Chronicle Editor
Zimpapers Elections Desk
COMPROMISED Sadc Observer Mission head, Dr Nevers Mumba, a convicted criminal, once again exposed himself for being a mouthpiece of the opposition CCC as he presented a biased preliminary report on the just ended 2023 harmonised elections in Zimbabwe, with contents outside the purview of his mandate.
Dr Mumba’s bias towards the opposition was glaring as he overstepped his mandate and commented on judiciary issues that only suited the opposition’s narrative.
Dr Mumba, who was in 2018 convicted of lying to a police officer, was at pains to accuse the judiciary of sidelining presidential aspirant Mr Saviour Kasukuwere while deliberately ignoring that the same judiciary is the one that reinstated on the ballot 12 CCC Bulawayo National Assembly candidates.
Dr Mumba, instead of addressing issues around elections, deliberately decided to tackle delimitation issues concluded last year.
Sources said Dr Mumba, an appointee of Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, the current chair of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, has taken hook, line and sinker Western propaganda and its negative biases towards Zimbabwe.
Without substantiated evidence or attempts to verify with the Government or judiciary, Dr Mumba accused both of being unprofessional.
“In view of their significance in the event of legal challenges in the context of the electoral process, some stakeholders expressed the view that the Government compromises the judiciary.
“A key justification for this perception was information received from these stakeholders that the judiciary recently received large financial and material incentives, which the stakeholders viewed as an attempt by the Government to buy the loyalty and allegiance of the judiciary,” he said.
An analyst, who is also former head of the Zimbabwe Parliamentary Delegation to the African, Caribbean, Pacific, and European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Cde Makhosini Hlongwane, said Dr Mumba’s report lacked merit.
Dr Hlongwane said the report is shameful, blatantly biased and steeply one-sided, rendering it incredibly unacceptable and lacking merit.
“The report exposes pre-determination, deliberate malice and a deep desire to deliberately deny President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Zimbabwe the honour and recognition of having conducted a free, fair, credible and very peaceful election.
“Dr Nevers Mumba’s report was without doubt, clearly written by the opposition in Zimbabwe, and he is bidding for his master, himself a very hostile anti-Zimbabwe operative,” he said.
Dr Hlongwane said Dr Mumba’s report seeks to incite, to create and author a crisis in Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans must be vigilant to protect their peace.
“The report is full of falsehoods, unverified information given to him by the opposition, and should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves and never to be taken seriously by anyone,” he said.
Political commentator Mr Rutendo Matinyarare said the report fell short of expected Sadc standards.
“We also take note that the report was overseen by a Zambian representative, designated by a Zambian President who supports the Zimbabwean opposition (CCC) and endorses United States dominance in Africa.
“That President’s endorsement of the US led to him accepting the establishment of a US AFRICOM base in Zambia, despite objections from other Sadc countries,” he said.
Mr Matinyarare added: “Consequently, the omission of any mention in the report regarding the unfair advantage conferred by illegal U.S. sanctions to the Zimbabwean opposition which is backed by Zambia’s President and his American allies, turns a blind eye on the scientific evidence presented in Professor Boemsoeb Park’s 2018 research: “How Do Sanctions Affect Impact Incumbent Electoral Performance.”
He said the research demonstrated sanctions’ assistance to opposition parties, and the research additionally provided case studies illustrating how MDC/CCC has benefitted from sanctions to garner votes since 2000.
“In light of Sadc’s strong position against unilateral sanctions on Zimbabwe, the absence of such crucial information in the election’s report renders the Sadc report partial, prejudiced, and without validity.
“It also sets a bad precedent that will encourage other political parties in the region to call for sanctions upon incumbent governments, to increase their chances of winning votes in future elections as MDC/CCC have done over the past 22 years, with the support of Sadc.”
Mr Matinyarare said the trend of calling for sanctions was witnessed two months ago when the opposition Democratic Alliance in South Africa went to the United States to call for sanctions on the South African government, based on mere debunked allegations of weapons being loaded onto a Russian ship in Simon’s Town (South Africa).
Dr Mumba also torched a storm on election day when he accompanied CCC-leader Nelson Chamisa to cast his vote in Harare’s Kuwadzana suburb, a move he defended yesterday.
“If we don’t go where he (Chamisa) is, how will we observe? Observing means you are seeing so we went to see, but did not go with him,” he said.
“We were at that polling station when Mr Chamisa came. We made no contact with him; we didn’t speak with him, we were observing from far.
“He left without any eye contact. If that is wrong then why are we here? What if he had been beaten there and claims that they didn’t allow him to vote? How do we know.”
As part of a clear rehearsed narrative, Dr Mumba also addressed the media at Mr Chamisa’s polling station.
An observer Reverend Obadiah Msindo told The Herald last night that Sadc’s observer mission had come with a predetermined narrative hence they had no credibility.
“He himself is a political activist who has vast political interests. The man has no credibility, which God are they (Nelson Chamisa) referring to when they say they were anointed by God because God does not lie, they are trying to use religion to whip people to vote for them. What we heard today from Mumba are things that he smuggled in there because President Mnangagwa surprised these people,” he said.
Online Reporter