Concede defeat, Madhuku tells Tsvangirai

Takunda Maodza Senior Reporter
NATIONAL Constitutional Assembly chairperson Professor Lovemore Madhuku has urged MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai to concede defeat to President Mugabe in last week’s harmonised elections.
The NCA chair criticised the West — in particular the US, Britain and Australia — for siding with Mr Tsvangirai in trying to foment disturbances and condemned some civil society organisations for unprofessionally trying to discredit the elections.

Prof Madhuku, whose organisation observed the elections under the Zimbabwe Election Support Network banner, distanced himself from the ZESN report that is being used by some Western countries to cast aspersions on Zanu-PF’s crushing victory.

Addressing a Press conference in Harare yesterday, Prof Madhuku dismissed vote-rigging claims, saying the votes cast were the votes counted.
He applauded the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for “discharging its responsibilities diligently despite severe constraints it faced”.

“The NCA notes with satisfaction the peaceful atmosphere that characterised the period before, during and after the elections.
“All Zimbabweans have a responsibility to nurture this peaceful environment and desist from any actions which may directly or indirectly interfere with the peace prevailing in the country.

“The election results have been announced. There are winners and losers. Every election has its winner and losers.
“Given the peaceful nature of these elections and the compelling need to move forward, the NCA urges the losers to concede defeat and take the country out of the permanent election mode it has been for several years now.”

Prof Madhuku dismissed complaints raised by Mr Tsvangirai and other political parties that lost.
“It is the NCA’s firm view that the complaints raised against the 31 July 2013 poll by the losers do not raise anything new and cannot be used as a basis for rejecting the results of an election in which they participated voluntarily.

“It is not desirable to encourage a state of affairs in our country where political parties participate in an election with only two scenarios: either they win or they dispute the result. Losing must always be one of the scenarios. In the circumstances for this particular election, the complaints must be taken into account for the next elections and for the reform agenda which remains very much incomplete,” he said.

Added Professor Madhuku: “The NCA, on its part, is convinced that the votes cast on 31 July 2013 were the votes counted and announced. The NCA does not know the reasons for that pattern of voting. The essence of an electoral system based on a secret, one person one vote is that each of the voters can only be sure about the vote he or she has cast. Provided that the votes have been cast freely, the result is binding. The way forward is to focus on moving the country forward while preparing for next elections. The interests of this country require that we all move forward focusing on building the economy of the country, deepening its democratic systems, promoting peace and unity and encouraging all of us to participate in the public affairs of our  country.”

Professor Madhuku, whose organisation contributed 1200 observers to the 5000-member Zimbabwe Election Support Network observer team, disassociated the NCA from the ZESN report condemning the election saying the NCA was not bound by everything Zesn said.

“The NCA is not Zesn. It is a member of Zesn. It is not bound by everything that Zesn says. I also read a statement (on elections) by organisations that only have a letterhead and one human being. You have a very good letterhead and you use that letterhead to just rush to say the elections are not credible and so forth. These are the people that have cheated the losers. They do not leave Harare. They do not know what the framework of this country is like. They do not interact with people. It is not right to develop an attitude developing in many civil society organisations right now where they believe it is just a pen and putting it on internet and just proclaiming that they were not credible,” he said.

In an indirect reference to Mr Tsvangirai, Professor Madhuku said if anyone wants to continue to run for elections in future, they needed to be alive to the fact that people vote and have different reasons for voting the way they do.

“If you look at the American statement, I read it; it is pointing at issues not to do with day of elections. It has to do with what was well known by all the players…That attitude that you still go in (the election) and hoping that if I win I will say they are credible, If I lose of course I have enough evidence to say that the election were not credible and then you are supported by everyone across the world, that is dangerous. No American will die in this country; no British person will die in this country if we were to start not behaving in a way that promotes calm and peace. For William Hague (British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State), it is very easy just to write a statement but they are doing it also for the education of those interested in international relations. They are doing it for domestic politics.

They have to be seen by their own voters for purposes of their next election to have spoken against the Zimbabwean election,” he said.
Professor Madhuku said to win an election in the US or UK, politicians must condemn the electoral process in Zimbabwe.

“They have no interest in free and fair elections per say here. They have interest in protecting their own turf in their own countries. We love our country. Now let us move forward. Peace, peace, peace,” he said.

In statement on Sunday, Hague, whose Government has been sponsoring the MDC-T since its creation, claimed the elections were not held in line with Sadc guidelines and hence not credible.

“The irregularities in the lead-up to the elections and on election day itself, reported by the observer missions and in contravention of Southern African Development Community guidelines, call into serious question the credibility of the election,” he said.

Sadc, the African Union and other observers that included Comesa have in their reports declared the polls credible, free and fair.
Professor Madhuku said it was disturbing to note that the West was disputing the election and urged Zimbabweans to remain peaceful.

“The West is coming up with what had been said by the American Government, what has been said by the British Government and Australian Government. It is quite disturbing when you get those people saying they (elections) were not credible and they seem to be suggesting that they will not recognize the outcome. The unfortunate effect of that is that it would appear that the West would then be seen as having wanted a particular result and that is unfortunate but we stand by our position as the NCA that the country must move forward. We must put the election behind us. Simply accept the result. Go back to the drawing board, re-organize for next election and let the country move forward. We want peace in this country. We should all be proud of the fact that we have not had violent elections. The statement coming from the West may encourage people to start then going out in streets and so on. The reason for going on streets must not be on the elections. It must be on other issued to do with bread and butter or to deepen our democracy,” he said.