Tsvangirai blames Mbeki for covering 2002 electoral fraud

MDC-T President, Morgan Tsvangirai addressed local media at Harvest House today in response to the recently released report by South African Judges who investigated the highly disputed 2002 presidential election, which his party lost with a small margin to the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Former South Africa President, Thabo Mbeki, commissioned High Court judges of the neighboring country to look into reports of political violence and allegations of vote rigging which the MDC leveled against President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF.

South Africa was one of the countries that observed the elections.

Then Pretoria high court judge Dikgang Moseneke and Johannesburg high court judge Sisi Khampepe, after concluding their report investigations, produced a report which had Mbeki kept under wraps, attracting incessant pressure from a South African Newspaper, Mail and Guardian. The report, which vindicated MDC claims of vote rigging, was only published last week – a good 12 years after it was compiled.

The Khampepe report highlights numerous anomalies during the polls, including violence that led to the deaths of at least 107 people. Some of the anomalies in the report are similar to those noted by the Commonwealth Observer Mission, opposition parties and Zimbabwean civil society.

In that election Robert Mugabe claimed victory after garnering a perceived 1 685 212 votes (56,2%), while his longtime rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, got 1 258 401 votes (42%).

For more than 12 years, the South African government fought to keep the contents of the Khampepe report under wraps. Finally, they failed, and the details of a damning cover-up were revealed: Zimbabwe’s 2002 elections were rigged, and South Africa knew all about it. Zimbabwe has been paying the price for this ever since.