We decided to ignore the opposition attacks and proceeded with our mandate…ZEC’s Chigumba speaks out

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba says, beside the attacks by opposition political parties who accused her of being a puppet of the ruling party led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, ZEC decided to ignore and proceeded with its mandate and she believes they discharged their mandate to the best of their abilities.

Speaking to 263Chat on the sidelines of a 2018 Elections Review Conference in Nyanga, Chigumba said those threats and abuses did not make her a victim in any way as she rose above hate speech.

“These attacks on our personas in particular were basically different opinions by our voters on whether or not we had executed our duties well.

“We decided to ignore and proceeded with our mandate and I believe we discharged our mandate to the best of our abilities,” said Chigumba.

She said the female commissioners had to undergo a counselling session as they assured themselves that they were on the right path.

“We had counselling amongst ourselves and told each other that we took oath of office and we agreed in terms of the Constitution that we run elections,” she added.

During the run-up to the elections, the opposition political party would picket ZEC offices and would come back with the same demands again despite the demands having been clearly outlined in the Electoral Act.