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2013 election rigging report
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T)
November 06, 2013

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Introduction

The national harmonised elections held by Zimbabwe on July 31, 2013 were massively rigged by a network of groups and organisations hired by the Zanu-PF system for the sole purpose of fraudulently denying Zimbabweans their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote and express their free will and also give Zanu-PF and its leader, Robert Mugabe an illegitimate victory.

Through confidential links with the structures and organisations that were involved in the rigging mission, details of the whole plan and how it was executed were obtained.

Further, investigations spread across the national political and electoral framework helped in the establishment of facts, details and all the necessary information used in compiling this report.

The rigging machinery started seriously preparing for the mission as early as February 2013, with some of the strategies having been rolled out since 2012 under a very thick veil of secrecy and with the Zanu-PF system abusing its control and manipulation of key state institutions as well as departments.

A total amount of US$100 million was used for the rigging mission, which involved a monolith system and structure comprising largely secretive and shadowy organisations as well as individuals.

This report outlines, analyses and assesses the whole mechanism that was used to rig the polls, clearly identifying the players that were involved, the strategies and dirty tactics they employed as well as showing how they influenced the results which were announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

Local organisations, individuals and structures within the state’s security sector were at the epicentre of the rigging machinery and under the command of military and intelligence senior personnel, which supervised and directed the network and processes. Vast technical expertise and support was also incorporated and provided by foreign individuals and organisations.

A firm run and operated by Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, Nikuv Projects played a major role in the manipulation and corruption of the processes of voter registration and compilation of a shambolic voters’ roll, which were primarily the initial phases for the rigging processes.

This report outlines the role played by Nikuv Projects and how it literally took over the management of the voters’ roll from the Registrar General. It further reveals the clandestine existence and operating relationship between the group and the Zanu-PF system, including secretive payments of huge amounts of funds for the work it carried out.

The Zanu-PF system also hired experts from China that played a major role in the training and orientation of militia and Zanu-PF structures that were used to carry out specific tasks and worked under the command of the military and intelligence.

These tasks included ballot stuffing, creation of fake IDs and fake voter registration slips as well as spearheading multiple voting.

The Chinese experts were also instrumental in the development and use of a special water marked ballot paper, which was designed to give all the votes cast on it to Zanu-PF candidates through sophisticated paper technology.

Secret command centres were operated by the rigging machinery across the whole country, at military bases, Zanu-PF premises and also at farms, which hosted militia and activists that were trained and deployed to carry out the mission.

The secret bases were also used to stock material such as ballot paper, fake IDs, fake registration slips and also for tasks of ballot stuffing.

This report provides a breakdown of the major secret bases that were used by the rigging machinery.

It shall also be revealed and outlined in this report that the rigging mission was carried out at provincial level and with specific strategies and mechanisms being used for each province, varyingly and determined by specific objectives that the Zanu-PF system had for each of the country’s provinces.

The architects of the rigging mission initially identified political dynamics, voting patterns and also the distribution of seats in previous elections to come up with specific targets and objectives for each and every province. They, for example, identified provinces which they resolved to go all out and make clean sweep of the parliamentary seats and that meant employing specific strategies to achieve that.

Subsequently, it shall be noted and explained in this report that due to the varying targets and objectives as well as strategies from one province to another, the rigging plans ended up being sophisticated and complicated.

To manage that situation, the Zanu-PF system ensured that it deployed key intelligence and military operatives at each and every level and stage of the system and processes, who effectively wielded the most power and operated the programmes, reducing proper channels and officials to being bystanders and rubber stampers.

Retired intelligence and military personnel were summoned and deployed across the country to supervise and direct the rigging plans and programmes, as a way of boosting the numbers of those currently still in the service.

That factor also meant the need for huge funding and a wider resource base, which the Zanu-PF system alone could not cater for and that brings in further involvement of external players who provided funding. Among them were leaders and organisations from within the African, who knowingly abetted the rigging mission through providing funding.

Presidents of Equatorial Guinea and the DRC personally provided funding for the rigging machinery.

The Zanu-PF system exploited its corrupt stranglehold on the Marange diamonds to fix illegal deals that helped it raise funds for the rigging mission.

This report provides all the details and information about the individuals, organisations and entities that were involved, as well the budget, funding and the rigging strategies and methodologies.

It also provides deeper analysis and assessment of the rigging processes to provide a clearer understanding of how they contributed to the cocktail of outcomes, including disenfranchising many voters, creating millions of ghost voters and how that was manipulated to inflate voting numbers, carry out ballot stuffing as well as even turning votes cast for the MDC candidates into reflecting for Zanu-PF candidates.

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