Robert Mugabe has appeared in public for the first time since Zimbabwe’s bitterly fought weekend election as his party said it was confident of him winning a second round in the presidential contest. In a sign of growing confidence that the 84-year-old leader could yet cling on to power, his Zanu-PF party said it was ready to fight on despite losing control of parliament.
Police also raided offices of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last night in what its official called the start of a “crackdown”. Mr Mugabe had been conspicuous by his absence from television and radio. But the president was shown smiling and looking relaxed as he met the leader of an African Union monitoring mission. As his handpicked state Electoral
Commission continued to hold back the result of the key presidential vote five
days after the election, Zanu-PF officials said that Mr Mugabe will chair a
meeting of his politburo today (FRI) to decide on his strategy in the weeks
ahead.
A second round must be held within three weeks of last Sunday’s vote. Bright Matonga, the deputy information minister, said: “Zanu-PF is ready for a run-off, we are ready for a resulting victory. “In terms of strategy, we only applied 25 per cent of our energy into this campaign ... That (the run-off) is when we are going to unleash the other 75 percent that we did not apply in the first case.” Official results for the parliamentary election showed the main MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai had won 99 seats, with Zanu-PF on 97, another MDC faction with 10 and one independent seat.
But according to the figures issued by the Zimbabwe Election Commission, Zanu-PF was leading the popular vote with 45.94 per cent, and Mr Tsvangirai’s party on 42.88 per cent. The numbers pave the way for Mr Mugabe to be declared as leading the presidential race, contrary to projections by independent monitors and the MDC, which says Mr Tsvangirai won with 50.3 per cent. If Mr Mugabe decides to fight, opposition fears a run-off vote could be easier to manipulate than Sunday’s four-pronged poll for the presidency, lower and upper houses of parliament and local councils.
Noel Kututwa, chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, which monitored the polls, said that while the parliamentary seats had been correctly apportioned, the statistics had been rigged. “They have inflated the votes,” he said. “What they did was reduce the majority in seats where the MDC won and in constituencies where Zanu-PF won they would inflate the victory. We think that’s a deliberate strategy, so according to their figures we are in a situation where Zanu-PF has more votes than the MDC. “They can put the argument that because Zanu-PF won the popular vote in the assembly it’s possible Mugabe has won.” Nonetheless he felt that rigging a second round would be “very difficult”. While rumours that Mr Mugabe could step down continued to circulate in the capital, political normality appeared to be returning after days of heady speculation following the election.
An informed source pointed out the public posting of election results - which has made all the difference to the poll - could be revoked for the second round by presidential decree, but said the top echelons of the regime were in disarray, unable to decide what to do. “At State House you sense a meltdown, the end of an era, a sense of panic,” he said. The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, said last night that he had spoken to Mr Tsvangirai and been told the MDC was prepared to fight a second round if he was not declared president when official results are published. |
The Times
April 4, 2008
Catherine Philp and Jan Raath in Harare
Down
but apparently not yet out, Robert Mugabe made his first public
appearance
yesterday since last weekend's presidential election as evidence
mounted
that he was preparing for a high-risk final run-off.
Mr Mugabe was shown
on state television meeting African Union election
observers as ruling party
officials announced that he would hold a critical
politburo meeting today to
plot his next move.
State media, the ruling Zanu (PF) party and even,
according to some, the
octogenarian president himself, have conceded that he
lost the race to the
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, but maintain that
the challenger failed
to secure an absolute majority. But the Government
insisted yesterday that
Mr Mugabe was in no mood for surrender and was
gearing up to fight on.
Fears were mounting that the stricken leader
might yet resort to force to
cling on to power after a senior government
spokesman gave warning that the
party was preparing to invoke “energy” it
had not tapped during the previous
election.
Last night armed
paramilitary police surrounded the Hotel York Lodge in
Harare where foreign
reporters were staying. Diplomats said that three
correspondents were
arrested, including a reporter from the New York Times
and one from the
Daily Telegraph.
“Zanu (PF) is ready for a run-off, we are ready for a
resulting victory,”
Bright Matonga, the deputy information minister, said.
“In terms of
strategy, we only applied 25 per cent of our energy into this
campaign,” he
added, but the run-off would be different. “That is when we
are going to
unleash the other 75 per cent that we did not apply in the
first case.”
Unconfirmed reports were circulating among the diplomatic
community last
night about an alleged Mugabe military plot to extend the
three-week run-up
to the second round to three months, and to use the time
to shut down the
provisions in the election law that help to thwart poll
rigging attempts.
Key among them is the precedent of publicly posting
each polling station's
results on its walls - a move that allowed the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, as well as independent observers,
to collect the figures
and release them in a preemptive strike against poll
fixing.
But well-placed sources were adamant that any such attempts to
manipulate
the process would fail, even if they were unprepared to rule out
some last
desperate, and even violent, attempt to cling to
power.
“Mugabe is a villain of the first order,” one source told The
Times. “He is
desperate to stay in power and the sting may be in the tail.”
Zimbabwe's
African neighbours are the only countries with any significant
influence
over Mr Mugabe's regime but they have thus far failed to intervene
in any
significant way. Yesterday's television appearance came after Mr
Mugabe met
an African election observer team led by Ahmad Tejah Kabbah, the
former
Sierra Leone president.
Mr Kabbah has also met Mr Tsvangirai,
who claims victory in the election
with 50.3 per cent of the vote, but who
had vowed to contest a run-off if
official election results award him less
than 50 percent.
Rumours have swirled around Harare in the six days since
the election, amid
the absence of information. Zimbabweans, drained by the
fatigue of economic
collapse, have displayed epic patience in their wait for
results. The slow
drip-drip of parliamentary results has held people's focus
as they listen to
radios, keeping their own running tallies of the
score.
But yesterday the information vacuum yawned open again in the
absence of the
expected senatorial results, the precursor to the
presidential tally
expected by the end of play on Friday. The delay, blamed
on logistical
problems, once again heightened fears that results were being
manipulated
and that the regime was buying itself time to concoct extreme
measures to
shore up Mr Mugabe ahead of a run-off.
“We will stay
patient because we must,” said Blessing, a street vendor in
the Harare slums
of Mbare. “But it is frustrating.” News of Zanu (PF)'s loss
of their
parliamentary majority boosted morale, but only led to further
questions
over the delay in the release of presidential results. “We are
waiting for
the big ones,” Moses, his friend, added.
The grinding logistics of every
day life under Zimbabwe's collapsing economy
have kept many distracted from
their fears of worst-case scenarios.
Yesterday, as every other day, huge
queues formed outside a bakery from
morning as people stood in line
clutching bundles of cash, hopeful that
there would be food to buy. More
than 40 people were still queueing when, at
lunchtime, the bread ran
out.
Queues also snaked away from cash machines around the city, which
people
must visit several times daily just to get out the notes they
need.
Officially, inflation is running at a global high of more than
100,000 per
cent, but analysts say the true figure is more than 250,000 -
mostly because
of the huge currency printing operation the Government
undertook to raise
funds to hold elections and bribe officials.
Even
if Mr Mugabe were intent on a second round, many believe he could not
afford
it. Many now believe that the run-off may yet be an attempt to cling
to
power while the regime tidies up its desks before bowing out.
Zim Online
by Patricia Mpofu Friday 04 April
2008
HARARE – Armed police and soldiers on Thursday
maintained a presence on
Harare’s streets but Zimbabwe’s capital remained
calm if excited about what
increasingly looks a delayed but inevitable
departure of President Robert
Mugabe from power.
Many residents
quietly went about the daily challenge of trying to survive
Zimbabwe’s
unprecedented economic crisis, seemingly unperturbed by delays by
the
election authorities to announce results of the presidential election
six
days ago.
But nearly all potential voters who agreed to share their
thoughts with
ZimOnline about a possible second round run-off between Mugabe
and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai whose Movement fro Democratic Change
(MDC) party vowed one thing:
“We will certainly embarrass the old
man, if he dares ask for this run-off
thing,” said Chipo Tsodzo, a 25-year
old mother of one who vends oranges on
Harare’s streets to supplement the
little income her husband earns from
waste paper he collects for resale to
recycling factories.
It is not difficult to tell that Tsodzo, who says
she lost her job when one
of the main bakeries in town where she worked
downsized to cut on losses
after the government ordered all companies to
reduce prices last June, holds
the old man (Mugabe) responsible for her
plight.
Zimbabweans dealt Mugabe’s ZANU PF party the worst devastating
blow since
its 1963 formation voting to take away its parliamentary majority
it had
come to take for granted since first coming to power at the country’s
1980
independence from Britain.
ZANU PF managed 97 seats in last
Saturday’s election against the MDC’s 99. A
breakaway MDC faction took 10
seats while one seat went to an independent
candidate.
Results of the
presidential and Senate elections are still to be released,
however, ZANU PF
and independent projections say Tsvangirai will fall short
of an absolute
majority in the presidential vote and will have to face a
run-off against
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai insists he won clearly but he has indicated he will
take on
Mugabe in a run-off if only to prove the point.
Mugabe - who
today chairs a meeting of ZANU PF’s inner politburo cabinet
that should
decide whether he contests Tsvangirai in the run-off - has not
himself
publicly stated whether or not he wants the second round voting.
All the
same, Zimbabweans - who seem ever so impatient with the old man -
are
willing to give him some advice lest the 84-year old leader finds it a
bit
difficult to make up his mind in the matter.
“If he wants a whitewash let
him stand in the run-off,” said Moses Moyo, who
survives by trading foreign
currency on the illegal but thriving black
market for foreign
currency.
A trained high school teacher who gave up his job for the more
rewarding
black-market, Moyo – like Tsodzo - also blames Mugabe’s government
for the
mess Zimbabwe is in.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of an acute
recession blamed on state mismanagement
and seen in the world’s highest
inflation of more than 100 000 percent,
spiraling poverty, shortages of food
and every basic commodity.
Most political analysts had tipped Mugabe’s
government to win the polls
despite a worsening crisis citing a skewed
political field that they said
disadvantaged the opposition.
“Mugabe
is the one responsible for causing this misery. He should go now”
said
Tendai Chanda, a sales assistant at one of Harare’s top clothing shops.
She
continued: “Why embarrass himself trying to swim against such a strong
tide?
The politburo must convince the old man to call it quits.”
It remains to
be seen whether the ZANU PF politburo or Mugabe heeds the call
to accept
defeat or whether they will decide to have one more go against
Tsvangirai.
Political analysts say Tsvangirai could easily beat
Mugabe in a run-off
between the two but warn that such a second round of
voting that the
three-week hiatus before a new vote would spark serious
violence between
security forces and militia loyal to the Zimbabwean leader
on one side and
MDC supporters on the other. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Patricia Mpofu Friday 04 April
2008
HARARE – A church-led civic society alliance says it
will ask the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) to dispatch
observers to Zimbabwe to
monitor an expected run-off between President
Robert Mugabe and opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The Christian
Alliance on Thursday said it would dispatch envoys to SADC
chairman,
President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia and South African President
Thabo Mbeki
to plead for observers to ensure the run-off election will be
free of
violence.
“We want to ensure that there is no violence in the run-off as
we believe
there are high chances of political violence because we hear ZANU
PF is
mobilizing its militia to go to the rural areas, especially those
areas that
rejected the ruling party,” alliance co-ordinator Useni Sibanda
told
ZimOnline.
“We want SADC and President Mbeki, as the mediator in
the Zimbabwean talks,
to intervene before these (ZANU PF militias) are
unleashed on the
defenceless masses,” Sibanda added.
The alliance is
a coalition of churches, political parties, students and
labour, that is
fighting for democratic change in Zimbabwe.
A SADC observer mission said
in a preliminary report that last Saturday’s
presidential, parliamentary and
local council elections were peaceful and
credible but noted that there were
some flaws in the electoral process.
Zimbabwe has been on knife-edge over
the past five days after the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) failed to
release election results for last
Saturday’s presidential election amid
rising international pressure for the
commission to release the
results.
In final results for the lower House of Assembly released on
Wednesday, the
main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won 99
seats against
ZANU PF’s 96 seats while a breakaway faction of the MDC won 10
seats and an
independent one seat.
The state-run Herald newspaper on
Wednesday said a presidential election
run-off was looming on the horizon as
neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai had
secured enough votes to win the presidency
outright.
Political analysts say a second round of voting could see the
wounded Mugabe
and his ruling ZANU PF party unleashing war veterans and
feared militia
during the 21-day campaign period in a last-ditch bid to stay
in power.
War veterans have since 2000 led a vicious campaign of violence
and terror
against the MDC and government critics during every major
election to ensure
victory for Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF
party.
The war veterans were however surprisingly quiet in the run-up to
last
weekend’s election allowing Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni, who was also
running in the presidential election as an independent, unprecedented access
to Mugabe’s rural strongholds.
The rural electorate responded to
their new-found freedom by voting
overwhelmingly for Tsvangirai and the MDC
in last weekend’s election. –
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Nokhutula Sibanda Friday 04 April
2008
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission was
on Thursday expected to meet
the chief election agents of all presidential
candidates to verify results
of the presidential election before announcing
them to the nation either
later in the evening or today.
Sources in
the commission said President Robert Mugabe was to be represented
at the
meeting by Emmerson Mnangagwa, a close aide and government minister
who was
tipped to succeed the veteran leader as president of ZANU PF and
possibly
the country.
Main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whose Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) party defeated ZANU PF in parliamentary elections,
will be
represented by Chris Mbanga and Harold Muvuti will represent former
finance
minister, Simba Makoni.
"We will be meeting them today before
the results are released to verify and
counter-verify the total results,"
said a source, who is a senior commission
official.
He added: "Once
verification is finished, we will announce the results
either later tonight
or Friday . . . the law says the results should be
released within a six-day
period, so no one needs to complain because we
still have a day to
go.”
Mugabe is believed to have narrowly lost to Tsvangirai and is
scheduled to
meet the inner politburo cabinet of his ZANU PF party to decide
whether he
should contest the opposition leader in a second round run-off or
throws in
the towel.
ZANU-PF and independent projections say
Tsvangirai will fall short of an
absolute majority in the presidential vote
and a run-off will be necessary.
The MDC leader insists he won with a clear
majority but has indicated he is
ready to take on Mugabe in a run-off to
“finish off the old man.”
The MDC beat ZANU PF by 99 seats to 97 in the
House of Assembly election. A
breakaway MDC faction took 10 seats while one
seat went to an independent
candidate. Results of the House of Senate are
still to be released. –
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Wayne Mafaro Friday 04 April 2008
HARARE – The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has introduced a new Z$50
million note to
deal with rampant shortages of cash in an economy that is
also grappling
with the world’s highest inflation rate of over 100 000
percent.
The
new note is part of bearer cheques that were first introduced by the
central
bank at the height of cash shortages about four years ago.
The Z$50
million note is expected to be introduced on the market today after
the RBZ
also increased the maximum withdrawal limit for individuals to $5
billion a
day.
The introduction of the $50 million note graphically captures the
depth of
Zimbabwe’s unprecedented economic crisis. Fifty million dollars is
enough to
buy two loaves of the cheapest quality bread in
Zimbabwe.
Cash shortages which had disappeared in January following the
introduction
of the $10 million note had resurfaced over the past month as
Zimbabwe’s
economic crisis continued without let-up.
Zimbabweans have
battled severe cash shortages over the past four years due
to an economic
crisis described by the World Bank as unprecedented for a
country not at
war.
In addition to cash shortages, Zimbabweans are also grappling with
shortages
of virtually every basic survival commodity, essential medicines,
fuel and
foreign currency. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 04 April
2008
Inordinate delay in announcing results is of
grave concern to civil society
We the undersigned civil society groups
whose names are listed below have
found it necessary to send this urgent
petition to your Excellences in order
to save our country from potentially
sinking into complete anarchy if
election results are manipulated.
On
29th March 2008 the people of Zimbabwe voted for the national president,
members of parliament and councillors.
The elections took place
against the background of a serious political and
economic crisis in the
country, which has lasted for a decade.
After brazen use of organised
violence and torture of political opponents as
Zimbabwe approached the 2008
election year, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) facilitated
negotiations between the government and the
opposition to end Zimbabwe's
crisis so that Zimbabweans can once again live
in dignity.
President
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa who was mandated by SADC to lead the
dialogue
stated clearly that his aspiration was that the March 2008
elections needed
to be held in circumstances where the outcome of such
elections would not be
contestable.
Even though the negotiations collapsed before reaching their
final
conclusion, there were some changes in the electoral laws that
resulted in
visible changes on the ground in terms of the election
management process as
follows:
The accreditation of journalists was
smoother and earlier than in previous
elections even though the government
erred in being selective on whom it
invited to observe.
There were
less queues at polling stations and it looked like the majority
of those who
wanted to vote and whose names were on the voter's roll managed
to vote
without undue delays or major hassles.
The general environment inside the
polling station and around the polling
station was not hostile unlike in
previous elections where cases of
harassment of local observers were
reported. In this election there have
been few reports of intimidation or
harassment of human rights defenders
during the election day and the period
immediately after.
The counting and posting of results at the polling
stations for all to see
was very well received and ordinary people could be
seen in numbers studying
the results posted at the polling
stations.
There were however some areas of concern as well. These will be
enumerated
in due course as various organisations do their individual and
collective
election reports as necessary.
However the biggest
concern that has emerged is the inordinate delay in the
announcing of the
election results. The counting was done immediately after
the polls were
shut generally around 7 pm on 28 March 2008 at the polling
stations.
The results were posted at the polling stations immediately
and there is
significant concern at the failure of the Zimbabwe Election
Commission (ZEC)
to announce these results more than 36 hours after the
voting stopped.
There seems to be absolutely no justification for this
delay and the
tokenistic announcement of results for 109 contested positions
by 8am on 1
April 2008 is wholly inadequate.
We as civil society are
concerned by the failure to announce the results
timeously. This creates a
founded suspicion in the minds of Zimbabweans that
the authorities are
trying to manipulate the results in order to get their
preferred party
candidates to win.
This is especially so given that the opposition has
already been expressing
public concern at what they saw as measures that
were being taken to
manipulate the vote and rig the elections.
This
delay, if it persist will result in the real likelihood of the outcome
of
the elections being contested and in the process undermining what ever
small
gains may have arisen from the SADC efforts.
We are naturally gravely
concerned that any contestation of the outcome of
the elections is also
likely to lead to escalation of conflict. With the
weak rule of law
environment that has been well documented before, the
elections may trigger
serious and potentially widespread violations of human
rights in
Zimbabwe.
We are aware that the Zimbabwean government has already
deployed police,
army and intelligence units into the major cities in
anticipation of
potential trouble. Of significant concern are the
unconfirmed rumours that
allegedly from the security branches of government
that the incumbent is
preparing to declare a state of emergency after
announcing inaccurate
results.
This is consistent with the threats by
the security chiefs before the
elections that they are not prepared to
accept the election results if
President Mugabe and ZANU PF lose the
elections.
We the civil society organisations from Zimbabwe therefore
implore the SADC
and AU heads of state and government to urgently exert the
necessary
diplomatic pressure to force President Mugabe to ensure that the
elections
are as free and fair as possible.
- demand that President
Mugabe and his government should allow the elections
results to be released
immediately without being tampered with.
- exert the necessary diplomatic
pressure to President Mugabe not to declare
a state of emergency.
-
apply pressure on the military and intelligence in Zimbabwe not to
manipulate the elections results and to accept the peoples verdict in the
elections
- call for SADC in conjunction with other international and
domestic
observers to investigate allegations of fraud, so that the ZEC
announced
results may be correlated with independent tabulation
processes.
- that SADC together with the African Union should be prepared
to urgently
engage in a process to assist in resolving any dispute that may
arise if the
results of the elections are seriously contested - particularly
since the
domestic electoral courts process is itself not seen as legitimate
by all
but the ruling party.
Dated this 1 April 2008 by the
undersigned Civil Society Organisations
CRISIS COALITION
ZIMBABWE
ZIMBABWE LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
ZIMBABWE NATIONAL
STUDENTS UNION
ZIMRIGHTS
MANICALAND LEGAL PRACTITIONERS
ASSOCIATION.
CHURCHES IN MANICALAND
ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO
FORUM
ZIMBABWE CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS
NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL
ASSEMBLY
THE SAVE ZIMBABWE CAMPAIGN
PROGRESSIVE TEACHERS UNION OF
ZIMBABWE
STUDENTS SOLIDARITY TRUST
COMBINED HARARE RESIDENTS
ASSOCIATION
ZIMBABWE STUDENTS CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT
ZIMBABWE
COALITION ON DEBT AND DEVELOPMENT
MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
(ZIMBABWE CHAPTER)
MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT ZIMBABWE
YOUTH
INITIATIVE FOR DEMOCRACY IN ZIMBABWE
Zim Online
Thursday 03 April 2008
MVURACHENA
MDC (Tsv) 13
942
ZANU PF
7897
Indep 2238
MUTOKO
ZANU PF 26 144
MDC
(Tsv) 15345
CHIZHANJE
MDC
(Tsv) 13701
ZANU
PF 4034
MDC
(Mut) 2487
MUREHWA
ZANU
PF 22429
MDC
(Tsv) 17401
HWATA
MDC
(Tsv) 67131
ZANU
PF
14582
MDC
6719
Indep 2354
MARONDERA-HWEDZA
ZANU PF 24
571
MDC (Tsv)
17370
MDC
6994
Indep 1996
CHITUNGWIZA
MDC(Tsv) 37138
ZANU
PF
14533
MDC 4413
MWENEZI CHIVI
ZANU PF 44829
MDC
(Tsv)
20700
Indep 2223
CHISIPITI
MDC (Tsv) 28031
ZANU
PF
8496
Indep 2274
GOROMONZI
ZANU PF 16156
MDC
(Tsv)
15287
MDC 4560
Huffington Post via Radar, E&P | Danny Shea | April
3, 2008 04:40 PM
Barry Bearak, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York
Times correspondent
covering the Zimbabwe elections, was arrested today in
the capital city of
Harare.
New York Times Executive Editor Bill
Keller released the following statement
(via Radar):
Barry Bearak,
a Times correspondent based in Johannesburg, was taken into
custody today by
police in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he was covering the
elections. We do not
know where he is being held, or what, if any, charges
have been made against
him.
We are making every effort to ascertain his status, to assure that
he is
safe and being well treated, and to secure his prompt release. Barry
is an
experienced and respected professional who has reported from many
places. He
won a Pulitzer prize in 2002 for his deeply affecting coverage of
daily life
in war-torn Afghanistan.
Bearak wrote yesterday's Page One
story, but requested that the paper
withhold his byline for security
reasons. The paper later added his byline
to the online version of the
story, and made the following comment (via
Editor & Publisher):
"We withheld Barry Bearak's name at his request as a security precaution,"
Diane McNulty, Times executive director of community affairs and media
relations, told E&P in an e-mail. "But as more Western journalists used
their bylines and as the story grew more prominent, Barry felt it was time
to use his byline, which appeared in the latest editions of the newspaper."
africasia
03/04/2008 21:55 HARARE, April 3 (AFP)
Zimbabwe's ruling party geared up on Thursday
for a final battle to keep
Robert Mugabe in power, declaring itself ready
for a presidential election
run-off as police arrested foreign journalists
in Harare.
With no official result yet declared five days after the poll,
tensions were
heightened further by news that a New York Times correspondent
and a
colleague were held after a raid on a guest house for reporting
without
accreditation.
South African President Thabo Mbeki meanwhile
urged all sides to accept the
official results of the election as diplomatic
efforts were stepped up.
While the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) maintains its
leader Morgan Tsvangirai has surpassed the 50
percent threshold needed to
avoid a run-off, Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said it
was ready for a run-off in
the presidential contest after earlier losing
control of parliament.
"ZANU-PF is ready for a run-off, we are ready for
a resulting victory," said
deputy information minister Bright Matonga who is
also a senior lawmaker.
He said the party had "let the president down" in
the first round and would
re-energise its efforts in the
run-off.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior party official told
AFP the
ZANU-PF's 49-member politburo would meet on Friday "to discuss the
election
outcome and explore what went wrong."
Despite the extended
silence over results from the presidential election,
the electoral
commission did wrap up results of the parliamentary contest in
the early
hours, giving the MDC 109 seats against 97 for ZANU-PF.
The situation is
slightly complicated by a split in the MDC ranks, with 10
of the
newly-elected lawmakers part of a rebel faction.
It also announced the
first results from elections to the senate, a largely
ceremonial 60-seat
chamber, with the MDC and ZANU-PF tied on five seats
apiece.
A
smiling Mugabe made his first public appearance on Thursday since the
polls
when he met election observers from the African Union.
Former Sierra
Leone president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who headed the AU mission
that monitored
the polls, said Mugabe appeared "relaxed" during their talks
and revealed he
had also met Tsvangirai.
In his first reaction to the polls, Mbeki urged
all sides to respect the
outcome of the official result and said he had held
talks on the phone with
Tsvangirai.
"If indeed Tsvangirai has been
elected that's fine and if there is a run-off
that's fine. That is a matter
we must await," said Mbeki, who was the chief
mediator between the MDC and
ZANU-PF in the run-up to the polls.
Despite his party's proclamation of
victory, Tsvangirai has refrained from
declaring himself president -- a move
seen as having helped prevent any
major unrest among his
followers.
The Zimbabwean authorities refused nearly all applications by
the foreign
media to cover the polls, warning last week that they would deal
severely
with any journalists who sneaked into the country.
The raid
on the guest house ended with the arrests of two journalists,
including
award-winning New York Times reporter Barry Bearak.
"They are being
investigated for practising without accreditation," national
police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told AFP.
The Times' executive editor Bill
Keller said: "We do not know where he is
being held, or what, if any,
charges have been made against him."
"We are making every effort to
ascertain his status, to assure that he is
safe and being well treated, and
to secure his prompt release."
VOA
By Sylvia Manika, Patience Rusere, Taurai Shava and
Loirdham Moyo
Harare,Washington, Gweru and Mutare
03 April
2008
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission late Thursday
started issuing results of
senate elections held five days earlier, but in
small batches as it did
earlier with house results leaving the presidential
decision a seemingly
distant prospect.
Following the same pattern as
it did in releasing house results this week,
the electoral panel announced
the results of 10 our of 60 senate races after
which the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change formation led by Morgan
Tsvangirai had five senate
seats and President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
also had five senate
seats.
The commission's announcement of house seats ended with ZANU-PF
losing its
parliamentary majority to the combined opposition after 28 years
in power.
Earlier Thursday, the commission had dismayed poll watchers by
issuing a
statement saying unspecified logistical problems were holding up
senate
results.
Correspondent Sylvia Manika of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe reported from
Harare.
Though the combined opposition
formations of Morgan Tsvangirai and rival MDC
chief Arthur Mutambara have
claimed a majority in the house, effecting broad
change could be difficult
if Mr. Mugabe retains his grip on the presidency,
according to Lovemore
Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional
Assembly, a civic
group.
Madhuku said the MDC win could temper Mr. Mugabe’s authority, but
if he
continues as president he'll have a veto over legislation and can
choose his
own cabinet.
He told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the
Mutambara opposition formation now wields
considerable power in the
parliament.
From Midlands Province, there
were reports of witch-hunts within ZANU-PF and
of reprisals against the
opposition, as correspondent Taurai Shava reported.
Though the
election aftermath has generally been calm, there were violent
incidents in
eastern Manicaland Province. Less than 48 hours after voting
ended the
Chimanimani home of the MDC chairman for the area was
torched.
Correspondent Loirdham Moyo of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
reported.
The Times
April 3, 2008
Jonathan Clayton
Thabo Mbeki, who is playing the
key role in behind-the-scenes efforts to
broker a peaceful solution to the
Zimbabwe crisis, could soon find himself
in a very strange position:
applauded by friends and foes alike.
If, however, Mr Mugabe is still in
power in a month's time the South African
President will have a lot of
explaining to do.
Diplomats say that if President Mugabe is finally eased
out of office, Mr
Mbeki will take much of the credit.
“I don't think
you can say they are brokering the deal, but they are making
all the
important calls. They are quietly pressuring the parties to keep
talking to
each other and keeping the talks on track,” a senior Western
diplomat based
in Pretoria said.
Gordon Brown recognises the pivotal role Mr Mbeki is
now playing. He has
been on the phone to Mr Mbeki several times in the past
few days and the
South African leader has cancelled a planned visit to
London today so that
he can remain close to the negotiations. The United
States has also been
urging Mr Mbeki to continue to orchestrate
events.
Mr Mbeki, long vilified for his “quiet diplomacy” approach to Mr
Mugabe, is
already credited with engineering the current situation by
persuading the
veteran Zimbabwean leader to accept a series of apparently
tiny measures,
such as allowing election results to be posted outside every
polling station
before being sent to regional centres and giving observers
and election
agents of all parties access to the interior of each polling
station.
In previous elections they often waited outside while security
forces and
police took up positions inside and were not present at all in
many rural
constituencies where ballot stuffing took place. The result has
been the
most free and fair elections, though still deeply flawed, in the
country
under Mr Mugabe's authoritarian 28-year rule.
“Everybody was
laughing at Mbeki and his mediation efforts, but his aides
are saying he has
delivered,” said Buchizya Mseteka, a political analyst on
southern Africa.
“We are on the verge of a democratic and peaceful solution
to this crisis.”
Since last weekend's poll Mr Mbeki has maintained solid
pressure on the
Zimbabwean Government to honour its previous pledges to make
the results
public — a move that is designed to make it impossible for Mr
Mugabe and his
cohorts to rig themselves back into power.
Mr Mseteka added: “Mbeki also
got Mugabe to accept to keep the security
forces largely out of sight. That
is why the run-up to this vote was so
peaceful.” Even if Mr Mugabe declines
to go and, urged on by a handful of
hardliners in the security forces, opts
to fight a second round, the South
Africans will keep up the pressure for an
honest result — a policy that
virtually ensures the end of the current
regime.
Mr Mbeki and his closest advisers have also kept open channels of
communication to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
It is a
supreme irony that Mr Mbeki could pull off a considerable diplomatic
coup at
a time when he has never been weaker at home. His once-powerful grip
on the
ruling African National Congress (ANC) has all but evaporated since
his
arch-rival Jacob Zuma became its President in a bitterly fought contest
last
December. He is set to limp on to next year when he steps down, a
bruised
and battered figure largely disowned by the movement he has served
all his
life.
Monsters and Critics
Apr 3, 2008, 20:17 GMT
Washington - The
United States said Thursday it was 'high time' for
Zimbabwean officials to
release the results of last weekend's presidential
and parliamentary
elections and that the delay was 'not exactly comforting.'
Zimbabwean
election officials have yet to provide the final results of the
parliamentary outcome that appear to have handed power to the opposition.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says their leader Morgan
Tsvangirai defeated President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the country for
28 years.
US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey cited
pre-election concerns
about the fairness of the election and the conclusion
of independent
observers that the Movement for Democratic Change defeated
Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party.
'Given what we saw before the election, given
the independent groups' counts
that are out there that clearly show the
opposition ahead, it is not exactly
comforting to see these kinds of delays
occur,' Casey said.
'And whatever problems may exist or whatever
logistical hurdles are there,
we believe that it's high time for the
Zimbabwean Electoral Commission to
release those results,' he said.
Time
Thursday, Apr. 03, 2008 By IAN
EVANS/HARARE
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe may not be ready to
give up power any
time soon, according to one of his former confidantes. The
country remains
in the limbo of an uncertain post-election moment, as
Mugabe's party lost
the parliamentary vote in last weekend's balloting,
while the presidential
tally has not yet been released. On Thursday, CNN
reported opposition claims
that a crackdown had begun that included the
arrest of journalists.
Jonathan Moyo, a former Information Minister
in Mugabe's government but now
one of the regime's fiercest critics,
suggests that Mugabe is not in any
hurry to leave office. He spoke to TIME
in an interview following an address
to the National Press Club in Harare on
Wednesday. As members of Mugabe's
party close ranks around their beleaguered
president and suggest that he
will face off with opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai in a runoff, Moyo,
51, may be one of the few people with insight
into Mugabe's thinking and a
willingness to share it.
"[Mugabe] has lived
and ruled from an ivory tower, and that is his problem,"
says Moyo, who says
he last spoke with Mugabe on February 17, 2005.
"Obviously he believes
people love him and [the election result] is a new
reality check. I don't
know whether that reality check will make him
understand that the people
have taken the decision to vote against him on
their own. He'll explain it
by external influences, but he will find it very
difficult to understand
that people have made their choices."
Despite the election results, Moyo
says, Mugabe is likely to seek a way to
hang on to power. "He has to be
mindful of the law as it stands," the former
Information Minister explains.
"I personally think the president is going to
invoke presidential powers to
extend the run-off period from 21 days to 90
days or more, claiming that the
government is broke and doesn't have the
money to pay for the run-off.
Parliament is not there to appraise the costs
so presidential powers will be
used to extend or postpone the vote. That
will bring more time to think
through his future policy and help develop
plans to work in his
favor."
At the same time, Moyo says that some of those around Mugabe —
"technocrats,
mostly" — are advising the president to stand
down.
Last week's election, which saw Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party lose
control
of the legislature for the first time in Zimbabwe's history, also
returned
Moyo, a controversial figure widely viewed as the consummate
'flip-flop'
politician, as the country's lone independent member of
parliament. Moyo is
best known for initiating the country's most draconian
press laws during his
tenure as Information Minister — which made his
appearance at the National
Press Club somewhat ironic. Moyo served in the
position from 2000 until he
was sacked five years later.
Moyo is
optimistic that a runoff election would seal the defeat of his
former boss.
"It's about a new start for Zimbabwe and new hope," he says.
"We want to
participate in international affairs and continental bodies."
Still, Moyo
expresses a desire that Mugabe's legacy will not be entirely
wiped out. "We
must respect Mugabe for what he has done for this country,"
says Moyo. "He
led us to liberation and has been all our leader, so we must
not destroy his
reputation." And that, argues Moyo, should shape Mugabe's
fate. "Whatever
people think about him, he is a father figure and must be
given respect when
he departs."
FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL
Press Release – 3rd April
2008
Zimbabwean exiles are to
demonstrate outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London on Saturday, 5th April in
protest at the manipulation of the voting in last week’s elections.
Some
500 Zimbabweans took part in Mock Elections outside the Embassy last Saturday
and voted overwhelmingly for the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the
Movement for Democratic Change.
The Mock Elections were organised by the
Zimbabwe Vigil which has been demonstrating outside the Zimbabwe Embassy every
Saturday for the past six years.
A Vigil statement said: “Mugabe has
been rejected by the people and must not be allowed to cling to power”.
Event: Zimbabwean Election
Protest
Venue: Outside the Zimbabwe Embassy,
429 Strand, London WC2
Date / time: 2 pm – 6 pm,
Saturday, 5th April 2008
Photo Opportunities: Actors playing Mugabe
and his wife. Zimbabwean singing, dancing and drumming.
Interview
Opportunities: Political activists, torture and rape victims.
Further
information: Contact Rose Benton (07970 996 003, 07932 193 467), Dumi
Tutani (07960 039 775), Ephraim Tapa (07940 793 090)
Vigil
co-ordinators
`
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand,
London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross
violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which
started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and
fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
Time
Thursday, Apr. 03, 2008 By ALEX PERRY,
IAN EVANS
In the townships of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, political
graffiti is
starting to appear. Next to election posters for Robert Mugabe,
unseen hands
have scrawled messages to the President. One declares simply,
"Zuakwana,"
meaning "enough." After 28 years, Mugabe's time leading Zimbabwe
may finally
be nearing an end. Though results from a March 29 general
election dribbled
out slowly, the state-run Herald newspaper acknowledged
that Mugabe had not
won a majority of votes for the presidency and predicted
a runoff with
Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader. If the votes are
counted cleanly,
Tsvangirai will almost certainly win a second
round.
That is still a big if. Mugabe could deploy the security forces,
as he has
before, to try to cling to power. But a wind of change is in the
air. Once
one of Africa's most prosperous nations, Zimbabwe has been wrecked
by
Mugabe's disastrous policies. Inflation is running at an annual rate of
more
than 100,000%, and millions have left for havens elsewhere.
If this
really is the beginning of the end for Mugabe, it will have
significance
throughout Africa, where the years since Ghana first won its
freedom in 1957
have been a serial, tragic disappointment, marked by war,
genocide, poverty
and famine. At the root of them all was ruinous
leadership. With few
exceptions, Africa's postindependence leaders wrested
their continent back
from colonial rule only to plunder it afresh.
Contemptuous of their own
people and often destined for a bloody end, many
contrived to make their
nations poorer than they were in colonial times.
While autocrats still
control Sudan and Equatorial Guinea, Mugabe is the
last of that Old Guard of
former freedom fighters. His passing would befit
an Africa that is entering
a new era characterized by democracy, peace,
robust economic growth and a
fresh generation of capable leaders like
Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
Few nations have suffered more from the
failures of the generation that led
Africa to independence than Zimbabwe,
and no people more than Zimbabweans
deserve the type of leadership that is
transforming the continent for the
better.