Former Zimbabwe information minister Jonathan Moyo says claims by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that the ruling Zanu-PF rigged the elections are credible.
In an exclusive interview with the Mail & Guardian Online this week, Moyo also ruled out economic revival in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe, whom he said has been in power for too long.
Stopping short of calling for immediate regime change, Moyo said Zimbabwe needs “an absolute renewal” because “the political cancer has gone too deep”.
Once regarded as the fiercest defender of the Mugabe regime, Moyo also lamented the system of patronage he said has developed under Mugabe’s rule — which, ironically, many people believe was behind his rapid rise in Zimbabwean politics.
Moyo, who is seen by many in the opposition and civic society as the architect of Zimbabwe’s tough media and security laws, told the M&G Online the discrepancies pointed out by the MDC are worrying and deserve serious investigation by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
“The discrepancies that have been cited [by the MDC] are serious and you don’t have to be a specialist to realise that,” he said.
He cited the case of Beitbridge, where the ZEC initially announced that 36Â 000 people had voted, which is double the 19Â 000 obtained when adding up the votes for the winning Zanu-PF candidate and the losing MDC candidate.
“The same body [the ZEC] cannot say at one point that 36Â 000 people had cast their vote, but when the result was announced what came out was that 19Â 000 people had voted,” Moyo said.
Moyo described as nonsense ZEC chairperson George Chiweshe’s defence that the first figures given for about 72 constituencies were just preliminary and that only the final figures should be considered as official. He also deplored the ZEC’s casual response to the MDC’s complaints.
Mugabe also came under attack from Moyo, who accused his former master of blocking debate on his succession. Moyo told the M&G Online Mugabe himself had invited members to discuss the issue openly, but when they did, “they were criminalised and ostracised”, in apparent reference to his own ordeal after the so-called Tsholotsho “declaration” — when Zanu-PF reprimanded Moyo and suspended six provincial chairpersons for taking part in a “declaration” to choose an alternative candidate for the vice-presidency.
Zanu-PF missed a great opportunity “to demonstrate to its members, to Zimbabwe and to the world that it had transformed into a democratic party” when it suspended provincial chairpersons and reprimanded him for the alleged “coup” plot in November last year, Moyo said.
He does not think Mugabe will retire any time soon, but added that “no reasonable person expects him [Mugabe] to seek re-election [in 2008] because he will lose dismally [since] even he must understand that 25 years in power is too long”.
Read the M&G Online’s full interview with Jonathan Moyo