It took almost a month for the MDC to piece together the precise sequence of events before and during the March 9-11 presidential poll.
Having garnered irrefutable and overwhelming evidence from all corners of Zimbabwe, the MDC petitioned the High Court of Zimbabwe on April 12 to have the election results annulled.
"Our lawyers have uncovered mountains of hard-core and powerful evidence of electoral fraud," said Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader.
But Robert Mugabe denies charges that he stole the election from his rival Tsvangirai. Meanwhile, political analysts are saying the evidence MDC has will unmistakably annul the recent election results if presented before an impartial court of law.
It remains to be seen what a Mugabe-stocked High Court bench will do. Will the judges allow professionalism to prevail, or they will pander to the political whims of the powers that be?
As Zimbabweans huddle behind shutters and drawn curtains, they are naturally proffered with an opportunity to delve into the abstract. How will the courts deliver? Will they consider the facts or partisan politics has really muscled in the judiciary?
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Daily News has unearthed evidence from a videotape taken when the register general, Tobaiwa Mudede, announced the final results on March 13. According to the Daily News report, only 700,000 votes - less than the figure initially announced by Mudede - voted March 9-11.
Mudede's announcement categorically stated that a total of 2,298,758 votes had been accounted for among all the five presidential candidates.
A close scrutiny of the videotape reveals Mudede was being economic with the truth.
"Total votes cast 200 - oh, sorry - 2, 298,758," Mudede said. "This is minus the spoilt papers. Plus spoilt papers, they go up to the figure I mentioned, which is around 3 million."
He made abortive attempts to cover up his gaffes but an alert citizen of Chitungwiza, a dormitory town of Harare, studied the tape with a fine-toothed comb and called the Daily News to investigate.
The MDC is not a lonely figure struggling for democracy in Zimbabwe. The labor movement and the National Constitutional Assembly have stepped up pressure to shore up the MDC support and confront government on its illegitimacy.
The events have weighted on Mugabe politically and this has chipped away huge chunks of his credibility and moral authority.
The MDC has uncovered huge chasms of figures recorded at polling stations and those published by government. Though the opposition will not depend on the courts to rule in their favor so as to get into power, they will be expending energies in other avenues of forcing a re-run of the presidential poll under the auspices of United Nations or the Commonwealth.
The MDC are doing the right thing to have the facts of their case dramatized in the courts so that the rigging of the presidential election becomes a public record.
The petition filed in the high court by the MDC threatens to loosen Mugabe's grip on power. The irregularities of the presidential poll have dealt a terminal blow to the ability of Mugabe to resuscitate the ailing economy.
In fact, the court case is going to hand Tsvangirai more muscle and enhance his stature politically. The MDC embarked on a mission to bring peace and freedom to Zimbabwe. If this is not mission impossible, then it is mission very difficult. Somebody has to do it anyway. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Zimbabwe's electoral law permits legal challenge within 30 days of results being announced.
Write to Weston at wmudambanuki@bsu.edu
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