Allegations of election rigging are normally raised by political parties that would have failed to field agents at polling stations to observe the conduct of polls, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said.
Commissioner Joyce Kazembe said as the electoral management
body, they have always wondered the legal basis upon which such political
parties make the allegations when they would have abdicated the legal expectation
for them to appoint agents at all voting centres.
Comm Kazembe was making a contribution during a virtual
interface with Parliament’s portfolio committee on Information, Publicity and
Broadcasting Services.
The interface, which was supported by the Southern African
Parliamentary Support Trust was meant to appraise legislators on media
regulations.
“There are certain polling stations, which had no polling
agents from major opposition parties, but they were raising allegations of
rigging. We really do not know the basis of these allegations.
“These polling agents must be present 24 hours including
during counting of votes so that they append their signatures on the results
that would be send to the national command centre here in Harare. So these are
allegations, we really do not know where they come from,” said Comm Kazembe.
In 2018, the MDC-Alliance leader, Mr Nelson Chamisa raised
allegations of rigging when he lost to Zanu PF leader, President Mnangagwa.
Mr Chamisa launched a constitutional legal challenge
against President Mnangagwa’s electoral victory, but failed to prove the
allegations as it emerged that he had not fielded polling agents at most voting
centres.
The Constitutional Court led by Chief Justice Luke Malaba
found the challenge not having any merit before dismissing it.
Turning to ZEC’s role in monitoring the media, Comm Kazembe
said there was need for legal reforms to capture technological changes that
have evolved over the years from when the current legal framework was promulgated.
“The media conduct is currently governed by laws
promulgated a long time ago, in 2008. The regulations have not been amended or
aligned to the 2013 Constitution,” said Comm Kazembe.
She said some of the proposed amendments sought to deal
with social media which disseminated hate speech during election period
targeting mostly women.
“We need to monitor social media. But sometimes social
media can be slippery.
“We have submitted these documents to the Ministry of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs so that they can take to Parliament.
We are anxious to know what became of these proposals,” she said.
The committee chaired by Matabeleland South Proportional Representative,
Ms Sipho Mokone (MDC-T) resolved to engage the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi. Herald
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