• Presidential Election 2002 - Results
• "So many questions" (letter)
• DAILY MEDIA UPDATE FOR MARCH 12th 2002
• British calls grow for action over 'flawed' Zimbabwe election
• Observers say election should be 'legitimate'
• "I can't take my Zimbabwean wife home" (letter)
• Mugabe spent two years plotting victory at polls
• US and Britain consider Zimbabwe sanctions
• Bishop calls on international community to keep pressure on Mugabe
• Powell Assails Election In Zimbabwe
• Election a 'violation' of Zimbabweans' rights: Schori
• Election aftermath in pictures
• OAU calls Zimbabwe vote 'free and fair'
• Economists fear worst for Zimbabwe
• Labour protest expected over election result
• Ncube pays $500 000 bail
• Mugabe's robbery
• Hundreds languish in police cells
• Mugabe's challenge
• Fearing the worst, whites get ready to run

MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT ZIMBABWE 

 DAILY MEDIA UPDATE FOR MARCH 12th 2002
 DAILY PRINT REPORT FOR TUESDAY 12 MARCH, 2002 The Herald continued its speculative numbers game in its lead story predicting a massive presidential election victory for ZANU PF through rehashed, superficial, and inconclusive analysis based on the voter turnout and the country's traditional voting patterns.
The story argued- under the misleading headline, 'Counting Starts' 
- that Mr.  Mugabe would win the election because "the ruling party enjoys more than 90% support." in the rural areas where 
3.4 million voters out of the country's 5.6 million registered voters lived.
Equally speculative was the story 'MDC's wishful thinking goes into overdrive.' Although it challenged the MDC's claim that the numbers of voters in the rural and urban areas had been switched, it failed to provide a breakdown of those figures to support the claim that the rural areas hold the largest number of voters.  The story preoccupied itself with past electoral performances and - beyond the rhetoric - provided some useful comparative figures, mainly from the parliamentary election, to support its claim that the ascendant ZANU PF trend seen then was likely to be more pronounced now with the higher rural turnout. 
The Herald and The Chronicle provided different statistics on the number of people who voted in Matebeleland North.  While The Herald listed the figure as 157000, The Chronicle reported that "preliminary figures from the 396 polling stations in the province late yesterday indicated that 203 175 people had voted".  Later media reports suggest that The Chronicle was providing its readers with more up to date information.
The Daily News (12/3) surprisingly ignored such vital voting information, exposing its skewed news values.  Instead, it preferred to lead with an interview with ZANU PF founder member, Eddison Zvobgo, which suggests that it was first carried in The Scotsman newspaper.  The paper, which makes only one reference to the source of its story, reports Zvobgo as saying Mr.  Mugabe should own up to his mistakes and ".prepare for a dignified exit from power."
The story, which is reported as if Mr.  Mugabe had lost the poll, echoes the people's sentiments about Zimbabwe's current social, political, and economic crises.
Both the private and public press carried a flurry of incidents that marred the country's three days of polling.  Reportage remained polarised.
The Daily News reported ZANU PF attacks on MDC supporters and voters, while The Herald and Chronicle blamed all electoral disturbances on the MDC.
Manyika harasses voters at Chitungwiza polling stations and Abductions, arrests mar presidential poll, The Daily News, are chronicles of how government, ZANU PF and the police either assaulted or arrested perceived MDC supporters or their sympathisers.
In contrast, The Herald and Chronicle seemed more pre-occupied with peddling wild conspiracy theories involving MDC members and their "white sympathisers".  Even those who were allegedly caught trying to vote twice during polling in Harare and Chitungwiza were labelled as MDC.
South African whites were not spared either.  The Herald, citing unspecified reports, said "there have been reports of heavy movement of whites in vehicles with South African registration numbers" in the country "believed to be mercenaries" and bent on "causing disturbances during the announcement of election results".
Despite these alleged activities, the public Press seized on initial statements of observers to reinforce the impression that the election was free and fair: AU, SADC observers hail election process in Masvingo.
However, it ignored a report carried in The Daily News about the EU's preliminary sentiments that the election was not free and fair.
The private and public press reported the refusal by High Court Judge, Judge President Paddington Garwe, to extend voting in Harare and Chitungwiza for a second day "because the court had no jurisdiction to interfere in the administrative matters" of the Registrar-General's office.
This sounded uncomfortably similar to government attacks on the High Court ruling of March 10th by Justice Hlatshwayo extending voting in Harare and Chitungwiza, reported uncritically in The Herald.  The front-page story only looked at the inconvenience the order had caused government and not the electorate.  The story also carried at length the observations of Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo, including his attack on the High Court order first carried in the electronic media the previous day.  In reference to the ruling, The Herald quoted Moyo saying: "What happened yesterday (Sunday) was the court basically usurping the powers of the Registrar-General.  That is something that must not be tolerated."
He also attacked the judge's decision to protect the execution of the order from any appeal and said the ruling party would seek legal remedy through Parliament.
It was only in The Daily News article, Manyika harasses voters at Chitungwiza polling stations, which raised concerns that the belated opening of polling stations in Harare and Chitungwiza by the Registrar-General could jeopardise the fairness of the whole election.
Moreover, it quoted residents from these areas as saying they had failed to vote because of the delays.


DAILY ELECTRONIC REPORT FOR MONDAY, MARCH 11TH 2002 Voting Day 3 ZBC continued to seek comment from government on its response to the High Court ruling extending voting by one day.  Information Minister Jonathan Moyo was quoted in the morning and afternoon ZTV bulletins saying the High Court ruling was an "unnecessary order". 
He stated: ".The high court should not be allowed to direct that the Registrar General should do this or that, at this or that time.  Therefore we are in fact appealing against this judgment. 
What is worse about it is that the judge ruled that his order could not be suspended by noting an appeal.this has been a trend that has been taking in the high court recently.  And it is, has been a trend that is not in the interest of justice.Legally it is wrong, wrong, wrong anytime for judges to think that they will direct the Registrar-General.  It is wrong. 
"I think that we need to review our constitutional legal processes, institutional process and understand that they are bodies which should do certain things and they must be allowed to exercise those powers.It is wrong to have a court directing the registrar general what to do and when to do it.Don't expect us to praise the wrong way of doing the right thing.  No I don't expect us to do that."

At 7.09pm the Election Directorate was on television announcing that they had instructed the closure of voting in Harare and Chitungwiza at 7pm stating that they were abiding by the court ruling.  There was no clarity as to whether the queues had disappeared when the directorate ordered the closure, or whether those who were already queuing were allowed to vote.
It was only during SW Radio Africa's Newsreeel, that the public was told that some polling stations in Harare had about 1000 people queuing to vote and that in Glen View the police fired tear gas to disperse voters.

The Election Directorate ordered ballot boxes to be taken to counting centres despite the fact that there was a pending case filed by the MDC seeking a further extension of the voting by another day.
ZBC (ZTV & 3FM, 8pm) reported that voting restarted late in Harare and Chitungwiza as polling officers were awaiting instructions from the Election Directorate.  In its response in the same bulletin the directorate gave the excuse that voting was delayed because they had to locate polling officers and deal with other logistical problems.  However, footage of ZTV reports showed that polling officers manned some polling stations.  No comment was sought from the MDC or the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) on the delays voting.
SW Radio Africa reported that while the government had said it would extend voting in Harare and Chitungwiza, some of the polling stations such as Mount Pleasant and Alexandra Park were closed. 
Contrary to Nzuwa's earlier claims on ZTV that all those who wanted to vote had been given the opportunity to do so, the station quoted an unidentified caller who complained that he did not vote because queues were too long.  The station went further to quote a spokesman of the Commonwealth Observer team who confirmed that polling stations in Harare had remained closed in the morning despite the High Court ruling.  However, the spokesman refused to comment on allegations of election irregularities.
SW Radio Africa also reported the arrest of four US diplomats in Chinhoyi and quoted US embassy spokesman Bruce Wharton as saying the embassy would take official action. 
ZBC ignored the report and instead chose to report the arrest of white people in Nyanga who were accused of violating the Broadcasting Services Act and were allegedly found in possession of three radios and other "broadcasting" equipment.  One of those arrested was quoted saying that they worked for a timber company and that the three radios, which were licensed, were used for communication purposes especially in cases of fire.  The state broadcaster linked the arrests to an earlier, unrelated incident in which other white people had been detained for allegedly holding an illegal gathering in the Honde Valley.  The intention was to present a picture that the white community was involved in clandestine activities.

There was confusion following the High Court order instructing the extension of voting nationwide.  Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was quoted on ZTV stating that the government would extend voting in Harare and Chitungwiza and not throughout the country. 
However, there seemed to have been a lack of communication between his office and presiding officers around the country because 3FM (8pm) reported that in Mashonaland West some people began voting on the third day following the ruling before they were later ordered to stop.  How the election directorate, which claimed to have had problems locating polling officers in Harare, managed to get officers for Mashonaland West remains a mystery.
The station did not state whether the votes would be included for counting.  No comment was sought from the election directorate on the issue.
ESC Chairman Sobusa Gula Ndebele was invited to ZTV's election studio at Mukwati building to comment on the election.  The interviewer, Obriel Mpofu, attempted to get Ndebele to endorse the electoral process, but Ndebele responded cautiously.  For example, when asked to comment on whether the election was free and fair Ndebele stated that he would wait for his commission's report and other observers' reports before making any judgment. 
Radio Zimbabwe (8pm) went on to legitimize the electoral process when it reported that "most foreign election observer reports say the election was conducted fairly and in peace".  The Nigerian and Japanese observer teams were quoted.  African National Congress observer, Joyce Gali, was quoted as having said the process was transparent and that they had learnt some lessons they would implement back home.

SW Radio Africa on the other hand, continued to highlight irregularities in the whole voting process.  It reported that in Chimanimani ZANU PF militia set up roadblocks and were harassing people in the area.  Other stories included a report that MDC officials escorting ballot boxes to counting centers had been arrested and that ZANU PF militia were harassing white people suspected to be MDC supporters.  The station also reported that at one polling station at Shamu, 40km from Mutare, the militia closed the station at 2pm, March 10th.  The station also reported that in Mutasa 137 MDC polling agents were arrested and voting in the area proceeded without them.  SW Radio Africa reported irregularities and intimidation of voters in Banket, Marondera, Harare, and Ruwa.  The reports relied mainly on MDC officials.
There were also attempts by ZBC (ZTV & 3FM, 8pm) to present the High Court ruling as having caused problems in Harare and Chitungwiza after alleged MDC supporters were arrested for trying to vote twice.  ZTV quoted a police spokesman stating that those arrested would be charged with violating the electoral law.  Viewers were shown some of the accused persons. 
SW Radio Africa quoted ZESN Deputy Spokesperson Tawanda Hondora saying that he spoke to four relatives of those who were arrested and they claimed that those arrested for trying to vote twice did not even go through the voting process but were "shepherded into a polling station by the police" and were then arrested.  No comment was sought from the police.
Radio 3FM and ZTV reported the arrest of MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube as the last item in their 8pm bulletins.  Both reports created the impression that Ncube was fleeing the country into Botswana when he was arrested.  No comment was sought from the MDC.  The story was headline news in SW Radio Africa's Newsreel.  MDC's David Coltart was quoted commenting on the arrest.  The report also stated that the police searched the residence of MDC official Tendai Biti whose whereabouts were unknown.

The Government is facing demands to take action against Zimbabwe after Robert Mugabe claimed victory in the African state's presidential elections.

Politicians across the political spectrum lined up to call on ministers to reject the results of the ballot after foreign observers said the poll was "flawed" at every stage.

Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said the election had been "stolen" by Mr Mugabe and called on Britain to take steps to ensure that the result was rejected by international community.

"The murder, torture and intimidation which have been in evidence for the last few months have all clearly been designed to rig this election," he said.

"The British Government should begin immediately to build a coalition with the objective of seeing democracy restored in Zimbabwe and Mugabe's evil and corrupt regime removed."

The chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee, Labour MP Donald Anderson, said the conduct of the election had clearly been "intimidatory" and the result rejected by independent foreign monitors.

"The focus is now on the international community, the EU, the Commonwealth, the States, to see, having listened to the observers, what action we take in the case of further sanctions." he said.

Conservative former foreign secretary Lord Carrington, who chaired the Lancaster House talks which ushered in majority rule more than 20 years ago, said that it was now up to the Commonwealth to act.

"If the general feeling and evidence is that this election was unfair, then the Commonwealth really ceases to have much meaning if they're going to go on having those members, a President and a Government that does that sort of thing," he said.

In Zimbabwe, the army was on high alert after the opposition Movement for Democratic Change rejected the election result.

Story filed: 12:19 Wednesday 13th March 2002

South African observers say the Zimbabwe election should be considered legitimate.

The government declared President Robert Mugabe the winner of the most bitter presidential election in Zimbabwe's history.

The 50-strong delegation acknowledged there was violence during the campaign, some voters were turned away and new election laws "threaten the integrity of the electoral process."

But Sam Motsuenyane, head of the mission team, called most of the problems "administrative oversights."

South Africa has consistently sought to deflect criticism of President Mugabe's government and helped block Commonwealth sanctions.

President Mugabe defeated former trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who presented the first real electoral challenge to the president since he led Zimbabwe to independence 22 years ago.

According to preliminary results, Mugabe has won about 54 percent of the vote, while Tsvangirai has 40 percent. There were 1,685,212 votes for Mugabe and 1,258,401 for Tsvangirai. Election officials said 3,130,913 people voted out of 5,647,812 registered.

"We hereby declare Robert Gabrielle Mugabe has received the majority of votes cast," Tobaiwa Mudede, the registrar-general of the state electoral directorate said. The victory gives Mugabe a fifth, six-year term. The results still have to be certified to be official.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change have rejected the results.

"It is the biggest electoral fraud I have ever witnessed in my life," Mr Tsvangirai told a press conference. The election "does not reflect the true will of the people of Zimbabwe and is consequently illegitimate in the eyes of the people."

Story filed: 12:03 Wednesday 13th March 2002

Wednesday, 13 March, 2002, 18:23 GMT Election aftermath in pictures Following the controversial election results in Zimbabwe, supporters of Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party poured out onto the streets to celebrate. But Mr Mugabe's opponents, especially supporters of the main opposition party led by Morgan Tvangirai, questioned the legitimacy of the result. Supporters of Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party celebrate his election win A mock coffin is draped in an American flag in a gesture of defiance against threatened US sanctions But amongst the celebrations, the high police presence is a reminder of the tense atmosphere Riot police anticipated retaliation from supporters of the defeated Movement for Democratic Change Skirmishes between Zanu-PF and MDC supporters led to tear gas being thrown A disappointed Morgan Tsvangirai denounced the elections as rigged

Full coverage A critical vote Mugabe's challenge Q&A: After the election A voter's wait An observer's tale PROFILES Robert Mugabe Morgan Tsvangirai Election diary Results Day SLIDESHOW Photo journal - voting chaos VOICES FROM ZIMBABWE Personal testimonies Back to the Top Back to Index The Age, Melbourne OAU calls Zimbabwe vote 'free and fair' HARARE, March 13 AFP|Published: Thursday March 14, 3:55 AM The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) backed Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's re-election today, with its observer team describing the poll as "transparent, credible, free and fair". "On the basis of observations made during the voting, verification and counting process on the ground and objective realities, the OAU observer team wishes to state that in general the elections were transparent, credible, free and fair," the team's leader Gertrude Mongella said. The team declined to speculate on "hidden agendas" in the campaign. MSNBC African observers say Zimbabwe poll fair, legitimate HARARE, March 13 — African observers endorsed President Robert Mugabe's disputed election victory in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, calling the poll ''legitimate'' and ''free and fair.''        Observers from South Africa, Nigeria and Namibia gave a more favourable view of the March 9-11 poll than did the opposition, Western governments and other observers who condemned it.        ''It is our considered view that the election was free and fair and reflects the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe,'' Namibia's observer team said in a statement, adding the poll was ''water tight, without room for rigging.''        South Africa, criticised for its soft approach to the crisis in Zimbabwe which has dented investor confidence in the region, called the election ''legitimate.''        Nigerian observers said they had seen nothing that threatened the integrity of the poll.        Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede declared Mugabe the winner after results were in from all 120 constituencies. Mugabe won his fifth term as leader after taking 1,685,212 votes against 1,258,401 for challenger Morgan Tsvangirai.        The opposition leader said his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would not accept the result, which he called ''illegitimate.''        Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe of systematically stealing the election by using intimidation, special laws and dirty tricks. The government has called the election exemplary.        Norwegian and local observers said tens of thousands of people, mostly in the opposition stronghold of Harare, had been prevented from voting. ''LEGITIMATE'' ELECTION        At a news conference, South African mission leader Sam Motsuenyane blamed the chaotic voting delays on ''administrative oversights,'' drawing laughter from some of the journalists and diplomats in the crowd.        There were audible gasps when Motsuenyane declared the election ''legitimate'' -- followed by heated exchanges between the observers and journalists.        The South African team said the campaign was marred by incidents of violence and intimidation, but it said the voting days were relatively peaceful.        Asked if he would describe the elections as being free and fair, Motsuenyane said: ''We have steered clear from the words free and fair. We cannot openly declare it free and fair.        ''But the people of Zimbabwe have expressed their will and wish through the ballot box,'' he added.        Regional powerhouse South Africa has been widely criticised for failing to condemn Mugabe's actions publicly and for refusing to use its commercial might to influence Harare.        South African President Thabo Mbeki declined to comment on the poll, but said his country was obliged to ''assist Zimbabwe irrespective of the outcome of the elections.''        The 50-member South African mission, drawn from different sectors of society, was one of the largest in Zimbabwe after the European Union withdrew its monitors in February in a dispute with Harare over the team's leader.        The 16-member Nigerian team said it had ''recorded no incidence that was sufficient to threaten the integrity and outcome of the election, in areas monitored by the team.''        Nigeria, Australia and South Africa were mandated by the Commonwealth to produce a report on the poll after a 54-nation group of former British colonies failed to agree earlier this month on a response to the crisis in Zimbabwe.        The Commonwealth will decide whether to recognise the vote or take action ranging from ''collective disapproval to suspension.'' Back to the Top Back to Index BBC   Wednesday, 13 March, 2002, 17:53 GMT Economists fear worst for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's victory in Zimbabwe's presidential elections has "astonished" many economic analysts, who now fear the country is on the verge of disaster. They expected that the result will weaken further the country's battered economy, warning of a serious knock-on effect for the entire region. Others, though, hope that the clear-cut outcome claimed by the government will provide the stability needed to do business. One of the threats Mugabe made during the election campaign was that companies suspected of, what he called, economic sabotage would be nationalised and lose their property, and he referred to mines in particular Professor Tony Hawkins Harare University "I'm astonished, the result flew in the face of what the pollsters were saying," Professor Tony Hawkins of Harare University told the BBC's World Business Report. "It's hard to see major multinationals coming here and it would not be surprising to see some of them restructuring their operations and thinking about Botswana or South Africa as the place to be," he said, but admitted there was no evidence of this happening yet. Julius Makoni, chairman of NMB Bank in Harare, is more sanguine. "Thank God it's over and now we can move forward," Mr Makoni told World Business Report. "None of our clients was willing to make decisions and in that kind of situation it is hard to do business at all." President Mugabe was officially declared winner with well over 50% of vote, which will extend his 22-year rule for six more years. Economic situation Zimbabwe is currently suffering its worst-ever economic crisis, with unemployment at a record 60%, inflation at an all time high of 112% and interest rates of 70%. Hundreds of businesses have closed, foreign investment has dried up, Western governments have frozen aid and over 3 million people are in danger of going hungry. "It's a great leap backwards because President Mugabe has set out clear manifesto; a return to a command economy, a subsistence economy, dominated by state enterprises and small scale agricultural enterprises," said Professor Hawkins. "One of the threats Mugabe made during the election campaign was that companies suspected of, what he called, economic sabotage would be nationalised and lose their property, and he referred to mines in particular." Eddie Cross, a free-market economist and shadow finance minister for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, also expects the financial crisis to deepen. He predicted Western nations would declare the elections not to be free and fair, and up sanctions. "There is going to be increased isolation of the government. I think what you are going to see is enhanced flight of capital and people," Mr Cross said. Contagion fears Instability in Zimbabwe has heightened fears for the region. "It's disappointing not just from a Zimbabwean point, but for the whole southern African region," said Professor Hawkins. Zimbabwe only accounts for 3% of the economic output of the regional trading block of 14 nations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), while neighbouring South Africa accounts for 72%. South African observers on Wednesday called the election legitimate. But the South African currency, the rand, fell 2.8% from 11.53 to the US dollar on Tuesday to 11.88 as the election result was made known, before recovering in afternoon trade. The rand has lost more than a third of its value since the beginning of the year, partially because of the instability in Zimbabwe. Back to the Top Back to Index ZIMBABWE: Labour protest expected over election result JOHANNESBURG, 13 March (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's labour movement is likely to call for a mass stay away in protest over alleged government rigging of the country's watershed weekend presidential election, senior union officials told IRIN on Wednesday. The powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is to hold a general council meeting on Thursday to decide its response to the official poll result which gave President Robert Mugabe an overwhelming election victory. General-secretary Wellington Chibebe said the verdict would "most likely be mass action". "We have received numerous calls from workers calling for action," he told IRIN. Protest would serve "to show the government that we do not recognise the electoral process". Amid reports on Wednesday of a heavy security presence on city streets, Chibebe said he would "initially want people to stay at home knowing the likely reaction from the government" to any sign of public protest. "We are concerned, but not afraid of the reaction" from the authorities, he added. Chibebe said apart from a crackdown, the government could deregister the ZCTU in favour of the state-supported Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions, which emerged last year in support of company invasions by so-called war veterans. The ZCTU has been a thorn in the government's side throughout much of the 1990s. In response to falling standards of living, the labour movement found an independent political voice under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai and led opposition to the government's management of the economy. The ZCTU provided the organisational backbone for Zimbabwe's first serious opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), formed just two years ago. Brian Kagoro of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee, a civil society umbrella group, said that the ruling ZANU-PF party was "spoiling for a fight", and he was in "no doubt" that the security forces would use "deadly force" to put down political dissent. Kagoro said Zimbabwe was entering a critical period in which the government and opposition would be "testing each other's resolve" and protest would have to be "staggered" to maintain its momentum. "Ultimately the matter will have to be negotiated," he told IRIN. "We are at a watershed, nobody knows what will happen, I don't think there are any easy answers."   Mugabe was announced the official winner on Wednesday of the 9-11 March election, which local monitors and some western observers described as deeply flawed by ZANU-PF intimidation and voting irregularities. The result gave the 78-year-old Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, a further six-year term, and drew his supporters out on the streets of Harare. Mugabe's opponent, MDC leader Tsvangirai, immediately denounced the poll as "the biggest election fraud I have witnessed in my life". However, the South African and Nigerian observer missions described the election as broadly legitimate. Both countries, along with Australia, are on a Commonwealth panel charged with assessing the election and recommending action on possible expulsion from the 54-member organisation. The Zimbabwean government has also insisted that the election represented the will of the people. But critics have pointed to the arrests and intimidation of MDC polling agents and local election monitors, the disenfranchisement of urban voters, and a suspiciously high turnout in rural areas as evidence of poll fraud.  [ENDS] IRIN-SA Tel: +27 11 880-4633 Fax: +27 11 447-5472 Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za Back to the Top Back to Index Daily News Ncube pays $500 000 bail 3/13/02 10:33:13 AM (GMT +2) Court Reporter WELSHMAN Ncube, one of the three MDC officials linked to an alleged plot to assassinate President Mugabe, was remanded on $500 000 bail to 30 March, when he appeared in court yesterday facing a charge of high treason. Ncube, 39, the party’s secretary-general and the MP for Bulawayo North-East, was arrested at a roadblock in Plumtree on Monday afternoon. His lawyer, Innocent Chagonda, dismissed reports in the government media that was Ncube fleeing the country as “a political gimmick to discredit my client’s integrity”. Chagonda said Ncube was taking his family to South Africa through Botswana for a holiday and intended to return in time for his two children to go back to school. Harare provincial magistrate Dominic Muzawazi ordered the legislator to surrender his passport “or any other travel documents” to the clerk of court, report every Wednesday to Rhodesville Police Station in Harare or to Bulawayo Central Police Station. Muzawazi dismissed one of the conditions proposed by the Attorney-General (AG)’s office that Ncube pay $250 000 in addition to the bail, to guarantee that he would not abscond. The AG’s office had imposed a condition that Ncube be barred from travelling beyond the 40-km radius of the Harare main post office, but Stephen Musona, a law officer at the AG’s office, agreed after consultations with Chagonda to withdraw the travel restrictions on Ncube. Chagonda said on 6 March the police gave Ncube papers clearing him to travel with his car to Botswana en route to South Africa. Back to the Top Back to Index The Economist Mugabe's robbery Mar 13th 2002 From The Economist Global Agenda As expected Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, has declared himself re-elected after a vote marred by intimidation and fraud. If he manages to hang on to power, despite a chorus of international criticism, it will be a disaster for Zimbabwe, and a heavy blow to the rest of Africa as well IN THE end, the strangest fact about Zimbabwe’s presidential election last weekend was not that Robert Mugabe stole it, but that he went to such extraordinary lengths to do so. On Wednesday March 13th, after years of bullying and intimidation of political opponents and outright fraud, Mr Mugabe was declared the winner with more than the 50% needed for victory. The result was immediately condemned by the United States, Britain, Australia and scores of other countries, although there was an ominous silence from African countries, who were the only ones left with election monitors in the country. How much simpler it would have been to cancel it and declare himself president for life. A coup of that kind would have had repercussions, but they would not have been so different from those that will follow from the drawn-out electoral sham through which the ageing autocrat has dragged his wretched country. The world must now decide how to respond to this coup by ballot-box, and in particular how to register its disapproval without inflicting unnecessary suffering on the innocent majority of Zimbabweans who have just been robbed of their democratic choice. President Mugabe's declaration of victory for his party, the Zanu-PF, over Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change is no surprise. Mr Mugabe's tactics of intimidation of voters and opposition members contributes to Zimabwe's poor human-rights record—see World Audit and Human Rights Watch. That they have indeed been robbed should not be in doubt. The plot has involved seizing land from white farmers, intimidating supporters of the opposition party, charging its leaders with high treason, harassing the press, arresting dissenters, expelling election monitors, detaining diplomats, ignoring court rulings, disfranchising citizens, obstructing voters and spreading violence throughout the land. And all that was before the start of a “count” that would have been a credit to Enron’s auditors. A smash-and-grab of this kind was bound to leave deep wounds on the body politic. Although the outbreaks of violence in the immediate aftermath of the election have not been as widespread as feared, the possibility of civil unrest, if not civil war, remains high. Mr Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party is intensely unpopular in urban areas, especially among unemployed school-leavers. It is also especially loathed in Matabeleland, where it is associated with the government troops who killed 10,000-20,000 people in the early 1980s in a vengeful campaign designed to drive home to the local Ndebele people that Mr Mugabe’s Shona-dominated party was now in charge. Against this backdrop, it scarcely matters that a central part of Mr Mugabe’ s strategy for hanging on to power has been to turn black against white: unhappy whites will not turn violent, they will simply leave. Their departure can only further damage the economy, which has suffered enough. Inflation is in triple figures (117% in January), the economy has shrunk drastically and every industry—manufacturing, mining, tourism and agriculture—is in trouble. The chaos and uncertainty on the farms, compounded by drought, are so great that Zimbabwe, once an exporter of grain, is now suffering serious shortages, notably of maize, the staple food. Perhaps nothing has done more than this to undermine Mr Mugabe’s popularity, at least in rural areas where his support, based on his reputation as a liberation fighter, is strongest. What should the world do about all this? If Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition, had won the election, it might have had some misgivings: Mr Tsvangirai, after all, is inexperienced in government and his Movement for Democratic Change is an uncertain coalition united mainly by dislike of Mr Mugabe. Moreover, ZANU-PF would still have been in power in parliament. Still, western governments, the World Bank and the IMF would have been eager to help get Zimbabwe back on its feet. To do so now would look like a reward for Mr Mugabe that he ill deserves. But even if that were not so, or that it was judged a price worth paying to help decent Zimbabweans, it is now far from clear how it could be done. The difficulty is that Mr Mugabe has shown that he values his own power, and that of his henchmen, far above competent management of the economy—never mind democracy or the rule of law. Had this been otherwise, it should have been possible for western donors, led by Britain, to lend financial support to an orderly land-reform programme, something that is still urgently needed. Mr Mugabe, however, is less interested in sensible land tenure than in rewarding cronies, which is why the land he seizes from white farmers so often goes not to peasant families but to people like the registrar-general, who has helped make such a mockery of the election, and the chief justice, who presides over a compromised judiciary. Similarly, while Zimbabweans in general are poorer than they have been for five decades, Mr Mugabe keeps his soldiers sweet by giving them pay rises (and allowing the generals to plunder Congo, where Zimbabwe has 10,000 troops). In his quest for booty and control, the president has almost completely elided the difference between party and state, stuffing Zimbabwe’s institutions with his friends and using them for his own interests. To lend money—or, worse, to give it—to a government led by such a man would be little short of criminal. Humanitarian aid, however, is a different matter. Outsiders should no more turn their backs on hungry Zimbabweans than on hungry North Koreans. Nor should rich countries forget that Zimbabwe has one of the world’s highest rates of infection for AIDS: probably 25% of the population has it or the virus that causes it. Whatever can be done to alleviate both hunger and sickness is worth doing, though every effort should be made to deliver the help through independent agencies, not those of the state. What of more direct pressure? The clubs to which Zimbabwe belongs, such as the Commonwealth, should move to suspend it at once, if they have any pretensions to making respect for democracy one of their criteria for membership. Strangely, such censure might perturb Mr Mugabe, whose contempt for democracy coexists with a puzzling desire for respectability. But the only pressure that might produce results would be from within Africa, and of that there has been dispiritingly little evidence up to now. Africans may prefer to engage in private diplomacy. But unless they can point to some persuasive results, they had better speak up in condemnation. Otherwise the world will assume that they think elections are only held to be stolen, in Africa at least Back to the Top Back to Index Daily News Hundreds languish in police cells 3/13/02 10:29:52 AM (GMT +2) Staff Reporter Hundreds of people arrested in Harare’s high-density suburbs on Sunday for allegedly trying to vote twice were still languishing in police cells at Harare Central and Glen Norah Police Stations yesterday. Most were reportedly taken while waiting in queues to vote, as police descended on them from about 5pm to 7pm when polling stations closed. Hundreds of relatives and friends waited anxiously at the Harare Central Police Station all day yesterday to hear the fate of their relatives but the police were keeping silent, except for one occasion in the afternoon when they told the crowd to wait outside as they were about to release the prisoners. A man who declined to give his name said: “We lined up outside in two rows facing each other to give our relatives a heroes’ welcome, but the next thing we heard from the police was that we should leave the food we had brought at the counter in the charge office and it would be passed on to them. “We don’t know when that will be or if they will get the food. It would have been better if they had let us give it them personally.” Relatives waiting at both the Harare and Glen Norah Police Stations had earlier said the prisoners, including a 70-year-old man from Mabvuku, held at Harare Central, had been denied food since Sunday. At Glen Norah yesterday, more than 30 relatives complained bitterly about the treatment that their relatives were receiving from the police. Queen Gombo said her brother-in-law, Gordon George, and several others were arrested in a queue at Zuvarabuda Primary School at about 5pm. Gombo said: “The police refused to let us give them food last night and told us to come back at 8am, but when we did they told us feeding time was at 6am.” George Munemo said: “My brothers, Timothy and Francis, were accused of trying to vote twice but the police refused to check the voters’ roll to see if their names had been crossed out to indicate that they had already  voted.” Sheila Chishanga of Glen View, who called from a cellphone, said: “We slept in the open. No one has come to address us on the charges that we are facing. Election observers have not been allowed to come and see or talk to us. But, they been taking pictures from afar.” Back to the Top Back to Index BBC     Wednesday, 13 March, 2002, 14:19 GMT Mugabe's challenge Many opposition voters are angry with the police By Joseph Winter BBC News Online President Robert Mugabe may have won the election but his victory celebrations will be short-lived. His first priority will be to consolidate his hold on power in the face of opposition charges that the poll was rigged. Final result Mugabe: 1,685,212 votes Tsvangirai: 1,258,401 votes Turnout: 3,130,913 Remembering recent examples from Yugoslavia and Ivory Coast, he will be worried that street protests might succeed where the elections failed, in unseating him. Even before the results were announced, soldiers were deployed in potential flash-points across the country in case opposition supporters took to the streets. In the past few years, the security forces have managed to crush a series of anti-government protests and Mr Mugabe will certainly not be afraid to give them orders to shoot at demonstrators and arrest opposition leaders. Reconciliation Alternatively, he may try and work with the Movement for Democratic Change in order to end the bitter divisions which have held Zimbabwe back in recent years. President Robert Mugabe: A former teacher, made his name as a fighter in Zimbabwe's war of independence Resurrected the nationalist agenda of the 1970s - land redistribution and anti-colonialism Critics accuse him of resorting to political violence to cling to power  Full profile Such a move would come as a major surprise after Mr Mugabe repeatedly accused the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai of being a traitor. But after years of directing a guerrilla war, he did extend the hand of reconciliation to his erstwhile enemies who had established white minority rule in the then Rhodesia. In any case, political analyst Professor Masipula Sithole told me: "The MDC would refuse to take part in a government of national unity." Assuming he does manage to ride out this initially bumpy period, his next big task will be to kick-start the economy. Thankless task With inflation running at around 120%, hundreds of thousands dependent on food aid and millions out of work, this will be a huge task. Mr Sithole says that the newly re-elected president will try and use his regional allies, South Africa and Nigeria, to make overtures to the west on his behalf. Again this would constitute an astonishing about-turn but Mr Sithole says Mr Mugabe would have no choice as "the country is bleeding". A resumption of aid by the IMF would be the quickest way of getting badly needed foreign currency back into the country. But this is unlikely to happen while Mr Mugabe is in power, especially with most western countries deeply suspicious about his election victory. Hard cash The European Union and the United States have already imposed "smart sanctions" on Mr Mugabe and his associates and are unlikely to change their views on his leadership. Mr Mugabe has been trying to make alliances with alternative sources of cash, from Libya to Malaysia. Half-a-million Zimbabweans need food aid He will also try to retain the support of his southern African neighbours to counter Western attempts to isolate Zimbabwe. Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi has supplied lots of oil but the reality is that only the West can supply the huge amounts of hard cash Zimbabwe needs. Mr Mugabe ran his campaign on the slogan, "The economy is the land," arguing that giving plots of land to poor black farmers will raise their living standards and so boost the economy. 'Revolution' Mr Mugabe will undoubtedly continue with this programme and with a new, six-year term will now have the time to put this theory - rejected by mainstream economists - to the test. Responding to suggestions that at 78 and after 22 years in charge, he should consider stepping down, the president has hinted that he will do so when he completed his land "revolution". There has been speculation that he may finish this within a year or two and then resign, handing over to his chosen successor - tipped to be Emmerson Mnangagwa, speaker of parliament. But the constitution at present states that this would require new elections after three months, plunging the country back into the political uncertainty of recent years. Back to the Top Back to Index Sydney Morning Herald Fearing the worst, whites get ready to run Harare: Like thousands of others, Diana Mitchell has packed what she calls a "gap bag". Containing her most precious possessions, it stands in her Highlands home, ready if she and her husband, Brian, have to leave Zimbabwe in a hurry. Mrs Mitchell, 70, a historian and veteran civil rights activist, does not fit the mould of most white Africans. She was among the handful who opposed Ian Smith's Rhodesian regime and she welcomed Zimbabwe's birth, with Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party at the helm, in 1980. But, like thousands of others, she has laid plans to leave her homeland at a moment's notice. Mrs Mitchell has been bitterly disillusioned by Mr Mugabe's rule and expects the official terror campaign and electoral chicanery to deliver another victory for him. Then she fears a backlash against the white community. "I don't trust them not to make an example of white people, which will be a total confirmation of their racism and that they have squandered all the ideals they fought for," she said. "It's the ZANU-PF leadership which has made the name of Zimbabwe stink in the nostrils. Those excuses about colonialism won't work. It's all about a hunger for power among those who have made an investment in this evil regime." In Harare's northern suburbs, inhabited by most of the 50,000 remaining white Zimbabweans, destitute people, the casualties of economic collapse under Mr Mugabe's rule, are systematically stripping the capital of everything that can possibly be sold. Street signs have been torn down and hammered into coffin handles - greatly in demand due to an AIDS epidemic - or petrol funnels, made necessary by fuel shortages. Many traffic lights have stopped working because their coloured bulbs have been prised out and sold to discotheques. Hardly any street lights now function because the bulbs have been stolen. Unlike the whites, most black Zimbabweans will not have a chance to leave the country and for them life is grim. Supermarket shelves are empty of bread, milk, sugar, cooking oil and maize meal, the staple food. More than 75per cent of the black population live in absolute poverty. Back to the Top Back to Index