Zimbabwe wants poll material back
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has demanded the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) to return the equipment it borrowed a year ago.
The Standard of Zimbabwe reported Sunday that almost a year after some of the electoral material loaned to Mec by Zec were destroyed in a fire; the latter has not yet received any official communication from its counterpart.
Mec Spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa said it was not correct to suggest that they did not make any official communication to their Zimbabwe counterpart.
He, however, confirmed that indeed some of the electoral materials they borrowed from Zimbabwe were burnt besides other equipment being destroyed by violent rioting that occurred on the polling day.
In an interview yesterday, Mwafulirwa said a delegation from Mec led by the Chairman, Justice Mbendera went to Zimbabwe for the handover of the gas lamps and tents that took place on 15 October 2014 in Harare where they were met with the vice-chairperson of the Zec Commissioner Joyce Kazembe.
“The delegation from Mec made it clear that some of the items that were burnt in the warehouse fire in Lilongwe were the tents and gas lamps borrowed from Zimbabwe,” said Mwafulirwa adding that some materials also got destroyed during the violence that erupted during polling
Mwafulirwa said Zec chairperson Rita Makarau was not present by the time of the meeting because she was leading an Electoral Commis s ions Forum for Sadc countries (ECF SADC) observer mission to the Mozambique elections.
During the handover Mbendera told the Zec Deputy Chairperson about part of the borrowed materials.
“We will wait for your guidance on this issue. We accept full liability of the damage but as I have explained it has been occasioned by other forces and not our negligence,” Mbendera said during the last year ceremony.
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