Some Zimbabweans, including two undercover journalists, voted in Mozambique’s general elections last week.
According to The Mirror, the journalists, who were investigating potential electoral rigging, were among the hundreds who cast their votes at Nemanwa Growth Point, just outside Masvingo, on Wednesday.
Earlier reports from the Mirror indicated that ZANU PF was mobilising its supporters to register for the Mozambique elections, which took place on October 9, 2024.
Several individuals confirmed their identities as Zimbabweans who had voted in the Mozambican elections.
The two journalists reported that they encountered no issues while voting, having presented both their local national identity cards and Mozambican voters’ cards at the polling stations.
Marcial Macome, spokesperson for Mozambique’s main opposition party, RENAMO, said that his party is aware of these developments involving Zimbabweans and does not accept the election process.
In response, ZANU PF Director of Information Farai Marapira denied any allegations of his party’s involvement in rigging the Mozambican elections. He said:
Our party respects the law because that is what we fought for. I think the people you interviewed misunderstood your questions because there is no way a Zimbabwean can vote in a Mozambican election.
One voter interviewed by The Mirror said she was voting in the Mozambican elections because they need to help their neighbours.
Speaking after voting at the Maud Muzenda Centre in Masvingo, Spiwe Maparanyanga, said:
We have just voted in the Mozambique elections so that we might also cross the border safely when we want to go and buy goods for resale. We also like FRELIMO, which we voted for.
Former ZANU PF councillor, Edison Manyawi, bragged about voting for FRELIMO on camera, despite it being illegal. He said:
We are happy with what we did because Mozambique is our neighbour and helped us during the liberation struggle, so we would not hesitate to help them win the elections.
FRELIMO, which has governed Mozambique since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975, has maintained a close relationship with ZANU PF.
During Zimbabwe’s war of independence against European settlers, FRELIMO permitted Zimbabwean freedom fighters to establish military camps in Mozambique, from which guerrillas launched their attacks.
Zimbabwean opposition politician Job Sikhala said that by sending its supporters to vote in Mozambique’s general elections, ZANU PF has become a security threat in the SADC region. He posted on X:
The political party that has sent our citizens to go & vote in Mozambique in the advancement of rigging that country’s elections have become a regional security threat.
This needs a regional response. This shame can not be allowed to happen without decisive action against this nonsense…
This political party has become a danger to all SADC countries. We saw them in SA elections where all parties voiced their disapproval on their presence in their country during the May 29 elections.
Here, we are having them voting in Mozambique elections. I am advised by my friends in Botswana that they are heavily involved in trying to manipulate and assist in rigging elections in that coming on the 30th of October.
In Zambia, they are trying to resuscitate the dead and scandal riddled Lungu. They have no shame.
Opposition political parties in the region must now unite and come together to resist the scourge of vote rigging being spread and inflicted by this party of the past in our region!
Mozambique allows its citizens living abroad to vote in general elections from anywhere in the world.
As a result, Mozambicans residing in areas such as Masvingo, Chegutu, Mutare, and Harare were able to cast their votes without returning to Mozambique.
More: Pindula News