Dear United Nations,
Many people who watched Priscilla Chigumba’s interview with ZEC may have trusted her and failed to verify her defence that she wore the Emmerson Mnangagwa’s scarf before she was appointed as Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Elections Commission. The truth is, she wore the scarf in February after she was already appointed as ZEC Chairperson. The twitter post which revealed her party allegiance was posted soon after the event on 5 February reads “We were extremely honoured to get the opportunity to interact with Justice Priscilla Chigumba, the newly appointed Zimbabwe Elections Commission (ZEC) Chairperson. During the interaction with Justice Chigumba, we were able to share the story and intention behind the Zimrocks scarf………”
What then is Judge Chigumba trying to hide? The confidence with which she denied wearing the scarf while she was already the Zimbabwe Elections Commission Chairperson is baffling. She certainly is not someone to trust, and the best thing is for her to resign, and get the election postponed to give time to sort out all the messy she has caused.
The first attempt she made was to get her official to deny the authenticity of the photograph of her wearing Mnangagwa’s scarf, but she realised the argument could not be sustained because experts can prove that the photograph was genuine.
On a more serious note, Chigumba who claims to be abiding by the law throughout the process exposed herself in the interview regarding the ballot paper, which the law says should be printed in a row in alphabetical order. Where does the law tell her to print the ballot paper in two columns? Chigumba says in the same interview that where the law is not specific about something, she consults with the multi-party liaison committee, so the question is, where she was confronted with a situation where she thought the ballot paper was too long, did she consult the candidate to reach agreement on her decision to use two columns which is against the provisions of the law? Certainly she did not consult, and we are left suspecting that she was taking order either from some people in Zanu PF, and my suspicion is that those from the military, specifically Vice-President Chiwenga, must have been involved.
And the law is also very clear that the postal vote will be sent to voters by “registered post” or “courier”. Where voters are called to assemble, observers must be invited to witness.
After all, there have been reports which I cannot confirm though, that police officers were to be deployed within the polling stations they registered so that they can vote and still perform their duty to maintain order. I am sure the media or other members of the public who will read my story will have such reports which can be used to prove Priscilla Chigumba’s attempts to rig this election.
Interestingly, Chigumba has been denying teachers who are deployed away from their polling stations the opportunity to use postal ballot. The teachers who are to be deployed away from their polling stations have had to go to court to claim their right to vote. This is an abuse which organisations concerned with human rights abuses such as the United Nations have to address.
Back to the interview, it was brought to my attention by an alert and analytic colleague that Chigumba contradicted herself. In the interview, she said the police officers who were forced to vote for Mnangagwa should come forward to bring the evidence to the Commission that they were forced to do so, but when pressured by Ruvheneko, she said ZEC does not have the mandate to investigate. Perhaps she has to be called upon to clarify the contradiction, and I am sure that arrogant as she is, she will come up with another funny answer which will further expose her.
It is my sincere hope that SADC will objectively look at the request by the MDC Alliance to call for a special summit on Zimbabwe where all the contesting parties in this election will be invited.
Chigumba has just failed the electorate and must resign, or else the multi-party liaison committee must meet and pass a vote of no confidence in Chigumba. Zimbabwe does not need another disputed election.
Kennedy Kaitano