The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has given Fidelity Printers and Refiners an exclusive deal to print ballot papers for the August 23 elections, after cutting ties with the State-run Printflow, which has been doing the job alongside Fidelity.
The government of Zimbabwe also owns Fidelity through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
This week, a Zec spokesperson said the commission will disclose the identity of firms given the lucrative contract in due course.
But sources said ballot papers for this month’s general elections are being printed by Fidelity after authorities raised ‘capacity’ issues with Printflow.
In line with Section 52A of the Electoral Act, the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe reportedly gave Zec authority to contract both companies through direct tender to guarantee the production of better-quality ballot papers and minimise security risks.
In an interview with the Independent last week, Rodney Kiwa, the deputy spokesperson at Zec said: “Please be advised that in terms of Section 52A of the Electoral Act, the commission shall publish in due course; where and by whom the ballot papers for the election are being printed, the total number of ballot papers that have been printed for the election and the number of ballot papers that have been distributed to each polling station.”
Earlier this month, Zec told NewsDay that the high volume of court cases seen during the run up to this year’s polls were exerting “a lot of pressure” on the electoral body to meet specified timelines to prepare for the August 23 polls.
Addressing election observers in Harare recently, Kiwa also confirmed that court cases were delaying ballot paper printing processes.
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“The commission has commenced the exercise of designing ballot papers for all contesting national assembly and local authority wards as well as the presidential ballot. The drawback, however, as you may appreciate, is the designing of the ballot papers for those constituencies where an appeal has been lodged against the rejection and acceptance of a candidate’s papers,” he said.
Printflow chief executive officer David Takawira referred the Independent to Zec.
“We are Zec customers and it will be best to get the reasons why they have withdrawn the job or whether they have withdrawn,” Takawira said.
“I can’t say they have withdrawn or have not, but they are the owners of the job. They will give you the correct position. I can’t confirm if the job has been taken to Fidelity,” he said.
However, sources privy to the developments said Fidelity had lost the deal.
“Zec has taken back its job. The job was taken to Fidelity Printers only,” the source said.
Printflow was founded in 1947 as a printing and publishing arm of the government, mainly concerned with the printing of Parliamentary statutes and publications. Over the years it has continued to grow to become the largest printing house in the country, producing maps, catalogues, financial documents and many commercial and government publications, including ballot papers.
