By Agencies
GOVERNMENT has dismissed recent allegations of interfering in neighbouring countries’ politics calling the accusations an attempt to soil Zimbabwe’s reputation within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Concerns have been raised over Zimbabwe’s involvement in the electoral processes of neighbouring countries, with Zanu PF being said to have meddled in Mozambique’s polls.
Recently, the Southern Africa Human Rights Lawyers named Zanu PF in an alleged rigging web in Mozambican elections.
Writing in a State-owned paper, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information Nick Mangwana dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.
“The fact that it sends a few senior officials to the region to share notes with senior officials as a means of expressing solidarity, is being deliberately twisted by equally twisted people who are now making outrageous claims that the country is participating in the rigging of elections in the region.
“Everyone knows that these accusations are actually baseless and have no iota of truth in them. In this piece, we will state Zimbabwe’s position and unpack the nefarious agenda at play.
“Accusations of Zimbabwe meddling in neighbouring countries’ internal affairs seem to be a calculated move to tarnish President Mnangagwa’s reputation as SADC Chairman. This is evident from the timing of these claims, which started surfacing mainly this year after our assumption of the role,” wrote Mangwana.
ZANU PF officials were spotted in Botswana offering support to then ruling party Botswana Democratic Party. Reports of Zimbabweans voting in the elections also swirled.
During last month’s elections in Mozambique, Zimbabweans living along the country’s border are reported to have voted for the FRELIMO party, in a suspected rigging plot.
“Zimbabwe and Mozambique share incredibly strong cultural, historical, and familial ties, which is no surprise given their shared heritage and geographic proximity.
“To accuse Zimbabwe of deploying its citizens to vote in Mozambican elections is not only unfounded but also acts as an inadvertent attack against the concept of diaspora voting. Whilst our own Constitution does not have room for extraterritorial voting by nationals based in different countries, we allow citizens to come home to vote.”
Added Mangwana, “The strange thing is that initially these accusations were not coming from any participants in the Mozambican elections, but some media outfit in Masvingo which has been wantonly breaking the law with brazen frequency.
“For this outfit, the writing is on the wall. Some Mozambican political parties only latched onto this accusation much later to try to explain away their performance during the elections. But they know the truth that Zimbabwe did not send its nationals to vote in their elections, neither did it participate in any perceived rigging exercise, real or imagined”.
