Police check the identity of those attending
opposition rallies
| The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
Comment from ZWNEWS, 16 February
Is that it?
Is that it? Nearly two years ago President Mugabe began guerrilla operations against his own people. When that didn’t work he launched a wider war that sought to excise every bloom of democracy, prosperity and hope from Zimbabwe. Africa didn’t like this; the wider world liked it far less. And the result of their indignation, of hundreds of meetings, thousands of briefings and article, millions of words? A thin smear of observers, selected at Mugabe’s behest, and, less than a month before the elections, yet to be spread across Zimbabwe’s 400,000 square kilometres. Is that it?
The West has had two years to take action. Beguiled by the soothing yet ultimately empty words of African leaders it has chosen to do nothing. Now the EU and the UK find themselves, through their own fault, in a hopeless position. All they can offer the suffering millions in Zimbabwe are a hundred or so EC observers, many of whom are unlikely even to be accredited. That’s one for every 4,000 square kilometres and one for every 40,000 voters. And to keep that pitifully tiny force in country the EC now has to be nice to Mugabe –no sanctions, no threats, no criticisms. Implicit in this stance is the belief that the elections might yet be free and fair. That is an absurd point of view and here are 10 reasons why:
Intimidation: for 20 years there was no opposition in Zimbabwe. As soon as one arose Mugabe sought to destroy it through physical violence. Every day for the last two years someone somewhere has taken a beating, or a bullet, for being an MDC supporter. Children, schoolteachers, pregnant women – none have been exempt. Even as you read this article Zanu PF thugs are touring the townships and rural areas, telling the electorate that Zanu PF will know how they vote and subjecting them to violence and humiliation to get the point across.
State prosecution: the military, the police, the intelligence services serve the interests of Zanu PF, not the interests of Zimbabwe. Not only is there no protection for the MDC against government violence, it is the police, the army and the war veterans who dish out government violence, along with their noxious new allies the youth brigades. Supporting the MDC, even reading the Daily News, have become arrestable offences. The machinery of state is geared to a Mugabe victory.
Propaganda: the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Company has spewed out a foul brew of racist, neo-Maoist, paranoid filth for years on both television and radio. It is wholly the voice of Zanu PF. Mugabe closed down and forbade other radio stations. This is all the broadcast media that most voters will ever see or hear.
Rallies: the MDC have had countless rallies disrupted, banned, cancelled or attacked by Zanu PF, by war veterans and by the police. The only threats to Zanu PF rallies are apathy and boredom.
Registration: Zanu PF has physically removed tens of thousands of farm workers from their homes. They are now refugees in their own country. This dislocation makes it impossible for them to register and vote. A new citizenship law has disenfranchised much of the remaining white population. Draconian demands for identification have disenfranchised tens of thousands of younger voters. Mugabe has done all he can to ensure that those who will not vote for him cannot vote at all.
Access: this election will be won or lost in Mashonaland. Mugabe and his thugs have made it utterly impossible for the MDC to campaign there. This is like the British Labour party being forbidden to campaign south of the Watford Gap. As in 2000 it will prove impossible ‘for technical reasons’ for observers to get far from the towns and villages in Mashonaland into the countryside beyond.
Legislation: the Public Order and Security Bill and General Laws Amendment Bill make it illegal to mount a meaningful opposition election campaign.
Supervisions: the mechanics of the election, including the distribution and management of ballot boxes and the compilation of returns will be in the hands of an Election Supervisory Commission staffed by Zanu PF supporters, war veterans, and military officers. Close supervision of ballot boxes by others is now illegal. The final count will be in the hands of this Commission.
Press accreditation: new press laws will make it almost impossible for the international press, indeed any non-Zanu PF press, to get access to the rural areas where the election will be lost and won.
Money: Mugabe has shamelessly plundered Zimbabwe’s increasingly meagre resources to fund his campaign and bribe his followers. By contrast he has made it impossible and illegal for the MDC to raise substantial sums. Mugabe travels to his rallies in a fleet of helicopters, Tsvangirai in a battered 4WD. When he is allowed to travel and hold a rally.
For two years Mugabe has twisted every institution, corrupted public servants and parliament, beaten and murdered his opponents to hang onto power. What we know, but the EU fails to grasp, is that for he and his henchmen there is no shame in this, no guilt in murder and manipulation. They have broken apart democracy like children smashing a complicated toy they have no use for. To them politics is a means to personal enrichment and personal security – service, answerability, honour, all are alien concepts. They will con the EU, browbeat the SADC observers, claim victory then go on their way rejoicing through a dark and broken land.
No one can believe that elections in Zimbabwe can be free and fair. Only the likes of President Mbeki can bring themselves to make such an absurd claim. Mugabe has tilted the playing field grotesquely in his favour and if no favourable result is forthcoming despite that – he will stuff and rig. But might a few weeks or relative tranquillity persuade our friends from the EU to suspend judgement? Might some local details take attention from the bigger picture? Observers will see long lines of Zimbabweans waiting in the sun to vote, they will swap jokes with affable Zanu PF officials, they will eat sandwiches and drink Castle beer alongside peaceful polling stations. Let us hope that the broader canvas that stretches into every dark corner of our country is visible to them. This is a not a normal election. The last two years have been grimly abnormal – years of blood and intimidation and manipulation in which people have been killed and beaten and have lost all they have ever owned. Mugabe stole this election long ago – it only remains to be seen if Morgan Tsvangirai, and the people of Zimbabwe can, through an overwhelming vote, snatch it back.
Our handful of observers (and we can all note with relief that a delegation from Iran is on the way) may make the elections a fraction cleaner. We should applaud their efforts however few they are, however late. But free and fair elections? Impossible. Having let Zimbabwe sink so far the outside world could at least acknowledge that.
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Robert Mugabe is pulling out all the stops to ensure that he wins the presidential elections on 9-10 March.
An electoral law was pushed through parliament which will effectively deny the vote to hundreds of thousands of young people without jobs, who are invariably opposition supporters.
Only after intense international pressure were foreign election observers allowed.
 There's no way that Mugabe will lose the election. And even
if he does lose the vote, he won't give up power  |
|
Harare resident |
More importantly, thousands of Zimbabweans trained to monitor elections will be banned from polling stations as they are deemed to work for anti-government organisations.
It seems that only civil servants - susceptible to government control - will be accredited.
A new security law makes it a crime to criticise the president and yet another bill was finally passed by parliament - in spite of fierce criticism - which will stop independent journalists from writing stories which do not meet with official approval.
Several government sympathisers have been named as judges, in the hope that legal challenges to such laws, or possibly future election appeals, by the opposition will be doomed to failure.
Click here to find out more about the controversial bills
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has been vilified as a "terrorist organisation" and officials warn of a US-style "war against terror".
The low-level campaign of intimidation against MDC activists, especially in rural areas, is continuing - as is the confiscation of land belonging to white farmers who are accused of supporting the opposition.
Newly-trained militias are mounting roadblocks throughout the country. Anyone without a Zanu-PF membership card is told to purchase one at an inflated price or is beaten up.
Turned away
A combination of the self-styled "war veterans" and the police has prevented opposition rallies from going ahead.
When the police decide to allow an MDC meeting to go ahead, they check the identity papers of those attending and turn away those without valid documents.
 Mugabe calls his opponents
'terrorists' |
The 77-year-old Mr Mugabe and his advisors are laying, one-by-one, the foundation stones of a very high wall around State House.
Some Zimbabweans who want change, buoyed by the MDC's strong showing in the June 2000 parliamentary elections, are losing hope.
"There's no way that Mugabe will lose the election," says one long-suffering Harare resident. "And even if he does lose the vote, he won't give up power."
Luxuries
The Financial Gazette newspaper has reported that Mr Mugabe is building underground bunkers at State House in case the elections descend into civil war.
 Tsvangirai will face Mugabe in
elections |
The 57 opposition members of parliament are unable to block the controversial legislation, however much they huff and puff.
During the debate on the media bill, there was some dissent on the Zanu-PF benches but after some minor concessions were made, they were whipped into line.
Meanwhile, the economy continues to suffocate in the absence of foreign aid and investment.
Workers are being laid off by the day and with inflation officially running at over 100%, bread and even the staple food, maize-meal, are becoming luxuries.
Gloomy future
A multi-screen, state-of-the-art cinema complex on the outskirts of Harare has had to close down because it can no longer get the foreign currency to import films from Hollywood.
Some lucky people, mainly with good connections, are benefiting from the distribution of farmland, so that even if they do not have a job, they can at least grow their own maize.
 Zimbabweans hope the poll will be free and
fair |
The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, was taken to court for warning that if Mr Mugabe does not step down, he would be removed from power by force. The charges were dropped but this could well be an accurate prediction for Zimbabwe's future.
With Mr Mugabe at the helm, there is no prospect of a reversal of Zimbabwe's economic fortunes.
The biggest challenge is to earn some foreign currency in order to pay for essentials such as oil and electricity, not to mention computers, vehicles and food imports.
'Frightening'
International investors and donors are the fastest way of getting hard currency into the country but both groups will continue to steer well clear of Harare if Mr Mugabe rigs his way to victory.
"Frightening," is how one Zimbabwean describes the prospect of another six years of Mr Mugabe's rule.
Last December, a group of civic organisations attempted to stage a "mass protest" at the new electoral laws but it fizzled out when a meagre 50 protestors turned up.
 Rises in the price of bread have already led to
violence |
Riot police flooded Harare city centre and potential demonstrators knew that they were risking lungfuls of tear-gas, rubber truncheons and a night in the cells.
Political analyst Brian Raftopolous recently told the BBC that he believed that a rigged election would be unlikely to lead to massive street protests, toppling Mr Mugabe.
He said that Zimbabwe still had a "strong state".
Soldiers have been used to quell rioting in recent years and the army commander recently said the military would not accept an opposition victory.
But as Zimbabweans become more hungry, they will also become more angry.
If they feel that they have no chance of changing the government through elections, there will come a point when they feel violence is the only answer.
Just as black nationalists, led by Mr Mugabe, felt in the 1970s with regard to Ian Smith's white minority government.
No matter how strong the state, if it does not enjoy popular support, its hold on power ultimately crumbles.
As Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic, Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu and Ivory Coast's Robert Guei can testify.
Regime a step closer to triggering sanctions
Harare/London - President Mugabe’s regime stepped closer to triggering the imposition of "targeted" sanctions yesterday when it revoked the visa of the leader of the European Union observers sent to cover Zimbabwe's presidential election due on March 9 and 10. The move came after Basildon Peta, the Harare correspondent of The Independent, fled the country in fear of his life. He has been subjected to vitriolic abuse in the official media following his detention under a repressive security law and the publication of reports in newspapers, including The Telegraph, questioning his account of his arrest. A story in one edition of The Times on Tuesday which said he "fabricated" an account of a night in jail was seized on by the state press. Mr Peta accused The Times of putting his life in danger.
Mr Mugabe's regime has refused to recognise Pierre Schori, Sweden's ambassador to the United Nations, as leader of the EU team. When he arrived in Zimbabwe on Sunday, he was granted a 14-day tourist visa. But he met officials from the immigration department yesterday and was told that this visa was being withdrawn and he would have to leave. He was accused of making "political statements" incompatible with his official status as a tourist. In a later meeting, the government conceded that he could stay until early next week. John Nkomo, the home affairs minister, then denied that his visa was being withdrawn. "Our immigration officers went to warn Mr Schori to comply with the conditions of his tourist visa which he got when he came into the country," he said. The Foreign Office believes that Mr Mugabe is engaged in time-wasting and brinkmanship and one source said Mr Schori could decide to leave anyway. Anna Lindh, the Swedish foreign minister, said that if he does, the entire team of 27 observers could follow. Mrs Lindh said this would "prove that Zimbabwe does not want a free and fair election". She added: "I think the most likely thing is that he [Mr Schori] will be expelled, that the observers leave and that sanctions will be imposed."
| Zimbabwe gives EU observer midnight deadline to leave country |
Zimbabwe is giving Europe's top election observer a midnight deadline to leave the country.
The government has refused to recognize Pierre Schori, Sweden's ambassador to the United Nations, as head of the 150-member European observer mission.
Earlier, Mr Schori told reporters he had no intentions of leaving Zimbabwe immediately before his visa was modified.
Immigration authorities visited Mr Schori at the Spanish ambassador's residence and shortened that visa by a week, meaning he must leave Zimbabwe if an agreement isn't reached.
The EU officials have threatened to withdraw all its observers and impose sanctions against Zimbabwe if Mr Schori is thrown out of the country.
Mr Schori's spokesman, Stefan Amer, declined to comment, but said the European Union would issue a statement later.
Zimbabwe has said it would not accredit Mr Schori, other Swedish observers or representatives from Britain, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.
It accuses those countries of bias toward the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which poses the biggest challenge to President Robert Mugabe's 22-year hold on power in the March presidential elections.
Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo said Schori's visa gave him the right to sightsee and tour the country but not to "engage in other issues, including making political statements," according to the state-run Herald newspaper Saturday.
"We take serious exception to Mr Schori's continued political utterances. He is obviously trying to cheat his way into being recognized as an accredited observer," he said. "We have laws in Zimbabwe which must be observed by everyone."
Mr Schori said the EU General Affairs Committee was scheduled to discuss a report he submitted on the situation in Belgium: "They will then decide upon the EU observer mission in Zimbabwe. They will take a decision based on that report."
Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said in Norway that if Mr Schori was thrown out, it would "prove that Zimbabwe does not want a free and fair election."
Story filed: 15:27 Saturday 16th February 2002