THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is set to send packing three of its top officials after an investigation revealed that there was complicity between them, the civil society and opposition parties in the 2018 harmonised elections, Zim Morning Post has learnt.
This publication is reliably informed that the electoral body carried out an investigation following last year’s plebiscite and unraveled how the opposition and civil society had compromised the institution by discreetly recruiting some of its officials.
Zec insiders claim there was massive distrust within the institution and leaking of information prior to the 2018 elections, hence the need now to fishout the “rotten elements” in the system.
Zim Morning Post has it on solid ground that prior to the 2018 elections, top opposition and civil society personalities would regularly approach six named top Zec officials for confidential information so they could build a strong case in the event of a disputed poll.
Three of the officials (names withheld) are said to have accepted the offer and worked as double agents, supplying information on the voters’ roll, biometric systems as well as on procurement and logistics issues.
It is believed that privileged information was supplied to the opposition and other electoral monitoring bodies as they gathered evidence of the “planned rigging” of the 2018 elections.
“The opposition was well informed and always on point in various issues prior to the elections, amid suspicion of the existence of a mole or moles within the system.
“Once due process is done, the report on internal investigations will be transmitted to the ZEC chairperson, who is likely to order a disciplinary hearing of the three,” said the insider.
This publication also understands that the three officials, who are set to face the axe, are in the Zec logistics, information and administration departments.
The electoral body has always been on the spotlight and accused of manipulating electoral results in favour of the ruling Zanu PF.
ZEC has also fed into the rigging claims by operating under some secrecy without being transparent in how elections are run.
“ZEC operations have always been shrouded in secrecy and this has contributed to the erosion of trust between the electoral managing body and various monitoring bodies,” said another source.
In the build up to the 2018 elections, the opposition MDC Alliance accused Zec of deliberately delaying the release of the voters’ roll, denying them access to the ballot-papers printing machine as well as shading light on how biometric kits were procured.