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Tendai Rupapa Senior Court Reporter
TWO Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officials testifying in the case of MDC-T deputy national chairman Morgan Komichi, who is accused of breaching the country’s electoral laws, yesterday confirmed that the policeman whose ballot papers were found in Komichi’s possession did not vote during the special voting.
Komichi is facing a charge of fraud and contravening the Electoral Act after he was found in possession of an envelope containing ballot papers belonging to Constable Mugove Chiginya, which he claimed to have picked in a dustbin at a city hotel.
The commission’s director for polling and training, Mr Japhet Murenje, told the court that he examined Cst Chiginya’s fingers using a machine to detect if it was reflecting some ink.
“Your Worship, I even examined all his fingers just to be sure and I established that he did not vote,” said Mr Murenje.
“All the fingers did not have traces of the indelible ink. I also tested the machine’s credibility by examining two other officers who had managed to vote and the machine detected traces of ink on their fingers. This proved that our machine was reliable.”
The State called its sixth witness, the commission’s chief Inspector, Ms Jane Chigiji, who also said that there was no proof to show that Cst Chiginya had managed to cast his vote.
She said to show that someone had voted, the envelope containing the voter’s ballot papers should be stamped by the presiding officer.
In this case, Ms Chigiji said the envelope which was found in Komichi’s possession was not stamped to prove that it was coming from a polling station.
“After a person has voted, there must be a stamp of the presiding officer of that particular polling station. Also if the ballot papers are coming from our offices to the polling station for a voter to be able to vote, the envelope must be inscribed SV but this particular one was not inscribed.
“Everyone in the meeting was shocked and we could not ascertain how a person had voted without his envelope being stamped,” she said.
Magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe rolled over the matter to today for trial continuation. Komichi was arrested for contravening the Electoral Act, which makes it a criminal offence for an unauthorised person to possess ballot papers or to tamper with them. He has been in custody since July 29.
Online Reporter