ZEC starts accreditation of observers ahead of referendum

Posted by on Thursday, March 7, 2013 in ZEC, Zimbabwe politics | 4 comments

Jameson Timba, the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s office

By Tichaona Sibanda
7 March 2013

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has started accrediting observers and journalists for the constitutional referendum to be held next week Saturday.

Accreditation will take place in Harare, Bulawayo and Masvingo as from Thursday and will carry on until referendum day.

Observer missions from the European Union and the US have been barred, under orders issued by ZANU PF ministers. But Jameson Timba, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office, said the responsibility to invite and accredit observers for the referendum and elections, in terms of the Electoral Act, lies entirely with the ZEC.

‘ZEC is not ZANU PF and ZANUPF is not ZEC. As MDC we have nothing to hide and therefore anyone from Honolulu to Timbuktu is free to come and observe our elections.

‘It is only those who have skeletons in their cupboards, or should I say whole cemeteries, who have something to hide and as such are opposed to international observation,’ Timba said on his Facebook page.

Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us representatives from all diplomatic missions accredited to Zimbabwe will be allowed to monitor the referendum.

‘EU and US diplomats already working in Harare will be allowed to observe but there is no restriction to any other country or body based on the African continent,’ Muchemwa said.

Local journalists, observers from civil society organizations and non- governmental organizations, will pay a fee of US$10 each to get accreditation, while those from the African continent will pay US$20 a head.

Observers representing diplomatic missions of countries outside Africa, but stationed in Harare, will pay US$50 a head. International observers and journalists from outside Africa will be asked to pay US$300 a head.

With all political parties pushing for a Yes vote in the referendum, it’s expected that the new constitution will sail through. The charter, for the first time, sets presidential term limits.

It’s not known whether Zimbabweans will be keen to vote on a constitution they know little about, or if there will be voter apathy.

  • GBZ

    Good Job Jameson Timba, keep it up, we want at least 4 international observers at each polling booth to see that there is no intimidation and the election is free and fair. Keep up your good work, and every embassy should send as many observers as they can so we can get rid of this scourge in Zimbabwe.

  • Mafirakurewa

    Zimbabweans are so naive, Zanu PF does not intimidate voters at the polling stations. They are doing it now well before the elections using the police, army and militias. (take the example of Christpower Maisiri, among many others). Further to that, no access to state media and no opposition rallies allowed. Then you talk about free and fair elections.

    • GBZ

      Yes I am probably a little naive, and maybe a bit too optomistic, but when I see a guy sticking his head out for what is right I like to give him all the encouagement I can. Yes the intimidation by zpf is ongoing but it is only making them more hated and dispised by all. That precious kid Christpower died and that has become horriffic to all sane thinking folk and then the police say there was “no foul play”! The problem is that Mugabe and his zpf cronies think the people of Zimbabwe are stupid and depraved, but he will learn soon that we are not.
      I believe if the polls can be held in some form of decency and agents are watching closely that we will be able to vote from our hearts and produce a credible result.

  • Chimbwidos Warvets

    ‘ZEC is not ZANU PF and ZANUPF is not ZEC. As MDC we have nothing to hide and therefore anyone from Honolulu to Timbuktu is free to come and observe our elections. ‘It is only those who have skeletons in their cupboards, or should I say whole cemeteries, who have something to hide and as such are opposed to international observation,’ Timba said on his Facebook page.

    When I started reading the above nonsense I nearly dropped the bible I was reading. I thought Timba had called for a press conference to talk about this nonsense but on reading further I noted that it was only from his Facebook page. Anyway, who in his proper faculties can take this Facebook tosh seriously?

    Let me put it this way in case some foolish diplomats may want to get involved in the election process without the invitation of the Zimbabwe government.They will be no diplomatic immunity for those who may be overzealous in getting themselves involved in matters that do not concern them. Diplomats who break the laws of the land will simply be declared persona non grata and deported to their countries of origin. It is as simple as that as diplomats have to work within the confines of the laws of the country they are accredited to.