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Zimbabwe: Another ZEC Official Appears in Court
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008
Harare
A Seventh Zimbabwe Electoral Commission official yesterday appeared before a Bindura magistrate court charged with electoral fraud or alternatively breaching the Electoral Act.
Ngoveni Chitanga (54) was not asked to plead when he appeared before magistrate Mr Charles Murove who released him on free bail. The State represented, by Mr Emmanuel Muchenga, had opposed his release on bail citing the seriousness of the matter. It is alleged that Chitanga gave wrong results purporting that the MDC-T candidate Modern Chitenga had won the Mazoe South House of Assembly seat instead of Cde Margaret Zinyemba.
"Some people may improperly interpret the initial election result to mean that the election was rigged," Mr Muchenga said. He also said the announcement of the incorrect results not only affected the candidates but the entire nation. The State outline is that Chitanga, who was a member of the Provincial committee based at the Provincial Command centre in Bindura, received results from the Mazoe South House of Assembly constituency and gave them to a typist. After the results were typed he collected them so that he would check and verify using the original V23 form. He then confirmed that they were correct before handing them over to the provincial election officer who forwarded them to the National Command Centre in Harare. The initial results gave MDC-T candidate 3 599 votes while Zanu-PF candidate had 3 086 votes yet the actual votes for the Zanu-PF candidate was 4 109 and MDC-T 4 052.
The anomaly was discovered and the proper results were announced on national radio and television revealing that Cde Zinyemba was the actual winner. "The accused person failed to perform his duties by confirming wrong results," Mr Muchenga said. Chitanga's lawyer had asked the court to release his client arguing he was a proper candidate for bail and who had come to court on summons rather than being arrested, a reflection that he would not skip the court proceedings.
Magistrate Mr Murape granted the application prompting the state to evoke section 1.21 of the Criminal procedure and Evidence Act. The section allows courts to incarcerate suspects pending trial on condition the state intends to appeal against a bail ruling. Mr Muchenga said the fact that Chitanga applied for bail meant he was searching for freedom and should remain in custody pending hearing of the State's appeal.
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However, Mr Murove dismissed the application saying section 1.21 of the CTEA applied only to those who come to court from police custody, while Chitanga had come on summons.
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