Election Watch

Whistleblowers were invited to supply any information they might have about vote rigging to a website address. Rewards of US$5000 were offered to the best, most verifiable leads.  ZDN is a non-partisan group dedicated to the promotion of ethical democracy, “one person one vote” and genuine freedom of political choice.  Penalties for rigging a national election range from six months to 10 years imprisonment.  A spokesman for ZDN said that the response had been high, with reports of vote rigging  being sent in from all over the country.   Any reports that can be verified have been passed along to the affected parties.  

“We set up a system whereby respondents are given a report number, instead of an identity, in order to safeguard them. This approach was successful and generated some very useful leads,” said the spokesman.

“The tip-offs do give names and locations. Many of these have been followed up and verified wherever possible. The verified cases will form the basis for challenges to the electoral recount, any elections that may still be organised by the ruling party, and definitely, future prosecutions under Zimbabwean and international law. A certain number of senior military officers have left enquiries about amnesty.”

Within 24 hours of going live, the website had received several reports. One from Thornhill air base said:  ….in the Airforce of Zimbabwe, each and every military wing is being commanded by the head of CIO, and are going to vote on Thursday night every one will be forced to vote more then five times so how do you think other parties are to win? The ballot papers are already at the base commander’s offices and the members will be voting at the sports club at Thornhill and FAFB and there is a Helicopter from 7 Sqn which will Carry 10 ballot boxes to Mt Darwin, please send people to observe this.”

Another report said even the army wives were coerced into voting – most of them against their wishes. This was corroborated by others:  “Combies and other commuter buses have been denied access from Masvingo town to barracks since this morning because soldiers’ wives are closed in the barracks and are being taught how to vote tomorrow. But the real issue is that they are actually voting for Zanu (PF) before the actual poll date.

Some reports came in directly from police sources:  “Police officers were given Z$4 billion to go and vote for Mugabe.”

There were widespread reports along these lines:  “All senior police officers were given 20 ballot papers each and were asked to vote for the ruling party through postal ballots.”  In some cases specific names were given regarding the police postal ballot, but we cannot disclose them at this time.  

In the week before elections there were many instances reported of bullying and abuse of office. These included the following:

– “Paul Munyaradzi Magwana a Zanu candidate for Chivi Central Constituency House of assembly instructed village headman to write all the names of people purported to be supporting MDC so that they won’t be allowed to buy maize before and after elections.”

– “On 23 March 2008, in Wedza Town, I personally witnessed ZEC officials inserting posters of R.G. Mugabe (Presidential Candidate) and S Sekeremayi (Zanu (PF) Senatorial Candidate). These officials are supposed to be impartial when executing their duty.”

– “Bindura – Mutepatepa polling station. CIO Officer Kanengoni offered polling officers billions of Z$ if they announced results in favour of Zanu (PF).”

– “Guys from the CIO here in Guruve have been stopping vehicles from those who do not support Zanu (PF) from participating in the CMED/ZEC program of vehicle hiring. -  – “Having known that most of the youths are going for the opposition, the registrar general denied the rural youths their national IDs so that they won’t register.”

– “I witnessed the mis-use of public funds by (Stan) Mudenge before, during and after primary elections to fund his constituency. His acts left us with no salaries for Jan and Feb and in Jan he hijacked a building project which was being funded by ZimDef to become his campaign tool.”

-  “In Marange today, the Police are being told to allow people into the diamond fields at night in exchange for votes. This started in late February. I can get you hard evidence of people digging at night and conversations with the people proves that this is election related.”

Other evidence concerned the flouting by officials of the deadline for voter registration, stealing of ballot boxes, the use of two types of inks – one for urban polling stations and the other for some rural polling stations. Many people reported that their dead relatives were still on the active voters rolls, but as this was common knowledge the whistleblowers report served as a channel for their frustrations.

Vote-buying was open and blatant at all pre-election Zanu (PF) rallies, and so were the threats. Some extremely detailed reports on how rigging was carried out on voting day came in from Mkoba Constituency in Gweru, Hurungwe, and in particular, from a very reliable source in Mutare where ballot boxes were transported from the Registrar’s office in Mutare to CIO safe houses in the Vumba district for ‘treatment’. This involved tampering with the seals, substituting duplicated serial numbered ballots, and forging signatures.   The carrot-and-stick approach was carried right through to voting day, when people were told that secret cameras would be able to record their votes.