Gangs of government supporters are continuing to invade land and harass farm owners despite the ruling party's narrow victory in last weekend's elections.
According to the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), which represents 4,500 mainly white commercial farmers, attacks and threats by gangs of self-styled liberation war veterans have continued in several areas, and three more farms have been invaded since the vote.
The lawlessness continues despite widespread hopes that the Government would reimpose law and order in the wake of the poll.
In the past President Robert Mugabe has approved the farm invasions as a "peaceful protest" against continued white dominance in agriculture, but his critics alleged that he was using the "veterans" to intimidate farmers and rural dwellers into voting for his party.
A CFU spokesman said groups of Mugabe supporters were still going around farms on a "witch-hunt" for owners and employees thought to have voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Riding a wave of public anger at government corruption and economic incompetence, the labour-backed MDC came from nowhere to win 57 of the 120 seats on offer.
The death on Thursday of an MDC local official, Mandishona Mutyanda, 60, brought to at least 31 the number of opposition supporters murdered in the four-month election campaign.
According to local media reports, Mr Mutyanda died from head injuries sustained when he was beaten in his Kwekwe home by 30 pro-Mugabe youths on June 18. It was claimed that a vehicle used in the attack was also used by the then local MP, the Justice Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who subsequently lost his seat.
An MDC official, Paul Nyathi, said two of the party's new MPs were still in hiding in fear for their lives, while a third lay in a coma after being beaten by government supporters.
It was also reported on Thursday, however, that a "war veteran" leader had been arrested and charged over his role in the abduction, beating and murder of another MDC supporter in Mberengwa on or after June4.
The first known police action against any of the pro-Mugabe gangs, the arrest of Wilson "Biggie" Chitoro coincides with calls this week from Amnesty International and the European Union for an end to Zimbabwe's culture of impunity for government supporters.
In the wake of the loss of his 20-year-old de facto parliamentary monopoly, many observers are waiting to see if Mr Mugabe will now move to restore the rule of law.
Johannesburg (Mail and Guardian, June 30, 2000) - Zimbabwe taught Africa an impressive lesson on civic and political maturity last weekend. In spite of brutal pre- election intimidation, a flawed electoral process and attempts to obstruct independent monitoring, people were neither cowed nor discouraged. More than half of the voters told President Robert Mugabe it is time for change.
Let us not forget the months before. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) could campaign freely in only 20 out of 120 constituencies. In 80 they faced threats. Twenty were no-go areas. The candidate for Masvingo spent election weekend in a coma in hospital after Zanu- PF youths beat him up. The candidate for Kwekwe Central, whose house was gutted and who is under a death threat, could not go into town to vote. Yet he won over Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Minister of Justice and, until now, Mugabe's unofficial successor.
Opposition candidates and supporters were tortured, murdered and beaten up; their homes, shops and cars were torched and looted. At least 30 people died. Hundreds of women and girls were raped. About 10 000 villagers are refugees in their own country. One thousand farms are still invaded by militiamen. But nothing broke the will of the people. This is one lesson. Political change can be delayed but it cannot be stopped.
Another lesson is that a newcomer in the political scene, a nine- month-old party, can challenge an established ruling party and win nearly half of the seats under adverse conditions. Some interesting paradoxes: in spite of Mugabe's heated racist rhetoric, the black townships of Bulawayo south voted solidly for a white MDC human-rights lawyer. Predominantly black sections of Harare elected two white MDC MPs, while the mostly white northern suburbs elected a black MP. Mugabe is the racist, not the people of Zimbabwe.
Yet another lesson is that liberation parties cannot campaign forever on liberation credentials and rhetoric. They have to deliver the goods - democracy, good governance, human rights and a healthy economy - or people will chuck them out. But perhaps the biggest lesson is that it was the phenomenal growth of civil society that made this feat possible. The National Constitutional Assembly was a catalyst for trade unions, human-rights and women's groups, churches and students. It mobilised the citizenry into political debate. About 25 000 poll agents and monitors were trained. This investment in civic education, in becoming citizens, not subjects, is an asset to the country.
On Friday, while the Registrar General delayed their accreditation, thousands of monitors waited day and night, without food or accommodation. Badges began trickling in at 6pm, the last at 9am on Saturday. The delay only strengthened their resolve.
When Tony Yengeni glosses over the flawed electoral process and pre- electoral coercion, he is doing Africa a disservice. He is upholding second-rate democratic and human-rights standards for the continent. Africa deserves better.
The African National Congress sent a silly message of congratulation to Zanu- PF for its victory. They should have withheld their exuberation: 62 to 57, with 20 constituencies to be challenged in court, is a very poor result for Zanu- PF, and may not even be final. Reruns may yield something like 60-60.
Zanu-PF got a resounding no-confidence vote. Imagine what the results would have been without rigging and without state- sponsored terrorism.
Some analysts are attributing the positive outcome to the efforts of Peter Hain and Thabo Mbeki. Let us not look elsewhere than Zimbabwe for the heroes of these elections. They deserve South Africa's support.
Deafening silence
The Mail & Guardian reported last week that the government plans to spend many more billions to refurbish the South African National Defence Force. We question the wisdom of spending these sums on "defence" in the absence of a reasonable threat to national security, particularly when the money could be more profitably spent on addressing poverty.
Of equal concern are indications that officially sanctioned corruption is playing itself out under cover of the weapons deals. We hear distressing accounts of moves by senior government members to sideline officials in the Department of Trade and Industry who continue to insist that original guarantees are met. We are told of ministers accepting gigantic bribes and of officials involved in the process holding shares in companies contracted to supply components for the weaponry. We are baffled that South African companies are being sold to foreign interests at a fraction of their real value.
Yet the government seems to have no interest in getting to the bottom of the affair. When Pan-Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille raised these issues in Parliament eight months ago, she was reviled. The M&G and other newspapers that have reported on aspects of the corruption have been largely ignored. The auditor general was not allowed to investigate anything beyond the procedures followed in awarding the deals, leaving the real issues of corruption and self-enrichment out of the picture. And the already squeezed Heath special investigating unit, though it is sitting on many boxes of relevant documentation and is convinced something is rotten, has yet to request that the government authorise an investigation.
We call on the Heath unit to either force the matter by calling for a proclamation or to hand over the documents to the media. Mostly, we call on the government to allow meaningful investigations and to make it clear that its interest lies in getting to the bottom of corrupt practices, and not merely papering them over.
Copyright 2000 Mail and Guardian. Distributed via Africa News Online.
Johannesburg (Mail and Guardian, June 30, 2000) - If your electoral commission was like the one in my country, Ghana, which consistently ignores opposition demands on registration of voters, the reopening of electoral registers, and also rejects indeed any other request that the ruling party does not endorse, you would appreciate what President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF have just done in Zimbabwe.
Despite the enormous noise made by the overseas media about "intimidation" of voters, it is impossible not to admit that the election actually reflected the will of the people of Zimbabwe. That an electoral commission was in existence that was efficient enough and courageous enough to record the people's vote and declare it for what it was, is very good indeed.
I find those who cry "intimidation" over the vote rather cynical in their view. There is intimidation in most election campaigns in Zimbabwe. No one can tell me that a trade union that has transformed itself into a political party, such as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), does not know a thing or two about how to treat strike breakers, or those who cross picket lines, and that such tactics cannot come in handy during an election campaign, too.
Yes, it is very sad that during the violence that accompanied the campaign, 30 or so people died and many others were injured. But this should be seen in the context of a campaign that did arouse very passionate feelings.
On the one hand, Zanu-PF supporters felt that the MDC were being manipulated by the white farmers to retain control of the lands, in much the same way as Lobengula had been tricked by Cecil Rhodes out of the land, in the first place. On the other hand, the MDC people thought that Zanu-PF activists were thugs out to protect a gerontocratic leader who had lost touch with his people. Such sentiments do not lead to polite debate. But even then, it has to be remembered that in the run-up to South Africa's first democratic elections, for instance, more than 1E000 people lost their lives. And some of those murders were carried out by the shadowy figures who used to help Ian Smith and his Selous Scouts (many of whom still live in Zimbabwe).
In any case, what was the Zanu-PF "intimidation" able to achieve? It was widely known beforehand that the MDC would do well in the urban areas, where Zanu-PF has eroded standards of living by carrying out economic policies that have brought about high inflation and unemployment. And what did actually happen in the urban areas?
This:
* Harare (MDC 17 seats; Zanu-PF 0;)
* Bulawayo (MDC 8; Zanu-PF 0).
It was also known that the Matabele people would hit Zanu-PF for sixes all round the field, but that Zanu-PF would reply in kind by bowling everyone out of Mashonaland. And true enough, Zanu-PF trounced the MDC in Mashonaland Central (8-0), Mashonaland East(10-0) and Mashonaland West (10-2). In Matabeleland, MDC wiped out Zanu-PF almost completely except in Matabeland South where the result was MDC 6, Zanu- PF 2.
In the no-man's-land areas, Manicaland and Midlands, the seats were shared almost equally: Zanu-PF 6, MDC 5; and Zanu-PF 5 MDC 4, respectively. Fair result, no?
Mugabe and his Zanu-PF colleagues must look at the figures carefully and remember what happened to the Convention People's Party (CPP) of Dr Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and the United National Independence Party (UNIP) of Dr Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia. After triumphing over a colonial/racist regime, an African elite often assumes all the privileges of the former rulers. It becomes effete and self-centred, and becomes alienated from the people.
Look at how it took 10 good years after the lapsing of the impediments put in the way of land redistribution by the Lancaster House agreement, as well as three consecutive, impassioned annual debates at the Zanu-PF party congress, before Zanu-PF tackled the land issue head- on. Even then, it was done in a surreptitious manner, carried out by a War Veterans' Association led by a man who couldn't have been invented by experts in "black propaganda" if they tried - an African called Hitler, and trained in a communist country at that.
In his broadcast after the election, Mugabe used the word "cohabit", and he would be wise now to invite those MDC MPs who are not the stooges of the white farmers to join his Cabinet. They should together work out and implement a programme that is equitable as far as possible.
Now the land question in any country where racists seized lands at the point of the gun and threw out the ancestral inhabitants can never be resolved without inflicting pain. But it's not done, because one wishes to save the current white "landowners" from pain. The black "land-losers" of yesterday will have to retain their pain for ever.
Intelligent whites of goodwill in South Africa must therefore help the African National Congress to achieve a peaceful, equitable solution in their case, too. Those who don't know what land acquisition did to blacks should go and look for black and white footage of the Alexandra township removals or the District Six evictions, and watch it. Or they should read Naught for Your Comfort by the late Reverend Trevor Huddlestone. If they had suffered such brutal dispossession of their land, and yet lived now in a "free, democratic South Africa", would they allow such injustice to stay unredressed?
In a way, South Africans owe Mugabe a debt of gratitude for giving them a preview of the scenario that could be enacted in their own country. But if gratitude is too much to ask for, Mugabe should at least be given his due, for allowing Zimbabweans to give full political expression to their will.
By Cameron Duodu
Johannesburg (Mail and Guardian, June 30, 2000) - Mashimba Jeremani gasped as he walked into the polling station at Mataga. His torturer was seated at the table, a Zanu- PF polling agent badge pinned on his chequered flannel shirt. When their eyes met, Musiwa Mapiye lowered his head.
Jeremani (22) and two other opposition supporters were allegedly kidnapped on May 31 by Zanu-PF militia and taken to the notorious Texas Ranch, a farm occupied by war veterans and used as an operations centre. There they were tortured for two days. One of the three, Simbarashe Muchenwa, was later hospitalised in Harare in a critical condition. The torturers had held him over burning coals, forced him on to a raging fire and dropped melting plastic over his body.
Other local people identified Mapiye as a member of the Zanu-PF militia that spread terror in the Mberengwa East district, 400km south of Harare in the Midlands province.
The terror continued during the last few hours of the campaign. On Thursday and Friday, before the voting weekend, two carloads of opposition monitors and polling agents were attacked by militiamen at roadblocks. Many monitors scattered in the bush and turned up days later. Some fought back with karate kicks, injured a few attackers and escaped. Others were beaten up.
Mudondo Tinamurenda did not travel in the cars. He boarded a bus on Friday. The final stop for his polling station was by Bara Farm, next to Texas Ranch.
Tinamurenda was kidnapped by militiamen at the bus stop and beaten for more than four hours, especially on the buttocks and the soles of his feet. His clothes, shoes, identity document and money were stolen. That night the torturers left.
In the morning Tinamurenda crawled to the road and got a lift to a safe house in Zvishvavane. He was taken to a hospital in Harare on Monday, along with three other injured poll monitors. Under threat from the war veterans, the local health clinic had refused to treat victims of Zanu-PF violence.
The militia responsible for dozens of such attacks was very active during the voting days in Mataga. On Sunday I met the local war veteran commander. I was talking to the European Union observer when a local tipped me off: that's Big Chitoro.
Big Chitoro cut an impressive figure. A burly, handsome man in a huge cowboy hat with red, black and silver eyelets, metal- studded leather wristbands, grey camouflage trousers and gleaming, coffee-coloured, soft leather boots. Knives dangled from his belt. With two lieutenants, Big Chitoro was chatting to the police at the entrance of the polling station.
I asked him if he had already voted. Yes, he said. Then it was illegal for him to be at the polling station. Non-voters were supposed to stay behind the fence, 30m away. Well, he was waiting for a family member to vote, he explained.
Waiting for Big Chitoro by the road were a dozen militiamen in a Nissan pick-up emblazoned with Zanu-PF. It was parked right at the end of the voting queue. As I walked back with Big Chitoro, the queue fell silent.
I asked him a few questions. His real name was Mike Moyo. Chitoro means "the store", after his father's business. He was a Zanla commander in the liberation war, then joined the Fifth Brigade of Matabeleland massacre fame. He retired in 1990.
He has apparently spent time in jail for murdering his wife and chopping up a domestic worker. I wanted to ask him if that was true, but decided that this was not the right time as I was surrounded by militiamen.
Instead, I asked how things were in Mataga. Very peaceful, no violence at all. Had he heard of torture at Texas Ranch? No, nobody lived there. Could he take me there? Maybe tomorrow.
Big Chitoro and his militia control an area of 200km2. They operate from three bases set up at Texas Ranch, Bara Farm and the Cold Storage Commission near Mberengwa.
Big Chitoro wanted to show us people injured by Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters. We followed the Nissan in a mad course over bumpy, dusty roads in the dry communal lands. Oxcarts, goats and donkeys give way. As the militia whizzed by in a cloud of dust and slogans, peasants gave a hesitant Zanu-PF salute, fist in the air. The militia call the Zanu-PF card a "passport". People must produce it at roadblocks or they get beaten up.
We stopped at a polling station in the outskirts of town. Someone looking like a young Michael Jackson hopped out for a quick visit. He was Zanu-PF co-ordinator for electoral activities in Mberengwa East and West.
I asked him if this was the way he usually operated, running around the constituency with a truckload of menacing youth. He said it was, appearing surprised by my question.
At Musume mission hospital, 14km from Mataga, former war vete-ran Tawona Shumba said he was walking last Wednesday, minding his own business, when a group of MDC supporters attacked him. He claimed to be project co-ordinator for the NGO Care at Mapuma dam, although both Care and Christian Care denied he was a staff member.
The MDC version was that Shumba was a militiaman. A Zanu-PF gang attacked a group of poll monitors last Wednesday. The MDC people fought back with karate kicks. Shumba got a broken arm and required stitches on the head.
We walked back to the car. I asked about the metal rod, sheathed in aluminium, that Big Chitoro always carries. It is part of my culture, he said.
I had heard that Big Chitoro was very good with knives. Could he give me a demonstration?
He laughed. I am better at karate, he said. No demonstration. No photographs. No more questions.
He reminded me of Jonas Savimbi: an easy smile, a belly laugh, a certain charm that can be switched off brusquely, replaced with a killer look.
Hlupo Nkomo is the MDC polling agent at Mataga. This was the first time he had been in his home town since he fled in early June, when his home and welding shop were burnt, looted and stripped down to the roof sheets.
Nkomo wanted to see the shop. But Big Chitoro had warned him he would be a dead man if he left the polling station. We offered to take him.
At the roofless shop, Nkomo took in the charred litter, broken glass and debris. Softly, he pushed open the door to the office. Two typewriters, all the machinery, the files, everything was gone. His grief was quiet, contained, making it all the more poignant.
"Let's go," he said after 10 minutes. It could be dangerous to stay longer. Ten minutes to look at the wreckage of your life. Ten minutes to say goodbye to your livelihood. A lifetime to ask why this happened.
Neighbours and shop owners studiously ignored him. They had watched us go in and take photos. Now they averted their eyes. Why? "It would bring them problems to greet me," said Nkomo simply. "Let's go."
These were his neighbours. He saw them every day. They exchanged greetings and gossip. Now they were afraid of saying hello.
Was it like this in Nazi Germany, when Jews were taken away and neighbours looked elsewhere? Was it like this in Rwanda, when the Tutsi were plucked from their homes and neighbours said nothing? Is this what fear and violence does to communities? Is this Robert Mugabe's legacy to Zimbabwe?
Back at the polling station, the Zanu-PF candidate, Rugare Gumbo, had arrived - a cordial, press-the-flesh, meet-the-press kind of candidate, with a protuberant belly the size of a nine-month pregnancy.
'It is all the fault of the MDC. They carry guns and tear gas. Otherwise, my constituency is peaceful." Texas Ranch? "It falls outside Mberengwa East. I have nothing to do with that."
Could he guarantee that MDC people could return and live peacefully in Mataga? Yes. How? He failed to answer. Could he tell Big Chitoro to stop the violence? "It is all the fault of MDC," he mumbled, and made for his 4x4 in a hurry, not as smiling and affable as before.
Night was falling. The polling station had paraffin lamps but no paraffin. Candles were lit. The moni-tors slept with the ballot box.
On Sunday I asked the presiding officer how many had voted. He said he could not give me this information. Only the chief of police could. Presiding officers in Harare gave these figures with no problem. Why not in Mataga? Because he had been thus instructed by the registrar- general's delegate. Talk to Inspector Sande. There was nothing in the regulations pamphlet about this. It was bizarre. As it was bizarre that war vets checked on polling stations; that torturers sat as polling agents; that militia combed queues; that monitors were stoned, abducted and beaten up.
Other irregularities I saw: until we arrived, a policeman stood 2m behind the open-ended polling booths. He then disappeared but monitors said the cop was behind the voters most of the time. They thought that was "improper".
Zanu-PF heavies were hanging around the queues and polling stations. One of them tried to listen in as I talked with Nkomo, and I asked him if he was a monitor or a voter. He was neither, so he should not have been there. Sheepishly, he left.
Of the 42 polling stations in Mberengwa East, fewer than a dozen had opposition monitors. The others were prevented from reaching their post by ambushes, beatings and kidnappings.
On Sunday evening, Nkomo sensed danger. He wanted to return to Zvishvavane. "It is not safe for me here," he said. He was right. Things were getting heavy in Mataga.
On Monday, counting day, the international observers also left early. "Too many drunks," said one.
The opposition candidate, Sekai Holland, also left early. "Big Chitoro and his guys were harassing us constantly," she said.
The final count yielded 23 595 votes for Gumbo, 3 117 for Holland.
"I could not campaign freely, my monitors were beaten up," said Holland. "I will challenge this election in court."
By Mercedes Sayagues
1 July UPDATE
Saddam Hussein was shaving one morning, and as he stared at himself, he smiled and asked "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the most disliked of all?" The mirror answered, and Saddam Hussein walked away muttering "Who the hell is Robert Mugabe?"
From The Guardian (UK), 1 July
MDC targets reduction of Mugabe's power
'He is the madman of southern Africa. We need a presidential election now,' says new MP
Harare - For the past few months an open palm was as good as sticking two fingers up to Robert Mugabe. Zimbabweans waved their splayed hands in support of the opposition's election slogan: "Change everything, everything changes". Now the gesture is more of a victory salute. The ruling Zanu-PF may still have a majority of seats in Zimbabwe's parliament, but even its leaders do not deny that the real triumph belongs to the MDC, which has established significant opposition in parliament for the first time in two decades.
But the promised change remains a source of contention and confusion among the MDC's leaders and supporters that threatens to test the party's remarkably broad base of support. There is little doubt that the vast majority of the MDC's votes were cast in the hope of somehow bringing down Mr Mugabe, even though he was not up for election. Tendai Biti, the opposition's spokesman on land and its new MP for Harare East, says Mr Mugabe's political demise will be his party's priority. "We need to deal with Mugabe the man. He is the madman of southern Africa. We need snap presidential elections now," he said.
Mr Biti concedes that the MDC's wish is unlikely to be granted, and that if the president falls any time soon it will be at the hands of his own party. So the opposition's parliamentary strategy will be to try to curb Mr Mugabe's powers. "The priority is the liquidation of the executive powers in the constitution which made Mugabe into a constitutional monarch because they reduce parliament, the cabinet and the judiciary to a tuck shop. As a matter of urgency we need constitutional reform targeted at reducing the executive powers," he said.
Zanu-PF also wants constitutional change but to strengthen the presidency by weakening the newly elected parliament with the creation of a second house. Neither party can push through reform without the backing of two-thirds of MPs. Mr Biti says that if his party does not get its way it will resort to mass action. "This battle can be carried to the streets," he said. "We are preparing for that right now. We can paralyse and cripple the country through strikes and boycotts if we do not get what we want."
The promise to confront Mr Mugabe on the streets, however, conflicts with another of the opposition's key pledges - the one which earned it the important backing of white-owned businesses – to use its parliamentary influence to revive a bruised economy. The campaign to get rid of Mr Mugabe has united unemployed township-dwellers and wealthy whites, but the diversity of the MDC's support may also prove a weakness. The party came out of the trade union movement and the campaign for constitutional reform. It then attracted considerable support from business, particularly white-owned companies and white farmers, more disgruntled with the government's economic policies than its curbs on freedoms.
The trade unionists and the urban poor back the opposition because it promises jobs, to put food on the table of near-destitute workers and an end to spiralling corruption. But the interests which have provided crucial financial and logistical support to the MDC have other expectations. The opposition's pledge to press for adherence to IMF and World Bank strictures may win support in the business community, but the painful price it is likely to exact will not go down well with the poor. "In the long run, of course there may be fissures," said Mr Biti. "Our working class element wants to see things like subsidies and price control. Our business element wants the opposite. That conflict can be deferred and diluted by a performing economy. We have seen this in America. A more efficient market will allow the state to play a Bonapartist role without offending capital."
The bitter lessons of neighbouring Zambia have not gone unnoticed either. Almost 10 years ago another trade union leader came to the fore to challenge the established order of corrupted, one-party rule with the backing of business and workers. But President Frederick Chiluba has proved to be worse than his predecessor; Zambia's economy is as stagnant as its politics. The MDC says it has learned that lesson which is why it is so keen on constitutional limitations to presidential powers. "In this election we have won true national unity, but we know this is not unquestioned loyalty," said Mr Biti. "We have to ensure, particularly among our MPs, that power continues to lie where it has come from - with ordinary men and women. That is our safeguard against the mutation of us into Zanu-PF or anyone in the MDC becoming a Frankenstein like Mugabe. This is the missing ingredient in the change in Zambia."
Much will be decided by the final shape of parliament and the government. The MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has ruled out any possibility of his party joining Mr Mugabe's government, but that has not deterred the Zanu-PF from trying to poach opposition MP's. Several members of the MDC's executive have been offered cabinet posts. Some have been tempted but kept in line by Mr Tsvangirai. "This is arrogance of the highest order. How can they approach our members without first engaging the MDC leadership?" he asked. The ruling party has tried to compromise Mr Tsvangirai by offering him one of the parliamentary seats appointed directly by the president. He declined.
But for all his professed outrage, the MDC is trying to lure ruling-party MPs to its benches by persuading them that Zanu-PF is doomed. Mr Biti claims that some ruling-party officials have shown an interest and been told they will be welcome, but only as ordinary members. While there have been no takers so far, the coming months may see many in the ruling party reassess whether it has a future.
Zanu-PF is already tearing at itself after the devastating election results which cost several cabinet ministers and other senior party leaders their seats. Its politburo met twice this week to ponder the blow. One party source described the leadership as chastened by the public's censure and said a debate about Mr Mugabe's future is inevitable. The president is blaming the party's election strategy. Others say that there is no hope of reviving Zanu-PF's fortunes with Mr Mugabe in charge. "It depends on whether you think the problem is with the individual or the party," said one Zanu-PF source. "There are those who will always be loyal to the individual. They believe the party is nothing without him. There are those who will abandon the individual to save the party, but there are not many who want to lead the way in doing that. I think a lot of people are waiting to see if momentum builds."
But even the war veterans' leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi, who has spearheaded the invasions of white-owned farms, said the party needs a complete overhaul. "Clearly there is a revolution taking place," he said. "The party has to rejuvenate. To meet the challenge we need an overhaul from the grassroots to the top."
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 1 July
Zimbabwe 'veteran' is charged with murder
Harare – A prime mover behind political intimidation and the occupation of Zimbabwe's white farms has been charged with murder and kidnapping. The news came hours after Pierre Schori, head of the EU's election monitors, said perpetrators of election violence should face justice. Wilson Kufa Chitoro, known as Biggie Chitoro, appeared in a magistrates' court charged with inciting Zanu-PF supporters to abduct and torture three opposition activists last month. One later died. The arrest of Chitoro, chairman of the War Veteran's Association in Midlands province and a senior officer of President Mugabe's ruling party, is seen as an attempt by the government to show it has taken the EU's remarks seriously. Mr Schori had said Zimbabwe would be judged on its efforts to trace and punish those responsible for the violence before the election. Chitoro, 60, easily recognisable in his cowboy hat and with knives dangling from his belt, faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted. He is alleged to have run gangs that abducted and tortured opposition party supporters at the notorious Texas Ranch farm in Mberengwa, 300 miles south of Harare.
Mberengwa had some of the worst violence and intimidation before the election last weekend. Zanu-PF won narrowly. In a five-week period, one person was killed and nine women were raped. Two people are still missing, presumed dead. Thirty teachers fled, forcing the closure of seven schools, and hundreds were beaten. Hundreds more left for safe houses outside the area. The opposition MDC, which won 57 of the 120 contested seats, is challenging the victory of Zanu-PF in 20 districts, two of them in Mberengwa. It will tell the High Court that one of its candidates fled death threats in April and party organisers were prevented from campaigning by Chitoro, whose followers ran a military-style operation, blocking roads, raiding villages and taking prisoners to the ranch for interrogation.
The election death toll reached 37 yesterday with the death of a campaigner for the MDC. Mandishona Mutayanda, 60, died from head injuries caused by a group of 30 suspected Zanu-PF supporters on June 18. He was the MDC ward chairman in Kwekwe, a constituency 124 miles south-west of Harare, where the MDC MP Blessing Chebundo is terrified despite his overwhelming victory over Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe's justice minister. Police said yesterday they had arrested 26 people in connection with attacks on both sides in the aftermath of the election.
Despite this, self-styled "veterans" stepped up their campaign against white farmers, telling them to leave their land by Monday. More than 1,100 farms have been illegally occupied by the squatters, who are touring previously unoccupied farms. Farmers in the north and east have reported "a marked increase in activity on commercial farms", said the Commercial Farmers' Union. Three white landowners from the north say they have received death threats for supporting the MDC.
A personal report from an MDC election agent in Harare NorthWe had our Polling Agents in place at each polling station early on Saturday morning - there were 17 (I think) polling stations in all. There were also a number of Monitors around the polling stations, most of whom had NOT received accretion from Mudede and his mob. I travelled around all polling stations, and in the Saturday the queues were extremely long, and at some stations the procedure was very slow (Mount Pleasant District Office).
The procedure was to have one's name and details checked against the voters roll, have one's hands checked with the UV machine to see that you had not voted before, and then be given a voting form from the book after dipping both hands in the UV ink. Each form was stamped by the Presiding Officer. Each book comprised 100 forms with consecutive serial numbers. Next the voter went into the booth and voted, then deposited the form in the ballot box. In most polling stations, 5 voters at a time were let in, to prevent congestion.
Problems: Many people found they were not on the voter’s roll. This could often be rectified by phoning the Computer Centre, but this was NOT generally known and so therefore was ineffective.
Overnight the boxes were sealed, and were looked after by the Polling Agents of all candidates involved, and often one of the Monitors as well. The following day polling closed at 7.00 p.m. and the boxes were taken to the main centre, Vainona High School, for counting.
Problems: At two polling stations the Presiding Officer wanted the ballot box to remain overnight. This was contrary to the instructions of the Constituency Registrar and resulted in a clash of wills between myself and the two Presiding Officers. Both polling stations involved were in the high-density areas and I was worried about security. The boxes were eventually despatched to Vainona High School.
A second problem was that the rules regarding the accompanying of the ballot boxes to the counting centre changed continually. On the previous Thursday I had a clash with Mudede when he stated that no-one could travel with the ballot boxes. He gave as his excuse a lot of drivel about people being unwilling to sign indemnity forms (to travel in a government vehicle) during the previous election. That afternoon his sidekick produced a Statutory Instrument apparently cooked up two weeks before, enforcing this rule.
During the weekend, we were then told that only one monitor or polling agent could travel with the vehicle (that is to say, a representative of only one of the contesting parties) . Subsequently - in our area - common sense prevailed and one polling agent from each candidate accompanied the ballot boxes. I do not know what happened in other areas.
VOTE COUNTING
This began some time after 8.00 a.m. on Monday. The seals on each ballot box was verified by the Polling Agents, the Presiding Officer stated how many votes should be in the box (from the record of the voting forms issued) and then the vote counting began. The ballot papers were face-down on the table, and counted into bundles of 10 and then these were grouped into bundles of 100 tied with a rubber band. The total was counted and cross checked with the total expected. If these figures did not tally, the votes were re-counted. No cellphones were allowed to be used, and if one left the hall one had to have a police escort.
Problems: Many of the vote books had missing numbers, due I assume to bad printing machinery.
This process carried on until 5.30 p.m. After a 10 minute break, the votes were put on the table and sorted by candidate. During this process potential spoiled papers were put in a separate pile. As sorting progressed the Constituency Registrar had the tables ringed with 50 or more policemen, facing towards the tables, and no talking was allowed. When it became obvious that my candidate was ahead of the rest, the Election Agent of the potentially losing candidate made a threat against my candidate. This was reported to the Constituency Registrar and then to the senior police officer. We were then given a detail of two policemen as protection, and now I noted most of the police guard were facing out, with their back to the counting, in order to face any possible violence. The atmosphere was EXCEEDINGLY tense! About an hour later, the losing candidate had left the hall, and the atmosphere eased somewhat.
The potential spoiled papers were sorted by the Constituency Registrar, and allowed were all that clearly indicated which candidate was intended. Rejected were those where two candidates were marked, and those that were totally blank.
Finally, the votes for each candidate were counted and tallied against the grand total of all votes cast. At first there was a discrepancy, this was fairly soon resolved and we all accepted a possible error of 3 votes in over 25,000.
Strangely, the Constituency Registrar did not make any public announcement of the outcome, but dashed off to report the results to Market Square, the area headquarters. The cast votes, spoiled papers etc. were then sealed into separate ballot boxes for six months safekeeping.
COMMENT
The actual mechanics of the weekend election were beyond reproach. The conduct of the police officers, Presiding Officers and others involved was in the vast majority friendly, helpful and very fair. When the count was over, many involved told me privately that they were very happy with the result, but also expressed grave misgiving about the violence before the elections, as well as the ethics and tactics of some of the ruling party candidates.
From the MDC, 30 June
Violence and Intimidation Update
It has become an invitation to assault in Zimbabwe to wear an MDC tshirt or to be a known supporter of Zimbabwe's main opposition party. And many farmers have fled their farms as rumours grip the farming community about new invastions. In some areas of Marondera East 20 welldressed men in 3 Mercedes Benz vehicles have told farmers they have until Monday to vacate their farms. In the Headlands area 17 out of 30 farmers have left their farms because of fears of land invasions. In Victory Block six farmers have evacuated their farms because of similar fears.
In Mufakose at 3.30pm today three army trucks with around 15 soldiers with guns stopped when they saw a young man wearing an MDC tshirt and beat him up. In the Marirangwe area 30km from Harare war vets catapulted stones at farm workers on a tractor who were wearing MDC tshirts on Thursday. The matter was reported at Beatrice police station but last night the war vets came to the farmworkers compound and made them sing ZanuPF songs.
Numerous reports are being received of people being beaten or dismissed from jobs for either wearing MDC tshirts, or a family member being seen wearing an MDC tshirt. In the Mashonaland Central area three police officers have been dismissed because family members were seen wearing MDC tshirts.
During polling days, lines at the MDC Centre rang constantly, with people reporting polling irregularities and intimidation particularly in rurual areas. Even after the announcement of results, MDC members throughout thecountry are still reporting threats and intimidation. These are some of the hundreds received:
24-25 June, Masvingo, Chiredzi North: As reported by candidate Moses Mare.
* War vetrans were used as polling officers inside the polling stations, and were given police uniforms to wear to act as police officers.
* The ultraviolet light to screen voters was not working on the first day, making it possible for people to vote twice.
* At Ndali, Mwenje, and Mupapa polling stations, ex-combatants checked if individuals' names appeared on the voters roll. This made it possible for those not registered to be allowed to vote, if the ex-combatant recognised them and approved this.
* Many polling stations had both the Chiredzi North and Chiredzi South voters roll, making it possible for people from Chiredzi South to vote in Chiredzi North.
* At Ndali, Nyalanga, Mwenje polling stations, CIO agents chased away monitors and observers.
* During the counting, spoiled papers were included as votes for Elliot Chauke (ZANU (PF) candidate.)
* Ndali station: Chauke's calendar was displayed in the polling station for four hours before being removed by presiding officer.
* The sample ballot paper in the polling booth was marked with an X in the ZANU (PF) box
* 24-25 June Mashonaland Central, Guruve North. The MDC candidate reported that there was subtle intimidation at most polling stations and across the rural areas, carried over from pre-election violence and threats. For example:
* ZANU (PF) used kraalheads as polling agents at some stations. Kraalheads are responsible for the allocation of land to their kraal's residents, threats have been made in the past that residents would lose their plots if they supported MDC. Casting their vote under the eye of the kraalhead would have intimidated many MDC supporters.
* ZANU (PF) used the local councillors (influential officers in determining the allocation of land and other communal benefits) as polling agents.
* War veterans and feared ZANU (PF) supporters were talking to queuing voters even after observers voiced objections.
* School entrances to at least one polling station were monitored by ZANU (PF) youths. The presence of youth at the entrances was intimidating.
24 June
Matabeleland North, Binga. Siahilaba School Polling station: Voters reported acts of intimidation by both the Presiding Officer and ZANU (PF) polling agents.
Mashonaland West, Chinhoyi. About 20 ZANU (PF) supporters were circulating 200m from the polling station. They were telling people they must vote ZANU (PF). Police did not stop them, as they are more than 100 metres from the polling station.
Mashonaland Central, Bindura. At Cowley Pre-School, about 20 ZANU (PF) war vets were stopping vehicles and tractors with farm workers and holidng impromptu re-education meetings before allowing them to proceed to the polling station.
Mashonaland East, Mazowe East. At Nyachuru Primary School, the sign in the polling booth showing people how to vote was marked in favour of ZANU (PF) three different times. Within the polling station, ZANU (PF) voters come in displaying pamphlets of their candidate, and showing party symbols and slogans.
25 June
Mashonaland West, Kariba.
* At Chirundu Polling Station: ZANU (PF) youth arrive at polling station and demanded names of MDC polling agents.
* At Chitete Primary School members of ZANU (PF) stay at the polling station after they have voted, and talk to voters. Later reports indicate that these conversations were intimidatory. In addition, the ZANU (PF) polling agent was circulating at the station, talking to people before they voted.
27 June
Mashonaland West, Kadoma: Resident reports that so-called war vetrans who have been squatting in the resettlement area were allowed to vote in the Kadoma constituency. Since voting, they have moved away from the area.
From The Star (SA), 1 July
Winds of change blow for Zim media
Harare - Until now the faithful voice of President Robert Mugabe and the enemy of all his enemies, the state-owned Herald and the national broadcaster ZBC kept their toes strictly behind the party line. "Publicity vehicles for Zanu-PF," the ruling Zanu PF party, was how some international observers described them. But on Wednesday, one day after the final results were announced, a new style of reporting appeared to emerge: the Herald published a picture of Morgan Tsvangirai, the head of the opposition MDC, on its front page.
The MDC took 57 out of the 120 seats up for grabs in the weekend elections - giving Zanu-PF, which took just five seats more, its first credible opposition in 20 years. "Tsvangirai accepts election results," the Herald said - and a smiling Tsvangirai beamed out from the front page, just below a laughing Mugabe. On Thursday, the Herald carried a report on the "winning MDC members promising development". And on Friday, the paper carried a letter from a reader urging Mugabe to "consider Tsvangirai for a parliamentary seat". "This would create instant goodwill in the international community," the reader said. His letter was followed by another claiming: "Zanu-PF needs to be overhauled." Just one week ago last Friday, the Herald was leading with "Tsvangirai a stooge of the UK," and its star letter was captioned: "Zanu-PF has done a lot in 20 years."
The National Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation has also followed suit. An exclusive interview with Mugabe on Thursday night's news bulletin was followed by one with Tsvangirai, the man who earlier this week said he would run for the presidency in 2002. His spokesman Learnmore Jongwe then got at least a minute of airtime. Tsvangirai had been interviewed once before at length on ZBC - but not quite so freely. In an interview on June 20 he was savaged by the two interviewers, who accused him of being behind the pre-election violence which left over 30 people dead. The interviewers accused him of being in the pay of former colonial power Britain and of financing his party with money from white donors in South Africa.
The MDC launched a court case at the beginning of June against the official state media. A court ruling was handed down ordering the ZBC to "perform its functions to carry on television and radio broadcasting service impartially, without discrimination on the basis of political opinion, and without hindering persons in their right to impart and receive ideas and information". A final ruling was to be handed down after the elections. Both the EU and the Commonwealth observer teams singled out the state media for special criticism. The official state-controlled broadcast media "failed to provide balanced pre-election coverage," the head of the Commonwealth team, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, said in a statement. Pierre Schori, the head of the EU team said: "Both the public broadcaster the ZBC and government-controlled newspapers were used as publicity vehicles for Zanu-PF. The ZBC failed to ensure informed political debate."