Team Pachedu, an opposition political activism online group, has said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is secretly correcting “issues” the group cited.
The group recently accused ZEC of moving 170 000 voters to new constituencies and or wards without their consent but ZEC, in a statement published by Pindula News, dismissed the allegations as malice.
In a statement delivered by acting CEO Jane Pamhidzirai Chigidji, and published by Pindula News, ZEC said:
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission wishes to set the record straight on a number of allegations and issues that have been extensively published in both the social and some print media in the past few days. The allegations if not clarified or cleared have effect of causing unnecessary alarm and despondency to the public and soiling our electoral process for selfish political gain…
The Commission has now come to the conclusion that there are some stakeholders who have resolved to adopt a strategy of soiling its credibility to account for their electoral loss or losses to the electorate. In the past, some have openly confessed to the Commission that they cannot always tell their constituents the truth for fear of losing their support. Thus they have to find a scapegoat and that scapegoat is the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. However, lies have no legs and chickens will always come back home to roost.
Team Pachedu issued a statement this Thursday claiming ZEC was now rectifying the issues they had raised earlier. Said the group:
ZEC is secretly correcting the issues that we raised and this shows that we are raising genuine concerns. We call upon auditors, statisticians, database administrators, data scientists & NGOs that deal with elections to also independently audit the voters’ roll.
ZEC’s alleged actions were interpreted as an attempt to rig the 26 March by-elections and the 2023 harmonised elections.