Yahoo News
By
Nelson Banya 19 minutes ago
HARARE (Reuters) - Armed supporters of
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
have occupied the area where opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai was to hold
an election rally on Sunday,
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
said.
"Thousands of
armed (ruling party) ZANU-PF youth militia have violently
occupied the MDC
rally venue at Harare showgrounds to disrupt the rally,
which the High Court
granted," the MDC said in a statement.
The two men are scheduled to face
each other in a run-off election for
president on June 27 after months of
high political tension marked by
opposition allegations of violence and
intimidation by Mugabe's supporters.
A Reuters correspondent said
pro-Mugabe youth were carrying sticks and
knives at the venue for the rally,
which police had banned. A High Court in
Harare on Saturday overturned the
ban.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a March 29 election but fell short of
the
outright majority needed to avoid a run-off, according to official
results.
Tsvangirai, according to a spokesman, is now considering pulling
out of the
run-off because of what the MDC says are strong-arm tactics by
Mugabe's men.
The MDC says at least 70 of its members have been killed
since March in a
campaign of intimidation by Mugabe's government to scare
opponents and
voters. The veteran Zimbabwean leader blames the opposition
for the
bloodshed.
Tsvangirai has been detained five times during his
election campaign and MDC
Secretary-General Tendai Biti remains in custody
facing a treason charge and
other offenses. Biti faces a death sentence if
convicted.
Mugabe, 84, is fighting to cling onto power in the country he
has ruled
since independence from Britain in 1980. Once prosperous, its
economy is now
ruined and millions have fled the political and economic
crisis to
neighboring states.
(Writing by Paul Simao; editing by
Richard Balmforth
Monsters and Critics
Jun 22, 2008, 9:13 GMT
Johannesburg/Harare - A
major confrontation loomed Sunday between supporters
of Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change as the
latter were due to hold a rally in Harare.
Witnesses said hundreds of
young Mugabe supporters had occupied the downtown
area of the rally,
threatening the crowds streaming to the event due to be
addressed by MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The rally was going ahead after a High Court
judge Saturday ordered police
not to block it, overruling a decision by the
police to ban the event.
The rally was to be the first to be addressed by
Tsvangirai before next
Friday's presidential run-off election against
Mugabe.
In the first round of the vote in March, Tsvangirai beat Mugabe
but failed
to garner the absolute majority.
Tsvangirai has been
detained by police five times during campaigning, while
a number of MDC
leaders are either on the run or in jails.
The run-up to the second round
has been marred by violence. The opposition
claims that that the Zanu PF
militia and army have killed about 70 of its
supporters, displacing more
than 30 000 people.
New York Daily News
By Geoffrey Nyarota
Saturday, June 21st 2008, 11:35
AM
I spoke on the phone Tuesday to a relative in eastern Zimbabwe whose
village
was invaded by soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Robert
Mugabe.
Three months after it lost its majority in parliament, Mugabe's
party,
Zanu-PF - which has dominated the nation for three decades - still
rules
Zimbabwe.
But it hangs on only by a thread, and a
threat.
Mugabe's nemesis, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, defeated
him in a
presidential election on March 29. A runoff election is scheduled
for this
coming Friday. And, true to form, Mugabe is spreading fear and
wreaking
havoc to prevent the people from ousting him at the
polls.
My relative, whom I cannot name for his security, nearly wept as
he narrated
details of young men in the village being ferociously assaulted,
of scarce
food being pillaged, of women being forced to carry out chores at
a recently
established military base.
"The people are terrified," he
said. "Many will be too scared to vote now.
We are praying that the
international observers arrive soon to save us."
It was a futile hope,
but I did not have the heart to tell him. Less than
900 foreign election
observers are expected in the country, most of them
from southern Africa.
They are too thin on the ground to cover more than
9,000 polling stations.
And so, we will likely see Mugabe win this round.
That would be a debacle
for Zimbabwe, for Africa - indeed, for the world.
Mugabe does not easily
forget; neither does he forgive those who seek to
undermine him.
In
coming to this conclusion, I need not simply cite the fact that he has
spent
weeks starving and terrorizing his opponents. I speak from personal
experience. I was once the editor of The Chronicle, a state-owned daily
newspaper that exposed rampant corruption in the top echelons of the Mugabe
regime back in 1988.
Now I live in Massachusetts. This is because I
was fired from three
positions editing papers inside Zimbabwe. I was
arrested on six occasions.
My last newspaper's printing press was reduced to
scrap metal in a bomb
explosion. A hand grenade was lobbed at our building
below my office. Then,
the Central Intelligence Organization contracted a
hit man to assassinate
me.
It is for reasons like these that an
estimated 3 million of my compatriots
also live in exile.
When I
watch Mugabe on television, as he castigates Tsvangirai and threatens
to
take Zimbabwe to war if he loses the election, I know he must be taken
seriously.
He is aggrieved; his pride mortally wounded by his defeat.
He cannot come to
terms with rejection by an electorate that prefers a
politician he dismisses
as a mere puppet of Washington and
London.
Back in 2000, Mugabe focused his rage on Zimbabwe's white
population. He
accused them of influencing the black population to vote
against a draft
constitution proposed by his government and ordered the
wholesale
expropriation of white-owned commercial farms.
Now he
targets the blacks.
But there is a ray of hope. Mugabe, at age 84, may
lack the capacity to
sustain any prolonged conflict against his
long-suffering people. He has
impoverished and alienated the rural
population that was once the backbone
of his guerrilla army. A sizable
portion of the electorate has no
recollection of the war Mugabe constantly
cites to stir up support for his
horrible regime. As a result, Mugabe's
party, once a homogenous pillar of
support, now stands sharply
divided.
If Mugabe loses the crucial election rerun and, as promised,
defies the will
of the people, his little remaining credibility will
evaporate, especially
in the eyes of supportive neighbors such as South
Africa's Thabo Mbeki.
Deprived of the remaining regional support, the
regime may finally collapse.
But for that to happen - for the teetering
dictator to be toppled - the
people first must overcome their fears to vote.
Tragically, there are slim
chances of that.
Nyarota is the managing
editor of thezimbabwetimes.com, an online newspaper.
Yahoo News
14 minutes ago
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's main opposition began
meeting on Sunday morning at
the party's headquarters to debate whether to
contest this week's
presidential run-off amid mounting violence, a party
source told AFP.
"The (party's) national council needs to take stock
about the prevailing
situation vis-a-vis the run-off which is going to take
place on Friday," the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) source said on
condition of anonymity.
"There is going to be serious debate. There is
going to be divided opinion
on whether to participate in the run-off or
not."
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is seeking to end President
Robert
Mugabe's 28-year rule in the election, attended the meeting with
others, the
source said, adding that he was unsure whether a resolution
would be
reached.
The MDC has shown signs of deep divisions in recent
days on whether to
contest the vote amid violence that it claims has left
some 70 supporters
dead since the March 29 first round of the
poll.
Earlier this month, Tsvangirai said 200 people were unaccounted for
and a
further 3,000 had been hospitalised.
Despite the violence and
major obstacles in seeking to campaign, the party's
secretary for legal
affairs Innocent Gonese has told AFP that "withdrawing
will not solve
anything."
MDC treasurer general Roy Bennett has described suggestions of
pulling out
of the race as "nonsense."
An opposition decision to pull
out would likely hand victory to Mugabe, who
has ruled since independence
from Britain in 1980.
Mugabe has threatened to arrest opposition leaders
over the violence, though
the UN has said his supporters were to blame of
the bulk of it.
The veteran leader has remained defiant in the face of
criticism over
conditions ahead of the vote, vowing the opposition will
never come to power
in his lifetime and pledging to fight to keep it from
happening.
Jamaica Observer
Sir Ronald Sanders
Sunday, June 22,
2008
"Treachery, tribalism and mass murder are all that can
result from a false
solution. To accept such a Zimbabwe would be a betrayal
of our people, of
our principles and quite simply (since dead and detained
men can neither
canvass nor cast votes) a betrayal of
ourselves."
Those were the words of a joint statement by Robert Mugabe
and Joshua Nkomo
spoken at the 1979 London Conference that led to the
independence of
Zimbabwe and the election of Mugabe as president.
In
his sanctioning of wanton killings and detention of his political
opponents,
Mugabe has long since forgotten those words.
The joint statement went on to
state: "We must remember here that it has
always been, and it remains, the
basic objective of the Patriotic Front to
ensure that government of a
genuine free Zimbabwe is based upon free and
fair elections."
Now in
a betrayal, not only of that pledge but of all the persons and
nations that
stood up for an independent Zimbabwe based on majority rule,
Mugabe has
rigged one election after the other and has sworn not to accept
the results
of an election on June 27 if it goes against him.
Mugabe has disappointed
his most ardent supporters; he has treated with
contempt those who reposed
confidence in him in the face of many doubters;
and worst of all, he has
destroyed his own country and devastated his own
people, thousands of whom
have fled the country to neighbouring states
especially South Africa where
in recent times they have been beaten by
resentful and unwelcoming South
Africans.
The current atmosphere in Zimbabwe is not conducive to a free
and fair
election. Fifty-three deaths have been confirmed, 2,000 people have
been
injured and 30,000 people displaced during the campaign. UN reports say
four
million people are in need of food aid and they are being denied help
by the
Mugabe regime. The deputy leader of the opposition party, the
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), Tendai Biti, is in police
custody.
Soldiers have been ordered by their high command to vote for
Mugabe or lose
their jobs and villagers all over the country have been
threatened with
death by the army. Ordinary people are brutally chopped to
death as an
example to others.
The governments of some neighbouring
African countries have now spoken out
against the glaring atrocities of the
Mugabe regime. Tanzanian foreign
minister, Bernard Membe, whose government
is the current chairman of the
African Union, said: "There is every sign
that these elections will never be
free or fair." His conclusion has been
reached on the basis of reports from
211 election observers inside the
country, some of whom had seen two people
shot dead in front of them on June
17.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki could have done much more to
bring an
early end to the destruction of Zimbabwe and the wanton killings,
by
imposing a trade embargo on Zimbabwe, closing the border between the two
countries and stopping financial transactions. Instead, he handled Mugabe
with kid gloves and sought to reason with him long after Mugabe had
manifestly shown that he was beyond reasoning. The elections on June 27th
are now a huge farce.
If Mugabe wins the presidential election, no
one anywhere in the world could
possibly accept it as credible. Zimbabwe's
economy - already a basket case,
except for the help of China - will
deteriorate even further and Zimbabweans
will suffer and die even more.
Undoubtedly, the US, Canada and the European
Union countries will rightly
apply strict sanctions against the regime.
The Chinese government will
have to decide whether in the face of Mugabe's
glaring atrocities it will
continue to prop him up. It would be sad for the
Zimbabwean people if they
took such a decision.
If, by some miracle, Morgan Tsvangirai wins this
deeply flawed presidential
election, Mugabe has sworn not to accept the
result.
Calling the Opposition "traitors", he said "Should this country
be taken by
traitors ... It shall never happen ... We are prepared to go to
war for it".
The response of the EU, US and Canada and many other countries
will be the
same - the isolation of the regime and
sanctions.
Caribbean governments have a right and an obligation to
condemn the Mugabe
regime in the most vigorous terms and to send a clear
message now that they
will join an international effort to isolate his
regime.
Caribbean persons such as Shridath 'Sonny' Ramphal, as
Commonwealth
secretary-general, played a crucial role in the achievement of
majority
rule, and the independence of Zimbabwe. Other Caribbean leaders, at
the
time, Jamaica's Michael Manley, Guyana's Forbes Burnham and Barbados'
Errol
Barrow also played their part in overturning the Unilateral
Declaration of
Independence by the white, minority government of Ian Smith.
They all argued
for free and fair elections based on majority rule, and an
end to state
sanctioned killing of people who opposed the
government.
Today, Mugabe is no better than Smith. He has spurned the
efforts of more
recent Caribbean leaders - most notably P J Patterson, the
former prime
minister of Jamaica, who as chairman of a group of six
Commonwealth heads of
government, tried his best to persuade Mugabe to
honour the path to
democracy.
By the time Caribbean heads of
government meet for their annual conference
in July in Antigua, the result
of this farcical June 27 election will be
known, and Zimbabwe will be
plunged into a deeper morass of dictatorial rule
and atrocities than it now
is.
At that meeting, Caribbean governments should unhesitatingly join
other
countries in imposing the strongest measures against the Mugabe regime
including intervention by the United Nations. But even before then,
Caribbean governments at the highest levels should let Mugabe know publicly
that they condemn his actions and that the elections on June 27 are not
credible.
Tyranny in any colour must be firmly rejected.
ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir
Ronald Sanders is a business consultant and former Caribbean
diplomat
Nation News, Barbados
Published on:
6/22/08.
AS SHAMEFUL as is the disgraceful situation being played out
in Mr Robert
Mugabe's Zimbabwe, so also is the appalling and cowardly
silence shrouding
the issue in Barbados and its Caribbean
neighbours.
Our governments maintain diplomatic
silence.
As the menacing and tyrannical Mr Mugabe disingenuously blames
economic
sanctions for the wreckage that is Zimbabwe, as he, despite
horribly
mounting evidence accuses the opposition of lying about political
violence
in that country, our local friends of Africa likewise seeing and
hearing no
evil, hold their tongues.
There are occasions when silence
is as sinful as the evil it hides. The
occurrences in Zimbabwe are
monumentally undemocratic and monstrously
inhumane.
There is credible
evidence that Zimbabwe's military is actively involved in
running Robert
Mugabe's re-election campaign.
The suggestion is that the ruling party
Zanu-PF will use the army to harass
and drive out opposition supporters,
especially from rural areas. A run-off
presidential vote is due to take
place later in the month.
Documents obtained by news media suggest that
the Joint Operations Command
(JOC) is now running logistics and operations
for Zanu-PF.
The JOC is made up of the heads of the military and state
security
organisations.
Another document lays out the party's
tactics, including the use of scarce
food supplies as a political
weapon.
"Basic commodities should be sold from either people's shops or
pro-Zanu-PF
shops," it says.
"Emphasis should be in party
strongholds."
It talks about giving the notorious and feared war
veterans, responsible for
much of the violence in Zimbabwe, a "leading role
in Zanu-PF campaigns".
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) says at least 70 of its
supporters have been killed in Zimbabwe and
many more beaten in the run-up
to next week's presidential run-off
election.
Mr Mugabe says that the opposition MDC will never be allowed to
run the
country and that "only God" could remove him.
To date, the
MDC suffered at least five violent deaths of activists or their
family
members this week and its secretary general, Tendai Biti, was charged
with
treason and subversion. He faces death if found guilty.
And the MDC is to
announce tomorrow whether it will contest the June 27
poll, a party source
has indicated.
Meanwhile, MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai - who is due to
face Mr Mugabe in
the run-off - is reported to be under pressure to pull out
in view of
escalating pre-poll violence.
So, in the event that Mr
Tsvangirai is indeed forced to abandon the election
Mr Mugabe would be
handed victory in a shameful charade.
If Barbados continues its culture
of silence in the face of such outrageous
abuses, it would certainly be
easier again to remain silent when travesties
occur on its own doorstep. We
already have ample evidence of this.
THE NATION newspapers loudly condemn
Mr Mugabe and his henchmen for the
political and economic terror that they
continue to visit upon their own
countrymen.
And, we call upon the
Government of Barbados forcefully to add Barbados'
voice to those too, too
few nations that are already speaking out against
the stifling of democracy
and human rights in Zimbabwe.
Also, we call on the labour unions,
churches and all elements of civil
society to add voices against the
manifest evil that is choking Zimbabwe.
Barbados must resist the easy
convenience of silence and must instead stand
on principle.
It may be
fashionable to ignore the misdeeds of our friends and those to
whom we are
culturally and historically aligned. But, on this occasion, we
will be
unfashionably out of step and just do the right thing. Our children
are
intelligent, they have eyes, and they are watching!
The nations of
African descent cannot continue to give Mr Mugabe a free pass
based on his
former freedom fighting credentials.
He is now the antithesis of all that
he fought for, arguably now more
poisonous than the regime he replaced.
West Australian
22nd June 2008, 15:45 WST
The Perth-based daughter of
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangarai
broke her silence on her
father's campaign for the presidency today at a
rally attended by close to
200 people outside's the Wesley Church on Murray
and William
streets.
Zimbabwean ex-pats were joined by those seeking refugee status in
calling
for the Australian Government and the Government's of African and
Western
nations do bring more pressure to bear on the regime 28-year-old
regime of
President Robert Mugabe to do more to ensure the run-off election
held this
Friday would be free and fair.
Rumbidzai Tsvangirai, 22,
told the crowd she was ashamed and saddened to see
the demise of Zimbabwe
from the breadbasket of Africa to a place where
people are starving,
unemployed and living under a violent regime.
"For 10 years I have
watched my father fight for a seemingly out of reach
goal," she
said.
"I've seen him beaten up, jailed and even charged with treason and
threatened with death by hanging.
"I've spent countless days and
nights fearing for his life and praying for
the day when what he so
courageously risks his life for, that is democracy
and freedom for
Zimababwe, will be attained."
Zimbabweans attending the rally were able
to take part in an unofficial
ballot which showed overwhelming majority
support for Mr Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change. They will not be
able to take part in Friday's
actual election because of a decree by Mr
Mugabe.
Natalie, a woman who came to Perth from Zimbabwe and is seeking
refugee
status so only wished to be known by her first name, said she felt
compelled
to attend the rally in support of the young people of her
homeland, her
sisters and her mother, who were being "starved, tortured and
have no
future".
"I'm enjoying my freedom here in Australia but my
family is in Zimbabwe
under mad-man rule with no food, no water, no fuel, no
freedom and no
rights," she said.
DANIEL HATCH
Christian Today
Posted: Sunday,
June 22, 2008, 8:12 (BST)
Reports of the intimidation, torture and
death of opponents of Zimbabwe's
government have prompted a call for a day
of prayer on Sunday 22 June among
the worldwide Reformed family of
churches.
Zimbabweans go to the polls on 27 June in a run-off election
resulting from
the 29 March presidential election. The run-off vote was
called after a
delay of several weeks before the announcement of the March
election
results.
"Credible reports reaching us indicate a blatant
intimidation of voters and
people being tortured. Some have died," said
Setri Nyomi, general secretary
of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
(WARC), in a letter to 214
churches around the world.
"Already
Zimbabweans have been suffering under the burden of high inflation
and lack
of essential commodities. This current spate of violence and
intimidation
seems to be targeted at those who did not vote for the ruling
party,
especially in some specific rural areas," Nyomi added.
"This creates a
very intimidating atmosphere for the run-off elections. We
are committed to
the rights and welfare of all Zimbabweans, not just to one
party or the
other.
"Our main concern now is to ensure that Zimbabweans feel free to
express
their democratic rights."
WARC's call for a day of prayer on
22 June echoes the call of the World
Council of Churches and other voices
for such a day.
"Please join Christians all over the world in praying for
Zimbabwe this
Sunday, and every day of next week," Nyomi concluded.
http://nationalvision.wordpress.com/
June 21,
2008
Last week Zimbabwe was again in the spotlight for
not-so-enviable yet
glaring headlines, of a spike in pre-election violence
characterized by
spine-chilling reports of crimes against humanity as well
as the country's
alleged link to the deadly terrorist network al Qaeda. The
gruesome murder
of the Mayor of Harare's wife who was abducted together with
her four-year
old son and later bludgeoned to death beyond recognition
received the most
coverage internationally. The world was taken aback by
eerie reports
emanating from British Intelligence, the MI6 based in Africa,
that the top
brass of the Zimbabwe's Joint Operation Command (running ZanuPF
campaign)
secretively met with al Qaeda in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The alleged
meeting
held while Mugabe was in Rome, focused on setting up an 'Islamic
Empire' in
Southern Africa, preferably Zimbabwe as reported by many news
organizations
that include worldnetdaily.com. The argument being that failed
and lawless
states provide a conducive logistical and operational
environment that can
become a sanctuary for training, recruiting, smuggling
arms, people, money,
etc.
The International community has
done absolutely nothing to help the poor
people of Zimbabwe who have
unjustifiably suffered for years under the
misrule of Zanu PF. Apart from
haphazard sanctions which have regrettably
caused more misery to the people
of Zimbabwe, nothing substantive has been
done to stabilize the country
economically and politically. It has also been
argued that the sanctions
were meant to yield an economic implosion that
will squeeze Mugabe out
irrespective of the suffering that they might cause.
However it will be
disingenuous to wholly attribute Zimbabwe's economic
collapse to sanctions.
After all Zimbabwe was already in arrears with the
biggest international
lending institutions like the IMF by the time
sanctions were imposed hence
could not get further assistance. The economy
has imploded chiefly because
of mismanagement, government corruption and
also due to the demise of the
rule of law.
It is however critical to point out that the
ineffectual sanctions imposed
on top Zanu PF members have not produced any
change of behavior as intended
since they were effected back in 2002. The
economic freefall has benefited
the regime immensely and created a
kleptocratic Zanu PF bourgeoisie that now
boasts of massive wealth, power
and privilege. The sanctions have created a
pariah state, a social outcast
of a nation, that has stripped its citizens
of their rights (human rights)
and declared war on the poor people of
Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe
fashionably hides behind national
sovereignty in order to manipulate the
world into thinking that Mugabe, a
subject of massive personality cult, is
doing the right thing. For example,
it is a fact that land redistribution
exercise was both self-serving and
politically expedient as evidenced by the
multiple farms that have been
grabbed by the Ministers and their cousins'
and their cousin's cousins.
What we shall see in Zimbabwe is a
case of collateral benefit as the West
(notably the US) takes an aggressive
move to stabilize Zimbabwe by any means
necessary because of the fear that
Zimbabwe might turn out to be a breeding
ground for terrorists. It is in the
best interests of the West to have a
stabilized Zimbabwe because al Qaeda
kills! The West cannot afford any
longer to watch idly because the pursuit
of oil and terrorists is at the
core of US policy. At the beginning of
Zimbabwe's woes, the United States
had a prima facie legitimate case of not
helping, a Third World country like
Zimbabwe because of its economic and
strategic insignificance (primarily the
absence of Oil). Saddam Hussein was
not taken out by sanctions but by brute
force because of the presence of oil
in Iraq. We already saw restlessness by
Condoleeza Rice on Thursday, June
18th, appealing to the UN Security Council
to take action on Zimbabwe and
scheduling a follow-up meeting next week for
a Security Council briefing on
Zimbabwe by UN special envoy - Mr Haile
Menkerios. She is also turning up
the heat on SADC for being complicit with
the Zanu PF regime most notably
the lousy Thabo Mbeki who on several
occasions denied that there was a
crisis in Zimbabwe.
Engaging the government and the opposition in
a comprehensive dialogue to
create a government of national unity in order
to achieve political and
socio-economic stability is the most feasible route
at the moment for a soft
landing in Zimbabwe. An election will not salvage
the situation because
there is too much at stake for both parties. On one
hand there is fear of
prosecution for human rights abuses and fear of losing
ill-gotten wealth by
Zanu PF the cause for which they are prepared to take
to the grave while on
the other hand, the MDC knows that an election has
been stolen, (twice, for
that matter) and its members have been
murdered.
As mentioned in my previous article, we should not
delude ourselves into
thinking that June 27, 2008 will put an end to
suffering or killings. A Zanu
PF victory will be regarded as yet another
stolen election and likely to be
met with stiff resistance at home and
abroad making it difficult for the
country to have access to multilateral
lending institutions and other
financial institutions across the globe which
can inject the much needed
foreign currency for its rejuvenation.
Conversely, an MDC victory might
never be recognized by Mugabe and his
military. It will be a sad day in
Zimbabwe come June 28, 2008 unless a
miracle happens. Given the West's
heightened interest if Zimbabwe, a stolen
election might lead to a situation
of what happened in Zaire (now DRC)
where a foreign-sponsored 'Banyamulenge'
style insurrection overthrew Mobutu
Sese Seko. Poverty and oppression are
capable of yielding the most
deleterious results hence the time to unite and
act is now. Already there
are rumors doing the rounds on the internet of an
armed rebellion calling
itself the Zimbabwe Resistance Movement (UK-based,
as revealed by a Google
search) which others might treat it as a hoax but it
can
happen.
The events that have taken place in Zimbabwe to date have
taught some of us
to "never say never' as there are no absolutes in life.
If Kenyans did it,
Zimbabweans can do it too. How many more lives are we
going to lose before a
compromise is made? Zimbabwe cannot afford a civil
war the same way it
cannot afford ethnic cleansing. Our voice of moderation
is calling for peace
because nothing supersedes peace!
MISA-Zimbabwe
Communiqué
31 March 2008
SADC notes several election anomalies but
endorses poll as free and fair
The SADC Observer Mission to the 2008
elections noted several anomalies that
run against the grain of the
principles of democratic elections within the
southern African region but
still endorsed the process leading to the 29
March elections as free and
fair.
Addressing journalists in Harare on 30 March 2008, the head of the
mission
Jose Marcos Barrica noted the issues of equal access to the state
media by
political parties and candidates, access to information on the
electoral
process and the "irresponsible statements" by security chiefs, as
some of
the anomalies. He, however, said the issue of access to the state
media had
improved as the election date drew close.
Barrica said the
statements by the security chiefs such as Police
Commissioner General
Augustine Chihuri and Commissioner of Prisons Paradzai
Zimondi that they
would not salute Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the
opposition MDC in the event
of him winning the presidential race, should
have been publicly
denounced.
In its preliminary report on the elections, the observer
mission also noted
that information on the electoral and voting process
should also have been
published in advance but still commended the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission
(ZEC) for doing everything to ensure that the elections
would be held
despite the logistical problems encountered.
It its
pre-election position findings on the presidential, parliamentary,
senatorial and local government elections held on 29 March 2008,
MISA-Zimbabwe noted with grave concern that with polling only a few weeks
away and almost four years after the adoption of the SADC Guidelines, there
is little evidence on the Zimbabwean government's willingness to relax its
grip on the state media and allow opposition political parties or opposing
voices to freely air their campaign messages and views on ZBC radio and
television.
MISA-Zimbabwe noted that ZBC, Zimbabwe's sole national
state broadcaster
continued to demonstrate its partisan tendencies where it
concerns providing
fair, balanced and equitable coverage of the ensuing
election campaigns.
The live broadcast of the launch of the ruling Zanu
PF's election manifesto
by ZBC on 29 March 2008 to the exclusion of a
similar exercise by the
opposition MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai the previous
week at Sakubva Stadium
in Mutare and that of Independent presidential
candidate, Simba Makoni in
Bulawayo is one such glaring omission or
commission denying citizens access
to alternative information which should
have been noted by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) in its
mandate.
In terms of the Electoral Laws Act (As Amended 2008), ZEC should
also have
drawn up regulations for free, fair and balanced access to public
broadcasting. As of 4 March 2008 and 25 days before polling ZEC was still to
come up with such regulations for purposes of monitoring the media to ensure
accurate and fair coverage of the elections to stem encouragement of
violence, racial, ethnic and religious hatred.
Meanwhile, asked why
the SADC election team had endorsed the elections as
having been free and
fair when ZEC was still to announce the results almost
20 hours after
polling had closed at 7pm on 29 March 2008, Barrica said
their mandate was
only restricted to observing the pre-election period in
terms of the SADC
Guidelines.
Urging all political parties to respect the will of the
people, he warned
Zimbabweans against allowing for the prospect of civil war
saying as an
Angolan he had the experience of the negative impact of that
scenario.
"I reiterate SADC's commitment to continue supporting the
people of Zimbabwe
in their efforts to deepen democracy and realise the
dignity of Zimbabweans.
The voice of the people of Zimbabwe need to be heard
and heard by the people
of Zimbabwe," said Barrica.
End
For
any questions, querie or comments, please contact:
Nyasha
Nyakunu
Research and Information Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe
84 McChlery
Drive
Eastlea
Box HR 8113
Harare
Zimbabwe
Telefax: 00 263 4 77 61
65/ 74 68 38
Cell: 00 263 11 602 448/00 263 11 639 682
Email: misa@misazim.co.zw
Website: www.misazim.co.zw