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Printing deceit - with comments

The Guardian
 

Zimbabwe's upcoming elections will be fixed, the boxes stuffed with surplus ballot papers just as the people's pockets are stuffed with worthless money

Meera Selva

 
March 26, 2008 11:30 AM

As Zimbabwe slithers towards another fixed election, Zimbabweans who have seen their country dismantled and destroyed, must ask themselves two things - how has Robert Mugabe got away with it for so long, and how much longer can he continue?

The cause of Mugabe's power and Zimbabwe's undoing has been the humble printer. After repossessing white-owned farms in 2000, Mugabe dealt with the ensuing chaos by printing worthless money that has to be carted around in sacks, to buy food from fast emptying shelves. As Zimbabweans saw their children starve and their life expectancy plummet, he printed millions of surplus ballot papers to stuff into boxes in rigged elections.

Meanwhile, he used the language of the black liberation struggle to mute international criticism of his actions. As a result, Mugabe has stayed in power for 28 years. He has taken that mood of heady optimism that created Zimbabwe from Rhodesia, and turned it into one of despair. He has used the army and police to crack down on protests, changing laws to allow his officers to arrest and beat up people involved in the mildest forms of opposition, and repeatedly redrawn constituency boundaries to suit his ruling party.

It is hard to see just how Zimbabwe can be saved.

The opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is too divided to be effective. Its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has only a weak grip on the party. During internationally mediated talks about the constitution, the MDC went to war with itself and allowed Mugabe to use the talks to again consolidate his power base.

There is some hope in Simba Makoni, the former finance minister who has decided to run against Mugabe. He has the same credentials as the president - raised in the countryside and politicised through the liberation struggle - but does not yet have the ability to reach thousands of voters through rallies and campaigns. Most depressingly, the army and police force have said they will support only Mugabe. After years of being starved and impoverished, most Zimbabweans do not have the strength for battle.

The EU and the US have protested, withdrawn aid, imposed sanctions, but this is not a problem that can be solved by the west. This really is an African problem that has to be solved by Africa.

Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, has always been careful not to embarrass Mugabe, preferring a sustained, quieter dialogue with his old ally. In many ways, South Africa's ANC has more in common with Mugabe and his friends than with Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union leader who led mass protests in the 1990s. This common background and understanding may eventually lead to a political solution.

This is also a test for the Southern African Development Community and the African Union. It is their responsibility to argue and coax Mugabe into allowing free elections, and to have measures in place to calm down any violence that may break out before or after the results are declared.

Zimbabwe was and still can be one of the most prosperous, modern countries in Africa, with the political, cultural and economic clout to power the whole region. Its friends and allies need to guide it back onto the right path.



 

Comments

GBR

Well of course it'll be rigged, it's the only way Mugabe could win!

On the other hand, what does it matter? Something like a third of the population has fled the country, the economy continues to nosedive.. Mugabe seems eager to go down with the ship.


GBR

"This really is an African problem that has to be solved by Africa"

That's it in a nutshell, Africa's leaders have completely failed to live up to their responsibilites, the same as they did in Dafur, and Rwanda.

The same as the majority of political elites in Africa continue to steal from the people, and live in the lap of luxury whilst their people starve.

 

GBR

Deleted by moderator


GBR

Zimbabwe's elections have been recognised by the UN. Yous understandings me Meera.


GBR

"What did Zimbabwe ever do to deserve such a plotless bore."

..so you don't agree that Mugabe's handling of the economy has been catastrophic?

Or would you rather avoid the question, I suspect..?


GBR

Deleted by moderator


GBR

It's worth adding that the voters know from previous experience that food aid will be withheld from districts that vote for the opposition.


GBR

ManVanTshwane -

"Zimbabwe's elections have been recognised by the UN"

no they haven't! In addition Mugabe is refusing to let the official election monitors into the country, and has shut down paper that disagree with him.

How in gods name can you defend this tyrant, ManVanTshwane? He's screwing Zimbabwe in the name of black power!


GBR

So Kosovo was our problem but Zimbabwe isnt?

So Millions live and die because of Geography.

When history is written I dont think the Geography provision is going to make it alongside "We will fight them on the beaches...."

However difficult it is, this is a battle that can be won, it is a battle that should be fought lest a peoples be destroyed. Am with Tony lets do Mugabe.



GBR

'...upcoming elections will be fixed, the boxes stuffed with surplus ballot papers just as the people's pockets are stuffed with worthless money...'

Yes - our postal ballot system here in the the UK does need a complete overhaul. Oh sorry, just realised you were talking about Zimbabwe.


GBR

"Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, has always been careful not to embarrass Mugabe, preferring a sustained, quieter dialogue with his old ally."

What dialogue? Mugabe doesn't do dialogue.


GBR

Mugabe is 84 years old now. Only old age, infirmity and death will get rid of him. We must hope that in a
post - Mugabe Zimbabwe, there is no power vacuum and that whoever steps into his place is better than he has been. The only good thing to say about him is that he can't last for much longer.


GBR

Zimbabwe being a land locked country only the countries around it can help it but they have turned a blind eye to the plight of the people. Zimbabwe biggest export is it citizens who have left the country, this has hollowed out its most creative and best people as they have left for other countries. Who ever takes over will find that the countrys human capital is depleted as well as infastructure, so rebuilding will not be easy as its best people have left and established new lives elsewhere. Even if uncle bob wins eventually he will die and then the scamble for power will begin, unless his own supporters turn on him like a pack of hungry dogs and depose him. Uncle bob has survived so long because the leaders of many other african countries are not shining examples of democracy and the finger could point in their direction next. I would suggest that ManVanTshwane goes to live in Zimbabwe and the scales will fall from his eyes as to the reality of the situation of the day to day lives of the people.


I was in Zimbabwe during the last presidential election.
In the cities, the number of polling stations were cut back
at short notice, with the rate of processing voters deliberately at a snails pace. Many people queued for two days and nights to vote.
The courts ruled in favour of a third day of voting,
after which the police promptly moved in with teargas to disperse and disenfranchise these voters.

In the rural areas, the returns were astonishingly high,
considering many people on the registers had either died,
moved to the cities, or emigrated.
The MDC were prevented by intimidation and violence from having representatives at many of the rural polling stations.

Yet, one of the SADC election monitors stated that the
election was free and fair, according to 'African standards'.

It's time for higher standards from other African leaders.
They should have found a gracious path to retirement for
this tinpot dictator after the last stolen election.


ITA

Zimbabwe needs thinking in other way. There's no doubt someone's done many mistakes whereas all of them have got to forget the past. Today it's essential to look up the economic situation and to have a politic stability. It should be done this lest new incidents happen. According to me Zimbabwean people ought to help the government so as to change the things. In this contest there hasn't got to be corruption unless they want to create other problems. All of us have seen in Africa wars and corruption. What is the instability being fostered for? Why don't African people solve these problems? Inasmuch as African Union has got power, it's responsible about security. Notwithstanding there's much poverty in Africa, African people increase their problems with new wars and violences. This has been seen in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Somalia and so on. I can most distinctly say that international community hasn't been able to tackle this situation. Surely UN isn't being helped by African people and this has to be told. What they need is more openness rather than selfishness. Having been done many mistakes they ought to learn the lesson. If all of they do that there will be well-being otherwise just poverty and war. In fact the violence won't allow them to do a good life. International community will have to accompany African people in order to reach this purpose.


GBR

It is misinformed, misguided and delusional people like this journalist who are the problem for Zimbabwe not Mugabe.
Why is it that you have come to the stupid conclusion that the only free election is one in which Mugabe loses?
How many Zimbabweans must perish because of western sanctions before you admit that these sanctions have failed to turn rural voters against their President?
Mugabe DOES NOT rig elections. He wins because he is excellent orator who knows what message to give to the rural electorate who are the backbone of his regime.
He wins because he is the only courageous black African leader who can stand up and tell stupid capitalists like you Meera and your manipulative Western rulers to go to hell.
He will win next week because the old people in the rural areas who fought and survived the evil white colonialist regime of Smith will see to it that no Rhodie sympathizer and apologist like the stooges in the MDC get to form a government in a country we fought hard to liberate.
He will win because the MDC is a band of dim witted fools who think Western support can be translated into votes on the ground.
For your information the MDC or what's left of it is only popular with slum dwellers that happen to be foreigners and few middle-class sell-outs who cannot resist the easy access to the American dollar that MDC membership brings with it.
For us true Zimbabwe we now hope and pray that after this election, Simba Makoni will move on to form a truly home grown principled and true Zimbabwean opposition party to rival Zanu-PF.
We are tired of charlatans like Morgan and their insatiable taste for praise from the capitalist and neolibs in the West.
So Meera before you attempt to soil the name of Zimbabwe do a bit of research first. If you had done that, you will not have come to the silly conclusion that the election will be stolen. Zimbabwe is not the Maldives where you could write and report your way into an award or a scholarship Meera.
It is a country with a proud revolutionary history and you do yourself no favour by seeking to soil the name of its founding president.
It is up to us Zimbabweans to judge the success or otherwise of Mugabe not foreign busy bodies like you.
What a shame on those who continue to pour millions into MDC coffers. You and they are backing the wrong horse. Like has happened every time since 2000, MDC will loose again and this time by a VERY HUMILLIATING MARGIN. After this then we patriotic Zimbabweans can sit down and sort out the issue of founding a genuine opposition party. Hopefully Dabengwa and Makoni will not do a Tsvangirayi on the country too, for every country does need a proper opposition party.This MDC thing will be securely thrown away into the rubbish bin of history come next week as it will be routed out of all relevancy.


GBR

MDELELWA -- wow, are you for real? And are you actually real?

Do we have a Zimbabwean PresidentD on our hands here?


Mdelelwa has been at the magic mushrooms... Too bad his great anti-colonialist leader Mugabe can't even feed his people, isn't it?


GBR

MDELELWA - "For your information the MDC or what's left of it is only popular with slum dwellers"

Mugabe has made sure all Zimbabweans are slum dwellers these days, no?

I'll bet my last Zim Dollar (not worth much after Mugabe's great work) that you drive around the streets of London in a black diplomatic S-Class Mercedes reg ZIM 1


GBR

MDELELWA

You're really grasping at straws aren't you..?

"It is misinformed, misguided and delusional people like this journalist who are the problem for Zimbabwe not Mugabe"

Right, so it's this journalist's fault that Mugabe has sent the economy down the pan?

"Why is it that you have come to the stupid conclusion that the only free election is one in which Mugabe loses?"

Because he's completely ruined Zimbabwe's economy and driven his people down into grinding poverty?

"How many Zimbabweans must perish because of western sanctions before you admit that these sanctions have failed to turn rural voters against their President?"

Aaaah, I see, so it's the fault of 'western sanctions' that
Mugabe's thugs invaded all of those farms, thus grinding the economy to a halt? Or perhaps it's the fault of the west that inflation has gone through the roof?

"Mugabe DOES NOT rig elections"

For goodness sake, you could at least try and come out with a convincing lie! Do you seriously, honestly believe that?

WAKE UP, Mugabe is destroying Zimbabwe, it's got nothing to do with the evil westerners and you know it.


GBR

But yes MDELELWA, what the hell, vote Zanu PF! And then watch your country fall even futher into the abyss.

It's your choice.


MDELELWA - "For your information the MDC or what's left of it is only popular with slum dwellers"

Actually Mugabe's program "Clean out the filth"
which destroyed thousands of dwellings,
made homeless tens of thousands of these slum dwellers.
So, according to MDELELWA, Mugabe, being the great
African leader he is, brought an end to slums in Zimbabwe.
And with the title of the program told us what we already know, how he feels about the people of Zimbabwe,
particularly those that disagree with him.

MDELELWA, welcome to CIF, where we look forward to you
continue to defend the indefensible.


USA

We in South Africa have been caught up in a bit of a dilemma. What do you do when your favorite uncle goes crazy? The guy who helped you grow up and sheltered you in the dark days? What do we do about our crazy uncle Bob? not so easy - http://angryafrican.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/my-uncle-bob/


BHS

MDELELWA doesn't care if Mugabe stays in power because he/she is living in Britain where the negative situation in Zimbabwe doesn't affect him/her.

Perhaps you should go and live in your wonderful country if you consider yourself a patriotic Zimbabwean.


GBR

Angryafrican, please explain to me because I can't understand this.. Despite Mugabe's status as being one of the original revolutionary brothers, why on earth have Africa's leaders not intervened? Why are they allowing Zimbabwe to collapse?

South Africa's response in particular has been very odd, they've got millions of refugees flooding over the border and yet neither Mbeki or Zuma see the situation as urgent..?


GBR

Arent you glad you can oppose this article without fear?

Wouldnt it be great if it could happen in Zimbabwe?


GBR

Some people are so naive.

Does it really matter who is elected? The prevailing culture will still be the same. Read animal farm and you might understand.


Nobody does delusion better than the left - Meera's previous four articles cover - chaos in Kenya - a fragile ceasefire in Uganda - violence in Chad - tragedy in Darfur.

Her solution in each article? Peace, mutual understanding and goodwill must carry the day. Yeah Right!

And this time?

'Zimbabwe was and still can be one of the most prosperous, modern countries in Africa, with the political, cultural and economic clout to power the whole region. Its friends and allies need to guide it back onto the right path.'


GBR

Well ok CongestionCharge, if all us hapless lefties have got it so wrong, what's your solution?

Far be it from me to suggest that the right wingers who frequent this site are happy to throw the mud but are short on answers themselves..


GBR

terryuno -

"Does it really matter who is elected? The prevailing culture will still be the same."

Well considering how far down the path to oblivion Mugagbe has taken Zimbabwe, terryuno, yes I think it would make a huge difference if somebody else took over! The opposition wouldn't be beaten and intimidated for a start.


GBR

The idea that Zimbabwe problems are down to one man is ludicrous. If that was truly the case then surely he could have been taken out and everything would be roses.

Whoever replaces him will have to act in a similiar way to Mugabe because that is the language of Zimbabwean culture. Some people thought just getting rid of Saddam Hussein would turn Iraq into a democracy.

European intervention is the only hope for Zimbabwe. Europeans have the skills and knowledge to turn Zimbabwe into a successful nation. In other words DIVERSITY & MULTICULTURISM.


GBR

The idea that Zimbabwe problems are down to one man is ludicrous. If that was truly the case then surely he could have been taken out and everything would be roses.

Whoever replaces him will have to act in a similiar way to Mugabe because that is the language of Zimbabwean culture. Some people thought just getting rid of Saddam Hussein would turn Iraq into a democracy.

European intervention is the only hope for Zimbabwe. Europeans have the skills and knowledge to turn Zimbabwe into a successful nation. In other words DIVERSITY & MULTICULTURISM.



GBR

Finite187 write "Well ok CongestionCharge, if all us hapless lefties have got it so wrong, what's your solution?

Far be it from me to suggest that the right wingers who frequent this site are happy to throw the mud but are short on answers themselves"

Finite187 what bloody breed of lefty are you trying to exactly brain wash us with...the pretendy-lefty desparado or the degenerated Tony Blair variety. Next you'll try and slip it in that the Rhodesian SS were somehow lefties. Get over it fascist, the dead Nazi state of Rhodesia and Tonyblairia both failed and Zimbabwe lives on. Blairofascist creep.

Shona-Ndebeles 5
Anglo-Saxons 0


GBR

Africa free and fair democratic elections.......Don't make me laugh!


GBR

Terryuno - do you know much about the History of Zimbabwe? It doesn't sound like it. Also using phrases like 'If that was truly the case then surely he could have been taken out and everything would be roses' does nothing to lend any weight to your argument. If you look at the history and politics of Zimbabwe you will see that it is indeed one man, Comrade Bob, that has sent Zimbabwe into a downward spiral.

ManVanTshwane - Zimbabwe lives on? yeah keep on believing that if you like. Where are you writing from, your living room in Twickenham? Stop your ranting, it makes you sound like an idiot


GBR

ManVanTshwane

"Next you'll try and slip it in that the Rhodesian SS were somehow lefties. Get over it fascist, the dead Nazi state of Rhodesia and Tonyblairia both failed and Zimbabwe lives on. Blairofascist creep."

hahahahaaaa, you must be a windup, ManVanTshwane.. I can assure you, all of us evil anglo saxons would like nothing more than to keep out of African affairs, but would you not agree that Zimbabwe is in serious economic trouble at the moment?

Would you also agree that this economic collapse is the fault of Robert Mugabe? It wasn't us evil westerners who invaded all those farms and caused the collapse of Zimbabwe's agricultural system.

Similarly, western nations had nothing to do with sky high inflation. Or the intimidation and beatings of opposition activists.

Tell me ManVanTshwane, do you live in Zimbabwe? Somehow I suspect not..


GBR

A depressing set of comments here, that only seem to underline a)how limited the possible solutions are and b)how polarised people's positions are.

The only workable solution I can see would be for the ANC to negotiate secretly with Zanu PF to remove Mugabe - ironically, it's like South Africa all over again - Zim is going to have to haul itself back towards democracy the longer, transitional, way. There will be no velvet revolution. Sadly.

PS: every Saturday, from 2-6 they hold a vigil outside Zim House on the Strand. Go to support, or at the very least to hear how beautifully they sing Nkosi Sikele iAfrika.


GBR

Terryuno - You may well be right about a legacy of African 'strongmen', Idi Aminn, Mubutu, now Mugabe.. But the fact of the matter is that Zimbabwe (by African standards) was doing ok before Mugabe decided to start invading the white-owned farms. They were producing enough food to feed most people, in fact they used to export food to the rest of Africa.

What's going on now is out of the ordinary, definitely.


GBR

Get real peeps.
Mugabwe wouldn't have survived for so long if he didn't have widespread support.

Zimbabwe needs to open itself up to the outside world through mass immigration. It needs new ideas and fresh blood. People like Mugabwe are relics of the past and need to be sidelined.


GBR

"Mugabwe wouldn't have survived for so long if he didn't have widespread support."

You're absolutely right, but that's because until fairly recently, he wasn't displaying these facist tendencies!

I think the bigger problem is that all of these revolutionary movements have suddenly found themselves in power all over Africa, but these guys are clueless ex-marxists who haven't the first idea how to run an economy. When things go wrong, they respond with 'strongman' tactics.

There's also a tendency to end up with virtual one-party states, the ANC and Zanu PF being good examples.


GBR

Terryuno, you're nothing short of a genius, in fact you should be running Zimbabawe instead of 'Mugabwe'


GBR

Sorry, Mugabe, although I prefer Mugabwe.


GBR

hilarious contribs from ManVanTswane and mdelelewa...
clearly they are bitter individuals - a remnant of those old africanist pseudo-leftists who whine about the wicked west and who, like mugabe, are still fighting yesterday's battles...all this while their dreams of african liberation are as worthless as a barrel full of zim banknotes.
its not the west wot dun it mates, its the sheer thievery, thuggery, incompetance and general stupidity of those leaders you idolize - this, sadly, is what the great zimbabwe Chimurenga has been reduced to....and of course you will be the last to realize this.
It is also deeply, deeply saddening to realize that Ian Smith was right...
Amandla Awetu?? HA HA HA!


GBR

Be careful what you say Mugabe might be a cannibal that would come as no surprize, Amin was.


GBR

@austint
Yes I am for real-a true patriotic Zimbabwean who will not just sit down in peace and quiet when foreign mischief makers plot mayhem and disaster in my country.
Every election time, you have all these parachute journalists and armchair experts like you predicting bloodshed and civil war when results are announced.
Every election time the Western cable news organizations send their star presenters to the country to witness the bloodshed they wish to see happen in vain.
Some diplomats go as far as paying fools like Morgan to confront law enforcement agents in the hope of provoking civil war.
All what you posters here wish to see is civil strife in Zimbabwe because you cannot accept that an African country can tell you to go to hell and eject white colonialist settlers like we did. You have no real concern for Zimbabwe. If you were genuinely concerned you would be urging your governments to lift illegal sanctions they imposed on Zimbabwe.
You need to accept that you cannot fool all the Africans all the time. From time to time a Mugabe will rise up and tell you where to take your racist tendencies and policies. Not all Africans are clueless political idiots like Morgan your favoured stooge of the moment.
You can wail as much as you like but I tell you events in Zimbabwe are beyond your control. You cannot simply walk in and do the silly orange thing like in Ukraine or execute another Rose or purple or whatever colour your so-called revolutions are called elsewhere. Zimbabwe is different for it is a country born out of revolutionary sacrifices of its people and leaders. The thuggery, the racism and evil of the former colonialist settlers is still fresh in our minds.
Our country can never be a colony again. There is no going back to Rhodesia. Our people maybe hungry but at least they are free and proud of their revolutionary heritage. The sooner you lot accept that the better for you. ZIMBABWE IS NOT FOR SALE!! If you are looking for another piece of Africa to buy, try Botswana where you lot prefer to keep quite whilst its government poisons off the Khoisan people in order to protect Western diamond concerns. And remember even there, real Africans are beginning to challenge their sell-out leaders and are reclaiming what belongs to them. Zimbabwe has shown them its possible to challenge centuries of western domination. You can vilify and demonize the likes of Mugabe but the truth is that your power and influence in Africa is waning. No other country in Africa has ever told your spies and political agitators and subversives pretending to be election observers to go to hell. So I am not surprised you are pissed off with RGM. After he thwarted grand Western plan to partition the DRC he is at it again driving the last nail on the coffin of Rhodie remnants in Zimbabwe. What an African!!!!!!!!


GBR

@austint
Yes I am for real-a true patriotic Zimbabwean who will not just sit down in peace and quiet when foreign mischief makers plot mayhem and disaster in my country.
Every election time, you have all these parachute journalists and armchair experts like you predicting bloodshed and civil war when results are announced.
Every election time the Western cable news organizations send their star presenters to the country to witness the bloodshed they wish to see happen in vain.
Some diplomats go as far as paying fools like Morgan to confront law enforcement agents in the hope of provoking civil war.
All what you posters here wish to see is civil strife in Zimbabwe because you cannot accept that an African country can tell you to go to hell and eject white colonialist settlers like we did. You have no real concern for Zimbabwe. If you were genuinely concerned you would be urging your governments to lift illegal sanctions they imposed on Zimbabwe.
You need to accept that you cannot fool all the Africans all the time. From time to time a Mugabe will rise up and tell you where to take your racist tendencies and policies. Not all Africans are clueless political idiots like Morgan your favoured stooge of the moment.
You can wail as much as you like but I tell you events in Zimbabwe are beyond your control. You cannot simply walk in and do the silly orange thing like in Ukraine or execute another Rose or purple or whatever colour your so-called revolutions are called elsewhere. Zimbabwe is different for it is a country born out of revolutionary sacrifices of its people and leaders. The thuggery, the racism and evil of the former colonialist settlers is still fresh in our minds.
Our country can never be a colony again. There is no going back to Rhodesia. Our people maybe hungry but at least they are free and proud of their revolutionary heritage. The sooner you lot accept that the better for you. ZIMBABWE IS NOT FOR SALE!! If you are looking for another piece of Africa to buy, try Botswana where you lot prefer to keep quite whilst its government poisons off the Khoisan people in order to protect Western diamond concerns. And remember even there, real Africans are beginning to challenge their sell-out leaders and are reclaiming what belongs to them. Zimbabwe has shown them its possible to challenge centuries of western domination. You can vilify and demonize the likes of Mugabe but the truth is that your power and influence in Africa is waning. No other country in Africa has ever told your spies and political agitators and subversives pretending to be election observers to go to hell. So I am not surprised you are pissed off with RGM. After he thwarted grand Western plan to partition the DRC he is at it again driving the last nail on the coffin of Rhodie remnants in Zimbabwe. What an African!!!!!!!!


GBR

@austint
Yes I am for real-a true patriotic Zimbabwean who will not just sit down in peace and quiet when foreign mischief makers plot mayhem and disaster in my country.
Every election time, you have all these parachute journalists and armchair experts like you predicting bloodshed and civil war when results are announced.
Every election time the Western cable news organizations send their star presenters to the country to witness the bloodshed they wish to see happen in vain.
Some diplomats go as far as paying fools like Morgan to confront law enforcement agents in the hope of provoking civil war.
All what you posters here wish to see is civil strife in Zimbabwe because you cannot accept that an African country can tell you to go to hell and eject white colonialist settlers like we did. You have no real concern for Zimbabwe. If you were genuinely concerned you would be urging your governments to lift illegal sanctions they imposed on Zimbabwe.
You need to accept that you cannot fool all the Africans all the time. From time to time a Mugabe will rise up and tell you where to take your racist tendencies and policies. Not all Africans are clueless political idiots like Morgan your favoured stooge of the moment.
You can wail as much as you like but I tell you events in Zimbabwe are beyond your control. You cannot simply walk in and do the silly orange thing like in Ukraine or execute another Rose or purple or whatever colour your so-called revolutions are called elsewhere. Zimbabwe is different for it is a country born out of revolutionary sacrifices of its people and leaders. The thuggery, the racism and evil of the former colonialist settlers is still fresh in our minds.
Our country can never be a colony again. There is no going back to Rhodesia. Our people maybe hungry but at least they are free and proud of their revolutionary heritage. The sooner you lot accept that the better for you. ZIMBABWE IS NOT FOR SALE!! If you are looking for another piece of Africa to buy, try Botswana where you lot prefer to keep quite whilst its government poisons off the Khoisan people in order to protect Western diamond concerns. And remember even there, real Africans are beginning to challenge their sell-out leaders and are reclaiming what belongs to them. Zimbabwe has shown them its possible to challenge centuries of western domination. You can vilify and demonize the likes of Mugabe but the truth is that your power and influence in Africa is waning. No other country in Africa has ever told your spies and political agitators and subversives pretending to be election observers to go to hell. So I am not surprised you are pissed off with RGM. After he thwarted grand Western plan to partition the DRC he is at it again driving the last nail on the coffin of Rhodie remnants in Zimbabwe. What an African!!!!!!!!


Mdelelwa, you are such a patriotic Zim that you live in Britain. Get over yourself. Nobody believes you, you may as well say that the sun sets in the North... You really are creepy.


MDELELWA
How can you, hand on heart,
call yourself a patriotic Zimbabwean?

Patriotic Zimbabweans, of which there are many, black and white, despair at the collapse of the country caused,
not by Britain, nor by 'unpatriotic whites',
but by the disastrous policies of Mugabe and
his ruling black elite, who have replaced the white racism
of Rhodesia with their own brand of racism,
something, I see, you have bought into,
hook, line and sinker, repeating the Mugabe mantra:
"Zimbabwe will never be a colony again".

Britain and the West had sanctions against RHODESIA,
supported the independent state of Zimbabwe,
(the Lancaster House agreement), provided development aid (and still provides humanitarian aid) to Zimbabwe.
Britain, the country in which you are fortunate enough
to reside, to be able to work, that has a functioning
healthcare system, a social welfare system,
you still want to see as your enemy !
You have spent too much time in the youth camps, shamwari!!


GBR

terryuno: You are the one who needs to get real. Mugabe rules through extreme violence, which began in the mid 1980s, and would never win a free and fair election. The Constitution allows the President to chose 30 MPs, which means the opposition has to win at least 30 more seats than ZANU PF. Opponents cannot get the weaponry to depose him from sympathetic neighbouring countries like he did, so the people of Zimbabwe are stuck with him.

Mugabe narrowly lost the only free and fair election to be held in Zimbabwe - the Referendum on a new Constituition in February 2000. That's why he rigged the parlimentary elections a few months later after intimidating the rural population. He 'won' that vote by a very narrow margin and if the law had been allowed to take its course and some election results overturned, he would have lost. I was there at the time and have hundreds of newspaper cuttings detailing the attrocities committed on his orders.

However, There are plenty of Zimbabweans who could run the country far better than Mugabe. I've had the honour of working with some of them. They used to make regular visits abroad, many have been educated abroad and have plenty of 'fresh' ideas.

See www.cryzimbabwe.com

MDELELWA: Zimbabwe was for sale quite recently. Gaddafy was given chunks of it in return for oil.

And as you rightly say, Botswana cleverly sells its diamonds so Botswanans can eat. Meanwhile, Police Chiefs, Newsreaders, and politicians sit in the farmhouses of the former white farmers in Zimbabwe and discuss life after Mugabe instead of putting 'their' land to productive use. Pure Genius.

Why are you in Britain if life in Zimbabwe is so good and you are so patriotic?

 

GBR

MDELELWA

"Yes I am for real-a true patriotic Zimbabwean who will not just sit down in peace and quiet when foreign mischief makers plot mayhem and disaster in my country"

'Foreign mischief makers' haven't needed to do anything Mdelelwa, Mugabe has done a very good job of wrecking the economy all on his own. If you actually lived there you'd appreciate that a bit more.


USA

If only Zimbabwe had something worth stealing, the the USA would be there championing the spirit of "Democracy". . . poor shame - and shame on the West.


GBR


To waazpi, to terryuno, to Finite187 and to
all Rhodies and Rhodie sympathizers,
Get it through your thick skins.
You have failed since 2000 to kill off Zimbabwe.
What makes you think this time around you will succeed?
This is much more than Mugabe. It is about Zimbabwe's pride-a people saying we will not be told what to do by those who sought to keep us in perpetual servitude. This is about Africans standing up tall and proud and telling oppressors to get lost from their midst.
I do not need Mugabe to tell me that Western interference in Zimbabwe is down to evil intentions.
Over five million people, FIVE MILLION Africans, 5000000 million innocent civilians 5m Congolese people have died in the DRC since the 2000.
Why are you lot not voicing concern about that? Why are you not staging these vigils that you are staging over Zimbabwe in respect of these millions? The millions of people dead in the DRC in less than ten years are more than the entire population of Ireland. Where is your shock at this statistics? Obviously, because your governments are implicated in the death of these millions I do not expect you lot to comment on that.
Instead you pick on Zimbabwe where only a handful have unfortunately died usually due to violence sanctioned and perpetrated by the puppet opposition.
If there is a God somewhere, when judgment day comes you lot will occupy the deepest and the hottest depths of hell.
VIVA ZIMBABWE!!!!!!!


GBR


To waazpi, to terryuno, to Finite187 and to
all Rhodies and Rhodie sympathizers,
Get it through your thick skins.
You have failed since 2000 to kill off Zimbabwe.
What makes you think this time around you will succeed?
This is much more than Mugabe. It is about Zimbabwe's pride-a people saying we will not be told what to do by those who sought to keep us in perpetual servitude. This is about Africans standing up tall and proud and telling oppressors to get lost from their midst.
I do not need Mugabe to tell me that Western interference in Zimbabwe is down to evil intentions.
Over five million people, FIVE MILLION Africans, 5000000 million innocent civilians 5m Congolese people have died in the DRC since the 2000.
Why are you lot not voicing concern about that? Why are you not staging these vigils that you are staging over Zimbabwe in respect of these millions? The millions of people dead in the DRC in less than ten years are more than the entire population of Ireland. Where is your shock at this statistics? Obviously, because your governments are implicated in the death of these millions I do not expect you lot to comment on that.
Instead you pick on Zimbabwe where only a handful have unfortunately died usually due to violence sanctioned and perpetrated by the puppet opposition.
If there is a God somewhere, when judgment day comes you lot will occupy the deepest and the hottest depths of hell.
VIVA ZIMBABWE!!!!!!!


IRL

"Our people maybe hungry but at least they are free and proud of their revolutionary heritage. The sooner you lot accept that the better for you. ZIMBABWE IS NOT FOR SALE!!"

Free to be beaten, raped, murdered, starved, made homeless, die from simple sickness for want of water and aspiran....yes they are free to a suffer a miserable existence.

Proud of the revolution - what a crock, what revolution..
Criminals and drunks given arms by russia, who never engaged in a stand up fight in their lives. Murdering familys and civilians and running away ...... what a joke. It was the UK and world pressure on South Africa that gave Mugabe a chance at the helm - how wrong we were.

Of course the majority wanted an end to white rule, but they didnt sign up for this madmans reign.

Zimbabwe is not for sale, thats the best line Ive heard. Mugabe has sold off every scrap of worth in Zimbabwe to keep himself in power. China now owns anything of value left, namely minerals and mining rights.

Mugabe belongs in the Hauge. And the people who supported him will not be forgotten.



USA

> It is hard to see just how Zimbabwe can be saved.

So true. With the passing of Ian Smith, Zimbabwe can never go back to the days of prosperity where the country fed most of sub-Saharan Africa.

Thanks to the malfeasance of the UK government, a once-prosperous country now starves.


USA

Well what do you know? Scratch some Brits and you might just find a colonial homunculus tricked out in pith helmet and jodhpurs. I thought was our gig these days.


GBR

MDELELWA

Personally, I don't give a toss about lost causes like Zimbabwe.

Also, thank you for illustrating my point about nothing changing if Mugabe left. There would still be people like you to destroy the country.


GBR

@ kickinbird

you say, "Free to be beaten, raped, murdered, starved, made homeless, die from simple sickness for want of water and aspiran....yes they are free to a suffer a miserable existence".
You could not have better described the situation in 1937 when my parents were driven out of their ancestral land any better.
They not only lost their livelihood and way of live but were subjected to terrible horrors. I am proud to say that a few weeks ago I walked a free man on those lands now back to my people all because of the revolutionary sacrifices of all Zimbabweans.
Mugabe to the Hague? Whilst Mugabe let the tyrant Smith die a free man? Ever ask yourself why we did not hang smith in 1980? Because we Africans are better humans than our oppressors.
Mugabe to the Hague? To that notorious so-called international court of justice? You must be joking. If anyone deserves to be put on trial and be shot before dawn it is Rhodies who killed thousands of Africans.
Mugabe to the Hague? What about Tony Blair and Bush? Why are you not protesting about the violence they have visited on Iraq? Or their complicity in the genocide in the DRC?



BHS

MDELELWA: "This is about Africans standing up tall and proud and telling oppressors to get lost from their midst."

And once the 'oppressors' are gone from your midst back to Europe you'll just follow them to wherever they go because the country will turn to sh**.

That's why you're in Britain right now instead of Zimbabwe right?

There will probably be a flood of black South Africans moving to Britain soon as that country turns to Sh** under Zuma.


BHS

MDELELWA: "Why are you not protesting about the violence they have visited on Iraq? Or their complicity in the genocide in the DRC?"

A lot of people have protested against the Iraq war and condemned Bush and Blair for their actions. Why can't you condemn Mugabe for some of what he has done?

And how do Bush and Blair get the blame for the war in the Congo when it started before they were in office?

I know that Mugabe sent soldiers to fight in the DRC but did Bush and Blair?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/611898.stm


GBR

Imperialist wrote "So true. With the passing of Ian Smith, Zimbabwe can never go back to the days of prosperity where the country fed most of sub-Saharan Africa."


Seriously Imperialist have you been eating your own feces? What is it about Euros and their love affairs for fascist big men. You need to grow up and get a life you derranged nutcake.


GBR

@WAAZPI

"There will probably be a flood of black South Africans moving to Britain soon as that country turns to Sh** under Zuma".

There are many reasons why people migrate. But at least the Africans coming here do not come to plunder and loot the Western countries. They do not come here to rape your sisters and mothers like those evil settlers who went to Africa did to my people. Africans come here to work and earn an honest penny. I think that is what globalization is about-one global village hey! You do not complain about outward migration from places like UK. So why talk of a flood of blacks when you people flooded the world, colonized and multiplied like insects in NZ, USA , RSA, ZIM and Australia to the extent of almost breeding out the real owners of those lands.


GBR

@WAAZPI

"There will probably be a flood of black South Africans moving to Britain soon as that country turns to Sh** under Zuma".

There are many reasons why people migrate. But at least the Africans coming here do not come to plunder and loot the Western countries. They do not come here to rape your sisters and mothers like those evil settlers who went to Africa did to my people. Africans come here to work and earn an honest penny. I think that is what globalization is about-one global village hey! You do not complain about outward migration from places like UK. So why talk of a flood of blacks when you people flooded the world, colonized and multiplied like insects in NZ, USA , RSA, ZIM and Australia to the extent of almost breeding out the real owners of those lands.


GBR

MDELELWA & ManVanTshwane,

next time someone stops me to in the street collecting for africa I will say that i will not assist them as i do not want to be an imperialist, supprting post colonial rule or to be seen as supporting foreign agencies trying to undermine african countries. We should also assist individuals such as yourself to return to these countries as it is such a hardship in the west and you are being treated badly.

I believe the west should get out of africa and leave it alone. Africa can then have the rulers they deserve and the economic consequenses. Goodbuy africa missing you already (not).

Why do so many zimbabwe citizens want to remain in the UK if we are so bad, they have voted with thier feet.


IRL

Government of national unity. Rule of Law. Economic crash plans. Emergency aid projects to establish secure supply of food, water and power. Redistribution of land. Training for farmers.

Simple things being suggested by fellow black Zimbabweans. The MDC are indigenous, the Matabele are indigenous.

Its not about whites - its about the greatest african weakness, tribal power, that is brutish and uncomprimising.

Until you stop being a victim you will not be any use to the country you profess to love.


MDELELWA: There are many reasons why people migrate.

Like trying to get an education, a living, freedom and many other things not available in the utopia that is Zimbabwe where everyone is fed well, owns land, has freedom, education and access to a good economy...

Nhasi ndoda kuparidza nezvedenga


BHS

MDELELWA, many Africans have come to 'plunder and loot' by selling illegal drugs on the streets of Europe, pimping out white girls, mugging people on the streets, etc...

They are also raping white European women probably to a greater extent than black women in Africa were raped by white men. I find it difficult to believe that a white person would rape a black woman anyway.

Look at the statistics on sexual assault and rape in the US:

Rape/Sexual assault:
Number of white victims 111,490

Offenders:
white on white 44.5% (49,613)
black on white 33.6% (37,460)

Number of black victims 36,620
white on black 0% (0)
black on black 100% (36,620)

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus0502.pdf
(page 30 of 38)


MDELELWA: There are many reasons why people migrate.

Like trying to get an education, a living, freedom and many other things not available in the utopia that is Zimbabwe where everyone is fed well, owns land, has freedom, and access to a stable equitable economy...

Nhasi ndoda kuparidza nezvedenga

 

MDELELWA: There are many reasons why people migrate.

Like trying to get an education, a living, freedom and many other things not available in the utopia that is Zimbabwe where everyone is fed well, owns land, has freedom, and access to a stable equitable economy...

Nhasi ndoda kuparidza nezvedenga


@MDELELWA -- you've ignored the question about 5 times now, so let's be blunt: If you love Zimbabwe so much, and it's such a wonderful place to live -- then why aren't you back there with all your revolutionary brethren kissing Mugabe's feet instead of ACTUALLY living in Britian amongst all the white imperialist warmongers???

I.M. Kaffir


Hmmm....why isn't anyone asking China to lead a multi-national force to restore stability? Russia? India? What about France? Better yet, let Africans fix Africa -- where's Egypt? South Africa?

In a related topic, how is the Sudanese regime responding to all the hand-wringing going on?

The point is -- to actually enforce the policy of "never again" requires military force or the threat thereof. Do you really think Mugabe or the janjaweed care about what Angelina Jolie or Mia Farrow think? Or do you think that a NIMITZ-class aircraft carrier steaming off the coastline might be a better method of getting their attention? All those years Europe etc. cashed in on the peace dividend and let the US do all the heavy lifting around the world might be coming back to haunt you.

For the record -- I don't support US intervention in Zimbabwe or Darfur -- primarily because change has to come from within, but also because the US has been vilified to the point that even destroying the execrable Mugabe regime would be used against us. Europe, China, Russia, Africa -- you figure it out.

 

USA

USNCDR:
keep your racist shit to yourself


GBR

@waazpi
you state
"I find it difficult to believe that a white person would rape a black woman anyway".
And you think your views on Zimbabwe on Africa on Black people are not affected by racism? If whites did not rape our people during the evil colonialist days why was Zimbabwe full of the so-called "coloured" people. If you know anything about Zimbabwe you will surely recall that in Byo we have a whole township called Thorgrove. Here the regime rounded and settled these "coloured" people. Some were born out of loving mixed relationships but the majority were off-spring of house girls/maids raped by their white bosses.


GBR

Well wotcha make of this, eh:

Mugabe opponents forced to eat election posters:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/26/zimbabwe1

 

GBR

wolfiesmith wrote "next time someone stops me to in the street collecting for africa I will say that i will not assist them as i do not want to be an imperialist, supprting post colonial rule or to be seen as supporting foreign agencies trying to undermine african countries. We should also assist individuals such as yourself to return to these countries as it is such a hardship in the west and you are being treated badly.

I believe the west should get out of africa and leave it alone. Africa can then have the rulers they deserve and the economic consequenses. Goodbuy africa missing you already (not).

Why do so many zimbabwe citizens want to remain in the UK if we are so bad, they have voted with thier feet."

Thank you. Fuck you and Europe adieu to you too. Do you get it thicko?...now go suck Smith, Hitler, Leopold and Blair.


IRL

MDELELWA

dont bother with the easy answers, about stupid racist stuff... rape is not the issue

answer my questions, why is the black majority in Zimbabwe wrong?

They have no food, but Mugabe is forcing them to eat their election posters....

Have you no shame sir, start fighting for your own people - they would be Zimbabweans of every tribe, colour or political stripe.

I say again .... brutish tribalism is the real problem, Mugabe is no more than an ignorant Tony Soprano, without the charm.



BHS

MDELELWA: "If whites did not rape our people during the evil colonialist days why was Zimbabwe full of the so-called "coloured" people. If you know anything about Zimbabwe you will surely recall that in Byo we have a whole township called Thorgrove. Here the regime rounded and settled these "coloured" people. Some were born out of loving mixed relationships but the majority were off-spring of house girls/maids raped by their white bosses."

Why do you assume it was rape rather than consensual?

There's a lot of mixed race children in Britain from black male/white female relationships.

Were all of those white women raped if the children were conceived out of wedlock?


GBR

"Printing deceit"...you said it Meera Selva, you said it. The bare faced irony of it all. Unless it was some sort of coded SOS in response to editorial pressure(?) every honest media student in Britain should get a copy of your article. Crumbs!


GBR

kickingbird wrote "MDELELWA dont bother with the easy answers, about stupid racist stuff... rape is not the issue

answer my questions, why is the black majority in Zimbabwe wrong?

They have no food, but Mugabe is forcing them to eat their election posters....

Have you no shame sir, start fighting for your own people - they would be Zimbabweans of every tribe, colour or political stripe.

I say again .... brutish tribalism is the real problem, Mugabe is no more than an ignorant Tony Soprano, without the charm.


Kickingbird what is wrong with you, what is the meaning of all the pointless gibberish your talking. What has it got to do with Zimbabwe. Indignant Irish tribesman.


GBR

ManVanTshwane, you still here? Funny that, why aren't you in your beloved Africa, if you love the place so much? Oh yeah, because the UK is where the money is. Fancy that, eh?

You'd rather stay here in the UK and accuse the rest of us of racism because we believe most of Sub-Saharan Africa is a God-forsaken tribalist hell-hole?


GBR


@KICKINBIRD
You are right, VERY RIGHT. People are starving in Zimbabwe. Children are dying from starvation and poor malnutrition.
Many are dying from AIDS because there are no drugs to contain the HIV virus in their bodies.
Diseases that were banished from the midst of people long ago have come back to haunt Zimbabwe. Raw sewage runs in the streets. Dams and other water reservoirs are full but cities still face water shortages. Cholera outbreaks threaten daily.
Women cannot get their hands on any sanitary pads. Their hygiene situation is dire.
The Zim dollar has become useless.
The list is endless the pain unbearable. That is what happens when arrogant Western countries slap illegal sanctions on a country. The West is responsible for all the funerals that will be happening up and down the country tomorrow. Until your kind has the guts to face truth and campaign against these illegal sanctions, more Zimbabweans will die. Why? Because they dared drive out four thousand white farmers who were running little Rhodesias in those farms.
God is watching!!!!!


GBR


@KICKINBIRD
You are right, VERY RIGHT. People are starving in Zimbabwe. Children are dying from starvation and poor malnutrition.
Many are dying from AIDS because there are no drugs to contain the HIV virus in their bodies.
Diseases that were banished from the midst of people long ago have come back to haunt Zimbabwe. Raw sewage runs in the streets. Dams and other water reservoirs are full but cities still face water shortages. Cholera outbreaks threaten daily.
Women cannot get their hands on any sanitary pads. Their hygiene situation is dire.
The Zim dollar has become useless.
The list is endless the pain unbearable. That is what happens when arrogant Western countries slap illegal sanctions on a country. The West is responsible for all the funerals that will be happening up and down the country tomorrow. Until your kind has the guts to face truth and campaign against these illegal sanctions, more Zimbabweans will die. Why? Because they dared drive out four thousand white farmers who were running little Rhodesias in those farms.
God is watching!!!!!


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77 Zimbabwe farmers appeal to SADC Tribunal

Zim Online

by Simplicious Chirinda Thursday 27 March 2008

HARARE - The South African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal will decide
on Friday whether to accept 77 more applications by white Zimbabwean farmers
contesting seizure of the land by the government.

The regional court last December temporarily barred the Harare government
from confiscating land from a white farmer, Michael Campbell, pending the
hearing of an application by the farmer challenging the legality of
President Robert Mugabe's programme to seize white land for redistribution
to landless blacks.

Tribunal Registrar Charles Mkandawire this week told ZimOnline that 77 more
farmers had appealed to the court to hear their cases together with that of
Campbell, which is scheduled to be heard at the end of May.

Mkandawire said: "The applications by the 77 farmers who want to have their
cases joined with the Campbell case were heard (on Tuesday). The case has
now been adjourned for ruling on whether they should be joined and whether
they should also be granted a relief in a ruling to be delivered on Friday."

Campbell, whose case was initially set for March 26 but had to be
rescheduled because of Zimbabwe's March 29 elections, wants the Tribunal to
declare Zimbabwe's land reforms racist and illegal under the SADC Treaty.

Article 6 of the regional Treaty bars member states from discriminating
against any person on the grounds of gender, religion, race, ethnic origin
and culture.

A ruling declaring land reform illegal would have far reaching consequences
for Mugabe's government, opening the floodgates for thousands of claims of
damages by dispossessed white farmers.

Such a ruling could also set the Harare government on a collision course
with its SADC allies particularly if it - as it has always done with court
rulings against its land reforms - refuses to abide by an unfavourable
Tribunal judgment.

Farm seizures are blamed for plunging Zimbabwe into severe food shortages
after the government displaced established white commercial farmers and
replaced them with either incompetent or inadequately funded black
farmers. - ZimOnline


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US rules out free and fair polls in Zimbabwe

Zim Online

by Farisai Gonye Thursday 27 March 2008

HARARE - The United States (US) on Wednesday ruled out free and fair
elections in Zimbabwe citing widespread cases of "pre-election
irregularities" that had been recorded ahead of the Saturday elections.

In a statement to the media, US State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack,
said the Zimbabwe government should take "concrete actions" to address
serious shortcomings in the election management system.

"We are concerned that actions of the Zimbabwean government will preclude
free and fair elections on March 29," said MacComarck.

"Independent organisations report extensive pre-election irregularities,
such as inaccurate voter rolls, violence and intimidation of competing
political parties and civil society, overproduction of postal ballots for
police, military, diplomats, and electoral officials," he added.

MacComarck said the US was also worried by the issue of inadequate polling
stations in urban areas that are strongholds of the main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change party and the outright bias shown by state-controlled
media.

Zimbabweans go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president,
parliamentarians and local government representatives.

President Robert Mugabe, accused by the US of rigging previous elections, is
facing his biggest electoral test in the polls from his former finance
minister Simba Makoni and popular MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mugabe however rejects charges of rigging previous elections promising his
supporters a thunderous victory to silence the opposition.

Responding to the US statement, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the
US was seeking to incite Zimbabweans to remove Mugabe through violent street
protests.

"They wish for a Kenya here because they know President Mugabe will win this
election. This whole business is meant to create doubts about our elections
so that the results are rejected before they are even out," said Chinamasa.

Chinamasa said the government would not allow Kenya-style post-election
violence in Zimbabwe adding that the security forces were on high alert to
forestall such a scenario.

At least 1 500 Kenyans died in post-election violence following a disputed
election last December.

There have been fears that Zimbabwe could explode in similar violence if
Mugabe, who is trailing Tsvangirai in opinion polls, were to rig the
election in a desperate bid to hold on to power. - ZimOnline


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Journalist suspended over leak to spy agency

Zim Online

by Tawanda Chiweshe Thursday 27 March 2008

HARARE - One of Zimbabwe's few remaining independent newspapers has
suspended a senior reporter in connection with a leak to the spy Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) last week.

The Zimbabwe Independent yesterday suspended Augustine Mukaro after it
emerged his e-mail address had been used to leak a story - detailing
political troubles at the spy outfit - to CIO director-general Happyton
Bonyongwe.

The Independent had to pull out the story last week after the CIO boss
sought a High Court order to stop the newspaper from publishing the article.

Experts from an Internet service provider this week confirmed Mukaro's
Zimbabwe Independent e-mail account had been used to route the story to the
CIO via the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ).

The printout of the story attached to the CIO's ex-parte application showed
the article had been sent through the union's email address -
admin@zuj.org.zw.

Mukaro is the ZUJ treasurer. ZUJ president Mathew Takaona has promised a
full inquiry into the allegation that a union email was used to channel the
leaked story to the CIO.

His suspension letter indicated he would continue to receive full benefits
until a disciplinary hearing was held where he is expected to defend
himself.

Mukaro is also expected to explain how and why he absented himself from work
without permission last Thursday and on Monday this week.

Independent chief executive Raphael Khumalo confirmed Mukaro was on
suspension pending a disciplinary hearing into the matter.

The CIO boss claimed the story was malicious and compromised national
security.

"Publication of a detailed version would cause irreversible harm, loss of
cohesion, alarm and despondency, indiscipline and multiplicity of adverse
consequences, which have the potential of militating against the operation
and effectiveness of the security organisation," Bonyongwe said in his
affidavit.

Bonyongwe last week came out fighting after he was linked to presidential
aspirant Simba Makoni, whose breakaway from ZANU PF has caused commotion in
the ruling party.

The CIO boss pledged his allegiance to President Robert Mugabe, seeking to
extend his 28-year rule in weekend elections. - ZimOnline


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Supreme Court overturns ban on journalist

Zim Online

by Simplicious Chirinda Thursday 27 March 2008

HARARE - The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a government ban on a
journalist, saying the state's Media and Information Commission (MIC) had
not followed correct procedures when it imposed the one-year prohibition on
the journalist.

The MIC banned award-winning journalist Brian Hungwe from practising his
trade for one year as punishment for allegedly working without accreditation
from the state media body as required under the tough Access to Information
and Protection and Privacy Act (AIPPA).

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said the decision to ban Hungwe was
un-procedural and was therefore null and void.

"I am satisfied (that) in suspending applicant, the MIC did not comply with
section 85 (3) of AIPPA. The requirements of section 85 (3) of Act are
peremptory and failure to comply with them renders the actions of MIC a
nullity," ruled Chidyausiku.

The judgment will certainly come as a welcome relief to Zimbabwe's small but
vibrant independent press that has come under a barrage of attacks over the
past five years.

President Robert Mugabe's government has over the past five years shut down
four privately-owned newspapers and arrested over a hundred journalists as
it sought to keep dissension in check.

The Harare authorities have barred several media organizations from covering
Saturday's landmark elections alleging that the media groups were pushing a
regime change agenda against the government. - ZimOnline


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State hauls artists to court over political satire

Zim Online

by Tafirei Shumba Thursday 27 March 2008

HARARE - Police have charged two artists for breaching government
censorship laws when they performed a political satire depicting Zimbabwe's
worsening political crisis.

The case, the first known case in which President Robert Mugabe's
government has hauled artists to court for breaching the repressive colonial
era Censorship Act, has been set down for hearing on April 17 at the
magistrates' court.

The artists, Sylvanos Mudzvova and Anthony Tongani, were on Tuesday
served the indictment documents in a case that will certainly make or break
Zimbabwe's small but vibrant protest arts.

"Yes, I can confirm the indictment which is basically outlining the
charge against the artists for breaching the Censorship Act and the State is
the complainant in the case set for 17 April at the magistrates' courts,"
the artists' lawyer, Philip Nyakutombwa told ZimOnline.

The artists were first arrested in Harare in October last year during
a public performance of the satire entitled The Final Push and detained at
Harare Central police station for two days while their lawyer sought their
release.

The police did not immediately charge the artists saying they wanted
to carry out further investigations. Five months down the line, the police
say the artists have a case to answer for violating the 1964 Censorship Act
that is widely seen by journalists and artists as a repressive and draconian
law stifling artistic freedom and individual liberties.

"It is a test case that we have to win at all cost because the State,
the police and the whole system want to fossilise political artists and we
are resisting that," said Mudzvova, commenting on the case.

Mudzvova and Tongani's touchy satire is named after the 2003 mass
protest march against Mugabe's government that was organised by the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. The demonstration
failed after heavily armed police and soldiers were deployed on the streets
of Harare.

Hard hitting political performances, satirising Zimbabwe's political
woes blamed on Mugabe's government, have in recent years increasingly caused
some serious consternation within the Harare administration resulting in at
least a dozen performances being banned by the police and several artists
arrested in 2007.

Two weeks ago, Zimbabwe's paranoid police officially banned the
performance of toyi-toyi, a song and dance genre generally associated with
political activism saying the dance style would incite political violence
ahead of Saturday's combined presidential and parliamentary elections in
which President Mugabe is seeking his sixth-term in office since coming into
power in 1980.

Meanwhile, police in Harare on Tuesday night banned the premiere of a
play Sahwira - Spirit of Friendship saying the production could be staged
only after Saturday's election.

Theatre buffs, arriving for the play celebrating the fight for human
rights, were turned away as the police stood guard at the venue at
Theatre-In-The-Park to enforce the ban.

The police refused to take questions on the matter. - ZimOnline


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MDC candidate, SA pilot freed without charge

Zim Online

by Patricia Mpofu Thursday 27 March 2008

HARARE - Police late on Tuesday night released without charge a
Zimbabwe opposition candidate in Saturday's election and a South
Africa-based pilot who had been arrested at Charles Prince airport.

Jameson Timba, who is standing for the Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) party, was arrested at the airport while picking
his party's election campaign material.

"We were all released late yesterday without any charges put against
us," said Timba. "The pilot is already back in South Africa," he said.

The helicopter, which belongs to a South African aviation company, had
still not been released to its owners yesterday.

State security agents arrested Timba, his aide Garikai Chuma, and the
pilot Brent Smythe, as they prepared to off-load the campaign material from
the helicopter.

Timba said they had chartered the helicopter to enable Tsvangirai to
fly around the country for his last-minute campaigns ahead of the elections
on Saturday.

"The motive for our arrests was to frustrate our last minute campaigns
by holding us in custody from 7am until late Tuesday. No amount of police
harassment is going to stop the winds of change," said Timba.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena refused to comment on the incident
saying he would issue a statement on the arrest of the trio on Thursday. -
ZimOnline


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The Current Situation



So much going on it¹s difficult to keep track.

On the economic front things go from bad to worse. Inflation continues to
escalate and now stands at something over 400 000 percent. Prices are
changing daily, even by the hour. Quotations are valid for a few hours, you
pay when you take delivery. I heard of someone who was at lunch and while
they were eating, the price went up!

Mugabe has continued to breathe fire and brimstone against the private
sector. After signing the Indigenisation Bill into law, he went on to
threaten all remaining British companies with expropriation of their assets
and to force all companies to freeze their prices at some arbitrary date in
February. The Indigenisation Act provides for all foreign owned companies to
sell 51 per cent of their equity to indigenous businesspersons, 25 per cent
to the State for no cost and 26 per cent to be paid from future dividends.

51 percent means the loss of control over the appointment of management and
the determination of policy. For every dollar invested, investors get 49
cents of value and no control. No company, local or foreign owned, will
accept such a draconian measure. Most firms would rather just windup and
close down.

These statements and measures have simply frozen private sector activity in
its tracks. No investment is taking place nor any maintenance and
development. The entire business community is now simply waiting for the
outcome of the election. Even the many companies owned by previous
supporters of Zanu PF are now sitting back and watching events. They know
the present situation is so dire that change is inevitable.

On the food front the regime had placed huge orders with Malawi and Zambia ­
Malawi actually offered to sell us maize on credit, Zambia also offered
terms. Now Malawi, after delivering part of the order, has discovered that
they overestimated their crop and has hurriedly shut down the operation. I
hope they have been paid. I suspect that Zambia is in the same position and
is also now ³going slow² on deliveries.

This coupled to the global tight market for basic foods, wheat, maize and
soybeans means much higher prices and longer supply positions. We have run
out of food. Beef is Z$100 million per kilo; milk is Z$40 million plus per
litre. If you can find it, maize meal is costing Z$80 to Z$120 million
dollars for 10 kilos. On top of this there is a real physical shortage of
basic foods of all kinds. Fresh vegetables are scarce and expensive.

One interesting aspect of this food situation is that what Zanu PF had
counted on, as being an electoral asset ­ the ability to control and direct
basic food supplies on a patronage or political affinity basis, has in fact
become a liability. Hungry people, who cannot find food for their families
or simply cannot afford the very high prices, are angry people.

Signs of accelerated decay are all around us ­ schools closed early and will
be closed for 6 weeks, many have less than half their establishment of
teachers and of those, half or more are just out of school themselves and
are untrained. The roads are in dire straights and grass verges have not
been cut for months, small trees are growing on the verges in many areas.
Sewerage systems are not being maintained and water quality and availability
to all urban areas has declined, despite full dams and reservoirs. Health
services are incapable of dealing with even routine needs.

The flood of refugees continues to pour out of Zimbabwe into neighboring
States ­ mainly South Africa. There, Xenophobia and economic tensions
between migrants and local populations are giving rise to violence and
retribution.

On the electoral front Mugabe is in a state of panic. What is all this ³red
card² business he plaintively asked, at a rally on Sunday in Bulawayo
attended by a small crowd dominated by school kids. He is looking his age
and has to be assisted to walk and climb stairs. An increasingly defiant
population is ignoring his demands and threats.

The authorities continue to do what they can to intimidate activists ­ they
are arrested and beaten for putting up posters, doing door-to-door
campaigns. Meetings are routinely banned or the organizers arrested for
holding an ³illegal gathering². I ran over the time limit for one of my
meetings and in the morning I got a phone call to say ­ do not do it again!

On Friday we brought in a helicopter to help Morgan carry out the remaining
flurry of rallies ­ 15 rallies were planned for three days ­ the aircraft
moving a small group quickly from one rural venue to another. We cleared his
first day¹s programme in Harare but Bulawayo refused to accept that and the
aircraft stayed on the ground ­ 4 rallies were missed, including a large
gathering at Victoria Falls. We then cleared a flight plan for 10 rallies in
Manicaland and the Mashonaland East.

The aircraft flew to Harare; a small group who were helping with the
operation ­ planning the refueling stops and so on, met the pilot on the
ground. The pilot asked me ³just keep me out of jail². I joked with him that
he should not worry ­ we (MDC) fed prisoners quite well and he would get
legal help and then free medical assistance if he was beaten!

At six on the first morning of the new programme he was arrested together
with the volunteer group and is still in custody as I write! The second
round has had to be aborted unless Morgan can try and do some of the
meetings by road. 15 rallies, probably 70 000 people, denied the chance to
see and hear their next President. Hey, welcome to the Democratic Republic
of Zimbabwe! Police even visited the elderly widow in Bulawayo who had given
him a bed for two nights yesterday!

So goes the count down ­ three days to go, 72 hours to freedom!

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 26th March 2008


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Campbell case: heads of argument summary



Introduction:

In early 2006 a constitutional challenge was launched in the Zimbabwe courts
against Amendment No. 17 of the Zimbabwe Constitution, which removes the
right of those courts to adjudicate in any way in relation to forced
acquisition (i.e. confiscation) of land in Zimbabwe by the Mugabe regime.
The effect of Amendment 17 is that a person whose land is seized by the
Mugabe regime without payment of compensation, is not permitted to apply to
a Zimbabwe court for relief.

After all legal remedies available in Zimbabwe were exhausted, the
applicants lodged the present application before the SADC Tribunal.  The
Republic of Zimbabwe signed and ratified the Treaty of the Southern African
Development Community in 1992.

The case is being brought by William Michael Campbell on behalf of himself
and as the managing director of Mike Campbell (Pty) Ltd, the owner of farm
land in Mount Carmell in the rural district of Chegutu, Zimbabwe and on
behalf of the employees of that company, and their families, who live and
work on the farm.  The Government of Zimbabwe ("GoZ") is attempting to seize
Mount Carmell without payment of any compensation.

The respondent is Robert Gabriel Mugabe in his capacity as the President of
Zimbabwe.

The final hearing of the main action in the SADC Tribunal case has been set
down to be heard on Tuesday 25 March 2008.  What follows is a brief summary
of the main arguments to be made on behalf of the applicants.

The GoZ has filed no heads of argument.

Summary of Facts:

The GoZ has been trying to seize Mount Carmell since 22 July 2001.  These
attempts were at first thwarted by the High Court of Zimbabwe.

On 14 September 2005 the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (no 17) Act 2005
came into effect.  On 15 May 2006, the applicants launched proceedings in
the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe challenging the constitutional validity of
Amendment 17.  This served to delay the eviction of the applicants, but it
became clear that no permanent protection would be found within the Zimbabwe
legal system.

On 5 October 2007 the application was lodged before the SADC Tribunal.  On
15 December 2007, the Tribunal issued an interim order.

On 22 January 2008, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe finally delivered its
judgment in the 15 May 2006 case.  The effect was to dismiss the applicants'
entire challenge.  This serves to confirm the applicants' prior contention
that all legal remedies within Zimbabwe had been exhausted.  The only
objection to the jurisdiction of the SADC Tribunal advanced by the GoZ is a
failure on the part of the applicants to exhaust domestic remedies.

Meanwhile, the GoZ has instituted criminal proceedings against William
Michael Campbell.  The prosecution has been stayed following the 15 December
2007 interim order.

Main issues:

The issue before the Tribunal is whether the Amendment 17 or the related
conduct of the GoZ comply with the Treaty obligations of the GoZ.  In
determining these issues, the Tribunal will be asked to consider issues
regarding the following:

1.            The interpretation of the SADC Treaty.

2.            The place in the SADC Treaty of the principles of human
rights, democracy and the rule of law.

3.            Does the exclusion of access to the courts offend the
rule of law?

4.             Discrimination.

5.             Compensation.

1.   The Interpretation of the SADC Treaty

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 should be applied to the
interpretation of the SADC Treaty.  The ordinary meaning of the text of the
SADC Treaty should be interpreted in light of the objects and purposes of
the Treaty.  The Article 4 respect for principles of "human rights,
democracy and the rule of law" is recognized in the text as essential to
achieving the Article 5 objectives.

The context should also be taken into account.  This includes a threefold,
integrated commitment of the Member States of SADC to attaining economic
development, encouraging regional peace and co-operation and ensuring
respect for basic human rights and the rule of law.  The context further
includes other international legal instruments which the Member States have
ratified, such as the Charter of the African Union and the African Charter
of Human and People's Rights.

The SADC Treaty is binding on Member States in terms of the Treaty itself
and the Vienna Convention.  Article 27 of the Vienna Convention provides
that a party may not use its domestic law as a justification for its failure
to perform a treaty.

The Tribunal is granted legal authority to ensure adherence to the SADC
Treaty by virtue of Article 16(1).

2.   The Place in the SADC Treaty of the Principles of Human Rights,
Democracy     and the Rule of Law

In terms of Article 4, Member States must act in accordance with principles
including "human rights, democracy and the rule of law".  Article 6(1) gives
Member States a mandate to promote the achievement of the objectives of the
SADC and the implementation of the Treaty provisions.  Article 6(2) requires
that Member States refrain from discriminating against any person on various
equality grounds.  Article 3(h) includes the promotion and protection of
human and peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human
and Peoples' Rights and other relevant instruments.

The SADC Tribunal should interpret Article 4(c) of the Treaty as requiring
Member States to act in accordance with the basic human rights, democratic
practices and rule of law principles established by international human
rights instruments.  This would give effect to the objectives and purposes
of the Treaty and is compatible with the approach taken by other
international courts, such as the European Court of Justice.

3.   Does the Exclusion of Access to the Courts Offend the Rule of Law?

Amendment 17 violates the SADC Treaty in that it violates the rule of law
itself.  Section 16B(3) of the Zimbabwe Constitution puts into effect an
ouster of the jurisdiction of the courts.  The provision precludes access to
the courts by individuals wishing to challenge the form, manner or
legitimacy of the compulsory acquisition of their land.  It prevents a
challenge to the deprivation of their rights to equality and property before
the courts as well as a judicial assessment of the substantive fairness of
compulsory land acquisition decisions.

The rule of law includes both the right of access to the courts, and the
right to a fair hearing before an individual is deprived of a right,
interest or legitimate expectation (the right to 'due process').  Both are
regarded as fundamental human rights and are well-established and protected
within the national constitutional frameworks of SADC Member States and
international human rights case law.

In South African case law, the Constitutional Court in Zondi v MEC for
Traditional and Local Government Affairs and Others 2005 (3) SA 589 (CC)
discussed Section 34 of the South African Constitution and noted that:

"Section 34 is an express constitutional recognition of the importance of
the fair resolution of social conflict by impartial and independent
institutions.  The sharper the potential for social conflict, the more
important it is.that disputes are resolved by courts".[1]

The amendments to the Zimbabwe Constitution constitute a fundamental
deprivation of the core of the rule of law in precluding any judicial
scrutiny of decisions to take property, and represent a negation of the
objective, purposes and principles of the SADC Treaty.  They expressly
violate Article 4 of the SADC Treaty.

The ouster clause (i.e. Amendment 17) is also incompatible with Article
7(1)(a) of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. The African
Commission on Human and People's Rights has placed considerable importance
on the right of access to courts, emphasizing that it should be respected
even where sharp social and political conflict exists.

Ouster clauses of a scope and extent similar to section 16B of the Zimbabwe
Constitution should be considered a denial of the right to access the courts
under the SADC Treaty.

The right to a fair hearing before an impartial tribunal is expressly set
out as a fundamental human right in many constitutions and international
instruments.

In its recent judgment, the Zimbabwe Supreme Court revealed:

"To stop what was considered obstructive litigation and secure finality in
cases of compulsory acquisition of agriculture land for public purposes, the
legislature enacted the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Act (No 17) on 14
September 2005".[2]

Now that Zimbabwe's highest domestic court has confirmed that the very
purpose of Amendment 17 was to suppress pending challenges to it by the
owners of the 157 pieces of land listed in Schedule 6, there can be no
debate as to whether the amendment complies with the rule of law.  Zimbabwe's
SADC Treaty obligations do not permit such a course.

4.       Discrimination

Amendment 17 and its enforcement targets only white farmers, irrespective of
their attributes, land-use and circumstances.  Schedule 6 is inherently
arbitrary and is based solely on race and ethnic origin, as well as the
political affiliation of the intended beneficiaries.  An annexure to the
applicants' papers sets out a large number of utterances by those
responsible for policy in Zimbabwe showing clearly that the policy of land
acquisition was premised on a racial basis.  The policy was designed to
redress the ownership of land created during the colonial period.

In 2000, the (then) Full Court of the Zimbabwe Supreme Court stated:

"We are not entirely convinced that the expropriation of white farmers, if
it is done lawfully and fair compensation is paid, can be said to be
discriminatory.  But there can be no doubt that it is unfair
discrimination.to award the spoils of expropriation primarily to ruling
party adherents".

Currently, this is exactly the case and the present situation stands in
sharp contrast to that in 2000.  The national policy of racism offends the
SADC Treaty and the established, enforceable norms (jus cogens) of
international law.  There is an absolute prohibition of racial
discrimination in Article 6 of the SADC Treaty.  The prohibition against
discrimination based on race or origin has become jus cogens and ranks with
crimes against humanity as contrary to fundamental international law.
Consequently, it cannot be derogated from no matter the excuse, and the GoZ
has offended its SADC Treaty obligations.

5.      Compensation

The GoZ does not dispute the right to compensation.

The following is common cause:

·  No compensation has been paid to the Applicants.

·  No assessment of compensation has been made and the procedures laid
down in domestic legislation have not been followed.

·  The GoZ does not have the financial resources to pay all the
compensation due in respect of farms acquired since 2000.

Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees that no
one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family or
home nor attacks upon his honour and reputation.  The principles of SADC
incorporate this guarantee.

Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right
that no person shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.  Amendment 17
to the Zimbabwean Constitution was drafted so that no consideration is given
to individual farms and merely a blanket listing was done.  The deprivation
of the applicants' land was arbitrary and contrary to international law.

The effect of Zimbabwe's Land Reform Programme has been to take land and
improvements without proper compensation for either.  In enacting section
16A of the  Zimbabwe Constitution (the section brought into law by Amendment
17), the GoZ limited its obligation to pay compensation for improvements to
property, and imposed the obligation to pay for the land itself on the
former colonial power.  This offends the principles of international human
rights law in general and the SADC Treaty in particular.  The GoZ is the
expropriating authority.  The GoZ is dealing with land which for the most
part (and certainly in the applicants' case) was lawfully acquired by virtue
of a commercial transaction, and not by any favour of the former colonial
power.  In these circumstances it was not permissible to fail to compensate
the owner for the land itself.  The GoZ cannot pass to a third party the
obligation to pay for something which in terms of international law, as the
acquiring authority, it is required to bear.

No legislative procedure exists in Zimbabwe for the assessment of
compensation of the properties acquired in terms of Amendment 17.  Prior to
the amendment, at the time that the preliminary notices of compulsory
acquisition were sent to the applicants, there were legislative procedures
in place.  These were not followed.

When deciding whether or not to make a compulsory acquisition, the acquiring
authority must have available resources to pay compensation.  The very fact
that the acquisitions by the GoZ of thousands of farms in terms of Amendment
17 is far outside the financial resources of the GoZ renders that form of
acquisition invalid.

The issue of compensation is so interwoven with the abrogation of the right
to property that the failure to provide for and pay compensation is fatal to
the compulsory acquisition exercise.  Two years have passed since the GoZ
claims to have obtained ownership of the applicants' property, and the
failure to pay compensation leads to the inevitable conclusion that the
compulsory acquisition was not done in terms of the norms of international
human rights law.

Final Relief Sought:

1.   The Government of Zimbabwe is declared in breach of its obligations as
a Member State of the SADC through its purported implementation of Amendment
17.

2.   Declaring the purported seizure of Mount Carmell by the GoZ to be in
violation of Zimbabwe's aforesaid obligations as a Member State of SADC and
as a party to the SADC Treaty.

3.   Declaring the official Zimbabwe Land Reform Programme a violation of
Zimbabwe's aforesaid obligations.

4.   Directing the GoZ to comply with such obligations within a period of
six months from date of the final order, to the satisfaction of the
Tribunal.

5.   Authorising the secretariat of the SADC to investigate and report upon
the GoZ's compliance with the final order, and to make further
recommendations regarding further steps to be taken.

6.   Directing the GoZ to pay the applicants' costs in relation to the SADC
Tribunal proceedings.

7.   Directing the GoZ to take no steps, and permit no steps to be taken, to
evict from or interfere with the peaceful residence on and beneficial use of
Mount Carmell by the applicants, and their employees and families.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] At paragraph 58.

[2] Mike Campbell (PvT) Ltd v Minister of National Security Responsible for
Land, Land Reform and Resettlement (SC49/07) at 13.


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Scenarios for 2008 Presidential Elections

 

Three scenarios have been developed based on slightly different assumptions.  The major assumption is that Tsvangirai still has major support in urban areas, whilst Mugabe still has strong support in the three Mashonaland rural  provinces.  It is assumed that Makoni will have the support of his home province, as well as of the three Matabeleland Provinces.

 

The figures are based on the 2002 Census.  It is assumed that the Census provides an accurate ratio of the population by province, and that the percentage of voters will be close to the population ratios.

 

Scenario 1, Assumptions A, B and C

Province

Pop. 2002 Census

% of Total Pop.

Assumption A : % for Makoni

As % of 2002 Census

Assumption

B: % for Mugabe

As % of 2002 Census

Assumption

C: %  for Tsvangirai

As % of 2002 Census

Mash West

1 224 670

10.53

15

184 000

70

857 000

15

184 000

Mash Cent.

995 427

8.56

15

149 000

70

697 000

15

143 000

Mash East

1 127 413

9.69

15

169 000

70

789 000

15

169 000

Harare

1 896 134

16.30

35

664 000

15

284 000

50

948 000

Manicaland

1 568 930

13.49

60

941 000

15

235 000

25

392 000

Masvingo

1 320 438

11.35

50

660 000

40

594 000

10

132 000

Mat South

653 054

5.61

70

457 000

5

33 000

25

163 000

Bulawayo

676 650

5.82

70

481 000

5

34 000

25

169 000

Mat North

704 948

6.06

70

494 000

5

35 000

25

176 000

Midlands

1 463 993

12.59

45

659 000

45

732 000

10

146 000

Totals

11 631 657

100.14

 

4 858 000

 

4 290 000

 

2 622 000

% of votes for each candidate

 

 

 

41.77

 

36.88

 

22.54

 


Scenario 2, Assumptions D, E and F

Province

Pop. 2002 Census

% of Total Pop.

Assumption

D: % for Makoni

As % of 2002 Census

Assumption

E:  % for Mugabe

As % of 2002 Census

Assumption

F:  %  for Tsvangirai

As % of 2002 Census

Mash West

1 224 670

10.53

30

367 000

55

674 000

15

184 000

Mash Cent.

995 427

8.56

30

299 000

55

548 000

15

149 000

Mash East

1 127 413

9.69

30

338 000

55

620 000

15

169 000

Harare

1 896 134

16.30

35

664 000

15

284 000

50

948 000

Manicaland

1 568 930

13.49

70

1 098 000

15

235 000

15

235 000

Masvingo

1 320 438

11.35

50

660 000

40

500 000

10

132 000

Mat South

653 054

5.61

70

457 000

15

98 000

15

98 000

Bulawayo

676 650

5.82

70

474 000

15

102 000

15

102 000

Mat North

704 948

6.06

70

494 000

15

106 000

15

106 000

Midlands

1 463 993

12.59

45

659 000

45

659 000

10

146 000

Totals

11 631 657

100.14

 

5 510 000

 

3 826 000

 

2 305 000

% of votes for each candidate

 

 

 

47.37

 

32.89

 

19.82

 


Scenario 3, Assumptions G, H and I

Province

Pop. 2002 Census

% of Total Pop.

Assumption

G:  % for Makoni

As % of 2002 Census

Assumption

H:  % for Mugabe

As % of 2002 Census

Assumption

I:  %  for Tsvangirai

As % of 2002 Census

Mash West

1 224 670

10.53

35

429 000

55

674 000

10

123 000

Mash Cent.

995 427

8.56

35

348 000

55

548 000

10

100 000

Mash East

1 127 413

9.69

35

395 000

55

620 000

10

113 000

Harare

1 896 134

16.30

50

948 000

5

171 000

45

948 000

Manicaland

1 568 930

13.49

70

1 098 000

15

235 000

15

235 000

Masvingo

1 320 438

11.35

50

660 000

40

500 000

10

132 000

Mat South

653 054

5.61

70

457 000

15

98 000

15

98 000

Bulawayo

676 650

5.82

70

474 000

15

102 000

15

102 000

Mat North

704 948

6.06

70

494 000

15

106 000

15

106 000

Midlands

1 463 993

12.59

45

659 000

45

659 000

10

146 000

Totals

11 631 657

100.14

 

5 962 000

 

3 713 000

 

2 103 000

% of votes for each candidate

 

 

 

51.26

 

31.92

 

18.08

 

Zimbabwe, Makoni Scenarios, 7 March 2008



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Dark clouds over Zimbabwe

International Herald Tribune

By Robert I. Rotberg Published: March 26, 2008

This weekend President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is expected once again to
rig elections in order to hold onto power while neighboring Botswana,
Africa's oasis of peace and good governance, will celebrate the retirement
of President Festus Mogae after two productive terms. The contrast between
Botswana and Zimbabwe could not be more stark, or more illustrative of good
and evil in Africa.

Botswana, one of Africa's wealthiest countries per capita thanks to
diamonds, tourism and sensible management, has enjoyed more than four
decades of honest, practical government under three popular presidents. On
Monday, Mogae will give way to Vice President Ian Khama.

Guided by Mogae and two other democratic presidents, the small country has
flourished and become the envy of all of Africa. Despite high HIV numbers,
its hospitals and clinics provide retroviral drugs to all sufferers. Its
schools and universities provide increasing numbers of local and neighboring
peoples with instruction.

Rule of law is observed and corruption hardly exists. Botswana's secret is
high quality leadership, broad levels of political participation, and
extensive accountability.

Across the Shashe River, Botswana's border with Zimbabwe, all is tragedy.
Where Botswana's presidents made their desert bloom, Mugabe - president
since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 - has turned his once lush, prosperous
nation into a desperate, desiccated despotism, with hunger and bitterness
everywhere.

Zimbabwe's hospitals have no medicines or sutures, its schools no textbooks
or teachers. Life expectancy is the lowest in the world, age 34 for women.
Electricity and water are available only occasionally. The difference again
is leadership.
Mugabe, 84, falsified the parliamentary elections in 2000 and 2005 in order
to prevent a victory of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, led
by trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, 56. Mugabe blatantly rigged the
presidential election of 2002 to prevent another victory by Tsvangirai. On
Saturday Zimbabwe's beleaguered voters again go to the polls to cast ballots
for president and for parliament.

This time Mugabe is running against Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni, 58,
Mugabe's one-time minister of finance. Throughout Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai is
drawing large crowds to meetings that, too often, are broken up by the
country's police. Wherever the meetings can be held, there are spontaneous
shouts of "chinja" - "change." Makoni's rallies are much less well attended,
and Mugabe's listeners are trucked in from distant villages, escorted by
police. A nationwide opinion poll taken last week in a country where polling
is dangerous reported 28 percent for Tsvangirai, 20 percent for Mugabe, 8
percent for Makoni, and the rest undecided or "too scared to vote."

Although Mugabe promised the African Union that the elections would be fair,
it has been clear for months that Mugabe intends to win, by fair means or
foul. No independent foreign observers will be allowed to watch the election
or the centralized counting at a "command center" controlled by Mugabe.
Police are being sent into each polling station to question potential
voters. There are no independent safeguards for ballot boxes, or for the
count.

There are other ominous signs. More than 9 million paper ballots have been
printed for about 6 million registered voters. Zimbabweans in neighboring
countries cannot vote, but 600,000 ballots have been printed for the 20,000
Zimbabwean diplomats and soldiers abroad.

Intimidation is rife. In Bulawayo, officers of the Central Intelligence
Organization arrested MDC supporters and made them eat an MDC poster that
they were affixing to a wall. Human Rights Watch reported that teachers
distributing flyers were assaulted with iron bars and pieces of furniture by
ruling party thugs. In areas where hunger is prevalent, the ruling party
distributes corn meal only to persons promising to vote for Mugabe.

The commander of the Zimbabwean army says that he will not permit Mugabe to
lose, and will stage a coup if there is an adverse vote. The commissioner of
police, not to be outdone, promises to fire live ammunition at anyone who
protests the conduct or result of Saturday's poll.

Zimbabweans will have to brave heavy odds and the veritable horsemen of the
apocalypse to oust Mugabe and turn their once proud country into a reborn
Botswana.

Robert I. Rotberg is director of the Kennedy School's Program on Intrastate
Conflict at Harvard University and president of the World Peace Foundation.


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Election excitement in Harare

BBC

Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 15:37 GMT

Esther (not her real name), 28, a professional living and working in
Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, is writing a regular diary on the challenges of
leading a normal life.

Zimbabwe is suffering from an acute economic crisis. The country has
the world's highest rate of annual inflation and just one in five has an
official job.

 "Easter was good and we had a fun family gathering despite having no
power some of the time and no running water almost all of the time.

We cooked our meals over an open fire and tried to minimise our trips
to the loo!

My sister arrived bearing gifts: cheese and many, many other treats.

It was so GOOD to taste cheese!!

And my sister brought baked beans, bacon, mushrooms and even butter as
well. I last ate bacon and mushrooms more than six months ago, so that was a
real treat.

Even, my parents who grew up Catholic bent the rule of no meat on Good
Friday to get a taste of bacon after so long.

Price hikes and mixed feelings

We are all groaning over the latest hike in prices.

      There is talk that some in the army plan to vote for change

But I have not heard anyone blaming it on elections - except Bob
[President Robert Mugabe] at his rallies. Most people are blaming it on
recent salary increases for civil servants and the armed forces. Hey, the
Central Bank governor is on record for saying salary increases drive
inflation.

With days to go till we can vote, our city, Harare, is full of mixed
feelings.

There is high excitement in anticipation of an opposition victory.

But there is also despondency from quite a number of people who
believe the election has already been rigged either in favour of Simba
Makoni who may maintain the status quo, or Bob himself.

The last prospect is what really depresses people... no-one can see
how we can possibly survive another term.

So many stories

On the whole though the mood is light, no-one will beat you up anymore
for wearing an MDC t-shirt or attending a rally so people are doing that in
their thousands.

And ooooooh I am hearing so many stories - people are really talking
again these days.

For instance, this woman I work with has relatives in the armed forces
and she has been telling us all about what is being said in those circles...
how so many of the comrades are sick and tired of the present situation and
how they are going to vote for change.

I am excited!

I think this year will see the dawning of a new political era in Zim.

And just based on rally attendance, Mr Tsvangirai has this one won
hands down.

Snakes

I missed Tsvangirai's Harare rally which I felt so disappointed about.

But my uncle in the rural area went to an MDC-Tsvangirai one and he
says the numbers there were amazing - as had never been seen before for an
opposition rally in the rural areas.

People appear divided on Makoni though. One man I know described him
by saying in the local chiShona language: Mwana we nyoka inyoka chete - the
offspring of a snake is a snake.

Many people are worried about rigging but I and everyone I know are
being as encouraging as possible and telling people who are worried that
they must vote anyway as this will make it more difficult to rig.

There are lots of posters all over vying for the attention of us
voters.

But the best part is that the state controlled media has been ordered
to print adverts for all the presidential candidates.

We never saw that in the last election... full colour, full spread
opposition adverts in the Herald.

Wow! "


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Bulawayo grinds to a halt as fuel shortages bite

zimbabwejournalists.com

26th Mar 2008 14:36 GMT

By Ian Nhuka

BULAWAYO - Bulawayo City Council's entire transport fleet could be grounded
from tomorrow if the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) does not
scale up its fuel allocations to the local authority by the close of
business by tomorrow (Thursday), acting town clerk, Gilbert Dube has warned.

If this happens, it would be the first time in the history of the local
authority that business would virtually grind to a halt. Already, the local
authority has indefinitely suspended provision of fire and ambulance
services, among other critical services owing to NOCZIM's failure to supply
the local authority with enough fuel.

This is the second time in three months that the cash-strapped local
authority has suspended provision of fire and ambulance services, refuse
removal, water maintenance and inspections because of lack of fuel.

Dube said NOCZIM is only providing the council 2 000 litres of diesel
weekly, instead of 20 000 litres of both diesel and petrol, resulting in the
second suspension since January.

"Council's fuel stocks have run out," he said. "This follows the failure by
NOCZIM to allocate council a weekly average of 20 000 litres of both petrol
and diesel over the last two months. Of late, council has been getting 5 000
litres of each product weekly at best and fortnightly at worst."

The suspension in the provision of the critical services puts to great risk
the lives and welfare of the city's estimated 1, 5 million residents because
the council is unable to assist, in case of emergencies such as
life-threatening accidents or fire outbreaks.

"This past week," he added,  "only 2 000 litres of diesel have been
allocated and none of petrol. Council will inevitably have to suspend even
essential services until the situation improves. The services to be
suspended include: fire and ambulance services, refuse removal, water
maintenance and various other inspections."

Bulawayo used to enjoy the distinction of being one of the country's most
smoothly run local authorities, but has in recent years struggled to provide
the most basic services because of the economic crisis, blamed on President
Robert Mugabe's economic mismanagement.

With inflation at more than 100 000 percent, and rising, foreign currency
and fuel in short supply, local authorities like the rest of the economy are
barely surviving. Furthermore, since December last
year, Bulawayo has been almost operating without a budget as the government
delayed in approving its $27 trillion supplementary budget. At the time,
council went to the extra-ordinary length of issuing a public appeal for
assistance.

When the budget was finally approved early this month, service delivery in
the city had almost ground to a halt.  All local authorities in the country
as well as other essential services, such as hospitals and clinics, obtain
cheaper fuel from NOCZIM as they generally do
not have enough money to buy the commodity from the black market where its
price is very high.

A litre of fuel on the thriving black market costs at least $30 million
while NOCZIM sells it for as little as $3 million.  A NOCZIM source, who
cannot be named for professional reasons yesterday said the fuel utility is
struggling to provide fuel because most of the deliveries are being
channeled to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for the smooth running
of Saturday's general election.

"Fuel is coming into the country, but it is being given to ZEC as you know
there are elections coming.  It is there but is not enough.  But I hope
after this commitment (elections), supplies would normalise," he said.

This week, ZEC started deploying the more than 70 000 polling officials and
transporting election materials countrywide, a mammoth exercise which needs
large amounts of fuel.

But meanwhile, Dube said: "The last drop of fuel will be channelled towards
the current sewer bursts and chokes maintenance exercise."


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'Zim needs to change'

IOL

    March 26 2008 at 04:30PM

By Phumza Macanda

Whatever public words of support Zimbabwe's government wins from its
neighbours, they will be hoping this week's election puts southern Africa's
trouble maker on a path to change.

Zimbabwe is holding back regional growth and economic integration,
spilling millions of economic migrants over its borders, straining regional
diplomacy and making the whole neighbourhood look bad for failing to end the
crisis.

Once one of the region's most dynamic economies, President Robert
Mugabe's Zimbabwe has gone from helping drive the agenda at the Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC) to consistently topping the agenda as
the problem child.

"SADC countries have had to spend a lot of energy doing two things:
finding a solution to the Zimbabwe situation and trying to anticipate the
impact of the meltdown on themselves," said Siphamandla Zondi, programme
director at the Institute for Global Dialogue.

"That is the energy that should have been used to build and to create
things we need to go forward," Zondi said.

Mugabe faces the toughest challenge to his 28 years in power because
of the economic cataclysm and ruling party defections, but opposition
divisions and the hold he has over the state apparatus mean he is still hard
to beat.

While the region certainly does not want a result that pushes Zimbabwe
to violence - Mugabe has warned rivals against Kenya-style protests if they
dispute the outcome - nobody wants a continuation of the current decline
either.

If Mugabe's challengers, ex-ally Simba Makoni and long- term rival
Morgan Tsvangirai, make serious inroads against the ruling Zanu-PF party, it
could open the way for policy reform and help end the Mugabe era even if he
wins, Zondi said.

"It might propel the ruling Zanu-PF towards some form of internal
renewal and that could mean allowing Mugabe to retire and inject new blood,"
he said, suggesting the party might then be ready to listen to advice from
the region and further afield.

"People are not even focused on democracy any more... All they want is
normality," he said.

Southern African countries have generally taken a soft approach to
Mugabe, a hero of the struggle for independence in Africa. The quiet
diplomacy has contrasted with Western demands for rapid reform, but it has
also delivered limited results.

Zimbabwe's economic woes have left shelves empty at home, the currency
all but worthless and inflation at around 100 000 percent - the world's
highest.

Farms and industry that once exported to neighbouring countries,
helping drive their own growth, are ruined. Mugabe's critics in particular
blame his policy of seizing white-owned farms to give to landless blacks.

"For smaller countries that relied heavily on Zimbabwe imports, taking
Zimbabwe out of the food picture has been devastating," said Tony Twine,
economist at Econometrix.

Sub-Saharan Africa's gross domestic product grew almost 90 percent
between 1997 and 2007 in purchasing power parity terms, according to IMF
estimates. Zimbabwe's shrank over 30 percent.

The economic crisis has sent a flood of Zimbabweans abroad - many
illegally. Some 3,5 million people are estimated to have fled the country,
most of them to South Africa. Many have also gone to Botswana.

These economic refugees are placing added pressure on social and
economic infrastructure in those countries and are increasing xenophobic
tensions, said Chris Maroleng, senior researcher at the Institute for
Security Studies.

"In South Africa, there has been an increase of sporadic violence in
communities where you find high numbers of mainly illegal immigrants. Locals
look at them as taking their jobs," he said.

The immigrants have also been blamed for the high levels of violent
crime in South Africa, although Maroleng said there was no evidence
Zimbabweans were disproportionately involved.

Analysts say Zimbabwe's crisis has also put issues such as improving
intra-regional trade and infrastructure on the back seat even though in some
ways the region remains Mugabe's biggest defender to the rest of the world.

The SADC electoral observer mission is the main body monitoring the
ballot in the absence of Western observers - Zimbabwe banned election
monitors from any countries that are critical of Mugabe.

The regional observers have been at pains to say they see the
electoral process as fair so far despite opposition complaints and concerns
raised by human rights groups, the European Union and former colonial power
Britain.

But Zimbabwe's crisis is also making relations within the region more
difficult, with countries such as Botswana being heavily critical.

The lack of clear success for the diplomatic strategy championed by
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki over Zimbabwe has been a blow to his
credibility and to all those in the region who have followed his lead.

(Editing by Marius Bosch and Matthew Tostevin)


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Voters Reluctant to Return From South Africa

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Vibrant campaign to encourage migrants to go back and vote falls flat as
diaspora Zimbabweans talk of hardship and wasted ballots.

By Sandra Nyaira in Johannesburg (AR No. 162, 26-Mar-08)

With only days before Zimbabweans elect a president, parliament and local
councils, activists in Johannesburg are going all-out to encourage the
estimated two million or more expatriates living and working here to return
home and vote.

Loud music accompanies a "Rock the Vote" event taking place just outside
Park Station, a busy transport hub in the centre of this South African city.

Many of the expatriates who work in Johannesburg pass through Park Station
on a daily basis, while cross-border traders and people doing some grocery
shopping in South Africa use the coach stations and taxi ranks.

Pitched in front of the station is a white tent decorated with Zimbabwean
flags, where artists and poets take it in turns to sing, declaim and
entertain passers-by.

Attracted by the music, diaspora members are handed leaflets by civic
activists urging them to go home and participate in the March 29 elections,
which many hope will bring an end to the rule of President Robert Mugabe and
his ZANU-PF party.

Under current rules, Zimbabweans abroad are not allowed to vote, apart from
embassy staff and others such as policemen serving with the United Nations
duty.

The "Rock the Vote" campaign includes billboards scattered around areas
where large numbers of Zimbabweans live, especially inner-city suburbs like
Berea, Hillbrow, Yeoville and Ellis Park. Similar billboards have been
placed on the Zimbabwe-South Africa border.

"Power to the People - We demand: one citizen, one vote, independently-run
elections and an end to political violence," reads one large poster outside
Park Station, posted up by the non-government group Zimbabwe Democracy Now.

Other organisations supporting the get-out-the-vote campaign include the
National Constitutional Assembly, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, the
Zimbabwe Exiles Forum and Crisis in Zimbabwe, CIZ.

CIZ hosted a "Rock The Vote" concert last weekend in Johannesburg, featuring
artists from Zimbabwe who played to an audience of mostly young economic
migrants.

Mathula Lusinga, who is in overall charge of the voter education campaign,
said it would run until election day.

"We are saying that those who can go home should go and vote, and those that
cannot go should pick up the phone and urge their relatives not to forget to
go and vote," said Lusinga.

Nixon Nyikadzino, CIZ's media spokesperson, said he was optimistic that the
concert and other efforts by civil society groups would prompts many
Zimbabweans in South Africa to go home and vote. The idea is that as many
registered voters as possible should turn up at the polls to subvert any
attempt by the Mugabe administration to rig the poll by appropriating the
votes of absentees.

"We think the message has been well served. We are also happy with the
turnout we have been receiving. I hope all these numbers will translate into
votes," said Nyikadzino.

At the concert, Nyikadzino urged the crowd to persuade friends and relatives
to go back home. He called on the religious to pray for their country, and
people who believed in ancestor spirits to should ask them for guidance.

On the streets of Johannesburg, however, many Zimbabweans who have made the
difficult journey to get here said they would not be crossing back over the
border. In any case, many said, the elections were unlikely to be free and
fair.

Most of the people interviewed for this report said the risks of returning
were too high, especially given the tough requirements and high price set
for obtaining a South African visa.

Bree Street, Johannesburg's busiest thoroughfare, is a good place to meet
Zimbabweans. There are hundreds of them, either visitors shopping for goods
they cannot buy in the empty shops back home, or migrants on their way to
work.

At several hairdressers' salons run by Zimbabweans on Bree Street, female
staff and customers said they would not be going back because they believed
their votes would count for nothing.

"What difference is it going to make if I go home and vote?" asked one
hairdresser, Martha Jani. "I voted in 2002 and nothing changed. I was in the
queue for a very long time, but look at me today. I have relatives that died
for Zimbabwe's independence but what do I have to show for it? Besides, I
went through a lot to reach this country and I'm not willing to go through
that again."

Another hairdresser, who gave her first name as Nyasha, said life in South
Africa might be far from rosy, but she had no choice but to stay. She said
she hoped family back in Zimbabwe would vote on her behalf.

"Life here is tough. We play cat-and-mouse games with government authorities
on a daily basis. Just yesterday, I was arrested for being here illegally,"
said Nyasha. "Luckily I was arrested with a girl whose boyfriend is an
officer so we were set free, but we had to pay, of course.

"I have no money right now and have to start working again to earn and pray
that I won't be picked up again. I need to feed the people back home."

Nyasha was dismissive of Mugabe's main challengers, Morgan Tsvangirai of the
Movement for Democratic Change and Simba Makoni, the ex-finance minister and
ZANU-PF stalwart who infuriated the president by announcing his election bid
in February.

"Tsvangirai and Makoni will not feed my family if I risk going back to vote
for them. They all make promises like Mugabe did at independence. Where is
the milk and honey?" she said.

At Park Station, Jonasi Phiri was selling passport holders, marker pens and
other small items. He reacted angrily to the suggestion that he should pack
up and go home to vote.

"One thing I want to know from them - will they buy clothes for my children
so I can carry a box full of goodies, food and all?" he said. "No, they won't,
but they want me to leave the opportunity that I have to be here doing what
I'm doing to feed my family. I do not even have money for transport and they
tell me to go to Zimbabwe. I'm not going there."

When he learned that CIZ has promised to provide buses to ferry those who
want to go and vote, Phiri softened his stance.

"I would love to vote in my country, but look at the situation here. We are
suffering and the people back home are worse. I do not like being here,
selling to people who do not even want to talk to me, but it is making my
family survive so I would rather concentrate on that than on Tsvangirai,
Mugabe and Makoni."

Another vendor, who gave her name as Susan, said she enjoyed the music from
the "Rock the Vote" campaign but could not risk going back as she could not
afford a visa and was in South Africa illegally.

"I crossed into South Africa illegally and may not be able to find the same
guts that made it possible for me to come here in the first place," she
said, turning to serve another customer.

Susan is one of the many Zimbabweans who have risked life and limb to cross
the Limpopo River in search of a better life in South Africa. Many are
rounded up and deported by South African police on a daily basis. The
International Organisation for Migration says it assisted 126,000
Zimbabweans at its reception centre in the Zimbabwean border town of
Beitbridge in 2007, and the figure continues to rise.

At Park Station, migrant worker Spiwe Chiutsi was touched by the coalition's
message. She was one of a few who said they would go home.

"I have been saying all along that I will not go to vote, but I have just
changed my mind," she said. "I'm tired of being abused in this country,
working in a restaurant, serving the rich and famous in Sandton but getting
peanuts out of it. I live in squalor here because of the poverty in my
country.

"If they [CIZ] help me to go and vote, then I will go. What happens next, I
do not know. I will try to come back again after that, but I hope my vote
will help bring change to Zimbabwe."

Sandra Nyaira is a Zimbabwean journalist based in Britain.


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Zimbabwean Election protest in London

FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL

Press Release - 27th March 2008

 Preview of stuffing the Ballot Box at the Vigil on 22nd March

Zimbabwe's President Mugabe is to defy "illegal sanctions" and appear in
person in London to vote in the Zimbabwean elections on Saturday 29th March.
He said "Stuff Brown, I will stuff my own boxes".  Comrade Mugabe will be
played by a Zimbabwean exile Fungayi Mahhunu wearing the Mugabe mask he wore
at a protest in Lisbon in December against Mugabe's attendance at the
African / European summit.

The mock elections, staged by the Zimbabwe Vigil, will be held outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy in London from 6 am to 6pm.  Apart from President Mugabe,
other key players will be present, including Zimbabwean security forces in
uniform turning away election observers and ushering in dead voters
springing from coffins.

Vigil Co-ordinator Rose Benton said "Mugabe is in place to rig the
elections. The uncertainty is whether people will go along with it."

Event:                            Zimbabwe Vigil Mock Elections
Venue:                           Outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429
Strand, London WC2
Date / time:                   6 am - 6 pm, Saturday, 29th March 2008
Media stunts:                11 am and 3 pm featuring  Robert Mugabe,
election observers, Zimbabwean soldiers and police, dead voters springing
from coffins..
Photo Opportunities:    Zimbabwean singing, dancing and drumming.
Interview Opportunities:     Torture and rape victims, first hand news from
polling stations in Zimbabwe with which we will be in constant touch.
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


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Zimbabwe poll boss vows vote counting won't be centralised


From The Cape Times (SA), 26 March

Moshoeshoe Monare

Harare - The chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Judge George
Chiweshe has reassured worried opposition parties that the counting of
Saturday's crucial elections results would be done at polling stations. "The
results will be signed by elections officers and witnessed by observers at
the polling station. I am saying this because I am aware of a section of the
society who misconstrued what we said. Results will be posted outside
polling stations but collated at various centres. The presidential elections
results will be counted at polling stations but collated by the chief
electoral officer at the central command centre. We did not mean that all
ballot boxes will be carried to the national centre. Those suggestions are
without basis, they are not genuine concerns," said Chiweshe. He was
addressing election observers from SADC countries yesterday.

MDC leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said last week he
would not be part of the elections process if presidential elections were
counted at a central command. Tsvangirai told supporters on Sunday that he
was aware that President Robert Mugabe would want to rig the elections on
Saturday, "but we are ready for him". Chiweshe also allayed fears that there
was a technical loophole regarding a second round of elections in the event
that there was no clear winner in the presidential polls. Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights raised this concern a fortnight ago and threatened to go to
court to challenge the Electoral Act. Their concerns were that the act did
not specify the majority of votes needed by the presidential candidates, but
just specified "a greater majority". But Chiweshe said yesterday that: "A
candidate should get a greater number of votes than those cast for all his
competitors combined (50 plus 1 vote). The law provides for a rerun after 21
days if any of the contesting candidates fail to get a majority."

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