THE Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T yesterday described the
manner in which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is handling the
forthcoming elections as catastrophic, but said boycotting the poll is a
non-starter.
Khupe’s deputy, Obert Gutu told NewsDay in an interview
that the lack of transparency in printing of ballot papers was tantamount to
setting an examination for students without having given them a syllabus.
He said his party was not satisfied with Zec procedures, at
a time when other opposition parties like the MDC Alliance led by Nelson
Chamisa have engaged in protests over the manner in which Zec was handling the
elections.
“We are not satisfied with the Zec process, but we have not
resorted to demonstrations like the MDC Alliance because we have different
tactics of dealing with the problem,” Gutu said.
“Zec has proved to be stubborn and intransigent in as far
as the printing of ballot papers is concerned, and this raises more questions
than answers on what Zec is hiding from opposition parties and whether Zec can
be trusted with the responsibility of running free and fair elections.”
He said the mistrust began when Zec allowed the Nomination
Court to sit on June 14 without a voters’ roll.
“It was the start of all problems and it is like writing a
history paper when you do not know which syllabus it is and whether it is
African or European,” Gutu said.
He said the issue of the printing of ballot papers is a
serious one because all political parties need to know its security features in
order to be sure that they cannot be tampered with.
“This is the age of information communication technology
(ICT) and even money can be printed into fake notes, and so security features
are critical and ballot paper is a high security document. Zec needs to
eliminate all doubts,” Gutu said.
“We, as MDC-T, are saying boycotting the elections is a
non-starter. We are going to participate albeit in protest.”
He said the controversy over ballot papers and the voters’
roll will raise issues of legitimacy and cause instability in the country which
will hinder economic development.
Ironically, last week Gutu posted a tweet which defended
Zec and read: “Zec has the constitutional mandate to run elections in Zimbabwe.
Anyone who dreams that Sadc and African Union will come to run elections in
Zimbabwe is obviously out of their mind; they would have taken leave of their
senses.” Newsday
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