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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday warned MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai against announcing the results of the harmonised elections saying the police will not hesitate to arrest him for violating the Electoral Act. Mr Tsvangirai told his party’s supporters at a rally in Domboshava last week that MDC-T was going to announce the results saying no one would arrest him as he would be president. The MDC-T leader’s utterances follow prior pronouncements by his party’s secretary general Tendai Biti.
Section 66A of the Electoral Act that deals with “Purported publication of results prior to official announcement” stipulates that;
(1) No person other than an electoral officer, acting in accordance with this Act, may officially declare and announce the results of an election.
(2) No office-bearer or member of a political party shall purport to declare and announce the results of any election before it has been declared officially by an electoral officer.
(3) A person who –
(a) not being an electoral officer acting in accordance with this Act, purports to announce the results of any election as the true or official results before they have been declared officially by an electoral officer; or
(b) being an office-bearer or member of a political party, contravenes subsection (2); shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level five or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
President Mugabe issued the warning while addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters at Zanu-PF’s final star at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
“Chazondivhundutsa chaizvoizvo ndechekuti ati as prime minister I am going to announce the results of an election achiziva kuti hazvibvumidzwe. The law doesn’t allow it, hanzi kana vachindisunga vandisunge. Ko unoda kuva iwe ugobuda, unenge waawana kupi, aunopihwa nevanhu vako, wakanyorerwa nevanhu vako, vogoti wahwina iwe ndozvaurikuda kuzotaura mangwana? Kwavakupenga kwerudziwayi.
“Ndakataura musi uno kuti handisati ndambonzwa shoko rakadaro richitaurwa nani nani zvake muAfrica. Pane zvimwe zvirikukanganiswa asi zvekuti pangabude prime minister achiti ndirikuzotyora murawu unorambidza vanhu kuti ani nani zvake ataure nezvemaresults eelection nekuti zvinosungirwa kutaurwa neZEC ndivo vane muromo vachiti party yakati yakahwina zvakati, party yakati yakahwina zvakati, yakahwina ndeiyi, iwe woti aiwa ravabasa rangu rawakapihwa nani nhai Tsvangirai iwe?
“Wasarudza kuita izvozvo, kozvaunogona waregedzei kuramba uchiita zvekusarudza uyo neuyo. Hapana angacheme nazvo, vanhu vangangoti ah chete hunhu hwacho, ndokwaungagone ka. But uku kune murawo unosunga hapana angati nekuti ndiri prime minister kana kuti mukuru weparty ndichatyora murawo hapana anondisunga, tinokusunga,” the President said to applause.
“I can tell you in advance that if you breach the rules and you become a law breaker, the law breakers are arrested and the police will arrest you as a law breaker.”
President Mugabe also laid into the MDC-T leader for his criticism of AU Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma after she endorsed preprations for the harmonised elections.
He described Mr Tsvangirai and his party as “cry babies” who always raise accusations to discredit ZEC and the elections.
“Chiona iyezvino patiri kuenda kumalections arikuchema, the cry baby of all organisations ndiani? NdiTsvangirai chino, chiri pano chatadzikwa, ZEC iri kukanganisa pakati ah ndinechichemo chakati.
‘’Mwanasikana watakavhotera kuAU aiva mudzimai waZuma Nkosazana wouya kuti aone kuti zvasvika nepapi. Naye naye hanzi wazoitirei statement yekuti zvaaudzwa zviri kufambira mberi zvakanaka ah dai ataura zvandakamuudza, zvako iwe kozvaakuudzwa nevamwe?” the President asked.
He chronicled the MDC-T’s foreign parentage, saying the party was launched by the three main British political parties in a bid to scupper Zanu-PF’s drive to redistribute land to the majority black Zimbabweans.
“Ndivo vakabvuma kutengwa kuti vaite imwe party vakanzi homwe iyi. Tsvangirai mukamuti ndozvirikutaura VaMugabe he can’t deny it that there was a fund, the Westminister Fund put up by the three parties of Britain (Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) for an opposition party to be established in Zimbabwe that is a party in opposition of Zanu-PF.
“That is how the MDC was founded. It was the Europeans and the British that created Tsvangirai as a politician so he is not a creation yenyu, handimi makamuvaka, akavakwa nemaBritish mati mambomunzwa achishoropodza maBritish? Kupi kwacho? Koangashoropodze madzibaba kwaakabva,” he said.
The President said Zanu PF had the wishes of the people at heart as evidenced by massive investments made in the fields of health and education.
He, however, said the HIV and Aids scourge was threatening some of the gains that were made since independence.
Zanu-PF, he said, had also championed the advancement of women since independence through various initiatives.
Online Reporter