By Naison Bangure | The hullabaloo around the ballot paper on this eve of the momentous national election in Zimbabwe necessitates comment from we, in the print fraternity on this contentious issue.

In response to the ballot paper mystery, various media commentators have already stated that the alleged migration of the votes cast can be attributed to the phenomena of chromatography or to a lesser extent, steganography. It is our considered opinion that these processes are equally far fetched considering the sheer number of ballots being cast in a national plebiscite.

Without getting into the “nitty gritty” of these techniques, rest assured that the chemical processing of millions of ballot papers within a relatively short counting period would be practically impossible. Perhaps this could be manageable on smaller ballots for local church groups or football clubs – presuming requisite intent.

Additionally, the way printing raw materials are procured, delivered and mounted on presses makes any prospect of the fraudulent tampering, as alleged, a virtual impossibility. Mr Norman Likukuma, a veteran printer and entrepreneur in print says, “The process of writing on a piece of paper entails that the pen or medium used in writing deposits ink which binds to the chemical and/or wood fibres making up the paper at the point of impact or application. Having been bound to the paper in the manner described, the mark may only be removed by neutralising and/or destroying the ink that essentially binds to the paper. Even if a method of erasing a mark was found, moving that mark to another location or causing a mark to emerge at another location is scientifically not possible. What would trigger that magical appearance? Its fictional.”

Suspicions galore about truckloads of ballot papers crossing at Beitbridge or ballot paper payload offloaded at the airport from some aircraft from Russia and loaded into Swift trucks, it remains a futile exercise finding anything amiss with the often bulky stock. The same would apply no matter how much cooperation is granted in the inspection of the ballot paper during or after its printing at home or abroad.

These concerns we raise are non-partisan. They seek to uphold the integrity of our democratic establishment. A consultant in the Printing Industry Mr. Lovett Manduku, played a leading role in the printing of the previous elections ballot papers. He spoke of the need for a coordinated effort by the main printer who independently orders the paper, distributing it amongst other printers to share in the mammoth task of printing the millions of ballots. He had no knowledge of the possibility of “X”s moving or vanishing on the ballot papers. He says that he only heard about this mysterious claim much later after the ballots had been delivered.

This bogeyman of elaborate chromatographic adulteration merely distracts from the very real threat to our democracy posed by gerrymandering, voter manipulation, fraud and other vices that have been documented in the past and may occur once again.

In the meantime we leave the debate open in case there is some nocturnal supernatural activity that occurs outside the scope of the Printing Industry. We wish everyone a peaceful and happy voting day.

Naison Bangure

Past Chairman, Federation of Master Printers, Zimbabwe

Past Chairman, NEC of the Printing, Packaging and Newspaper Industry