The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party has accused ZANU PF of causing confusion by fielding double and in some cases triple nominations across the country. CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere alleged that ZANU PF forged signatures on nomination papers to cause chaos after it failed to penetrate the party’s systems.
Speaking during a press conference in the capital on Thursday, Mahere said they discovered double nominations in 20 provinces and had reported the matter to the police. The CCC has also filed an appeal with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), objecting to people whose names appear as CCC candidates but were not signed for by the party. Mahere said they have sufficient evidence of fraud and would be going to court. She said:
ZANU PF failed to penetrate our systems and what did they do, they went and forged our signatures and created 20 odd double candidates that you see across the country for National Assembly and a number of them in wards across the country.
We have filed objections in terms of the Electoral Act to people whose names appear as our candidates and were not signed for by us. The second issue is (that) criminal reports have been made to the police in Masvingo and other constituencies because this is a fraud, it’s criminal.
In some cases, we have a candidate who says well my money was paid and papers filed but not by me, I don’t know who filed these, there is someone clearly behind that
Meanwhile, ZANU PF has distanced itself from the chaos and said it was satisfied with its own nomination process and expecting victory in the August 23 polls.
Former Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo, responded to accusations that ZANU PF was responsible for the CCC’s double nominations. The Political Science Professor argued that the CCC was criminalizing politics and that the fact that the double nominations involved CCC members who participated in the party’s opaque candidate selection process indicated a lack of internal structures and processes to deal with its own members. Moyo criticised the CCC for abusing the criminal justice system and urged the party to develop a constitution and structures to manage its internal politics. He said:
CCC CRIMINALISING POLITICS The fact that Triple C’s triple and double candidate nominations actually involve individuals who are its “members” and who as such participated in its opaque candidate selection process – and some who won in that process which used the archaic but visible ‘Bereka Mwana’ method – means that CCC should ‘cry foul’ to and about those individuals, meaning its “members”, and no one else. Those individuals who in Triple C’s triple or double nomination saga are supposed to be CCC members. The fact that CCC is crying foul, point fingers to outsides like ZanuPF and FAZ clearly means CCC does not have structures and processes to deal with its errant or wayward members. So, CCC is now turning what is political into ‘criminal’ conduct, alleging “fraud” against its “members” and whomever is alleged to have connived with them, hoping to get @PoliceZimbabwe to help it manage its structureless internal politics. But this is absurd. As a political party, CCC is abusing the criminal justice system simply and only because it has no structures to deal with its alleged ‘members’, who were so wayward as to register themselves as Triple C’s triple or double candidates. CCC should stop criminalising politics and come to terms with the consequences of not having a constitution and not having structures based on that constitution!
Zimbabwe goes to the polls on 23 August to elect a new president, members of Parliament (MPs), Senators and Councillors.