ELECTIONS FOR SALE: THE TRUTH IS NOW OUT

If anyone ever had doubt that our elections are for sale, what is happening now should remove all the doubt. New reports from South Africa show that something very wrong happened with the 2023 elections in Zimbabwe. South African financial regulators are now looking closely at a company called Ren-Form, a printing company based in Johannesburg. They suspect this company was involved in money laundering linked to our election. This only came out after strong investigative reports exposed the company’s work with Wicknell Chivayo, a controversial businessman who works closely with ZANU PF.

Ren-Form was given a contract to supply election material to ZEC. But now it is being accused of inflating prices in a shocking way and helping move kickbacks to people in Zimbabwe. The level of corruption is huge. Last year, an investigation by The Sentry and Open Secrets, published in the Daily Maverick in South Africa, exposed everything. It showed how Ren-Form worked with Chivayo to supply materials at prices that were extremely high. The reports said the money was meant to pay off officials in Harare who were ready to accept these dirty deals.

According to NewsHawks, Ren-Form sent ZEC an invoice of R23 million for a server that should cost around R90,000. They also charged ZEC R68,700 for portable toilets that normally cost around R10,000. These numbers show clear theft. This is not a small mistake. This is money stolen from Zimbabwean people on a big scale. It is money that could have gone to hospitals, schools, or fixing roads, but instead went into the pockets of the corrupt.

What makes it worse is the leaked recording of Chivayo talking freely about how the money from this scandal would be shared. In the recording, he used code names and initials to describe the powerful people who were going to benefit. He said it all with confidence, as if he knew nothing would happen to him. This recording shows the deep rot inside our system. It shows how elections, which should be fair and free, are being used to make a few people rich.

When Ren-Form’s sales director, Jean-Pierre du Sart, was asked about this, he brushed everything off. He even said Chivayo was “one of our agents over there, so there’s nothing wrong with that.” But there is everything wrong with that. Helping a corrupt businessman loot an entire country’s election budget is wrong. Pretending it is normal business is even worse. It shows the arrogance of people who think Zimbabweans do not matter.

ZACC says it is investigating the matter, but Zimbabweans do not trust this commission. Many people believe it will not take any real action, especially when people connected to power are involved. But now the case has gone beyond Zimbabwe. South African authorities are also looking into it. This is very important. It means the scandal is now in the hands of people outside ZANU PF’s control. It also means the corruption is no longer a local secret. The region and the world can now see how our elections were handled.

This raises a big question. Will justice finally come when outside regulators take part? Zimbabweans are tired of fake investigations that protect the powerful. We are tired of seeing the same people steal again and again with no consequences. We want real action taken. We want every person who played a part in selling our democracy to face justice, from Chivayo to ZEC officials to anyone in government who benefited.

This is not only about servers or toilets. This is about the destruction of our democracy. This is about our future being sold for greed. But now the world is watching. And we are watching too.