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ZEC must off-load its Zanu PF and military baggage
Movement for Democratic Change
November 04, 2010

The MDC strongly condemns Zanu PF and Patrick Chinamasa for their feeble attempts to defend the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission over reports of bias in the management of previous elections. For the record, ZEC and its predecessor, the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), have never exercised their Constitutional mandate without Zanu PF interference and meddling.

For the avoidance of doubt, the following facts speak for themselves:

• After Zanu PF and Mugabe lost the vote in the February 2000 referendum, the military stepped in and launched what it called Operation Tsuro - an operation that involved 1 500 war veterans, 1000 soldiers, 300 CIO operatives, 200 police officers and about 6000 Zanu PF volunteers to invade commercial farms and to disperse an estimated 500 000 farm workers. The farm workers, the majority belonging to the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union were known MDC supporters. The plan was to scatter and disenfranchise them before the June 2000 parliamentary election. The ESC was powerless to stop this deadly war, which saw 700 farmers driven off their land, 140 deaths of MDC activists and dozens traumatised by violence.
  
• The 2002 presidential elections were run as a purely military operation. The military took over all electoral management processes from Tobaiwa Mudede, the registrar general, and from a newly created ESC, then headed by Colonel Sobuza Gula-Ndebele. The military set up a national command centre, to which the opposition was denied access, and housed it at the Sheraton Hotel. When the MDC complained about this blatant inference in a civilian election, the command centre moved its headquarters to Manyame Air Base, near Harare international airport. Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba, a serving officer, was appointed the chief elections officer. All electoral institutions reported to Brig. Nyikayaramba. The violent strategy was used to ensure voting compliance. The ESC was powerless to intervene. The ESC failed to protest when the security service chiefs, led by General Vitalis Zvinavashe, made a statement on 10 January 2002 saying the security forces would refuse to accept Mugabe and Zanu PF's defeat.
  
• In February 2005, ZEC was established, with George Chiweshe, another senior military officer as the head. By the time of the election a month later, ZEC had no offices, no phones or any independent staff. ZEC was given staff from the CIO, the military, the police and from Zanu PF structures to run that election. That is why it was hopelessly flawed and illegitimate.
  
• The May-June post-election violence that followed the 2005 parliamentary election, code-named Operation Murambatsvina was coordinated by the military and the police. Operation Murambatsvina affected close to two million MDC supporters, mainly in the urban areas.
  
• Operation Maguta, a military and Bolshevik style coercive method, was run by the military in a bid to bring about a command agriculture system and to keep Zimbabweans hostage to Zanu PF through the use of food as a political weapon. ZEC never uttered a word in protest as voters were shepherded into clusters run by terrified traditional leaders under the direct command of the military for political purposes.

And, finally, the MDC need not remind the people about the immediate aftermath of 29 March 2008. The party lost close to 500 activists and supporters in a massive military operation mounted by a civilian-military junta that was wounded by Mugabe and Zanu PF's loss. Because of the above few examples, the MDC finds it unacceptable for Chinamasa to unashamedly issue a press statement on Thursday, 4 November 2010, saying that "labour laws do not allow any employee to be engaged by two companies or organisations at the same time and be double salaried'. Such ridiculous statements are not backed by facts. Zimbabweans know that Zanu PF and Mugabe have always manipulated the elections, through ZEC and the military, in broad daylight. It remains a fact that ZEC is staffed by CIO officers, serving members of the military and Zanu PF militias.

Until ZEC claims its independence and generates public confidence, elections in Zimbabwe shall always be a major source of instability and illegitimacy. The MDC calls on ZEC to cleanse itself of the Zanu PF mess, re-assert its credibility and perform its Constitutional functions in line with expected universal norms and standards in the conduct of elections.

It therefore beggars the leaf that ZEC which is supposed to be an autonomous institution, independent of any person in any election should be defended by Patrick Chinamasa of Zanu PF.

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