THE STATE OF ELECTORAL FRAUD AND CORRUPTION IN THE RUN-UP TO THE JULY 2018 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE (5 July 2018) Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa 16, 2 nd Avenue P. O. Box 93 Kwekwe Zimbabwe Tel: +263552525235 Mobile: +263773302830 e-mail:
[email protected] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Page | 1 © July 2018. Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa 16, 2 nd Avenue P. O. Box 93 Kwekwe Zimbabwe Telephone: +263552525235 e-mail:
[email protected] All rights reserved. The Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa is a Trust that was registered in 2004 in Harare, Zimbabwe (Protocol Number MA147/2004 refers). The report is a product of research that was conducted by the Research Team of the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa. The organization appreciates inputs received from members of the Community Anti-Corruption Monitoring Voluntary Action Groups. These members were deployed to monitor and report on cases of electoral corruption and fraud. Page | 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Zimbabwe has experienced at least seven general elections since the end of colonial rule in 1980. Most of these elections, if not all of them, have gained notoriety for allegations of electoral fraud, corruption and other related irregularities. The pre-election run-up to the 30 July 2018 General Election is not unique and different from the previous elections in this regard. On 9 June 2018, for instance, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has urged his party’s candidates, to offer trinkets to chiefs and traditional leaders to procure their support in the elections. His remarks illuminate how deep rooted electoral corruption is, in Zimbabwe.