As expected, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) election observer mission’s final report on Zimbabwe’s August 23 and 24 harmonised elections reinforced preliminary findings by the regional body that the polls did not meet international standards.
Sadc Election Observer Mission (Seom) ruffled the ruling Zanu PF party’s feathers after it noted that the conduct of the elections violated some of Zimbabwe’s laws and the flaws could have influenced the outcome of the polls.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared winner of the polls with 52.6% of the votes while his main rival, Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) had 44%.
Chamisa rejected Mnangagwa’s victory, which he described as a gigantic fraud after the majority of people in opposition strongholds of Bulawayo, Harare and Manicaland were prevented from voting on the original polling day due to shortage of election material.
The Seom’s final report says "some aspects of the harmonised elections fell short of the requirements of the constitution of Zimbabwe, the Electoral Act, and the Sadc Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021)."
It also questioned the independence of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) following concerns that some of its commissioners were closely related to senior Zanu PF officials.
These include Vice President Kembo Mohadi’s daughter Arbigail Ambrose and another commissioner who is married to a senior Zanu PF employee.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party reacted angrily to the preliminary report and resorted to targeting former Zambian vice president Never Mumba whom they accused of pushing a regime change agenda in Zimbabwe.
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Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema was also targeted by the attack dogs because he is the one, who appointed Mumba to lead the Seom in his capacity as chairperson of the Sadc troika on peace and security.
The attacks were misdirected because the report came out of collective work by the regional block. Zec has remained mum about the findings of the Sadc mission and judging from their track record, it won’t be surprising to see them ignoring the latest recommendations to improve the organisation of elections in Zimbabwe.
The findings by Sadc and indeed all observer missions are nothing new as similar issues were raised during the 2018 elections.
Chaotic elections benefit the status quo, but they are also a stain on Zimbabwe’s image.
It is against this background that we urge Zec commissioners not to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to issues of electoral reforms.
It is high time that the commission proved its independence by doing the right things for the sake
of Zimbabwe’s nascent democracy.
