SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Evidence has emerged showing how ZANU PF used the names of dead people on the voters roll to beef up their numbers in last Wednesday’s elections. The new evidence comes amid reports that the party’s supporters in rural areas are now engaged in pre-emptive retributions against MDC-T supporters for refusing to reveal their vote. While it has been an open secret the voters roll contained the names of more than a million dead people, nobody knew exactly how the ‘deceased’ voters would play a pivotal role in aiding Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF to a landslide victory against Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T. Charlton Hwende, the losing parliamentary candidate for Chegutu West, told SW Radio Africa that he’s in possession of close to 300 identity cards of deceased people.‘They were abandoned by people who used them to vote. They were given the ID’s so they could vote in last Wednesday’s election. This is why you see the numbers for ZANU PF just jumped up from nowhere,’ Hwende said. Former head of the MDC-T intelligence unit Sox Chikohwero told our Election Watch program on Tuesday that the party was caught napping as ZANU PF pulled all the strings to ensure an outright victory by hook or crook. He said for anyone to acquire a death certificate in Zimbabwe, they needed to handover the ID in exchange for the certificate. ‘In this case it is clear Tobaiwa Mudede (Registrar-General) never destroyed the ID’s but kept them to aid ZANU PF to rig the elections. It is clear from now on that Zimbabwe will need to have an election where they use a biometric voters roll,’ Chikowero said, adding that with a good intelligence gathering group in the party, some of these things might have been picked up. Meanwhile Amnesty International reports that women political activists in rural Zimbabwe are being threatened with violence and forced to flee with their children for refusing to reveal their vote to supporters of ZANU PF. The women said they resisted instructions from ZANU PF supporters to feign illiteracy, blindness or physical injury, which would have meant someone else marking the ballot on their behalf. Noel Kututwa, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa, said at least six women said they left home with their 12 young children after facing intimidation from village heads in Mukumbura district, Mashonaland Central Province soon after the 31 July poll.‘It appears the ZANU-PF supporters wanted to ensure that these women did not vote for the other parties and tried to compromise the secrecy of the ballot.‘The Zimbabwean police must guarantee the safety of political activists in rural areas following these reports of politically motivated displacement. The authorities have a duty to investigate any threats of violence and ensure those responsible are brought to justice,’ Kututwa said.↧