HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
ruling Zanu PF has rubbished MDC Alliance leader
Nelson Chamisa’s claims that it is colluding with
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) in an
elaborate plot to rig next month’s elections using
Russian cyber experts.
Chamisa made the sensational claims on
Wednesday while addressing thousands of his
supporters after a demonstration meant to force
Zec to meet their demands for free, fair and
credible elections on July 30.
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo reacted
angrily to the allegations calling them “childish”.
“He (Chamisa) must come forth with evidence to
back his claim. Can he identify the Russians he is
talking about? We are sick and tired of such
childish allegations that are meant for media
attention. If there is anything like that, why doesn’t
he prove it?”
Khaya Moyo said in an interview with
the Daily News on Sunday.
Chamisa said he was getting classified information
from Mnangagwa’s inner circle as well as elements
in the Zimbabwe National Army’s intelligence
department. He suggested the centre could no
longer hold in the ruling establishment, which he
said was leaking like a sieve.
“We know what they are doing and now they have
brought in about 64 Russians who are tampering
with the ballot papers and the voters’ roll,” Chamisa
claimed.
“If they are helping Zanu PF, then we have an issue
with them because we are a sovereign nation and
foreigners must not interfere with our internal
electoral processes,” he said.
This is not the first time that suspicions of foreign
actors in the country’s electoral processes have
been raised.
Zimbabwe is just the latest country to be
confronted with untested allegations of cyber
attacks relating to State-supported interference in
elections: ranging from email hacking and doxing,
in the 2016 US presidential election, to cyber
attacks on the Bundestag surrounding the 2015
German parliamentary elections, to dissemination of
“fake news” surrounding 2016 Italian referendum
votes.
International law gives States limited means by
which to respond to election interference.
Last month, exiled former Cabinet minister and
Zanu PF politburo member, Jonathan Moyo claimed
the ruling party had colluded with Zec to rig much-
awaited elections using hired Chinese experts.
Moyo, who fled the country at the height of a
military operation which facilitated former president
Robert Mugabe’s ouster last November, claimed
the rigging plot was on an industrial scale and was
going to be carried out in 14 different ways.
“Government has seconded to Zec a team of
Chinese BVR (Biometric Voter Registration) & cyber
experts from the People’s Liberation Army linked to
a top Chinese university.
“Their remit is to manipulate the voters’ roll through
shadowy & virtual polling stations and fake voters,”
he said in a post on his Twitter handle.
“The plot is to rig on an industrial scale. The rigging
is centred on (1) manipulation of the BVR voters’
roll; (2) manipulation of polling stations by Zec
technical staff from security organs and (3) army
intimidation of voters in villages,” Moyo, who once
served as government propagandist, said.
Zec is however, on record dismissing Moyo’s
claims as highly mischievous and claiming that the
elections body was independent from both Zanu PF
and government- Daily News.