#Zimbabwe election petition: Quotable Quotes

Doug Coltart: “ZANU PF lawyers are focusing all their attention on the pre-election environment & technical points. They’re avoiding dealing with the NUMBERS—the crux of Chamisa’s case—because the evidence from ZEC’s OWN data establishes Chamisa’s case that ED didn’t cross the 50% mark.”

Alex T Magaisa: “Tough, robust (& some might say hostile) interrogation but Adv Mpofu stood his ground. What matters is what ZEC did. Did they comply with the law? Can they explain and defend discrepancies? How do those irregularities affect the election? These are the critical questions.”

Mduduzi Mathuthu: “That moment when Advocate Thabani Mpofu posed the question whether anyone could state with certainty how many votes Emmerson Mnangagwa really got, posed and was met with deathly silence, was the most powerful moment of his submissions.”

Alex T Magaisa: “The Electoral Law clearly states that the declaration of the result is final. Adv Uriri admits that @ZECzim changed its results afterwards & tries to say the figures don’t matter. None of the judges raises this issue and instead allows him to go on and on as if it’s normal.”

Dr Pedzisai Ruhanya: “If the court rules that ED won, it must tell us by how many votes and what percentage given that ZEC gave three sets of results?”

Brezh Malaba: “The judges’ robust (some would say aggressive) line of questioning against Chamisa’s lawyer Adv Thabani Mpofu has strengthened the hand of Mnangagwa’s lawyer Adv Lewis Uriri. It appears the outcome of this case could revolve around the question of Chamisa’s “primary evidence”.

Nqaba Matshazi: “Uriri says ZEC can announce any figure, as long as it is above 50%, it won’t change anything. At least that’s what my layman brain understands. So ZEC may have as well announced a 99% vote for Mnangagwa.”

Alex T Magaisa: “Mnangagwa’s lawyer is defending Chigumba’s wearing of the scarf. He is not Chigumba’s lawyer. But the same court struck out co-respondents’ submissions which would have supported the applicant’s view. None of the judges has questioned him on this submission.”

Edmund Kudzayi: “Justice Chigumba and her friends have their own rules. No devices for the opposition but there she is on the phone. This country need a fresh pair of hands, the rule of law not the rule of men.”

Jealousy Mawarire: “The insistence by Zanu-PF lawyers 4 going back 2 primary evidence is oblivious of the fact that individual boxes r collapsed once polling returns get to the provincial command centres. This within a few hours after the V11s are posted. So which ballot boxes do they want to open?”

Alex T Magaisa: “Mnangagwa’s lawyers dismiss the EU Observers report. But they are happy to refer to ZESN’s assessment of the voters roll. None of the judges bring him to task #ElectionPetitionZW.”

Alex T Magaisa: “The respondent is keen to go to the election residue because they know it’s been manipulated to suit a declared outcome. Deal with the the figures they presented on 3 August. Those results are final. Why did ZEC change results if the residue is so pertinent? #ElectionPetitionZW”

Edmund Kudzayi: “Painful to watch as Mnangagwa’s lawyer accepts that the numbers may have changed but says it doesn’t matter.”

Doug Coltart: “Dr Otumba—@NelsonChamisa’s lead expert witness—was also @RailaOdinga expert witness in his successful election petition overturning Kenya’s 2017 election. Just as in Odinga’s case, Otumba’s analysis of ZEC’s own numbers show the results were cooked. The numbers don’t add up.”

Hopewell Chin’ono: “This case will be decided on facts and not conjecture. Who has been convincing so far based on what you have seen in court. Who is more likely to end up in this position?”

MDC Alliance: “Adv Uriri representing @edmnangagwa admits that @ZECzim changed its results after declaring them which is against the Electorial Act. Not a single judge took that up #ConCourt.”

newZWire: “Kanengoni really pushing on evidence. He says there’s “no particularity” in Chamisa’s papers on how the election was rigged, where, and on whose behalf. Calmly, he goes in: “We ask them for evidence, they have none”.

NewZWire: “About those ‘blank’ V11s that Mpofu raised, Kanengoni says ZEC provides a book of V11s, and it’s easy to pick out a page that’s yet to be filled in and present it in court as evidence of rigging.”

Mduduzi Mathuthu: “So CJ Malaba has zero questions for Mnangagwa’s lawyers after taking so much time trying to pin Advocate Mpofu.”

newZWire: “Kanengoni, answering a question on ZEC’s shifting results, says this happened as ZEC was responding to the application. The errors are “minor and immaterial” and don’t change the result. He says Chamisa has “no smoking gun” which is why Mpofu relied on ZEC data.”