Zimbabwe Election Runoff Set for June 27

New York Times

By BARRY BEARAK and CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: May 17, 2008
JOHANNESBURG — Zimbabwe’s delayed runoff election between President Robert
Mugabe, who has led the nation for nearly three decades, and opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been set for June 27, the country’s election
commission said Friday.

That means the second round of voting for the presidency would come nearly
three months after the first. The official results of the March 29 balloting
were not even announced until May 2, showing Mr. Tsvangirai with 47.9
percent and Mr. Mugabe with 42.3 percent.

Mr. Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader who has already survived
assassination attempts and a brutal assault by the police in Zimbabwe in
March, 2007, left Zimbabwe barely a week after the election, claiming his
party’s unofficial tally showed he had won an outright majority —
eliminating any need for a runoff — and that the delay in announcing the
results was an effort to finagle the outcome.

He has since flown from one African capital to another, trying to summon
support — with decidedly mixed results — from regional leaders. Mr.
Tsvangirai intends to return to Zimbabwe this weekend, he said in an
interview Thursday.

The government has refused to give his party, the Movement for Democratic
Change, a permit to hold a rally, but he said he hoped to at least meet with
party members who have been elected to Parliament. The M.D.C., which had
split into two factions in late 2004, reunited in recent weeks. It now holds
a clear majority among lawmakers.

“There are those who would celebrate my return and there are those who would
hate my return,” Mr. Tsvangirai said. “And both of these two groups, they do
it with a lot of passion. So you can imagine that my return is going to
invoke two very serious, conflicting emotions.”

He has said repeatedly that he feels confident of winning the runoff, but he
has said just as often that he has little confidence the government will
conduct a fair election.

Ahead of the runoff, many things weigh in Mr. Tsvangirai’s favor. He won the
most votes on March 29; critics of Mr. Mugabe who once considered the
84-year-old president invulnerable to defeat now see him ready to fall.
Zimbabwe’s economy is in a prolonged freefall. Unemployment exceeds 80
percent. The world’s worst rate of inflation now surpasses 165,000 percent.
A $500 million bill went into circulation this week; the new denomination
roughly equals a meager $2.

But many who voted for Mr. Tsvangirai in March may be afraid to do so again
in June. During the past six weeks, marauders loyal to Mr. Mugabe have waged
a campaign of terror throughout the country, according to human rights
groups. The opposition party says that at least 32 of its cadres have been
killed and hundreds more have been beaten and tortured. Thousands have
become homeless as their homes were destroyed.

For his part, Mr. Mugabe portrays the election as a battle for the nation’s
sovereignty, claiming that his opponent is a servant of British imperialists
who want Zimbabwe returned to white rule. “Our fist is against white
imperialism,” the president told a party conference on Friday, according to
Reuters. “It is a fist for the people of Zimbabwe, never a fist against
them.”

For Robert Mugabe, democracy means war

By David Blair

Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 16/05/2008

To understand Robert Mugabe's speeches is to grasp what might unfold in Zimbabwe. Earlier today, the old dictator made a stinging attack on his own Zanu-PF party, labelling his political movement "passive, lethargic, ponderous" and "divided". Robert Mugabe has described the election as 'all-out war' In Mugabe-speak, this has one clear meaning: you let me down before the first round of the presidential election in March when you unaccountably failed to mount a national terror campaign against the opposition. Hence Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, came first in the poll, although without clearing the 50 per cent hurdle needed for outright victory. 'Don't you dare make that mistake again,' is Mugabe's subliminal message to his party. The second round of Zimbabwe's presidential election will take place on June 27. Stung by its leader's fury, Zanu-PF has already begun a violent campaign against the opposition. Mobs have murdered at least 20 people and thousands more have been assaulted, abducted, raped or tortured. After today's speech, Zanu-PF can be trusted to redouble their efforts. In effect, Mugabe has given them carte blanche to do whatever is necessary to guarantee his victory in the election's final round. The words he used today offer a penetrating insight into Mugabe's state of mind. "Our structures went to sleep and were in deep slumber in circumstances of all-out war," he said. Few other leaders would refer to an election campaign as "all-out war". To Zimbabwe's dictator, the methods used to fight an election are indistinguishable from those employed in war Countless thousands of Zimbabweans are now paying the price. A national terror campaign of the kind being waged today secured victory for Mugabe in the last presidential poll in 2002. Tragically, everything suggests that the same brutal methods will be just as effective this time.

Mugabe says defeat disastrous

http://zimbabwemetro.com

By Staff ⋅ May 16, 2008
President Robert Mugabe says the defeat in the first round of presidential
elections in Zimbabwe had been “disastrous”.

He told a meeting of his minority party Zanu-PF ,’Although the presidential
result did not yield an outright winner, it was indeed disastrous.

“Nevertheless we are set for a second round, for the run-off which must now
decide the winner.”

ZEC has revealed the run-off between the president and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai will take place on June 27.

ZANU PF unveiled its theme for the run-off which is “100 percent
Empowerment: Total Independence.”

Meanwhile, majority leader Morgan Tsvangirai has accused his rival of
declaring war on his own people.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader told a conference of
worldwide liberal party members in Belfast that the end of the ruling regime
is inevitable.

He said: “Mugabe’s regime is weak, bankrupt morally and financially - he has
few friends, and no credibility.

“The downfall of this dictatorship is inevitable, but the timing is open to
question.

“The regime in Harare does not intend to surrender power, and will do
everything to hold onto the same.

“Robert Mugabe has turned his back on the people he swore to liberate and
protect.

“The former ruling party has declared war on its own people - no Zimbabwean
is safe from this dangerous dictator.

“My party is a government in waiting that is not prepared to with any
longer.”

Mr Tsvangirai has been abroad since the election result because of alleged
threats to his life.

Looking ahead, he said: “We will begin to engage and work with the people
and begin to fulfil our mandate to save the people.

“The first act of our new parliament will be to discuss a new constitution,
in accordance with the people’s wishes.”

7 comments for “Mugabe says defeat disastrous”

  1.. Unfortunately they still can’t read the writing on the wall. Honestly,
after the people spoke the way they did how could ZANU go on to bludgeon
them into submission? What kind of reasoning is behind all this? I think
ZANU has dug its own grave by this abominable act. Even if they ‘win’ by
hook or by crook they will not survive as a result.They have sown the seeds
of hatred from the people.

  Posted by Sekuru Jecha | May 16, 2008, 5:32 am
  2.. I don`t think so Sekuru Jecha.Zimbos are not as resistant. After
voting,they just say,OK we tried our best but failed,let`s wait for the next
chance.That`s how they behaved in all previous cases regardless of the
opposition initiating resistance.The few who try, will just be arrested.
  No seeds of hatred will grow as you imagine.Zero.History tells so,unless
you say out the strategy for that if you have one.

  Posted by Ibu | May 16, 2008, 6:08 am
  3.. ZVICHANAKA CHETE! ZIMBABWE YATAKARWIRA HAINGAFE PAMWECHETE NAMUGABE.
CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

  Posted by Zimbabwe | May 16, 2008, 7:34 am
  4.. Lets flood Zim come June 27

  Now that the date has been announced let every Zimbabwean in the diaspora
whether registered or not be there in Zim come June 27.Lets treble the
number of MDC supporters Mugabe is displacing and intimidating.Let each of
us sponsor at least ten people for the poll.If you voted in 2000/2002 you
name is there on the voters roll,if you were a student at UZ and NUST and
probably other colleges after 2000 your name is also there.This is our last
chance Zimbabweans

  Posted by BetterZim | May 16, 2008, 7:45 am
  5.. MDC ngatusunge dzisimbe and tivanyadzise vanhu ve udyire. Lets show
them that we are not afraid of pple who kill the flesh but souls. The souls
of our late activits and supporters will not rest until the revenge is met.
  GO MDC GO for change and change forever

  Posted by tambu | May 16, 2008, 7:51 am
  6.. THE OLD MAN GREETING mugabe IS EVEN AFRAID OF HIS OWN LIFE. GUYS LOOK
AT THE WAY HE IS, TOTALLY PARALYSED. THE GREEN BOMBER IS HOLDING HIS HANDS.

  Posted by tino | May 16, 2008, 7:51 am
  7.. QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTEDOS ?

  WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDIANS THEMSELVES ???????? IF THE PRESIDENT OBEYS NO
RULES, HOW CAN THE POVO BE EXPECTED TO OBEY THE SAME RULES ??? IF MBEKI ,AS
THE OFFICAIL MEDIATOR SAYS THERE IS NO CRISIS …

  Posted by Mutongi Gava | May 16, 2008, 11:22 am

Tsvangirai returns home tomorrow: MDC

SABC

May 16, 2008, 18:45

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will return to Zimbabwe tomorrow after
an absence of more than a month to prepare for a presidential run-off due on
June 27, a spokesperson for his MDC party said today.

Tsvangirai, who has been visiting Northern Ireland, says the date for the
run-off is illegal, but he will contest the election.

Movement for Democratic Change spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai,
the party's president, would arrive in the capital Harare tomorrow ahead of
a weekend rally planned for Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo. "President
Tsvangirai will be arriving tomorrow after a successful diplomatic
offensive. We expect him around 10.30am," Chamisa said.

Police yesterday wrote to the MDC, saying the Bulawayo rally could not go
ahead, but the high court overturned the ban today. "This is a crucial
meeting, which is president Tsvangirai's first since our victory," Chamisa
said.

Tsvangirai left the country soon after the disputed March 29 poll in which
he defeated President Robert Mugabe, but without the absolute majority
needed to avoid a second round election. - Reuters

Tsvangirai vows to end Zim 'darkness'

Mail and Guardian

Belfast, United Kingdom

16 May 2008 04:37

      Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai vowed on Friday to
lift his country out of the "darkness" under President Robert Mugabe and
voiced confidence he will win a run-off presidential poll.

      The comments came shortly after his party, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), said Tsvangirai would go home on Saturday after
more than a month away following disputed elections.

      They also coincided with the announcement by Zimbabwe's
electoral commission that a run-off presidential poll would take place on
June 27.

       Praising campaigners who had been targeted by Mugabe supporters,
he said: "It is because of these people that I must return to Zimbabwe, to
be with our people, to lift them out of this darkness that pervades their
lives.

      "It is because of these people that we will triumph over the
dictatorship of Robert Mugabe," he said in a speech to a meeting of liberal
groups in Northern Ireland.

      In a press conference afterwards, he was upbeat about the June
27 run-off ballot. "On the 29th of March, the people of Zimbabwe voted.
Mugabe lost that first round, 57% of the people who cast their vote did not
vote for him.

      "I am so confident that in spite of the violence, come the
second round they will reconfirm that rejection," he said.

      In his speech, Tsvangirai told the audience he knew that the MDC
would form Zimbabwe's next government and added: "I call on our African
brothers and sisters to assist us to ensure there is a smooth transfer of
power."

      He said the "downfall of [Mugabe's] dictatorship is inevitable"
and called for leaders in the region to speak out against the Zimbabwean
president.

      Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the first round on
March 29, according to the country's electoral commission, but not enough to
secure an outright victory.

      The MDC says that more than 30 of its supporters have died since
the initial election.

      Tsvangirai told the Belfast conference that the MDC would "begin
to fulfil our mandate to save the people", regardless of whether or not
Parliament had been convened.

      "When we attain our liberty again, we will guard it jealously,"
he told delegates. "The first act of the Parliament will be to begin a
consultation on a new constitution."

      He later defended his decision to leave Zimbabwe over the last
month. "I did not run away, I am not in exile, it was for strategic reasons;
we had to engage with all the African leaders about the crisis."

      And he dismissed concerns for his own safety. "Zimbabweans are
already facing a very risky environment. I am not a special person, so I am
just as at risk as the next Zimbabwean who is confronting the regime," he
said.

      "I am as vulnerable as the next person."

       'Disastrous'
      Meanwhile, Mugabe turned the tables on the country's opposition
on Friday, accusing them of being behind political violence since the
country's March 29 polls.

      Mugabe, who was defeated in the first round of the presidential
election for the first time since he came to power in 1980, admitted the
result was "disastrous" and blamed the party for being "unprepared".

      Despite numerous independent reports from human rights and
civil-society groups in Zimbabwe stating the contrary, Mugabe accused the
MDC and white farmers of fomenting post-election violence.

      "We have disturbing evidence of motorised gangs trained and
equipped by the MDC and of returning white commercial farmers who have been
visiting terror on villages and party supporters," he Mugabe.

      "The MDC and its supporters are playing a very dangerous game.
They should know they cannot win that kind of war, which they have carried
to rural constituencies in the hope of destabilising our supporters," he
continued.

      Zimbabwean doctors, unions and teachers have reported a campaign
of terror conducted by pro-government militias in rural areas against
supporters and activists of the MDC since the March elections.

      These reports have been bolstered by the United Nations, whose
representative said the majority of violence had been directed at MDC
supporters, and rights group Amnesty International, which said youths were
being forcibly recruited to assault opposition sympathisers.

      The role of intimidation and violence by "war veterans",
pro-government militias assisted by the state, has been documented in
previous elections.

      Mugabe, who has previously claimed to have "a degree in
violence", said, however, that support could not be secured through
coercion.

      "We need peace and freedom in our country. They [the opposition]
should take heed," he added.

      In his first comments on his defeat, Mugabe told a central
committee of his Zanu-PF party: "Although the presidential result did not
yield an outright winner, it was indeed disastrous."

      "Nevertheless, we are set for a second round, for the run-off
which must now decide the winner," continued Mugabe.

      "Fundamentally we went to the election completely unprepared,
unorganised and this against an election-weary voter.

      "Our structures went to sleep, were in deep slumber in
circumstances of an all-out war. They were passive, they were lethargic,
ponderous, divided, diverted, disinterested, demobilised or simply
non-existent," he said. --AFP

Zimbabwe court orders police to allow MDC rally

Reuters

Fri 16 May 2008, 14:09 GMT

HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean court on Friday ordered police to allow an
opposition MDC rally planned for Sunday to go ahead, a party spokesman said.

"We have just been granted an order to stop police from interfering with our
rally, which will take place on Sunday. This is a crucial meeting, which is
president (Morgan) Tsvangirai's first since our victory," MDC spokesman
Nelson Chamisa said.

Police banned the rally, planned to take place in Zimbabwe's second city of
Bulawayo, on Thursday.

Poll observers assaulted in Zim

IOL

    May 16 2008 at 07:34PM

Harare - Dozens of monitors from an independent Zimbabwe election
observer network have been assaulted since March's polls and many now are
too scared to oversee a run-off vote next month, the group said Friday.

The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN), which fielded 8,667
observers across 9,000 polling stations for the first round of voting, said
its poll watchers "have been under siege from suspected ZANU-PF supporters,"
referring to the party of veteran President Robert Mugabe.

"Observers have been abducted, assaulted and injured, sometimes
requiring hospitalisation," ZESN chairman Noel Kututwa told a news
conference.

"We are already receiving a number of reports where our observers are
saying it is no longer safe for them to observe the election, but we will
have as many polling stations covered as possible."

A ZESN official, who asked not to be named, said that "dozens" of
observers had been assaulted and the group believed "there are much more, as
some are in hospitals in remote areas and have not been able to communicate
with us."

A date for the run-off presidential election between Mugabe and
opposition challenger Morgan Tsvangirai was set for June 27 by Zimbabwe's
top electoral body on Friday.

The ZESN said conditions for a fair election were not in place because
tens of thousands of villagers and farm workers had been driven from their
homes in a terror campaign largely blamed on ruling party militias.

A farm workers' union has said around 40 000 of its members have been
driven from their homes because of accusations they campaigned for the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

"The political environment is not conducive. We do not believe the
displaced people are ready for any election," Kututwa said.

Hundreds of the ZESN observers, particuarly those who had been posted
in rural areas, have also been displaced from their homes in the ongoing
post-electoral violence.

"Hundreds of obsevers have been displaced while some have been reduced
to hiding in the woods for days before making their way to seek refuge," he
said.

ZESN is providing shelter to some 30 observers while at least 155 are
staying with friends and relatives, the organisation said. - Sapa-AFP

Mugabe defiant as voting date named

Times Online
May 16, 2008

Nico Hines
Zimbabwe will stage its much delayed and disputed presidential run-off at
the end of next month as President Mugabe vowed never to be defeated by an
opposition backed by “a hostile axis of powerful foreign governments”.

It was announced today that the second round of voting will be held on June
27 when Morgan Tsvangirai will face off against the President, who has ruled
the country for almost 30 years.

The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission set the date this morning after
opposition politicians accused the Government of delaying the contest for
long enough to implement a crackdown on opponents.

The announcement came after a meeting of the ruling ZANU-PF party, during
which President Mugabe admitted that his first round loss had seriously
damaged his position.

“Although the presidential result did not yield an outright winner, it was
indeed disastrous,” he told the central committee.
Ominously for those predicting an oppressive build-up to the second round of
voting, he criticised his party for not making enough of an impact before
the March poll.

“Fundamentally we went to the election completely unprepared, unorganised
and this against an election-weary voter,” he told party leaders.

“Our structures went to sleep, were in deep slumber in circumstances of an
all-out war. They were passive, they were lethargic, ponderous, divided,
diverted, disinterested, demobilised or simply non-existent.”

Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, won the first round of voting but after a
lengthy and uncertain counting process it was declared that had not polled
enough votes to be named president outright.

The MDC was confident that their candidate had in fact secured 50 per cent
of the vote on March 29 making him the rightful president. They say that the
result was rigged and delayed to give the Zanu-PF party time to organise a
campaign of fear ahead of the next round of voting.

Mr Tsvangirai, who was in Belfast today attending an international
conference, said that he would return to Zimbabwe tomorrow to help the
country escape the “darkness” of what he called Mr Mugabe’s dictatorship.

“I know that the MDC will form the next government in Zimbabwe and I call on
our African brothers and sisters to assist us to ensure there is a smooth
transfer of power," he said as he praised the campaigners back in Harare.
“It is because of these people that I must return to Zimbabwe, to be with
our people, to lift them out of this darkness that pervades their lives."

Since the March poll, the MDC says the government has launched a series of
attacks in which it says 40 of its members have been killed, scores have
been wounded and more than 1,000 homes burnt or destroyed.

Zimbabweans are hoping that the run-off will help end turmoil in the
southern African nation, where an economic meltdown has triggered 165,000
per cent inflation, 80 per cent unemployment, chronic food and fuel
shortages and a flood of refugees to neighbouring countries.

Last night the MDC on called for an urgent meeting of countries in the
region to avoid “rivers of dead people” in what was once southern Africa’s
bread basket.

The opposition said that authorities had already banned a rally on Sunday at
which Mr Tsvangirai was due to kick off his campaign for the run-off.

Zimbabwe Summons US Envoy After Visiting Victims In Hospital

nasdaq

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP)--Zimbabwe has summoned U.S. Ambassador James McGee
for what the foreign minister on Friday said was a "first warning" after the
diplomat visited victims of spiraling post-election violence in hospital.

"This summoning to the ministry of foreign affairs constitutes the first
warning to the U.S. ambassador that any interference in Zimbabwe's internal
affairs will not be tolerated," Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said
in a statement, two days after the meeting with McGee.

"The government of Zimbabwe will not hesitate to invoke the relevant
provisions of the conventions and protocols which govern the conduct of
diplomatic relations between states."

According to the convention, diplomats can be expelled if they interfere in
the internal affairs of their host country.

McGee, who has been in Zimbabwe since last year, this week angered Harare
when he and other Western diplomats visited victims of political violence
outside the capital without notifying authorities in Harare.

Mumbengegwi said that the envoy had failed to make prior arrangements with
the foreign ministry about his visit.

"This was in violation of Zimbabwe's rules and regulations which require
that diplomats traveling a distance beyond a 40 kilometers radius must make
prior arrangements with the ministry of foreign affairs."

Mumbengegwi also said McGee made "politically-charged and inflammatory
remarks" when he visited a local private clinic where some victims of
political violence are hospitalized.

"This again constitutes interference in Zimbabwe's internal affairs."

This is not the first time Zimbabwe has clashed with a U.S. diplomat.

In 2005, Harare also summoned the then ambassador Christopher Dell to warn
him against "meddling" in the country's internal affairs after he accused
Mugabe's government of corruption.

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  05-16-081311ET

Zimbabwe Attorney-general Fired For Misconduct - Official

nasdaq

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP)--Zimbabwe's suspended attorney-general was formally
dismissed Friday for misconduct after he met with a former top banker who
was on the police wanted list, the government said.

The dismissal of Sobusa Gula-Ndebele follows recommendations from a special
tribunal which probed the state's top laywer after he allegedly met in
September with James Mushore, former deputy managing director of National
Merchant Bank.

"The tribunal has advised...the president (Robert Mugabe) that the attorney
general ought to be removed from office for misbehavior.

"Accordingly, ...the attorney general is removed from office with effect
from the date of publication of this notice," said a notice posted in the
government gazette Friday.

Gula-Ndebele was arrested in November and suspended from office in December
for meeting Mushore who had been on the police wanted list since 2004 for
allegedly siphoning scarce foreign currency from Zimbabwe.

Mushore, who had been in the U.K., had just sneaked back into the country
when he allegedly met the attorney-general in September. He was later
arrested.

Police said Mushore and three colleagues set up a money transfer agency in
London in breach of Zimbabwe's strict foreign exchange laws and siphoned
funds to offshore accounts.

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  05-16-081002ET

Mugabe accuses MDC of terrorising supporters

IOL

     May 16 2008 at 02:42PM

Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accused opposition
followers on Friday of terrorising villagers and supporters of his ruling
Zanu-PF party, warning that they were "playing a dangerous game".

"We have disturbing evidence of motorised gangs trained and equipped
by the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) and of returning white
commercial farmers who have been visiting terror on villages and party
supporters," said Mugabe.

"Such acts of banditry must stop forthwith. The MDC and its supporters
are playing a very dangerous game.

"They should know they cannot win that kind of war which they have
carried to rural constituencies in the hope of destabilising our
supporters," he added in an address to senior party members.

Standing firm under fire

• Sophie Shaw in Chegutu, Zimbabwe
• guardian.co.uk,
• Friday May 16 2008

 

Zimbabwe farmers Netty and Bruce Rogers. Photograph: Sophie Shaw

Bruce and Netty Rogers are only too aware of why Zimbabwe's opposition is so fearful of a prolonged delay before a run-off of the disputed presidential election.

The couple was "taught a lesson" days before Robert Mugabe's regime decided that the new poll would not be held until June 27.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has always feared that the delay is intended to give Mugabe's supporters enough time to intimidate MDC supporters into changing their votes.

The Rogers' - small-scale flower growers in Chegutu, 60 miles west of Harare - were attacked by an armed militia at their home last week.

At around 5pm on May 6, hours after the couple had been warned to leave "within two minutes" or face trouble, a gang of 10 to 12 men arrived in a pick-up truck.

"They said they were war veterans and demanded to be let in," said Netty. "We went inside the house, locked the doors and closed the curtains so they couldn't see our movements. The guys broke the lock on the gate, drove on to our lawn and began to smash our windows and hammer on the door."

Her warnings that her husband was armed were ignored. As the intruders continued to batter on the front door, the couple waited at the top of the stairs. Bruce told his wife to move backwards, which probably saved her life.

Moments later a man looked through the doorway and fired his shotgun straight up the stairs.

"I felt the rush of the pellets over my head," said Bruce. "They went past Netty's left ear, where she'd been standing. Then we knew we were in very serious trouble – we knew they intended to kill us."

The attackers moved to the compound where the Rogers' workers live, beat the men and gathered mothers and babies to use in the next stages of the assault.

They made their way back to the house, which was by now pitch black because of a power cut, and used the workers as a human shield as they climbed the stairs.

Netty responded by firing pepper spray into the face of a war veteran who was crouching behind a woman carrying a baby. Her action temporarily cleared the house of the choking attackers.

"Things went quiet for a minute, but then they broke down the back door and started throwing burning logs into the house," she said. "A fire started in the lounge."

Her husband shouted down the stairs that he wanted to get out and that the gang could take everything. But as he came down the stairs they jumped on him and dragged him outside. Netty was also grabbed.

"They throttled me and I started to lose consciousness," she said. "I thought I was going to die. I bit the arm of one of the guys holding me and then they really started laying into me. All hell broke loose. They started beating us and kicking us. I could see an outline of four guys on Bruce jumping on his head and kicking his back. The blows on my head were so hard. I thought it wasn't a fist, and then saw it was an iron bar."

For the next couple of hours both of them dipped in and out of consciousness.

Netty feared her husband had been killed but was reunited with him in the back of the pick-up where they were lectured by their attackers.

"They told us that Zanu-PF would always rule Zimbabwe, regardless of the re-run of the presidential elections," she said. "Their intense hatred was something I've never encountered before. They were discussing whether to kill one of us immediately or whether to go elsewhere and do it."

Then Netty saw the headlights of a vehicle and told her husband it was "either help or hell".

Earlier that day the local police had fobbed off the couple's desperate calls. When Bruce got through after being shot at, the Chegutu police had told him to phone back in 40 minutes.

But the occupants of the newly arrived vehicle were officers from Kadoma, half an hour away.

"I said that we've been beaten and that they had to rescue my husband too or they'd kill him," said Netty.

After some tense negotiations they were handed over to the police who took them to safety.

Bruce suffered a fractured cheekbone, a broken nose and two cracked vertebrae. Netty had a broken cheekbone and orbital, a broken rib and an ear injury. Both have extensive deep tissue damage.

There have been reports that Zanu-PF's campaign of intimidation may be backfiring by entrenching opposition to the brutal regime.

It is a theory given credence by the defiant reaction of the Rogers.

"Initially I thought I'd never go back," said Netty. "But it is my home and we have nowhere else to go. We'll have to decide what to do in the next few weeks. My Dad bust a gut to buy that place. It was just bush and tall grass. I'm not going to let some thug take all that hard work."

Sophie Shaw is a pseudonym

Triumph of the shameless

The Guardian

Images of beaten Zimbabweans testify to the failure of the human rights
revolution of the 1990s

Blessing-Miles Tendi

May 16, 2008 12:30 PM
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party are continuing to punish rural
Zimbabweans for their "disloyalty" in the March 2008 elections, through a
military-led campaign of systematic violence.

This is in preparation for the looming do-or-die presidential election
runoff between Mugabe and the MDC opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

The violent campaign is codenamed Operation Mavoterapapi, a Shona word
meaning "Where did you place your vote?". Zanu-PF's strategy is to decimate
the MDC's rural party structures, to break its rural support through trauma,
intimidation and displacement, and to bring the countryside under
paramilitary control.

The instruments of violence are fists, sticks, boots, stones, bicycle chains
and metal poles - tools of the "soft" violence that does not risk external
intervention.

If you turn on the television news, flip the pages of international and
independent Zimbabwean newspapers, or access the plethora of websites
belonging to Zimbabwean and global human rights groups, you cannot escape
the director's cut of Zanu-PF's violence. That is, images of rural
Zimbabweans' terribly beaten and bruised bare buttocks, thighs, torsos, feet
etc. We are watching fetish pornography every other day, courtesy of Mugabe
and Zanu-PF.

The digital images of beaten Zimbabweans tell a compelling narrative: a
narrative about human dignity lost, a narrative about a cry for the
restoration of human rights in Zimbabwe, a narrative that relies on the
revolution in communications that took off at about the same time the human
rights movement received a major fillip from communism's demise.

In the 1990s, the human rights movement could name and shame human rights
abusers in ways previously unimagined. Genocide could be broadcast in real
time, live on CNN and the internet. In Kantian and human rights idealist
terms, a human rights violation anywhere was now felt everywhere.

However, the human rights revolution of the 1990s is distant. It is like a
black hole in the memory. It has suffered serious reversals in fortune, not
least because of September 11, which rolled back many human rights gains by
subordinating human rights to reasserted state power and by ushering in a
"war on terror" that became a veneer - and not just for America - for the
justification of human rights violations. Torture is in; human dignity is
out.

Indeed, the "human rights revolution" may have been a hollow one to begin
with. For while it unfolded, genocides in Rwanda and Yugoslavia were also
unfolding, with little or no concerted international effort to halt them.

Even the tried and tested tactic of naming and shaming is tired. Naming and
shaming is no longer a potent means to express dispraise of human rights
violators. A bad human rights reputation does not make abusers respect human
rights, as the behaviour of Mugabe's government proves, time and again.

In addition, the sympathy and moral outrage of non-victims dissipates
rapidly or is easily fatigued. Human rights-abusing governments have also
worked out how to commit abuses under the glare of international attention
and still get away with it.

Moreover, what if the human rights abusers being "shamed" do not understand
what the word "shame" means? Mugabe and Zanu-PF certainly do not understand
the meaning of the word, which is why they can look their human rights
critics straight in the eyes and tell them to "go hang", as Mugabe
infamously did in March 2007 after Tsvangirai was savagely beaten by the
police for staging a public meeting.

And what is "international respectability", when from America to Britain, to
China, to Burma, to Sudan and to Zimbabwe, there is no decent standard of
human rights respectability left because of Guantánamo Bay, the Iraq
invasion and post-invasion crisis, human rights double standards,
state-sanctioned killings and internal repression?

We have very bad international instruments for dealing with human
rights-violating governments. But is the dissemination of more of Mugabe's
fetish porn, in the name of naming and shaming, all that human rights groups
can do? And are non-victims resigned to watching numbing doses of Mugabe's
porn?

We need to move beyond naming and shaming as a strategy for confronting
human rights-abusing governments. Information deficiency is not the problem.
The failure to adhere to one human rights standard for all and an
unwillingness to genuinely integrate mainstream human rights into our
foreign policies are part of the problem.

We have also lacked ingenuity in dealing with the Mugabe government's human
rights abuses. For close to a decade, we have isolated his government,
attacked its excesses confrontationally, and we have applied targeted
sanctions religiously. Mugabe has only become more belligerent and his human
rights abuses have worsened.

It is a bitter pill to swallow for many in the human rights movement and in
Whitehall, but engagement, not confrontation, with Mugabe may be the way
out.

Billionaires' woe

May 16th 2008
From Economist.com

Zimbabwe issues a Z$500m banknote, as inflation rockets to unbelievable highs

A BOTTLE of beer may cost half a billion dollars; by next week it could be a billion. Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe reached a terrifying 355,000% in March, with prices doubling roughly once a week. It is probably much higher now. In a vain attempt to keep up, the country has just issued a Z$500m banknote, which is worth some $2 (or less by the time you reach the end of this sentence). The billion-dollar note is surely on its way. After a decade of recession Zimbabwe is reaching all sorts of extremes: it has the fastest-contracting peacetime economy; its people are fleeing both repression and chronic hunger; life-expectancy is plummeting to the mid-20s. Despite all this, Robert Mugabe, the incumbent, expects to win a run-off presidential election on June 27th.

AP

Now army blames Zanu PF for chaos

Kenya Today

By KITSEPLE NYATHI,NATION Correspondent, HARARE
Last updated: 1 hour ago

Zimbabwe’s army generals have admitted that ruling Zanu PF supporters are
behind the politically-motivated violence that has left 32 opposition
supporters dead and thousands homeless following President Robert Mugabe’s
defeat in the March elections.

A group of church leaders seen to be sympathetic to Mr Mugabe, who met
commanders of the army, police and the secret service in Harare, told the
state media that the security forces were worried about the escalating
violence ahead of the  election run-off in July.

Ruling party

But the generals, who stirred controversy in the run-up to the elections by
declaring that they would stage a coup if opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe, reportedly defended the
ruling party supporters, saying they were provoked.

They said both Zanu PF and MDC supporters had set up torture camps and
“bases”, from where they were planning attacks against each other.

The group of security chiefs makes up the Joint Operations Command (JOC),
now said to be in charge of the day-to-day running of the country following
the disputed elections that saw Zanu PF also lose its parliamentary majority
to the MDC for the first time since independence.

“Members of the JOC gave a very detailed overview of the historical context
of where we have come from and where we are today,” said Trevor Manhanga,
who led the church leaders at the meeting.

“It was made clear by members of the JOC that in the current context, there
has been violence committed by both parties, Zanu PF and the MDC, though
they felt that Zanu PF has reacted due to provocation,”  he added.

Notably, no Zanu PF supporter has been arrested for the violence, while
hundreds of MDC members, including newly elected members of parliament, have
been jailed without charge.

The ruling party has called for the creation of liaison committees with the
MDC so that they can jointly investigate reports of political violence,
which the United Nations warned this week was reaching crisis levels.

The police commissioner general, Augustine Chihuri, said they had met Zanu
PF and the MDC representatives to warn them against resorting to violence.

Zimbabwe attacks 'out of control'

18:56 GMT, Friday, 16 May 2008 19:56 UK

The MDC has frequently complained of intimidation The US ambassador to Zimbabwe warned post-election violence is "spinning out of control", as the government set a date for a second-round run-off. James McGee told the BBC he had found evidence of "politically-inspired" violence against hundreds of people. The diplomat warned the situation made it impossible for the second vote, set for 27 June, to be fair. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round, but not by enough to avoid a run-off with President Robert Mugabe. The US ambassador said he had uncovered "firm evidence" of state-sponsored political bloodshed against supporters of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the aftermath of the elections on 29 March. The people who beat them up found their grandmother and hit this 80-year-old woman in the head with an axe James McGee He told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "Violence is spinning out of control. "Too many people have been killed, too many people have been maimed, too many people have been dislocated from their homes." He said the attacks involved "mainly beatings to the back and buttocks, we've seen quite a few broken limbs, we've seen cuts to the head". He also said he had met an elderly woman who had been struck with a hatchet. "Her two grand-sons were activists with the MDC party," said Mr McGee. "They were beaten up and then the people who beat them up found their grandmother and hit this 80-year-old woman in the head with an axe." 'Unadulterated violence' Mr McGee said he had met the victims on a fact-finding trip with British, Japanese, EU, Dutch and Tanzanian diplomats, during which he said they were harassed by police. Along with so-called war veterans, he said they had evidence "police and military are involved in these attacks". It was "pure unadulterated violence designed to intimidate people from voting in the next election", he said. But the state-owned Herald newspaper poured scorn on the US ambassador's claims in an editorial, accusing the US of trying to demonise Zimbabwe. And Zanu-PF spokesman Bright Matonga told the BBC: "Let me make it very clear that the Zimbabwe government does not support any violence - whether by MDC or Zanu-PF." Mr Mugabe told a Zanu-PF meeting on Friday the party should have been more prepared for the election. 'Disastrous' "Although the presidential result did not yield an outright winner, it was indeed disastrous," he said. The BBC's Orla Guerin interviews Morgan Tsvangirai Mr Tsvangirai told the BBC's Orla Guerin Zanu-PF had made "overtures" to the MDC about the possibility of a national unity government. He has said he will contest the second-round vote, after originally threatening to boycott it. Mr Tsvangirai has also accused Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party of a campaign of violence and torture against opposition activists, as well as vote-rigging. The opposition leader has been out of Zimbabwe since the first-round vote because of alleged threats to his life. But the MDC says he will return to address a rally in Bulawayo on Sunday.

MDC Forms Defence Units to Protect Themselves From Attack

SW Radio Africa (London)

16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008

Tichaona Sibanda

The MDC in Manicaland province has formed ward based defence units to
protect themselves from attacks led by Zanu-PF militias, war vets and
members of the armed forces.

David Chimhini, the MDC MP elect for Mutasa North, said traditional leaders,
headmen and councillors are leading the defence units. Parts of Manicaland
province have suffered the worst cases of post-election violence, after the
MDC made major inroads into the province in the election.

Apart from claiming 20 parliamentary seats out of 26 and five out of six
senatorial seats, the MDC will also control the majority of local council
authorities in many of the towns.

'We have decided to come together as people of Manicaland, to unite and
identify outside forces who come to cause trouble here. This project has the
support of local Zanu-PF supporters who are also sick and tired of violence
against innocent civilians,' Chimhini said.

Chimhini explained the defence units will not hit back against any
perpetrators of violence. 'Elections come and go, but if you kill a person
it sticks on you for good. Once we hear there is a group out there to cause
trouble we will group in very big numbers and this will act as a deterrent
to the trouble makers,' Chimhini added.

The MDC has already rolled out plans to identify victims of violence who
need help to go back to their rural homes. Hundreds of MDC activists were
displaced in the early days of violence in Manicaland. Many of them fled to
the party's provincial offices to seek refuge.

'In the coming weeks we will be working with our party structures to ensure
that we help all those who want to go back to their homes. The majority of
them have been away from weeks and they insist they want to go back to their
wards to ensure they vote in the second round of the presidential poll,'
Chimhini added.

Her name is Memory

Amnesty International to Investigate Abduction of Pfebve Parents

SW Radio Africa (London)

16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008

Lance Guma

Human rights group Amnesty International is to send field officers to the Mt
Darwin area to investigate the abduction of the elderly parents of exiled
MDC official Elliot Pfebve.

On Tuesday Pfebve says he received a message from his brother Fireson,
narrating how a Zanu PF mob stormed their Nyakatondo village in the evening
and tied up their 79-year old father and 76-year old mother using wire.
Along with several other family members they were taken to a torture camp at
Nyakatondo Primary School.

By Friday Pfebve, who now lives in the UK, still had no information on their
condition or whereabouts because the area has been sealed off by the violent
gang. He told Newsreel that Amnesty International had now pledged to help by
trying to locate his parents.

Pfebve's brother Ephraim ran away when the village was raided and his
whereabouts are also still not known. Of concern are unconfirmed reports
that two people have been killed at the Nyakatondo torture camp.

In the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary election, ruling party militants
killed Pfebve's brother Matthew, a retired policeman, after they mistook him
for Elliot.

Harare Residents Association Reports 5 Members Abducted

SW Radio Africa (London)

16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008

Tererai Karimakwenda

The state-sponsored violence that has gripped the country is not limited to
remote rural areas only. The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
have reported that their members are experiencing death threats and
intimidation at the hands of ZANU-PF activists and state security agents.

This week alone has seen several CHRA members abducted from their homes and
many others visited and threatened with death. The association said their
members are being targeted 'for organizing CHRA meetings'. They added that
general residents in Harare have also been victimised.

A statement released Friday by CHRA said in part: "The Association condemns
in the strongest terms the current retribution being unleashed on its
members. CHRA members are being visited at their homes, threatened with
death and some abducted."

This week alone a total of 5 members were abducted from their homes at
night. This includes Tonderai Ndira, the Mabvuku CHRA activist who was
abducted naked from Mabvuku by 9 armed men and a police officer.

The other 4 abducted this week are: Edith Mpofu, Tawanda Kalonga, Manuel
Mawungira and Kenneth Nyathi. They were all CHRA officials from Kuwadzana
Extension, Ward 44. In Mbare suburb of Harare, a CHRA committee member named
Mrs Mandara was visited by 10 ZANU-PF activists and threatened with death.

The government is targeting MDC supporters as well as civil society
organisations and anyone else that they can blame for the ruling party's
loss in the March elections. The Tsvangirai MDC won overwhelmingly in the
local council elections and for the first time ever opposition parties are
the majority in parliament. The ongoing violence is without a doubt
retribution for this loss.

Arrested demonstrators to face trial in Zimbabwe

Afrik,com, France

A Zimbabwean court, presided over by Magistrate Rose Dube, Thursday
ruled that the embittered two members of Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
arrested last week for protesting, must "go on trial" while setting 23 June
as the trial date, WOZA revealed in a press communiqué.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday 16 May 2008

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Police in Bulawayo on 5 May arrested Trust Moyo and Cynthia Ncube for taking
part in a demonstration organised by WOZA, which called for an "end to the
recent spate of politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe."

The two were detained and later charged with "distributing materials likely
to cause a breach of the peace" by the police.

At the start of the case, the defence lawyer argued the materials displayed
by the two were not ’obscene, threatening, abusive or insulting’ and
therefore the charges should "be dropped."

The magistrate however maintained that since the accused persons did not
deny carrying the materials, a trial was necessary to decide whether the
messages were obscene, insulting or not.

The materials in question are a banner stating ’we want bread and roses’ and
a newsletter that ran a sentence; "we immediately call on Robert Mugabe to
hand over power to the winner of the presidential election, Morgan
Tsvangirai." Panapress .

ZESN statement on continued attacks on its observers

Harare 16 May 2008 - The Zimbabwe Election Support Network a non-partisan,
independent group of 38 non-governmental organisations strongly condemns the
alarming escalation of post election violence specifically targeting its
observers.

ZESN observers have been under siege from suspected ZANU PF supporters in
various parts of the country. Observers have been abducted, severely
assaulted and injured, sometimes requiring hospitalisation. In another
distressing incident, where observers had sought medical treatment at Mt
Darwin hospital, nurses were assaulted for assisting victims of political
violence, forcing observers to flee the hospital, fearing for their own
lives.

Some ZESN observers have been subjected to harassment and intimidation while
homesteads and property have been destroyed. Some homesteads were looted
targeting clothing and food reserves. Hundreds of observers have been
displaced while some have been reduced to hiding in the woods for days
before making their way to seek refuge in Harare and other places.

To date, at least 30 observers have been provided with shelter through the
Network while 155 have reported to be staying with friends and relatives. We
believe that a lot more have been affected and have not been able to
communicate with the Network.

As an institution, the Network has also been the recipient of heightened
attention from the police and security forces. The ZESN Chairperson,
National Director and Programmes Manager have been detained and questioned
on several occasions by the police. Questioning focussed on ZESN’s election
monitoring and observation of the ongoing 2008 harmonized elections; the
Network’s projections of the Presidential results as well as financial and
other issues. On the 25th of April the organisation’s offices and the
National Director’s home was searched by police officers from the Law and
Order section of the Criminal Investigation Department. A number of files
and documents were seized from both premises.

Various allegations against the organisation have been made by some sections
of the media including pronouncements by senior government officials that
ZESN is a pro-MDC organisation that was used to bribe ZEC officials during
the 29 March 2008 harmonised elections as well as campaigning for the
opposition under the guise of voter education. These allegations are
unfounded and seem to be calculated efforts bent on discrediting and
intimidating ZESN before the runoff.

In observing this and previous elections, ZESN has not broken any of the
laws of Zimbabwe. It has been duly invited and accredited and has conducted
its electoral observation efforts in accordance with regional and
international standards. ZESN’s mission remains promoting participatory
democracy in Zimbabwe.

ZESN reiterates that it will not be deterred from continuing to carry out
its mandate of observing the prevailing environment, the presidential runoff
election and the post election period, providing information, encouraging
citizen’s participation and advocating for a conducive environment for the
holding of credible elections.

Background
ZESN intensively observed the harmonised election held on 29 March 2008,
providing the people of Zimbabwe with an objective, alternative source of
reliable election related information. The observation included the
deployment of 8667 accredited observers. Based on official vote counts
publicly displayed at polling stations as required by the Electoral Act,
ZESN collected data from a representative random sample of 435 polling
stations spread across all 10 provinces and after a careful and thorough
analysis of the data meeting the highest statistical standards, accurately
projected the presidential election results of 29 March 2008. (See
www.zesn.org.zw.) Ends//

Name & Shame

Staff writer
16 May, 2008

The violence in Zimbabwe is being perpetrated by people who are known and
can often be named.

We hope that by exposing these names wherever possible, the thugs might be
persuaded to stop the terrible crimes they are committing.
Here are a few names from Murehwa.

The MP for Uzumba/Pfungwe - Simba Mudarikwa – is instigating violence,
arranging vehicles & ferrying youths to villages for acts of violence on
opposition supporters.

War veterans carrying out violence in Murehwa are: Kashesha, Dandara,
Mavungire (wearing army fatigues), Kandemire and Katsvairo

An individual who calls himself Mukoma 'Brother B' is force marching people
in Murehwa to meetings and ordering people to provide 20 names each of
opposition supporters.

Individual despots such as Hitler, Pol Pot and Mugabe come and go – but
sadly it’s easy for them to find many individuals to do their evil deeds?

We appeal to all the perpetrators to stop their acts of violence and to work
towards peace.

SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

MDC gives humanitarian assistance to Zims in SA

The Zimbabwean

Friday, 16 May 2008 15:12

The Movement for Democratic Change has made urgent interventions to
secure humanitarian assistance for Zimbabweans fleeing the country due to
state sponsored violence and those facing xenophobic attacks in South
Africa.
At least 300 Zimbabweans have been affected by the recent spat of
xenophobic attacks in South Africa and over 50 thousand have been displaced
due to the post election violence allegedly sponsored by ZANU PF.
Zimbabweans who have fled to South Africa since 29 March polls that
saw Robert Mugabe losing to MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai and those who have been
staying in South Africa facing attacks from locals are receiving alternative
accommodation from the party.
The Movement for Democratic Change's Tendai Biti speaking in
Johannesburg to The Zimbabwean said it was worrying the party that its
citizens were facing such traumatic experiences and this had prompted it to
make alternative arrangements.
"Our party believes in the promotion of human life, we also believe
that all Zimbabweans and indeed humanity deserves protection and our belief
has forced the party to offer temporary accommodation in Johannesburg,
Musina and Pretoria," said Biti.
Biti also added that the assistance the party was giving was not given
on party line as some of the beneficiaries from recent attacks in South
Africa were well known ZANU PF supporters and said this was part of his
organization's healing process.
"We are assisting MDC members; we are also assisting ZANU PF
supporters. This is in line with our mandate of government of national
healing as we believe that differences in political ideologies should not
supersede our respect for human life," added Biti.
Currently the party is assisting over 500 victims of xenophobic
attacks in South Africa and also post elections victims of state sponsored
violence fleeing Mugabe's wrath.
Tatenda Shonhiwa who used to stay in Alexandra currently housed at one
shelter in Johannesburg commented the MDC for making these interventions.
"What the MDC has done is a sign of maturity; they have managed to
prove to all their opponents why they won the 29 March polls. I am not a
supporter of the party but on the coming run off I will definitely vote for
Tsvangirai, I will not forget the assistance they have given me in time of
need as this," Shonhiwa said with tears streaming down his cheek.
Nkosi Khumalo who used to stay at Diepsloot also hailed the MDC for
feeling the vacuum left by the Mugabe regime and the Zimbabwean embassy
saying after their recent acts no one would deny they deserve to form a
government.
"When a friend told me that Zimbabweans were receiving assistance
somewhere in Pretoria, I thought it was the Home Affairs or the Zimbabwean
embassy. I was then shocked to realise that it was actually the MDC giving
the support after seeing its secretary general," said Khumalo.
Meanwhile the MDC has urged the diaspora to go home when the situation
normalize to participate in the run off as they would make sure they are
safe in  their home countries as to avoid being forced to flee into other
countries only to face deaths and humiliation.
It is the search for justice, equality and truth that forced me into
this profession
Trust Matsilele
The Zimbabwean Correspondent
+27 (0) 78 565 568 7