Voting has just begun in Zimbabwe’s historic elections, with people reported to have been queuing at polling stations since early on Monday morning.
In a new development, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it’s taking the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance to court.
The MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa, allegedly violated the electoral code when he held a media conference on Saturday, a day after the official closure of the campaigning period.
Chamisa is challenging incumbent president Emmerson Mnangagwa in Monday’s vote.
An Electoral Network of Southern Africa observer, Bishop Paul Verryn, says people are worried about Mnangagwa’s past.
“President Mngangwa’s association with the military has created huge anxiety you know. When I was back in South Africa it was one of the issues that kept being raised; how can you have a free election when the head of the army now governs and where the army has infiltrated every village throughout the country and where the army knows so many individuals throughout the country and so people are very anxious that their vote will not be secret that they will be sniffed out,” says Verryn.
The Beitbridge port of entry into Zimbabwe from Limpopo province is quiet on Monday morning. This as most Zimbabweans who intended to go home for Monday’s vote, appear to have done so already.
Street vendors mainly Zimbabweans could be seen still sleeping on the floor at the local taxi rank. They say they decided not to go and vote because their jobs are more important than casting vote.
Home Affairs has already indicated that a very low number of Zimbabweans has crossed into Zimbabwe in the past few days. – Additional reporting by Rudzani Tshivhase
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