Zimbabwe arrests Tsvangirai aide for reporting dumped ballots

By Reagan Mashavave (AFP) – 8 minutes ago

HARARE — Zimbabwean police on Sunday arrested an aide to Morgan Tsvangirai,
President Robert Mugabe's main rival in upcoming polls, after he reported an
irregularity in early voting.
The Movement for Democratic Change said Morgan Komichi was arrested after
informing the electoral commission that ballot papers marked for Tsvangirai
had been found in a dustbin after security forces voted at the Harare
International Conference Centre two weeks ahead of nationwide polling on
July 31.
"Around 6:00 am (0400 GMT) our deputy national chairman, Honourable Morgan
Komichi, who is a deputy minister of transport, was picked up at his home by
the police," the MDC's Nelson Chamisa told reporters.
Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba confirmed the arrest just three days
before general elections that will end an uneasy unity government between
Mugabe, 89, and his archrival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
"Yes, he has been arrested," she told AFP.
Komichi, Tsvangirai's delegate at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC),
this week handed the polling panel an envelope with ballot papers in favour
of Tsvangirai.
The MDC said several such ballots had been dumped in a dustbin at the
conference centre where security forces, who will be on duty in Wednesday's
polls, voted early on July 14 and 15.
Now police threaten to charge Komichi for contravening electoral laws if he
refuses to reveal his source.
"As long as he refuses to disclose the identity of this person the police
will hold him accountable, therefore he becomes the prime suspect," said
Charamba.
"This is a very urgent and serious matter that will have bearing on the
election process and therefore cannot be left for any other time except
now."
The discovery of the papers added to fears of vote-tampering that Tsvangirai
has raised in recent days.
But Mugabe branded Tsvangirai a "cry-baby," pledging the polls will be
legitimate.
"It's going to be free and fair. We are not forcing anyone to vote this way
or that way," Mugabe told reporters after addressing his final campaign
rally in Harare.
Zimbabweans vote for a new president and parliament on Wednesday, four years
after Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence in 1980, and
Tsvangirai were forced to share power.
"Vote, vote, vote in peace, peace peace, peace. We want peace," Mugabe told
around 40,000 supporters at his rally at the National Sports Stadium.
But as campaigning wrapped up, the MDC's Chamisa accused the ZEC of
launching a witch hunt instead of dealing with the dumped ballot issue.
"There is no denial of the fact that indeed it's an authentic ballot paper
and indeed the ballot paper was found in the dustbin, but of course they
want to know the whistle-blower," Chamisa said.
"We believe that ZEC and not Komichi have a lot of questions to answer," he
added.
"If there is any investigation, the theatre of investigations is supposed to
be ZEC."
"The development we have witnessed seriously demonstrates a dent on the
credibility of this election," he said, questioning the electoral
commission's neutrality.
Chamisa complained that the MDC, which won more votes than Mugabe's Zanu-PF
in the 2008 parliamentary polls, has been denied important election-related
information.
"The voters' roll has not been availed to us, we don't know who is printing
the ballot papers," he said.
Violence erupted after the first round of the 2008 polls didn't deliver a
conclusive winner. Mugabe said he was pleased that the election campaign has
been devoid of violence so far.

Zec printing duplicate ballot papers: Biti

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

BRIDGET MANANAVIRE  •  28 JULY 2013 1:03PM

HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has accused the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (Zec) of attempting to steal the July 31 vote in favour
of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF.

MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti said the Rita Makarau-led Zec was
“deliberately engaging in errors of commission and omission” including the
duplication of ballot papers, putting Mugabe’s party in a favourable
position in the make-or-break poll.

Biti said MDC had been informed by inside sources of on-going cheating in
the commission’s system.

“For the special vote, the serial numbers were from one to 100 000 and the
next books now contain serials from 100 001,” Biti said.

“These are the sequences of the ballot papers; this is what they have done.
What worries us now is that the ballot papers for the presidential and
parliamentary have been printed at Fidelity Printers, the ballot papers for
the local authorities are being printed at Printflow.

But yesterday, now, according to our information, they printed additional
papers on the 26th of July. What is of concern to us now is that they are
now busy printing ballot papers with duplicate serial numbers particularly
on the special vote.

“We have written to Zec and challenge them to provide the accurate thing so
that what I have given you here can be discounted and can be proved to be
illegitimate.”

Zec has rejected claims that it was cheating, registering concerns with the
MDC complaints.

Biti said his party was  going to furnish Southern Africa Development
Community (Sadc), African Union (AU) and other observers with this new
“rigging” evidence.

The AU on Friday said their long-term observer team had noted anomalies in
the conducting of voter registration and special voting but said they were
confident Zec was capable of running a credible election on July 31.

Tsvangirai, accused AU chairperson Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma of cushioning the
truth as concerns rise that Zec will again spoil the general election as
they did the special vote.

“What we do know from our sources; (illustrating) the first page shows the
number of ballot books that were printed  which means every book has got 100
ballot papers which will give you 8 328 100 that on its own is problematic
given the fact that there are six million people registered,” Biti said.

Biti said the duplicated ballot papers are meant to replace those cast on 14
and 15 July as several wards had not yet received them.

The Harare East Constituency candidate said Zec was refusing to release the
final voters’ roll for meticulous voter inspection and withholding crucial
information from contesting parties.

“With four days to go to the election, we don’t have a copy of the voters’
roll they are refusing to give us a copy of the voters’ roll, which was the
final voters’ roll,” Biti said.

“I have dispatched our lawyers to file an application for us to get a copy
of the voters’ roll. Even if we get it, how many days do we have to do the
voter inspection?”

He added: “We are going to elections, the final list of polling stations has
not been given out, this will be a challenge and prejudice  to political
parties because right now we are working on 9 000 (polling stations)
published provisionally. Suppose they increase them to 20 000, we then have
to find 40 000 election agents to train and deploy in two days. These things
are being done deliberately to ensure this election is stolen.”

With four days left to the harmonised elections, the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network (Zesn) has appealed to Zec to publish the final list of
polling stations ahead of the polls to enable party agents and observer
groups to deploy.

At a briefing for international, regional and local observers on Wednesday,
Zec announced that the final list of polling stations would be published on
the actual polling day.

Zesn said the last minute publishing of polling stations would make it
problematic for stakeholders to engage with Zec to address any problems
related to the distribution of the final list of polling stations.

“We urge Zec to release the final list in advance in the spirit of promoting
transparency, credibility and the smooth running of the elections as this is
also in line with good international practices,” said Zesn chairperson,
Solomon Zwana.

Zesn encouraged Zec to ensure that polling stations are adequate to avoid
long queues that may discourage potential voters from voting.

Tsvangirai to address “Red Monday” rally

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

GIFT PHIRI AND KUMBIRAI MAFUNDA  •  28 JULY 2013 1:18PM

HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai makes his last throw of the dice
tomorrow at a star rally in Harare dubbed the “Red Power Monday” that police
had earlier attempted to ban citing shortage of manpower.

Tsvangirai will make his final poll pitch before an expected 100 000-strong
crowd, according to an MDC spokesperson, in what could be the most important
speech of his political life.

Three days before presidential and parliamentary elections, police had
earlier blocked Tsvangirai from staging the rally in Harare ostensibly
because they have no manpower while approving President Robert Mugabe’s star
rally scheduled for Harare today.

Tsvangirai’s “Cross Over” rally is scheduled for the open space next to the
Rainbow Towers Hotel (formerly Sheraton) which the party has rechristened
“Freedom Square.”

“All the MDC supporters in Harare are expected to converge in their big
numbers there,”said MDC organising secretary Nelson Chamisa, calling on
everyone to wear red.

The furore over the attempted cancellation of the MDC star rally, which
forced police into a climb down after the MDC filed an urgent High Court
chamber application challenging the ban, was the latest sign of tension in
the run-up to Zimbabwe’s eighth presidential election since independence in
1980.

The poll has been marked by opposition and civil society allegations of
irregularities and concerns about inadequate preparations.

In a stand-off that began earlier yesterday, police chief superintendent
Alex Chagwedera, the officer commanding Harare, wrote to the MDC advising
that they were not sanctioning the rally.

“Be advised that we have already deployed all our personnel to polling
stations where they are securing election and government materials,”
Chagwedera said in the letter to the MDC.

“We have no extra personnel to spare so that they cover your intended rally.
Some of our personnel have been deployed to some other provinces to augment
the strength of such provinces.

“In view of the foregoing, holding of the intended star rally has not been
sanctioned and should not be allowed to take place as the absence of police
officers from the rally may culminate in political violence.”

Tendai Biti, the MDC secretary general, approached the High Court after
issuing a damning press statement at Harvest House, the MDC headquarters,
police backtracked and cleared the rally, but with stringent conditions.

Chagwedera said the police will keep an eye on the conduct of the MDC
supporters during the rally. He had earlier indicated that the ZRP had no
manpower to do so.

“By copy of this minute, all sections of the security forces have been
advised of your intended star rally and will be monitoring the situation,”
reads part of Chagwedera’s letter seen by the Daily News late last night.

The Harare police chief expressed fears that the MDC rally could “culminate
in political violence.”

But Chamisa said: “All the tactics will not work, they are tactics of
desperation. They want to cause problems. But we are urging our MDC
supporters and Zimbabweans at large to press for the last moment. The
darkest hour is before dawn. It’s dawn in Zimbabwe, dawn is coming. It might
be the darkest hour, but dawn is coming. Sure, no matter how painful this
period is, it is dawn tomorrow. We are beginning a new day.”

Biti said: “This is the kind of thing we are dealing with and as we have
said, we get shocked when some people are saying the country is having a
free and fair election, what rubbish! This election is illegitimate, is
illegal, is not free, is immoral and unfair.”

Mugabe has acknowledged that his Zanu PF party faces a real battle to stay
in power in next Wednesday’s make-or-break elections, given the groundswell
of support for Tsvangirai, who understands that Wednesday’s election is
about the ownership of Zimbabwe’s national institutions.

Obert Gutu, the Harare MDC spokesman, said they expected a turnout of no
less than 100 000 at the ‘Cross Over’ rally, and said several hundreds of
thousands dressed in red were expected to turn out to hear Tsvangirai speak.

Meanwhile, Mugabe has been repeating the familiar history themes on the
campaign trail that land belongs to the black people of Zimbabwe who waged a
liberation war to gain freedom from colonialism, accuses his main opponents
the MDC of being a puppet of foreign forces opposed to Zimbabwe,
particularly Britain.

Scores of those attending are leaving his rallies while he is still speaking
soon after getting T-shirts and caps.

Tsvangirai has been staging a colourful campaign show, including a “show
boat”— a convoy of open trucks driving around the township streets and
shopping centres like a carnival.

The banner and red-festooned convoy has been moving from shopping centre to
shopping centre to wild cheers from people in streets and buses.

Tsvangirai faces a stark choice: run in the July 31 vote many believe is
being stolen amid a frenzy of sympathy from many Zimbabweans after his
demand that the government extend the campaign period faced resistance from
Mugabe and the overwhelming grassroots support that could boost his chances
during the vote.

Police impose stringent conditions for final MDC-T rally

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/

28.07.13

by Farai Mabeza

MDC-T’s final rally is set to go ahead at the Glamis grounds in Harare
tomorrow under stringent conditions after the police rescinded its decision
to block the campaign.

An election alert from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights announced the
latest decision by the police.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police has reversed its ban of an MDC-T final
election campaign rally set for Monday July 29 2013 and imposed a stringent
code of conduct and conditions to be adhered to by the conveners and party
supporters,” the statement said.

ZLHR said the decision to ban the rally was set to become the latest in a
long line of spats between the partners in the outgoing Government of
National Unity.

“In an incident which stoked up tensions between President Robert Mugabe and
his long-time rival turned coalition government partner Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai, ahead of Wednesday’s harmonised elections, the ZRP
through Chief Superintendent Titus Chagwedera, the Officer Commanding Harare
Central District on Friday 26 July 2013 turned down the MDC-T’s notification
to hold its final election campaign rally near Rainbow Towers in Harare on
the grounds that the law enforcement agency did not have enough police
personnel to cover the rally after deploying them to polling stations around
the country to secure some election material,” the statement said.

According to ZLHR, the ZRP claimed it feared that the MDC-T rally could
“culminate in political violence.”

Chagwedera reversed the ban on Saturday under unclear circumstances and
sanctioned the MDC-T to proceed under severe conditions.

The police said no party supporters from outside Harare would be allowed to
attend the rally and no toyi-toying should be done before, during and after
the rally.

Even though Chagwedera had said the police did not have manpower he said
they would keep an eye on the conduct of the MDC-T supporters during the
rally. He warned that all sections of the security forces would “monitor the
situation”.

Meanwhile, the MDC-T candidate for Mutare West, Shuwa Mudiwa, was on
Saturday released on $30 bail by magistrate Noah Gwatidzo for allegedly
holding an unsanctioned rally.

He was charged with contravening Section 25 (1) (b) of the Public Order and
Security Act after he allegedly convened the meeting at Mashukashuka
Business Centre, Marange, in Manicaland.

The meeting was held on Friday July 26. He was represented by Chris Ndlovu
of Gonese Ndlovu Legal Practitioners and Blessing Nyamaropa of ZLHR.

Mugabe fails to fill National Sports Stadium

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

28/07/2013 00:00:00
     by Brian Paradza

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s last star rally ahead of watershed elections this
week failed to live up to its billing as the veteran leader failed to fill
Harare's 60,000-seater National Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Several sitting bays at the giant stadium were unoccupied and scores of
supporters could also be seen walking towards the exit points barely 15
minutes into the veteran leader’s long speech.

Proceedings also started rather ominously for Mugabe as a mini football
match organised to demonstrate the concept of bhora mugedhi/bhola eghedini
ended up sending the wrong signals with the keeper, dressed in red (MDC-T
colour), who was supposed to have let the ball in ending up making a save.

And as if that were not bad enough, when President Mugabe took to the podium
having been introduced by his deputy, Joice Mujuru, some of his supporters
started walking out of the stadium.

The police had to form a human shield to block them from leaving the stadium
but, determined, some fashioned all kinds of excuses to get past the
barricade.

“Ndoda kuenda kunotora chipepa changu mwanangu (I want to pick-up my paper
bag my son),” said one elderly lady as she tried to find her way past the
barricade.

“We are hungry we need to buy some food outside,” shouted supporters at one
of the exits.
Unfazed, Mugabe warned voters in the capital against repeating the 2008
“mistake” when his Zanu PF party lost all but one of the local parliamentary
seats.

“If you repeat what you did  in 2008 of voting again for the MDC-T I will be
surprised, that day I can even have a heart attack,” he said.

The Zanu PF leader also warned bitter rival Morgan Tsvangirai he would be
arrested if he follows through with a threat to announce the election result
should the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission fail to conduct the poll in a
transparent manner.

“I was terrified to hear that the Tsvangirai wants to announce the election
result even daring the police to arrest him. The electoral commission is
tasked under the law to announce and no one else, now if he does that he
will be arrested,” said Mugabe.

He also accused the MDC-T leader of being a cry baby after he attacked both
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the African Union Commission
chairperson Nkosana Dlamini Zuma.

Zanu (PF) busses in villagers for Mugabe Byo rally

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/

28.07.13

by Gladys Ncube

Hundreds of villagers were bussed from as far as Tsholotsho, Insiza and
Nyamandlovu districts to attend President Robert Mugabe’s rally at White
City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday.

For the first time in decades, Mugabe addressed a fully packed stadium in
Bulawayo, which has been a strong hold of MDC since 2000.

Zupco and CMED buses started dropping Zanu (PF) supporters from different
parts of Matabeleland region at White City early Saturday morning.

Most attendants were carrying bags and blankets as they came a night before
the rally.“We came from Insiza last night,” said one of them.

“We were promised to be given food but we have not eaten anything as yet,”
another party supporter from Bubi said.

It was evident the crowd did not follow Mugabe’s speech with enthusiasm as
people kept chatting as the party leader spoke, with some complaining of
hunger.

“We greet our farmers that travelled from rural areas to attend this
meeting. I thank you all for coming to this resounding, thunderous meeting,”
he said.

When contacted yesterday Zanu (PF) Bulawayo Deputy Provincial Chairman,
Killian Sibanda, said : “We never bussed anybody. If there are people who
came from outside Bulawayo , they did that on their because they love their
President.”

Mugabe yesterday pleaded for votes and said Bulawayo in the 2008 elections
made a mistake and voted for “thieves”. “You chose thieves, corrupt
characters completely without conscience,” he said.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe warns rival against early poll win claim

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

Reuters | 28 July, 2013 18:45

In his final campaign rally ahead of a presidential and parliamentary vote
on Wednesday, Mugabe said his ZANU-PF party was confident of victory, which
would extend his three decades in power.

But he expressed concern that Tsvangirai, who is making a third run at the
presidency, had threatened not to wait for official results from the
electoral authorities.

Tsvangirai told his own Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)supporters at
the weekend that although ZANU-PF was trying to rig the elections, he
expected an overwhelming victory and did not have to wait for the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC).

On Sunday, Mugabe dismissed Tsvangirai's charges of ZANU-PF vote rigging as
unfounded complaints of a "political cry baby" staring at inevitable defeat,
warning him to respect laws giving only the ZEC the power to announce
results.

"I can tell you in advance that if you breach the law and become a law
breaker, the police will arrest you," he said to cheers from thousands of
supporters at a stadium in Harare.

In 2008, the election commission announced presidential election results
after five weeks, which showed Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe but not by
enough votes to avoid a run-off.

His MDC said ZEC had cooked the figures to keep Mugabe in office, and
Tsvangirai went on to occupy the prime minister's post in a power-sharing
government.

Tsvangirai will address his last major rally on Monday.

TIGHT RACE SEEN

Mugabe, 89, is seeking to extend his 33-year hold on power after leading the
former Rhodesia to independence from Britain in 1980 and surviving his
party's loss to the MDC.

Although both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been predicting that they would win
the July 31 contest by huge margins, political analysts say it could be a
tight race in which Mugabe's control of the electoral machinery might prove
the decisive element.

On Sunday, the veteran Zimbabwean leader - who denies he has been receiving
treatment for prostate cancer in Singapore over the last few years - said he
deserved re-election to continue a black economic empowerment drive opposed
by the MDC.

"Tsvangirai and his MDC are shameless Western puppets, created by the West,
funded and controlled by the West, and I urge you to reject them once and
for all in these elections," he said, repeating charges he makes often about
his rivals but which the MDC strongly denies.

Mugabe jokingly said he would suffer heart failure if the capital Harare, an
MDC stronghold in which ZANU-PF won just one of the 29 parliamentary seats
in the 2008 elections, backed Tsvangirai again at the polls.

This year's short election campaign period has been largely free of the
violence that has marred previous polls.

But the MDC accuses ZANU-PF of rigging the July 31 polls in its favour
through a shambolic voters' register and a refusal to open up the media to
all sides or to restrain security forces from active politics.

Mugabe was driven around Harare's main stadium on Sunday, waving at
supporters from the back of a truck surrounded by heavily armed security
men, some with automatic rifles.

Despite his age and fears that his health is failing, Mugabe has said
ZANU-PF would fight like a "wounded beast" to retain power after being
forced into a compromise unity government after the contested 2008 election
outcome.

That vote took place amid a severe economic crisis, with hyperinflation of
more than 500 billion percent and food shortages, many of which were blamed
on Mugabe's policies.

The crisis has eased under the power-sharing government, but the recovery is
fragile and the MDC says Zimbabwe will not realise its full potential if
ZANU-PF retains power.

The security establishment has emerged as Mugabe's power base, with security
chiefs publicly backing Mugabe in elections while suggesting they would not
allow Tsvangirai to take power.

Tsvangirai warns Mugabe not to 'steal' Zimbabwe vote

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

Sapa-AFP | 28 July, 2013 08:39

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has warned President Robert
Mugabe not to "steal" a crunch vote this week, so that his veteran rival
could exit office with dignity.

"Mugabe stole an election in 2002, he stole the election in 2008. This time
we want to tell him that he will not steal again," Tsvangirai said to
thousands of supporters.

"As a party we don't have intentions of retribution. What we only want and
what we are saying is: 'Mr Mugabe run this election freely and fairly so
that we can give you a dignified exit.'"

After two previous polls condemned by observers as unfair, Tsvangirai is
vying to end Mugabe's 33-year rule and a four-year shaky coalition forced
after chaotic elections in 2008.

Speaking in the farming town of Chinhoyi, 100 kilometers (62 miles)
northwest of the capital Harare, he hit out at the electoral authority after
a disorganised special early vote and the absence of an electoral roll.

"I have not been given the voters roll, three days before the elections,"
Tsvangirai said, saying this was a loop-hole for rigging.

He again accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of printing eight
million ballots – instead of 6.2 million, the number of registered voters.

"I am saying this in full view of observers," he said.

"We know you have printed eight million ballots for (the) presidential
election, eight million for (the) parliamentary election. You don't explain
why you need two extra million ballots."

The lead-up to the July 31 election has been marred by flawed voter
registration, chaotic early polling for security forces, and lopsided
campaign coverage in state media.

A special early vote held on July 14 and 15 for police officers and soldiers
saw polling stations open without ballot papers, leaving thousands unable to
cast their vote.

The country's Constitutional Court on Friday ruled that the thousands of
officers who were unable to vote due to the disorganisation, will get a
second chance to cast ballots during the Wednesday general elections.

Tsvangirai claims his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party had also
discovered that some of the ballot papers that were cast were later thrown
away.

"You (ZEC) messed up the special vote of 70 000 people. In two days you
could not handle those people," he said.

"How are you going to handle the 6.2 million voters who are going to line up
for one day."

Mugabe a Puppet of The Military, Says Tsvangirai, as Political Temperatures Rise

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Thomas Chiripasi
28.07.2013

HARARE — MDC founding president Morgan Tsvangirai launched a scathing attack
on his main rival in Wednseday’s election, President Robert Mugabe, calling
him a puppet of the military that he says is in control of the country.

President Mugabe regularly calls Tsvangirai a puppet of the West saying his
MDC party was sponsored by western nations, chief among them Britain and the
United States, seeking to topple him following his controversial land
reforms.

Addressing thousands of supporters at Chibuku Stadium in Harare's satellite
town of Chitungwiza Sunday, Tsvangirai said his partner in the coalition
government for the past four years was not in charge of the country.

“Mugabe himself knows that he’s not his man. He’s a beholden. He’s a puppet
of the military,” said Tsvangirai. “Now we have a challenge of the military
that says it does not want Mai Mujuru to take over because she’s a woman and
they do not want Tsvangirai to rule either. But we want to tell them that
the will of the people will prevail.”

Tsvangirai also told a rally in Chegutu Saturday that the military had
stopped President Mugabe from relinquishing power in 2008 when he lost to
the premier in the first round of voting.

Mugabe now wants to retire, Tsvangirai said, adding the veteran Zanu PF
leader is now an appendage of the military.

“We are two days left before achieving real change” said Tsvangirai
thousands of ululating supporters.

Meanwhile, Tsvangirai said he’s aware the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is
planning to move ballot papers to a central place after voting before
counting is done in violation of the Electoral Act.

He also criticized Sunday’s arrest of his party's deputy national chairman
Morgan Komichi. The deputy transport minister was arrested over a ballot
paper used in the early or special vote for members of the uniformed forces.

Tsvangirai warned that all those who looted the country's resources,
especially diamonds, will face the full wrath of the law if he is elected
into office in Wednesday's watershed elections.

"Zanu PF has all along condoned corruption within its rank and file, but we
in the MDC have a Zero tolerance on corruption. We fired all corrupt
councillors of Chitungwiza but who retained them? It was Chombo of Zanu PF,”
he said.

Tsvangirai met election observers to brief them on what he said were
problems affecting Wednesday's election, chief among them, his failure to
access the voters roll ahead of the polls, the independence of the electoral
commission and cases of violence being reported in some parts of the
country.

The prime minister addresses his final campaign rally dubbed "The cross
over" at open grounds near the Harare International Conference Center
Monday. The MDC-T has named the grounds the Freedom Square.

Zimbabwe Campaigns Enter Final Frenetic Stages

Jul 28, 12:14 PM EDT

BY ANGUS SHAW
ASSOCIATED PRESS

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Frenetic campaigning entered its last stages Sunday
for make-or-break elections in Zimbabwe on July 31 with both main contenders
calling for their supporters to turn out in large numbers to cast votes.

President Robert Mugabe, 89, spoke for two hours Sunday at the main
50,000-seat sports stadium in Harare that was not filled to capacity. He
said his ZANU-PF party will rescue the troubled economy with a renewed black
empowerment program. His campaign organizers said 1,138 foreign-owned
companies still operating in the southern African nation will be targeted to
yield 51 percent control to blacks.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told enthusiastic crowds of his supporters
at another sports arena that he wants to create jobs and rebuild the economy
with new investments. He said Mugabe ruined the once prosperous nation
through reckless policies.

"We want to build, not destroy. We will remove dictatorship using democratic
means," Tsvangirai said.

Amid concerns of voting rigging, lawyers for Tsvangirai's party said Morgan
Komichi, a top party official and the deputy transport minister in the
coalition government, was arrested for questioning by police earlier Sunday.

Komichi reported being handed voting papers from a special ballot that was
held July 14-15 for uniformed services on duty on election day. He said the
papers, which carried votes for Tsvangirai's party, were found in a garbage
can outside a convention facility where the state election commission has
its command center. He said they had evidently been thrown away.

Police said he should have reported the find first to the commission before
releasing the information.

Mugabe used his campaign to voice his criticism of same sex partners,
telling a rally in the second city of Bulawayo on Saturday he believed in
"castration" for homosexuals. Earlier, he described Tsvangirai as a "frog"
and a "python" that nearly swallowed voters in the last disputed elections
in 2008 that led regional leaders to intervene and form Zimbabwe's shaky
coalition.

"We should make him vomit this time," Mugabe said. "Tsvangirai is a coward,
more like my late Uncle Shoniwa's dog which used to run away from game when
we went hunting. It died without killing a single prey and the same will
happen to Tsvangirai."

Tsvangirai is to hold his last campaign rally in downtown Harare on Monday.
He questioned Sunday why Mugabe wanted another five years in presidential
office.

"What can he change which he didn't change in 33 years?" since independence
from colonial rule in 1980.

Campaigning is disallowed on Tuesday, the eve of polling.

Violence flares up in Mberengwa

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

PINDAI DUBE  •  28 JULY 2013 12:53PM

MBERENGWA - A wave of political violence has hit Mberengwa District in the
Midlands Province with the resurfacing of Zanu PF campaign bases and the
re-emergence of notorious war veterans’ leader Biggie Chitoro.

According to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, eight Zanu PF campaign
bases have resurfaced at Chomubhobho, Vanguard Mine, Gwamasaka, Neta,
Sarauro,York, Gwengwena and Langeni areas.

Takavafira Zhou, the MDC Mberengwa North parliamentary candidate, was
attacked by a group of Zanu PF youths at Gwengwena Business Centre on
Thursday and had his vehicle stoned.

“As I am speaking to you, we are at Mberengwa Hospital where we are
receiving treatment after an attack by a group of Zanu PF supporters led by
war veterans leader Geza Zimi,” Zhou said.

“Chitoro is leading another group which is causing terror here and he
operates from a Zanu PF campaign base at Vanguard Mine,” said Zhou, who is
also the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president.

The attack was reported at Mberengwa Police Station under RRB number
1831748.

Zhou, who is contesting against Zanu PF’s Tafanana Zhou for the Mberengwa
North seat, said he sustained head injuries after being pelted with stones
by Zimi’s group during the Thursday attack while another party member
Stanford Maturure sustained a deep cut above the right eye.

“My car had its windscreen smashed; they attacked us with stones at
Gwengwena Business Centre after holding a rally at Langeni Business Centre.
I think they were angry over the large crowd which we addressed,” he said.

In Mberengwa East Constituency on Friday night, the home of MDC ward five
organising secretary Godfrey Dzivakwi was burnt down by an alleged group of
Zanu PF supporters reportedly  led by councillor Bankie.

“They are on a terror campaign here harassing, intimidating people and last
night we had a kitchen hut belonging to Dzivakwi burnt down. The matter has
been reported at Buchwa Police Station,” Tirivangani-Gadu Matavire, the MDC
Mberengwa East District  secretary for elections, told the Daily News.

MDC’s Cumming Hove is contesting against Zanu PF’s Makhosini Hlongwane for
Mberengwa East parliamentary seat.

In Mberengwa South on Monday, police at Mataga Growth Point nabbed a Zanu PF
youth leader Sebastian Shumba for threatening to burn down the homestead of
MDC branch chairperson Blessed Mashango in Mushandu village in Garinyama.

“Shumba was going around threatening MDC supporters here and, last week he
threatened to burn down my homestead and I immediately reported to Mataga
Police Station. We are happy that police responded quickly as they picked
him up just a day after we reported the matter,” said Mashango.

Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo confirmed the incidents accusing MDC
supporters of provoking Zanu PF supporters.

“What I understand is that in some of these incidents MDC supporters are the
ones provoking Zanu PF supporters and when they retaliate violence breaks
out. And as for the Gwengwena incident what I am told is that Takavafira
Zhou and his group provoked the situation after they accused our
parliamentary candidate Tafanana Zhou who is also from the Lemba tribe like
Takavafira for not being a really Lemba,”said Gumbo.

Midlands police spokesperson Emmanuel Mahoko said: “I  will have to check
what’s  happening that  side.”

Mberengwa District has been a Zanu PF stronghold since independence and
every election, war veterans and Zanu PF supporters have been turning it
into no go area for MDC supporters.

During his visit to the district last week, Tsvangirai, who addressed large
crowds in the district for the first time,  called for peaceful campaigns.

Obasanjo jets in, no Zim officials at airport

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

27/07/2013 00:00:00
     by Nkosana Dlamini

FORMER Nigerian President and head of the African Union Observer Mission
Olusegun Obasanjo finally arrived in Harare late Saturday night and
immediately declared that his job was not to prescribe solutions to Zimbabwe’s
conflicted electoral process.

Obasanjo, arrived at 11.30 pm aboard a Nigerian Air Force plane and was
accompanied by an entourage that hardly exceeded seven people. Not a single
Zimbabwe government official was on hand to receive him.

“I just want to remind you that we are here not to conduct elections. We are
here to observe the conduct of elections,” Obasanjo told a group of waiting
journalists on arrival at the Harare International Airport.

“That is what AU has done wherever it has sent people to observe elections
anywhere in Africa and that is part of the mandate of our continental
organisations. That is the first point that l want to emphasise.

“The second point l want to emphasise is that l think the entire world
should commend the effort that has taken place and l take it as a rebirth
for Zimbabwe after some 33 years of independence.

“You have a new constitution and that new constitution would be put to test
at this election. And we wish the country every success not only in this
election but in its future endeavour.”

The AU diplomat shrugged off questions from journalists insisting he would
not go beyond what he had already said.
“Just keep to what l have said now. “What we did in the 70s, what we did in
the 80s, what we did in the 60s, we will talk about that. Let us leave
things to what l have said now and we move on because l have just come in.

“Don’t put your hand into my mouth because l will bite your fingers,” he
said before being whisked away by a team of Nigerian embassy staff and a
handful members of the AU observer mission.

Obasanjo’s coming to Zimbabwe to head the 60 member AU observer team
remained uncertain until the latter stages of this past week amid
speculation his coming was being blocked by President Robert Mugabe’s
government.

The former Nigerian military boss, who pioneered Zimbabwe's delicate
mediation process when he was still President back in 2000, is viewed
suspicion by some in President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF who feel he has a
spot for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zimbabwe election: Ageing Mugabe still hungry for power

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Robert Mugabe is fighting to prove that, at the age of 89, he is still fit
to be Zimbabwe's president. And, remarkably, it is a battle for the vote
that he seems to be winning, write Peta Thornycroft and Colin Freeman.

By Peta Thornycroft, Harare and Colin Freeman7:30AM BST 28 Jul 2013

Dancing alongside his wife and two children, the elderly figure in the
baseball cap beams cheerfully for the camera as he struts his stuff.

His steps are slow and awkward, yet the image conveyed is of a man still
very much in his prime – despite his 89 years and the persistent rumours of
cancer.

Like a cross between a hip-hop act and the Von Trapp Family Players, this is
the virile picture that President Robert Mugabe is seeking to project ahead
of this week's elections – a proud and vigorous father not just to his
children, but to the wider nation of Zimbabwe.

Already the world's oldest serving leader, victory on Wednesday could see
him remain in office into his mid 90s, giving him nearly four decades at the
helm of power.

Yet as "Comrade Bob" has hit the campaign trail in the past week, critics
have wondered just how much stomach – and indeed brains – he has left for
the fight.

Like the recent television interview in which he appeared with his family,
his rallies these days are carefully choreographed events, timed for those
hours in the day when he is less likely to fall asleep mid-sentence, or
become rambling and forgetful. Aides are keen to avoid a repeat of his
performance at a summit in neighbouring South Africa two years ago, where he
slurred his speech and addressed his host, President Jacob Zuma, as "Mr
Mandela".

Last week, his electoral rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, even claimed that the
only reason Mr Mugabe was still seeking office was because of pressure from
his formidable wife Grace, 40 years his junior, who has been campaigning
energetically on his behalf.

"I asked him once why he was not retiring, when he is falling asleep as he
talks," Mr Tsvangirai told a campaign rally last week in Chikomba, on the
sweeping plains of central Zimbabwe's High Veldt area.

"He said he wanted to rest, but the problem was if he left, Zanu-PF would be
doomed. The problem is that if you take a young wife, she will be pushing
you and you cannot resist that. The important thing is that this time, he
lets us give him a pension."

As things stand, though, it is far from certain that the polls will put Mr
Mugabe into retirement. On the contrary, all the signs are that the
octogenarian Zanu PF leader will either cheat his way to victory again, as
he did in 2008, or indeed win almost fair and square.

Five years after Mr Mugabe bowed to international pressure and entered a
power-sharing arrangement with Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change party (MDC), the country that he all but destroyed is slowly on the
mend. Food is back on shelves, schools and hospitals are functioning once
more, and the 25,000 per cent annual inflation rate is just a distant,
shuddering memory.

But with three days to go until the election, a familiar sense of chaos
surrounds the arrangements for the polls, which could allow Mr Mugabe to
snatch victory without even resorting to the thuggery he deployed in 2008.
The electoral register of 6.4 million people has not been updated, with up
to two million of the younger voters who make up Mr Tsvangirai's core
support base left off the list.

Instead, it contains more than 100,000 names of voters aged over 100 –
unlikely in a country where life expectancy has declined to roughly half
that, and a potential opportunity for long-dead voters' ballots to be
fraudulently cast.

Disturbing, though unconfirmed, reports have also emerged of a Zanu-PF plot
to rig polls in MDC strongholds and unleash squads of armed thugs in the
event that the result still does not go his way.

Moreover, for a ruthless opportunist like Mr Mugabe, power-sharing has
proved to have its advantages after all, by blurring the lines of
responsibility in his own constituents' eyes.

What successes it has had he has shamelessly claimed the credit for, while
what failings there have been he has blamed on his coalition partners, with
the result that Wednesday's contest is difficult to call. Hence the
Zimbabwean president's bullish comments during a rally last week, when he
said that Zanu-PF had never rigged elections in the past, and had no need to
start now.

"The MDC is saying we rig elections, but they know for a fact that they play
second fiddle to us in elections," he told a cheering crowd in Mutare,
Zimbabwe's third largest city. "We have had good elections in the past and
we will have them again this year."

Despite his mounting infirmity – he is widely reported to be receiving
secret prostate cancer treatment – the speech was vintage Mugabe, and proof
that even very old age has not mellowed him whatsoever.

Mr Tsvangirai, he compared to a cowardly hunting dog that his uncle had once
owned, which lacked any killer instinct. Gays, he said, were "worse than
wild animals". And in perhaps the ultimate fit of chutzpah, he accused the
huge numbers of Zimbabweans who had fled abroad for a better life of
deserting the country in its time of need.

"How can a man who caused almost a quarter of the population of his country
to leave and look for better opportunities elsewhere ask why they left?"
responded Kumbirai Muchemwa, an MDC official. "What cheek is that?"

Audacious though it may be, some Zimbabweans seem to buy Mr Mugabe's line.

Reliable opinion polls are not available in Zimbabwe, but a survey last year
by Freedom House, a US-based democracy watchdog, said that 31 per cent said
they would support Zanu-PF, against only 20 per cent for the MDC. It was a
dramatic turnaround from a previous Freedom House survey in 2010, which had
put the MDC ahead on 38 per cent against just 17 per cent for Zanu-PF.

Some of the loss of MDC support is blamed on Mr Tsvangirai, who has been
accused of failing to trumpet the party's successes and being too timid to
confront Mr Mugabe. Others claim the party has simply lost its appetite for
reform now that its leaders have ministerial cars and generous expense
accounts. Depressingly for the country's surviving white farmers, Zanu-PF
has also retained some support for its disastrous land redistribution
policy, painting the MDC as the stooges of white colonialists.

"Elections are about expectations," said one Harare businessman who was a
heavy investor in agriculture before the start of the land-grab policy in
2000. "Zanu PF has played the land-grab message brilliantly and promised
that the people will share in the resources. So Mugabe will win."

Nonetheless, the pre-election rallies organised by the MDC have been far
bigger, and unlike Mr Mugabe's get-togethers, there are no reports of them
being bussed in specially for the occasion.

Use of social media via smart phones is likely now also much more widespread
in Zimbabwe than it was in 2008, meaning that fraud or intimidation at
polling station is harder to get away with.

About 600 foreign election observers, mainly from bodies like the African
Union, have been accredited to observe the polls, although Western observers
were not invited because of the sanctions still imposed on Mr Mugabe.

Few, though, are confident that Mr Mugabe will accept an outright verdict in
Mr Tsvangirai's favour, despite his promises to go quietly.

Goodsen Nguni, a long-time Zanu-PF supporter, warned The Sunday Telegraph
that there would be "civil war" if Mr Tsvangirai gained a clear victory, as
only Zanu-PF was capable of "delivering for black Zimbabweans".

Then again, if Mr Mugabe were to win outright – ushering in a retrenching of
land-grab policies and other "indigenisation" measures to gain control over
foreign investment – the Zimbabwean diaspora that Mr Mugabe so disparaged
last week is likely to get even bigger.

"There won't be any cash left in any of the banks 24 hours later if Zanu PF
wins the elections," said one businessman. "Zimbabwe won't survive another
stint of Robert Mugabe."

Zimbabwe election: Tsvangirai has paid dearly for compromising, but has never shirked his duty

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

That Morgan Tsvangirai chose to get his hands dirty perhaps says more about
him than whatever verdict is passed on him on Wednesday, writes Colin
Freeman.

By Colin Freeman
7:30AM BST 28 Jul 2013

As I sat in a leather armchair opposite Morgan Tsvangirai in his Harare
villa two years ago, I was confident I was interviewing the man who would
one day become President of Zimbabwe.

It was June 2011 and, once again, the winds of change were sweeping across
Africa. Four months earlier, a revolution had ousted Hosni Mubarak in Egypt,
while in neighbouring Libya, the war that would ultimately topple Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi was already half-way won.

The continent finally seemed to be losing patience with its remaining Cold
War tyrants, and it seemed unlikely that Robert Mugabe, Gaddafi's fellow
liberation hero, would be tolerated for much longer either.

That, too, seemed to have been Mr Tsvangirai's calculation, having entered a
power-sharing government with Mr Mugabe despite strenuous objections from
some of his own supporters. Many feared it would simply taint their own
party with the failings of Zanu-PF, a reasonable concern given the dire
state of Zimbabwe's economy when the coalition started back in 2008.

Having accepted the poisoned chalice on the grounds that it was the only way
to save his country from anarchy, Mr Tsvangirai had quaffed long and hard,
taking on the thankless task of getting Zimbabwe's finances back into shape,
and even managing to be polite about his new working partner.

When I asked him how coalition government was going, he sounded more upbeat
than David Cameron and Nick Clegg are normally.

"Coalitions are not the best arrangement in the world, but they are
undertaken by a politician in order to pass through a certain phase," he
told me. "I think to a large extent we have delivered."

Mr Mugabe, he added, was at least "polite and respectful" during cabinet
meetings, even if he did then go off and issue entirely different
instructions to his own camp afterwards.

Yet Mr Tsvangirai's generosity towards the Zanu-PF leader was borne,
perhaps, of an expectation that history was on his side, and that it was
only a question of waiting until the next elections before Zimbabwe would
finally dump Mr Mugabe.

The rationale was that Mr Mugabe's appalling record over the three previous
decades was now all but certain to catch up with him.

And while he might have got away with election fixing in 2008, it would
surely be harder to repeat it in 2013, with the outside world watching more
closely than ever. There was also a good chance, anyway, that Mr Mugabe's
ailing health would finish him off well before any ballot.

With election day now just three days away, though, neither of those
scenarios look likely.

Not only is Mr Mugabe still alive and kicking, he is actually doing better
in the polls than Mr Tsvangirai. Part of that is down to the MDC's own poor
PR efforts, which have failed to take sufficient credit for steering the
country away from economic collapse, and essentially letting Mr Mugabe off
the hook.

But Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party has also had
problems of its own. A number of MDC politicians have become mired in the
kind of corruption scandals that so often engulf their Zanu-PF counterparts.

Meanwhile, Mr Tsvangirai's liaisons with various different women have been a
gift to Zanu-PF, allowing them to paint him as an indecisive philanderer who
cannot even decide which lady he wishes to wed, never mind what policies the
country should follow.

That, as much than anything else, may cost him at the polls, making him the
Zimbabwean answer to Bill Clinton.

For many of Mr Tsvangirai's supporters, electoral defeat on Wednesday will
be confirmation that it was a bad idea to enter coalition politics all
along.

But those who might wish to rewrite history now should bear in mind what the
alternative might have been. Were Mr Tsvangirai to have aloofly stayed out
of government, his reputation today might be more intact, but Zimbabwe would
have remained entirely in Zanu-PF's inept stewardship, with potentially
disastrous consequences.

That he chose to get his hands dirty perhaps says more about him than
whatever verdict is passed on him on Wednesday.

Mugabe hell-bent on reviving Zim dollar

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

STAFF WRITER  •  28 JULY 2013 12:50PM

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has vowed to revive the Zimbabwe dollar and
urged local to keep the shelved notes for possible compensation if wins
re-election.

In an address to tens of thousands of people in Gweru on Friday, said the
Zimbabwean Zim dollar, once on par with the British pound and reduced to
almost nothing, was due to bounce back if the 89-year-old Zanu PF leader
secures a fresh mandate.

In 2009, in response to unprecedented hyperinflation, Zimbabwe shelved the
local unit and legalised the use of foreign currencies including the
Botswana pula, the South African rand, the United States dollar, the Euro
and the British pound.

The highest note previously in circulation, a 10 trillion Zimbabwe dollar
note, was not even enough to buy a loaf of bread.

Mugabe said Reserve bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono had conferred with
him that many were still holding on to the Zimdollar notes.

“VaGono vakauya vachindipa zevezeve rekuti vanhu nemadollar aye
aingovakwirira achive billions, billions dollars, millions, millions, vamwe
vakazoaruza vachiti vamwe vachinawo (Dr Gono told me that many people have
kept the Zimbabwean currency in their homes). We will look into the issue
and if you still have them don’t destroy them,” Mugabe said.

“Chikwereti chatinacho kwamuri (We owe you compensation). We will work out
on how best to compensate you.

“It might not be much but we will see how much you will be given to
compensate you. We will be looking at this matter as government together
with you.

“This is among many of the things that we want to do to improve things in
our country, to have quality leadership and progress as a nation. This is to
make sure that our party and the Government led by our party are following
the people’s wishes.”

The central bank governor has clarified that the re-introduction of the
Zimbabwe dollar will not be done immediately but in the medium to long term.

Gono, a close ally of Mugabe, said indeed discussions around this have been
made with the veteran Zimbabwean leader, but said the re-introduction of a
local currency whose name may or may not be the “Zimbabwe dollar” would be
done much later.

Zimbabwe will not reinstate the local currency while it tries to repair an
economy which critics say was destroyed by Mugabe.

“As monetary authorities, we advise that as per the announcement by His
Excellency President R.G. Mugabe, the re-introduction of a local currency is
rather a medium to long term aspiration than an immediate, near-term agenda
item on our radar as the Central Bank,” Gono said.

“Essentially, it is every country’s desire to have its own currency in order
to avail potent policy options to policy makers, and Zimbabwe is no
exception in this case.”

Gono outlined five key conditions, including attainment of sustained
macroeconomic stability and re-orienting the economy on a firm recovery
trajectory, before the local currency bounces back.

ZANU hijacks government programme

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/

28.07.13

by Eddie Cross

In the past three weeks President Mugabe has said a great deal about the
“donation” of 40 motorized graders that have recently been supplied to Rural
District Councils. Last week it was announced that a further 40 units were
expected shortly and would be distributed to the Councils.

The truth behind this “donation” is that the State controlled Zimbabwe
National Road Authority (ZINARA) which is funded by levies on fuel supplies
and tolls on the main roads as well as vehicle license fees, went out to
tender some months ago for the supply of graders for the Rural District
Councils.

The tender documents were published by the State controlled National Tender
Board and nearly 50 firms responded. Many commented at the peculiar
specifications used in the documents at the time. When the tender was
awarded it was to a company Univern Enterprises (Pvt) Limited whose name had
not appeared on the list of companies tendering for the contract.

Despite objections from several of the unsuccessful companies the Board
reffered them to ZINARA from whom no replies were received. When the
equipment arrived in Zimbabwe it was from a Chinese Company whose products
are not well known here and for which there is no maintenance or spares back
up. It is further estimated that the equipment, which will cost over $16
million dollars when delivered, is overpriced by as much as 100 per cent,
clearly indicating the payment of significant inducements to those making
the decisions on supply.

ZINARA is controlled by the Minister of Transport, Nicolas Goche who is well
known as a corrupt Minister. The misuse of State funds in this way is common
on the Zanu PF side of the GNU fence but they should at least have the
decency to attribute the supply of this equipment to a State controlled and
funded institution that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Zanu PF Party
or the State President. It is simply dishonest politicking and the diversion
of funds away from the critical needs of the Councils for cash allocations
to repair existing road infrastructure.

A further shocking revelation is that the graders come equipped with snow
plows suggesting that they confirm that the Chinese had no idea whatsoever
of just what conditions their equipment would have to deal with in Zimbabwe.

‘Credible’ elections? – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 27th July 2013

Statement Regarding The Failure By The Zec To Comply With Section 21 Of The Electoral Act

An analysis of Zanu PF's rally in Bulawayo on Saturday 27th July 2013

There have been some commentaries suggesting that the size of Robert Mugabe's rally yesterday in Bulawayo is indicative of revitalisation of support for him in Bulawayo. Had those journalists based their commentary on the rallies Mugabe has had in say Marondera or Chinhoyi then they might have had a point. But to base them on the turn out in Bulawayo actually illustrates better than anything else the fraud which is before us. Mugabe and Zanu PF have never won alone in Bulawayo - in 1980 he and Zanu PF didn't get a look in; in 1985 even in the midst of the massive threat towards the electorate posed by Gukurahundi they didn't get a single seat. Post the unity accord in 1990 and 1995 they won but only because of the ZAPU support which has since gone. Since 2000 they haven't come close save for a few rural seats in Matabeleland.

So whilst one cannot discount the size of the crowd yesterday - bigger from the photos I have seen than the recent MDC T rally - it simply does not represent the actual support Mugabe and Zanu PF have on the ground in Bulawayo. Zanu PF have hardly been campaigning in my constituency and that is the picture nationwide - they have focussed virtually all their efforts into 10 star rallies - 1 per province. They have poured massive resources into these rallies - they have bused and trucked people in from afar to attend them (on Friday for example there was an accident involving Zanu PF supporters who had been trucked in from Gokwe to attend the Zanu PF star rally in Gweru - seehttp://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/07/27/3096224743851935/ )
. They have employed pop stars (a recent Zanu PF rally in Bulawayo featured Freddy Gwala a leading South African singer well known to Zimbabweansb, Zimbabwean star Sulumani Chimbetu has sung at other rallies), they promise T shirts, caps, torches, even stainless steel pots etc and, critically for impoverished people, food. And that has got people to attend in their droves.

They also employ intimidatory tactics - yesterday I received several reports of people being told that they had to go or else there would be dire consequences, enforced by the police. Yesterday every single one of my posters on the road from the airport to town was ripped down in broad day light, often in the view of police, with absolute impunity. This sheer impunity has a chilling effect on people. I drove through town yesterday afternoon and there was a palpable sense of fear - whereas people all week have been freely waving the open hand salute of the MDC at me, yesterday they were cowed and merely nodded their heads as I passed.

So it has been through this carrot and stick cocktail that people have been attending these rallies. Then in addition I think there is an element of voyeurism - a bit similar to how crowds gather to watch the aftermath of a traffic accident. Mugabe is an intriguing character to many people; as devastating as his policies have been to Zimbabwe and especially Bulawayo and Matabeleland many people are intrigued how this 89 year old continues and will go to listen to him.

But all of this does not mean that people support him. In fact I believe that Bulawayo more than any other centre will give the lie to him and Zanu PF having support here.

The purpose behind all this effort of course is far more sinister. It is designed to lay the foundation for rigging on a massive scale. Zanu PF have in some respects managed to con the international press and to that extent they have been very successful. They need this to justify the ludicrous results that may come out on Wednesday if people do not turn out en masse and vote. So I remain very concerned about their plans to rig because that is the only way they can win this election. They certainly will not win based on the genuine support of people on the ground. Few outside of the obscenely rich ruling elite who have plundered Zimbabwe's diamonds want a return to 2008 and the chaos of Zanu PF rule.

Whilst I cannot speak for the rest of the country I can tell with absolute confidence that in my constituency at least Mugabe and Zanu PF have minimal support and the attendance at the rally yesterday bears no relation to the support Mugabe and Zanu PF have on the ground in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe's Elections: Has Robert Mugabe Changed?

Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe And The Countries They Shaped

http://www.npr.org

 

by GREG MYRE

July 28, 2013 5:51 AM

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, left, greets South African President Nelson Mandela in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1998. The two men have shaped their countries in dramatically different ways.

Rob Cooper/AP

As the ailing Nelson Mandela turned 95 this month, the international community celebrated his legacy and rooted for his recovery.

Just to the north in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, 89, is running for re-election this week. He's looking to extend his 33 years in power, which have been marked by authoritarian rule, economic collapse and international isolation.

These two men have shaped their neighboring countries in dramatically different ways. Mandela is a global icon in a country often cited as a land of hope. Mugabe is a widely seen as pariah in a country that has endured a precipitous decline.

Their global reputations could hardly be more different. With both men in the news, we took a look at their legacies, and two things stand out.

First, before Mandela and Mugabe came to power, they had remarkably similar biographies. Second, neither South Africa's successes under Mandela nor Zimbabwe's failings under Mugabe were foregone conclusions.

Parallel Lives

First, the similarities between the two men. Martin Meredith, a British author who has written biographies of both men, sums them up this way:

"Both were born in an era when white power prevailed throughout Africa, Mandela in 1918, Mugabe in 1924. Both were products of the Christian mission school system, Mandela of the Methodist variety, Mugabe of the Catholic. Both attended the same university, Fort Hare in South Africa. Both emerged as members of the small African professional elite, Mandela a lawyer, Mugabe a teacher. Both were drawn into the struggle against white minority rule, Mandela in South Africa, Mugabe in neighboring Rhodesia. Both advocated violence to bring down white-run regimes. Both endured long terms of imprisonment, Mandela, 27 years, Mugabe, 11 years."

Mugabe led a successful guerrilla campaign that led to the demise of white-ruled Rhodesia and he was inaugurated as the president of the newly independent nation of Zimbabwe in 1980.

Despite a civil war, the country was considered one of the most prosperous in Africa. It's economy was still largely intact and its education system was considered one of the best on the continent. Western aid flowed into the country.

Peter Godwin, a white Zimbabwean, was attending university in Britain in 1980, but decided to return home, as did many of his friends living abroad.

"We thought Zimbabwe had a great future, and I went home determined to play a part in it," says Godwin, who has written several books deeply critical of Mugabe's rule, including The Fear in 2010. "We thought we would get past the war and the racial issues, and this would be a bold, new experiment that would succeed."

In contrast, there was no such optimism in South Africa at that time. The country's white leaders remained firmly entrenched. Mandela had been in prison for close to two decades and there was no sign his release was on the horizon.

His movement, the African National Congress, was banned in South Africa and operated from the sleepy city of Lusaka, Zambia, hundreds of miles from the South African border.

Gazing into the future from the vantage point of 1980, it would have been reasonable to predict that Zimbabwe had better prospects than South Africa.

Different Personalities

But Martin, the British author, points to what he considers a crucial difference between Mandela and Mugabe.

"Whereas Mandela used his prison years to open a dialogue with South Africa's white rulers in order to defeat apartheid, Mugabe emerged from prison bent on revolution, determined to overthrow white society by force. Military victory, said Mugabe, would be the 'ultimate joy,'" Martin notes.

Once in power, Mugabe's military waged a brutal campaign against a rival black movement in the early 1980s, leaving an estimated 20,000 dead and setting the tone for dealing with any group seen as a potential rival, says Godwin.

When Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he negotiated with the country's white leaders for four years to end apartheid. As the country's first black president, he consistently preached national unity, sometimes to the point of irritating the country's blacks, who felt he was too conciliatory.

And on a continent where many leaders rule until they are overthrown or die, Mandela served just one five-year term and then retired in 1999.

Mandela was lauded for this highly unusual move, for relinquishing power even though the South African constitution allows for a second term.

John Mattison, a former NPR correspondent in South Africa, later worked in Mandela's administration. "I would meet with counterparts from other parts of Africa," Mattison says, "and they would say, very emotionally, he deserved a second Nobel Prize for peace for stepping down because of the example it set in Africa, because so many people in Africa, even in government, are so frustrated that their leaders never step down. Once they get in, they stay. And he was very clear about the constitutional state he wanted to set up and be a precedent for."

Mandela's African National Congress has dominated the country since 1994 and has not faced the prospect of losing an election and handing over power. South Africa's current leader, Jacob Zuma, is the country's fourth black president since apartheid ended.

Concentrating Power

In contrast, the longer Mugabe has remained in power, the more authoritarian he has become, Godwin says.

"Mugabe has been absolutely consistent. From the very beginning, he realized he could get what he wanted through violence," says Godwin, who now lives in New York and is president of the PEN American Center, the writer's association.

Mandela and other South African leaders have rarely criticized Mugabe, arguing that quiet diplomacy is a better option. However, Mugabe has rarely held his tongue, and recently took a poke at Mandela.

"Mandela has gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities, really in some cases at the expense of (blacks)," Mugabe was quoted as saying in South Africa's Sunday Independent. "That's being too saintly, too good, too much of a saint."

Mugabe also defended his decision to run for another five-year term.

"My people still need me," he said.

Zimbabwe votes on Wednesday, and Mugabe is heavily favored.

After Zimbabwe election, Mugabe needs a way out

http://www.csmonitor.com/

The Zimbabwe election on July 31 appears rigged and could lead to a repeat
crisis like that after a 2008 vote. The African nation needs a peaceful
transition through some form of forgiveness.

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / July 28, 2013

Forgiveness can be a powerful tool to end a conflict, whether in politics or
diplomacy. Yet measures such as amnesty or pardon are too rarely used. They
often lose to a desire for justice. One place where forgiveness might be an
effective tool right now is Zimbabwe, an African nation on the brink of a
critical election – and a potential repeat of mass violence.

Zimbabweans go to the polls July 31 to elect a president. The last election
in 2008 saw the long-ruling president, Robert Mugabe, lose the ballot count.
His security forces unleashed such postelection violence that the ballot
winner, Morgan Tsvangirai, was forced to accept a submissive role as prime
minister.

Now faced with possibly losing the vote again to Mr. Tsvangirai, Mr. Mugabe,
as well as his top generals and the ruling party, are doing what autocratic
regimes often do to stay in power: They are rigging the voting process.

The timing of this election was rushed by Mugabe on purpose, perhaps
illegally. An estimated 2 million young people have not been registered. The
voting rolls have the names of more than 100,000 voters aged 100 or older.
These and other dubious tactics led Human Rights Watch to declare: “The
chances of having free, fair and credible elections are slim.”

Ending the long rule of leaders like Mugabe is rarely easy. Even if they
want to leave, they and top supporters fear retribution if they let go of
the state’s levers of power. They have gained ill-gotten wealth or hurt
people in ways that demand justice.

It is a delicate choice between offering a ruler a form of forgiveness as a
way to get him to exit and seeking to punish him. Opting for justice can
create a deterrent against future abusive leaders and satisfy a desire for
retribution by a ruler’s victims. Yet demanding justice might push a ruler
to stay in power at all costs – such as rigging an election.

An offer of forgiveness and a guarantee of protection, meanwhile, could
persuade a ruler to leave, ending his abuses and creating a just democracy.
Yet that may not serve as an adequate deterrent to future rulers. And
victims are left with little justice.

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 33 years, has reasons to cling to power.
Many of Africa’s despots – most recently, those in Egypt, Libya, and
Tunisia – have either been put on trial, killed, or forced into exile. A few
have been either indicted or convicted by the International Criminal Court.
In addition, if Mugabe does lean toward handing over power, he might face a
coup by top security forces or a rebellion within his party, the Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front.

Fortunately, the opponent in the presidential race, Tsvangirai, says he
would honor Mugabe once he left office, allowing him an adequate pension and
recognizing his legacy in leading the liberation of the country from white
rule in the 1970s.

“One would say ‘let sleeping dogs lie’,” Tsvangirai told the Financial
Times. “What is important is to ensure that there is stability, because
stability is the basis for future progress.”

Sadly, Tsvangirai’s efforts to talk to Mugabe’s top generals about their
future if he wins have been rebuffed. They, like Mugabe, see their
legitimacy to rule as more derived from their role in the liberation
struggle four decades ago and less from a constitutional process of
elections.

Still, Mugabe and Tsvangirai have enough of a personal relationship that it
is possible to create the trust necessary to allow a peaceful transition of
power, one that allows Mugabe and his allies to live peacefully in their own
country.

The country already has one important precedent: black Zimbabweans were
largely forgiving of their former white rulers during the transition from
the old nation of Rhodesia.

And it has a model in South Africa’s transition to democracy two decades
ago. Nelson Mandela made a key decision to forgive white rulers if they
admitted their mistakes. That process helped create the conditions for peace
and growth. The idea sprung in part from the South African philosophy of
ubuntu, as explained in its 1993 Constitution: “There is a need for
understanding but not for vengeance, a need for reparation but not for
retaliation, a need for ubuntu but not for victimization.”

Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have invoked the name of God in their political
fight. Mugabe says “only God” can remove him from power. Tsvangirai says it
is God’s wish that his opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change,
win. Yet it may be the godly attribute of forgiveness that will help
Zimbabwe find the healing it deserves out of this election crisis.

Coming soon, ‘Robert Mugabe: A Tyrant’s Quest for Legitimacy’

By Dr Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, 28 July 2013.

Preface

The purpose of this book is to interrogate the classic authoritarianism of
Robert Gabriel Mugabe as Zimbabwe enters an uncertain future after the
expiry of the Global Political Agreement amidst squabbling within the
coalition government in Harare. The book is focusing on Robert Mugabe
because he has been in charge since independence to the present day. It has
become de rigueur for analysts to recognise that he was a promising leader
who became corrupted by power. “The Black Robespierre,” as the Telegraph’s
Aislinn Laing once described Mugabe, put white fears at rest through his
reconciliation rhetoric only to become a political demagogue two decades
later as he took revenge on white farmers supposedly for backing the
rejection of his draft constitution in the 2000 referendum. Since then,
Mugabe’s despotic rule has wreacked havoc as the good man went wrong to
arguably surpass the absolute ruler or tyrant depicted in the introduction
to Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, a book which teaches effective tactics
for the absolute ruler. In Robert Mugabe: A Tyrant’s Quest for Legitimacy,
emphasis is on how the he fits or departs from the description of a prince
as being solitary, vicious and grindingly cruel to those who stand in his
way.

Chapter one seeks to correct widespread misrepresentations about the country’s
cultural heritage while Chapter two is a critique of Mugabe’s leadership or
lack of it using the theoretical framework of a tyrant described by Girolamo
Savonarola in his Treatise on the Government of Florence and aptly included
in Anthony Grafton’s introduction to The Prince. Chapter three examines the
corruption pandemic under the stewardship of Robert Mugabe, while chapter
four is a brief discussion on the economic challenges facing Zimbabwe.
Chapter five examines Mugabe’s disregard for human rights while chapter six
takes a look at how he has shaped Zimbabwe’s isolation and reclusive
character in international relations. In chapter seven, land reform is
subjected to a critique based on theoretical, research and practical
anecdotal evidence. In the final chapter, discussion turns to what is
perceived as Zimbabwe’s institutionalised electoral corruption and was
written with the July 2013 elections in mind, therefore includes commentary
on the voters roll which analysts say is in a shambles; the
disenfranchisement of the Diaspora; and the Special Vote debacle of 14 and
15 July 2013. Enjoy the book and send the author your comments – including
constructive criticisms and reviews.

Everything is now in the hand of the editor. Clifford has washed his hands!
It’s coming soon. Watch this space. Herewith a link to the cover preview or
email the author for assistance.

About the author

Clifford is a London-based political analyst and strategy consultant. He
will be interviewed about Zimbabwean elections by CBC Radio tomorrow Monday
29 July at 11.15 a.m. and will give a live commentary on the same elections
on Arise cable/Satellite Television channel on Wednesday 31July between 2.00
p.m.- 3.00 p.m.

Zimanalysis2009@gmail.com