Let election observers do their work

The decision by Government to bar observers from the hostile Western countries which have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe from observing Wednesday’s crucial harmonised elections, was a masterstroke. The Zanu-PF side in the inclusive Government should be feeling vindicated for insisting on banning observers from Britain, the United States, the European Union and their western allies.

We bet chaos and confusion would have now been reigning supreme just two days before polling day if the western observers were allowed to witness our electoral process.

So far observer teams, notably those from the African Union, Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa have been conducting themselves in an objective manner.

While they have raised concerns where they detect any anomalies or challenges here and there, the observer groups have been doing so without seeking to prejudge Wednesday’s poll.

Some of the concerns are being addressed with a view to ensuring a credible election. The observer teams have pointed out at the challenges that dogged the special voting for security forces and election officials.

The Constitutional Court has since given the special voters a reprieve by allowing the 26 160 affected voters who failed to vote on 14 and 15 July, the chance to cast their ballots on Wednesday during normal voting.

Observer teams have also expressed concerns over the failure by some people to register to vote. But it should be pointed out that voter registration for a particular election should end at some point because everyday people are turning 18 and qualifying to register as voters but they cannot be captured all of them. They will vote in the next elections.

The MDC-T has also been whining about voter registration. But what guarantee does it have that the people who failed to register were its supporters? If they are its supporters why did the MDC-T not educate its supporters to register to vote? It is also not a guarantee that every registered voter will vote on Wednesday because some will fail because of a number of unforeseen circumstances such as illness, work commitments, travel or even attending funerals outside their wards.

It would have been a different scenario if Government had invited observers from the US, Britain, the EU and other western countries. We would have been witnessing stage- managed stories to soil the elections.

But the African observer teams have been professional and objective in their approach.
It is not a surprise that the AU team in particular has earned the wrath of MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mr Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party, who are the darling of the west who sponsor them, have hit the highest levels of desperation because their antics to soil the elections have found no takers.

Mr Tsvangirai and the MDC-T have been making numerous unsubstantiated allegations of rigging.
Now they are going after the observers for not buying their machinations to discredit the polls.

On Friday Mr Tsvangirai attacked African Union Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma claiming she was backing a Zanu-PF narrative supporting an outcome that endorsed the revolutionary party’s victory.

This was after the AU observer team had dismissed claims of vote rigging and malpractices being peddled by the MDC-T and the private media.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma said no such concerns had been brought to her attention or that of the AU observer group.

So desperate are the MDC-T that their deputy national chairperson Mr Morgan Komichi made incredible claims that special vote ballot papers were found in a dustbin in Harare last week. What has made Mr Komichi’s story baseless are the inconsistencies of his account. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has since reported the matter to police for a full investigation.