Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa addresses a press conference at State House in Harare, Sunday, Aug. 27 2023. Authorities in Zimbabwe say President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been re-elected for a second and final term. The Zimbabwe Election Commission announced late Saturday that Mnangagwa won 52.6% of the votes in the midweek election. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Rusere made the remarks during an interview with South African state broadcaster SABC.
The dispute follows the October 9 election, in which Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission declared FRELIMO’s Daniel Chapo as the winner. However, opposition party PODEMOS, led by Venacio Mondlane, has accused FRELIMO of electoral fraud.
Rusere pointed directly to President Mnangagwa’s involvement, claiming that ZANU PF had a hand in the controversy surrounding the election results. Said Rusere:
We have launched an investigation to find out what exactly conspired in Mozambique which is something that also led us to understand that there has been interference by the Zimbabwean President and the ruling party which has been sending people to vote from the Zimbabwean side during the Mozambican elections.
… it is not the first time that the Zimbabwean President and ruling party is trying to interfere with the neighbouring elections and that is not a secret.
We have some videos where Zimbabweans were given voter IDs to vote for FRELIMO and testified in those videos that they had voted for FRELIMO.
Videos circulating online show Zimbabwean nationals casting votes in the recent Mozambican elections.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported last week that at least 30 people were killed in the violence that erupted in Mozambique following the disputed presidential election.