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Professor Ncube

Takunda Maodza Senior Reporter
MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube says it is futile to challenge  results of the harmonised elections in court or to take the matter to Sadc since it is the Constitutional Court that ordered that elections be held by July 31 with Sadc and the AU having already endorsed the conduct and outcome of the elections.

MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who managed 33,94 percent of the vote is refusing to concede defeat to President Mugabe who garnered 61,09 percent of the presidential vote with the remaining 4,97 percent shared by Prof Ncube, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa of Zapu and Mr Kisinoti Mukwazhe of the ZDP.

Mr Tsvangirai has vowed to approach Sadc which convenes in Lilongwe, Malawi tomorrow and has since filed an application at the Constitutional Court in a bid to get poll annulment.

However, Sadc — along with the AU, Comesa, the ACP countries as well as over 40 individual countries — have since endorsed the harmonised elections as free, fair and credible.

Prof Ncube said the only option available for those who lost was to prepare for the 2018 polls.
Addressing MDC parliamentary and council candidates from the Matabeleland in Bulawayo on Wednesday, Prof Ncube said Sadc had since pronounced itself on the elections.

“The party has further discounted the option of taking the dispute to the regional and continental organs, principally Sadc and AU. These institutions have already made known their views about the process and outcome of the election.

“That they have already pronounced satisfaction with both the process and outcome of the elections signifies the futility of taking that course of action with any hope of a positive intervention,” he said.

Prof Ncube said Zimbabwean problems could only be resolved locally.
“It is therefore incumbent upon all of us to accept that the solution to our national political problems will be delivered by us as Zimbabweans facing (President) Mugabe and his party head on and defeating them. We have come through the fire, learnt lessons through our experiences and we are ready to prove that we are visionaries, builders and the party of the future.”

Prof Ncube said he would also not challenge the election results in the courts like what MDC-T had done.
“The party having considered all available options has opted to refrain from taking the disputes to court. The futility of going to the courts must be read with the Jealousy Mbizvo Mawarire Constitutional Court ruling, which led to the frog marching of Zimbabweans into an election for which ZEC were ill prepared to run,” he said.

Prof Ncube urged his party to start preparing for the 2018 harmonised elections.
“Therefore from this day forth we commence rebuilding on all fronts for the 2018 elections. We have no privilege of taking a rest. Let’s keep the faith, together we will win,” he said.

National Constitutional Assembly chairperson Professor Lovemore Madhuku has also advised Mr Tsvangirai to accept defeat and start preparing for the next elections.

“Given the peaceful nature of these elections and the compelling need to move forward, the NCA urges the losers to concede defeat and take the country out of the permanent election mode it has been for several years now. It is the NCA’s firm view that the complaints raised against the 31 July 2013 poll by the losers do not raise anything new and cannot be used as a basis for rejecting the results of an election in which they participated voluntarily,” he said.

In his congratulatory message to President Mugabe and Zanu-PF,   Sadc chairperson, President Armando Guebuza said by successfully holding peaceful, free and fair elections in line with Sadc principles and guidelines governing the conduct of democratic elections, Zimbabwe had been provided conditions from removal from the Sadc agenda.

“Your victory and that of Zanu-PF in a landslide manner at the 31st July 2013 harmonised and Sadc rules-based elections create the conditions for striking your great country out of the Sadc Agenda, as a stand-alone political item,” Cde Guebuza said.