Speaking in an interview with a Zambian television station,
Mumba said Zimbabwe’s elections were “deeply flawed” and lacked transparency.
“President Emmerson Mnangagwa can proceed with his
inauguration, but the election is recognised as the most fraudulent in the
history of Sadc,” Mumba said.
“Let’s not act like we don’t know what’s happening on the
continent of Africa, the coups are taking place in the western parts of our
continent. These are realities on the ground. They start with unruly political
leaders and desperate political leaders … Zimbabwe should show that it is a
member of Sadc and I’m sure they will make things right.”
He said there were widespread irregularities including the
disenfranchisement and intimidation of voters.
“This report is not common in the Sadc region; they
expected us to just endorse everything … If we don’t work hard to ensure that
we have free and fair elections in our region, we create a problem for
ourselves.
“People start to find other ways to express themselves,
which are coups. That’s why Sadc insists on all member States to comply with
guidelines. The citizens of Zimbabwe only saw the ballot paper on the day of
voting, they never saw it. They only knew who printed it three days before the
election. They don’t know how it even moved to the polling stations. The voters
were disenfranchised,” he said.
Mumba also condemned the attack on his mission by some
Zimbabwean citizens on social media, who felt that the Sadc report was biased,
saying they should go the legal route.
“What people said on social media is unfair to say that
Sadc is partial. It’s an insult to my integrity and dignity that they think
that I can compromise my sense of judgement. I’m addicted to justice and
fairness. We are not Westerners; we are not pushing Western interests. We are
all Africans.
“We cannot choose leaders for Zimbabwean people, they
choose for themselves. Zimbabwe must challenge this report if they think it is
wrong so that we go back to their Constitution and show them where we are
anchoring that report. If they have any problem, they must not come to Zambia
and cannot blame President Hakainde Hichilema.
“There is no reason why they should involve him, this is
totally unacceptable. Let’s not react dramatically, we know there are legal
routes,” he said.
Last week, the ruling Zanu PF party ripped into Mumba,
calling him to order after he released a damning report on the just-ended
elections where he stated that they failed to meet international and regional
standards.
Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa discredited
Mumba as an election observer and accused him of overstepping his role by
criticising Zanu PF affiliate Forever Associates Zimbabwe, which reportedly
threatened voters, according to findings of the observers Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment