has been seriously deficient in this aspect of its duties as only a few constituencies reported their
presence. Only 22% of the constituencies sampled reported voter education taking place, and, in
those constituencies where voter education did take place, this was usually done by the political
parties, and, to a lesser extent, non-governmental organisations and churches, even though the
Electoral Act prohibits them from doing so.
The reports concerning the political use of food were also a clear cause for concern. 74% of the
constituencies sampled reported the political use of food, with the most common report being the
fact that ZanuPF was distributing food to its card carrying members only.
The following were recommendations made to the government, political parties,
non-governmental organisations and other interested parties. These recommendations were not
acted upon, instead the Commissioner of Police responded negatively to the two reports
published in February and March, to the extent of attacking the person of the chairperson of the
NCA.
•
THERE MUST BE IMMEDIATE STEPS TO REMOVE ALL PARTISAN FORCES FROM THE EXISTING
CONSTITUENCIES. THIS APPLIES PARTICULARLY TO THE WAR VETERANS AND THE YOUTH
MILITIA. HERE THE NCA WOULD POINT OUT THAT THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN THESE
GROUPS AND SIGNIFICANT IRREGULARITIES ARE SUFFICIENTLY SERIOUS TO WARRANT
IMMEDIATE ACTION.
There must be immediate steps to set in place an enforceable code of conduct for these
elections. Whilst both parties are implicated in electoral irregularities, the balance of the evidence
to date suggests that ZanuPF is the major culprit, and the NCA would call upon the Government
to take immediate steps both to restrain its supporters and to call for a consultation between all
political parties on the setting up of an enforceable code of conduct.
In view of the large number of allegations of continued partisan behaviour by the law
enforcement and security agencies, there must be immediate and public action by the
Government to ensure the compliance with these agencies with the Constitution and the Statute
law of Zimbabwe. The NCA calls upon the Government to ensure that all allegations of partisan
behaviour on the part of these agencies are quickly investigated and publicly dealt with through
the courts.
The substantial absence of voter education, especially when these elections are being run under
a new dispensation, is a near-fatal flaw, and underlines the reasons for the NCA repudiating
these elections.
The allegations of partisan access to food remain deeply disturbing, especially in the context of a
serious humanitarian crisis. The NCA calls upon the Government to immediately take steps to
ensure that no political party has any access to the possibility of providing food relief, and to
publicly demonstrate to all that food relief is non-partisan.
Our findings were corroborated by other reports in the public domain, and particularly from the
periodic reports being issued by the MDC, as well as the February and Monthly Monitoring
Reports of the Zimbabwe Peace Project. Further reports may be forthcoming and the data can
be examined in greater detail against the data sets emerging in the post-election period.
As is common knowledge, and way ahead of the poll, the NCA expressed strong reservations
about the constitutional, legal and administrative framework for these elections, and stated
publicly that the poll should be boycotted. It is now evident that this was not a posture. The
elections are highly disputed, and there is prima facie evidence of many irregularities, the
majority of which stem from the exact problems indicated by the NCA in adopting its position on
the election.
The position of the NCA is also vindicated by its monitoring of the pre-election climate, and, as
National Constitutional Assembly: THE 2005 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION. FLAWED, UNFREE AND UNFAIR!