MDC–T deputy national chairman Morgan Komichi’s lawyer Alec Muchadehama yesterday said his client’s arrest for possession of ballots allegedly picked up from a dustbin was part of efforts by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to divert attention from its own shortcomings.
REPORT BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
While cross-examining Zec deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana before Harare magistrate Tendai Mabwe, Muchadehama said the special vote on July 14 and 15 as well as the July 31 harmonised polls proved the electoral body was not ready for the elections.
He said Zec should have conducted investigations after Komichi presented to them the set of stray ballots which were supposed to have been in the commission’s custody if its house was in order.
“How Zec conducted the last elections is a textbook, classic example of how not to run an election,” he said.
Silaigwana disputed Muchadehama’s assertions that there were no voters’ rolls at some polling stations.
He declined to disclose off hand the figures of police officers that cast their ballots during the special vote, those that failed and the total registered. This was after Muchadehama had said many police officers had failed to vote because Zec was not ready.
Although he admitted that voting may have gone on well beyond 7pm as prescribed by the law, Silaigwana said he was not aware that the police took charge of the polling stations because that was never reported to him.
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“I am hearing that for the first time. The police cannot take over the role of Zec at polling stations. Their role is properly defined in their regulations,” he said.
He further claimed that he was unaware that there was a mix up with voters getting ballots that belonged to other people and added that Zec was ready for the polls when they were conducted.
He, however, declined to respond to Muchadehama’s assertion that Komichi was a victim of Zec’s failure to properly manage the polls.
Asked how it was possible that ballot papers could stray from Zec’s custody, Silaigwana said that could only happen if the electoral system had been intercepted. Komichi was arrested on July 29 for allegedly tampering with ballot papers in contravention of the Electoral Act.
His trial, in which the State is represented by Michael Mugabe and Michael Reza, continues today.
