Cape Times
Delay in announcing results does not auger well for democracy
- ANC
President
April
09, 2008 Edition 2
SIPHO KHUMALO, Sapa-DPA, AFP, Reuters
DURBAN:
ANC president Jacob Zuma, in comments that are in stark contrast to
President Thabo Mbeki's statement on the Zimbabwean elections, says it is
unfortunate that more than a week has passed without that country releasing
its presidential results.
Meanwhile, the Congress of SA Trade Unions
(Cosatu) and the Zimbabwean
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) demanded in a
joint statement that the
results be announced.
Interviewed yesterday,
Zuma said he did not think the delay augured well for
democracy in
Africa.
His view differs from that of Mbeki, who told journalists in
London at the
weekend that the situation in Zimbabwe was "manageable" and
that Africans
should be given space to deal with situations on the
continent.
"I think the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should have
announced results by
now, Zuma said.
"It is not a good thing to keep
the nation in suspense. Now the Zimbabwean
elections have become an
international issue. We all expected that once the
elections were finished,
results would be announced. Now there are
suspicions from the
people."
Zuma confirmed that he had met Zimbabwean opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai, but declined to disclose details of their
meeting.
"It was a confidential meeting and I am not at liberty to reveal
its
content," said Zuma.
Wellington Chibebe, general secretary of the
ZCTU, said: "If there is a
clear winner, that winner must form a government.
If there is no winner, the
election must be re-run, with an increased number
of international and local
observers."
The ZCTU said during a press
briefing in Braamfontein that it and other
civil society formations were
under "intense pressure" to initiate protests
in the face of the refusal of
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce
the presidential election
results.
The union federation said it was aware that such protests might
be what
President Robert Mugabe was praying for because it would give him an
excuse
to declare a state of emergency and rule by decree.
"For that
reason, we are urging all our members to remain calm."
Asked about
Mbeki's view that the situation was manageable in Zimbabwe,
Chibebe said he
thought the statement was rather unfortunate.
"People have suffered
enough, we want everyone else to compel the electoral
commission to announce
the results," he said.
Meanwhile, the country's Commercial Farmers' Union
said yesterday that
militiamen loyal to Mugabe had driven around 60 farmers,
one of them a black
commercial farmer, from their land.
"They said
(the black farmer) had voted for the opposition," farmers' union
president
Trevor Gifford said.
Workers' homes on the man's farm had been
burnt.
"By the weekend we expect hundreds will have been
evicted."
Gifford said farmers were made to leave their farms with only
the clothes
they were wearing.
European Union foreign policy chief
Javier Solana has raised the possibility
of sending EU election observers to
Zimbabwe if a second-round presidential
vote takes place.
"It is true
that a mission of observation of the second round could be very
important.
It would be a mixed EU-African Union (mission), or separate -
we'll see," he
said.
Harare refused to allow European or US observers into the country
for the
presidential and other elections last month.
Solana said AU
leaders were concerned that they had been unable to contact
Mugabe
recently.
He said he had spoken on Monday to Tanzanian President Jakaya
Kikwete, the
AU's president, and his "big concern" was that the African
leaders "have not
been able to be in contact with President
Mugabe".
"All the efforts that have been made have been a failure,"
Solana told the
European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in
Brussels.
Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza said his country was
willing to
accommodate refugees from Zimbabwe in the event of post-election
violence.
Speaking at an event in Maputo marking Women's Day, Guebuza
said he was
willing to accept refugees from Zimbabwe.
"We are
thinking of the good of the people of Zimbabwe," he said in response
to
questions about the possibility of an influx of refugees if violence
erupted.
Business Day
09 April
2008
Dumisani Muleya and Karima
Brown
ZIMBABWE’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
is expected to meet
President Thabo Mbeki soon to tackle the deadlock caused
by authorities’
refusal to release the results of the recent presidential
poll.
The meeting will mark the first overt
involvement by
Mbeki in resolving the crisis.
It comes in the wake of criticism by the Congress of
South African Trade
Unions (Cosatu) and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) of Mbeki’s
comments last weekend, when he described the
“situation so far” as
“manageable” and called for a wait-and-see approach to
the election
results.
The main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) claims the delay is a ploy by President Robert
Mugabe to “rig” the
elections.
MDC
secretary-general Tendai Biti said yesterday
Tsvangirai was to meet Mbeki
soon. He confirmed that Tsvangirai had met
African National Congress (ANC)
president Jacob Zuma and Local Government
Minister Sydney Mufamadi on
Monday.
Mufamadi was Mbeki’s facilitator in
the failed talks
between Zanu (PF) and the MDC, which were meant to create
conditions for
free and fair elections.
Sources said Tsvangirai spoke to Mbeki last week by
telephone about the
elections crisis.
Biti said African states,
including SA, should
intervene in Zimbabwe to prevent
bloodshed.
He said Mugabe was inciting violence
as a pretext
for declaring a state of emergency and clinging to
power.
The plea was made as the Harare High Court
ruled
that it would treat the MDC application for the immediate release of
results
as urgent. Hearings in the case began
yesterday.
Mugabe has ordered the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission
(ZEC) to stop the release of the results, and demanded
a recount of ballots.
The ruling Zanu (PF) has
also demanded a recount in
16 parliamentary
constituencies.
Five ZEC officials have been
arrested for allegedly
short-changing Mugabe of 4 993
votes.
This heightened fears that Mugabe had
actually lost
the poll by a wide margin and is scrounging for every vote to
bridge the
gap.
Tsvangirai claims he has won,
while Zanu (PF) says
this is “wishful
thinking”.
“I say to my brothers and
sisters across the
continent — don’t wait for dead bodies in the streets of
Harare. There is a
constitutional and legal crisis in Zimbabwe," Biti told a
news conference
yesterday.
“MDC people are
being beaten up and farms with a few
remaining pockets of white people are
being invaded. Farms with known MDC
supporters are being invaded," Biti
said.
“Militias are being rearmed, The long and
short of
it is that there has been a complete militarisation of Zimbabwean
society.”
In Johannesburg yesterday, the ZCTU and
Cosatu
demanded that the election results be announced immediately. They
also
called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to break
diplomatic relations with the Mugabe
government.
“If there is a winner that winner
must form a
government. If there is no winner the election must be rerun,
with an
increased number of international and local observers,” the
secretary-general of the ZCTU, Wellington Chebebu,
said.
Asked if the ZCTU would accept the eventual
outcome,
Chebebu said the Zimbabwean people “have spoken” and that people
knew who
the winners were.
“The Zimbabwean
people did not sign a marriage
contract with President Mugabe, his right to
rule is not God given. What we
have is a government who is ignoring the will
of its people,” he said.
Zanu (PF) and MDC party
monitors were allowed inside
counting stations and had signed off on the
process, which is why results
were posted outside polling stations soon
after the counting was concluded.
Cosatu general
secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the
federation would “interact” with its
alliance partners — the ANC and the
South African Communist Party (SACP) —
to condemn Mugabe.
“In our view a public message
must be communicated
to President Mugabe that the current situation is
unacceptable. It is
disgusting and cannot go on like that,” he said, adding
that SADC could not
continue to have “normal diplomatic relations” with
Mugabe and called for
him to be
isolated.
The labour federations said
they were preparing
themselves for three
scenarios.
These were: a “winner is declared”,
who would form a
new government and begin a process of national unity; a
runoff election
between the two presidential candidates; and the third and
worst would be
that Mugabe ended up “ruling by decree”, which would be
tantamount to a
coup.
SABC
April 09, 2008,
05:00
South Africa has dismissed calls that the United Nation (UN)
Security
Council should intervene in the electoral crisis in Zimbabwe. South
Africa
is the President of the all powerful Council this month.
Its
dismissal comes as the international outcry and criticism increases for
the
Zimbabwean government to release the presidential election results. Ten
days
have gone past since the Zimbabweans went to the polls. But along with
the
rest of the world, they are still anxiously waiting for the presidential
election results. The global pressure is beginning to mount now on the
Zimbabwean authorities to let its citizens and the world know the outcome of
the presidential electoral contest.
With fears of the highly tense
political situation exploding into violence
in Zimbabwe, there are calls for
the UN Security Council to make a
precautionary intervention in that
country. But South Africa says there is
no need for that. The UN Secretariat
has asked the people of Zimbabwe to
exercise restraint and calm and to use
legal means to address their
concerns.
MDC warns of
violence
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
has accused President Robert Mugabe of orchestrating a campaign of
violence.
The MDC is now appealing to African leaders to intervene in the
country's
electoral standoff.
The Zimbabwe High Court in Harare will
today continue hearing an urgent
petition by the MDC to have the
presidential results announced. Judge Tendai
Uchena adjourned the case late
yesterday, citing concentration lapses.
Yahoo News
by Godfrey Marawanyika 2 hours, 37 minutes ago
HARARE (AFP) -
Zimbabwe's opposition stepped up pleas for foreign help ahead
of a second
day of court hearings Wednesday that could force the publication
of
long-awaited presidential election results.
Eleven days on from the poll,
President Robert Mugabe's grip on power showed
no signs of weakening despite
mounting international pressure for the
release of results the opposition
says should mean the end of his 28-year
rule.
The good news for
opposition leader and self-proclaimed victor Morgan
Tsvangirai is that a
judge has started hearing the case, the bad news is the
legal wrangling
could drag on for days.
Even if Justice Tendai Ucheni orders the election
commission to immediately
publish the outcome there is no guarantee it will
and Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF has pre-empted events by calling for a total
recount.
The opposition, which gained control of parliament for the first
time in the
March 29 polls, accuses Mugabe of stalling for time while he
mobilises
militias to intimidate people into voting for him in a possible
second-round
run-off.
There is no sign of this on the ground,
although a farmers union said
Tuesday that Mugabe supporters had driven 60
white farmers off their land
since the weekend, when the president spoke out
on the emotive land issue.
The number two of Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) appealed
Tuesday for greater support from African
heads of state and warned of
violence ahead.
Drawing a parallel to
the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in which some 800,000
people lost their lives,
Tendai Biti urged institutions such as the African
Union and the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) to take a clear
stand as he reiterated
party claims that pro-government militias were being
armed.
"We
(Africa) responded poorly in Rwanda and a million people were killed,"
Biti
told a press conference.
"I say don't wait for dead bodies on the streets
of Harare. Intervene now.
There's a constitutional and legal crisis in
Zimbabwe."
In a bid to force an end to the presidential results delay,
the MDC has been
trying to persuade the high court to order the electoral
commission to
release them forthwith.
A high court judge agreed on
Tuesday to consider the MDC's case urgently but
the hearing was held over
until Wednesday, when it was due to reopen at 0800
GMT.
ZANU-PF has
already endorsed the 84-year-old Mugabe for a run-off, which
should be held
on April 19 if the official results show that none of the
candidates
achieved more than 50 percent of the vote.
Mugabe, viewed by many in the
region as a hero for his role in winning
independence from Britain in 1980,
has presided over a staggering decline in
Zimbabwe's economy and is accused
of numerous human rights abuses.
Once the breadbasket of southern Africa,
the country is now facing six-digit
inflation and an unemployment rate of 80
percent. Even basics such as bread
and cooking oil are in short supply.
Los Angeles Times
Attacks are occurring in rural areas where foes of Mugabe
scored upset
parliamentary victories. The goal appears to be intimidation
ahead of any
presidential runoff.
From a Times Staff Writer
7:25 PM
PDT, April 8, 2008
HARARE, ZIMBABWE -- The mob materialized quietly
in the fading dusk light.
There were 50 youths hurrying along, armed with
sticks, rawhide whips and
knives. It was Sunday night, just over a week
after Zimbabwe's disputed
national elections, and even before the shouting
began, John Saramu knew
what was going to happen.
He felt it in the
knot of fear in his stomach.
"They just appeared on the corner.
In my heart I felt afraid. I saw them
very close to me," said Saramu, an
activist for the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change in a farming
district outside the town of Mutare.
"They came into my house. They were
shouting, 'We want to kill you!' They
were saying, 'We want to go around and
find all the MDC supporters one by
one, and we want them to get out.'
"
Saramu, 39, said he was beaten for two hours by members of a gang that
was
pro-President Robert Mugabe, and that his house was ransacked before he
managed to get away. He was badly cut in his right leg and left
hand.
"I escaped by a whisker. I don't even know how I did it," he said.
The
assailants stole cash and a list of MDC members, which could be used to
find
and terrorize other opponents.
Saramu and about 50 other
activists near Mutare in Manicaland province were
hunted down in their
homes, said Misheck Kagurabadza, the area's MDC
parliamentary candidate, who
defeated his foe from the ruling ZANU-PF party
in the recent election.
Intimidation of opposition activists is occurring --
outside the limelight
-- in rural areas of Zimbabwe that have traditionally
been ruling party
strongholds but where the MDC scored upset parliamentary
victories. One
activist has been killed. The fear tactics are viewed both as
political
retribution and as an attempt to scare opposition supporters from
backing
the MDC in a possible presidential runoff, allowing the 84-year-old
Mugabe
to hold on to power. Thus far, many believe the heavy-handed tactics
are
working.
MDC spokesman Shadrick Vengesai said hundreds of opposition
activists and
supporters had been arrested, beaten or displaced in Zimbabwe
since the
March 29 elections, for which the presidential results have yet to
be
released by the Electoral Commission. The parliamentary outcome has been
announced, and Mugabe's ZANU-PF, for the first time in the nation's 28
years, has lost control of the legislative body.
The opposition
insists its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the
presidential vote
outright, and it fears spiraling violence if election
officials decide a
runoff is needed. The ruling party, which controls
appointments to the
Electoral Commission, says no candidate won the required
50%-plus-one
majority to avoid a runoff."We don't want a second round,"
Saramu said.
"It's not very safe for us."
"It's very tense," Kagurabadza said. "Gangs
of ZANU-PF militias are
patrolling at night and even during the day. They go
into the areas where
they know there are MDC supporters. They are preparing
for the runoff. They
will cow people so they don't vote MDC."
He said
he feared the same thugs would surround polling booths on election
day and
take down the names of people who voted in an attempt to frighten
them, as
happened in 2000 and 2002.
As the days drag on without official
presidential results, Zimbabweans have
gone back to the grind of scraping a
living in a country with 100,000%
inflation and severe shortages of food and
other basics. Voluntary road
crews fill in potholes, money dealers wait on
street corners and women sell
vegetables to raise money for food.
In
the capital, Harare, vans with helmeted riot police crawled through the
streets Tuesday, arresting female money dealers for illegal street trading.
Some opposition activists have been beaten in pro-MDC neighborhoods near the
city.
In rural areas, where MDC supporters are isolated and
vulnerable, gangs of
unemployed thugs have proved easy to
unleash.
Though the ruling party won in Mutoko village in Mashonaland
East, party
supporters, armed with AK-47s and pistols, forced people in the
village
center to attend an impromptu meeting Sunday morning, witnesses
said.
"They stopped people and said they were hunting for MDC activists
and they
wanted to kill people. They had guns, which they showed us," said
Knowledge
Maponda, 26, an MDC supporter but not an activist. Even nurses and
patients
from a nearby clinic were forced to attend, he said.
"They
said: 'We are going into a runoff, so you need to vote for the
presidential
candidate of ZANU-PF. We are not going to tolerate any
nonsense. We are
going to kill if you vote for the MDC. We are watching you
closely.'
"None of us said we were MDC supporters. We were afraid of
being killed,"
Maponda said.
As the meeting went on, MDC campaign
manager Kuratidza Sandati hid in his
home. When they came for him a short
while later, his 12-year-old son
answered.
"They came and knocked and
were told I had gone to the shops. They went to
the shops, where they
ordered all the doors closed. They were drunk and they
were showing everyone
their guns, big ones with chains of bullets."
Sandati, 39, fled to Harare
and reported the incidents to MDC headquarters.
Despite the danger, he says
he plans to return home.
"I can't go there safely," he said. "Now I am
very afraid. If I go there, my
life is in danger. They want to eliminate
some of us. But if I am absent it
means there will be more and more threats
to our followers. If they don't
see us, the MDC is dead there. They're
trying to kill our following."
Maponda said he doubted people would turn
out to vote for the opposition in
a runoff.
"Now people are afraid.
If the runoff happens, everyone is going to vote for
the party they do not
like," he said.
In Landas, also in Mashonaland East, dozens of ZANU-PF
youths have been
parading in the streets, singing songs and beating up
street traders.
"All the people fear those guys. Some people run away
because they know they
can be beaten up," said local MDC activist Itai
Bindu, 28.
He said the gangs were conducting door-to-door raids at night,
dragging
opposition activists from their houses and beating them. About 20
people had
been beaten since the elections, he said.
Many activists
think the chances of winning a runoff would be slim after
several more weeks
or months of terror.
But Bindu believes that many people are so sick of
the Mugabe regime, they
won't desert the opposition even in the face of
violence.
"It's hardening MDC supporters. People are tired of this
ZANU-PF. People are
saying, 'We can't change the results, we're now MDC
people.' "
ABC Australia
By Africa correspondent Andrew Geoghegan
Posted 4 hours 33
minutes ago
Zimbabwe Opposition supporters who claim they have been
assaulted by
pro-Mugabe militants are being warned not to
retaliate.
Human rights lawyer David Coltart, who has just been re-elected as
an
Opposition Senator in Zimbabwe, says President Robert Mugabe is trying to
provoke his opponents.
David Coltart spoke to our Africa
correspondent Andrew Geoghegan in
Zimbabwe.
DAVID COLTART: I've had
one report of so-called "Green Bombers" the ZANU-PF
Youth Brigade being
deployed into a rural area close to Bulawayo where we
won and they are
threatening people.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Is this a sign of things to come,
do you think?
DAVID COLTART: It is quite clear that ZANU-PF are planning
something. The
silence is ominous. I am reminded of the silence that
accompanied the result
in 2000 when Mugabe lost the referendum on the land
issue.
There was a period of seemingly inaction followed intensive
violence. So
yes, we are very concerned this is a precursor to a violent
campaign.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Ten days now since the election and still no
result. What
is the Mugabe Government up to?
DAVID COLTART: It really
is puzzling now because we have had the House of
Assembly and Senate results
announced and although they took a long time,
there is no reason why the
presidential results shouldn't have been
announced.
I am beginning to
wonder whether the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission hasn't,
in fact, found a
result in favour of Morgan Tsvangirai and that is why we
have got no result
at all. Because there is this deafening silence and so
the silence would
tend to indicate that they've actually lost.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: How would
you describe the feelings of both yourself and
your supporters? Are you
losing hope?
DAVID COLTART: I don't think that we are losing hope because
we understand
that we have control of the House of Assembly. We share
control of the
Senate. The momentum remains with the Opposition.
We
clearly seeing ZANU-PF panicking. Trying to devise a strategy to wriggle
out
of this one but I don't believe that there is any way out for them. So
whilst it is a nervous time, I think ultimately the Opposition must
win.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: What can the Opposition now do?
DAVID
COLTART: Well, the Opposition has to remain patient for a while
longer. It
simply must not go to the streets in my view. That will play
right into the
hands of Robert Mugabe.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Is that what he
wants?
DAVID COLTART: I'm sure it is what he wants. He's boasted of
having degrees
in violence. Violence is the area that he is comfortable
with. That he has
the most experience in. We have to be patient. We have to
go to the courts
and try to force this result out of the Zimbabwean
Electoral Commission.
Once we've got that result, then we will know what
to do. If it is a re-run,
well then we must prepare for that. If it is a
victory, well, then we must
claim it.
The Peninsula, Qatar
Web posted at: 4/9/2008 6:52:8
Source ::: AFP
BRUSSELS •
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana yesterday
raised the
possibility of sending EU election observers if there is a second
round
presidential vote in Zimbabwe.
“It is true that a mission of observation
of the second round could be very
important, it would be a mixed EU-African
Union (mission), or separate, we’ll
see,” he said.
Harare refused to
allow European or US observers for the first round
presidential vote last
month, though it did invite African observers.
Solana said that African
Union (AU) leaders were concerned that they had
been unable to contact
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe recently.
He said he had spoken on
Monday with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, the
AU’s president, and that
his “big concern” is that the African leaders “have
not been able to be in
contact with President Mugabe.”
“All the efforts that have been made,
have been a failure,” Solana told the
European Parliament’s foreign affairs
committee in Brussels.
The EU foreign policy chief said that Tuesday was
a very important day for
Zimbabwe. “We have to keep our eyes very open to
see how the situation
evolves and in particular in the coming hours,” Solana
said.
Zimbabwe’s high court yesterday gave the opposition the green light
to
pursue a legal bid to force a declaration of the results of the country’s
presidential election, 10 days on from the March 29 poll.
While the
high court held back from ordering the electoral commission to
immediately
release the results of the March 29 poll — which the opposition
said its
leader Morgan Tsvangirai won outright—Justice Tendai Uchena said he
would
urgently consider the application.
Solana had lunch with African Union
Commission chief Jean Ping who warned
here yesterday that soaring food
prices represented a “major challenge” and
called on the international
community to invest in the farming sector,
notably in Africa, the European
Commission said in a statement.
The situation is particularly grave in
Zimbabwe where the annual inflation
rate has soared to over 100,000
percent.
Mugabe, 84, is under enormous international pressure to allow
the release of
the results after a flurry of statements from the EU, the
White House, the
US State Department, and the United Nations.
Mugabe,
who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has
sought
to stoke racial tensions and discredit the opposition as Western
puppets who
would reverse his land reforms.
The Scotsman
By Jane
Fields
in Harare
ROBERT Mugabe has unleashed a violent campaign to punish
Zanu-PF supporters
who voted against him in last month's polls, the
opposition claimed
yesterday.
Ruling party militias, used to cow
voters into submission ahead of polls in
2000, have been reformed. They are
terrorising villagers in remote rural
areas, according to Tendai Biti,
secretary-general of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). He said:
"There has been massive violence inside
the country since (29
March]."
Details of the campaign are sketchy so far: rural areas are hard
and
dangerous to reach while mobile phone coverage is mostly
non-existent.
In Chimanimani East, the home of a newly-elected councillor
was torched and
all his belongings burnt. There are reports of beatings in
the Mutare North
constituency, where "two individuals are roaming around
with a .303 rifle,"
the official said in a telephone interview.
"They
are targeting what they see as their strongholds that voted against
them,"
he said.
"A lot of people are being arrested for
celebrating."
Gangs of ruling-party supporters have also invaded at least
60 white farms
since the weekend, union officials say.
"The gangs are
being transported, they're armed with sticks and machetes,
they're giving
farmers anywhere between one hour and ten hours to leave,"
said Trevor
Gifford, the president of the Commercial Farmers' Union.
"They're not
allowed to take anything with them just the clothes on their
backs. We've
had reports of meetings to decide who, when and how the next
farms will be
invaded," he told The Scotsman.
Only about 450 white farmers remain. He
said two farms belonging to black
farmers had also been
seized.
Tensions have been rising following the failure of the Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission (ZEC) to announce the winner of the presidential poll.
The
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, claims that he won outright with
50.3
per cent of the vote, but Mr Mugabe appears to be preparing for a
run-off.
The MDC won a small victory yesterday when a high court judge
ruled that the
party's appeal to force the ZEC to release the results of the
presidential
polls was urgent.
The full article contains
362 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Last Updated: 08 April 2008
8:41 PM
Mirror, UK
EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL
REPORT: INSIDE ZIMBABWE 165,000% INFLATION, EMPTY SHOPS,
NO POLL
RESULT..
By Victoria Ward In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe 9/04/2008
There are
so many potholes in Zimbabwe, joke the locals, that only drunks
drive in a
straight line... Given that their country is in meltdown, it's a
wonder they
can joke at all.
After all, what is happening in Zimbabwe is no laughing
matter. The shops
are bare, there is no medicine, the infrastructure has
crumbled, money is
worthless, inflation is up to 165,000 per cent and a
brutal dictator is
refusing to accept defeat at the polls.
Yet the
indomitable Zimbabweans' are refusing to let this crush their
spirit.
They have hit rock bottom and are living in hell, but they
believe that one
day soon things will get better.
They have
voted for change, and change is what they need - to survive.
"When the
new president comes in, life will be better," says 25-year-old
Patience
Nkomo, reflecting the views of many people we meet in
Zimbabwe.
"International bodies will help us, sanctions can be lifted, we
will live
again. It will not be long, I am certain."
Her optimism is
astounding given that she lives in a rundown, two-room hut
with 17 orphans,
all surviving on grain and basic provisions.
Life might be tough, but
they are all quietly confident that it is about to
improve.
Her
sister Mqontisi, 32, adds: "The education system will be better, food
will
be readily available, there will be medicines in the hospitals. We
don't
know when it's coming, but it will be OK."
The rest of the world doesn't
know when it's coming either.
Presidential elections were held more than
a week ago and despite
overwhelming evidence that Morgan Tsvangirai's
opposition party trounced the
ruling Zanu-PF party, headed by Robert Mugabe,
the result has still not been
announced.
As time ticks by, Zimbabwe's
desperation deepens.
The economy is already in crisis and the effects are
tangible.
You just have to look at the empty shops.
Asked why they
bother to open at all, butcher Tony Sequiera shrugs: "It's
simple. If we
close, the government will take over. Why play into their
hands?
"We
are clinging on, waiting for change. To close now would mean I have
completely surrendered."
Tony has leased his shop for eight months
but he can't afford to stock it.
Price-fixing means that farmers can't
afford to sell him their stock - they
would operate at a loss. And anyway,
no one could afford to buy the meat.
"All I need is enough to keep open
but the price of beef is too high," says
Tony. "It will just rot in the
window.
"Every day is a gamble, no one knows what the mark-up will
be.
There is no money, no disposable income at all. Even if there was,
you
couldn't bank anything because the government just takes
it."
Inflation is out of control so that the cost of everyday basics
soars by the
hour. In just two days a packet of crackers in one shop shoots
up by
ZIM$14million.
Two years ago, things got so bad that computers
simply could not cope with
the high denominations. The government's
solution? To knock three zeros off
all the currency - an act that instantly
devalued all savings.
"I had ZIM$97m in the bank," hotel worker George
Moyo tells us. "The next
day I had ZIM$97,000. Everything I had worked for
had been wiped out."
George produces a wad of ZIM$5,000 notes, roughly
the size of a brick. "Get
hold of another few packets like that and you've
got £1," he says with a wry
smile. "Things have deteriorated, we're back to
where we were two years
ago."
In an attempt to cope, the government
last week started printing ZIM$50m
notes. All of which is pretty meaningless
to the average Zimbabwean.
"It's hard," sighs cleaner Makaita Ndlovu.
"Nobody has any money.
Mugabe has wrung us dry. It is terrible, money is
worthless. Prices change
within hours. You get paid and it's immediately
useless."
Makaita has three teenagers, but to send one to university
would cost her
ZIM$1.8billion a term - a ridiculous amount she has no hope
of raising.
"If things carry on like this I will have to send one of them
over the
border to work," she says.
Many people make regular trips
across the border into South Africa, Botswana
or Zambia to buy
supplies.
A round trip from Bulawayo can take 12 hours, but they have no
choice.
Others use their proximity to the border to import fuel,
cigarettes and
groceries to sell on the black market.
It has become
the only viable way to trade. Things are so bad that police
often turn a
blind eye to the illegal street vendors hawking cooking oil,
vegetables,
rice and sugar from makeshift stalls outside the empty
supermarkets.
But even here, there is a hefty mark-up for basics.
"The prices are
exorbitant," says one seller. "But it's the survival of the
fittest. If you
are caught, you have to hand over a bribe or you are
arrested."
Although it is illegal to criticise the current president,
Mugabe is openly
mocked. He has banned anyone talking about politics in
groups of five or
more, but they are not deterred. Taxi driver Versi Sebanda
says: "We all
speak the same language. We have one enemy. He will not beat
us." As if to
prove a point, he shows us a joke that has been doing the
rounds via text -
an ode to Mugabe in the style of the Lord's
Prayer.
But get caught stepping out of line and you could end up in big
trouble.
Just last week, 16-year-old market trader Simanzeni Ngwabi was
locked up in
Bulawayo for allegedly describing Mugabe as "an old man with
wrinkled skin".
She faces a lengthy prison sentence for that seemingly
innocuous comment.
Such events have created a climate of fear.
"Yes,
we are scared," admits Tony Sequiera. "They can detain us at any
minute. We
feel threatened. People whisper, plain clothes police are
everywhere." For
many, simply existing from day to day brings worries
enough.
Zimbabweans queue for up to five hours for one loaf of bread.
The daily
lines snake round each block.
The people wait patiently in
the searing heat, often with young children in
tow.
One by one, they
disappear inside and emerge with a small white loaf.
They're the lucky ones.
Many others go home Versi empty-handed - they are
too late, the shelves are
bare again.
"We queue from 6am," explains Patience. "But at times there
is nothing."
A staple food for the poorest Zimbabwean is mealie meal -
bags of corn that
can be boiled up into porridge or stews. But for the past
month, there has
been none available. You can only get it on the black
market, at prices
which those who need it most simply can't
afford.
They might be staring disaster and deprivation in the face, but
the locals
display astonishing determination, dignity and resolve. And in
contrast to
the government's silence, the country is buzzing with rumour and
speculation.
From taxi drivers to businessmen, everyone is talking
about when - not if -
their lives will change.
As the aptly-named
Patience concludes with a smile: "Things can only get
better,
hey?"
Let' hope her own patience doesn't run out during the
wait...
To close my empty shop would mean that I have
surrendered
ZIMBABWE BY NUMBERS
10m number of Zimbabweans who are
living below the poverty line.
34 the average life expectancy for women.
For men it is 37.
5.1 the infant mortality rate for every 1,000
babies.
SOARING FOOD PRICES
Mealie 10kg ZIM$100million
Tea
250g ZIM$105m
Coke ltr ZIM$30m
Sugar 10kg ZIM$140m
Oil 2ltr
ZIM$600m
Rice 2kg ZIM$300m
£1 = ZIM$60,883
VOA
By James Butty
Washington,
D.C.
09 April 2008
Zimbabwe’s High Court Tuesday
told the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) to seek legal means
to force the country’s electoral commission
to announce the March 29
presidential election results. The MDC had gone to
court to force the
release of the results. But the electoral commission
argued that the courts
have no jurisdiction over when the commission can
announce election
results.
Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party have
called for a
vote recount and a possible run-off election even before the
March 29
presidential election results are made known.
One candidate
who could play a key role in the event of a run-off is former
finance
minister Simba Makoni who came a distant third in the first round.
Denford
Magora is spokesman for Makoni. He told VOA the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission has been acting illegally.
“The laws of this country say
that five days after the close of polling,
results should be announced
publicly. That hasn’t happen, and it is a
concern to everybody, including
Dr. Makoni. The sooner people know where
they stand, the better. We know
that the ruling party at the moment is
already claiming that we should go in
a run-off because Morgan Tsvangirai
did not get 50 percent or more. In the
event of a run-off, it will be
between President Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai,” he said.
Magora said in the event of a run-off election it
would be highly unlikely
that Makoni would back Robert Mugabe. At the same
he said it was not a done
deal that Makoni would support
Tsvangira.
“You have to remember that Dr. Makoni came out of the ruling
party and
announced to the world that this country was in crisis because
there was a
failure of leadership within that party and within government.
What that
means basically is that current president Mugabe has failed to
lead the
country. That does not mean we will automatically throw our weight
behind
his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai. There will obviously be issues to be
looked
at because Dr. Makoni did not join up with Morgan Tsvangirai for
various
reasons,” Magora said.
He said the differences between Makoni
and Tsvangirai had to do with
policies and their individual approaches to
government.
“Some of these were highlighted in the newspaper that Dr.
Makoni published
on the eve of the voting day itself. They have to do with
approaches to the
economy, most importantly. In one of these articles he
spoke about Morgan
Tsvangirai’s promises that he was just basically going to
subsidize this
country out of trouble, giving free money to various entities
within the
country, setting up compensation funds left right and center. He
strongly
felt that that wasn’t the direction in which the country should go.
Even if
donor money was to be available right after the election, that money
should
channeled toward productive sectors of the economy as opposed to
subsidies
to supporters and people who may have suffered in the past,” he
said.
Magora said Makoni would also like guarantees from Tsvangirai
concerning
Tsvangirai’s commitment to reform Zimbabwe’s current
constitution
‘We would like to hear from the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai
specifically
whether he is prepared as soon as possible within a very
reasonable
timeframe to put together a constitutional conference, making
sure that
there is input from all the key sectors in Zimbabwe into that
constitution,”
Magora said.
He would not say whether there were talks
going on currently between Makoni
and Tsvangirai regarding whether Makoni
would support Tsvangirai in the
event of a run-off election.
“I can’t
say that there are discussions going on. If there are any talks,
those talks
are on the basis of defending whatever is left of democracy in
Zimbabwe,
which is very threatened at the moment by the government, the way
it is
behavior, the threats that it is issuing through the war veterans,” he
said.
Magora rejected any suggestion that the failure of Makoni and
the rest of
the opposition to unite might have been responsible for any talk
of a
run-off election. He said Makoni and his supporters still believe
Makoni is
the best man to lead Zimbabwe.
ABC Australia
Posted 2 hours 24
minutes ago
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe could still redeem
himself by stepping down
to ease tensions after elections that threatened
his 28-year rule,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu says.
Archbishop Tutu, the
South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate, urged
84-year-old Mr Mugabe to
accept that he lost last month's presidential
election.
Election
results have yet to be released amid the potential of violence
between
political parties and a blighted economy.
Food and fuel are in short
supply in Zimbabwe while the country's inflation
rate is the world's worst
at more than 100,000 per cent and unemployment is
above 80 per cent.
Millions have fled the country, mostly to South Africa.
"They are tipping
over the precipice," Archbishop Tutu told a small group of
reporters.
"Violence is very much in the air."
"I would have hoped there would be a
great deal more pressure, not just from
South Africa but from the
international community," he continued. "On the
whole, African leadership
has not done themselves proud on this one."
The Anglican archbishop said
international peacekeeping troops may be needed
to help restore order in
Zimbabwe and the country's economy could benefit
from a "mini-Marshall Plan"
orchestrated by foreign governments.
The Marshall Plan was a US aid
initiative to rebuild Europe's economy after
World War II.
Mr Mugabe
led the fight against white-minority rule in the former Rhodesia.
But now
his critics accuse him of reducing a once-prosperous nation to
misery.
Zimbabwe's Opposition says Mr Mugabe has unleashed a campaign
of violence
since the elections, and has called on African states to
intervene to
prevent bloodshed.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
Leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he won
the March 29 vote.
Meanwhile,
leader of South Africa's Governing African National Congress,
Jacob Zuma,
has criticised the delay in publishing the presidential election
results.
The MDC has launched a legal challenge against the time it
has taken to
release the figures.
Mr Zuma says the country's
electoral commission should not keep Zimbabwe and
the rest of the world in
suspense.
"I think once people have cast their votes and have counted,
whatever the
results are, the commission is supposed to announce the
results," he said.
"I think keeping the nation in suspense, and as you
know the Zimbabwean
issue has become an International issue, it's almost
keeping the
International community in suspense. I don't think it all goes
very well."
- Reuters/ABC
The Times
April 9, 2008
By
washing its hands of Zimbabwe, Thatcher's government handed the country
to a
tyrant
Sir, Lord Carrington states that “there can be no doubt that the
election of
Mugabe in 1980 reflected the majority opinion in Zimbabwe”
(comment, April
5).
As someone who was directly involved in the
election, I have to differ.
Mugabe’s warriors were at the polling stations,
with loaded AK47s, bayonets
fixed, checking the ballot papers before the
locals put them in the ballot
boxes, and British police had to stand and
watch, helpless.
Who is going to put their X in the wrong place when
confronted by armed men?
Reports were coming in to us at Joint Operations
Centre Grapple confirming
that this was a widespread abuse, and yet the
world insisted the election
was “free and fair”. It was a disgraceful
abrogation of responsibility. The
expression “washing of hands” comes to
mind, and I fear that nobody will
stand up to Mugabe this time around if he
chooses to win this “free and
fair” election.
D. M.
Hendry
Crowmarsh Gifford, Oxon
Sir, What Lord Carrington chooses not
to mention is that Margaret Thatcher,
under pressure from him, chose to
renege on her campaign promise to
recognise the administration of Bishop
Abel Muzorewa if the election was
considered free and fair. Lord Boyd, Mrs
Thatcher’s pointman at the time,
adjudged it thus but this was later ignored
for commercial reasons; Nigeria,
among others, was threatening to cut
commercial ties. Neither Mrs Thatcher
or Lord Carrington could find the
gumption to honour their commitment. If
they had, history might well have
turned out differently.
He is wrong when he says Nkomo and Mugabe were
forbidden to take part in
that election; they were invited on condition they
forsook violence. They
spurned the offer.
He glosses over the fact
that the 1980 election was won under a climate of
fear induced by Mugabe.
This was reported to both Carrington and Soames by
their own monitors but
both brushed off the facts.
The misery and violence visited upon the
people by the monster he so
cleverly created is indeed a result of
Carrington’s perfidy and he must take
responsibility for it.
H.
Wessels
Cape, South Africa
Sir, Is it not extraordinary that both
Robert Mugabe and his party received
substantial percentages, albeit not a
majority, of the votes cast in the
elections in the face of incontrovertible
evidence that Zimbabwe is ruined
and millions are destitute?
kenneth
wood
Exeter
Sir, It is a simplification that ‘“the history of
colonialism is a history
of humiliation, exploitation and degradation of
native peoples” (letters,
April 8). A stronger criticism of their
colonialism might be that it was the
way they quit their empire, not the way
they gained it, that discredited the
British.
The empire was
destroyed by a liberal-minded Labour government, at the
behest of the US,
for dubiously idealistic reasons. But the horrors that
followed British
departure from such as Zimbabwe, Palestine, Uganda, and
India too, must
still prick the conscience of any right-thinking, older
Briton.
Particularly when we see how the totally amicable withdrawal
of British rule
from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean and most
recently from
Hong Kong was carried out.
Robert
Veitch
Edinburgh
www.wfn.org
Apr. 8, 2008
NOTE: Photographs, audio, video, a
logo and related stories are available at
http://umns.umc.org.
By Kathy L.
Gilbert*
HARARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS)-Selling little yellow balls of
"Cockroach Kill" used
to help the Rev. Kenneth Shamu put food on the
table.
Now even income from that small business is gone because the
soaring
inflation rate in Zimbabwe has made it impossible to buy the
ingredients -
sugar, eggs and Borax.
Creative solutions have helped
the Shamus survive since his retirement as a
United Methodist pastor in
1995. Shamu stopped receiving any pension funds
from the church in 2004.
Even before they stopped, he was not receiving
enough to live on, he
said.
Zimbabwe's political and economic situation only adds to the
misery.
"The economy changes every two weeks," said the Rev. Lovemore
Nyanungo, who
retired from active ministry after serving the church for 39
years.
The government of Zimbabwe sets the current inflation rate around
7,000
percent, but independent estimates put it at 13,000 percent or
higher.
A liter of petrol costs Zim$12 million (US$3 on the parallel
market), up
from Zim$6 million (US$1.60) late last year. It costs bus
commuters Zim$3
million (just under a dollar) for an average trip - three
times more than
they paid just before last Christmas.
It is reported
that four out of five of the country's 12 million people live
below the
poverty line and a quarter have fled, mainly to neighboring
countries.
"I really appreciate the help of the local church,"
Nyanungo said. But even
with that help, he still has to carefully consider
how much he and his wife
spend and what activities they do. At times, he
also must rely on help from
his five children or friends.
"I knew
when I was an active pastor I would not get much when I retired," he
said.
"I think retired pastors should continue to get paid the same as
active
pastors or at least a percentage that would be a livable wage."
The
United Methodist Church's General Conference, its largest legislative
body,
has launched an effort called the Central Conference Pension
Initiative to
ensure retirees and surviving spouses retire with dignity and
hope.
Pension is 'peanuts'
Though The United Methodist
Church's greatest growth is in Africa, Eastern
Europe and the Philippines,
pension funds are minimal or nonexistent for
pastors in those areas. Many of
them have faithfully served for 20, 30, 40
or more years.
When
retired Zimbabwe Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa thinks about the pension funds
for
retired pastors, he said he is "filled with guilt."
"The pastors have
nothing. It is peanuts; it is meaningless. It shouldn't
even be called a
pension," he said. "Now that I am retired, I can't do much
about it but
talk, talk, talk so others can change the situation."
A news team from
United Methodist Communications and members of the
denomination's Board of
Pension and Health Benefits visited Zimbabwe in 2005
to gain an
understanding of the needs and the context for pensions in that
African
country.
The Central Conference Pension Initiative is being carried out
by five
church agencies: the Board of Pension and Health Benefits, the
General
Council on Finance and Administration, the Board of Global
Ministries, the
United Methodist Publishing House and United Methodist
Communications. The
pension board projects that a $20 million endowment is
needed to sustain the
central conference pension benefit fund.
"It
would be a blessed venture, and I wish all those who have been enabled
by
God to have some money in their pockets would pour money into the pension
fund for all of Africa," Muzorewa said.
In Zimbabwe, retired pastors
and surviving spouses don't receive regular
pension support from the church.
This year, an emergency grant of $68 was
provided through the initiative and
the Board of Global Ministries. Zimbabwe
has 36 retirees and 34 surviving
spouses.
Shamu is glad he took Muzorewa's advice years ago, when the
bishop told him
to plan for the future. "He mentioned buying a house, and
now that is what I
tell the pastors I meet," the retired pastor said. "If I
didn't have a
house, I would be suffering more than I am today."
Hard
adjustments
The Rev. Willis Makunkie had a hard time adjusting to
retirement after being
a United Methodist pastor for 34 years.
"I had
to come up with some ideas of things to do," he said. During his
years as a
pastor, he served nine circuits and a six-year term as a district
superintendent. He still performs some church duties when asked, such as
weddings, funerals and baptisms.
Another hard adjustment for him and
two of his neighbors, who are surviving
spouses of retired pastors, is the
lack of any money from the church in
their retirement
years.
"Sometimes I live on charity, money from family or friends," he
explains. He
also tries to raise vegetables to eat, but the lack of water in
his area of
Zimbabwe makes that difficult.
"If the church had
something to help, I would appreciate it," he said. "But
if they have
nothing, what can I do?"
Rosemary Chidzikwe, widow of a retired pastor,
said she is not receiving any
pension from the church and hasn't for a long
time. Her husband, the Rev.
Josiah Chidzikwe died in 1990. He was able to
set aside a little money and
buy the house she lives in, she said. Some of
their income came from a
maize-grinding mill they once operated for the
community.
"It is difficult to survive," said Chidzikwe, who is not in
good health.
"But I think the church has done their part." She gets help
from a sister
who lives with her.
Martha Matongo, also a widow, said
her husband died in 1970, but she doesn't
remember how many years he served
before retirement.
"It is difficult, but I depend on God because he is
one who gave us this
service," said Matongo who is also in poor health. "I
am always ill, and I
have to walk with this stick," she said, waving it in
the air.
She sometimes gets help from growing and selling yams, and her
children help
when they can. She lives with her grandchildren who help her
find water and
other things she needs.
"God is providing," she
said.
Other retirees share that quiet faith. Shamu said that even though
retired
pastors in Zimbabwe seem to be forgotten, he still has a deep love
for the
church.
"I was born in The United Methodist Church, and I
have never joined any
other church. It means a lot to me. I am a Methodist
until the end of my
life."
More information on how to get involved is
available by going to
www.ccpi-umc.org, writing to <mailto:ccpi@gbophb.org> ccpi@gbophb.org or
calling (847)
866-4230.
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based
in Nashville,
Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville,
Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
********************
United
Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org
Reuters in Harare
The
Guardian,
Wednesday April 9 2008
African states must intervene in
Zimbabwe to prevent bloodshed, the
opposition said yesterday, accusing
President Robert Mugabe of trying to
provoke violence as a pretext for a
state of emergency.
"I say to my brothers and sisters across the
continent - don't wait for dead
bodies in the streets of Harare. There is a
constitutional and legal crisis
in Zimbabwe," Movement for Democratic Change
Secretary-General Tendai Biti
told a news conference.
He said the
ruling Zanu-PF had launched a violent campaign against
opposition supporters
following a stalemate over March 29 elections.
The MDC's leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, says he won the presidential vote and
should be declared
president immediately, ending the 28-year rule of Mugabe,
whose critics
accuse him of reducing a once prosperous nation to misery.
Zimbabwe has
inflation of more than 100,000%, an unemployment rate above 80%
and chronic
shortages of food and fuel. Millions have fled abroad, most of
them to South
Africa.
Zanu-PF is pressing for a delay in issuing the presidential
results pending
a recount and is also alleging abuses by electoral officials
in an attempt
to overturn its first defeat in a parliamentary
poll.
"There's been massive violence inside our country since March 29
2008 ...
MDC people are being beaten up ... farms with remaining pockets of
white
people are being invaded. Farms with known MDC supporters are being
invaded," Biti said.
"Militias are being rearmed, Zanu-PF supporters
are being rearmed ... There
has been a complete militarisation of Zimbabwean
society since March 29
2008."
Earlier, a farmers' union said
independence war veterans, used as political
shock troops by Mugabe, had
evicted more than 60 mostly white farmers from
their land since the
weekend.
"The situation is very severe. The evictions are continuing
right round the
country. We have over 60 farmers evicted as of this morning.
Every couple of
minutes my phone is ringing with another case of eviction,"
said Commercial
Farmers' Union President Trevor Gifford.
The veterans
had forced them to leave their homes with only the clothes they
were
wearing. Those evicted included at least one black farmer, Gifford told
Reuters. Police said they were not aware of the farm invasions.
The
veterans have already spearheaded the eviction of most white farmers
under
Mugabe's land reforms.
The MDC says Mugabe is delaying the presidential
election result to give him
more time to prepare for a runoff against
Tsvangirai, and has asked the high
court to force release of the
outcome.
The court ruled yesterday that it would treat the opposition's
application
as urgent and began hearing arguments in the case.
Legal
proceedings are already in their fourth day and could drag on further.
Biti
told reporters: "We are saying to our fellow Africans, in the African
Union
and in SADC [Southern African Development Community] ... don't wait
for dead
bodies ... intervene now."
Traders in neighbouring South Africa said the
impasse was likely to weigh on
the rand currency, briefly boosted last week
when there was speculation that
Mugabe would stand down after his party lost
the parliamentary vote.
"Counting against the rand is the way in which
the Zimbabwe elections are
rapidly deteriorating into a farce," said market
analysts ETM.
Business Day
Posted: 2008-04-08 23:58
Presenter: Erika van der Merwe Guest: Jerry Vilakazi
Summit TV
speaks to Jerry Vilakazi from Business Unity South Africa
(Busa) about a
just election outcome for the people of Zimbabwe and the
reconstruction of
that country’s economy
ERIKA VAN DER MERWE: My guest this
evening is Jerry Vilakazi who is
chief executive of Business Unity South
Africa (Busa). Jerry, you are
concerned about South African businesses with
representation in Zimbabwe -
how big is that interlocking between the South
African and the Zimbabwean
economies from a business
perspective?
JERRY VILAKAZI: The Zimbabwean economy is intertwined
with the South
African economy. Firstly a number of South African companies
do business in
Zimbabwe - also with a lot of commodities and products
Zimbabwe gets its
supply from South Africa - but beside that you see the
economy of the region
is intertwined in many respects. When foreign
investors look at us as a
region they tend to look at us in relation to
neighbouring countries, and
they see us as a regional block - therefore if
anything goes wrong in one of
the countries in the region it has an impact
on the rest of the countries in
the region.
ERIKA VAN DER
MERWE: At the moment it’s almost as though Zimbabwe is
at a tipping point -
it can either go very well, or very badly at the
moment - what is the mood
from business people in Zimbabwe?
JERRY VILAKAZI: We are very
concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe
at the moment. We believe it’s
very important at this stage that in
particular the Sadc leadership comes
forward and the Zimbabwean Electoral
Commission (ZEC) releases the results
as a matter of urgency. It’s
unfortunate that the opposition party has had
to now go to the High Court to
apply for the results to be released. We are
all celebrating and hoping that
the election was free and fair - but an
election is never done until you
release the results. Right now what we are
hearing from the ground is that
tempers are very hot, we are hearing that
the mood at the moment is one that’s
at a very sensitive stage - we can see
that unless ZEC releases the results
as speedily as possible the situation
may spin out of control. We are also
very concerned about the reports that
are coming out about the police having
arrested some people there - we
believe that all must act with restraint at
this stage so they don’t provoke
unnecessary anger and violence in the
streets. It is important that the rule
of law is respected at this stage -
but unless the ZEC releases the results
as speedily as possible it must
accept responsibility as an independent
electoral commission for anything
that may happen to the Zimbabweans right
now.
ERIKA VAN DER MERWE: If we have a positive outcome soon what
does that
mean for businesses? Will there be an immediate impact or
influence for
businesses?
JERRY VILAKAZI: I think this election
was critical. Just before the
elections we were very concerned about the
state of the economy in Zimbabwe,
and investor’s - not only South African
business, but investors outside the
region - have been raising concerns
about the state of the economy. That’s
an economy which has been running
over 100,000% inflation - you can’t
sustain that sort of economy. We are
aware of a lot of collapses in various
sectors. The agricultural sector -
once one of the most productive sectors,
and a contributor to the Zimbabwean
economy - has almost ground to a halt.
This election was an election of hope
for the people of Zimbabwe - it was an
election for change in Zimbabwe. Even
the ruling party itself if you
followed their message - there was a sense
that there’s a need for change -
and we believe the people of Zimbabwe went
out in numbers to vote for
change. The people of Zimbabwe deserve more at
this stage - and business is
committed, and is watching that situation.
“Business as usual” will come in
if there’s the right atmosphere. If the
regulatory and political environment
promises economic stability we are
certain that South African and other
businesses from outside the region will
be ready to invest in Zimbabwe.
ERIKA VAN DER MERWE: But what do we
know about Morgan Tsvangirai? Is
he the good guy? Will he bring such
positive change?
JERRY VILAKAZI: If you look at the results that
we’ve seen coming out
of Zimbabwe at the moment one message that’s very
clear is that the people
of Zimbabwe want change - the people of Zimbabwe
want reconstruction, they
want something new - however if you look at the
results again you can see
that none of the parties have come out very
strongly with huge margins that
indicate they can do it alone. We are hoping
that if the opposition MDC do
get the nod of the people of Zimbabwe - as
they have done with the
parliamentary election - that Tsvangirai will
realise that he can not
construct Zimbabwe without bringing all the other
parties together,
therefore we hope and what Zimbabwe requires at the moment
is a government
of national unity where all the people of Zimbabwe and all
the parties can
come together, and work together to ensure that there is a
reconstruction of
Zimbabwe. It is not going to be an easy one - that economy
has almost been
destroyed, and is completely run down as we speak.
Reconstruction is going
to take a lot of hard work and a lot of commitment -
and whoever wins will
have to recognise that.
www.summit.co.za
International Herald Tribune
By Celia W. Dugger Published: April 9,
2008
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Ten days after Zimbabwe
voted and by most
accounts rejected its long-serving, autocratic president,
Robert Mugabe, the
mood of the country grew more ominous on Tuesday, with
the opposition
reporting widespread attacks on its supporters, black youths
driving white
farmers off their land and elections officials arrested for
vote tampering.
As Mugabe sought to cling to power beyond his 28th year
in office,
Zimbabwe's High Court began to weigh the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change's demand for the immediate release of the presidential
election
results. They have still not been announced, but the opposition
believes
they will give it victory.
With international pressure
building on Mugabe's government to tell his
nation who won, the police, part
of his apparatus of power, arrested five
election officials accused of
tampering with the vote to the detriment of
Mugabe's tally, the state-run
newspaper, The Herald, reported Tuesday.
The opposition party has pleaded
for international intervention to resolve
Zimbabwe's political stalemate,
and at a press conference in Harare on
Tuesday, Tendai Biti, its secretary
general, protested what he called "the
deafening silence" from the African
Union and a regional bloc of nations
known as the Southern African
Development Community, the Associated Press
reported.
"I say to our
brothers and sisters across the continent, don't wait for dead
bodies in the
streets of Harare," he said.
Officials from human rights groups and trade
union alliances said Tuesday
that the arrests of election officials appeared
to be a tactic to intimidate
those counting the votes before the results
have even been announced, while
the delay seemed designed to buy ZANU-PF,
Mugabe's governing party, time to
figure out how to survive its defeat and
perhaps to rig the outcome.
"The fear is they're going to try to force these
officials to falsify
results in key constituencies where the votes might be
enough to swing the
national election," said Patrick Craven, a spokesman for
the Congress of
South African Trade Unions, which has almost 2 million
members. COSATU
joined with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions on Tuesday
to call for the
immediate release of the outcome.
Tomaz Salomao,
executive secretary of the Southern African Development
Community, which
helped monitor the Zimbabwean elections, said in a
telephone interview that
he is worried where these developments could lead.
"We need to avoid a
scenario like Kenya," said Salomao, referring to the
rioting and killing
that engulfed the east African nation following its
recent elections.
Salomao said he would fly to Harare on Wednesday.
The rising sense of
foreboding about Zimbabwe grows out of ZANU-PF's past
use of violence for
political ends. In 2000, after the defeat of a
referendum that would have
given Mugabe greater powers, he blamed white
farmers. In the years since, he
has sanctioned the seizure of thousands of
their farms, often by force. He
said it was done to right the injustices of
the colonial era, which
concentrated farmland in the hands of whites, but
much of the confiscated
land was doled out as patronage to ZANU-PF's
governing elite.
In
2005, Mugabe's government demolished the homes of hundreds of thousands
of
poor people in urban neighborhoods that were strongholds of the political
opposition. And last year, the police rounded up dozens of opposition
activists, including the MDC's current presidential candidate, Morgan
Tsvangirai, beating and arresting them.
The opposition said it is
happening again in rural areas where there are no
witnesses but the victims
themselves. Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the
Movement for Democratic
Change, said on Tuesday that about 200 of its
polling agents, campaign
workers and supporters have been arrested, beaten
or kidnapped since the
election. ZANU-PF is organizing and arming youth
militias, he
said.
"People are facing serious retributive attacks," he
said.
Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu denied the charges, telling
the
Associated Press, "They are concocting things. It is
peaceful."
Trevor Gifford, president of the Commercial Farmers Union of
Zimbabwe, which
in the wake of Mugabe's land redistribution has seen the
ranks of members
still farming drop to 500 from 4,600 in 2000, said groups
of as many as 200
young men, organized and paid by ZANU-PF and chanting
party slogans and
shouting anti-white epithets, have invaded 60 farms and
driven out their
inhabitants.
"It's ethnic cleansing happening,"
Gifford said in a phone interview. "We
can very quickly become extinct.
People are losing their homes, businesses,
lives. It's really
desperate."
The state-run newspaper, The Herald, reported Monday that
Mugabe, speaking
at a funeral, had called on blacks to hold onto the land
and never let the
whites reclaim it. The same story quoted Isaiah Muzanda, a
veteran of
Zimbabwe's war for independence, warning of "strong action
against
unrepentant white farmers who were preparing to repossess their
previous
properties in anticipation of an MDC victory in the presidential
poll."