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"Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the
victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented."
Elie Wiesel
Zimbabwe: Court Denies
Election Appeal
Associated Press
Apr 14, 3:26 PM EDT
By ANGUS SHAW
Associated Press
Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwe's High Court
rejected an appeal Monday for
the immediate release of presidential election
results, dashing hopes for an
end to a paralyzing political crisis and
prompting the opposition to call a
nationwide strike.
Opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he won the March 29 election
outright and has
accused President Robert Mugabe of holding back the results
to try to
maintain his 28-year grip in power. Independent tallies show
Tsvangirai won,
but did not receive enough votes to prevent a runoff.
Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change had hoped the court - though
stacked with
Mugabe loyalists - would force the election commission to
release the
results after a 16-day wait. The commission, which published
results for
parliamentary and local elections within several days of the
election, said
it can't release the presidential results until it
investigates electoral
anomalies.
In rejecting the opposition petition, the court ruled that the
commission's
explanation was "legally valid," and said the electoral body
"has not
strayed from the law."
Government spokesman Bright Matonga
praised the ruling and dismissed charges
the court was biased.
"The
electoral commission should be allowed to do its job," he
said.
Tsvangirai accused the election commission of working for the
ruling party.
"Now, for the next three or four weeks, (the commission)
will drag the time,
while people get beaten and while a new electoral
environment is being
created," he told South Africa's independent e-tv
station.
The opposition and human rights groups said ruling party
militants have been
waging a campaign of violence against opposition
supporters ahead of a
possible second round of voting.
Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights said it had documented at least 130
attacks on
opposition or independent poll monitors. Two people were killed
and 29
hospitalized with serious injuries, director Irene Petras said.
The MDC
called a nationwide strike for Tuesday in what would be the first
major
protest since the election.
The police have banned all political rallies,
and opposition officials said
Tuesday's action would be a quiet "stayaway,"
not a raucous strike complete
with street protests.
"People are not
going to go to work. They are going to be in their homes,
expressing their
dissatisfaction," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
Past strike calls
have been met with resistance by impoverished workers, who
can't afford to
lose even one day's wage in an economically ravaged country
suffering 80
percent unemployment.
Meanwhile, opposition officials said violence was
spreading.
Looting and arson attacks since Thursday in the northeastern
Mutoko
district - a former ruling party stronghold that voted for the
opposition -
have forced scores of villagers to flee their homes, the MDC
said Monday.
Armed assailants broke into the home of a woman who had
worked as an MDC
polling agent and slashed her arms with knives as they
interrogated her, the
party said in a statement. Another was attacked with
an ax, the party said.
Medical staff at a Harare clinic said they treated
several people from the
area for broken bones, cuts and severe
bruising.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey repeated the U.S. call for
the
Zimbabwean electoral commission "to let the votes be counted, to release
those results, and to do so immediately."
He said that as long as the
electoral commission refuses to release the
results, "the situation is going
to remain tense, and their failure to do so
only raises more suspicions
about what really happened in the process of
that vote-counting."
Zimbabwe poll wait aims to subvert people's will: UK
Reuters
Mon 14
Apr 2008, 17:32 GMT
LONDON (Reuters) - Zimbabwean authorities are
delaying election results to
allow them time to find an "alternative to the
will of the people," British
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on
Monday.
It was the first time a British government minister had publicly
accused
Zimbabwe's authorities of trying to subvert the result of the March
29
election.
Miliband spoke after Zimbabwe's High Court rejected an
opposition bid to
force authorities to release the result of the
presidential election after a
two-week delay that has stoked fears of
violence.
"There is unanimous demand, both publicly and privately,
from the
international community for the results to be released," Miliband
told a
news conference.
"We know why there is a delay in the results
being released. That is to give
time for an alternative to the will of the
people to be found," he said.
The people of Zimbabwe had clearly shown in
the election that there was not
a majority for President Robert Mugabe or
his government, Miliband said.
The opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) says Mugabe's 28-year
rule is over and says its leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, defeated Mugabe in the
vote.
It took the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission to court to try to force it to
announce the
result.
High Court Judge Tendai Uchena found in favour of the commission,
which says
it is still counting and verifying votes.
The opposition
says Mugabe is holding back the announcement to give him time
to organise a
violent response to his biggest electoral setback.
Zimbabwe opposition challenges parliamentary results
Reuters
Mon 14
Apr 2008, 17:26 GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition has
challenged election results for
about 60 parliamentary seats won by
President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF
party, a lawyer for the Movement
for Democratic Change said on Monday.
"All in all we have filed about 60
applications to the Electoral Court in
respect of the house of assembly
seats. The applications are to ensure that
the declarations of the results
be set aside," MDC lawyer Charles Kwaramba
told Reuters.
Official
results show the MDC defeated the ZANU-PF in the March 29
parliamentary
vote, but ZANU-PF has challenged some of those results,
arguing among other
things that the MDC bribed election officials.
In its court challenge
the MDC accuses ZANU-PF candidates and supporters of
vote-buying,
intimidating and interfering with presiding election officers
and other
election malpractices, Kwaramba said.
The MDC, which tried to get a
separate court to force the release of the
results of the presidential
election, also said there had been undercounting
of its votes in the
parliamentary poll, he said.
MDC to proceed with general strike
IOL
April 14
2008 at 04:34PM
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition confirmed its call
for a general strike
from Tuesday after the High Court quashed its legal bid
to force the
immediate results of the presidential elections.
"We are calling on the public to speak against ZEC (the Zimbabwe
electoral
commission) for failing to release the results," the party's vice
president
Thokhozani Khupe said.
"We have called for a mass stay-in, starting
tomorrow, until the
results are released." - Sapa-AFP
Mugabe deploys troops as strike looms
news.com.au
From correspondents
in Harare
April 15, 2008 04:32am
Article from: Agence
France-Presse
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's security forces fanned out
across Zimbabwe
overnight on the eve of a general strike called by the
opposition after a
judge threw out its bid to force the election
results.
Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition urged Zimbabweans to show their
disgust at
the continuing hold-up by launching a general strike from
tomorrow until the
results of the March 29 presidential poll are
released.
Police accused Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) of
trying to cause mayhem and issued a statement threatening that
"those who
breach the peace will be dealt with severely and
firmly".
"The call by the MDC Tsvangirai faction is aimed at disturbing
peace and
will be resisted firmly by the law enforcement agents whose
responsibility
is to maintain law and order in any part of the country," it
said.
National police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said officers and
soldiers were
being deployed throughout the country and a diplomatic source
said the
military was already camped out on the main arteries into the
capital
Harare.
In a further sign of mounting unrest, the opposition
claimed one of its
election agents had been stabbed to death by Mugabe
supporters over the
weekend in what it claimed was the first politically
motivated killing since
the polls.
Police confirmed that the agent,
Tapiwa Mubwanda, had been killed but said
the motive had yet to be
established.
Dozens of riot police hovered outside the high court as
Justice Tendai
Uchena rejected a petition from the MDC calling for the
electoral commission
to immediately declare the poll result.
"The
matter has been dismissed with costs" to be paid by the MDC, Justice
Uchena
said.
Mr Tsvangirai has already claimed outright victory over Mr Mugabe
in the
presidential poll and his party said it was now calling on the public
to
speak up against the commission, which claims it is still compiling the
votes.
"We have called for a mass stay-in, starting tomorrow, until
the results are
released," the party's vice-president Thokhozani Khupe
said.
"What we want is for ZEC (electoral commission) to announce the
results. We
hope every Zimbabwean takes it upon themselves to speak out and
be heard.
Voting alone was not enough. We want our results, the time has
come."
The ruling was a double blow to the opposition after a summit of
southern
African leaders in Zambia at the weekend merely called for the
results to be
announced "expeditiously", saying the matter should be decided
by the
courts.
The impact of any general strike is likely to be muted
as unemployment is
already running at more than 80 per cent.
Previous
stay-aways called by the opposition and its allies in the Zimbabwe
Congress
of Trade Unions have flopped with few of the people still in work
wanting to
risk a day's pay.
However the opposition is aware that Mr Mugabe still
exerts an iron grip
over the security forces and is wary of sending its
supporters on to the
streets to protest the current impasse.
Police
have banned all political rallies.
In March last year Mr Tsvangirai
himself sustained serious head injuries as
the government cracked down on
opposition attempts to stage an
anti-government rally.
Flyers handed
out since the MDC first threatened on Saturday to stage the
general strike
have called on everyone from bus drivers to street vendors to
join
in.
"The power is in our hands. Zimbabweans have been taken for granted
for too
long. We demand that the presidential election results be announced
now."
At Sunday's emergency summit in Lusaka, regional leaders discussed
the
post-election impasse long into the night, but they stopped short of
criticising the Zimbabwean government or Mr Mugabe.
Regional leaders
have been chided for their traditional reluctance to speak
out against
84-year-old Mr Mugabe, seen by many as an elder statesman who
still deserves
respect for his role in winning Zimbabwe's independence.
Some three
million Zimbabweans have fled to neighbouring countries in the
wake of the
country's economic collapse under Mr Mugabe, who has ruled
uninterrupted
since independence from Britain in 1980.
A one-time regional model,
Zimbabwe is now groaning under the impact of the
world's higest rate of
inflation while even basic food products such as
bread and cooking oil are
scarce.
Soldiers Sharpen Skills
The Herald (Harare) Published by the
government of Zimbabwe
14 April 2008
Posted to the web 14 April
2008
Harare
About 5 000 members of the Zimbabwe National Army
attached to 2 Brigade
underwent a two-day mock combat training at the
Grippose Range in Karoi on
brigade administration aimed at sharpening their
skills.
The exercise -- which involved real-life scenarios in a war
situation
included setting up of a brigade administration area (BAA) with a
hospital,
jail for prisoners of war, an information centre and an entrance
area among
other things - began on Thursday and ending
yesterday.
Preparations for the course started in February. It
involved mastering of
the site map with the intention of repelling attacks
from Chirundu and other
northern areas. In an interview, 2 Brigade deputy
commander Colonel Brave
Matavire said the exercise was routine and is
normally rotated among the
five brigades in the country on an annual basis.
Last year the training
exercise was conducted by 4 Brigade while next year
it will be switched to 5
Brigade.
"This is an exercise aimed at fully
acquainting our forces with all the
facets of administration of a combat
area so that when a war breaks out it's
something they know already," he
said.
Students from Botswana, Namibia and Angola among others - attached
to the
Staff College also attended the training exercise.
Act now or accept Mugabe for life!!!
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:06:18 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Make a
stand!!
The MDC
has called on the work force of Zimbabwe to go out on strike on
Tuesday.
They say that it's vital that the people of Zimbabwe become
involved in
shaping the destiny of this country. Morgan Tsvangirai Has won
this
election, he has done what he can for the people of Zimbabwe. Now is
the
time for the people to back him and stand up for what they voted for.
The
MDC are calling on what they hope will be the first day of an indefinite
national strike on Tuesday 15 April 2008.
The Opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has called the strike
amid continuing efforts by the
ruling party to rig the outcome of this
election and rob the people of their
democratic rights.
The country's electoral commission has ordered
recounts in 23 constituencies
as well as a full recount of the presidential
election. The ballot boxes
have been tampered with and a recount will result
in what the MDC has
denounced as an attempt to rig the parliamentary and
presidential
election in favour of President Robert Mugabe and his ruling
ZANU-PF party.
Morgan Tsvangirai, has won a clear majority in the
presidential poll. The
MDC have quite simply calculated this result buy
adding up the numbers
posted outside each polling station. This calculation
showed that Morgan has
won the election with a majority well over the
required 50%.
A regional summit in Zambia over the weekend failed to
broker an end to the
crisis. Thabo Mbeki has in fact has once again come out
on the side of
Mugabe and ZANU PF. He claims that there is not a crisis in
Zimbabwe!
Mugabe is on the verge of rigging another election!
Are you
going to let him!!!
Zimbabwe peace project alert
14 April 2008
Focus on violations in Mashonaland East and Mashonaland
West
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) as an organisation has strength in its
permanent deployment of two monitors in each electoral constituency of Zimbabwe
ensuring a grassroots presence. ZPP monitors work in the communities of their
ordinary residence, which gives ZPP the leverage to sense potential violations
and record incidents swiftly and discretely with a high degree of accuracy. ZPP
received a worrisome report last week of the existence of torture bases in
Mutoko and Mudzi constituencies in Mashonaland East province and our Provincial
Coordinator took time during the weekend to investigate the incidents and gave
us the following report:
War Veterans have unleashed terror in
Mashonaland East with the assistance of the ruling party Zanu PF. War Veterans,
youths and war collaborators are beating and torturing suspected opposition
party supporters and local observers of the harmonised elections like ZESN.
Mutoko South Constituency
About ten war veterans using a new B1800
truck and two Toyota trucks all armed are moving around Mutoko beating up people
suspected to have voted for MDC Tsvangirai they are forcing villagers to attend
meetings during the day and in the evening with the help of Zanu PF youths beat
up people. Bases of torture have been established at Corner Store, Kushinga,
Jari, Nyahondo and Rukanda.
Last week on Friday, 11 April 2008 around
1900hrs about twenty people were beaten at Corner Store Base and those assaulted
included Desmond Dovi residing in Village 13. The war veterans are led by one
Chimhini and youths are led by Brighton Mutendera and Jimmy Chivambu. Our
Coordinator spoke to a policeman who confirmed the beatings and the bases. The
Coordinator said all those who observed elections on the ZESN ticket have been
allegedly listed for beatings.
Mutoko North Constituency
Armed
veterans are moving around villages forcing people to meetings where suspected
MDC members are being beaten up. Bases have been established at Charehwa,
Chitekwe, Nyamuzuwe, All souls mission where doctors have fled for their lives.
On Thursday, 10 April a police officer by the name Ngorima said war
veterans visited Mutoko police station where they ordered the Member in Charge
to call all police officers at the station for a meeting. They were allegedly
threatened with death if they arrest any of the perpetrators and were also
ordered that during the run off all police officers should cast their votes at
the office before the member in charge. Bases were also established in Mutoko
East at Lot and Kawere villages and Bondamakara and Chikuhwa schools.
Mudzi Constituency
Bases have been established at Nyamapanda,
Dendera, Kotwa, Suswe and Chifamba. The same war veterans stated above are
holding meetings in villages and people are being beaten. On Thursday, 10 April
2008 three MDC activists were heavily assaulted at Kotwa and are detained at
Kotwa hospital. These war veterans have instructed all hospitals not to attend
to these victims. ZPP is still trying to establish the identity of the three MDC
activists.
Murehwa North Constituency
On Friday 11 April 2008, war
veterans and Zanu PF youths held a meeting at Murehwa Centre around 1600hrs. All
shops were closed and war veterans fired two shots in the air to instil fear in
the people. At around 17.30 hrs more than 100 MDC supporters toyi toyied in the
centre and the war veterans and Zanu PF youths were outnumbered and were forced
to disperse.
In Matenda village two ZESN observers Blessing
Chirambadoro and another were threatened with eviction and are now living in
fear.
Marondera East
ZPP Provincial Coordinator also visited the
constituency and reported that by Friday 11 April 2008 three houses had been
burnt down and people were being assaulted by Zanu PF supporters. On Friday
three MDC activists were heavily assaulted at Rapid farm and they are being
guarded by Zanu PF youths so that they do not access treatment. The victims were
assaulted by war veterans.
Mashonaland West
One polling agent Aaron
and three MDC activists Broderick Marigawa, Taka Ganje and Caleb Marufu were for
the past two weeks living in mountains in Kanzamba village, Makonde
constituency. The four are said to have ran away from their homes after serious
threats of violence from Zanu PF men namely, Black Jesus of Mhangura, Thomas
Ganure a soldier from the village, Lovemore Mupoto, Marko Gungungu, a Mashintini
and one Brown all from the same constituency are said to be the perpetrators
haunting the polling agent and the activists. The polling agent’s plight has
been allegedly heightened because his parents belong to Zanu PF and are aiding
the perpetrators in threatening the activists. The four are in dire need of
legal and counselling services.
As ZPP we are getting frustrated with
the situation prevailing in Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West and in other
parts of Zimbabwe in direct contravention of the country’s laws and
international laws that the Government is a signatory. These actions should come
to a quick stop as no people should be terrorised continuously with perpetrators
threatening police officers that they should not carry out their law enforcing
duties by arresting perpetrators and intimidating Doctors and victims that they
should not get medical assistance. These are serious forms of politically
motivated violations and they should just come to a stop in the spirit of
letting Peace Prevail.
Let Peace Prevail
From ZPP Information
Department.
ZPP envision a Zimbabwe that would transform into a
society that cherishes the pursuit and realisation of justice, freedom, peace,
human dignity and development.
Action Alert:
General Strike begins tomorrow, Tuesday 15th April
Sokwanele - Enough is Enough -
Zimbabwe PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE
DEMOCRACY
|
Sokwanele : 14 April
2008
GENERAL
STRIKE: The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has today called
for a general strike in Zimbabwe starting tomorrow (Tuesday, 15 April 2008)
after the high court refused to order the immediate release of the presidential
election results. Take Action!
These
photographs of reprisal attacks by Zanu PF thugs were taken yesterday.
The photograph on the left is of a 22 year old male from Musaruro
Village, Mudzi. This is what he said what happened to him: "The ZPF youth
came to my shop on Friday 11 April 2008 at 9pm, broke the door down and dragged
me out of the building. They said “you are an MDC member”. They took all the
groceries from my shop then burned grass on both my hands. After that they beat
my hands and back with wooden poles. I went to Kotwa rural district hospital and
they gave me 2 paracetamol - they had nothing else.”
The photo on the right is of a 22 year old male from Chibamo Village, Mudzi
south. He stated: "15 or so ZPF youth came to my house on Friday 11 April
2008 and started to hit me with fire wood and kick me in the mouth. They beat me
on my buttocks, left arm and hand. The perpetrators are known to me (names
recorded). They said “why are you supporting MDC, we promise you we are here to
vandalise you”.
TAKE ACTION
We have been waiting for word from our elected leaders on the way forward
after the farcical way in which the Presidential results have been withheld from
public knowledge by the Zimbabwe Electroal Commission (ZEC).
The word has come and we need to stand by and do what we can to ensure
justice and democracy are delivered to Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans.
Please support the call for a General Strike. We elected Morgan Tsvangirai to
be our President; let's RESPOND POSITIVELY to his call.
- Do not come to work tomorrow (April 15th).
- Stay peacefully at home.
- Phone everyone you know NOW and spread the word.
- Ask them to start phoning and spreading the word too.
- Encourage those who are fearful or unsure that there comes a time when
people need to stand together, strong and proud and peaceful, for what we
believe in as a nation.
- Don't forget: we have won. The only reason why ZEC is delaying is because
the results showed that the opposition leader, Robert Mugabe, lost the elections
- Be peaceful, be proud and be strong
Sky
News have been broadcasting evidence today that shows that Morgan Tsvangirai
won the Presidential election. The reporter says: "The significance of this
paper work is that although it belongs to the MDC, it comes from the polling
stations. To all intents and purposes these are the verified results." The world
has seen this with their own eyes, and now knows what we know to be true.
BACKGROUND TO THE STRIKE ACTION
MDC confirms national strike as tensions rise in the suburbs
published on ZimbabweJournalists.com
HARARE - The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has confirmed its
calls for an indefinite general strike starting Tuesday following the High
Court's rejection of an MDC petition to order the immediate release of results
of the presidential election, which the party believes was won by their leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai.
No presidential results have yet emerged from the harmonised March 29
election, effectively believed by many to have been poised to signal President
Robert Mugabe's demise after 28 years at the helm. The Zimbabwe Election
Commission, ZEC, has instead announced it will be going ahead with a partial
recount of votes in 23 constituencies being contested by the ruling Zanu PF.
The MDC said yesterday the continuing delay in making public the results of
the ballot held more than two weeks ago, and the breathing space given to Mugabe
by a failed weekend summit of regional leaders, was permitting the regime to
widen its campaign of violent intimidation in rural areas.
"We are calling on the public to speak against ZEC for failing to release the
results," the MDC's deputy president Thokhozani Khupe told a news
conference.
"We have called for a mass stay-in, starting tomorrow, until the results are
released."
Khupe spoke soon after Justice Tendai Uchena turned down a petition by the
MDC urging the electoral commission to end its silence over the March 29
election presidential election.
Khupe said that it had now been proved that voting on its own was not enough
to bring about a regime change and accused President Robert Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF party of trying to use the delay since the elections to fix the
result.
"We are receiving information that the ballot boxes are being kept by Zanu
PF, that they have been stuffing more ballot papers," she said.
"What we want is for ZEC to announce the results. We hope every Zimbabwean
takes it upon themselves to speak out and be heard. Voting alone was not enough.
We want our results, the time has come."
In the high density areas of Harare, the mood on the streets was volatile. In
Highfields this reporter spoke with many opposition supporters who threatened to
turn violent against any commuter buses that may try to ferry people into the
cities during the strike.
"We are going to burn those vehicles coming from Mtoko, Murewa and such areas
with tomatoes and vegetables," an MDC supporter, Andrew Pishai, told
zimbabwejournalists.com at a market in Lusaka, Highfields.
"They should not bring their tomatoes and vegetables here. They should go to
Zvimba or to state House and sell them to Robert Mugabe. We are serious, there
is not going to be any business here. We are tired of people who aid Mugabe in
exploiting the people of Zimbabwe."
Pishai spoke as reports about widespread violence in the rural communities of
Zimbabwe continued to trickle in with a number of opposition activists
apparently being hospitalised after being beaten up by Zanu PF people and youth
militia.
Peter Nguwani said he had heard that in his rural home of Mutoko, those
believed to have voted for the opposition MDC had their huts burnt by Zanu PF
activists.
"Our message to them today is that those who are in Mutoko, Uzumba Maramba
Pfungwe and such other areas who are in love with Zanu PF, please do not come to
the cities because we will deal with you and we are also warning all transport
operators to heed the call for the stay-in. By 12 midnight today there should be
no commuter buses on the road otherwise we will deal with them."
The tone of the interviews indicated that all hell may break lose on
Zimbabwe's streets tomorrow. A heavy police presence was also expected to deter
those seeking to speak out against the holding of presidential election
results.
Meanwhile Tsvangirai had to cancel a planned trip to South Africa to meet
SADC mediator South African President Thabo Mbeki following his support for
Mugabe at the regional leader's summit over Zimbabwe in Lusaka at the
weekend.
Instead, Tsvangirai had decided to go to Mozambique after a similar sojourn
to Botswana. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to meet Mbeki and
the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the election impasse in Zimbabwe.
In the meantime, all eyes remain on Zimbabwe as the people's patience
continues to wear thin over the results of the presidential election.
[Ends]
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|
Amnesty International USA Press Release
For Immediate Release
Thursday,
April 10, 2008
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150
Amnesty
International Says Post-Election Violence in Zimbabwe Appears to be
Coordinated
(New York) -- As leaders of Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC)
states prepare for an emergency meeting on the political
crisis in Zimbabwe,
Amnesty International said today it was disturbed by
reports of widespread
violent retribution against supporters of opposition
parties, including
attacks reportedly orchestrated by soldiers and
police.
The human rights organization called on police to end political
violence and
investigate any allegations of police and army involvement in
some of the
incidents.
According to information received by Amnesty
International, incidents of
post-election violence are widespread -
suggesting the existence of
coordinated retribution against known and
suspected opposition supporters.
Violence has been reported in Harare,
Mashonaland East, Midlands,
Matabeleland North and Manicaland
provinces.
Victims of political violence have reportedly been pulled from
buses and
assaulted at their homes in rural areas, townships and
farms.
Among the incidents reported were the following: * In Gweru, on or
around
April 6, soldiers reportedly assaulted people in a bar. Victims told
local
human rights groups that the soldiers were accusing them of "not
voting
correctly." * On and around April 7, soldiers assaulted shoppers in
Gweru.
The soldiers were reportedly in anti-riot gear and assaulted people
with
sticks. * At around midnight on April 6, about 10 soldiers and two
people
dressed in police uniform arrived at the home of a known Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) activist in Mkoba 14 in Gweru. They assaulted the
activist and two of his friends by kicking them and hitting them with baton
sticks. The activist sustained injuries requiring medical treatment.
Although the matter was reported to the police, no-one has been
arrested.
Amnesty International welcomed the SADC announcement of an
emergency meeting
to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis on Saturday in Lusaka. The
organization
called on SADC leaders to redouble diplomatic efforts to avoid
further
deterioration of the human rights situation in
Zimbabwe.
"SADC leaders should come out and publicly acknowledge the
human rights
violations being perpetrated by security organizations, war
veterans, and
supporters of political parties - and insist on an end to the
political
violence," said Simeon Mawanza, Amnesty International's Zimbabwe
researcher.
"SADC should also publicly acknowledge that one of the causes
of the
increasing tension in Zimbabwe is the delayed release of the
presidential
election results. They must urge the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission to
immediately release the results."
Rowly Brucken,
Amnesty International USA country specialist on Zimbabwe,
said: "Zimbabwe
has been allowed to operate outside the African Union and
United Nations
human rights frameworks for too long. This has reinforced a
culture of
impunity in the country."
# # #
For more information please visit
www.amnestyusa.org.
Two MDC Activists Killed in New Wave of Political Violence
SW
Radio Africa (London)
14 April 2008
Posted to the web 14 April
2008
Tichaona Sibanda
Two MDC activists died over the weekend
in political violence linked to
reprisal killings, that have left over 100
party activists seriously injured
after beatings by war veterans and
militias.
Tapiwa Mbwada, an MDC organising secretary for Hurungwe East in
Karoi, was
beaten to death on Saturday night. His wife and brother were
badly beaten
and are in a serious condition. A local Zanu-PF councillor from
Kazangarare
named as Jawet, and an ex-soldier identified as Madamombe, have
been named
as the culprits.
A teacher in Mudzi in Mashonaland
East, was murdered and 8 women from the
same area were abducted. The MDC is
still waiting for more information and
confirmation about this case. In
Gokwe an activist was shot and seriously
injured and is now in a Harare
hospital.
Ian Makone, a top aide to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, accused
Zanu-PF of
the latest killings and violence and denounced the attacks as
'naked evil'.
He warned that Robert Mugabe was trying to provoke 'mayhem
and civil
disobedience' by inciting violence through political
killings.
'To say it is tense would be an understatement,' Makone said.
'There is
almost a siege mentality because of the attacks.' The scale of the
beatings
in most rural areas are so shocking, the victims can barely walk or
talk.
In most of the recorded cases of beatings, the perpetrators are
well known
figures in the communities. In other instances, Zanu-PF
parliamentarians and
senior serving members of the police and army have been
implicated in the
atrocities.
'David Parirenyatwa has been implicated
in the violence taking place in
Murehwa. We also got the names of assistant
commissioner Pfubvute and
Brigadier Douglas Nyikayarambwa, and these people
are causing untold
suffering to many of our supporters,' Makone
said.
He added; 'It's unfortunate now that in former strongholds of
Zanu-PF, the
violence there now is brother against brother or brother
against sister, or
friend against friend'.
God have
Mercy
Zimbabwe Metro
The
hand of a 22 year old male from Musaruro Village in Mudzi. He narrated what
happened to him:
The ZANU PF youth came to my shop on Friday 11 April
2008 at 9pm, broke the door down and dragged me out of the building. The said
“you are an MDC member”. They took all the groceries from my shop then burned
grass on both my hands. After that they beat my hands and back with wooden
poles. I went to Kotwa rural district hospital and they gave me 2 paracetamol -
they had nothing else.”
A passenger on a bus reported seeing a man being hung
by his hands from a tree while a group was beating him at Corner Store, between
Muhrewa and Mutoko - this took place at approximately 4 pm Sunday 13 April
2008.
Continent Must Re-Think the Principle of Non-Interference
New
Vision (Kampala)
OPINION
13 April 2008
Posted to the web 14 April
2008
Gad Fix Ruakoah
Kampala
Almost all the headlines carried
by media houses are about the possibility
of power sharing between Kenya's
President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.
This was a result of the disputed
December 27, 2007 elections, which the
opposition believes were rigged by
Kibaki's party.
The headlines are also centred on Zimbabwe, where the
84-year-old president
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF has ordered for a recount of
the votes, while Morgan
Tsvangrai of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) says the recount is
illegal.
Similar headlines are running
about the war between Islamists and government
troops in Somalia. As the
African Union (AU) looks on, Ugandan troops are
sacrificing their lives to
bring calm in Somalia.
In Darfur, thousands of people are dying in what
the media deem as genocide,
with little concern from the rest of
Africa.
To understand and find solutions to some of the problems Africa
is facing,
Africans must reconsider their strong belief in the doctrine of
sovereignty.
This doctrine, coupled with its twin, non-interference in the
internal
affairs of another state, is a major contributing factor to the
suffering of
Africans.
The Darfur plight came about partly because
the AU-member states believe
they will be interfering in the affairs of a
sovereign state. Interfering is
necessary, but it should not necessarily be
overt and militaristic because
there are other types of interference which
are not easily detectable.
The AU and the United Nations (UN) both
engrained in their charters these
two doctrines. Without the principles of
peaceful co-existence in their
charters, these two bodies would continuously
be troubled by states that
want to make raids into the territories of
others. So, nations should
respect international borders and the sovereignty
of nations.
International law, however, recognises certain instances when
this
sovereignty can be dispensed with. It sets out occasions when one
country
may be justified or even allowed to cross into the territory of its
neighbouring country.
Such was the case when the UN gave an
American-led coalition permission to
go to Iraq and drive its army out of
Kuwait. It is again this right, which
is supposed to have its limits, that
initially allowed then president,
Julius Nyerere, to help Ugandans uproot
Idi Amin.
The genocide in Rwanda in 1994, for instance, where over
1,091,000 people
were massacred (The New Vision Monday April 7, 2008) by
primitive forces,
could have been averted if other African states
intervened, regardless of
Rwanda's sovereignty.
The victims were
killed for their ethnicity and political inclinations and
because Africans
felt they would be interfering with the affairs of Rwanda.
Look at Kenya
where the bloodiest political crisis has happened; a
post-election spasm of
rigging and ethnic slaughter that killed at least
1,200 people and over
300,000 were displaced. Why didn't African leaders
condemn the way the
results were declared?
African politics, for example, is shaped by the
same contradictions. A
leader rigs elections, jails his opponents, torments
his rivals and makes
enemies in the process.
Why can't African
leaders rise at the AU meeting to condemn these acts? The
answer lies in
their lack of democratic constitutional transparency.
Some Africans
always want to play it safe by siding with super powers. Such
leaders should
know they are just tools of convenience. The super powers
will get rid of
them as soon as they cease to be of help. However, the
recent action taken
by the Comoran forces, backed by the AU forces, to oust
rebel leader
Mohammed Bacar of the Comoran Island, should be commended.
We need to
emulate Nyerere, who did not fall for the concepts of Adam Smith,
the
pioneering western economists or Lenin's eastern counterparts, but
delved
deep into traditional values to promulgate African socialism.
He was the
vanguard of African liberation. He undertook human resources and
financial
costs. as a leader of the African Frontline States, he struggled
for the
liberation of countries like Mozambique and Uganda. Nyerere also put
enormous effort elsewhere on the continent.
Wake up
Africa!
The writer is a journalist
Should other countries intervene in
Zimbabwe?
Radio Netherlands
by Jonathan Groubert
14-04-2008
Zimbabwe's election dispute is dragging on into its
third week since the elections. President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF has managed to
force a recount in some constituencies.
The opposition MDC claims the government has lost the
election and is trying to rig the result.
What should the world do? Should the international
community intervene? And if so, how? If not, why not.
Comments
George Kay, Los Angeles, California, United States
It is the counting that counts, not the voting. It
seems that politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been
the systematic organization of hatreds. Power seems to be the great aphrodisiac
of this president and he pollutes whatever he touches. |
David L., Chicago, Illinois, United
States
In a sense the International Community has already
intervened in Zimbabwe. It did in 1965 when it refused to recognize Ian Smith's
Unilateral Declaration of Independence for Rhodesia and again in '79 when it
wouldn't support the Internal Settlement, Smith formulated. Had UDI and IS won
international recognition, Zimbabwe would have been spared the misrule of Mugabe
and his fellow thugs in the ZANU-PF.
In light of this reality, the
international community has a responsibility to undo the damage it did in 1980
when it effectively put Mad Bob into power, and affect regime change in Zimbabwe
immediately! |
Pauline, Canada
We left Zimbabwe five years ago to make a better life
for ourselves. If Mugabe does not go one way or another, no Zimbabwean will have
peace of mind or have a better life in Zim. He is a monster and as such must
go!!! |
Bob, Zimbabwe
Absoulute nonsense Jeroen van Well, Mugabe has to go,
intervention is the only way and soon please. Things are not good.
|
Jamie Lee, Singapore
The international [community] should intervene!
Someone must help Zimbabwe! The ruling party rules like a king. There is no way
a king will leave his kingdom. A king will continue to stay in his kingdom until
the day he dies.
I have no relation with Zimbabwe. But I really cannot
bear the news of the suffering of these people. Someone must help them please!
|
Bob Jonson, Scotland
It's about time the international community
intervened and got rid of 'uncle Bob' completely - he's a disaster for the
people of Zimbabwe. |
Jeroen van Well, The Netherlands
No, of course the outside world shouldn't intervene.
Unless the people of Zimbabwe ask for it. The current stalemate was created by
Zimbabweans and should be ended by them as well.
|
Mugabe's diversionary tactics
International Herald Tribune
By
Eliphas Mukonoweshuro Published: April 14, 2008
The Movement
for Democratic Change won the March 29 parliamentary and
presidential
elections in Zimbabwe.
That fact needs to be stated time and time again,
for it is in danger of
being gradually buried in a haze of obfuscation and
bluff by Robert Mugabe
and his ZANU-PF party.
Democracy, so battered
and abused in Africa, is being forced once again to
endure the harshest
treatment. How does democracy take root in Africa if
this is the soil it is
expected to grow in?
Zimbabwe at this moment exists in the midst of a
coup led by the loser of
the elections and aided by inaction on the part of
the global community. The
victims have names and faces, such as the few
remaining white farmers now
being evicted from their homes, or the MDC
supporters being roughed up by
ZANU-PF thugs.
And there are other
victims. They are the many Africans who are looking to
Zimbabwe to watch one
of the few local opportunities for democratic change.
They are looking to
our country to present a model of moving from
dictatorship to democracy,
from authoritarianism to the rule of law.
They are seeing not only if
this can be done, for it isn't a common event in
Africa, but whether it can
be done peacefully, an even rarer phenomenon.
They are being disappointed.
What they are seeing are the self-serving
tactics of a spent leader and they
can take no solace from the fact that
Africa has seen it all
before.
It's unlikely a solution will arrive as a result of more talking.
The
regional conference on Zimbabwe just concluded in Zambia is useful as a
general focus, but such a talking shop was never going to be a remedy to the
impasse Zimbabwe finds itself in.
In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has
upturned democracy. This is not a matter of
discussion or in need of
high-level analysis. It is a fact and it needs no
solution other than the
removal of Mugabe himself.
It is clear that this needs to be done
strategically. This we can accept.
Mugabe and his powerbrokers have the
potential to wreak havoc on the country
should they be slighted in the
changeover process. It is a sad truth that
dictators rarely respect the law,
only doing so when they themselves are
threatened by it.
But first,
Mugabe must agree to release the full election results and leave
the
presidency when those results reveal his demise. This is the single
bottom
line requirement before any further progress can be made in Zimbabwe.
It
is telling that the ZANU-PF mouthpiece, the Herald newspaper, has been
fishing for what it has called a coalition government, which envisages a
shared government between the MDC and the defeated ZANU-PF.
This has
been unfortunately picked up by various media outlets around the
world as a
potential circuit breaker in Zimbabwe.
But this move, along with the
attempts to maneuver for a presidential
run-off, are political charades, not
factors in a democratic process; more
examples of Mugabe roping all
Zimbabweans to the mast of his sinking ship,
threatening to take the whole
country down with him.
As these diversions are wound tighter they trap
the democratic process in
Zimbabwe. This is of course the intention from
Mugabe's point of view, but
what is remarkable is that many in the
international community seem to have
entrapped themselves.
For many
Africans, this is a sideshow. As they look on through jaundiced
eyes at
Zimbabwe as it lurches about under the weight of its expectations,
many will
note that for all the world's talk about democracy and due
process, it means
little in reality. Most will no doubt return to their
lives after watching
another moment in African democracy pass by.
Others might observe that
dictatorship meets few barriers in this part of
the world. They might be
motivated to try their hand at winning power
through similar means and then
develop their means of holding power via a
template derived from the
handbook of Robert Mugabe.
So, as discussions continue around regional
summits and presidential
run-offs, it cannot be forgotten that Africa is
watching and it is learning
the hard facts of global geopolitics. They are
seeing behind the façade of
international diplomacy.
The message
being transmitted from Zimbabwe today will send those hopeful of
democracy
away, and will encourage those seeking to draw on Mugabe's model
of
power.
History may well look back on this moment and blanch. So far, it
represents
a moment lost. Zimbabwe sits awaiting a resolution, not
distractions.
The people of Africa are waiting too. Zimbabweans, on
behalf of all
Africans, have spoken and they want a new deal.
Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro is the foreign affairs spokesman of the Movement for
Democratic Change.
Few options for Zimbabwe opposition
in poll stalemate
africasia
HARARE, April 14 (AFP)
Rebuffed by the courts and regional leaders, Zimbabwe's
opposition has a
shrinking range of options as it seeks to build up pressure
for the release
of results from last month's presidential
election.
The Movement for Democratic Change may have threatened a
general strike on
Tuesday and to boycott a possible run-off between its
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe but both tactics run
the risk of
playing into their rival's hands, say analysts.
Previous
campaigns to force a general shutdown have largely flopped and
street
protests have been crushed while a decision not to participate in a
run-off
could end up simply handing victory on a plate to Mugabe.
As many in the
MDC privately feared, the high court Monday turned down its
petition for an
order to the Zimbabwe electoral commission (ZEC) to
immediately announce the
results of the March 29 poll, ordering the party to
pay the costs.
It
was the second such reverse for the opposition in as many days with
leaders
of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC)
ending a
summit on Sunday with a declaration only for the results to be
announced
"expeditiously" and urging all sides to accept the outcome.
The MDC had
called on SADC to issue a firm declaration urging Mugabe to
"accept defeat"
and to tell him his time was up.
It has released its own figures claiming
Tsvangirai won more than 50 percent
in the March 29 poll, pushing its man
over the threshold needed to avoid a
second round.
But Eldred
Masunungure, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe,
said the
opposition was in a bind as a boycott of the second round would
leave the
electoral commission no option but to declare Mugabe the winner.
"The
boycott will throw the whole electoral exercise into disarray. If
Tsvangirai
decides not to participate in the run-off, it will leave Mugabe
as the sole
runner in the race," said Masunungure.
Lovemore Madhuku, a Zimbabwean
constitutional expert, said the law was clear
about the consequences if
Tsvangirai does not contest any run-off.
"The law says those with highest
and the second highest votes in the first
round go to a run-off and if one
of them withdraws the other one is
automatically declared winner," Madhuku
told AFP.
Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has challenged
the MDC to
formally withdraw from a potential run-off, accusing them of
empty threats.
In a letter to the electoral commission, Chinamasa said
the boycott threat
was "because they know that they will lose heavily and as
a face-saving
gesture they are trying to avoid a run-off."
The MDC
issued a call last week for a general strike on Tuesday if results
were
still unannounced and has made thinly-veiled threats that the people
"will
make a statement" in the continued vacuum.
However, with unemployment
running at over 80 percent and few of those in
work willing to forego a day
without pay as they struggle to make ends meet,
the most recent general
strike calls have gone largely unheeded.
The MDC has so far resisted
direct calls for its supporters to take to the
streets, well aware that
Mugabe still controls the security apparatus.
"The MDC is in a very
difficult position," said Dirk Kotze, an analyst at
the University of South
Africa in Pretoria.
Tsvangirai's courting of regional leaders and the
resort to legal action
underlined how little room for manoeuvre they have
and their awareness of
the dangers of taking to the streets, he
added.
"Mugabe wants to provoke the MDC to violence, to violent
demonstrations --
that would give him a reason to declare the state of
emergency and set the
elections aside."
Zim protesters head for the streets
IOL
April 14
2008 at 04:04PM
By Francis Hweshe
Several hundred
activists are set to take to the city streets this
week to protest against
the crisis in Zimbabwe and President Thabo Mbeki's
"What crisis?" response
during the weekend.
The protest, spearheaded by lobby group People
Against Suffering,
Suppression, Op-pression and Poverty (Passop), is aimed
at highlighting the
unconstitutional delay in announcing the presidential
results; President
Robert Mugabe's latest wave of violence and intimidation
against those who
voted for the opposition MDC party; the reported
militarisation of that
country; and the dire refugee situation, among other
issues.
Cosatu, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Angolan,
Congolese and
Somali societies are expected to be part of the protest to
Parliament on
Thursday, said Passop chairperson Braam
Hanekom.
On Sunday Hanekom blasted Mbeki's
denial on Saturday of a crisis in
Zimbabwe, two weeks after the presidential
poll - the results of which has
still not been announced.
This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Argus on April
14,
2008
Now the MDC turns to the Supreme Court
Zimbabwe Today
A new move by
the opposition as the battle for the results goes on
Lawyers for Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change were
considering appealing to
the Zimbabwe Supreme Court today, Monday, after the
High Court dismissed the
party's application to force the Electoral
Commission to release the result
of the presidential election.
Issuing what is a body blow to MDC hopes,
High Court judge Tendai Uchena
said: "This court is...not entitled to
intervene and order respondents (ZEC)
to announce the results on the basis
of failure to comply with the law."
MDC lawyer Andrew Makoni said: "The
court has given the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission a blank cheque. We don't
know when they will be ready to release
the results, or what length of delay
would be reasonable in the eyes of the
court."
Extra pressure on the
ZEC is also being planned for tomorrow, when
Tsvangirai has called for a
general strike, to end only when the results are
known.
Posted on
Monday, 14 April 2008 at 16:55
Protest as Mbeki addresses UN security council
PRESS
ADVISORY
Zimbabwe crisis appeal takes to the skies over the United
Nations
3000-sq-ft banner to deliver 120k petition—"Mbeki: Time to
Act"
Avaaz.org, the world's largest international online advocacy
network, will
issue a dramatic aerial appeal on Wednesday for Thabo Mbeki,
South Africa's
president, to step up to the plate and support democracy in
Zimbabwe.
Building on a 120,000-strong global petition, Avaaz will fly a
3000 square
foot banner above the UN on Wednesday morning, calling on Mr
Mbeki to
convince Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president, to respect the will
of his
people.
Zimbabwe's high court refused today to order the
release of the March 29
election results. Mr Mugabe's regime threatens to
use violence and fraud to
hold on to power.
Mr Mbeki is chairing a
presidential level Security Council meeting on Africa
on Wednesday, and is
widely believed to be the man best placed to change Mr
Mugabe's mind. But
his brand of "quiet diplomacy" has so far failed to win
meaningful results.
On Saturday, Mr. Mbeki provoked outrage by saying "there
is no crisis in
Zimbabwe."
A worldwide petition launched last week is calling on Mr Mbeki
to take a
tougher stance, as well as calling for the immediate release of
election
results. It has already attracted 120,000 signatures from almost
every
country on earth, including thousands of Avaaz members in the African
continent. http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/
"Global
public opinion is loud and clear," says Ricken Patel, Executive
Director of
Avaaz. "Thabo Mbeki's credibility as a global and regional
leader is on the
line."
"Now is the time to act. Mbeki is in danger of betraying the
principles of
the worldwide movement that helped bring democracy to his own
country."
About Avaaz
Avaaz, which means "voice" in several
European, Middle Eastern and Asian
languages, was launched in January 2007
with a simple democratic mission: to
use the tools of online campaigning to
help ensure that the views and values
of the world's peoples shape the
policies that govern them.
Avaaz has since grown to more than 3 million
members from every country on
earth. The Economist wrote last year of Avaaz'
power to "give the world
leaders a deafening wake-up call"; while the Indian
Express heralded "the
biggest web campaigner across the world, rooting for
crucial global issues."
David Miliband, the UK foreign secretary who
asked Avaaz to co-host his
first major speech, calls the organization "the
best of the new in foreign
policy." Zainab Bangura, the foreign minister of
Sierra Leone, describes
Avaaz as "an ally, and a rallying place, for
disadvantaged people everywhere
to help create real change".
Avaaz'
call for dialogue over Tibet received more than 1.6 million
signatures in
little over a week, in what is thought to be the fastest
growing global
online petition ever.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_report_back/
And
Avaaz's 'Stop the Clash' video recently won the YouTube political video
of
the year award, gaining more votes than Obama Girl and other videos
centered
on the US Presidential race. www.youtube.com/ytawards07winners
Looking for a knock-out
ahead of round two
Photo:
|
No news from the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission |
HARARE, 14
April 2008 (IRIN) - At least one Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporter
has been killed in political violence in Zimbabwe at the weekend, amid reports
by human rights groups that ruling ZANU-PF party militants and the army have
been deployed in the countryside to snuff out the opposition.
The
man was reportedly beaten to death in Hurungwe district, in Mashonaland West
Province: unconfirmed accounts said another MDC supporter was killed in Mudzi
distict in Mashonaland East Province. Both northern provinces have in the past
overwhelmingly voted for ZANU-PF, but in the 29 March election the MDC picked up
seats and local government wards.
A spokesperson for an organisation
working with political violence victims told IRIN: "We can confirm that one MDC
supporter was beaten to death by ZANU-PF supporters, youths and war veterans
over the weekend in Hurungwe. The brother to the victim of violence is currently
detained in a hospital with severe injuries. We are still making a follow up to
confirm reports that there was another murder in Mudzi."
Acts of
political retribution have reportedly increased in rural areas that were
formerly seen as ZANU-PF strongholds, where the MDC scored startling successes
in last month's poll.
"More than 200 families have had their homes burnt
down and chased away. Many are reported to be living in the forests and nearby
mountains while trying to make their way to urban areas, especially Harare [the
capital]. Those who have been targeted are those who were election or polling
agents for the MDC or known supporters," said the human rights defender, who
asked not to be named.
Teachers who worked as polling officers are some
of those who have been targeted, according to the secretary general of the
Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Raymond Majongwe, told IRIN.
"Teachers who worked as polling or presiding officers are being accused
of rigging the elections in favour of MDC. Teachers have been abducted and
tortured to alter election results," Majongwe alleged.
Bednock Nyahude,
the MDC winning candidate in the parliamentary elections for a constituency in
Mashonaland Central, another former ZANU-PF stronghold, claimed he had been
threatened by ruling party militants.
"ZANU-PF supporters have been
threatening me and my supporters with physical assault. They have threatened to
kidnap my children on their way from school," he reportedly said.
I
saw many villagers, especially MDC supporters and teachers, being beaten up by
armed men and ZANU-PF supporters |
According to
the official vote count, ZANU-PF has lost its majority in parliament for the
first time since independence in 1980, but it has called for a recount in 23
constituencies where it claims its candidates were cheated. The presidential
results are yet to be released, two weeks after the ballot. If it is determined
that incumbent President Robert Mugabe or MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai failed to
win over 50 percent of the vote, a second round run-off will be
called.
Military maneovers
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
secretary general, Wellington Chibebe, told IRIN that the deployment of the
military, war veterans and ZANU-PF militia was in line with statements made by
senior military commanders who said they would not recognise any elected
government except one led by ZANU-PF and Mugabe.
"What is happening is
clear proof that the military meant what it said, but what is undeniable is that
ZANU-PF has been beaten in the just ended elections and that it is now an
opposition party. Mugabe lost the elections otherwise why is he traumatising
innocent Zimbabweans?"
While the police confirmed there were "isolated"
cases of violence, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe National War Veterans
Association, Jabulani Sibanda, told IRIN that his members were not responsible
for the attacks. "No genuine war veteran would go out and commit acts of
violence. We are a disciplined force."
Ratidzo Moyo, a teacher in Mudzi,
said she had witnessed the political unrest in the district before she fled. "I
saw many villagers, especially MDC supporters and teachers, being beaten up by
armed men and ZANU-PF supporters. I only carried a few clothes and came to
Harare. I am afraid if I continue to stay there, I could be a victim of
political violence."
For now she is staying with her sister in the high
density suburb of Glen View in Harare. Although heavily armed soldiers and
police patrol the township, she feels safer among urban residents.
[ENDS]
[This report
does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations] |
Zimbabwean officials fear prosecution if Mugabe
loses
Christian Science Monitor
Top ruling party members are jittery about being tried in international
courts.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science
Monitor
and a contributor
from the April 15, 2008
edition
Bulawayo and Harare, Zimbabwe - Defeat is never easy
in politics, but it
seems especially hard for Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party,
which has steered
Zimbabwe through 28 years of ruinous and often brutal
rule.
Harsh crackdowns against dissent, starting with the "Gukurahundi"
massacres
that left more than 20,000 people dead in the early 1980s to the
crackdown
against university students in 1988 to the land invasions against
white
commercial farmers in the late 1990s have created a long list of
potential
human rights violations by senior members of
ZANU-PF.
Prosecution for involvement in these alleged crimes – and for
rampant
corruption – has given many top ZANU-PF leaders another compelling
reason to
hang on to power in the wake of Zimbabwe's disputed March 29
elections.
Recent examples of former African dictators – most notably
Liberia's former
President Charles Taylor who's now on trial for war crimes
in The Hague –
provide caution for any official facing defeat.
Small
reason, then, that ZANU-PF officials and top military commanders are
expressing reluctance to hand over power to the opposition candidate Morgan
Tsvangirai, who has pledged a clean sweep of government and a redress of
past crimes.
"We cannot allow our liberation war hero [Robert Mugabe]
to be humiliated
like [former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein]," says a senior
ZANU-PF politburo
member in Harare, who requested anonymity.
The
official claims that the opposition party, Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC), plans to send Mr. Mugabe to The Hague to face human rights and
war
crimes charges at the International Criminal Court in order to please
Western countries. He says some countries have already pledged financial
support to the opposition party should it emerge victorious.
While
much of the international community seems baffled by the two-week long
delay
for releasing Zimbabwe's election results – in which preliminary
tallies
show the opposition party to be the winner – the reason for
ZANU-PF's
intransigence may be a simple matter of staying rich and avoiding
prosecution.
Twenty-eight years of unquestioned power is a hard thing
to leave behind,
and having a military – especially one that is equally
implicated in crime
and corruption – seems to give the Zimbabwe ruling elite
the capacity to
hold onto power, no matter what the polls say.
The
question now is whether the MDC will give the ruling party confidence
that
they will receive fair treatment in court.
"Robert Mugabe is a person who
is surrounded by idiots, fools, thieves,
criminals, unemployable people,"
says Innocent Kala, one of the founding
members of ZANU-PF. Mr. Kala served
as Mugabe's minister of home affairs in
the 1980s until a falling out.
"These crooks are holding him hostage. If he
leaves, who will protect
them?"
The signs of ZANU-PF's distress are seen in the fact that the once
all-powerful party is suddenly negotiating with smaller parties in
expectation that when the results from the March 29 election are finally
released, neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai will have the 50 percent majority
and will have to face a runoff. This outreach stands in stark contrast with
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, which continues to insist that
it has won the election outright and is prepared to govern.
"For us,
it is not safe to cede power whether we lose or win," says one
veteran of
Zimbabwe's war for liberation against the former white-ruled
governmnent of
Rhodesia, who could not be named. "The MDC would want a land
audit, meaning
some people will lose their farms. They would want
investigations into the
deaths of its activists, and some of our colleagues
are not comfortable with
that."
There is also a widely held view that senior ZANU-PF officials and
Army
chiefs were reluctant to cede power because they are afraid of losing
the
properties they looted or got through party patronage.
"In
politics, you don't cede power easily, especially in a country like ours
where the opposition is controlled by foreign countries," says one senior
ZANU-PF official.
During election campaigns, the MDC told its
supporters that it would replace
all officials in key positions in major
state institutions, a pledge that
sent shivers down ZANU-PF
spines.
The fact that the on-going political violence – particularly in
the rural
areas such as Masvingo, where houses of opposition supporters are
being
burnt down by ZANU-PF militia and war veterans – is happening with
little or
no rebuke from senior party leaders appears to be a clear sign
that ruling
party elite are determined to cling to power at whatever
cost.
"If we are to leave power, we would want a guarantee from the MDC
and the
international community that there would be no prosecution of any
crime,"
says another ZANU-PF official. "Even with such a clause we are very
careful."
• A journalist who could not be named for security reasons
contributed from
Harare.
Zanu-PF 'not surprised'
IOL
April 14 2008 at
06:32PM
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe's party said on
Monday it
was not surprised by a High Court decision to throw out a request
by the
opposition to force the immediate release of presidential
elections.
"We are not surprised that the court has dismissed the
application,"
Patrick Chinamasa, the ruling Zanu-PF's spokesperson
said.
"We knew from the outset that application by the MDC had no
merit. How
can you force the electoral commission to release results when it
is not
ready?"
He accused the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) of aiming at
post-electoral unrest in the southern African
country.
"It is very clear that the MDC embarked on mitigation in
order to
stampede the electoral commission to announce an incorrect result
and to
cause confusion," he said.
"The MDC is trying to paint
and portray Zimbabwe as a country in
crisis and this explains why they
caused the SADC chairperson to convene a
meeting with no prior consultation
with Zimbabwe," he said in an interview
flanked by Foreign Minister
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and Rural Housing
Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
The three ministers represented Mugabe at the weekend
summit which
Mugabe decided to skip.
Mnangagwa had earlier on
Monday told a news conference that SADC
member states were taken by surprise
to be invited to the summit by Zambian
leader Levy Mwanawasa, two days after
it had been announced in the media.
At the summit held in Zambia,
he said Zimbabwe had "objected in the
strongest terms" to the inclusion of
opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai
and Simba Makoni on the
agenda.
Allowing the two to address the leaders "was tantamount to
elevating
opposition politicians to the status of heads of states and
governments".
"Such a step, if allowed, would create a dangerous
precedent." -
Sapa-AFP
A leadership vacuum
The Australian
April 15,
2008
Zimbabwe's opposition must continue to stand firm
THE failure
of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community summit
to put
pressure on depraved Zimbabwe tyrant Robert Mugabe demonstrates why
much of
the region remains wracked by starvation, disease, economic ruin and
corruption. As head of the largest nation at the summit, South African
President Thabo Mbeki should have galvanised the support of his neighbours
to give Mugabe, 84, the stern push he needs to make way for the new order
demanded by his people. The SADC's weekend resolution did not even name
Mugabe, let alone criticise him. Mr Mbeki's mealy-mouthed insistence that
"there is no crisis in Zimbabwe" and that "quiet diplomacy" will prevail
suggests that Mugabe is still lionised as a symbol of black
liberation.
After 28 years of his rule, it is fair to ask, liberation from
what?
Liberation from non-democratic white rule that has morphed into
non-democratic black rule. As southern Africa's worst example of clapped-out
Stalinism, independence has come at a price of 100,000 per cent inflation,
80 per cent unemployment, the razing of once-rich farmlands and black
opponents' villages and a life expectancy of about 35years. Under former
prime minister Ian Smith in the 1960s and 70s, farms and mines were
white-owned, but most blacks had jobs, food, lived twice as long and in many
cases were educated.
The people of the former Rhodesia, like those of
all colonies, were entitled
to self-determination. Tragically, however,
today's generations across much
of Africa are hungrier and more downtrodden
than their ancestors under
colonial rule. Aids has been allowed to run
rampant. Unaccustomed to a
culture of trade and commerce, unlike the Indians
and Chinese who helped
former Asian colonial countries thrive, Africans have
floundered. Abysmal
leadership has squandered any hope of prosperity because
too often it has
been shackled to the failed remnants of Marxism.
In
Zimbabwe, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, despite the Mugabe
regime's
electoral fraud, clearly won the March 29 presidential election as
well as
the parliamentary poll. Mr Tsvangirai's tactics of pressing his
claim of
outright victory are correct. The Mugabe regime's leading henchmen
have so
much invested in one-party democracy that a second ballot would be
meaningless.
Now pressing 90, South Africa's liberator Nelson Mandela
seems unable or
unwilling to raise his voice. And the new generation of
leaders' efforts on
Zimbabwe match their collective failure to take a stand
on the tragedies in
Darfur, Sudan and Somalia further north. If the SADC had
a shred of
credibility or a basic grasp of responsible governance, it would
distance
itself from Mugabe's mass murder, corruption and turning his nation
from a
bread basket into a basket-case. Doing so, however, might throw too
much of
spotlight their own shaky regimes. The UN, too, is displaying
customary
meekness in the face of such outrages. Yet until the Mugabe regime
is
history, the world cannot help his starving people.
Zimbabwe: The Battle Mugabe Will Never Win
African Path
April 14, 2008
11:49 AM
By Rev M S Hove
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
It is very
vital that the whole world should know that ZANU-PF has always
had two
faces. There is the face that is shown to the world and the face
that the
common man on the ground sees and brushes and inter-acts with.
We who
have been part of ZANU-PF for all our adult lives can testify that
ZANU-PF
is a very dangerous organisation indeed. I will try to follow the
bumpy
journey that we have had with Mugabe and ZANU-PF since before the
Independence of 1980.
It must be emphasized that Mugabe and ZANU-PF
have always existed as some
sort of under-dog. That is the underline that
must never be omitted.
BEFORE 1980
When the Rev Ndabaningi Sithole
broke away in the early 60s (from the main
Organisation, ZAPU), the new
Organisation, ZANU survived and thrived by
demonising Dr Joshua Nkomo. He
was presented to the people as a dangerous
Ndebele who would revive the
NdebeleKingdom.
As with all propaganda, there must be some element of
truth for the
propaganda to stick. The majority Shonas had suffered untold
hardships in
the previous Century from raids by war-like Ndebeles. So anyone
who could
revive that experience in the hearts and minds of the people had a
very easy
task.
So it was very risky for Shonas to remain in Dr
Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU. In
fact, those that did deserve a lot of respect. There
are numerous I could
mention but I do not intend to list them in this
particular submission. I
cannot also list the numerous events where ZAPU
supporters were tortured and
murdered before Independence. The trend was for
Shonas to support ZANU and
forget about Dr Joshua Nkomo if they wanted to
live and survive.
From 1973 when I completed the General Certificate of
Education (Ordinary
Level) ie Form Four, I was a member of the United
African National Council
(UANC) which was led by the Methodist Bishop Abel
Tendekayi Muzorewa. This
UANC was the internal Organisation which grouped
all the nationalists ie
ZAPU, ZANU and the former ANC. The strategy was for
the Smith Regime to
treat the UANC in a softer light yet in fact it was
representing the very
same "banned" ZAPU and ZANU.
From 1974 I was
staying my with my parents and my father was the Pastor at
the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in the black township of Rimuka in the small
farming and
mining town of Kadoma (then Gatooma).
Recruitment for guerilla fighters
for both the ZANLA and ZIPRA (military
wings of ZANU and ZAPU respectively)
was done underground within the UANC.
The young men we recruited went mainly
to Mozambique to the ZANLA bases.
I remember vividly that we contributed
monies in Kadoma to give the "boys"
when their representatives came to us in
Rimuka Townnship. We used to gather
at the SQ's (Single Quarters) at Mr
Nyamhuri's house (or more correctly,
room).
Mr Nyamhuri was so
committed to the struggle and I held him in the highest
esteem.
What
I didn't know and what didn't really concern me then was whether he was
ZAPU
or ZANU. To me these Organisations had been "swallowed" by the UANC and
what
was there was just the UANC and the UANC alone. But because of what I
will
relate later, may I mention that he was a fervent supporter of Dr
Nkomo's
ZAPU.
I was a Sub-station Attendant with the then ESC (the Electricity
Supply
Commission) and I was very angry with the racism of the white
Rhodesia Front
regime.
I had completed my Cambridge School
Certificate with a First Division and I
was angry that I was only taken by
the ESC as a $7.92 a week Sub-station
Attendant yet white youths were
getting in as Apprentices getting $40 a
week.
I hated Ian Smith and I
was committed to the Armed Struggle.
In March of 1975, 21 of us were
picked up and I spent three weeks detained
at the Rimuka Police
Cells.
Detective Sergeant Zimani then told me that they were doing their
jobs and
they would continue with their jobs even in the event of Black
Majority
Rule. He specifically said, "Tichangoshaina zvakadaro. Tiri
kushaina ende
tichangoshaina." (We will still thrive. We are thriving now
and will still
thrive then.)
HOW TRUE HE WAS AND IT BECAME EXACTLY AS
HE HAD SAID!
Detective-Sergeant Zimani was a very smart, handsome
light-skinned man. Many
years later I worked in ZESA (The Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority)
with a nephew of his who informed me that Mr
Zimani did continue working a
Senior Detective in the renamed Zimbabwe
Republic Police and retired due to
old age.
BACK TO MY
STORY
In the middle of April, 1975, some of were released but some were
sent to
the High Court in Harare (then Salisbury) and one was sentenced to
death and
two were sentenced to Life Imprisonment. The crime was "the
recruitment of
terrorists for military training."
The young man who
was sentenced to death was a very handsome, intelligent
brother whom we had
learnt to love, trust and admire. His name appears in
the lists of people
who were sentenced to death in the Salisbury High Court
in 1975.
I
escaped Death or even Life Imprisonment myself because I was 19 years old
and it was assumed that I had been misled by the older people.
After
my release I got a job as a Temporary Teacher at MupamombePrimary
School in
the same RimukaTownship and I remember I was earning a healthy
$59.75 per
month.
I started in the Second Term and I hoped I would settle for a
quiet
uneventful life.
Sometime beginning of the Third Term, seven
young Form One Students came to
me and they said they wanted directions to
go to Mozambique. I told them I
was sure they needed to go to Malvenia and
see from there. They asked me for
financial assistance and I truthfully said
I had none. I, however, wished
them a safe journey and that was the last I
heard from them.
On the 10th of November (the same year 1975),
Detective-Sergeant Zimani came
to my Grade 5B Classroom with the Headmaster
and I was told the Police
needed me and could I get my jacket and
everything. I was driven to Chakari
Police Station where I spent exactly
five weeks. Among the numerous visitors
who periodically came to visit me
was the same Nyamhuri who I had shared a
cell with earlier in the
year.
HERE IS WHERE I'M GOING TO
On the 16th of June, 2004, when I
was now a District Secretary in ZANU-PF, I
had to supervise the beating up
of PF-ZAPU members and one of them was my
same compatriot, Cde Nyamhuri. The
full story of this particular black day
is available in my "THE THOUGHTS AND
MEMORIES OF A FORMER ZANU-PF CADRE" and
the link thereof is available at
finalpushzim.blogspot.com/.
What made ZANU-PF members go on a rampage
beating up and killing PF-ZAPU
members? What made brother to turn against
brother and children to turn
against their parents etc?
I have
related how the Rev Sithole's ZANU persecuted Dr Nkomo's ZAPU.
Although
there was some loose Alliance called the Patriotic Front, Mr Robert
Mugabe
(now heading ZANU) was so determined to lead the new Independent
Zimbabwe.
He fooled all who thought his Alliance with Nkomo was genuine.
There was
great disappointment when Mugabe led ZANU to contest the Elections
on its
own in 1980.
He had made his task easier by assassinating a much
respected Karanga
General Josiah Magama Tongogara who was of the view that
Mugabe and Nkomo
should go into Zimbabwe as one united entity. The General
held the ZAPU
leader in high esteem and paid with his life for that
posture.
FROM 1980 ONWARDS
It was so logical that Dr Joshua Nkomo
and Mr Robert Mugabe should fight the
Smith Regime as a one united front. At
that time the battle was actually
against the Internal Settlement Leader
(Bishop Abel Muzorewa.)
The whites were contesting on their own for the
20 reserved seats. The 80
were "up for grabs" for the black Political
Formations.
But to simple persons like myself, it would have been a
wonderful climax if
the Nationalist Movements were to share their victories
together.
ALAS, ROBERT MUGABE HAD OTHER IDEAS!
Dr Nkomo's Campaign
Team couldn't campaign in numerous areas.
Masvingo, Manicaland and many
parts of Mashonaland. Many lost their lives.
The situation became so bad
Lord Soames was under pressure to disqualify
Mugabe's ZANU-PF. In retrospect
many wish he had done just that. But it
would have been impossible to hold
the Elections without Robert Mugabe.
ZANLA had left 4000 fighters in
Mozambique who had not been declared at the
Assembly Points and these would
have destabilised the Elections of 1980 and
whatever would come from them.
So in spite of the violence, ZANU-PF was
allowed to contest and "won" 57
seats, Dr Nkomo 20 with Muzorewa getting 3.
The seats were given out using
the proportional representation ie using the
percentages of the votes
gained.
But I later learnt that the ZAPU members and the ZIPRA combatants
never
really felt relaxed and happy in the new Zimbabwe. At that time – 1981
to
1987, I was under the impression that ZAPU was a dangerous organisation
which was plotting to "overthrow" Mugabe's ZANU-PF Government. Me as a
Minister of the Gospel, I managed to talk to many ex-ZIPRA cadres who told
me horrifying stories.
Many good persons were being locked up, ZAPU
offices were being shut down
all over the country.
The farms which
the demobilised ex-ZIPRA Combatants had bought with their
"De-mob" monies
were confiscated by the State and even after the so-called
"Unity Accord" of
1987, they have never been returned. These were called
"Nitram
Farms."
The persecution of all of Mugabe's real or imaginary enemies
during his 28
year reign of terror can never be fully quantified.
In
my submission "IS ROBERT MUGABE THE MASTER-ASSASSIN" (refer
bobchargesheet.blogspot.com), I tried to list all the persons I knew had
been assassinated by Robert Mugabe's CIO (Central Intelligence
Organisation.) I'm daily surprised by other additional names.
I had
not listed Professor Masipula Sithole who allegedly had a heart attack
while
on a plane to the United States.
I had not listed Dr Swithun Mombeshora
who had a very strange death. At that
time we thought he just died in his
sleep. Now we know more and I need to
update my records.
WHY MUGABE
CANNOT WIN THIS TIME
The very cadres that Mugabe and ZANU-PF used in
various evil and nefarious
activities are too scattered this time. Some left
the country due to the
Economic hardships, some now support Tsvangirai's
MDC, others support the
Makoni-Mutambara Alliance and numerous are giving
Interviews all over the
world and a few like myself are blogging and are
collecting information
which heavily incriminates the same Mugabe and
ZANU-PF.
Mugabe can never rig Elections this time and hope to get away
with it.
Within the most close networks are angry and disgruntled Operatives
who were
made to persecute their own friends, relatives etc. There is no
Operative
who doesn't have relations that suffered in one way or another
during
Mugabe's stranglehold on power.
The few that sing Mugabe's
praises are the desperate ones who fear serious
retribution in the event of
another Government getting into power. These
operate in difficult
circumstances because their own colleagues leak vital
information to the
Opposition Forces hence making "Operations" very
difficult, if not
impossible.
How can MDC sypmathisers "rig" at 23 Polling Stations? Are
we, therefore,
alleging that those registered as ZANU-PF Polling Agents were
actually MDC
members?
That's very frightening!
So who is
really ZANU-PF?
If members of the Politburo can break away just a month
before a very vital
election, who is the committed ZANU-PF member?
In
other words, can anyone be sure who supports Mugabe and who does not?
So
how does Mugabe hope to win a re-run, if there is one? Does Mugabe not
risk
the danger of a worse loss?
Are Mugabe's advisers sincere? Or are they
also Opposition sympathisers?
UNDERSTANDING THE ZIMBABWEAN PRESENT
SITUATION
After numerous Political Parties "fell" by the way-side,
ZANU-PF made the
blunder of being arrogant and complacent. It is important
to mention that
those that "fell by the wayside" were actually strangled by
ZANU-PF.
Margaret Dongo, Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena, Edgar Tekere,
Bishop
Muzorewa etc etc. Graves were dug as their members were clubbed to
death or
were sent to other violent death.
Corruption then crept in
and spread like a cancer.
When Cde Edgar Tekere mentioned in a Politburo
Meeting that "we are getting
too corrupt", the reply was: "You see that
door.....leave through it and
form your own Political Party." He did form
ZUM and what happened to Cde
Kombayi and numerous others is there for all to
read.
Please go to my finalpushzim.blogspot.com and look for "APPEAL TO
ALL
JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS", and "THE THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES OF A FORMER
ZANU-PF
CADRE."
Mugabe was now a "Demi-God" who could neither be
advised nor even approached
by anyone. His own relatives, Phillip Chiyangwa,
Leo Mugabe etc became
filthy rich while the generality of the populace sank
into deeper and deeper
poverty. State funds were diverted to non-productive
and dangerous
adventures. The DRC war, the Pay-outs to angry Ex-Combatants,
the
"Gracelands" projects by Grace Marufu-Goreraza-Marufu… the list is
endless!
When the Movement for Democratic Change was formed, then Mugabe
and ZANU-PF
decided to take the most risky leap ever taken....in the
dark!
HOW THE "LAND GRAB" BECAME THE VERY LAST STRAW!
I was an
Accounting Officer (Revenue) in the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority
when the "Land Grab" began. As o former Credit Controller in the
same
Organisation, I knew who our "Big Customers" were. Farmers, Mining
Companies
and other big Industrialists gave us the big revenue.
Farmers had their
own Transformers and used millions of Megawatt-hours
(Units.)
When
the "Land Grab" began, revenue fell dramatically. ZESA never became the
same
after that. Remember many "big" customers were paying in Foreign
Currency,
if it was known they exported certain products e.g. beef products,
flowers
etc.
With the collapse of the Commercial Farmers, everything then
followed like
that Domino Set-up! Centres supplying farmers with implements
also
collapsed. Banket Farmers' Centre, Chinhoyi Agricultural Supplies etc.
Each
town had closures. Norton lost Farmers' Centres. So did Kadoma. Name
every
city and town!
The Cold Storage Commissions around the country
closed for lack of beef
products. My fellow-countrymen who had gone into the
farms were selling beef
at black market places and had no regard for
business acumen since they had
"inherited" the farms with all the beasts etc
for free! All that was there
to do was to thank Mugabe and ZANU-PF for the
"Third Chimurenga."
The Dairy Marketing Commissions closed down. No-one
brought megalitres of
milk. The new farmers were sitting on stools and
milking just enough for
their families. No bulk deliveries to town. The
little that was being sold
in towns was being sold at market stalls. Nothing
much to talk about!
The Commercial Banks were holding numerous title
deeds as Security for
short-term and long-term loans that the Commercial
farmers taken to supply
their ventures with financial injections. Overnight
they lost millions as
Mugabe declared those Title Deeds just equal in value
to "toilet paper." Who
knows how much was lost by the Banks due to this
misguided "Revolutionary"
move?
The new farmers who took over the
farms were mainly "Cell Phone"
administrators who did not live full-time on
the land. Whenever they bought,
say, fertilizer, they never knew if their
Farm Managers used that fertilizer
or actually sold it at cheaper prices and
pocketing the ready cash. Which
farmer can succeed if they send inputs and
implements and not supervise how
they are used?
Fuel that was sold to
the new farmers at ridiculously low prices never
reached the said
farms.
The new farmers found it far more profitable to re-sell it to
transport
operators rather than take it hundreds of kilometres to their
farms.
The whole tragedy that surrounded the "Land Grab" can never be
fully
revealed.
It is not fully true that "Sanctions" are the only
ones to blame for the
Economic Crisis in Zimbabwe. The factors are so
numerous, what's required
for Zimbabwe is a completely new start!
The
strongest ZANU-PF supporter knows that Mugabe and ZANU-PF can never
preside
over the re-construction of the country's Economy.
THE
CONCLUSION
I rarely have a formal conclusion in all my
submissions.
This one, however, deserves a proper conclusion.
As I
write this submission, its Sunday 13th April and I'm receiving SMS's
from
Zimbabwe and from around the world. Those in Zimbabwe inform that
Mugabe's
last card is to replace the genuine Ballot Papers with those
already printed
which have the same serial numbers as the ones previously
counted.
It
works like this:
If an MDC supporter was given Ballot number BX 14567 and
voted for the MDC,
a new Ballot Paper with the number BX 14567 must be
thrown into the Ballot
Box with an "X" for ZANU-PF and the original one
(which had an "X" for the
MDC) destroyed.
No new Ballot Papers can be
added otherwise it would destabilise the
original total.
This is
completely stupid, though, because the Information is already being
circulated. Otherwise how else would I know about it from here in South
Africa?
But it is incredible to believe that with the rigorous
checking and
cross-checking, it would have been possible for 23 Polling
Stations ( or
even one) to make a gross error where a certain number of
votes could have
been passed as Tsvangirai's yet they were actually
Mugabe's.
The allegation means that all the four Boxes were miscounted.
It implies
that the alleged 23 Polling Stations; the votes for the
President, for the
Member of Parliament, for the Senator and for the
Councillor were all
miscounted.
All this happening (allegedly) in the
presence of the candidate for ZANU-PF
(who can never be absent), the
candidates of the other parties, the Polling
Officers, the Presiding
Officer, the ZEC representative, the ZESN
representative and the visitors
from other "friendly countries."
This allegedly happened at not one but
23 Polling Stations!
This allegedly happened in Zimbabwe where the State
Officials normally
support ZANU-PF.
This allegedly happened with the
help of the Foreign observers.
So one can as well allege that it happened
in all the 9000 Polling Stations.
Who can dispute that?
At what stage
were the anomalies discovered? After the results had been
signed for and the
results posted outside the Polling Stations? Then for
four full days, nobody
had noticed it? Then someone checked the figures of
the 9000 Polling
Stations and discovered that there 23 which were suspect?
Are there more
to come?
Which idiot in the whole wide world would believe that
trash?
If we expect to receive Donor Confidence to re-build our country,
why engage
in desperate tactics?
If we hope for Investor Confidence,
why sink to such low levels?
AS EVERY SINCERE OBSERVER AND ANALYST KNOWS,
THIS TIME MUGABE HAS FOUGHT THE
BATTLE HE HAS NOT ONLY LOST......BUT CAN
NEVER, EVER WIN. THIS DOES NOT MEAN
HE WAS WINNING FAIR AND SQUARE EVER
BEFORE.
ONLY THIS TIME THE MACHINERY LEAKS (AS BROTHER WILF MBANGA ONCE
OBSERVED)
LIKE A SIEVE!
Respectfully submitted,
Rev Mufaro
Stig Hove
Southern Africa fails Zimbabwe
Financial Times
Published: April 14
2008 19:28 | Last updated: April 14 2008 19:28
Were it not for its tragic
dimensions, Zimbabwe’s post-election debacle
would be entering the realms of
farce. Fifteen days have passed since it
became clear that Robert Mugabe and
his ruling Zanu-PF party lost both
presidential and parliamentary elections.
Yet the official tally for the
presidential vote has yet to be
declared.
It is abundantly clear that the reason for the delay is that
the resultsspelleddefeat for Mr Mugabe and his acolytes. Deluded as they were,
this appears to
have come as a surprise. The parliamentary election, in
which the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change overcame Zanu-PF’s
majority for the first
time since independence, may now be overturned in the
manipulated recount
already under way.
The response of Southern
African leaders, meeting in the Zambian capital,
Lusaka, last weekend, was
to call on the Zimbabwean authorities to release
the full results of the
elections “expeditiously”. This was a pathetic
statement of the obvious. But
to add insult to injury to Zimbabwean voters,
Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s
president, denied that Zimbabwe was in crisis
and urged the world to be
patient while the votes were counted. He has now
forfeited any residual
credibility as the principal trouble-shooter in
southern Africa.
What
was needed was a concerted response to what is now self-evidently a
constitutional coup to salvage the Mugabe regime. While Mr Mbeki and his
regional peers exercise patience, a brutal campaign to suppress the popular
will has begun. Regardless of whether a run-off in the presidential
elections is deemed necessary by an electoral commission stacked with
officials in hock to Mr Mugabe, his intention to cling to power at all costs
is clear.
The world is by now used to the procrastinations of Mr
Mbeki and his
southern African peers over Zimbabwe. They have long been
oblivious to the
threat to regional security in their midst. Nor should it
be a surprise that
the cries of outrage from Britain and the west have
fallen on deaf ears.
But that Africa at large should stand by, while Mr
Mugabe and his security
chiefs steal another vote and subject their country
to a brutal
confrontation, is harder to understand. Until now the African
Union has
delegated a response to the Zimbabwe crisis to the Southern
African
Development Community. That is not working. If the AU is to preserve
its own
credibility, it must stand up now and call this coup a coup. That is
the
first essential step towards an honest debate about the transition from
Mr
Mugabe’s tyrannical rule.
Editorial: This dictator has no clothes
Stuff, New Zealand
The
Dominion Post | Tuesday, 15 April 2008
South Africa's president
Thabo Mbeki marshalled his words with military
precision when he spoke about
the two-week delay in releasing the results of
Zimbabwe's presidential
election. "I wouldn't describe that as a crisis.
It's a normal electoral
process in Zimbabwe," he said. Sadly Mr Mbeki was
right, The Dominion Post
writes.
It is normal for Zimbabwe's elderly president Robert Mugabe
to fix
elections. In 2002 he stuffed the ballot with votes from dead,
fictitious
and improperly registered voters to "win" the last presidential
contest. In
2005 his Zanu-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a
two-thirds
majority in the parliamentary elections.
So it is hardly
surprising that two weeks after his party lost control of
Zimbabwe's
Parliament, the result of the presidential contest has still not
been
announced. Nor is it surprising that a number of election officials
have
been arrested, or that ballots from 23 constituencies are being
recounted,
or that supporters of the Opposition Movement for Democratic
Change have
been set upon by gangs of Mugabe supporters.
South Africa and Zimbabwe's
other neighbours cannot continue to turn a blind
eye to this state of
affairs.
For years Mr Mbeki has pursued a policy of "quiet diplomacy" in
Zimbabwe. He
has done so out of a misplaced sense of loyalty for a fellow
freedom-fighter
and because of distrust of the MDC's links with the wealthy
remnants of what
used to comprise Zimbabwe's white elite. The aim of the
policy has been to
ease Mr Mugabe from power but leave his Zanu-PF party in
control.
But it must be clear, even to Mr Mbeki, that it is a policy that
has failed.
Mr Mugabe and his cronies still control the machinery of the
state.
Thousands are dying of malnutrition every month, average life
expectancy has
plummeted from 60 to less than 40 in less than 20 years,
inflation is
running at about 100,000 per cent and 80 to 90 per cent of the
population is
unemployed.
While Zimbabwe's African neighbours have
defended it on the international
stage and accused critics of western
imperialism, Mr Mugabe has destroyed a
bountiful nation that was once
Africa's breadbasket. The losers are not
western imperialists or Zimbabwe's
former colonial masters, but ordinary
black Zimbabweans who no longer have
homes in which to live, food to feed
their families, access to medical
supplies, or hope for the future.
Mr Mbeki and the other leaders of the
14-nation Southern African Development
Community should recognise that the
dictator has no clothes.
An election has been held. Zimbabwe's people
have expressed their will, at
great risk to themselves, and that will should
be allowed to find expression
in the form of a government headed by MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Whatever good Mr Mugabe ever did was long ago
overtaken by the evil he has
perpetrated to retain his grip on
power.
Mr Mbeki and Mr Mugabe's other supporters in southern Africa
should insist
the tyrant respect the will of the people. Mr Mugabe is not
the only leader
with blood on his hands for what has happened in Zimbabwe.
His neighbours do
not need any more.