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Mr Emmanuel Magade

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) said on Friday that it had reported threats against its staff to the police. The Zec deputy chair Commissioner Emmanuel Magade said the commission was taking the threats against its staff seriously hence it has made a report to the police.

There have been a lot of pressure and acts of intimidation against Zec staff and property by opposition political parties demanding so-called electoral reforms, some of which have been described by Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba as illegal.

The main opposition MDC Alliance, which held a demonstration last Wednesday, has been at the forefront of denouncing the elections body, with party officials and supporters making threats against senior Zec officials including Justice Chigumba.

MDC Alliance leaders including its presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa, stormed Zec offices in downtown Harare on Wednesday and demanded to see the Zec chairperson and other senior officials.

Another official was captured on video threatening to hunt down Zec officials from their homes and harm them. “I can confirm that such threats have been issued. We find it totally, totally despicable and unconscionable,” said Commissioner Magade.

He said Zec was a neutral body playing the role of umpire and its wish and ambition was to have an incident-free election. Commissioner Magade appealed to Zimbabweans including leaders of political parties and their supporters to help the commission to deliver free, verifiable and credible elections on July 30.

Another Zec Commisioner, Dr Qhubani Moyo said the elections body was concerned about the increased level of violence directed at it by political parties.

Giving an update on electoral processes to the media in Bulawayo last Friday, Dr Moyo said although Zec was impressed that no violence had taken place between political parties, it was concerned about the violence directed at it.

He said Zec had witnessed serious violence directed at it to the extent that its chairperson Justice Chigumba was targeted individually by politicians. Dr Moyo said there were certain political players that were after disrupting the work of the commission hence they were targeting Justice Chigumba. He said Justice Chigumba had been subjected to a lot of insults during demonstrations by supporters of MDC Alliance but what was surprising was that there has not been much condemnation even from across the political divide and the media.

It is time police take action against individuals threatening or intimidating Zec officials. We want at this juncture to implore the ZRP commander for this year’s harmonised elections Senior Assistant Commissioner Erasmus Makodza to take action.

Those that make threats and intimidate Zec officials should be arrested regardless of their positions. Zec should be allowed to play its umpire role without undue pressure and those that interfere with its work should be brought to book.

Snr Asst Comm Makodza should ensure those that insulted Justice Chigumba and those that threatened to hunt down Zec officials from their homes are arrested immediately.