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MDC-T to present “new dossier” on Zanu PF rigging
Tererai Karimakwenda, SW Radio Africa
October 28, 2013

View this article on the SW Radio Africa website

The MDC-T has revealed that they will soon be approaching African leaders and organizations who endorsed the July 31st elections as credible, with a new detailed dossier of how the election was rigged.

MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora confirmed the existence of the new dossier to SW Radio Africa, saying they had received more detailed and highly confidential information from sources that were close to the alleged rigging operation.

Some of the detail from the 54-page dossier, titled “The Zimbabwe 2013 Election: Rigging Report”, were published in The Standard newspaper this weekend, but the actual document is yet to be released to the general public and has not yet been presented to other African leaders.

With the MDC-T having already lost their Constitutional Court case challenging the Presidential election results, it is not clear just what the party hopes to achieve by presenting the document to African leaders and key organisations, which accepted the poll as credible and congratulated Robert Mugabe on his victory.

Political commentator Lameck Mahachi strongly criticized the MDC-T, saying they are wasting more time by presenting a new dossier on the rigging, two months after the election, and while serving as part of the new government.

“It’s not worth pursuing at all. Time is gone and there is no need to do anything now more on the rigging now. The MDC-T are even part of parliament. They have been sworn in. The AU has congratulated Mugabe and whatever evidence they may bring now, absolutely nothing will happen,” Mahachi explained.

He added: “They are always one step behind Mugabe and they need to forget everything about that election, which they went into without any reforms being implemented, and start thinking about what to do next.”

Mahachi said the dossier might serve a good purpose only for the sake of “record keeping” and documenting how Zanu-PF stole the election.

According to The Standard, the dossier claims Mugabe himself met with Nikuv Projects (the key groups said to be behind the rigging) chief executive officer, Emmanuel Antebion on June 20th last year and again on July 30th this year for “briefings and payments arrangements for the secret services” that the company provided.

A “High Command” of government ministers is alleged to have taken charge of the operation, including fundraising for the $100 million that was required to pay for the rigging.

The dossier claims that “local organisations, individuals, and structures within the state’s security sector” ran the operation using their vast technical expertise and that other support was provided by “foreign individuals and groups”.

It also claims that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and chairperson Justice Rita Makarau were reduced to being mere bystanders in the election, “playing a rubber stamping role as a secret structure of military and intelligence officials directed and controlled everything”.

Mahachi did not dismiss the validity of any claims made by the MDC-T in the new dossier, but he questioned the usefulness of presenting it now and insisted that no reversal of fortunes would visit them, no matter how much evidence they present.

SW Radio Africa is Zimbabwe's Independent Voice and broadcasts on Short Wave 4880 KHz in the 60m band.

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