Britons arrested in Zimbabwe
(Filed: 10/03/2002)
TWO Britons have been arrested in Zimbabwe for allegedly carrying
illegal radio equipment.
The Foreign Office confirmed two Britons had been arrested and said
officials were making inquiries.
Reports suggested the British pair and two Americans were arrested in
eastern Zimbabwe and accused of attempting to disrupt this weekend's
presidential elections.
It is understood that the arrested Britons are residents of Zimbabwe,
though they hold British passports.
The British High Commission is monitoring the situation closely, the
Foreign Office said, adding that the consul is in touch with a local lawyer who
is trying to get access to the Britons. The consul is also in touch with their
families.
================================================================
Zimbabwe polls reopen but officials block voting
By Nicholas Kotch and
Cris
Chinaka
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
residents, segregated into male and female queues, line up to vote at dusk in
the suburb of Kuwadzana.
Photo by HOWARD BURDITT
HARARE, March 11
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's bitter election went into an unprecedented third day on
Monday but witnesses said President Robert Mugabe's officials were defying a
High Court order and refusing to accept votes.
Thousands of people jammed polling stations in the capital Harare, an
opposition stronghold in the southern African country, after polling stations
reopened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT).
Witnesses and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition charged
that presiding officers in several Harare townships had no instructions to allow
voting to begin.
State radio also said voting would be extended only in Harare and the
nearby Chitungwiza settlement, contrary to a High Court order on Sunday night
that voting should continue throughout the country because of big queues.
The opposition went to the High Court shortly before the scheduled two-day
election was due to close to request an extension of the poll. It charged that
Mugabe was deliberately slowing the vote to disenfranchise opposition voters.
The confusion and problems on Monday were the latest episode in what MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai says is a systematic attempt by Mugabe to use violence
and "dirty tricks" to cling on to power despite deep unpopularity.
Mugabe, 78, once seen as a model democrat, has taken the former Rhodesia
from civil war to prosperity in the 1980s and now to penury that threatens the
stability of the whole southern African region including regional giant South
Africa.
Tsvangirai poses the toughest challenge to Mugabe's monopoly of power since
independence from Britain in 1980 and there are fears of a violent reaction if
the opposition's supporters are robbed of a chance to vote.
NO INSTRUCTIONS TO RESUME VOTING
In Harare's Kuwadzana township, about 800 people queued outside a primary
school, watched by half a dozen riot police.
The polling station's presiding officer told Reuters he had not received
orders from electoral authorities to resume voting.
"We have now gone for one hour and 30 minutes and no voting is taking
place. That's a flagrant violation of the government's own orders," MDC
spokesman Learnmore Jongwe said at 8.30 a.m. (0630 GMT) after touring seven
polling stations in Kuwadzana.
"They simply don't want people who are going to vote against them to vote,"
Jongwe added.
Benjamin, one of several hundred people waiting outside a polling station
in Kuwadzana, said he was determined to vote.
"People have decided to stay away from work and vote. People want change.
22 years is too long," he said.
The government citing high costs, logistical and administrative problems,
said it could not comply with the court order to keep polling stations open
outside Harare.
Supporters of Tsvangirai said police beat thousands of voters away from
polling stations late on Sunday night after the court order, saying they should
come back on Monday.
Norwegian observer Kare Vollan said 1,000 voters had been turned away at
Harare's Warren Park at 11 p.m. on Sunday.
RIOT POLICE CLOSED POLLING STATION
Witnesses said riot police shut down another polling station about an hour
after the court ruling, scattering around 2,500 people who had waited most of
the day.
Quoting Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, state radio said polling
stations would reopen on Monday only in the two areas that had the longest
queues late on Sunday.
"Comrade Chinamasa has said it is impossible to comply with the order to
extend the vote nationwide because in some areas, polling has already closed and
ballot boxes have already been returned," the radio said.
Britain, the former colonial power, and the United States have warned a
rigged election could destabilise the country.
Neighbouring South Africa, widely criticised for failing to condemn
Mugabe's handling of his political and economic crises, fears a meltdown would
cause a flood of refugees. The Zimbabwe crisis has battered its currency.
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede said that by midday on Sunday barely a
quarter of the voters registered in Harare had cast their ballots. The 205,000
votes gathered was about half the number that voted in parliamentary elections
in June 2000.
Opposition officials arrested in Zimbabwe
Opposition officials in Zimbabwe say two senior leaders have
been arrested as polling stations opened for a third day.
The elections have resumed with polling booths opening five hours
late.
The opposition party's secretary-general Welshman Ncube was arrested in the
southwestern town of Plumtree. His deputy, Gift Chimanikire, has also been
detained in Harare, said David Coltart an opposition legislator.
© Copyright Ananova Ltd 2002, all rights
reserved
==============================================================
Voting resumes for unscheduled third day in Zimbabwe's election
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 11 — Zimbabwe's
chaotic presidential elections resumed for an unscheduled third day on Monday,
with polling stations opening five hours late. Opposition officials said two
senior leaders had been arrested.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
President Robert
Mugabe is facing the toughest challenge ever to his 22-year grip on power from
Morgan Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader and head of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.
After being chased away from polling
stations by police Sunday night, thousands of voters returned Monday morning
because the High Court ordered the government to extend voting countrywide for a
third day. But the polling stations did not open until noon, after many voters
had given up and gone home or to work.
Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa said on state television Monday morning that the government would
comply with the court order under duress and would only extend voting in Harare
and a nearby township, both opposition strongholds. He said many polling
stations in the rest of the country had already been dismantled.
Tsvangirai accused Mugabe and his ruling party of attempting to steal the
election by driving opposition observers from 43 percent of the rural polling
stations, some of the rural counting stations and discouraging people in urban
areas from voting.
''If those thousands of people are not allowed to
vote, this is a stillborn election,'' he said Monday. ''The MDC will not be part
of an illegitimate process to try to disenfranchise people.''
The
opposition party's secretary-general and third ranking official, Welshman Ncube,
was arrested Monday in the southwestern town of Plumtree, while his deputy, Gift
Chimanikire, was detained in Harare, said David Coltart an opposition
legislator. Police gave no reason for the arrests, but Ncube has been charged
with treason in a previous case.
''We will not succumb to this kind
of intimidation,'' Tsvangirai said, adding that he will not appeal to the
country's Supreme Court because they consistently rule against the opposition.
He appealed to the people to show restraint and avoid confrontation with
security forces.
Government officials were not immediately available
for comment.
Mugabe and his Zimbabwean African National Union
Patriotic Front ruled without significant dissent until recent years, when the
economy entered its worst-ever crisis. Inflation is over 110 percent,
unemployment is 60 percent and hundreds of thousands of people are going hungry.
Despite pre-election violence and intimidation that opposition
officials blame on Mugabe loyalists, voters headed out in record numbers to cast
their ballots during the weekend vote — especially in urban areas like Harare.
The opposition and many observers have accused the government of
trying to rig the elections by preventing urban residents — who mostly support
the opposition — from voting.
In the poor Mbare neighborhood of
Harare, Duncan Gideon, an unemployed 25-year old who waited all day Sunday to
vote, returned to the polling station after his sister called him and said it
had reopened.
''Others have gone to work, others are hungry,
sunburned,'' Gideon said, explaining why many had given up on voting. About 250
people were in line with him.
The presiding officer of the station,
who did not give his name, said the reopening was delayed because officials had
just received the order to reopen.
In Zimbabwe's second city of
Bulawayo, observers said most people appeared to have cast their ballot and
there appeared to be no need for an extra day of voting. The ballot boxes were
kept at polling stations overnight and were being moved to counting centers
Monday.
Also Monday, the government announced turnout figures that
showed massive voting in Mugabe strongholds with far fewer voters casting
ballots in opposition areas.
Mashonaland Central, which normally
votes strongly for the ruling party, had a 68 percent turnout. Harare had a 47
percent turnout so far, and the city of Bulawayo a 46 percent turnout, the
government said.
Despite the long lines in Harare, Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo was quoted in the independent Daily News Monday as saying
that reports of high turnout for Harare were ''really pictures painted by people
with creative imaginations.''
Overall, 2.7 million of the nation's
5.6 million registered voters, or 48 percent, went to the polls by Sunday, the
government said.
The Zimbabwe Educational Trust, an independent
research group, said last week that the voters' rolls were in such disarray that
any turnout higher than 2.6 million could be rigged.
The state-run
Herald newspaper said Monday that white people, opposition officials and an
American were deployed to some polling stations in a suspicious manner that led
authorities to believe there was a plot to disrupt the elections to give the
international community a chance to declare them unfair.
The Herald
also accused the U.S. and British governments of ''setting up the stage for a
major military offensive.''
U.S. Embassy spokesman Bruce Warton
called the claim ''ridiculous.''
Tsvangirai, Mugabe's most
competitive challenger since independence in 1980, is promising to revive the
economy and end corruption.
Mugabe, however, has painted Tsvangirai
as a servant to white interests and Western powers who want to see the country
fail. Two weeks ago, Tsvangirai was charged with treason in connection with an
alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe, an allegation he has denied.
Mugabe has promised public works initiatives if he is re-elected and has pledged
to continue his controversial program of seizing white-owned farms and giving
them to landless blacks. Whites make up less than 1 percent of the country's
population but own about a third of the nation's commercial farmland.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
======================================================
Monday March 11, 10:14 AM
Mugabe rival urges restraint
Click to enlarge photo
HARARE (Reuters) - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has called for
restraint from his followers despite the arrest of a top lieutenant and charges
that President Robert Mugabe is stealing the Zimbabwe election.
Movement for Democratic Change Secretary General Welshman Ncube was
arrested at a police roadblock southwest of Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo,
MDC legal secretary David Coltart told Reuters.
Police were not available to comment on the reported arrest, which came
as Zimbabwe's elections went into an unscheduled third day because of long voter
queues in urban areas.
The opposition alleges that President Robert Mugabe is systematically
slowing down the vote as part of a plot to fix the election.
Tsvangirai, Ncube and another MDC official are accused by the
government of treason over an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe. They have
denied the allegation.
"Restrain yourselves as you do not allow their sinister plans to
succeed. As you wait for the results, do not succumb to their provocative
traps," Tsvangirai said in a statement.
"Yes, we share your fear that the result will be rigged, but let us
complete the process we began together in our campaign for a better life for all
Zimbabweans."
Analysts have expressed fears of violence if thousands of MDC voters
are unable to cast their votes or believe the election has been rigged.
Tsvangirai, campaigning on the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy under
Mugabe, poses the first real challenge to the veteran president's 22-year grip
on power.
Asked by a reporter if he was considering pulling out of the election
given widespread allegations of cheating, Tsvangirai said: "I am not conceding
defeat but anyone who thinks he can endorse this process must have his head
examined."
The run-up to the election was marred by political violence in which
independent monitors say 33 people have died, most of them from the
opposition.
The election was extended into a third day after a successful
opposition application to the High Court on Sunday night arguing that long
voting delays were disenfranchising its urban supporters.
But witnesses said presiding officers refused to take votes when the
polls reopened on Monday.
MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe said details of Ncube's arrest were
sketchy, but "they arrested him asking 'Why are you near the border while you
are facing treason charges?'".
================================================================
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Opposition member arrested in
Zimbabwe
Reuters, AP
Harare — Zimbabwe police on Monday arrested a
senior member of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) near the
border with
Botswana, opposition officials said.
MDC Secretary General
Welshman Ncube was driving on a road southwest of
Zimbabwe's second city of
Bulawayo when he was arrested at a police
roadblock, MDC legal secretary
David Coltart told Reuters.
Mr. Ncube and two other MDC officials, including
party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, are accused by the government of treason over
an alleged plot to
assassinate President Robert Mugabe. They have denied the
allegation.
Police were not available to comment on the reported arrest,
which came as
Zimbabwe's elections went into an unscheduled third
day.
Zimbabwe's chaotic presidential elections dissolved into confusion
Monday
morning as the government said voting would be extended an extra day
but
most polling officers refused to allow people to vote in this
southern
African nation.
The High Court ordered the government to extend
voting countrywide for a
third day after thousands of people remained on
lines in Harare when the
polls were supposed to close. Many voters returned
to vote Monday after
being chased away from polling stations by police Sunday
night.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on state television Monday
morning
that the government would comply with the court order under duress
and would
only extend voting around the capital of Harare because many
polling
stations in the rest of the country had already been
dismantled.
However, by 8:30 a.m. Monday, 1½ hours after polls were to
reopen, polling
observers in Harare said they remained closed.
"People
have come as early as 4 a.m.. They wanted to vote, but nothing is
happening
in the ground," said Derek Madharani, an opposition poll observer.
"I don't
know what we can do now. We have exhausted all the channels to plea
with this
government to be fair to the people, to give them a chance to
vote, but our
pleas are falling on deaf ears."
Harare is a stronghold of the Movement for
Democratic Change, led by Mr.
Tsvangirai, who is challenging Mr. Mugabe's
22-year grip on power.
Mr. Mugabe and his Zimbabwean African National Union
Patriotic Front ruled
without significant dissent until recent years, when
the economy entered its
worst-ever crisis. Inflation is over 110 per cent,
unemployment is 60 per
cent and hundreds of thousands of people are going
hungry.
Despite pre-election violence and intimidation that opposition
officials
blame on Mr. Mugabe loyalists, voters headed out in record numbers
to cast
their ballots during the weekend vote - especially in urban areas
like
Harare.
The opposition and many observers have accused the government
of trying to
rig the elections by preventing urban residents - who support
the
opposition - from voting.
Alex Chinhanga, 25, a project co-ordinator
for an educational institution
who was chased away from a polling station in
the poor Glen View suburb
Sunday night said he was concerned about missing
work to vote.
"We don't know what will happen when we go back to work with
our bosses. Are
they going to say, `What happened?' or will they just keep
quiet?" he asked.
The government announced turnout figures Monday that showed
massive voting
in Mr. Mugabe strongholds with far fewer voters casting
ballots in
opposition areas.
Mashonaland Central, which normally votes
strongly for the ruling party, had
a 68 per cent turnout. The opposition
stronghold of Harare had a 47 per cent
so far and the city of Bulawayo a 46
per cent turnout, the government said.
Despite long lines in Harare,
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo was quoted
in the independent Daily News
Monday as saying that reports of high turnout
for Harare were "really
pictures painted by people with creative
imaginations."
Overall, 2.7
million of the nation's 5.6 million registered voters, or 48
per cent, went
to the polls, the government said.
The Zimbabwe Educational Trust, an
independent research group, said last
week that the voters' rolls were in
such disarray that any turnout higher
than 2.6 million could be
rigged.
Also Monday, the state-run Herald newspaper said white people,
opposition
officials and an American were deployed to some polling stations
in a
suspicious manner that led authorities to believe there was a plot
to
disrupt the elections to give the international community a chance
to
declare them unfair.
The Herald also accused the American and British
governments of “setting up
the stage for a major military offensive" into the
country.
Mr. Tsvangirai, Mr. Mugabe's most competitive challenger since
independence
in 1980, is promising to revive the economy and end
corruption.
Mr. Mugabe has painted Mr. Tsvangirai as a servant to white
interests and
Western powers who want to see the country fail. Two weeks ago,
Mr.
Tsvangirai was charged with treason in connection with an alleged plot
to
assassinate Mr. Mugabe, an allegation he has denied.
Mr. Mugabe has
promised public works initiatives if he is re-elected and has
pledged to
continue his controversial program of seizing white-owned farms
and giving
them to landless blacks. Whites make up less than 1 per cent of
the country's
population but own about a third of the nation's commercial
farmland.
In
the weeks before the vote, pro-Mugabe militants attacked
opposition
supporters, while police broke up several opposition rallies and
arrested
dozens of Tsvangirai supporters.
Ruling party militants took over
two polling stations, stole voting
materials from a third, and at another
station, ballots arrived already
marked in favour of Mr. Mugabe, observers
and opposition supporters said
Saturday.
In a statement Sunday night,
opposition officials said attacks on its
polling monitors and supporters
continued throughout the country.
Bid to extend vote blocked in
Zimbabwe
Movement
for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, flanked by his wife Susan, casts
his ballot at the Avondale Primary School in Harare on Sunday. Photo: Jerome
Delay/AP
Associated Press
Harare — Zimbabwe's chaotic presidential
elections dissolved into confusion Monday morning as the government said voting
would be extended an extra day but most polling officers refused to allow people
to vote in this southern African nation.
The High Court ordered the government to extend voting countrywide for a
third day after thousands of people remained on lines in Harare when the polls
were supposed to close. Many voters returned to vote Monday after being chased
away from polling stations by police Sunday night.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on state television Monday morning
that the government would comply with the court order under duress and would
only extend voting around the capital of Harare because many polling stations in
the rest of the country had already been dismantled.
However, by 8:30 a.m. Monday, 1½ hours after polls were to reopen, polling
observers in Harare said they remained closed.
"People have come as early as 4 a.m.. They wanted to vote, but nothing is
happening in the ground," said Derek Madharani, an opposition poll observer. "I
don't know what we can do now. We have exhausted all the channels to plea with
this government to be fair to the people, to give them a chance to vote, but our
pleas are falling on deaf ears."
Harare is a stronghold of the Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan
Tsvangirai, who is challenging President Robert Mugabe's 22-year grip on power.
Mr. Mugabe and his Zimbabwean African National Union Patriotic Front ruled
without significant dissent until recent years, when the economy entered its
worst-ever crisis. Inflation is over 110 per cent, unemployment is 60 per cent
and hundreds of thousands of people are going hungry.
Despite pre-election violence and intimidation that opposition officials
blame on Mr. Mugabe loyalists, voters headed out in record numbers to cast their
ballots during the weekend vote - especially in urban areas like Harare.
The opposition and many observers have accused the government of trying to
rig the elections by preventing urban residents - who support the opposition -
from voting.
Alex Chinhanga, 25, a project co-ordinator for an educational institution who
was chased away from a polling station in the poor Glen View suburb Sunday night
said he was concerned about missing work to vote.
"We don't know what will happen when we go back to work with our bosses. Are
they going to say, `What happened?' or will they just keep quiet?" he asked.
The government announced turnout figures Monday that showed massive voting in
Mr. Mugabe strongholds with far fewer voters casting ballots in opposition
areas.
Mashonaland Central, which normally votes strongly for the ruling party, had
a 68 per cent turnout. The opposition stronghold of Harare had a 47 per cent so
far and the city of Bulawayo a 46 per cent turnout, the government said.
Despite long lines in Harare, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo was quoted
in the independent Daily News Monday as saying that reports of high turnout for
Harare were "really pictures painted by people with creative imaginations."
Overall, 2.7 million of the nation's 5.6 million registered voters, or 48 per
cent, went to the polls, the government said.
The Zimbabwe Educational Trust, an independent research group, said last week
that the voters' rolls were in such disarray that any turnout higher than 2.6
million could be rigged.
Also Monday, the state-run Herald newspaper said white people, opposition
officials and an American were deployed to some polling stations in a suspicious
manner that led authorities to believe there was a plot to disrupt the elections
to give the international community a chance to declare them unfair.
The Herald also accused the American and British governments of “setting up
the stage for a major military offensive" into the country.
Mr. Tsvangirai, Mr. Mugabe's most competitive challenger since independence
in 1980, is promising to revive the economy and end corruption.
Mr. Mugabe has painted Mr. Tsvangirai as a servant to white interests and
Western powers who want to see the country fail. Two weeks ago, Mr. Tsvangirai
was charged with treason in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Mr.
Mugabe, an allegation he has denied.
Mr. Mugabe has promised public works initiatives if he is re-elected and has
pledged to continue his controversial program of seizing white-owned farms and
giving them to landless blacks. Whites make up less than 1 per cent of the
country's population but own about a third of the nation's commercial farmland.
In the weeks before the vote, pro-Mugabe militants attacked opposition
supporters, while police broke up several opposition rallies and arrested dozens
of Tsvangirai supporters.
Ruling party militants took over two polling stations, stole voting materials
from a third, and at another station, ballots arrived already marked in favour
of Mr. Mugabe, observers and opposition supporters said Saturday.
In a statement Sunday night, opposition officials said attacks on its polling
monitors and supporters continued throughout the country.
Yahoo News
Monday March 11, 08:47 AM
Zimbabweans jam polls for
third day
By Nicholas Kotch and Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe's bitter election has gone into an unprecedented
third day but
witnesses said President Robert Mugabe's officials were
defying a High Court
order and refusing to accept votes.
Thousands of people jammed
polling stations in the capital Harare, an
opposition stronghold in the
southern African country, after polling
stations reopened at 7 a.m. (5 a.m.
British time).
Witnesses and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
opposition charged
that presiding officers in several Harare townships had no
instructions to
allow voting to begin.
State radio also said
voting would be extended only in Harare and the nearby
Chitungwiza
settlement, contrary to a High Court order on Sunday night that
voting should
continue throughout the country because of big queues.
The opposition
went to the High Court shortly before the scheduled two-day
election was due
to close to request an extension of the poll. It charged
that Mugabe was
deliberately slowing the vote to disenfranchise
opposition
voters.
The confusion and problems on Monday were the
latest episode in what MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai says is a systematic
attempt by Mugabe to use
violence and "dirty tricks" to cling on to power
despite deep unpopularity.
Mugabe, 78, once seen as a model democrat,
has taken the former Rhodesia
from civil war to prosperity in the 1980s and
now to penury that threatens
the stability of the whole southern African
region including regional giant
South Africa.
Tsvangirai poses the
toughest challenge to Mugabe's monopoly of power since
independence from
Britain in 1980 and there are fears of a violent reaction
if the opposition's
supporters are robbed of a chance to vote.
NO INSTRUCTIONS TO RESUME
VOTING
In Harare's Kuwadzana township, about 800 people queued
outside a primary
school, watched by half a dozen riot police.
The
polling station's presiding officer told Reuters he had not received
orders
from electoral authorities to resume voting.
"We have now gone for
one hour and 30 minutes and no voting is taking place.
That's a flagrant
violation of the government's own orders," MDC spokesman
Learnmore Jongwe
said at 8.30 a.m. after touring seven polling stations
in
Kuwadzana.
"They simply don't want people who are going to vote
against them to vote,"
Jongwe added.
Benjamin, one of several
hundred people waiting outside a polling station in
Kuwadzana, said he was
determined to vote.
"People have decided to stay away from work and
vote. People want change. 22
years is too long," he said.
The
government citing high costs, logistical and administrative problems,
said it
could not comply with the court order to keep polling stations open
outside
Harare.
Supporters of Tsvangirai said police beat thousands of voters
away from
polling stations late on Sunday night after the court order, saying
they
should come back on Monday.
Norwegian observer Kare Vollan
said 1,000 voters had been turned away at
Harare's Warren Park at 11 p.m. on
Sunday.
RIOT POLICE CLOSED POLLING STATION
Witnesses said
riot police shut down another polling station about an hour
after the court
ruling, scattering around 2,500 people who had waited most
of the
day.
Quoting Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, state radio said
polling
stations would reopen on Monday only in the two areas that had the
longest
queues late on Sunday.
"Comrade Chinamasa has said it is
impossible to comply with the order to
extend the vote nationwide because in
some areas, polling has already closed
and ballot boxes have already been
returned," the radio said.
Britain, the former colonial power, and
the United States have warned a
rigged election could destabilise the
country.
Neighbouring South Africa, widely criticised for failing to
condemn Mugabe's
handling of his political and economic crises, fears a
meltdown would cause
a flood of refugees. The Zimbabwe crisis has battered
its currency.
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede said that by midday on
Sunday barely a
quarter of the voters registered in Harare had cast their
ballots. The
205,000 votes gathered was about half the number that voted in
parliamentary
elections in June 2000.
Masvingo voting
About 20 to 30 white voters who had won their
Masvingo court appeals on Friday had their names circulated on a list by the
registrar general's office of people who were not allowed to vote.This was in
contempt of the court order which was issued on Friday. This list was
accompanied by a book in which the listed people had to sign. Fortunately some
of the people unwittingly were accepted to vote at some mobile stations who did
not have the instructions. The lists were kept at the voting centre where those
people normally vote. However by late Sunday the lists were distributed to all
outstations and I know of one voter who was therefore denied a vote twice. I
personally was fearful of this as I am eligible for dual citizenship, but had
not received a letter from the registrar like the others. I voted at a mobile
station without any problems on Saturday.
In this issue :
- Polling extended - Times
- Senior MDC officials arrested -
ZWNEWS
- Voters defiant in Mugabe heartland -
Guardian
- 'We won't move till we vote' -
Guardian
- Rural voters stay away -
DTel
From The Times (UK), 11
March
Mugabe running out of time after
judge extends poll
Bulawayo/Harare - Zimbabwe’s presidential elections were
extended by another day last night after a judge accepted that the massive
turnout in the capital would prevent voters from casting their ballots. At the
same time, however, police forced the closure of polling stations in Harare,
driving out voters with batons and telling them to return today. An election
observer from Norway, Kare Vollan, speaking at Warren Park, a western Harare
township, where there was a huge turnout, said: "The authorities are closing all
the polling stations in Harare because of the court decision." David Hasluck,
director of the Commercial Farmers’ Union, said that he had not been allowed to
vote after queueing for 20 hours at Hallingbury primary school, in the Harare
suburb of Marlborough. "There were about another 1,000 people behind us waiting
to vote," he said.
The Government, which had opposed the application by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to extend the election, said
later that it would obey the order only in Harare and the nearby Chitungwiza
settlement. Patrick Chinamasa, the Justice Minister, was quoted by state radio
as saying that polling stations would reopen in the two areas that had the
longest queues late last night. "Comrade Chinamasa has said it is impossible to
comply with the order to extend the vote nationwide because in some areas,
polling has already closed and ballot boxes have already been returned," the
radio said. The High Court judge Ben Hlatywayo made the ruling after he flew in
a helicopter at dusk, accompanied by lawyers for the MDC and the State, over
polling stations where thousands were waiting to vote. The delays came after the
Government’s decision to reduce the number of urban polling stations - by nearly
40 per cent in Harare - and to hold the presidential elections at the same time
as local government elections. In urban areas, dominated by Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC, there was a new mood of angry defiance in the queues, some almost a mile
long. The word "change" was spoken openly. There was also a high turnout in
rural areas, where President Mugabe’s militias operate with impunity.
Mr Mugabe, 78, who has been in power for nearly 22 years and is
seeking a fourth presidential term, suffered a setback when Eddison Zvobgo, a
senior member of his Zanu PF party, broke ranks and said that he hoped that he
would accept a dignified exit from power in the likely event of defeat. Mr
Tsvangirai said: "The old man (Mr Mugabe) is running scared. Time is running out
for him." He received cheers of happy birthday when he arrived to vote at
Avondale primary school in Harare yesterday morning. He has just turned 50. Mr
Mugabe was a victim of confusion when he arrived to vote at a polling station
and found his name was on the presidential voters’ roll but not on the municipal
list. He had to go to another polling station where he was named on both lists.
There is still anxiety over the likelihood of a fraud by the Zanu PF party.
Learnmore Jongwe, an MDC spokesman, said that 47 per cent of rural polling
stations had no MDC polling officers after a series of arrests, abductions and
assaults. Three British citizens were reported to have been arrested. Melanie
Patterson, 26, who was born in Zimbabwe, but lives in London, said that her
brother and sister, who live in Harare, and her brother-in-law, Will Powell,
were detained while driving MDC election observers to polling stations.
Dr Zvobgo, a lawyer by profession, and whose views are
respected on both sides of the House, denounced Mr Mugabe’s land-grab scheme as
"the devil which has spoilt everything" and condemned attempts at driving
through unconstitutional legislation as "bristling with arrows pointed at the
heart of freedom". He said that the party’s official position was that it would
accept the election result. He admitted that there could be a coup attempt, but
seemed confident that few in the Armed Forces would join it. "Even if such a
thing happened and succeeded, it would not be permanent," he said. Dr Zvobgo
said that the Government should accept the blame for the country’s food and fuel
shortages, its 116 per cent inflation and a 70 per cent unemployment rate.
"People are angry," he said. "Some factors were beyond our control, but others
were within our grasp and we either mismanaged or we hesitated and lost an
opportunity." He called for a government of national unity so that "political
energies could be harnessed towards state objectives, and we would stand a great
chance of being listened to sympathetically by those who have the means to help
... the European Union, the US and so on."
From ZWNEWS, 11
March
Top MDC officials
arrested
Two senior officials of the MDC were arrested this morning in
what is thought may be the start of a wider swoop on leaders of the opposition
party. Welshman Ncube, secretary-general, was arrested as he drove from Bulawayo
to Plumtree. Gift Chimanikire, deputy secretary-general, was arrested in Harare.
It was not clear what charges had been brought against the two.
From The Guardian (UK), 11
March
Voters defiant in Mugabe
heartland
Electorate in rural areas regarded
as president's stronghold are resisting intimidation to vote for
opposition
Muzarabani - This may be President Robert Mugabe's stronghold
but voters in Zimbabwe's rural areas are not likely to deliver the resounding
endorsement he is expecting. Voters in the Muzarabani constituency braved gangs
of Mr Mugabe's youth militia and intimidation from police and the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to cast their ballots. In interviews with the
Guardian, voters refused to declare their support for Mr Mugabe. Muzarabani, in
Mashonaland Central, is considered a bastion of the ruling Zanu PF party. The
number of polling stations in the constituency was increased by 82%, apparently
because the Mugabe government was confident of support there. This increase in
the sparsely populated area is in dramatic contrast to Harare and other cities
where polling stations were reduced. To further beef up the vote for Mr Mugabe,
Muzarabani was declared a "no go" area for Mr Tsvangirai's opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Open campaigning here was impossible and
the MDC's efforts simply to get its polling agents to monitor the voting was met
with state-sponsored violence. There are signs that even here, in Mr Mugabe's
heartland, support for him is waning. Residents say that hunger and violence are
the issues they are most concerned about. "I am not happy with the situation,
but I voted for the candidate of my choice," said a grey-haired peasant farmer,
who was too frightened to say he supported Mr Tsvangirai. "My vote is my
secret."
"Mugabe's militia and war veterans say they don't want to see
any MDC here and they say they will kill us," said Peter Mukorera, 32, the MDC's
constituency chairman. "And the police don't give us any protection. It is very
rough." Mr Mukorera was shot at, stoned and threatened with death at Utete
polling station on Saturday while police stood by. Police took the keys to two
vehicles he and others were using to transport party polling agents and a few
hours later the vehicles were set alight by the Mugabe supporters who had a base
camp next to the polling station. "I ran through the bush and I fell down twice
from fright when they shot the guns," said Mr Mukorera. "I kept running and
finally slept in the bush. Later I hiked out but two of our officials are still
missing." Mr Mukorera said his home was burned to the ground six weeks ago. Two
more MDC vehicles in Muzarabani were impounded by police yesterday. The violence
encountered by Mr Mukorera was part of a systematic nationwide campaign against
MDC polling agents in rural areas. In Karoi, in Mashonaland West province, one
MDC polling agent was beaten and drowned while another was wrapped in hay and
set alight and is now in hospital, according to local residents. Other agents
were beaten in nearby Banket. In Shamva, in Mashonaland East, about 20 MDC
polling agents were attacked by youth militia on Friday. They got their wounds
stitched up and then many returned to their pollings stations for voting on
Saturday. In Honde Valley, in eastern Manicaland province, 80 MDC polling agents
were illegally detained by the army and several were beaten. Four of the polling
officials are still missing, according to the Human Rights Forum. In the
southern area of Matabeleland, two vehicles transporting MDC polling agents were
attacked and three agents are missing, according to witnesses.
The MDC estimates that more than 50% of the country's rural
polling stations have operated without the presence of any opposition
representatives. Under new electoral laws decreed by Mr Mugabe last week, all
other polling officials are appointed by the government, so the opposition party
agents are the only guarantee that there is no ballot stuffing or other
irregularities. A threatening atmosphere hung over the Gatu polling station, in
Muzarabani, when I visited it yesterday afternoon. Clusters of thuggish youth
militia waited around on dusty paths nearby and threatened Peter Mukorera, the
MDC official I interviewed, while I was standing just a few feet away. The
presiding officer at the polling station was courteous and revealed that 1,400
people had voted. But another government polling official was menacing and tried
to get police to detain me. Armed officers came up and tried to detain me again
when I was speaking to a local resident about the election. Under such daunting
circumstances, the MDC supporters in Muzarabani were pleased to have at least
one representative in every one of the constituency's 51 polling stations. "The
courage and strength of the local MDC people has taken Zanu PF by surprise,"
said Chris Pearce, a driver for the Zimbabwe Citizens Support Group which
transported the MDC polling agents to the remote polling stations. "The
government did not expect to see MDC officials at every polling station. They
are taken aback. We feel we have won."
From The Guardian (UK), 11
March
'We won't move from here till we
vote'
Samson Kandiyado endured 21 hours under the baking sun followed
by a damp night to keep his place in the line to consign Robert Mugabe to
history. But when he finally stood before the polling officer yesterday
afternoon, she claimed his name was not on the electoral roll. "They said I do
not exist," he said. "They use every trick. They pretended they couldn't find my
name. They looked under 'Z' when I'm called Kandiyado. I argued with them and
then after a long time they found my name." Last night, the Harare high court
ordered that Zimbabwe's presidential election be extended to a third day as
hundreds of thousands of residents of the capital and its neighbouring townships
claimed the ruling party had engineered horrendous queues and laborious voting
procedures to keep people away from the polls in urban areas where Mr Mugabe is
widely loathed. The government said it would appeal. Shortly before the court
ruling, riot police fired tear gas to disperse people protesting at the polls
closing while many were still waiting to vote. Tens of thousands more had simply
given up and gone home. In the countryside, it was a different story. The
government was keen for people to vote in the belief there is either genuine
support for Mr Mugabe among the very poor or that months of violence and
intimidation will have made people too afraid to vote against him. But there
were signs of defiance yesterday among some rural voters.
Mr Mugabe's main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, persuaded the Harare
high court to extend the election into a third day because he said the
government was trying to stave off defeat by stripping many of his supporters of
the right to vote. "Zanu-PF is now engaged in a last-ditch effort to stop people
from voting it out of power by ensuring that the voting process in [opposition]
strongholds is slowed down," he said. The US embassy in Harare warned of
"massive disenfranchisement of urban voters". Zimbabwe's independent electoral
observers accused the government of robbing hundreds of thousands of people of
their vote. The South African observer mission calculated that it would take
five days for everyone to vote in the capital. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the
former military ruler of Nigeria who leads the Commonwealth observer mission,
joined other monitors in calling for an extension of the voting. The ruling
Zanu-PF responded by claiming it had uncovered a "white" plot to discredit the
election. The government said it had detained two British citizens and two
Americans arrested for carrying "illegal radio equipment", but it transpired
they were Zimbabwean residents detained with dozens of other opposition
activists attempting to monitor the polls. The frustrations of voting are
further evidence of the lengths to which Mr Mugabe is going, after 22 years in
power, to disenfranchise his opponents. The government and opposition alike
implicitly agree that the outcome of the election hinges on the turnout in urban
areas. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change believes a substantial vote
in the towns and cities, where 60% of voters are registered, will be enough to
offset the rigging and intimidation which plague rural constituencies.
The government's own statistics at the end of the first day of
voting on Saturday reveal how successful it has been in keeping the urban vote
down. Harare and Chitungwiza account for one in six registered electors.
According to the state electoral commission's figures, the turnout in the
capital and its main township on the first day of voting was 18%, half that of
almost every other province. In the traditional Mugabe stronghold of Mashonaland
East, the turnout on Saturday alone was officially 44%. But in Mashonaland,
ruling party militia and war veterans arrived at some villages before dawn and
herded the entire population to the polls with warnings that the vote is not
secret. In some rural polling stations, the police and election officials stood
over voters as they marked their ballots. Election observers also said there was
evidence of ballot boxes already stuffed with votes being carried into polling
places.
A key part of the government's strategy to discourage the urban
vote was to reduce the number of polling stations and create long queues. In the
Zengeza district of Chitungwiza, the government nearly halved the number of
polling places. At Zengeza 2 voting station, several hundred people were already
in before it opened on Saturday morning. Within hours, the queue stretched
hundreds of yards and grew through the day to more than 2,000 people, who were
shuffling through the polling station at the rate of less than 50 an hour.
"People really know what the government is doing," said Emanuel Nyauagwa. "It's
part of the rigging. They don't want us to express what we think. They don't
want urban voters to vote. But I tell you one thing, we won't move from here. We
won't just accept the situation as it is." The government has tried to explain
away the cut in polling stations in Chitungwiza and Harare by saying it was
saving money or that additional ballot boxes were needed in rural areas to cut
the distance people had to travel. But the empty rural voting stations on Sunday
belied that claim. Zimbabwe's information minister, Jonathan Moyo, laid the
ground to dismiss the low voting figures in urban areas as the result of apathy.
"I have been quite interested to see claims of a massive turnout in urban areas,
quite clearly based on the queues instead of numbers. All things being equal, we
are expecting a much larger turnout in the rural areas than the urban areas," he
said.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 11
March
Mugabe's rural voters shun polling
stations
Harare/Matabeleland/Mashonaland - The sight of election agents
fanning themselves with voter education posters outside deserted polling
stations demonstrated graphically the low turnout in President Mugabe's
strongholds in rural Zimbabwe yesterday. One polling station after another in
Mashonaland was visited by a handful of voters, while election officials sat
listlessly on the grass. The schools, farm buildings and local government
offices that house the ballot boxes appeared abandoned. In the typical rural
constituency of Hurungwe West barely 400 people voted in the 35 polling stations
on Saturday, the first day of Zimbabwe's presidential election. This seemed to
have declined further yesterday. The constituency has 42,000 electors. In
Banket, Lion's Den, Mhangura and Chinhoyi, which all returned MPs from Mr
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party in the June 2000 parliamentary elections, polling
stations were similarly deserted. During those elections, queues were common.
The contrast will worry Mr Mugabe and his men. If the trend is representative,
the turnout in Mashonaland West province - Mr Mugabe's home area - is unlikely
to exceed 50 per cent. In 2000, the president relied on this heartland to
counter-balance the rejection he suffered in the cities. This time, people
living in Mashonaland suspect that the voting figures may be massaged to
guarantee that Mr Mugabe achieves the majority he needs. "If they announce a
high count here, then it's a fact that the ballot boxes will have been loaded.
We will all know," said a farmer who has been monitoring the election.
The first figures from election officials did show eye-catching
variations. While it was claimed that 44 per cent voted in Mashonaland East
during the first day of polling, the figure for the opposition-dominated Harare
district was just 14 per cent. Polling agents for Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition
Movement for Democratic Change have been unable to cover more than half the
rural polling stations. The rest are virtually devoid of independent scrutiny.
In some areas of Mashonaland, the government's agents appeared to be breathing
down voters' necks. There were six reports of police entering polling booths and
"assisting" voters. Police ordered whites to stay away from polling stations,
explaining that their presence was "intimidatory". But even if Mr Mugabe has
failed to mobilise his voters, the second element of this marred campaign has
been going to plan. Opposition supporters were facing overwhelming problems
casting their votes in the big cities, including Harare. The queues forced some
voters to queue for up to 16 hours. Few managed to vote within eight hours. A
polling booth in the Highfield township had queues four abreast and the average
waiting time to vote was eight hours. Outside the Highfield High School was a
large pile of uncollected, rotting rubbish because the city has been without a
mayor and council for three years. The township has become a ghetto, and most of
its occupants live in extreme poverty.
Jonathan Chinhoyi, 44, a machinist, arrived at 3.30am at one of
only two Highfield polling booths. Thin, cheerful, but desperately tired, he
said: "I voted for Zanu-PF in 1980, for independence. I voted for them again in
1985, in 1990, in 1995, and I voted twice before for Mugabe. Two years ago I
voted for the others." He laughed. "I don't care if I wait here for another 224
hours," he said. "I will vote. We must have change." In the queue were people
too tired to talk, many were fractious, yet all were determined to stay. There
was also a hint of future trouble. Kiasi Sithole, 30, had abandoned the queue,
and hoped to return when it shortened. "I will come back, but it is too long
now. If we are not able to vote, we will take to the streets," he said. At the
Batanai Primary School, in Mabvuku, east of Harare, another decrepit ghetto, a
queue filled with stoic people, hungry, thirsty, and desperately tired, some
with swollen feet from standing so long. The picture was repeated in the wealthy
suburb of Avondale, a mixture of some of the most elegant homes in Africa and
middle-class flats. Here the queue forced many people to wait for 16 hours.
In the opposition stronghold of Matabeleland, there were
reports of MDC polling agents "disappearing" on the way to polling stations; of
sealed ballot boxes being reopened illegally; of armed Mugabe supporters lining
up voters in groups of 10 to make sure they voted for their man. Aware that the
MDC has overwhelming support in the cities, election officials simply cut by
half the number of urban polling stations. It was a direct if clumsy way of
reducing the urban vote, as the polling stations simply did not have the
capacity to deal with the huge flow of voters, many of whom went home without
casting their votes. Out in the countryside, the opposite was true. "Every other
village has a polling station and how can we possibly monitor them all
especially when they are moving from place to place," one MDC activist said.
"They are making it very difficult for us but we are doing the best we
can."
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