Former cabinet minister and leader of Zapu, Dumiso Dabengwa has said that the Joint Operations Command should be stopped from participating in next year’s harmonised elections to ensure a free and fair poll. The JOC is the supreme organ for the coordination of state security in Zimbabwe. It is made up of senior officers from the country’s security services. Said Dabengwa:
It (Joc) should be dismantled. This country is run by a Joc system where the security makes decisions and makes sure its decisions are implemented.
The staffing in Zec comprises people who are and have been in security, people who take orders to do those (vote) manipulations
We also recommend that their influence and participation in elections should be done away with such that we have proper elections that are run by an independent administration.
After the results of the 2008 election were cleared, it was Joc which said they were not to be announced over a period of time until they were able to manipulate everything and come up with a result that would keep Zanu PF government in power.
They (Joc) are physically there. They are deployed each time there are elections. Army commissars go around to influence voting in each constituency.
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