2002 Zim vote shame: SA told to apologise

via 2002 Zim vote shame: SA told to apologise 19/11/2014

SOUTH Africa owes Zimbabweans an apology after the Pretoria administration delayed release of a critical report detailing the “2002 electoral theft” blamed on President Robert Mugabe and his party Zanu PF.

Poll think-tank and electoral lobby group Election Resource Centre (ERC), said in a statement Wednesday it was joining “Zimbabwean voters and democrats everywhere in mourning the delayed release of the highly sought-after report on the controversial 2002 Zimbabwe presidential polls”.

“The ERC demands that the South African government, former presidents Thabo Mbeki, Kglema Motlanthe and President Jacob Zuma, who have spent more than six years fighting against the release of the report, make a public apology to Zimbabweans for denying public access to the report which provided crucial information on whether the 2002 presidential election was credible, free or fair,” the group said.

“The actions of the South African government, subsequent to the 2002 Zimbabwean elections, in our humble submission, in blocking attempts to make public the Khampele Report, directly and indirectly contributed to consequent electoral disputes in the 2005, 2008 and 2013 elections.”

Since the turn of the century when a credible opposition party emerged to challenge Mugabe’s decades long stranglehold on power, Zimbabwe has hurtled from one election to another with the results thereof being disputed.

The political disputes are epitomized by the 2008 bloodbath triggered by opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s narrow first round victory and followed by Mugabe’s one man show in the subsequent run-off in which hundreds of activists allegedly belonging to the opposition were killed.

Mugabe was later forced into a coalition with Tsvangirai along with a smaller faction of the MDC, culminating in the harmonised polls in 2013 again won by Mugabe amid more controversy and allegations of poll fraud.

The ERC said the actions by the South African government was “deplorable and sadly, unbrotherly” adding the conduct, directly and indirectly “contributed to the reported loss of life in ensuring electoral processes since 2002 as it condoned the appalling conduct of some election stakeholders in that particular election, March 2002”.

“Furthermore, the actions of the South African government in denying public access to the findings of an official observation mission report arguably contributed to the loss of confidence by the Zimbabwean voting public in elections as a vehicle for civic expression in democratic processes.  Since 2002, voter turnout figures in Zimbabwe continue to spiral downwards, from 53,89% in 2002 to 42,75% in 2008,” the ERC said.

The group added that given the confidence that the electorate bestows upon election observers, particularly drawn from the region, the actions of the South African government over the last 12 years are a great betrayal to Zimbabwe “especially considering the moral blameworthiness of the country which occupies a strategic position to influence both regional and continental development discourse”.

ERC called on the SADC regional power block currently chaired by Mugabe to reprimand South Africa for condoning electoral malfeasance in their neighbouring country in contravention of the group’s own poll principles and guidelines.

The South African government last week lost a long running legal battle with a newspaper in that country against the release of damning report compiled by respected jurist Sisi Kampepe.

The report, contrary to declarations by the then Mbeki-led administration, confirmed suspicions of poll rigging and a litany of irregularities blamed on the state apparatus in Zimbabwe’s 2002 elections.