Police Ban Tsvangirai's Last Election Rally

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Irwin  Chifera
27.07.2013

HARARE — The Zimbabwe Republic Police has banned the Movement for Democratic
Change final campaign rally that was scheduled for Monday in Harare saying
they do not have enough personnel to cover the rally as they have deployed
police officers to polling stations around the country to secure election
material.

According to a letter signed by Chief Superintendent Aleck Chagwedera,
officer commanding Harare central district, the rally which was supposed to
take place at an open space opposite Rainbow Towers has not been sanctioned
and will not be allowed to take place.

Chagwedera said the police do not have enough personnel to cover the MDC-T
star rally.

But MDC-T secretary general, Tendai Biti, said his party is approaching the
courts to file a complaint so that the rally can proceed as scheduled.

Mr. Biti also said the MDC-T is worried that with three days to go to the
polls, his party has not been given the voters’ roll and has approached the
courts to compel the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to supply them with
the voters register.

Mr. Biti said what is also worrying is that ZEC has not provided them with
the final lists of polling stations.

He said ZEC has also failed to provide his party with information on the
number of ballot papers that were printed for the general election.

According to Mr. Biti, the other MDC-T concerns are the continuous hate
speech in the state media, the militarisation of the election and the
interference of the voters’ roll by an Israel company - Nikuv.

Mr. Biti said political violence is on the increase in most parts of the
country and it’s very clear that the elections will not be free and fair.

Zimbabweans go to polls on Wednesday to elect a new government that will
take over from the government of national unity formed in 2009.

The reversed its decision late yesterday evening saying the rally has to go
ahead as planned.

Police feared that they will be condemned by the Southern African
Development Community, African Union and international community if they
blocked the rally, the last in a series of gatherings organized by the MDC-T
in the run up to the elections.
MDC-T organizing secretary Nelson Chamisa said they expected thousands of
people to attend the rally.

In Mashonaland West province, suspected Zanu PF supporters invaded Pfupajena
Stadium in Chegutu where Mr. Tsvangirai was initially scheduled to address
local people.

The prime minister moved to another venue where the same people followed
him. He told them that Zimbabweans should be allowed to exercise their
democratic rights in public, national elections and other social and
political spheres.

Mr. Tsvangirai broke into song and dance before addressing thousands of
people.
He told the excited crowd to vote in large numbers in the forthcoming
general elections.

He also promised to create jobs in the region if he is elected on Wednesday.

Tsvangirai ballots found in litter bin

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

XOLISANI NCUBE  •  27 JULY 2013 8:06AM

HARARE – A batch of special ballot papers cast in favour of Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai were on Thursday found dumped in dustbins at the elections
National Command Centre in Harare, the MDC leader claimed on Friday.

Tsvangirai showed the dumped ballot papers — ?reportedly retrieved in a dust
bin at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) National Command Centre in
Harare — to reporters at a news conference at Harvest House, the MDC
headquarters in central Harare.

“Yesterday (Thursday), we found out that some ballots which were cast under
the special voting provisions, found themselves in dust bins,” Tsvangirai
told reporters.

“I have got evidence here of just one of the ballots that were found at HICC
(Harare International Conference Centre)  in its envelope but now finding
itself in the dustbin and not in the counting station. It is not the only
one, there were a couple of them in the dust bin.”

Lovemore Sekeramayi, Zec chief elections officer, requested written
questions from the Daily News, which were not responded to at the time of
going to print last night.

Over 37 000 security officers and Zec officials who will be on duty during
Election Day cast their vote under the special voting system on July 15 and
16.

The MDC leader claimed a number of ?envelopes of special ballot slips were
found open during the tallying exercise and some tamper-proof translucent
envelopes were found torn. Tsvangirai said Zec has failed to conduct a
credible election despite their best attempt, citing “military intervention
and shenanigans by Zanu PF to manipulate the poll.”

“There is a bureaucratic organ called the national logistics committee which
is a committee of civil servants. It has now been taken over by the
military,” Tsvangirai said.

“The most insidious revelation is that this has now become a militarised
unit.

“For example, on the transfer of the special vote to the provinces, usually
they are transferred by (the State-run) CMED (Central Mechanical Equipment
Department) and it is now the military drivers who are transporting this,”
he said. Tsvangirai said the interference by the military has resulted in
widespread discrepancies in figures of ballot papers sent from the ?National
Command Centre with those ?received at provincial centres.

“The consequence of this is that the voting that was registered here at the
head office is not tallying with the result in the provinces,” Tsvangirai
said. “Manicaland as an example, the numbers are not tallying and many, many
others of that nature.”

Tsvangirai said the hurdles in this year’s election goes back to voter
registration, saying a clique in Zec and Zanu PF fought so hard to ensure
that a number of potential voters in most urban areas were disfranchised.

The MDC said the failure by Zec, through the Registrar General of Voters, to
make public the voters’ roll in time makes the credibility of the voter
register disputable.  He said a number of registered people who voted in
2008 have their names missing on the roll.

Tsvangirai said the voters’ roll was replete with names of dead persons and
underage people who did not even register to vote.

“Inspection of this roll leaves a lot to be desired, there is over
registration of old people,” Tsvangirai said. “How can one justify the
existence of a 150-year-old person on the roll, appearance of underage
people on the roll, ?appearance of Diasporans in the voters’ roll? All this
leaves a lot to be desired,” he said.

“There is a lot of transfer of people in the voters’ roll in Hatfield,
Harare East, and Mount Pleasant. For example, at Chikurubi with 200 officers
there, you all of a sudden have 6 000 registered voters!

“In Mount Pleasant, we have 11 000 voters who have been registered, people
living at KGVI, we have 10 000 people registered there, I don’t know whether
we have anyone living at KGVI (a military headquarters),” Tsvangirai said.

“There is a decrease in the number of polling stations perceived to be MDC
strongholds such as Harare. Harare with over 1,2 million population has 830
stations compared to Midlands  which has 762 000 people, it has 1 341
polling stations,” said the premier.

Tsvangirai also claimed Zec is secretly printing ballot papers without the
knowledge of other political parties participating in this election. He said
the commission is printing over eight million ballots papers against a
demand of 6.4 million registered voters.

“In terms of the law, parties are entitled to have information around the
printing of ballot papers, but this information is not available,”
Tsvangirai said. “We understand that Fidelity Printers have printed about
8.2 million ballot papers and the same number for the parliamentary ballot.

“For the special ballot, we understand that Zec asked for 250 000 ballots,
for presidential 195 000, the same printers are now being used to print
papers for council. The question is if you have 6.4 million voters, why
print eight million ballot papers?”

Zec special vote statement

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

27 JULY 2013 8:17AM

HARARE - Below we publish the full statement released by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (Zec) after allegations by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s MDC that Special Vote ballots cast in his favour were found
dumped in dustbins at the elections National Command Centre:

Lost Special Vote Ballot paper: Complaint against Mr. Morgan Komichi of
MDC-T.

On 25 July 2013, Mr Morgan Komichi of MDC-T approached the Chief Elections
Officer of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission alleging that someone had
picked up a sealed tamper-proof envelope with special vote ballot papers
enclosed.

Mr Komichi handed over the envelope to the Chief Elections Officer who has
since retained the envelope and its contexts.

In his narration, Mr Komichi said that the envelope had been handed over to
him by a person he would not name.

The said unnamed person allegedly informed Mr Komichi that he or she had
picked up the envelope from a dust bin at the HICC where the special vote
was being processed.

Mr Komichi further alleged that he had been informed that this was one of
several such “lost” envelopes.

The envelope was allegedly picked up in the morning of the 23rd of July
2013.

The person who allegedly picked up the envelope did not report the matter to
the Commission or to the Police.

Mr Komichi could not explain why the person who picked up the ballot chose
to report to him about this matter.

Mr Komichi volunteered to the meeting that the tamper-proof envelope was
sealed when it was handed over to him.

On being quizzed why he then opened this envelope which he knew contained
ballot papers, Mr Morgan Komichi admitted that he had opened the envelope
because he was curious.

Not only did Mr Komichi open the tamper proof envelope but he proceeded to
open the brown envelope containing the three ballot papers which he alleges
were marked in favour of his party’s candidates.

Our investigations reveal that indeed the envelope and ballot papers were
allocated to a voter whose name was recorded on the tamper-proof envelope.

Such voter was supposed to have voted at Mt Pleasant Hall special voting
centre but he did not vote on either the 14th or 15th of July 2013.

The voter said when he presented himself to the polling officers, he was
turned away as his envelope could not be located.

The Commission wishes to register its concerns at the manner in which Mr
Komichi handled this matter.

Firstly, he took a day to bring this matter to the attention of the
Commission and only did so after attaching copies of the ballot papers in
his opposition to the application by the Commission in the Constitutional
Court.

Secondly, we are clear that the ballots were not marked by the voter and
cannot have been marked in the polling station as the ballots do not bear
the secret mark of the presiding officer of the polling station.

Thirdly and more telling, if the ballots had been marked by the voter, they
would not have remained sealed in the tamperproof envelope as this had to be
broken open first by the presiding officer to retrieve the brown envelope in
which the ballot papers were enclosed to give the voter.

The story given to us by Mr Komichi is not credible and accordingly we have
severe reservations regarding the details he provided to the Commission.

We have therefore handed over the matter to the Police for investigation.

INSERTED BY THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION (ZEC) (0712878576)

Youth, rural voters may hold key to Zimbabwe election

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

Sapa-AFP | 27 July, 2013 08:55

When Zimbabweans go to the polls next week to choose between veteran
President Robert Mugabe and long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, it is young
and rural voters who may decide the victor.

Although there are doubts about whether the poll will be fair, there is
little doubt that Zimbabweans want their voice to be heard.

Some 747 928 new voters have registering ahead of the July 31 polls.

According to the Election Resource Centre the race will be tight, with
Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF expected to retain the support
they saw in 2008.

Then Tsvangirai won 47% of the vote first round vote and Mugabe won 43%.
Neither garnered the 50% of votes needed to be declared winner outright.

Before the second round, violence forced Tsvangirai out of the race and
Mugabe was declared the winner in a deeply flawed vote.

Many fear similar manipulation this time round, but young and rural
Zimbabweans could set the parameters of the game.

"The winner will be whoever captures the new youth voters," said Tawanda
Chimhini, a spokesman for the centre.

"These are people who are not being marshalled by political parties and will
vote for whoever has an election package that appeals to them."

Many young Zimbabweans are disillusioned over the government's failure to
create jobs and the economic catastrophes that marked recent decades.

"Young people have said they want jobs and not just promises. They want
better lives and they will vote for whoever they think will deliver these."

Both candidates, in their own way, have heard that message.

Mugabe's campaign is anchored in a drive to give locals majority stakes in
foreign-owned companies and a promise to revive the economy.

Tsvangirai has promised a million jobs in five years if he wins the
elections

He argues opening up the economy for foreign investors will bring growth.

In past polls, despite falling standards, the young have shunned elections,
leaving their elders to decide their fate.

That trend may now come to an end and Rushweat Mukundu, of the Zimbabwe
Democratic Institute, believes that the MDC may have the edge.

"If they turn out to vote in large numbers and the MDC gets a significant
youth vote, it will win the elections," he said.

Meanwhile the power base that has sustained Mugabe through 33 years in power
looks very different.

"Mugabe has the support of rural dwellers between the ages of 50 and 70. If
he should carry the vote, he will need to attract the a significant vote
from the youth," said Mukundu.

"With youth now interacting through various social media it is no longer
easy to determine who the rural youth will vote for."

Conversely, the MDC will have to make inroads in those rural areas if the
party is to stand a chance.

"Rural provinces... voted en masse for ZANU-PF in the last election," said
independent political commentator Ernest Mudzengi.

In Mashonaland east, west and central provinces ZANU has consistently won
majority votes.

"Those in rural areas who are between the ages of 50 and 70 still have
memories of the liberation war and will vote for Mugabe whom they consider
as a kind of saviour," Mudzengi.

"Some of them have benefited from the land reform as small-scale farmers.
They are always grateful for that and they will pay back by retaining
Mugabe."

But Mugabe also benefits from opposition divisions.

The MDC is split into two factions and face a plethora of other groups
easting into the anti-Mugabe vote.

Bulawayo-based political analyst Angliston Sibanda said the opposition would
have stood greater chance if they had forged a coalition.

"It's unfortunate that the progressive movement is going in without that
coalition which was going to consolidate their vote," Sibanda said.

"That will have a huge effect on their chances. If one of the opposition
candidates gets four percent, it will force a run-off. As things stand
everything is favouring ZANU-PF."

CSOs doubt integrity of SADC, AU observers

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/

27.07.13

by Edgar Gweshe

The silence of the Southern African Development Community and the African
Union observer teams on the issue of a credible voters’ roll ahead of next
Wednesday’s elections has tainted their integrity, the Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum has said.

The organisation expressed concern that, with a few days to go before the
elections, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is yet to supply stakeholders
with clean copies of the voters’ roll, yet SADC and AU observers have chosen
to remain silent over the issue.

“The issue of the voters’ roll has even become an imperative now in light of
questions arising concerning the impartiality and integrity of the observer
mission. It is inconceivable to see how the observers will rise above the
official statements and views of the institutions that sent them.

“They seem to be paying a lip service the voters’ roll issue or ignoring it
altogether. The integrity of an observer mission to a large extent depends
on the liberty of the observers to critic, question, and if need be, arrive
at different conclusions from others in their interpretation of the
obtaining facts prior, during and soon after the elections,” read the
statement.

The statement added that the next elections would amount to an exercise in
futility in the absence of a “credible, transparent and accessible voters’
roll that is open to challenge”.

“In light of the above, it is therefore shocking that some political
analysts are making this issue very light and accusing the MDC of being cry
babies because of their complaints regarding the voters’ roll,” read the
statement.

Section 21(4) of the Electoral Act states that "within a reasonable period
of time after the calling of an election, the Commission shall provide, on
payment of the prescribed fee, to every political party that intends to
contest the election, and to any observer who requests it, one copy of every
voters roll to be used in the election, either in printed or in electronic
form as the party or observer may request."

The NGO Forum expressed concern that six weeks after the proclamation of the
election date on 13 July, the voters’ roll is still not accessible to
stakeholders, thereby creating ground for rigging of elections.

“Furthermore, in the Zimbabwean context where rigging has abounded in the
past, it is critically important that parties be given sufficient time to
analyse and audit the voters roll,” read the statement.

The statement said ZEC’s credibility has become questionable as a result of
its failure to timeously supply stakeholders with copies of the voters’ roll
ahead of elections.

Where are the SADC observers?

http://www.sokwanele.com/

 

AUTHOR:

MADZIMBABWE

DATE:

JUL 27, 2013

COMMENTS:

0

SADC observers are all over Masvingo urban. Each time I go to OK supermarket to shop I bump into these election observers, and each time I meet them it is by the liquor section. They buy the finest wines, the best English brandy and Scotch whisky. They are nowhere to be seen in the rural areas where war vets and military personnel are busy intimidating the electorate. Can someone kindly ask them to spend more time where it matters most. The fine wines will still be waiting for them after the elections.

And at the Masvingo roadblocks, police are now back. On the day of the rall all police officers were removed from roadblocks, ordered to dress in civilian clothes and to attend Mugabe's rally at Mucheke Stadium. They were not amused, not because they don't like Mugabe, but because they lost an entire day's collection of bribes. Today they are viciously stopping every vehicle and extorting bribes for the most unimaginable offences.

Mugabe: We Are Not Using State Machinery for Election Rallies

http://www.voazimbabwe.com/

Nothando Sibanda
27.07.2013

BULAWAYO — President Robert Mugabe has dismissed as baseless allegations
that his party is using state machinery to mobilise thousands of people to
attend his election rallies, saying this is a creation of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) designed to discredit the results of the forthcoming
general poll.

Mr. Mugabe told more than 15,000 people who attended his party’s star rally
at White City Stadium in Zimbabwe’s second largest city Saturday afternoon
that preparations for next week’s poll are going well and dismissed reports
that the state is being militarized.

The president said MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s objections to African
Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s remarks that Zimbabwe is set to
hold a free and fair election next Wednesday, are part of a bigger plot to
challenge the legitimacy of the elections.

Mr. Mugabe, who was clad in party regalia, took his supporters down a
familiar road of his party’s liberation war credentials, the blameworthiness
of Britain in the country’s economic meltdown and Zimbabwe’s indigenisation
policies, among other issues.

He also touched on Bulawayo’s de-industrialisation and water shortages,
telling his supporters that they were better off than people in other
regions.

The president said the city has the advantage of millers who can easily
import mealie-meal and other basic necessities from neighbouring countries.

Mr. Mugabe added that Zimbabwe is a country united by a common history and
shared experiences. He urged his supporters to show the world in the
forthcoming elections that all regions support his party’s values and
policies.

First lady, Grace Mugabe, who accompanied her husband, told party supporters
that Zanu PF will win the elections. She told them to celebrate in a
responsible and peaceful manner, mindful of those who would have lost.

Mr. Mugabe thanked his supporters for attending the rally saying the crowd
was the best ever in the city in two decades.

Party supporters began mobilising for the star-rally Friday through holding
road shows throughout the city.  Supporters were being bussed early in the
morning for the president’s address which began around midday, lasting for
over an hour.

Zombie voters will back Mugabe

http://www.iol.co.za/

July 27 2013 at 03:37pm
By William Saunderson-Meyer

William Saunderson-Meyer says no matter how many votes the MDC garners,
everyone knows Mugabe will win the election.

On Wednesday Zimbabwe goes to the polls. The run-up to the election has been
curiously low-key and lacklustre, perhaps because everyone already knows the
result – President Robert Mugabe will win.

Even if he loses, he will win. Such is the foxiness of the world’s
third-longest serving dictator, who is shaded in the despot stakes only by
the leaders of Angola and Equatorial Guinea, and then by a mere year.

The 89-year-old Mugabe has a formidable record for gamesmanship. Starring in
33 consecutive seasons of his own Survivor Africa reality show, Comrade Bob
has repeatedly proved that he can “outwit, outplay and outlast” any
opponent, foreign or domestic.

After losing the 2008 election, he outwitted president Thabo Mbeki – despite
violent attacks on the opposition and extensive vote-rigging – and
engineered a power-sharing agreement that left him as president and Movement
for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai as a virtually powerless
prime minister.

He outplayed Tsvangirai over the next five years during a tortuous process
that was supposed to deliver constitutionally protected freedoms and genuine
democracy.

That new constitution has been enacted but the security forces still answer
only to Mugabe, the electoral process is still controlled by his Zanu-PF
henchmen, media freedom is still constrained and the state broadcaster is
still unabashedly his propaganda organ.

He outlasted his fiercest international critics, various leaders of the UK,
US and the major European powers. It helped that as elected leaders these
men and women have comparatively short tenures, while Mugabe has had since
1980 to tighten his grip with populist land seizures and by the ruthless
deployment of the state security apparatus against any opposition.

Mugabe’s international critics have been distracted by pressing economic
problems at home, and since their “smart” sanctions have failed and since
they have been excluded by Zimbabwe from any election-monitoring role, they
don’t have any political cards left to play.

Roeland van de Geer, the EU ambassador to South Africa, has lamented the
exclusion of EU monitors, who he is quoted as saying are “tougher” than
those from the AU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Van de Geer says that if these African observers declare the elections “free
and fair”, the EU will have to lift all remaining sanctions on Mugabe’s
government. “Who are we as the EU to say, ‘No, we know better than SADC’?”

Human Rights Watch has warned that “the chances of having free, fair and
credible elections are slim”. But as AfricaFocus Bulletin notes, they may
nevertheless be judged “credible enough” by some - including the AU and
SADC - for reasons of expediency.

One must hope, then, that SADC has developed some backbone since the 2008
debacle.

SADC declared that election a “peaceful and credible expression of the will
of the Zimbabwean people” immediately after the polling booths closed – even
though hundreds had died violently and before the vote count was kept secret
for more than a month, while Zanu-PF desperately massaged the results in
order to deprive Tsvangirai of victory.

This time it seems that Zanu-PF is better prepared against nasty democratic
shocks. It has legions of “ghost” voters to deploy.

An independent audit found that more than a million people registered as
voters are dead, while more than half of the constituencies have more voters
registered than the number of inhabitants, according to last year’s census.

Guess who the zombie voters will be making their crosses for on Wednesday.

All this Zanu-PF skulduggery might even not be necessary. The opposition is
perennially divided and an additional factor is disenchantment with
Tsvangirai and his party over their role in the governing coalition.

As in the television reality show, Mugabe has shown that to be a survivor,
you must keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

Weekend Argus

Zimbabwe faces July 31 elections with little violence this time; choice between old and new

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Associated Press

For years Mugabe’s government has been restricted by sanctions but now it
appears the international community wants to re-engage with Harare, say
analysts.

“The outside world wants to see a country that can manage its own electoral
processes and inspire confidence. They want to work with a government that
is freely elected and accountable,” said Nyoni, a senior research official
with the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, an alliance of 70 independent rights,
civic and church groups.

Mugabe, increasingly frail, scheduled 10 campaign rallies up to voting day.
Tsvangirai has been on a punishing campaign tour almost every day since July
4 when the nation’s highest court ordered the poll to go ahead at the end of
July.

Harare voter Regina Musa, 71, said Mugabe led a heroic fight for an end to
white rule and was seen as the savior of the black majority, drawing massive
crowds to his first public appearances then. But in this election, she said,
his ZANU-PF party had to resort to drawing crowds by closing shops and
markets to force people to attend his rallies.

She said those who attend get free T-shirts, baseball caps and food but have
little enthusiasm for Mugabe’s long “lectures” on his party’s history of
four decades and its liberation credentials instead of anything new to
offer.

“Our lives have got worse. Schools and clinics have gone down, and there is
hunger,” said Musa, a market stall holder. “I can’t manage to get enough
food for my family.”

About 9,600 voting stations are to be set up across the country for the
poll, monitored by some 600 African observers. Mugabe has refused to allow
Western observer missions into the country, accusing Britain, the former
colonial power, and the United States of backing and funding Tsvangirai as
part of their “regime change agenda.”

Mugabe blames Western economic sanctions — travel and banking bans on him
and his party leaders to protest a decade of human and democratic rights
violations — for collapsing the economy.

Young voters in the impoverished western Harare township of Highfield,
however, say they have tired of political rhetoric and want jobs.

“We are looking for a better future. Since I was born, I have never enjoyed
life,” said Tarisai Chitanda, 22, unemployed and a member of the “born free”
generation that has grown up since independence.

But Edmore Sibubi, 30, said he supported Mugabe’s black empowerment program
that gave many young people dreams of sharing the nation’s abundant mineral
wealth, natural resources and potential business assets.

Critics of black empowerment and Mugabe’s often violent seizures of
thousands of white-owned farms since 2000 insist that few have benefited
except an elite of Mugabe party loyalists. Many prime farms still lie idle
and this former regional breadbasket now imports most of its food and more
than 1 million people rely on foreign-donated food handouts.

Zimbabwe’s state broadcasting monopoly controlled by Mugabe has aired his
90-minute rallies live on its four radio stations and main television
channel. The nightly news on one of those days allotted Tsvangirai just
three minutes, mostly of derogatory comments about him.

In another development, mobile phone companies have been ordered by the
state telecommunications body to block bulk text messages that have been
successfully used by Tsvangirai’s party and independent civic groups to
circulate election information, said Kubatana, a group of civic
organizations.

This new ban on mass cell phone messages is seen as a way that ZANU-PF is
trying to stop the effectiveness of Tsvangirai’s campaigning through social
media.

Nyoni, the civic activist, said it is feared voting will be chaotic but not
necessarily to Mugabe’s advantage saying inducements or threats and long
voting lines will likely anger voters.

“You have the land but you don’t have the economy,” he said. “People are
connecting to this and they don’t want to be told what to do when they get
into that polling booth.”

Baba Jukwa tells of TB Joshua prophecy that Tsvangirai will win 2013 elections

As Zimbabwe gets ready to go to the polls next week, memories are surfacing about the violent election in 2008, which saw a crackdown on human rights activists, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters and journalists. Obed Bapela, the head of the ANC’s subcommittee on international relations, sheds some light on the matter.

Are you expecting a recurrence of violence against and intimidation of opponents by President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF?
We do not expect the scale of violence that characterised the 2008 Zimbabwe elections. The recent referendum on the Constitution could be used as a yardstick measurement. Though there was low turnout, the referendum was free of incidents. Even the period of campaigning leading to the forthcoming  elections has not seen a similar crackdown as witnessed during the 2008 elections.

Therefore the ANC doesn’t see any recurrence of violence and intimidation next week as Zimbabweans go to the polls to vote for their choice of candidates or parties.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other pro-democracy formations have raised concerns that the elections should have been delayed by at least a week for logistical reasons. What is your comment on this?
The ANC also is of a similar view that the elections should have been delayed, not just by a week, but by at least three weeks to a month to allow for all logistics to be [sorted out].

Even SADC had raised the matter, hence the decision to ask the Zimbabwe government to approach the courts to change the date to a later period. As you know, the courts pronounced differently and the election date of July 31 stands.

We are indeed worried that not all logistics will be in place, as was witnessed during the early polls when the police, army and other civil servants could not vote because election material had not arrived in some polling stations, which frustrated the situation and cast doubts over the credibility of the elections.

We want to see credible, free and fair elections in all SADC countries, so the issue of logistics is crucial and this should not become an obstacle for citizens who want to express their will in any elections.

President Robert Mugabe has verbally abused Lindiwe Zulu, a member of President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team and his advisor on international relations matters.  Do you think this imbroglio has further damaged relations between Pretoria and Harare?
The unfortunate statements expressed by President Robert Mugabe on Lindiwe Zulu are regrettable. However, the expressed words have not damaged any relations between Harare and Pretoria, as we have government relations and institutions supporting these relations that are far above the individuals.

There will always be situations where tensions will develop, particularly if you are a mediator on behalf of the region of SADC, but we have time-tested institutions that can resolve such tensions.

Mugabe called Zulu, a senior leader of the ANC, a street woman and an idiot in public. Why has the ANC not come out in her defence?
The secretary general of the ANC spoke on the matter, so the ANC was not quiet. The expression by President Mugabe calling Lindiwe by names is regrettable and the ANC will wait for the right platform to raise the matter in our good and functioning party relations once an opportunity presents itself.

Zulu has raised concerns that there were many difficulties ahead of the July 31 elections in Zimbabwe, following problems with early voting.

Do you agree with her on this position? What is the official position of Zuma, his government and the ANC on the elections?
The ANC is in agreement with concerns raised not only by Lindiwe, on the state of readiness and logistics matters experienced during the early polls. The concerns were also raised by SADC Troika leaders at their meeting over the weekend attended by presidents Jacob Zuma, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Armando Guebuza of Mozambique.

The ANC is calling on the government and the people of Zimbabwe to do everything to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible.

The concerns remain about the logistics and readiness, and we hope the government of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission are attending to the matters to give us credible elections and ensure logistics are not an issue of dispute.

Some in the ANC have alleged that Zanu-PF was secretly aiding former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema in his various attempts to undermine Zuma’s presidency, and in his campaign for nationalisation of the mines and the takeover of white-owned land in South Africa. Has the ANC raised the matter with Zanu-PF or Mugabe himself?
The issues of alleged funding of Julius Malema were officially raised by the ANC in our bilateral meetings with Zanu-PF, and were also raised in March during the meeting of Southern African former liberation movements. It was resolved and it is no longer an issue.

Zuma, as SADC’s facilitator, has in the past few months insisted on the implementation of political reforms before the elections, with the adoption of a new Constitution being a benchmark.

Are you satisfied that this has been achieved?
Zimbabwe has done tremendously  well with the implementation of political reform, signed by all parties in the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which has witnessed the referendum on the new Constitution.

Transitions are difficult processes and, as the ANC, we are quite satisfied with the progress made. We will continue to support Zimbabwe as a member of SADC, and as a neighbour to South Africa, in its efforts towards conclusive reform and full implementation of the GPA.

Zuma has been accused by some in Zanu-PF of supporting the reformation of the party’s oldest rival, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu), under the leadership of Dumiso Dabengwa. The party was a close ally of the ANC during the liberation struggle years.  What is your relationship with Zapu?

The allegations that Zuma supports Zapu are not true. To confirm, they were also raised in our bilateral meetings and in the meeting of the former liberation movements by Zanu-PF, and the matters were clarified and all parties accepted the outcome. The matter is no longer an issue.

The ANC meets with all parties in Zimbabwe including the MDC, Zapu and nongovernmental organisations, but it is in the context of sharing perspectives as part of the realisation of the GPA. And indeed we also meet with individual members of Zapu who where with us in the trenches during liberation struggles in our countries, as friends and comrades. But there are no formal relations between the ANC and Zapu, as the only formal relationship is with Zanu-PF. Therefore the response to the question is that relations exist and are formalised with Zanu-PF.

Which party does the ANC ­support between Zanu-PF and the MDC in this election? The people of Zimbabwe will be voting to express their will and choice.

The ANC will support any party that wins, but, as you know, our ­historical relations are with Zanu-PF.

A long trek to make a mark in Zim

http://www.iol.co.za/

July 27 2013 at 12:40pm
By Noni Mokati and Rabbie Serumula

Johannesburg - Anxiety, mudslinging and some scathing comments about the
South African government.

This is what Zimbabweans living in South Africa are saying and feeling ahead
of the general election next week.

But many of the 3 million Zimbabweans heading back home to vote remain
hopeful for change.

The July 31 elections will be the first poll held under the country’s new
constitution that was officially signed into law in May.

They come five years after Zimbabwe’s violent polls in 2008 in which
President Robert Mugabe, 89, again emerged victorious amid claims of
intimidation and deaths, especially of members from the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Candidates include Zanu-PF’s Mugabe, 89 - who has been in power since 1980
and hopes to clinch yet another five-year term; MDC president and the
country’s prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai; MDC politician and Minister of
Industry and Commerce Welshman Ncube; Dumiso Dabengwa, president of the
Zimbabwe African People’s Union; and Kisnot Mukwazhi from the Zimbabwean
Development Party.

AU Commission chairwoman Nkosa-zana Dlamini Zuma arrived in Zimbabwe on
Wednesday.

She said the organisation had placed long-term and short-term observers
there to assess preparations for the elections.

While concerned about the situation at home, many Zimbabweans who reside in
Joburg this week rushed back to vote.

For Maud Gunda, 32, and Collen Mupfumi, 38, this will also be a chance to
visit their families and reunite with their two sons. Sitting on her luggage
at the Newtown bus station, Gunda contemplates returning to her hometown of
Chisawasha, east of Harare.

She and Mupfumi, her husband of 17 years, say they are ready to face the
worst.

“We didn’t register but would like to vote. We are no longer scared. We only
want change and for the elections to be free and fair. We will support the
new president regardless of which party he comes from.

“You see, we are tired. If you are tired you get fed up quickly. We are fed
up,” they say.

Dexter Chada was born and raised in Warren Park, Harare. He arrived in South
Africa 15 years ago as an economic migrant.

Chada lost friends who were assaulted during the elections of 2008.

“I was in South Africa at the time. I heard about the violence and the
demolishing of houses from my family. I was scared to go back. I only sent
money,” he says. “It’s still not safe to go back. Things may or may not
change. I’m not settled. We don’t know what will happen.”

A businessman who identified himself only as Fred registered to vote last
Thursday.

He says the Marondera registration station in his hometown was not full.
While he has lost faith in the electoral system, he still hopes for a better
future.

“Voting normally doesn’t make a difference and sometimes is a waste of
 time,” he says.

“If the outcome is not to the ruling party’s expectations there’s often
violence.

“But all we can do is vote and hope for the best.”

Two friends from Buhera village, east of Zimbabwe, who did not want to be
named, say they each support an opposition party and that it “doesn’t matter
who wins” because all they want is free and fair elections.

They express concern over widespread rumours that Zanu-PF is unlawfully
registering people through mobile networking applications such as WhatsApp.

The allegation originates from a blog posted on July 9 by Baba Jukwa, a
Zimbabwean blogger with about 280 000 online followers.

Alfred Jaravani is an IT engineer at a local Joburg firm who arrived in
South Africa in 2004 from Chinhoyi, a city in Zimbabwe.

He has registered and is also ready to vote.

“I look forward to seeing our country rebuilt again,” he says. “My vote
might lead to a change.”

Saturday Star

It's Time for Mugabe to Go - By Roy Bennett

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

The argument for real change in Zimbabwe.

BY ROY BENNETT | JULY 26, 2013

For decades, Robert Mugabe has thumbed his nose at the world. The long-time
dictator has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist, repeatedly insulted foreign
dignitaries, ignored regional and international agreements to which he was a
signatory, and isolated the country from any legitimate international
economic or political engagement. The price of both his brutality and
adolescent-like behavior -- clearly an attempt to cling to the revolutionary
persona of a liberation struggle now more than three decades old -- 
continues to be paid by the people of Zimbabwe.

In 1980, Mugabe became prime minister of the newly renamed Zimbabwe
following the liberation struggle from foreign colonial rule in what was
previously known as (Southern) Rhodesia. In a rousing Independence Day
speech, Mugabe vowed to lead the country under the principles of
reconciliation, democracy, multi-ethnic tolerance, and economic advancement.
But he wasn't in power long before his true intentions and preferred
political tactics were revealed: In 1983, Mugabe, a member of the Shona
people, launched a ruthless genocidal campaign against the Ndebele people,
who were supporters of his political rival Joshua Nkomo. The four years of
horrific violence were later known as the Gukurahundi massacre.

The brutal crackdown on innocent civilians, labeled as "dissidents" by
Mugabe, was executed by his military's North Korean-trained 5th Brigade and
resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 men, women, and children. This
horrific event is a defining moment in our nation's history, the scars of
which remain visible in our society to this day. Over the next three
decades, Mugabe and his party, the Zimbabwe African National Union -- 
Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), proceeded to eliminate or imprison his political
rivals, use his loyal military and intelligence services to instill fear
into society, and change the constitution 19 times to pave the way for his
entrenchment in power.

For 33 years now, Mugabe's scorched-earth modus operandi and outlandish
behavior have made him a laughing stock among around the world, on par with
Hugo Chávez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Muammar al-Qaddafi, and Kim Jong Il. In
2010, as a show of professional and diplomatic respect, U.S. Ambassador
Charles Ray, along with several other foreign emissaries, attended the
funeral of Mugabe's sister, at which the long-winded despot launched a
diatribe culminating in announcing that Western nations can "go to hell."
Most recently, he attacked the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
advisor to Zimbabwe calling her a "stupid" and "idiotic" "street woman" in
response to her questioning of Zimbabwe's readiness to hold elections.
Regrettably, similar examples of his diplomatic insults abound with few, if
any, repercussions for these embarrassing verbal assaults on respected
members of the international community.

Mugabe has also spent decades disrespecting and defying regional and
international institutions, including the United Nations, the African Union
(AU), and SADC -- the region's multi-lateral political and economic
arbitration body. Following the landslide victory of Morgan Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party in the 2008 national elections,
Mugabe unleashed a torrent of bloody violence against MDC supporters forcing
Tsvangirai to withdraw from the run-off presidential election to prevent
further bloodshed. Humiliated by the first round defeat, Mugabe was required
to enter into a SADC-facilitated power sharing agreement leaving him in the
presidency but installing Tsvangirai into the newly reintroduced role of
prime minister.

The multi-party agreement, known as the Global Political Agreement (GPA),
created the Government of National Unity (GNU) that has acted as Zimbabwe's
governing institution since 2009. The GPA called for a balanced governmental
approach along with a series of security sector, media, and electoral
reforms before proclaiming or conducting any national elections.
Unfortunately, Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party (itself a coerced collaboration
stemming from the Gukurahundi massacre) have largely ignored the agreement
and made every effort possible to subvert policy changes put forth by Morgan
Tsvangirai and the MDC. The ZANU-PF maintains control over almost all major
ministries within the government, the media and security services, and has
pilfered hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit diamond revenues.

Mugabe and his regime have diverted these funds needed for schools,
hospitals, and infrastructure while impeding meaningful reforms mandated by
the GPA despite his signature and commitment. The Zimbabwe military and
state-run media continue to pledge allegiance to Mugabea and openly campaign
for ZANU-PF. The military refuses to salute Prime Minister Tsvangirai, and
harasses, intimidates, and brutalizes anyone suspected of supporting anyone
other than ZANU-PF. Most recently, Mugabe illegally circumvented our
parliament and unilaterally declared an unconstitutional election date.

He has also barred international election observers, beyond a limited AU and
SADC presence, into the country, claiming they will implement their "regime
change agenda." This constant environment of manipulation is the backdrop on
which Zimbabweans head to the polls this week.

Mugabe's refusal to implement agreed upon reforms is a slap in the face to
well respected SADC leaders, especially South African president and key SADC
facilitator Jacob Zuma, and their efforts to bring stability and democracy
to the region. With the physical and psychological wounds of the brutal
state-sponsored violence during the 2008 election still fresh, Mugabe's
refusal to implement the SADC-brokered and mutually agreed upon security
sector reforms threatens again the safety of all Zimbabweans hoping to
exercise their constitutionally protected voice. Such brazen affronts to
international election standards would not be tolerated in any free,
democratic state and should not be tolerated in Zimbabwe.

The MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai understands the importance of breaking away from
Mugabe's past antics and shedding the pariah status in the international
community. Despite subversion efforts of Mugabe and ZANU-PF, the MDC
influence in government has been seen and felt. Immediately after taking
office, MDC party members in government stabilized the economy by dumping
the Zimbabwe dollar and adopting a multi-currency system based on the U.S.
dollar. We were also successful in pushing through a new constitution that,
for the first time in Zimbabwe's history, provides a bill of rights for the
protection of all citizens. These successes were made possible through sheer
determination in the face of fierce opposition from Mugabe and his regime
cronies desperate to hang on to power for their own personal economic
interests. Released from the shackles of a regime whose time has passed,
Zimbabwe can again be a responsible member of the community of nations.

In the late 1990s, Mugabe's misguided policies sent our economy and
agricultural productivity, our country's lifeblood, plummeting into the
abyss. To make up for the financial shortfall, his regime attempted to print
its way out of the mess immediately resulting in inconceivable
hyperinflation, topping out at 231 million percent. The breadbasket of
Africa and one of its most advanced economies was reduced to ruins. Our
people starved, our currency became useless, and legitimate commerce came to
a standstill. All of us at the MDC believe transitioning back to normalized
international political and economic engagement along with responsible
management of resources are the keys to political stability and economic
growth for Zimbabwe.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC have an economic recovery plan
to create jobs, attract foreign direct investment, and ensure the country's
natural and financial resources are utilized to the benefit of the people.
We will deliver key financial sector reforms to ensure expanded access to
credit for small businesses and our critical agriculture sector. We will
reform our tax code to relieve the burden on individuals. We will transition
workers in the informal market back into the formal by implementing fair,
transparent and pro-business policies to attract domestic and foreign
investment. We will also implement a comprehensive debt resolution plan by
re-engaging the international financial institutions. We believe this path
of re-engagement in the international community will lead us into the future
and bring prosperity and security to our people and the region.

A recent survey of 62 Africa specialists in Foreign Policy gave Robert
Mugabe a resounding victory as "Africa's Worst Political Leader," with more
than double the votes of his nearest "competitor." Needless to say, this is
an honor Mugabe would certainly be quick to dismiss. Well, Zimbabweans have
had enough. Robert Mugabe is not representative of who we are, what we stand
for, or how we want to be viewed by the rest of world. We are peace-loving
people, respectful of foreign representatives, who want the country to be a
prosperous, productive and responsible member of the global community.

The people of Zimbabwe do not blame the "West" for our problems, as Mugabe
continues to assert in his pass-the-blame, racially-charged hate speech. We
blame the misinformed and misguided polices of a tyrannical regime that has
continually put the interests of its political and military elite above
those of its people. The Zimbabwean people do not want the pariah stigma
attached to their country any longer. We have serious challenges and we need
serious leadership working with partners and friends in the region and
around the world to meet these challenges.

As Morgan Tsvangirai has said, "Yesterday's people cannot solve today's
problems." We want change. The time has come to move into the present and
plan for the future. Zimbabweans will go to the polls this week in full
force. Mugabe has tried to manipulate and rig this election but he will
fail. Our people will rise up, vote him out of office, and usher in a new
era of democracy in the beautiful and blessed nation. The time is now for a
new Zimbabwe!

Roy Bennett is the treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change in
Zimbabwe. Due to persecution at the hands of Mugabe-appointed officials, he
has been living in exile in South Africa since 2010.

Mugabe should apologise too

http://www.iol.co.za/

July 26 2013 at 08:22am
By Makhudu Sefara

The Zimbabwean president’s disrespect for Lindiwe Zulu is an affront to all
of us, says Makhudu Sefara.

Johannesburg - It must have been one of the most difficult statements to
make, but one that the Presidency had no option but to make.

It was like an editor publishing a front-page apology. It’s the sort you
look at and sulk for what might appear interminable hours; wonder if it
could be tweaked; or if the same message could be conveyed in a less painful
manner.

In the end, though, as did our Presidency, you take the pain and publish the
damn thing after using strong language against the person who precipitated
the mess. For a mess it is.

When the note from the Presidency landed in our inboxes, announcing that
South Africa regretted unauthorised statements on Zimbabwe, the pain that
went into the drafting process was palpable.

“A number of statements have been made during the facilitation process which
have been unauthorised and which are regrettable and unfortunate. Some of
the utterances have also been inaccurate.

“The Presidency wishes to correct in particular the reports this weekend
that President Zuma telephoned President Robert Mugabe to express his
unhappiness about preparations for the Zimbabwean elections. No such
telephone call has been made. The report is incorrect.”

Shame. Such needless pain. Needless because Lindiwe Zulu, one of Zuma’s
mediators, should have known that any reports about a president talking to
another as if they had a relationship akin to that of a principal and a
school truant would precipitate diplomatic ructions.

The climb-down looks undignified and undesirable. Megaphone diplomacy, some
only now discover, can’t replace quiet diplomacy. More so on this continent,
where sovereignty is used by dictators to ward off the prying eyes of those
searching for evidence of human rights violations.

Needless too, because, if the phone call about concerns around the hastily
arranged polls has not been made, then it should be.

It’s also difficult to imagine that Zuma doesn’t agree with the points made
by Zulu. How could he not? The only people not concerned about the situation
in Zimbabwe must be Mugabe and a few people in Zanu-PF. So writing a
statement to chastise someone with whom you agree can’t be, I imagine,
pleasurable.

The issue is the channel used, not the substance of the communication. This
made it difficult for Zuma to defend Zulu or justify the manner of the
communication. I suspect Zuma tried. So the apology, however painful, was
justified.

What wasn’t in order, though, was that Mugabe wasn’t made to apologise for
his equally irresponsible, vulgar response to Zulu. He called her an
“idiotic street woman”. Whatever Mugabe believes, Zulu is a senior diplomat
who should not be called the things that Mugabe mouthed.

She may speak out of turn, or get a few other things wrong, as do many other
senior politicians across the globe. But that is no licence for a man
desperately clinging to power to call her an “idiotic street woman”.

It is not just Mugabe’s contempt of women, and Zulu specifically, that is an
issue. And I accept that he is in the middle of an election and, with
millions of Zimbabweans finding refuge around the globe because of the way
the economy is mismanaged, his allure is deserting him.

And his age may not assist. Turning to vulgarity seems natural. But calling
Zulu a street woman is plainly untrue, illogical and wholly unnecessary.

My issue is that Mugabe’s disrespect for Zulu is an affront to all of us. An
apology should have been demanded from him, too. The intemperate language
used shows that Mugabe was deliberately vulgar, disrespectful and wanted to
show Pretoria the proverbial middle finger. Allowing him to get away with it
should be unacceptable.

It can’t be that Zulu’s wrongs justify Mugabe’s insults. The question is:
Why did we let him get away with it? Even in the Presidency’s statement,
there is no reference to Mugabe’s own wrongs. It is as if he is the only one
wronged. It is a great pity. Our government didn’t just let Zulu down, her
foot in the mouth notwithstanding. It let all of us down.

There is a difference between being good people and falling over ourselves
to show we are neighbourly, and just allowing truant neighbours to ride
roughshod over us.

What is worse, when we, as a country, don’t assert ourselves, we become
fodder. Insults and ridicule come thick and fast.

Expectedly, the apology we gave to Mugabe and our reticence on his wrongs
emboldened Mugabe to tell us this week: “We (Zimbabweans) have built
schools, our children are educated. We are being admired that we have the
best literacy rate in Africa at 91 percent. Even South Africa tinoikunda (We
are better than South Africa), Equatorial Guinea is in second place at 86
percent.”

True, that. We can’t, and shouldn’t, hold it against Zimbabwe for the
attention they are paying to their education system. We all should. And DA
leader Helen Zille was right to say that teachers’ union Sadtu is our
biggest problem. But Mugabe’s argument has several omissions that undermine
it. Zimbabwe has been free, with the word used loosely, for 33 years. And
the size of the country does matter.

The 12 million Zimbabweans who remain there account for only, say, the
population of Gauteng, using our last census. Even Basic Education Minister
Angie Motshekga would be the darling of all if our population size was
Zimbabwe’s.

It would be wrong to leave Mugabe’s attack on Zulu to “feminists” because it
is a “women’s issue”. He might get the nod for standing up to Britain and
telling the West off, but Mugabe’s insults deserve our collective
condemnation.

* Makhudu Sefara is the editor of The Star. Follow him on Twitter
@Sefara_Mak

The Star

Zimbabwe Election: The Costs of Coerced Coalition

http://www.chathamhouse.org/

Friday 26 July 2013
by Elisabete Azevedo-Harman, Research Associate, Africa Programme

On July 31, Zimbabwe's two main political parties will go to the polls in
frailer shape than when they entered the unity government arrangement in
2008. The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
remains divided and its opposition credentials have been weakened as a
result of having entered into the inclusive government arrangement.
President Mugabe's ZANU-PF although also divided, enjoys the advantage of
incumbency.

External influence leading up to the elections, including that of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), has been limited but will be
a critical factor in what happens afterwards. The 2008 post-election
violence in Zimbabwe and Kenya required international mediation by regional
organizations and international mediators, resulting in power-sharing
agreements. Such arrangements addressed the violence in the streets but made
the election results redundant. Elections need to have losers and winners.

Forcing compromise
Power-sharing agreements are no novelty in Africa. They have been used in
times of transition in post-conflict or civil war contexts, or to transform
one-party states to multiparty democracies. In other cases, as in Zimbabwe
in 1979 and 1980, and in South Africa in 1993, a transitional government
oversaw an end to a race-based regime.

The power-sharing arrangements of 2008 in Zimbabwe and Kenya marked a new
trend in contemporary African politics. They came from contested elections,
which, independent of the outcome, resulted in no losers. Although both
countries have since seen some economic recovery, it is not clear if this
was the result of governance through 'national unity' or from the reopening
of an economic environment more conducive to international investment.
Arguably the efficiency of two-headed governments is compromised, with
outsized governments attempting to accommodate the prominent members of both
political parties. Despite economic gains, in political terms the Zimbabwean
agreement did not overcome party disputes, but rather made the main
opposition more fragile and significantly damaged the institution of
elections.

Although power-sharing was adopted by both Zimbabwe and Kenya, there are
some key differences. Kenya did not have a nationalist party like ZANU-PF,
competing against a developing and divided opposition. ZANU-PF came to power
in 1980 and has governed Zimbabwe since. It carries with it the legacy of a
liberation movement, which has historical and regional relevance and gives
it considerable influence over the army and the police. The MDC, by
contrast, was less than 10 years old at the time of the 2008 elections, and
had no experience in governance, either local or national.

Elections do not guarantee democratization, but there is no democracy
without elections. The 2008 elections in Zimbabwe and Kenya were not free of
procedural problems but they were not a façade; it was the ensuing violence
that forced international actors to impose a solution, and at the time, the
urgency of the situation made the power-sharing option viable and necessary.
But this option carries a heavy political cost and it can damage the
public's perception of elections, which is the case in Zimbabwe.

Troubled coalition
If the country was divided before the power-sharing agreement, it is no less
divided five years later. Credibility of elections has decreased among
voters, while distrust between parties and even within parties has
increased. The aim of power sharing in Zimbabwe was to end post-election
violence. However, despite short-term gains the inclusive government has
revealed the down-side of coerced coalition.

The 2008 violence has generated new uncertainties for 2013. The two parties
dominating the contest are as bitter rivals now as they were in 2008 and may
have developed an even greater intolerance for each other.

In the event of a resounding victory for ZANU-PF and President Mugabe,
doubts about the credibility of the electoral process may rise and here SADC
observers will play a crucial role in assessing the fairness of the process.
For SADC’s own credibility it needs to be certain of its verdict, and to be
seen as convincing in the eyes of Zimbabweans, the international community
and also opinion in their own member countries. If the result is close, as
in 2008, it is likely that the battle among the national actors will be
repeated. The question then is what approach regional and international
organizations can or should take this time. Forcing unwilling bedfellows
into yet another power-sharing arrangement is unlikely, and could
furthermore damage already fragile political institutions and undo economic
gains.

Some creativity and courage will be required from the international
community, and in particular from SADC. This is not asking much in light of
the courage of the Zimbabwean electorate who, in an environment of fear,
will still head to the polls.

Zimbabwe Election: Voting for Progress

http://www.chathamhouse.org/

Friday 26 July 2013
by Knox Chitiyo, Associate Fellow, Africa Programme

Zimbabwe's election on 31 July will mark the formal end of the fragile 2009
Government of National Unity (GNU) which, for all its fractiousness, has
proved surprisingly resilient and brought economic stability to Zimbabwe
after a decade of national trauma.

There are five candidates contesting the presidential vote – Robert Mugabe
(ZANU-PF), Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC), Welshman Ncube (MDC), Dumiso Dabengwa
(ZAPU), and Kisinoti Mukwazhe (Zimbabwe Development Party). There is a sense
of déjà vu as rival heavyweights Tsvangirai and Mugabe battle for primacy
for the fifth time in thirteen years. Despite the importance of the
complementary parliamentary and council polls, real power in Zimbabwe's
recent history has been in the hands of the presidency. Both rivals have a
solid base of support. 89-year-old Mugabe has been energized by the
campaign. Surveys in 2012 by Freedom House and Afro-Barometer suggested
disillusionment with the MDC-T, thus setting the scene for a Mugabe and
ZANU-PF resurgence. But although surveys can capture public sentiment at the
time, in politics, things change and elections can produce surprises.

Outcome not assured
Morgan Tsvangirai's domestic travails and failure to deliver on key promises
while in government have eroded his standing. But recent surveys and opinion
polls indicate that in his whirlwind national campaign tour, Tsvangirai has
managed to reconnect with his base and will mount a major challenge to
Mugabe. For both men – but arguably more so for Tsvangirai – the elections
are all or nothing. Whether Mugabe wins or loses the presidential poll, he
will remain an elder statesman of Zimbabwean politics. Tsvangirai needs to
win if he is to be considered a grandee in Zimbabwe's politics. If he loses,
or wins but fails to take power, as happened in 2008, then his political
future will be in doubt.

The presidential election is about more than Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Welshman
Ncube and Dumiso Dabengwa will also play a part. There has been speculation
that the two MDC candidates along with other political parties may establish
a tactical grand coalition to contest the elections against ZANU-PF. Ncube
and Tsvangirai have formed electoral pacts with other parties, and in the
event of a closely contested and/or disputed result, or a run-off vote,
Ncube and ZAPU could become kingmakers. The fifth candidate, Kisinoti
Mukwazhe, is little known and his party does not have established grassroots
structures so he is not expected to be a major challenger.

Same issues
The politics of conviction and the politics of fear will both play a part in
rural and urban areas on 31 July, but none of the parties and their
contenders can afford to forget the truism that all 'politics is local'.
Crowds can be galvanized by ideology and populist messages of black
empowerment or human rights but it is the politics of hunger – both literal
and metaphorical – which will decide the day.

Voters will assess what their local MPs and parties have done for them in
terms of jobs, basic services, agricultural assistance, housing, water and
sanitation, food availability and more. ZANU-PF's liberationist-black
empowerment ethos still resonates, as does the MDC's Zimbabwean
neo-liberalism agenda. Powerful social constituencies including new
generation evangelists who preach the 'prosperity gospel' – that material
wealth brings spiritual wealth ('God bless my Mercedes!') – have been
mobilized by the contenders to bring in votes. Social media is also playing
a part; Baba Jukwa, a whistle-blower whose insider revelations on Facebook
about ZANU-PF and the security services has attracted more than 200,000
followers; a rival blogger, Amai Jukwa who excoriates the MDC in favour of
ZANU-PF, has around 60,000 followers. But voters will vote according to who
they believe can deliver and assuage the politics of the belly.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has been hamstrung by a crucial lack of
resources and time. Thousands of eligible voters have still not been
registered and the voters roll remains problematic. On 14-16 July uniformed
forces voted nationwide in a special election, seen as a dry-run for 31
July. There were numerous glitches, such as a lack of ballot boxes, names
not appearing on the roll, and late starts. With tempers fraying, police
units had to be deployed at the Harare polls to maintain order. If the ZEC
struggled to process 37,000 voters over three days, what will happen on 31
July when millions will be at the polls? It is likely that the voting period
will have to be extended by a few days and the results deadline extended
beyond 5 August.

A credible poll
There will be a deluge of legal challenges from individuals and parties
following the results. The process is already flawed, but not irreparably
so. However, if a combination of violence, voting irregularities, and
anomalous results reach critical mass, the credibility of the 2013 vote will
be seriously undermined. A decisive victory for Robert Mugabe would result
in a ZANU-PF government, and a clear victory for Morgan Tsvangirai would
likely result in an inclusive government led by the MDC but which also
includes Simba Makoni and other tactical allies.

If the elections are broadly credible and are ratified by the SADC Observer
Mission and the AU, then Zimbabwe's new government will be given legitimacy
by its peers. But if there is local and international consensus and evidence
suggesting that the process and outcome is flawed, then SADC and the AU will
face pressure not to endorse the election and to recommend a re-run. This is
a scenario few would want. In August, Zimbabwe and Zambia will co-host the
UN World Tourism Summit, with thousands of delegates and tourists expected.
A continuing political crisis in Zimbabwe would be a major distraction for
the regional community and would also deepen local and global political and
economic fault lines.

For more than a decade, SADC and South Africa have invested time, money and
political capital in mediatory diplomacy on Zimbabwe. Since 2009, and
despite facing numerous challenges, Zimbabwe has been on an upward
trajectory. The hope – and it is still a reasonable one – is that the 2013
election will be passably credible and produce a new government which is fit
for purpose.

Zimbabwe cannot remain a blight on Africa

http://gulfnews.com/

Editorial

African Union and its member states must not allow Mugabe to unfairly win
another flawed election
Gulf NewsPublished: 20:00 July 27, 2013Gulf News

The Zimbabwean election, scheduled for the end of this month, is likely to
be flawed, but there is still time to ensure that it is substantially free
and fair and the outcome is a reasonable reflection of the will of the
people. The contest is basically between President Robert Mugabe, who has
held on to power for more than 30 years, in part through the use of violence
and intimidation by his supporters in previous polls, and his prime
minister, Morgan Tsvangirai. The two were forced into a power-sharing
government after an inconclusive election in 2008, amid widespread
allegations of intimidation of Tsvangirai and his supporters.

There are a myriad concerns. The casting of special votes was marred by a
shortage of balloting material, polling stations opened late and there were
irregularities in the voters roll. By many reports, the electoral commission
in Zimbabwe is struggling to be ready for the poll. There will be 600
observers from African countries keeping an eye on the polls, along with
6,000 local monitors. Western observers have not been invited because of
sanctions they have imposed on Mugabe and his top officials for property
seizures and human rights violations.

The observers must do what they can to ensure the poll is substantially free
and fair. The African Union and its member states must make it clear to
Mugabe that he will not be allowed to unfairly win another flawed election.
At a time when Africa is making significant economic and political progress,
Mugabe cannot remain a blight on the continent.

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others

Dear Family and Friends,
In four days time Zimbabwe goes to the polls to choose between 60 year
old Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC and 89 year old Robert Mugabe of Zanu
PF. Mr Tsvangirai has held office as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
for the last four years. Mr Mugabe has held office as the President of
the country for the last 33 years.

Zimbabwe will also be choosing parliamentary and local council
candidates but tragically those choices have almost faded into
insignificance as the giant battle for the top job has engulfed
everything else.

There are so many things that I could write about at such a dramatic
time in our history but I have chosen only one which for me tells the
whole story of Zimbabwe in a few lines. It was a small and seemingly
insignificant incident which happened at a police road block
yesterday. For some time I could see in my rear-view mirror a bright
blue 70 seater bus closing the gap between us and bearing down fast.
It was definitely going a great deal faster than the maximum 80
km/hour speed limit that was clearly displayed in red paint on its
chassis. When the bus was so close behind me that I thought it would
run me off the road, it swung out and overtook. I was doing 110
km/hour on the open road; it was doing at least 120. Less than two
minutes after the bus had overtaken me and while it was still clearly
visible on the section of straight highway ahead, there was a police
road block. The police waved the bus through but indicated that I
should pull off the road. When the policeman had finished looking over
my vehicle minutely, I asked why they hadn’t stopped the blue bus
which was so obviously speeding and endangering the lives of the 70
passengers on board. I told the policeman how fast I was going when
the full bus overtook me but that was ignored, as was the slip of
paper I held out with the number plate of the bus written on it.
“Aah but that’s a government bus,” the policeman said, laughing.
The blue bus was a ZUPCO bus, owned by the government and hurtling
along filled, not with government officials but with ordinary men,
women and children – all totally at the mercy of the driver.

The policeman’s comment about not stopping the government bus said
it all about Zimbabwe in 2013. There is one rule for ‘them’ and
another completely different rule for the rest of ‘us.’ As George
Orwell so famously wrote: “All animals are equal, but some are more
equal than others.”

Knowing just exactly who is more equal than who, we go to the polls in
a few days. To all Zimbabweans, wherever you are in the country,
please, please go and vote on Wednesday the 31st July. Your vote does
count. Vote for the countless thousands of so called ‘Alien’
Zimbabweans who’ve been struck off the voters roll and haven’t
been able to get back on. Vote for the 3 or 4 million Zimbabweans in
the Diaspora who’ve been denied their right to vote. Vote for the
thousands who died of cholera because their government could not give
them clean water; for the thousands who died of hunger and
malnutrition because there was no food to buy. Vote for the estimated
one million Zimbabweans whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed by
government bulldozers in their Operation Murambatsvina. Vote for the
multiple thousands of Zimbabweans who have been murdered, tortured,
maimed, raped and beaten in the name of political violence. Please, if
you can, go and vote.
Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy. 26th July 2013.
Copyright � Cathy Buckle.
www.cathybuckle.com

Mugabe's British henchman

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

One of our worst slum landlords , he built a
monstrous mansion in Sussex and had a rival murdered. Now the Mail can
reveal Nicholas Van Hoogstraten's astonishing new life

Nicholas Van Hoogstraten is flourishing under Mugabe’s murderous regime
He has become Zimbabwe’s biggest landowner
British exile owns two sprawling homes with tennis courts
By ANDREW MALONE

PUBLISHED: 01:20 GMT, 27 July 2013 | UPDATED: 06:34 GMT, 27 July 2013

His Excellency was in mad, sparkling form. After thousands of supporters
were bussed into a football stadium for an election rally this week, Robert
Gabriel Mugabe used the podium to blame Zimbabwe’s ills on western
politicians keen to promote equal rights for homosexuals.

Flanked by his wife Grace, who has been accused of having an affair with the
country’s finance chief because her 89-year-old husband can no longer
satisfy her, Mugabe promised to ‘chop the heads off’ gays, and took a swipe
at Barack Obama and David Cameron for supporting their rights.

‘This homosexuality thing seeks to destroy our lineage by saying John and
John should wed, Maria and Maria should wed,’ thundered Mugabe as his wife
nodded approvingly alongside him. ‘Imagine this son born out of an African
father — Obama — who says if you want aid, you should accept the
homosexuality practice. We will never do that.’

In a long, rambling speech, the despot added: ‘If you take men and lock them
in a house for five years and tell them to come up with two children and
they fail to do that, then we will chop off their heads.’

He went on to accuse other African countries of ‘accepting the practice’ in
return for aid donations from Britain and America.

Of course Mugabe, who, despite his infirmity and age, is fighting a general
election this Wednesday, has long railed at interference by Westerners.

He notoriously drove the country’s white farmers — often of British
descent — off their land in a prolonged campaign of terror, and is now
introducing laws banning whites from owning businesses.

Yet, curiously, one British man is flourishing under Mugabe’s murderous
regime. While his fellow white farmers have been murdered in their hundreds,
and their land given to the despot’s cronies, this slight grey-haired
individual has become Zimbabwe’s biggest landowner.

As well as owning a staggering 1,600 square miles of prime land in the heart
of the country (Cornwall is only 1,400 square miles), the British exile also
owns two sprawling homes replete with tennis courts, swimming pools and
garish chrome architecture, with grounds patrolled by Mugabe’s secret
police.

So who is this intimate friend of the ageing despot? Step forward Nicholas
Van Hoogstraten, the self-confessed ‘amoral businessman’ who made his
fortune as a slum landlord in Britain but is better known for being the
brains behind the gruesome gangland slaying of a business rival, who was
stabbed five times before being shot in the head.

Once described by a judge as a ‘self-imagined devil who thinks he is an
emissary of Beelzebub’, Hoogstraten was born in Bognor in 1946 and as an
11-year-old schoolboy started selling stamps to noted collectors.

It later transpired that the young Hoogstraten, who claimed to have a stamp
collection worth £30,000, had hired classmates to steal the stamps for him
from specialist shops.

By the time he was 14, he had taken to wearing a suit to school and would
excuse himself from lessons to sit in an empty classroom, where he would
read the Financial Times and attend to business deals.

As a teenager, he started a loan-shark business that saw him take property
deeds as collateral for loans. He also ran nightclubs in Brighton and once
called Rod Stewart, the rock star, a greedy ‘little runt’ in a row over
takings.

He was a bully to his mother Edna and hated his father Charles.

He once changed his name by deed poll to Adolf von Hessen, and used
countless aliases to evade the authorities while, over the next five
decades, he made a multi-million pound fortune.

He also picked up a string of convictions for offences which ranged from
organising a henchman to throw a grenade at a priest, to the 2002 conviction
for manslaughter for the killing of that business rival. The verdict was
overturned on appeal, but he was ordered to pay the victim’s family £6
million in a civil case in 2005.

Two years later, this odious individual slunk out of the country, leaving
behind his £40 million Sussex mansion Hamilton Place, together with the vast
mausoleum he built there for himself — and ended up in Zimbabwe, where he
already had business interests, determined to make himself even richer.

He insists ‘the only purpose in creating great wealth is to separate oneself
from the riffraff’, and famously keeps details of his business deals in his
head so that there is ‘nothing in writing, no records of anything’.

Unfortunately for Hoogstraten, his friends in Zimbabwe do not follow his
example. Mugabe’s intelligence agencies, for instance, which run a myriad of
criminal operations, from diamond smuggling to arms dealing, keep detailed
written dossiers on all their partners-in-crime.

After reports this week that Mugabe is, predictably, planning to rig the
forthcoming elections, Hoogstraten was named as having donated $3 million to
Mugabe, who has set up terror camps to hold political opponents and has
ordered thousands of unemployed thugs to be deployed to intimidate voters.

Hoogstraten said this week that the donation was not being used to rig
election results.

But secret documents passed to me this week in Harare, the Zimbabwean
capital, by a senior intelligence source at the heart of Mugabe’s regime
appear to show what Hoogstraten wants in return for his largesse — and, if
true, they reveal the price is exceptionally high.

In short, the documents suggest he wants access to the world’s biggest
diamond find this century.

Mugabe and his military were alerted to reports of locals finding priceless
gems near Marange in a remote south-west corner of the country in 2007. The
military immediately sealed the area and chased and killed local prospectors
off the land.

Now it is a highly-militarized zone, patrolled with soldiers and dogs, to
prevent local smugglers taking the stones, which experts say could be worth
many billions of pounds.

Headed Top Secret and allegedly prepared for Mugabe’s shadowy military
junta, known as the Joint Operations Command, the documents I was passed
claim that Hoogstraten has struck an agreement with Mugabe to be given a
lucrative diamond concession at the Marange diamond fields.

Experts believe the gems from Marange could account for more than a quarter
of all diamonds mined around the globe, and Mugabe and his corrupt cronies
are already siphoning millions from the mine every year.

The documents also suggest that two of Hoogstraten’s sons, Maximillion and
Alexander, are appointed to a company called Mbada Diamonds, which is run by
the president to extract the diamonds and sell them to China.

Under the heading ‘Agreements’, these secret papers say that Hoogstraten has
been granted such lucrative concessions because he has ‘shown unwavering
financial and moral support to Security 1 (code for Mugabe), and remains
loyal and steadfast to ZANU-PF and the security apparatus with timely
donations’.

Such loyalty to Mugabe’s regime means Hoogstraten’s family would join the
list of unsavoury characters already mining these gems and taking them out
of the country via an elaborate network of aircraft, vehicles and men, all
controlled by the Zimbabwean regime.

The mines are currently operated by Sino-Zimbabwe, a joint venture between
Mugabe’s government and the Chinese government, and Anjin Investments,
another company with ties to Beijing which is building a new
multi-million-pound military training and spy centre for Mugabe in return
for access to the gems.

‘These diamonds have been captured by political elites and are used to fund
violence and keep these people in power,’ says Farai Maguwu, an independent
investigator into abuses at the diamond fields. ‘That means these diamonds
are blood diamonds.’

Not that this would trouble Hoogstraten. Since moving to Zimbabwe, he has
been making himself indispensable to Robert Mugabe’s regime.

So, while life expectancy for ordinary people in the country has plummeted
to 50 years for both men and women, Hoogstraten’s fortune has soared.

On his huge ranch, called Central Estates, Hoogstraten has vast cattle herds
and thousands of acres of crops.

He also has game animals, and regularly invites guests from Mugabe’s inner
circle, as well as overseas business guests, to trophy-hunt these elephants,
big cats and buffalo. His private life in Zimbabwe is equally colourful.
Before he left Britain, he had five children by three women — and he now
describes himself as a ‘confirmed bachelor with three or four mistresses’.

Such are his financial links to the Mugabe regime, he is now regarded as a
‘favoured son’ of the despot and the generals who rule Zimbabwe with an iron
grip. Many here are terrified that Mugabe, using financial help from
businessmen, will this week unleash a campaign of terror and violence,
forcing people to vote for him just as he did in the last elections in 2008.

Mugabe is already using cash from supporters of his ZANU-PF party to deploy
thousands of youths — recruited from slums and trained at military
barracks — to wreak havoc.

He is also using his 300,000-strong army of intelligence agents to ensure
opposition strongholds are targeted, with instructions to carry out acts of
sabotage and fire-bombings at voting stations if it appears that Morgan
Tsvangirai, his opponent, is taking a poll lead.

According to the documents about his nefarious business activities, cash
supplied by Hoogstraten has been used to buy vehicles for Mugabe’s secret
police to target opponents.

The documents also indicate that after Hoogstraten handed over $500,000 for
Mugabe’s coffers at a private ceremony in April this year, he demanded — and
was given — guarantees concerning a whole raft of business concerns should
Mugabe ‘win’ this week’s elections.

As well as the diamond concessions, the documents claim that Hoogstraten has
asked the regime for paratroopers to patrol his businesses, and for secret
service agents to continue to provide a 24-hour guard at his opulent Harare
properties in case his enemies should try to kill him.

The documents state that Hoogstraten, 68, has also been granted assurances
that his other business interests in Africa — which include dealings with
President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, and mines in the Democratic Republic
of Congo — will be protected as far as possible with the help of Mugabe’s
military and diplomatic might.

Amid predictions that Mugabe could be ousted by his own ZANU party if he
loses the poll, Hoogstraten has ensured that he has built up close links
with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country’s defence minister, known as The
Crocodile on account of his violence and savagery towards opponents.

Desperate to take over from Mugabe, who suffers from prostate cancer and
frequently falls asleep at politburo meetings, Mnangagwa is a ruthless
killer who frequently visits Hoogstraten.

Incredibly, the documents claim that Hoogstraten has also promised to pay
for public relations companies, as well as providing $2.5million in cash for
security and an aircraft to be used by Mugabe in the event that he has to
leave the country ‘due to an inconclusive electoral outcome on July 31’.

That, however, is unlikely to happen. Mugabe and Nicholas Marcel Van
Hoogstraten have too much to lose from their macabre relationship.

Which is terrible news for the poor, suffering people of Zimbabwe.