{"id":3414,"date":"2025-05-30T13:20:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T11:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/?p=3414"},"modified":"2025-05-30T13:20:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T11:20:47","slug":"the-zimbabweans-who-voted-in-mozambiques-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/the-zimbabweans-who-voted-in-mozambiques-election\/","title":{"rendered":"The Zimbabweans who voted in Mozambique\u2019s election"},"content":{"rendered":"

A peek into the brazen cross-border voter fraud that helped Frelimo to another<\/em><\/strong>
\ncontroversial electoral victory<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Walter Marwizi and Garikai Mafirakureva<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWorking as journalists in Masvingo province, south eastern region of Zimbabwe
\nthat borders Mozambique, in early 2024, we heard rumours that our country\u2019s
\nruling party Zanu-PF was registering supporters to fraudulently vote in the
\nOctober Mozambican presidential elections.
\nWe were sceptical. The idea that one country\u2019s ruling party could be signing
\npeople up in broad daylight to meddle in a neighbour\u2019s election seemed too
\noutlandish. But, by April 2024, we had heard too many stories to ignore the
\npossibility.
\nOne morning in April a Zanu-PF supporter – and one of our trusted sources –
\nshowed up at the Masvingo Mirror\u2019s offices and tipped one of us, Garikai, off to a
\nvoter registration station in nearby Nemanwa. That afternoon Garikai and a
\nteam of three from the newsroom went to the scene \u2013 Masvingo Rural District
\nCouncil offices \u2013 and saw a queue of hundreds. The next morning they joined
\nthe queue, had their fingerprints and photos taken and each of them left with a
\nglossy, newly printed Mozambican voter identification card.
\nOn a separate occasion in April, Walter, an editor of a Zimbabwean fact checking
\nplatform, ZimTracker, also went to Nemanwa to register. A lady at the gate
\nasked for his name, address and phone number and told him that he would be
\ninvited to Zanu-PF party meetings where he would be told what to do in order to
\n\u201chelp Frelimo win the election\u201d. Inside, his fingerprints and photograph were
\ntaken, and he too left with a newly printed Mozambican voter ID card.
\nOn Mozambique\u2019s voting day, 9 October 2024, two of the Zimbabwean
\njournalists who had registered actually managed to vote. They wanted to double
\ncheck that it was possible to, using those voter IDs.
\nAt a polling station in the Roger Howman Training Centre, Masvingo, a Zanu-PF
\nactivist threw stones at the two journalists after noticing that they were filming.
\nBut later that afternoon in Nemanwa, the same place they had registered to vote
\nin April, they went in, one after the other, and voted. It was all over in less than
\nhalf an hour.<\/p>\n

We have since interviewed twenty other Zimbabweans who fraudulently
\nregistered, and in some cases voted too, in Mozambique\u2019s election.
\nOld buddies, new party tricks
\nThe alliance between Zanu-PF and Mozambique\u2019s ruling party Frelimo is one of
\nthe strongest political pacts in Africa. It dates back to the days of the liberation
\nstruggles in both countries. As the October 2024 election loomed, Frelimo felt
\nthreatened by the growth of opposition parties like RENAMO and PODEMOS. It
\nappears to have leaned into the old pact for support.
\nMonths before the election, Daniel Chapo, Frelimo\u2019s candidate (now Mozambican
\npresident) travelled to Harare and met President Emmerson Mnangagwa and top
\nZanu-PF officials .\u201cWe know Zanu-PF is experienced in terms of elections. We
\nwant that campaign spirit in Mozambique,\u201d Chapo said during the June 2024
\nvisit.
\nBut, as our reporting shows, Zanu-PF\u2019s electoral support to Frelimo had been
\ngoing on for months prior and it went well beyond transferring the \u201ccampaign
\nspirit\u201d to Mozambique.
\nIn July, Mozambique\u2019s electoral body announced that it had approved 60 polling
\nstations in Zimbabwe \u2013 as part of 602 foreign polling stations in nine countries
\nwith significant Mozambican diasporas. \u201cThis presented us an opportunity,\u201d said
\na senior Zanu-PF official who spoke to us on condition of anonymity \u201cThe
\nchallenge was to attract as many people to register (as possible),\u201d the official
\nadded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Come one, come all<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The testimonies of the twenty registered Zimbabwean we spoke to confirm that
\nthe party undertook a coordinated campaign to mobilise the voters, some of
\nwhom only registered out of loyalty to Zanu-PF.
\n\u201cI joined those who voted because I saw it as a chance to prove that I\u2019m a loyal
\ncadre and to try and save my house,\u201d said GZ. He lives in a former mining
\ncompound from which he can be evicted at the whims of Zimbabwe&#39;s
\ngovernment. Another person, SZ, said he heard about the registration drive
\nthrough party channels and participated because he believed it was his duty to
\nserve the party again.
\nSZ said he also voted in the 2019 Mozambican election and therefore saw last
\nyear\u2019s mobilisation drive as routine. He was not the only one to say this.
\nGM, another repeat voter, said that after the 2019 Mozambican election, Frelimo
\norganised trips for its Zimbabwean supporters to shop in Chimoio, a major<\/p>\n

market for second-hand clothing in Mozambique. \u201cThe trip was profitable. We
\nbrought back second-hand clothing for resale. I hoped this time we could go
\nagain,\u201d GM said.
\nThe expectation of trade opportunities were another recurring rationale that
\nZimbabweans gave for participating in the fraudulent registrations.
\nEM, a 28-year-old who works in Mutare\u2019s banana plantations, had long dreamed
\nof becoming a cross-border trader but the steep price of a Zimbabwean passport
\nhad kept them from that dream. When she heard that one could get a
\nMozambican identity card in exchange for voting for Frelimo, she jumped at the
\nopportunity.
\n\u201cThey took my fingerprints and photo and I waited briefly before I got a
\nMozambican card,\u201d they said. The card said that she was born in Manica,
\nMozambique. EM did not mind that it was not true because now she could travel
\nfreely to Mozambique.
\nLK told us that they had never been to Mozambique, but also registered due to
\nthe promise of free passage to Mozambique to buy goods for resale back in
\nZimbabwe. So she just voted, she said, hoping that she would be able to
\nbecome a vendor.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not Mozambican, and I was not doing it to help Mozambique. I know that
\nMozambique, especially Frelimo, helped Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle,
\nbut that\u2019s not why I voted,\u201d she said.
\nSimilarly, SN was thrilled at the prospect that her voter ID card would give free
\npassage to buy goods in Mozambique.
\nIn contrast, DM , whose mother is Mozambican, felt he had some right to vote
\nand was being helpful. \u201cWhen my colleagues in Zanu PF approached me to
\nparticipate in the Mozambican elections, I felt it was a chance to help my
\nmother\u2019s country. I didn\u2019t expect anything in return,\u201d he said.
\nStories like DM\u2019s are what Zanu-PFhas used to justify the registration drive \u2013
\nwhen they have acknowledged it at all. When the Masvingo Mirror first reported
\nabout Zimbabweans voting in the Mozambique election late last year, local Zanu-
\nPF spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa said that those people were in fact dual
\ncitizens of both Mozambique and Zimbabwe, who had been given an opportunity
\nto exercise their political rights.
\nHe now says the matter is moot anyway.
\n\u201cThe Mozambican election is over. President Chapo is now recognized by the
\ninternational community. Recently President Trump even gave him $4.5 billion.
\nSo, it won\u2019t matter now whether they had dual citizenship or not. Why do you<\/p>\n

always look in the rear view mirror? Try to look in front of you,\u201d Mutsvangwa
\nangrily told us last month before dropping the phone call.
\nFarai Marapira, who heads Zanu-PF communications at national level refuted the
\nfraudulent voter scheme saying that lower cadres like Mutsvangwa whom we
\nspoke to must have misunderstood our questions.
\nFrelimo spokesperson, Pedro Guileche dismissed these reports as \u201ctruly fake\u201d adding that:
\n\u201cFrelimo still has the wider range of Mozambican people voting and supporting our party and
\nconsequently our President Daniel Chapo, from Rovuma to Maputo.\u201d
\nWhile our reporting provided rare proof of the fraud, allegations have long been
\nrife that the 2024 Mozambican election was rigged. The heavily contested result
\ntriggered three months of nationwide demonstrations by opposition supporters in
\nwhich the security forces killed at least 300 people and injured ten times more
\naccording to local activists.
\nNegotiations to move the country forward are picking up pace. President Chapo
\nmet his main challenger, Venancio Mondlane who insists he was the legitimate
\nvictor in the election, for the second time this week. Our reporting shows that
\nthe breadth of actions that contributed to the country\u2019s rapture extends beyond
\nthe borders of Mozambique.<\/p>\n

This investigation was produced by the SA | AJP<\/a>, a project of the Henry Nxumalo
\nFoundation funded by the European Union. The article does not necessarily reflect the views
\nof the European Union. It first appeared in The Continent.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A peek into the brazen cross-border voter fraud that helped Frelimo to another controversial electoral victory   By Walter Marwizi and Garikai Mafirakureva Working as journalists in Masvingo province, south eastern region of Zimbabwe that borders Mozambique, in early 2024, we heard rumours that our country\u2019s ruling party Zanu-PF was registering supporters to fraudulently vote […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[310,311,309],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20-250x150.jpeg",150,90,true],"medium":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20-400x241.jpeg",300,181,true],"large":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20-650x391.jpeg",650,391,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20-18x12.jpeg",18,12,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20-150x90.jpeg",150,90,true],"retina2x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20-800x481.jpeg",800,481,true],"retina3x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"retina4x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"retina5x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false],"retina6x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-19-at-16.13.20.jpeg",1200,722,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Reda\u00e7\u00e3o CJIMOZ","author_link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/author\/hcuambe\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Crime Organizado<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"A peek into the brazen cross-border voter fraud that helped Frelimo to another controversial electoral victory   By Walter Marwizi and Garikai Mafirakureva Working as journalists in Masvingo province, south eastern region of Zimbabwe that borders Mozambique, in early 2024, we heard rumours that our country\u2019s ruling party Zanu-PF was registering supporters to fraudulently vote…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3422,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3414\/revisions\/3422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}