“The final results announced by the Electoral Commission, contained numerous errors and lacked
adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” the EUOM said in its final report dismissing the
elections as falling far short of international standards.
These findings should be viewed against President Mnangagwa’s pledge to deliver free, fair and
credible elections. The general expectation was that these pledges would have been underpinned by
the long overdue media and policy reforms, among other expectations, ahead of the 2018 elections.
This became imperative after the country took the commendable step of signing the African Charter on
Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) on 21 March 2018.
By signing this Charter, State parties pledge to develop the necessary legislative and policy frameworks
to establish and strengthen a culture of democracy and peace. State parties also pledge to establish
public institutions which promote democracy and constitutional order.
Additionally, the Charter seeks the promotion and protection of an independent judiciary. More
importantly, the Charter seeks to promote citizenship participation, transparency, access to information,
freedom of the press and promotion of gender balance and equality in the governance processes.
Concrete steps should therefore have been taken to ratify the Charter and domesticate its principles
into the relevant laws and strengthen the pillars of democracy ahead of the elections.
As the country grappled with the unfolding socio-economic crisis, the United States, exerted more
pressure on the Harare government over and above its Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery
Act (ZIDERA) of 2001 which imposes sanctions on Zimbabwe.
In a statement before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and
Global Health Policy in December 2018, deputy assistant secretary of State for Africa, Matthew
Harrington, noted that President Mnangagwa’s government had tried to change “but so far, the pace
and scale of reforms has been too gradual and not nearly ambitious enough”.
Harrington said these reforms include: restoration of rule of law, commitment to equitable, legal and
transparent land reform and ensuring military and national police forces are subordinate to the civilian
government. AIPPA and POSA which have long been used to “suppress human rights and which
violate Zimbabwe’s constitution”, should be repealed.

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