from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – A POLITICAL analyst has advised South Africa’s ruling party to be vigilant ahead of next year’s watershed elections, amid the threat of regime change allegedly perpetrated by agents of Western nations.
Rutendo Matinyarare, the analyst, claimed the United States’ secret spy – the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)- was among those actively involved in regime changes targeting Africa’s liberation movements in the continent, thereby replacing them with puppets of the West.
The African National Congress (ANC) is the ruling party in South Africa.
Matinyarare issued the warning to ANC a month after elections in Zimbabwe, where there were allegations of a movement called Team Pachedu to hack and manipulate the country’s poll results.
It is believed Team Pachedu is sponsored by the CIA and is accused of having plotted to hack the electoral system so the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), of Nelson Chamisa, would be declared the winner.
The ruling Zimbabwe African National African Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and President Emmerson Mnangagwa retained power.
Matinyarare further claimed during the recent Zimbabwean elections, the CIA agents hackers, along with hackers in Turkey, infiltrated the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) electoral system, just as they allegedly did in Zambia in 2021, to allegedly assist Haikande Hichilema usurp power from then incumbent Edgar Lungu.
“Here is the backstory to the Zimbabwean elections that the ANC must understand, as similar events have unfolded in Zambia too,” he said.
“The same tactics are likely to be deployed in South Africa’s 2024 elections, if the ANC is not vigilant,” Matinyarare warned.
“Already, we are witnessing economic sabotage (in South Africa) aimed at putting them (ANC) at a disadvantage in next year’s election.”
The analyst said in Harare, the hackers strategically placed a communication team at a local hotel, on the same floor with the (European Union (EU) election observer delegation, and a backup team in the environs.
Their task, it is alleged, was to announce the manipulated results fed into the ZEC digital system to pre-empt the election’s outcome while bypassing V11 forms (Parallel Voting Tabulation system).
“To bolster this scheme, some members of SADC (Southern African Development Community), led by Zambia’s (Nevers) Mumba, and AU (African Union) observers, under the influence of the French puppet Moussa Faki (AU Commission chairman) in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), had already been bought to draft negative reports to tarnish the Zimbabwe government and cast doubt on any statements they would make thereafter,” Matinyarare said.
He claimed the reports were rapidly disseminated by Western and South African media, to shape African perceptions by suggesting that ZANU-PF was attempting to steal elections.
“The plan was that the teams at the Grange and Holiday Inn hotels would commence publishing results from the hacked server, suggesting a landslide victory for the opposition (CCC),” said the analyst.
“The media would then amplify these manipulated results, and by the end of election day, tainted by media reports – when ZANU-PF discovered the hacking – SADC and AU would exert pressure on them to accept results from the compromised ZEC system.”
He said given this rigging plan, Chamisa neglected to collect V11 forms because their electoral victory was already guaranteed by the digital manipulation process by CIA sponsored agents.
“They were also aware that they would lose in the physical V11 vote count, hence the plan to leak digital results.”
Matinyarare said unbeknown to the Western sponsored hackers, some of the CCC opposition’s allies had already revealed the operation pointing out the Zimbabwe intelligence of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) was prepared for the same cyber attack, which had been used to oust Lungu.
“So, when the hackers breached the system, the Zimbabwe intelligence (CIO) initiated their counter. They promptly changed ZEC server passwords and issued new ones. Almost immediately, the system was hacked again, indicating someone was leaking information to the CIA.”
He said in response, CIO changed the passwords again, this time entrusting them to only one person and making additional security code changes, successfully thwarting further hacking attempts.
The commentator said on the ground, ZANU PF ensured that two agents were stationed at all polling stations.
Once results were tallied, they would secure the V11 forms and promptly transmit them to ZANU-PF HQ via phone for aggregation.
He said as a result, by the end of voting day, ZANU PF had received all V11 forms, except those from polling stations with vote extensions.
Matinyarare said throughout the night, results were tabulated, revealing a significant lead for ZANU-PF and president Mnangagwa.
“Meanwhile, the CCC didn’t collect V11 forms, as they were confident of winning through the CIA-style digital rigging. However, when the CIA realized their plan had been compromised, they had no time to alert the opposition,” Matinyarare said.
He added: “The Grange and Holiday Inn teams were apprehended and disclosed the presence of other teams in Kenya.”
Dates have not been announced for South Africa’s polls.
– CAJ News