Dont be anxious about polls PM tells public

“The MDC calls upon the people of Zimbabwe not to be anxious about being ambushed with an election that has no pre-conditions and is not in line with the dictates of the GPA,” the MDC-T said in a statement.

Zanu (PF) spokesman Rugare Gumbo threw down the gauntlet on Wednesday, declaring that elections would take place this year because the GNU has expired> he accused the MDC of dithering because it was scared of a fresh poll.

“The (Politburo) meeting resolved that we will have to proceed with the voters roll that was used during the harmonised elections, including the presidential election,” Gumbo said. “It was agreed at the meeting that the voters roll would take time to produce, thereby derailing the times which will be set for the holding of the election by the president.

“What makes it more easier is the fact that most of the people who voted in that (2008) election are still alive. Why would we need to start producing the voters roll anew? We have also resolved that that Registrar General should be tasked with ensuring that the voters roll is ready for the election, whose dates will be proclaimed as usual, by the president,” Gumbo said, adding there was no need to extend the GNU given the squabbling. He said the MDC was afraid of elections and their “imminent defeat.”

But the MDC brushed aside these claims.

“For the record the MDC is ever ready for elections anytime, anywhere. However, unlike the unpopular Zanu (PF), the MDC, the people of Zimbabwe, SADC and the AU agree that there should be a clear roadmap to holding of free, fair and uncontested elections.

“It is not up to the unpopular and rejected Zanu (PF) to declare when Zimbabwe can hold its elections without the approval and agreement of the other parties to the GPA, and SADC,” said the statement.

The deadlock is expected to be resolved at the forthcoming SADC summit scheduled for Windhoek on May 20.