The inspection and verification of the disputed 2002 presidential elections has been postponed indefinitely after a large number of ballot boxes materialised from nowhere.

Our correspondent in Harare said the process that was scheduled to kick off at the High court on Monday was initially postponed to Tuesday after disagreements over which constituency's votes to inspect first.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's defence team had requested they start with the Rushinga ballot boxes while Robert Mugabe's lawyers wanted to start with ballots from Nyanga.

The impasse between the two parties led to the postponement to Tuesday. The MDC leader's team, led by advocate Adrian De Bourbon, were shocked to discover on Tuesday that voting materials from Rushinga were now in 12 ballot boxes instead of 5.

3 years have passed since the controversial elections that saw Robert Mugabe polling 400 000 more votes than MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai. The High court has issued seven orders for the Registrar General to surrender the ballots. There is deep suspicion that Mudede has over the years been trying to manipulate the figures. Our correspondent said the amount of work involved in trying to alter the votes from the 120 constituencies was almost impossible, taking into account that the number of staff needed to do the job. He said; 'Remember this is top secret. They wouldn't want just anyone finding out what are up to. It's Mugabe's job that is on the line, so the best they could do is to delay the verification until he steps down.'

No official from the Registrar-General could explain why Rushinga ended up having 7 more ballot boxes than the 5 used for the entire constituency during the 2002 elections.