THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has dismissed as
unfounded continued claims by opposition political parties that the commission
had employed serving military and intelligence personnel who are working hand
in glove with Zanu-PF to influence the outcome of next month’s election
demanding proof from those that are saying so.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Professor Welshman Ncube recently
claimed, in an interview, that the forthcoming harmonised elections would not
be free and fair as Zec was “militarised”.
Prof Ncube told Sunday News that demilitarisation of Zec
was one of his party’s electoral reforms demands “to ensure a credible
election”.
However, Zec Chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba last
week challenged anyone with evidence of serving military personnel working at
Zec to come forward with the proof.
In a telephone interview, Justice Chigumba said employees
at Zec with a military background had retired from the army over seven years
ago and were employed by the commission on merit.
She said Zec, whose staff complement consists of less than
15 percent of former military personnel, had not recruited anyone in past five
years.
“I have been on record on many occasions that the former
military personnel at Zec are no longer serving members of the military. They
retired from service a long time ago. They applied for posts at Zec and they
were interviewed for these jobs. All of these joined some seven year ago and
Zec has not recruited for the past five years or so,” she said.
She added, “We have called upon anyone with evidence that a
serving military person is working at Zec to come forward with that information
and we act on it. I have challenged people to bring the evidence so that we
kill the matter but no one has been able to bring forward such evidence.”
Justice Chigumba said the employment of former military
personnel at Zec was done above board as they possessed the requisite
qualifications and met the selection criteria.
She said the said employees were Zimbabweans and entitled
to apply for any job anywhere in the country after retiring from the army.
“These people are Zimbabweans and are entitled to find work
elsewhere after leaving the military. There is no good reason why Zec should
not hire them if they have the qualifications and meet the criteria. Why should
we deprive our brothers and sisters of employment simply because they served in
the military before,” she asked.
Prof Ncube, in his claims that Zec would not deliver
credible elections also alleged that Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba
was the only person who participated in the decision to select the printer and
other Zec commissioners were not consulted.
“Why is it that only the chairperson participated in the
decision to select the printer? Why are all the other commissioners we talk to
even unaware who the printer is, how the printer was selected?” he quizzed.
Justice Chigumba, however, again quashed the claim as
unsubstantiated.
“I don’t want to comment directly on who said what or who
did not say what, but selection was done in line with the Procurement Act,
whose provisions are very clear. This was all done through the Procurement
Authority of Zimbabwe, so no one person participated in the process,” she said.
Despite claims of lack of transparency at Zec, the
commission has invited political parties to observe the printing of ballot
papers.
Justice Chigumba said the decision to have political
parties observe the printing process was meant to foster transparency.
“Zec has sat down and decided that in order to build
consensus and foster principles of transparency, we saw no prejudice in coming
up with modalities that provide for the monitoring of the printing of ballot
papers,” she said.
Zec is, however, not obliged by the law to invite political
parties to observe the printing of ballot papers.
Section 52A of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) compels Zec
to provide political parties, candidates and observers information regarding
where and by whom ballot papers are being printed or have been printed, the
total number of ballot papers printed, and the number of ballot papers
distributed to each polling station. Sunday News
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