Sunday Mail Reporter

MULTILATERAL organisations have been urged to refrain from smearing Zimbabwe’s just-ended harmonised elections by fanning unsubstantiated claims of vote manipulation that are meant to divide the nation.

In statement, founder and chairperson of a local civic organisation, the Justice Foundation, Dr Munyaradzi Kereke, said some Western countries, led by the United States, were using the polls as a pretext to “overextend themselves and meddle in Zimbabwe’s electoral processes”.

He said: “The Justice Foundation urges the United Nations, the European Union (EU), the African Union, SADC (Southern African Development Community), civic groupings and all political formations in Zimbabwe to refrain from carelessly riding on the current polluted smear whirlwinds that are grounded on falsehoods and mere hearsays that bear no corroboration from auditable facts on the ground.

“The Republic of Zimbabwe is a sovereign nation which has its own territorial integrity and constitutional mandate for self-determination.

“The Justice Foundation notes with deep concern that some sovereign countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the membership of the EU, as well as the UN, are overextending themselves and meddling in Zimbabwe’s electoral processes, which are entirely an internal matter, warranting no intervention by external parties.”

He said Zimbabwe’s elections were transparent and held in a peaceful environment.

Such peace, he added, was a product of Zimbabwe’s political maturity, guided by its adherence to principles of constitutionalism and the rule of law.

“Accordingly, the Justice Foundation congratulates His Excellency, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde E.D. Mnangagwa for coming out the clear winner and being duly elected President of the Republic of Zimbabwe in the just-ended 2023 general elections.”

Dr Kereke said, while there were logistical challenges that affected voting in a few wards on polling day, “this glitch was fully and satisfactorily cured by ZEC’s extension of voting to August 24”.

This ensured all voters had ample time to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

Dr Kereke criticised some foreign election observer missions for unfairly criticising the polls.

“Sadly, some of the preliminary reports and commentaries have amounted to premeditated poisoned scripts meant to discredit Zimbabwe’s otherwise credible, free, fair and transparent 2023 general elections.

“In particular, the preliminary reports by SADC, the African Union and the European Union (EU), among others, not only veered off the acceptable and ethical perimeters of the norms of election observers, but starkly betrayed the destructive agendas bent on needlessly tainting Zimbabwe’s credible, free, fair and transparent 2023 general elections.

“This calculated disparagement of Zimbabwe’s electoral processes and legitimate sovereign laws is part of a choreographed broad agenda that is meant to punish the generality of Zimbabweans in tandem with the illegal sanctions, which have foisted a heavy toll on the country for over two decades now.”

He added: “Each sovereign state must be left free to chart its own legislative frameworks, premised on self-determined correlations between and among its peoples, the Executive, the Judiciary and Legislative arms of government. In this respect, there is no room for external meddlers.”

The Justice Foundation is an organisation that seeks to promote global peace, fairness and mutual respect for nations’ internal affairs. It also strives to promote constitutionalism and the rule of law.