversy and manipulation of any political situation with no fixed agenda. He is purveyor of confusion no wonder he has been dubbed by some as an agent provocateur with links to several intelligence services. To say Zanu-PF's victory was not anticipated in spite of numerous surveys indicating the natural demise of the MDC formations is an over- aggression

The haunted MDC- T claims to have learnt of the rigging scam in 2012, but only raised concerns after their ignominious electoral defeat, dismisses the veracity of their rigging claims. Morgan Tsvangirai instead, was confident during the launch of the MDC 2013 manifesto and had this to say.

"We can see the horizon and l share your optimism that this is the time we will close a sad chapter and open a new one of hope, peace, prosperity and happiness. As people of Zimbabwe, we have walked a long journey but can now clearly see our destiny that is now within reach, a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning". All the way to the election date, Tsvangirai was full of verve with high hopes and upon casting of his vote, he acclaimed "MDC will this time win resoundingly."

All this is testimony to the fact that MDC are sour losers as it boggles the mind why one would cast their vote when in doubt.

Australian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Matthew Neahaus, foolishly challenged the election results citing the use of voter slips in Epworth and denial of 700 000 people the right to vote. Apparently 15768 people voted for Zanu-PF and MDC T got 7951 vote totalling 23 719, a far less figure to what the ambassador claims to have witnessed being denied the right to vote. What the ambassador failed to take note of is the fact that every political party had election agents at every level and organ of the electoral process, who should have picked and reported any anomaly.

Neahaus' ill witted calls to the Zimbabweans to challenge the election result and incite a re-run is no secret as Tsvangirai and his cronies are harping for the same tune in pursuit of political relevance. He overlooks a fundamental factor that, Zimbabweans are an educated lot who are aware of their rights and made, and shall continue to make a choice by casting their votes to elect leader of their choice. This incitement reflects on the West's agenda to cause political anarchy and ultimately effect regime change, which is a fact recently buttressed by Tsvangirai's recent calls for demonstrations against the government of Zanu-PF. This spontaneous promotion of civil unrest by Tsvangirai and the West is evidence of a desperate attempt towards political relevance by the MDC-T and its handlers.

It is prudent at this point in time for Zimbabwe and the progressive world, to celebrate the new beginning which kick-started with the demise of the regime change project. The witch hunting and purging of prominent MDC-T leaders by Morgan Tsvangirai is indexical of a sinking canoe. The dawn of the United Democratic Front (UDF) from the parent MDC-T is evidence of a tearing party that has gone to the dogs. It began with the MDC 99, followed by the MDC-M and MDC-T, now the advent of UDF. The fissures are seemingly perennial much to the benefit of the citizens, who have for long been arm twisted by the evil hearted regime change agents, who have employed a plethora of antics to antagonise the people until they give in to their greedy and anti-people ambitions.

------------
Caitlin Kamba can be contacted at caitlinkamba@gmail.com