ELECTION SCANDAL SHOWS OUR VOTE WAS SOLD

If anyone ever had doubt that our elections in Zimbabwe are for sale, what is coming out of South Africa now should remove all that doubt. New reports show that South African financial regulators are now looking into Ren-Form, a printing company in Johannesburg, because of suspected money laundering linked to our 2023 elections. This follows big investigations that showed the company was working with Wicknell Chivayo, a well-known ZANU PF tenderpreneur, in a very corrupt way.

Ren-Form was hired to supply election materials to ZEC. Now it is accused of making prices very high on purpose and helping send kickbacks to officials in Zimbabwe. The level of corruption is shocking. Last year, The Sentry and Open Secrets did an investigation that was published in the Daily Maverick. It showed how Ren-Form worked with Chivayo to supply election materials at very high prices. The goal was simple. They wanted to use the extra money to pay powerful people in Harare.

The NewsHawks reported that Ren-Form charged ZEC R23 million for a server that should only cost around R90,000. They also charged R68,700 for a portable toilet that normally sells for about R10,000. These numbers are not small mistakes. This is stealing from the people of Zimbabwe in a very big way.

Worse than this, a leaked recording of Chivayo came out. In the audio, he speaks very casually about how the money from this deal will be shared among powerful people in Zimbabwe. He uses code names and initials, but it is clear he is talking about top officials who will benefit from this corruption.

When people asked Ren-Form about this, their sales director, Jean-Pierre du Sart, brushed it off. He said, “He is one of our agents over there, so there is nothing wrong with that.” But there is everything wrong with that. Helping to loot money that is meant for elections is not normal. It is a crime against the people.

ZACC says it is investigating the matter, but many Zimbabweans do not believe it. We have seen ZACC protect the powerful many times before. We have seen investigations that lead nowhere.

But now South African regulators are involved. This is important. It means the scandal is no longer only in Zimbabwe. It has crossed borders and shown how corruption moves through our region. It also raises a big question. Will justice finally come when people outside Zimbabwe start to investigate?

Zimbabweans are tired. We are tired of lies. We are tired of fake inquiries. We are tired of people who steal from us and still walk free. It is time for real accountability. Not only for Chivayo, but also for every ZEC official and government person who was part of this theft.

This scandal is not only about a server or a toilet. It is about the way our elections were stolen from us. It is about our future being sold to the highest bidder.

We are watching. And now, the world is watching too.