Between June 18 and 20, Zimbabwean armed forces were made to vote days before the general elections. The reason given by the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) for allowing the earlier vote was to enable them enforce law and order during the general elections.
But a new video released by the guardian newspaper has given evidence of how these votes were rigged. Unawarely, carefully orchestrated electoral malpractices by officers were caught on film. In a clear case of vote-rigging, all police officers were made to vote in the presence of their superiors, who publicly pledged their support for Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party.
Risking his life and that of his family’s to show evidence of the dictatorial elections, Shepherd Yuda, a Zimbabwean policeman whose family had also fallen victim some of the attrocities of Mugabe’s reign of terror was fitted with a secret camera provided by the guardian newspaper from London.
Earlier, it had emerged that the ZEC had recruited war veterans and ruling Zanu-PF militiamen as polling officers. Teachers and other civil servants who were polling officers during the March 29 harmonised polls were largely dispensed with, under accusation that they played a significant role in Mugabe’s defeat by the MDC candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, during the first round.
Tendai Biti, MDC number two, who was in prison at the time was also filmed by Shepherd Yuda as he took a tour on the prison grounds. Jenny Williams, a Zimbabwean woman who leads the biggest women’s organisation and a mother of three, sent to jail for organising the biggest protest march against Mugabe was also caught on film.
The guardian newspaper also reports that Shepherd Yuda has since left Zimbabwe with his family.
