Troika condemns personal attacks on Mumba, Hichilema
The SADC Troika has condemned personal attacks by Zimbabwean ruling party officials on Nevers Mumba, the head of the SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM), Dr Nevers Mumba, and the chairperson, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, as an affront on SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.
Ruling party officials including Spokesperson, Christopher Mutsvangwa, Treasurer, Patrick Chinamasa and Presidential Spokesperson George Charamba reacted with unrestrained attacks directed at Mumba following the SEOM damning preliminary report on Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Elections. State broadcaster went into overdrive and escalated personal attacks on Mumba and Hichilema in a documentary dedicated to demonise the duo.
“The narratives in these attacks have been that the SEOM Preliminary Statement on the Zimbabwe Election was personally authored by Dr Mumba.” said a communique issued from an extraordinary meeting of the ministerial committee of the Organ (EO-MCO Troika) conducted virtually on Wednesday.
The EO-MCO Troika stressed that SEOMs are in line with the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections and warned that these attacks could bring the organ and SEOM into disrepute.
The EO-MCO Troika noted that if such attacks are “unchecked,” further attacks on the leadership of the Organ and of the SEOM have the “potential to damage the credibility of SADC as an institution.”
“We acknowledge and commend the Secretariat for taking the initiative to issue media statements that clarified the procedures that are followed by the SEOM and in the same statements for protecting the credibility and leadership of the Organ and the SEOM,” said the troika ministers.
Among other issues, the SEOM report on Zimbabwe’s elections condemned a the partisan policing, failure to deliver ballot boxes in opposition strongholds, refusal to release the voters’ roll the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), and the role of Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ), in intimidating voters.
