africasia
HARARE, June 29 (AFP)
President Robert Mugabe has claimed he is heading for
a crushing victory in
Zimbabwe's one-man election judging from unofficial
partial tallies he has
seen.
"I thank you for the manner in which you
voted, we won overwhelmingly,"
Mugabe told mourners at a funeral Saturday of
his wife's grandmother,
according to a clip shown on state
television.
"You would not imagine that in Harare, where we had been
beaten in all but
one constituency in the March elections, this time around
not even one went
to the MDC," he said.
In the first round of voting,
the opposition swept 25 out of the 26
constituencies that make up the
capital.
"Today (Saturday) I was looking at the ballots... everywhere in
Harare, not
even one went to the MDC," he said at the funeral in Chikomba
village, south
of the capital.
"I don't know if they (electoral
officials) have finished (tallying), but
that is what it was, not even one
(went to the opposition)," he told a
cheering crowd.
Mugabe staged a
one-man presidential run-off on Friday after opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, who beat won the first round but fell short of an
absolute
majority, boycotted the poll over violence against his
supporters.
Tsvangirai's name remained on the ballot paper after the
electoral
commission said it was too late for him to withdraw.
The
election has been widely dismissed as a sham and many voters claimed
they
were intimidated and coerced to the polling booths.
Scoop, NZ
Sunday, 29 June 2008, 4:35 pm
Press Release: European
Union
Statement by Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the
CFSP, on the
run-off presidential election in Zimbabwe
Brussels - Javier
Solana, the EU High Representative for Common Foreign and
Security Policy,
issued the following statement today condemning the
presidential election
run-off in Zimbabwe:
'Democracy has not been served by today's run-off
election. The people of
Zimbabwe have been deprived of their right to vote
freely and thus deprived
of their dignity.
Under these circumstances,
and with the threat to regional stability posed
by the deteriorating
situation in Zimbabwe, I trust that the relevant
African authorities (the
Southern African Development Community and the
African Union) will draw the
necessary conclusions, in the interests not
only of Zimbabwe but of the
whole of Africa. The outcome of this election
cannot be regarded as
legitimate.'
ENDS
New York Times
By NICHOLAS D.
KRISTOF
Published: June 29, 2008
Patson Chipiro, a democracy activist,
wasn't home when Robert Mugabe's thugs
showed up looking for
him.
So they grabbed his wife, Dadirai, and tormented her by chopping
off one of
her hands and both of her feet. Finally, they threw her into a
hut, locked
the door and burned it to the ground.
That has been the
pattern lately: with opposition figures in hiding, Mr.
Mugabe's goons kill
loved ones to send a message of intimidation. Even the
wife of the
mayor-elect of Harare, the capital, was kidnapped and beaten to
death.
When the white supremacist regime of Ian Smith oppressed
Zimbabweans in the
1970s, African countries rallied against it. Eventually,
even the white
racist government in South Africa demanded change and
threatened to cut off
electricity supplies if it didn't happen.
Yet
South African President Thabo Mbeki continues to make excuses for Mr.
Mugabe
- who is more brutal than Ian Smith ever was - out of misplaced
deference
for a common history in the liberation struggle. Zimbabweans
suffered so
much for so many decades from white racism that the last thing
they need is
excuses for Mr. Mugabe's brutality because of his skin color.
Life
expectancy in Zimbabwe has already dropped from the low 60s to the high
30s.
It's true that he has created more trillionaires than any other
country, but
that's only because inflation may be as much as 10 million
percent. Anyone
with $90 is a trillionaire in Zimbabwean dollars, and buying
a small loaf of
bread costs one billion Zimbabwean dollars.
When I grew up in the 1970s,
a central truth was that Ian Smith was evil and
Mr. Mugabe heroic. So it was
jolting on my last visit to Zimbabwe, in 2005,
to see how many Zimbabweans
looked back on oppressive white rule with
nostalgia. They offered a refrain:
"Back then, at least parents could feed
their children."
Africa's
rulers often complain, with justice, that the West's perceptions of
the
continent are disproportionately shaped by buffoons and tyrants rather
than
by the increasing number of democratically elected presidents presiding
over
6 percent growth rates. But as long as African presidents mollycoddle
Mr.
Mugabe, they are branding Africa with his image.
To his credit, Zambian
President Levy Mwanawasa has taken the lead in
denouncing Mr. Mugabe's
abuses, and Nelson Mandela bluntly deplored Mr.
Mugabe's "tragic failure of
leadership." Mr. Mandela could also have been
talking about Mr. Mbeki's own
failures.
The United States doesn't have much leverage, and Britain
squandered its
influence partly by focusing on the plight of dispossessed
white farmers.
(That's tribalism for Anglo-Saxons.) But there is a way
out.
The solution is for leaders at the African Union summit this week to
give
Mr. Mugabe a clear choice.
One option would be for him to
"retire" honorably - "for health reasons"
after some face-saving claims of
heart trouble - at a lovely estate in South
Africa, taking top aides with
him. He would be received respectfully and
awarded a $5 million bank account
to assure his comfort for the remainder of
his days.
The other
alternative is that he could dig in his heels and cling to power.
African
leaders should make clear that in that case, they will back an
indictment of
him and his aides in the International Criminal Court. Led by
the Southern
African Development Community, the world will also impose
sanctions against
Mr. Mugabe's circle and cut off all military supplies and
spare parts.
Mozambique, South Africa and Congo will also cut off the
electricity they
provide to Zimbabwe.
If those are the alternatives, then the odds are
that Mr. Mugabe will
publicly clutch his chest and insist that he must step
down. There will
still be risks of civil conflict and a military coup, but
Zimbabwe would
have a reasonable prospect of again becoming, as Mr. Mugabe
once called it,
"the jewel of Africa."
Some people will object that a
tyrant shouldn't be rewarded with a pot of
cash and a comfortable exile.
That's true. But any other approach will
likely result in far more deaths,
perhaps even civil war.
How do we know that sanctions will work? Well, we
have Mr. Mugabe's own
testimony.
In a 1987 essay in Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Mugabe called on the U.S. to impose
sanctions on white-ruled South
Africa for engaging in a "vicious and ugly
civil war" against its own
people. Mr. Mugabe demanded that the world
"accept the value of sanctions as
a means of raising the cost" of brutal
misrule.
If only Mr. Mugabe
were a white racist! Then the regional powers might stand
up to him. For the
sake of Zimbabweans, we should be just as resolute in
confronting African
tyrants who are black as in confronting those who are
white.
I invite
you to comment on this column on my blog,
www.nytimes.com/ontheground, and
join me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/kristof.
African Press Organization
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, June 28, 2008/African Press
Organization (APO)/ -
African states should impose sanctions against Robert
Mugabe and his
illegitimate government in Zimbabwe after the sham
presidential runoff,
Human Rights Watch said today. The situation in
Zimbabwe, where government
violence against opposition supporters continued
even after the vote on June
27, 2008, will be on the agenda at the African
Union summit in Sharm El
Sheik, Egypt, on June 30 and July
1.
"The African Union can help end the violence in Zimbabwe by taking
the
strongest possible action against Robert Mugabe and his government,"
said
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "African and
UN
leaders urged Mugabe to postpone the runoff and he refused, amid a wave
of
violence against opposition supporters that's still going on. Recognizing
the election results would not only reward the sponsors of serious crimes in
Zimbabwe, it would irreparably discredit the African
Union."
Human Rights Watch documented numerous incidents of
intimidation, violence
and manipulation of the vote by Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF party before, during
and after the June 27 runoff vote. In the
capital, Harare, Human Rights
Watch documented incidents of reprisal attacks
by ZANU-PF supporters against
people who did not go out and vote for Mugabe.
In the neighborhoods of
Chitungwiza and Westlea, several people told Human
Rights Watch that in the
early hours of June 28, ZANU-PF supporters went
door to door, forcing people
to show their fingers for signs of the
indelible ink which shows that a
person voted. The ZANU-PF supporters took
those who did not have ink on
their fingers to ZANU-PF bases in the areas
and beat them with batons and
thick sticks. Others were targeted because
their names did not appear on a
list compiled by ZANU-PF that showed who had
voted in particular polling
stations.
Zimbabweans told Human
Rights Watch that at several polling stations in
Harare they were forced to
pass through unofficial stations set up by
ZANU-PF outside polling booths,
and submit their names and details to
ZANU-PF officials. They were given
cards and ordered to write down the
serial numbers of their ballot papers so
that ZANU-PF officials could trace
those who had voted for Mugabe and those
who had not. Human Rights Watch
received similar reports from Marondera in
Mashonaland East province. In
Mkoba, Gweru in the Midlands province, people
told Human Rights Watch that
ZANU-PF supporters and youth militia were
checking people's fingers for
signs of indelible ink and ordering those
without the ink to go and vote.
In the days before the vote, ZANU-PF
supporters rounded up and beat scores
of people in the suburbs of Epworth
and Chitungwiza on the outskirts of
Harare. Many people sustained serious
injuries, including multiple
fractures, and were hospitalized at
Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare. In one
incident, three people told Human
Rights Watch that ZANU-PF supporters
forced them to attend a rally in
Epworth at which former Minister of Mines
Amos Midzi spoke. He told people
that they would be beaten because they
supported the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC); then ZANU-PF
supporters beat them with batons and
sticks.
After the beatings ZANU-PF supporters informed people
that if they valued
their lives they would go and vote for Mugabe. The
ZANU-PF supporters also
told the people that they would go door to door
after the vote checking
peoples' fingers for the ink. Human Rights Watch
received similar reports of
threats and intimidation by ZANU-PF supporters
in other suburbs in Harare.
People informed Human Rights Watch that ZANU-PF
had dubbed this new campaign
of violence and intimidation "Operation Where
Is the Ink?" or "Operation Red
Finger."
"ZANU-PF's overall
strategy seems to be to eliminate any opposition to the
government," Gagnon
said. "Only the strongest possible action from the
African Union can help to
prevent further bloodshed and loss of life."
Human Rights Watch urged
the African Union to uphold its African Charter on
Democracy, Elections and
Governance, by declaring the runoff
unconstitutional as "an illegal means of
maintaining power" and suspending
Zimbabwe from the African Union. The
African Union should also impose
punitive economic measures and other
sanctions against the "perpetrators of
an unconstitutional change of
government" including Mugabe and the members
of the Joint Operations Command
(JOC). The JOC, which includes the heads of
the army, air force, police and
prison services, and Minister of Rural
Housing Emmerson Mnagagwa, has been
widely implicated in planning and
inciting the violence that has plagued the
country since the general
elections on March 29.
Human Rights
Watch also called on the African Union to ensure that members
of Mugabe's
government and security forces who are implicated in serious
human rights
violations are excluded from any discussions about a possible
government of
national unity and do not form any part of such a government.
Mugabe,
Mnagagwa and Air Force Commander Perence Shiri have a long record of
abuses
dating back to systematic and widespread atrocities in Matabeleland
and
Midlands provinces in the 1980s.
"Mugabe's brutal hijacking of this
election should be reason enough to
exclude him from any discussions on a
transitional government," said Gagnon.
"Rather than getting a seat in a new
government, Mugabe and other officials
responsible for serious abuses should
be investigated and held to account."
Human Rights Watch called on
the African Union to immediately press for the
deployment of peacekeepers to
Zimbabwe to stop the violence and protect
people from further violence and
reprisal attacks.
Human Rights Watch also urged African leaders
to appoint a group of
impartial eminent persons to replace the failed
mediation effort by South
African President Thabo Mbeki.
A group
of impartial eminent persons should be taking the lead to resolve
the crisis
in Zimbabwe," Gagnon said.
SOURCE : Human Right Watch (HRW)
Reuters
Sun 29 Jun 2008,
5:26 GMT
NAIROBI, June 29 (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) should
deploy troops in
Zimbabwe to resolve a crisis that has become an
"embarrassment" to the
continent, Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga was
quoted as saying on
Sunday.
"What is happening in Zimbabwe is a shame
and an embarrassment to Africa in
the eyes of the international community
and should be denounced," Odinga
said in Swahili during a visit to his home
province Nyanza in west Kenya.
"So we are saying we want the African
Union to send troops to Zimbabwe. The
time has come for the African
continent to stand firm in unity to end
dictatorship," added Odinga in the
speech on Saturday.
Odinga -- a former opposition leader whose
power-sharing agreement with
President Mwai Kibaki after Kenya's disputed
election is touted by some as a
possible model for Zimbabwe -- has been one
of the most vocal critics of
Mugabe in Africa.
Mugabe was expected to
be declared the winner of Zimbabwe's widely condemned
election on
Sunday.
Critics are calling for action to end Mugabe's 28-year rule after
he went
ahead with Friday's presidential run-off despite opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai's withdrawal because of killings of his
supporters.
"President Mugabe went ahead with the fake elections in which
he competed
against himself. That was a fake election and we do not
recognise it,"
Odinga said.
"You cannot say you have won an election
in which you arrest your opponents,
where you beat and kill your opponents,
where people cannot campaign because
you have locked them in
jail."
Odinga also responded to media reports that Mugabe had said the
Kenyan
premier was persona non grata in Zimbabwe.
"Mugabe says that
Raila is his enemy number one. I do not need to go to
Zimbabwe ... I don't
intend to do so under Mugabe's leadership," he said in
the comments carried
by Kenyan newspapers and broadcasters. (Writing by
Andrew Cawthorne; Editing
by Charles Dick)
SABC
June 29, 2008,
07:30
ANC President Jacob Zuma has joined other African leaders in
rejecting more
sanctions as an option to end the crisis in
Zimbabwe.
Yesterday, President George W. Bush ordered US sanctions
against the
"illegitimate" government of Zimbabwe, and a number of African
leaders
preparing for the African Union summit in Egypt tomorrow suggested
that the
AU would not support Western calls for sanctions.
Zuma has
also spoken out against military intervention and says what is
needed is
serious dialogue between the different parties.
Meanwhile, President
Thabo Mbeki has arrived in Sharm EL Sheikh, Egypt to
attend the summit
called to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe. The African
Union has confirmed
that events in Zimbabwe will feature high on the agenda.
It says it is
confident that a solution will be found to the political
impasse.
Barbados Advocate
Web Posted - Sun Jun 29 2008
By
Leonard Shorey
It is indeed time to speak out. The Editorial of Sunday,
June 22, in another
section of the press took a bold, but much to be
commended stand with
respect to the media and the deplorable events taking
place in Zimbabwe
under Mr. Robert Mugabe dictator and
tyrant.
Commenting on the "appalling and cowardly silence shrouding the
issue in
Barbados and its Caribbean neighbours", the Editorial made a strong
plea for
agencies, public and private, to come out and express criticism of
the
dastardly actions of Mr. Mugabe and his henchmen, who torture and abuse
their political opponents almost with impunity. It also quite rightly
pointed out that in this "conspiracy of silence" they were no different from
"our local friends of Africa likewise (who) seeing and hearing no evil, hold
their tongues". It is indeed a most shameful situation for, as the Editorial
pungently comments, "There are occasions when silence is as sinful as the
evil it hides".
This column has more than once drawn attention to the
evil and wicked ways
of Mr. Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party. Mr. Mugabe
brooks no opposition,
deliberately seeking to stifle all political
expression which opposes him.
Attention must therefore be drawn once again
to the lamentable state to
which a once prosperous country has been reduced.
At one time described as
the breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe has indeed
fallen on evil days and under
the gross mismanagement and short-sighted and
misguided policies of Mr.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe is now a badly impoverished
country where hunger is
widespread, with skyrocketing inflation (exceeding
an astonishing 7 000 per
cent) exacerbated by "shortages of fuel,
electricity, foreign currency, food
and just about every other basic
survival commodity". It is also a country
where the life expectancy is one
of the lowest, if not the lowest, in the
world. Zimbabwe has indeed become a
country in deep distress.
What makes all this very much worse is the
absolute refusal of dictator
Mugabe to allow free and fair elections. His
police and party members
regularly and brutally assault members of the
Opposition and Mr. Mugabe
himself has made it clear that he will not accept
a public vote against him.
His brutal actions indicate this beyond all
doubt, but his own public
statements indicate quite clearly that he intends
to hold on to power at any
cost including brutal treatment of those who
dare to oppose him. In his
own words "Only God & will remove me" a
clear indication of his
determination to ignore a national vote against him
and his ZANU-PF. Indeed,
the situation has been reached where the level of
intimidation of opponents
and their brutal treatment by Mugabe's thugs are
so great that the
Opposition party is withdrawing from the elections. In the
words of Mr.
Tsvangirai: "We cant ask the people to cast their vote on June
27 when that
vote will cost their lives." It is an unfortunate decision, but
is
understandable from the point of view of those who live in constant fear
of
victimisation, including brutal woundings and other assaults.
In
these circumstance, the Editorial referred to above is quite right to
"call
upon the Government of Barbados forcefully to add Barbados' voice to
those
too, too few nations that are already speaking out against the
stifling of
democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe". Likewise, it is calling
"on the
labour unions, churches and all elements of civil society to add
voices
against the manifest evil that is choking Zimbabwe". This column
unhesitatingly adds its voice in support of the kinds of actions urged by
the Editorial, for it ill-becomes us to remain silent in the face of such
unmitigated evil as is now running rampant in the once-prosperous country of
Zimbabwe. It is to be hoped that the Editorial's pleas will not fall on deaf
ears and that the Government as well as private sector organisations will
raise their voices in loud condemnation of the events that have taken place
and are still taking place in Zimbabwe. In that benighted country the rule
of law has been savagely damaged and democracy is lying on its deathbed, if
not already expired.
The story of Zimbabwe is truly a tale of woe of
a people whose country has
vast and valuable resources, but whose government
has literally laid it
waste. The government has successfully and
unapologetically savaged the
country and impoverished its citizens in blind
adherence to a misguided
philosophy that is both unrealistic and
destructive. Added to this is what
may well be described as the megalomania
of the present ruler, who refuses
to accept or even to entertain the idea of
giving up an office to which he
obviously intends to cling for dear life,
irrespective of the consequences
for the country at large and vast numbers
of its citizens. It is an
appalling situation. One last word from the
Editorial previously referred
to: "It may be fashionable to ignore the
misdeeds of our friends and those
to whom we are culturally and historically
aligned & (but) nations of
African descent cannot continue to give Mr.
Mugabe a free pass based on his
former freedom fighting credentials (for) he
is & arguably now more
poisonous than the régime he replaced." The time
to speak out is now.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June
2008 17:56
THE world yesterday roundly condemned the one-candidate
Presidential
run-off held on Friday as pressure mounted on the African Union
to toughen
its stance on President Robert Mugabe at tomorrow's summit in
Egypt.
Mugabe's one-man election race is due for discussion at
the AU summit,
where leaders are expected for the first time to voice their
opposition to
the manner in which Mugabe went ahead with the poll, after MDC
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai pulled out.
Tsvangirai boycotted
Friday's election citing escalating violence,
among other things he said
impeded a credible poll. His calls for the polls
to be deferred were turned
down by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
The body yesterday
said it was too early to expect any results since
the collation and
verification exercise was now taking place at provincial
command centres.
But The Standard understands that part of the results was
due for release
last night, with the remainder expected early today.
There was also
confirmation that there was "a lot of activity at State
House, late
yesterday", suggesting Mugabe could be sworn in today, soon
after final
results are known.
Unconfirmed reports showed, however, that the
government wanted to
beat Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's record, who was
sworn in thirty minutes
after announcement of the results. They wanted
results announced early so
that Mugabe, who was said to have scored a
"landslide victory against
Tsvangirai" could be sworn in today before he
travels to the AU summit.
Diplomatic sources yesterday said Mugabe
could get more than he has
bargained for.
Over the past few
weeks, several African leaders have lost their
patience with Mugabe, whom
they have fiercely defended since 2000.
But as he upped his war
rhetoric ahead of the Friday's election, as
more opposition supporters were
killed, even SADC leaders voiced their
concern with the way he encouraged
violence against opposition members.
British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown yesterday urged AU leaders to use
the summit as an opportunity to
restore hope for the people of Zimbabwe. He
said Mugabe's regime was
"illegitimate and sickening".
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper said the vote was an "ugly
perversion of democracy".
US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice revealed that she was working
with the
other UN member countries on a resolution that would send a "strong
message
of deterrence" to Mugabe.
Mugabe defied the UN Security Council
which unanimously agreed that
elections could not go ahead because
conditions guaranteeing a free and fair
poll did not exist.
The
Security Council said it deeply regretted the election which was
shunned by
thousands of voters.
Unlike in the 29 March polls when people woke
up as early as 4AM to
queue at polling stations, there was little activity
at the polling
stations, except in rural areas where people were marshalled
to the polling
stations.
Observing the situation on Friday,
election day, The Standard news
crew came face to face with low turn outs in
most of Harare's suburbs.
As evidence of intimidation and
harassment of voters by the Zanu PF
militia, a voter was arrested by police
at Kuwadzana 1 Primary School after
he was found taking down serial numbers
of his ballot.
On being quizzed the unidentified man told polling
officers and the
police that he had been instructed by Zanu PF militia in
his area to bring
the serial numbers as proof that he had
voted.
Presiding officer for number 1A polling station, Solomon
Gowe said
they had caught many people taking down serial
numbers.
"Most of them say they were asked to do this by their
leaders," said
Gowe. There were similar reports in Zengeza in Chitungwiza,
Highfield,
Epworth, Waterfalls, Warren Park 1, Murehwa, Rusape, Banket,
Bindura and
Kadoma.
A source confided to The Standard that
there were many spoilt ballot
papers.
"Some voted for both
candidates, while at some papers, there were
question marks and other funny
inscriptions," said the source. In some rural
parts of Masvingo, like Gutu,
which previously voted overwhelming for MDC,
villagers were forced to go and
vote with their village heads and chiefs.
The situation was the same in
Murehwa.
In the Gwanda South constituency where there was another
by-election,
Petros Mukwena, the MDC secretary for Matabeleland South also
said villagers
in that province were warned against boycotting the
election.
"Most villagers voted against their will just to avoid
the threatened
crackdown by Zanu-PF militias and war veterans against all
that did not
vote," he said.
Villagers in Plumtree speaking to
The Standard confirmed that war
veterans forced them to go and vote against
their will.
In some parts of Gokwe, Mberengwa and Nhema,
villagers turned up at
the polls unaware that Tsvangirai had pulled
out.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
said he was saddened by the reports of voter intimidation that
his party had
received.
"There is nothing legitimate about this
election process."
*Information and Publicity Minister, Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu on Friday lost
a third consecutive bid for the Mpopoma-Pelandaba
constituency after he was
beaten by a candidate from the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) in a
by-election.
Although, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said
the official
tally was not ready by late yesterday, results posted outside
polling
stations indicated that the MDC-T's Samuel Sandla Khumalo had an
unassailable lead.
*Additional reporting by Rutendo Mawere and
Godfrey Mutimba
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:54
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the disputed
presidential run-off election held
on Friday could expose loopholes in the
country's electoral laws, as
evidenced by different interpretations of the
legality of the move by legal
experts and the authorities.
The government, the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) and some legal
experts argued that the withdrawal
was "a legal nullity" as Tsvangirai
registered his consent to take part in
the election by contesting on 29
March, knowing the election could result in
a run-off, an "irreversible
process". ZEC went ahead with the election on
Friday.
But others believe the withdrawal "is in compliance with
the national
laws and regional and international human rights standards
relating to
elections", and that Tsvangirai "can be said to have
substantively complied
with the requirements of the electoral
law".
The conflicting interpretations, it was argued, also show
"that the
drafters (of the Electoral Act) overlooked the need to ensure that
comprehensive provisions were included to deal with the procedure of the
run-off".
Tsvangirai pulled out of the run off against
President Robert Mugabe
citing the killing of more than 90 of his
supporters, violence, intimidation
and the disruption of his campaign
rallies by State security agents and Zanu
PF militias.
He said
the run-off was "illegally delayed" as it was held after the
21 days from
the date of announcement of results prescribed in the law, and
that certain
requirements, such as the payment of a deposit by candidates,
had not been
met.
In a letter to ZEC chairperson George Chiweshe on 24 June,
Tsvangirai
said he withdrew because "the conditions presently obtaining
throughout the
country make it virtually impossible for a proper election to
take place".
On the legality of his move, Tsvangirai said Section
107 of the
Electoral Act which deals with the withdrawal of candidature from
a
Presidential election "was clearly not designed for a presidential
run-off".
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) backed
Tsvangirai's
argument, saying "Section 107 referred to the withdrawal of a
candidate from
any single presidential election, but not for withdrawal of a
candidate from
a presidential run-off".
Said the ZLHR:
"Therefore, since there is no provision for withdrawal
from a presidential
run-off in the Electoral Act, one would have to look to
the withdrawal
procedures for a candidate in either parliamentary (Section
49) or local
government (Section 126) elections: both of these provide that
a candidate
can withdraw 'at any time before polling or the first polling
day, as the
case may be'. In this situation, the candidate merely has to
provide written
notification to the constituency elections officer."
The
organisation said that "by submitting his written notification of
withdrawal
three days before polling day, he can be said to have
substantively complied
with the requirements of the electoral law and the
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) is required to take measures to
publicize this withdrawal
in terms of the law", adding that Friday's
election with only one candidate
was "an absurdity".
Section 110 (3) of the Electoral Act provides
that when no candidate
receives more than 50% of the total votes cast, there
has to be a second
election featuring the top two candidates within 21 days
from the date of
announcement of results. As such, Tsvangirai said, "it
would not make sense
to expect a candidate from a presidential run-off
election to give 21 days'
notice of his/her withdrawal where such election
has to be held within 21
days anyway".
The MDC leader also
argued that "there have been no rules prescribed
for the conduct of a
presidential run-off election and in particular the
notice period set for
the withdrawal of candidature by a participant".
"Accordingly, any
candidate wishing to withdraw his candidature is
free to do so at any time
before such an election."
But ZEC chair Chiweshe insisted the
withdrawal was null.
"It was unanimously agreed that the withdrawal
had inter alia been
filed well out of time and that for that reason the
withdrawal has no legal
force or effect.
Accordingly, the
Commission does not recognise the purported
withdrawal."
The ZLHR
argued that the matter should have been "referred to a court
of law for
determination" before ZEC could make that decision.
"The election
management body cannot simply state that the conditions
exist and proceed
unilaterally when clear facts supporting a disparate view
have been put to
it . . . and proceeding with an election, therefore could
be argued to
result in ZEC acting outside the boundaries of the law."
Despite
being among the first lawyers to say Tsvangirai could not
withdraw because
"candidature for the run-off or the second election is not
a voluntary
exercise, you give your consent when you contest the first
election",
National Constitutional Assembly chairperson, Lovemore Madhuku on
Thursday
led civil society organisations in endorsing Tsvangirai's pullout.
"The acts of brutality that have occurred over the last three months
have
made any semblance of a free and fair election impossible. We therefore
urge
the people of Zimbabwe not to vote," says a civil society statement
read by
Madhuku.
The law, said ZLHR, only states that Tsvangirai is
"eligible" for the
run off as he received the highest number of votes, but
it was "not
mandatory" for him to contest.
UK-based Zimbabwean
lawyer, Alex Magaisa, also argued that
"eligibility does not mean that you
must take part in the process".
"It simply means you meet the
necessary conditions but you can choose
not to take part . . . eligibility
does not make participation fixed and
mandatory."
By Vusumuzi
Sifile
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:41
A Germany firm supplying
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) with paper
for bearer cheques has been
asked to halt business with Zimbabwe because of
concerns it was helping prop
up President Robert Mugabe's regime.
The move could have
disastrous consequences for a country already
reeling from cash
shortages.
While the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday
failed to honour
the promise to respond to questions on the issue, an
official with the
Germany embassy said he was aware of reports that the
Munich-based firm,
Giesecke and Devrient, had been asked to stop supplying
Zimbabwe with paper.
"I am aware that the firm was providing the
RBZ with the paper," the
official said. "We, however, have not yet received
official communication
about the latest development."
The
official said discussions in the Federal Government had been
raised
concerning the firm although this had been a private business deal
between
Zimbabwe and the firm.
"Nothing could be done about it because
there were no trade
restrictions between Zimbabwe and Germany or the
European Union to which we
are a member," said the official.
Questions sent to Giesecke and Devrient had not been responded to at
the
time of going to the press.
Reports from Germany shows that the
Development Minister Heidemarie
Wieczorek-Zeul reportedly wrote to the firm
on Friday asking it to
immediately stop the shipments of paper to
Zimbabwe.
A spokesman for the Germany development ministry said his
government
was seriously concerned that the supplies were "providing
additional support
to the system in Zimbabwe, which from (their) point of
view is not
acceptable".
He said Germany could have taken the
step in-line with recent remarks
by its Chancellor Angela Merkel who has
urged the international community to
take a firmer stance against President
Mugabe.
Local sources said the RBZ was already buying back old
bearer cheques,
which had become useless, in response to the
development.
By Jennifer Dube
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:38
Villagers in most parts of Matabeleland
were reportedly mobilising
against Zanu PF militias terrorizing them ahead
of last Friday's
presidential run-off election.
The
villagers complained that the police continued to turn a deaf ear
to their
pleas for an end to the worsening intimidation.
Scores of MDC
supporters appeared before a Gwanda magistrate recently
after they allegedly
formed their own groups to destroy bases set up by "war
veterans" in Kezi
and Gwanda districts respectively.
At Enyandeni Village, villagers
destroyed a Zanu PF sub-office where
'war veterans", who allegedly destroyed
the homes of MDC supporters,
including that of a Senate election candidate,
were based.
In Kezi, they dismantled a Zanu PF base and heavily
assaulted "war
veterans" camped at Chief Bidi's area, who were extorting
money, goats and
food from villagers.
"When our supporters are
attacked, the police do not react but when
they retaliate that are
immediately arrested," said Petros Mukwena, the
provincial secretary of the
Arthur Mutambara-led MDC in Matabeleland South.
"As we speak, many
of our supporters, including teenagers, are crammed
into the Gwanda Prison
and their crime is that they defended themselves
against Zanu PF
thugs.
"They are starving because the Zimbabwe prisons don't have
money to
buy food and we urge foreign election observers to go and see for
themselves
the conditions there."
Although Matabeleland has not
witnessed blood-letting on the scale
seen in most areas of Mashonaland,
there are reports that war veterans and
soldiers are being sent from other
provinces to terrorise the villagers.
Most former ZIPRA combatants
refused to participate in the violent
campaign after their commanders
distanced themselves from President Robert
Mugabe's campaigns.
Ten days ago Mugabe told his supporters at White City Stadium that
reports
of violence were an exaggeration by the MDC who wanted the election
to be
declared not to have been free and fair.
African leaders who have
in the past rushed to endorse suspect
elections in Zimbabwe have been
unanimous that the poll would not be a true
reflection of the wishes of
voters as they have been intimidated.
Mugabe said: "Instead of
campaigning, Tsvangirai is busy taking
everyone who gets injured to Harvest
House and claims that they were injured
in political violence, which is a
damn lie," he said.
"This week I was in Matabeleland South and
North and it was all
peaceful. Here in Bulawayo people are campaigning in
peac," he said.
Tsvangirai was prevented from campaigning by the
police on allegations
that his life was under threat.
In
Bulawayo, Zanu PF supporters set up a base in the city where they
reportedly
launched their attacks against opposition supporters in
peri-urban areas.
The base, set up at a building seized from a city
businessman, is just a
street away from the Bulawayo Central police station.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:36
EVER since Zanu PF
criticised the private media for contributing to
the defeat of President
Robert Mugabe in the 29 March harmonised elections,
attacks against
independent newspapers and their staff have escalated.
Last
week The Standard reported on a covert plot entitled, "Deal with
these
people," in which several names of journalists at The Standard as well
as
others working as freelancers and on provincial publications
featured.
Below is a chronological sequence of recent attacks
against staff of
independent newspapers:
*May 2008, declaring,
"We are the Mafia of Zanu PF", armed men ambush
and burn down a truck
carrying 60 000 copies of The Zimbabwean on Sunday.
Driver and his assistant
are assaulted. Matter is reported to Mashava police
under CR
35/05/2008;
*June 2008 - Vendor at Tongogara and Sam Nujoma
attacked and copies of
The Sunday Times taken;
*June 2008 -
Vendor along Julius Nyerere slapped several times and
copies of The Sunday
Times taken;
*June 2008 - Market Square vendor attacked by people
purporting to be
Zanu PF war vets. Harare Central Police refuse to entertain
his report;
*June 2008 - Chitungwiza seriously beaten up. No
positive response
from police at Makoni;
*June 2008 - Truck
carrying copies of The Sunday Times en route to
Masvingo ordered to turn
back in Chivhu. Driver told he would be shot if he
proceeded with his
trip;
*June 2008 - Masvingo-based journalist flees town after he is
stopped
by four men driving a white unmarked vehicle with letters CAM
inscribed on
it and told to "watch out". One of the four reportedly produced
a gun.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday,
28 June 2008 17:26
AT least seven journalists were arrested in Harare
on Friday as they
covered the one-man presidential election
run-off.
The journalists were being accused of covering the
elections without
being officially accredited by the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC).
British freelance photographer Richard Judson and
local reporters
Regis Marisamhuka and Agrison Manyenge were arrested in
Mbare. They were
briefly detained at Matapi police station before being
transferred to Mbare
Police Station.
They are still in
custody.
Frank Chikowore and Edgar Mwandiambira, both freelance
journalists,
were arrested at Mhofu Primary School in
Highfield.
After being arrested, the two were taken to Southerton
Police Station
and later transferred to Machipisa Police Station. The two
were released
after voting ended.
Harrison Nkomo of Mtetwa and
Nyambirai legal practitioners, who is
representing the journalists,
confirmed the arrests.
"Chikowore and Mwandiambira were released
last night but the other
journalists are still at Mbare Police Station,"
Nkomo said.
An E-tv news reporter Tumaole Mohlaoli and cameraman
Elelewani
Rampfumedzi were arrested at Beitbridge on Friday while covering a
protest
march against the Zimbabwean elections, the station
reported.
By Caiphas Chimhete
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:23
Movement for
Democratic Change activists were arrested recently for
allegedly describing
President Robert Mugabe and Police Commissioner General
Augustine Chihuri as
"evil".
They also allegedly told fellow commuters that
Mugabe and Chihuri
would be arrested for crimes against humanity once the
opposition party is
in power.
Zwelithini Viki and Trust Nhubu
appeared at the Bulawayo magistrates'
courts on Monday before regional
magistrate Sithembiso Ncube on allegations
of contravening Section 177(b) of
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform)
Act.
The two, who
spent three nights in police cells following their arrest
the previous week,
were granted $20 billion bail each and are set to appear
again on 7
July.
They were represented by Bulawayo lawyer Herbert Shenje of
Shenje &
Company.
According to the State case, led by Farai
Museta, the two made the
comments while in a city commuter bus when police
officers who had boarded
the same bus were not made to pay by the bus
crew.
The State says the two officers boarded the same commuter bus
with the
MDC activists from the city centre to Donnington Police Station in
Belmont
industrial area.
Viki and Nhubu queried why the police
officers were not paying like
other commuters before they started shouting
that "such corrupt activities"
had run down the country.
Court
records show that they allegedly said: "The MDC will be getting
into power
and they will fire all such people who are evil like Mugabe and
Chihuri."
The two were immediately arrested by the police
officers who later
took them to Donnington police station, where they spent
three nights in
police cells.
It is a crime to make gestures or
insulting comments against the
office of the President. A 16-year-old
Bulawayo girl Sinanzeni Ngwabi was
detained for weeks without trial just
before the 29 March elections after
she was accused of insulting
Mugabe.
Scores of Zimbabweans have been arrested and taken to
court, for
allegedly making insulting comments against Mugabe.
By Nqobani Ndlovu
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:18
ORDINARY Level and Advanced
Level public examinations for this year
were plunged into further
uncertainty last week following an ongoing salary
dispute at the Zimbabwe
Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC).
The Standard was
told last week that although ZIMSEC staffers are
still reporting for duty,
they have not started preparing logistical
requirements for the June
examinations, which should have been written early
this month. As a result,
workers' representatives say the institution is
running four months behind
schedule.
ZIMSEC administers public examinations twice every year,
in May/June
and October/November Earlier this month, ZIMSEC announced that
this year's
May/June examinations would be delayed because of Friday's
presidential
election run-off.
But sources at the government
department said "even if there was no
run-off, ZIMSEC was not ready to hold
the examinations".
Mathias Guchutu, the spokesperson for the
National Education Union of
Zimbabwe (NEUZ), which also covers ZIMSEC
workers, confirmed there was a
salary dispute at the national examiner,
resulting in workers not preparing
for the examinations.
"Management has told workers that they can only award them the 1 047%
increment based on their April salaries, but the workers are proposing more.
Members of staff are very disgruntled," Guchutu said.
Among
other things, The Standard understands statements of entry for
the
examinations have still not been prepared.
"This will inconvenience
mostly private candidates as they will have
less time to correct mistakes on
their statements," Guchutu said. "As it is,
the institution is running more
than four months behind schedule."
But on Friday, a ZIMSEC official
who only identified himself as
Chikandiwa said the June examinations would
commence on 7 July. Asked how
this would be possible since statements of
entry have still not been
printed, he said: "One can write an examination
without that (statement of
entry)."
Chikandiwa refused to
elaborate, referring questions to the
institution's public relations
department. Calls transferred to the
department went unanswered. Last month,
the department did not respond to
questions sent by The Standard on the
examinations.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:14
PEOPLE'S shops,
commissioned by President Robert Mugabe during his
recent campaign, are
already dividing the people: basic commodities are only
sold to those
connected to Zanu PF officials.
Consumers, who spoke to The
Standard last week, said once the goods
were delivered to the shops, they
were quickly bought up by Zanu PF
officials, militia and war
veterans.
All those without political links to the Mugabe's
administration
cannot buy the commodities as customers are vetted by youth
militia before
being allowed to enter the shops.
So far the
people's shops have been commissioned in areas such as
Nkayi and Tsholotsho
in Matabeleland, Mashonaland East as well as Chipinge
in
Manicaland.
Mugabe also promised to establish two other shops at
Mahuwe Business
Centre in Mashonaland Central, while campaigning for the 27
June
presidential election run-off, in which he was the sole
contestant.
In Nkayi and Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North, where
Mugabe
commissioned some of the shops, the commodities were delivered only
once.
"People just bought from that shop (at Nkayi) once and the
stocks were
exhausted," said one Bulawayo resident who frequently travels to
Nkayi.
"They never delivered any new stocks again," he said adding: "Here
they don't
demand Zanu PF cards because Mugabe knows he does not have
supporters.
Bulawayo Agenda director, Gorden Moyo said Mugabe was
fooling the
people of Zimbabwe in a bid to win votes. He said when Mugabe
went to
campaign in Nkayi, he brought along few packets of sugar and
maize-meal,
which were not even enough for the people who gathered for the
rally.
"People were being vetted as they entered the shop. In
Tsholotsho, the
truck came with the goods but they were not off-loaded. I
suspect they are
showing the same goods to different people in different
provinces," Moyo
said.
In the eastern border town of Chipinge
on Wednesday, hundreds of
people, mostly Zanu PF supporters, scrambled to
buy the few commodities that
had been delivered.
One resident
of Chipinge, who requested anonymity for fear of
victimization, said it was
very difficult for an ordinary person to buy the
goods because one needed a
Zanu PF membership card or had to chant Zanu PF
slogans.
"The
problem is Zanu PF militia and war veterans are taking advantage
of the
situation to loot the shops," said the resident, adding that non-Zanu
PF
would-be shoppers were being chased away.
Most people, particularly
supporters of the MDC, dared not join the
queues which were being controlled
by youth militias. They were being told
by the youths that the people's
shops programme was initiated by Mugabe and
should only benefit Zanu PF
supporters.
"They are telling us to go and buy the basic
commodities from Morgan
Tsvangirai (MDC leader)'s house in Harare," he said.
"So we don't go there
anymore. You might get killed."
The
Minister of Small Enterprises Development Corporation Sithembiso
Nyoni,
whose ministry is in charge of the programme, could not be reached
for
comment.
To kick-start the programme, the government injected $150
trillion to
the Small Enterprises Development Corporation.
The
government had promised to restock the shops with goods such as
maize-meal,
cooking oil, soap, sugar, flour, beans, rice, candles and
sanitary pads on a
daily basis but has failed to cope because of prevailing
shortages and the
huge demand for basic commodities.
Surprisingly, however, some of
the goods sold in the people's shops
are not locally produced, thus
contributing to the collapse of local
manufacturing companies, analysts
observed.
By Caiphas Chimhete
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:11
MASVINGO - In a clear
confirmation that soldiers were behind President
Robert Mugabe's re-election
campaign, a top army officer last week declared
that Zimbabwe "is tied to
the gun and therefore should be untied from that
gun" by one who intends to
be the future president.
Addressing thousands of residents
who were forced to attend a Zanu PF
rally at Mucheke Stadium on Wednesday,
Major General Engelbert Rugeje said
Mugabe would only leave office after a
war, and not through the democratic
systems of voting him out.
"Zimbabwe is tied to the gun," Rugeje said in Shona. "If there is
anyone who
wants to untie it, he should take it from the gun."
Rugeje, who was
with Air Commodore John Dzvede from the Air Force of
Zimbabwe, said there
would be a war in both the rural and urban areas if
people voted for the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"If you think you stay in
town where there will be no war, we will
show you that you are not immune.
If you vote MDC, we will come with tankers
and jets with my colleague from
the Air Force. It is you who will die, not
soldiers," he said.
Rugeje, who took part in the liberation struggle, said Zimbabwe became
independent after a war; therefore it could not be given away at the stroke
of a pen. "Something which came as a result of the gun cannot go by the
pencil. It won't happen," he said.
Rugeje said what voters did
by voting out Mugabe in the initial 29
March harmonized polls that saw a
defeat of the ruling party was taboo.
"What you did on 29 March is
unthinkable. I did not come to Masvingo
to beg you to vote for Zanu PF, but
to tell you to vote for Zanu PF," Rugeje
said.
He ordered all
people to go out and vote "so that Robert Mugabe
remains the president
forever and ever Amen", hinting that Zanu PF might ban
any other elections
after the election run-off held on Friday.
Zim Standard
Local
Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:08
TENDAI
Biti, Movement for Democratic Change secretary general, is the
latest to be
shackled by the State in a wave of arrests that have rocked the
country
since the 29 March elections.
While cases relating to
various offences continued to be set down at
the courts ahead of last
Friday's disputed presidential election run-off,
those linked to
politically-motivated public violence were pronounced.
They covered
a wide range of acts including abduction, assault,
malicious damage to
property, robbery and offensive utterances.
Biti attracted a number
of charges - treason, communicating statements
prejudicial to the State,
causing disaffection among the defence forces and
insulting President Mugabe
- by allegedly authoring a document he disowned
several months
ago.
While Biti is one of the opposition leaders who were taken to
court,
other alleged offenders included journalists, lawyers, trade
unionists, and
civic activists.
According to the
Attorney-General (AG)'s office, there were more than
80 reported cases of
violence in six provinces excluding Matabeleland and
the Midlands as of 16
May.
Acting Attorney-General Justice Bharat Patel said there had
been more
cases of political violence after May, but that it was difficult
to
speculate on the actual figures involved "without full feed-back from the
police and the courts".
But he said the AG's office had adopted
a hard-line policy in respect
of political violence cases, "and our
prosecutors have been instructed to
deal firmly with each case without
regard to the political affiliation of
the offender or the victim". In so
far as concerns the granting of bail,
this, he said, was a matter for the
courts to decide in each case.
"In this respect, our policy is to
oppose the granting of bail in
those cases involving serious
violence."
Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena last week declined
to give
latest figures of arrests but pointed out the police were arresting
offenders from both Zanu (PF) and the MDC.
However, in an
earlier statement, Police commissioner-general,
Augustine Chihuri said
police had arrested 390 MDC-T followers and 156 Zanu
PF supporters,
statistics, he said, showed the the opposition party was
behind the wave of
violence.
Prominent Harare lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, said he
represented more
than 2 000 accused people from Mt Darwin, Murehwa, Mutoko,
Bindura, Buhera,
Mutare and Rusape among other places. "This phase of
arrests is
unprecedented," Muchadehama said.
"We had an almost
similar scenario following the 2003 Final Push but
the number of people
arrested then is probably second to this".
Lawyers handling the
cases last week said the arrests were part of a
systematic plan to block
opposition supporters from participating in the
presidential
run-off.
"What we see is not genuine enforcement of the law,"
Advocate Happious
Zhou said. "The arrests are targeted at opposition
supporters and aimed at
subverting the democratic process....The opposition
has reported numerous
abductions and murders and no single person has been
arrested for those".
The lawyers said most of their clients were
illegally arrested, with
many cases lacking evidence upon which the accused
would have been arrested.
They said some of their clients were
unlawfully arrested by suspected
army officers and Zanu PF supporters while
on some occasions those who would
have suffered assault at the hands of
suspected Zanu PF supporters were
arrested by police when they went to
report the attacks.
"Our law provides for citizen arrests and
lawyers are expected to know
where to take their complaints of unlawful
arrests where this provision is
abused," Bvudzijena said.
"As
police, we investigate the authenticity of reports made to us and
in some
cases we found that MDC supporters attacked Zanu PF supporters who
would
then retaliate and on realising they are being defeated, they would
run to
us and report that they are being attacked."
The lawyers also
alleged that many clients were subjected to assault,
torture and degrading
treatment in police cells. They said in most cases,
accused persons were
denied food, access to relatives and sometimes it took
a long time to be
allowed to see their legal counsel.
Biti, who was arrested on 12
June, had 11 complaints against the
police. He said he was at one point
interrogated continuously for 19 hours
by three different teams with eight
police officers each. He also said he
was forced to write three statements
on things unrelated to the four counts
being preferred against him, among
them his preferred model of a government
of national unity and his
negotiations with government officials.
But on Thursday High Court
judge, Justice Ben Hlatshwayo, granted Biti
bail saying: "To be honest, this
document (which Biti is accused of
authoring) makes good reading for someone
who is in bed. It's a good
document for bedtime reading. I have seen a lot
of glaring shortcomings on
this document because some of the issues and
charges are based on assumption
of things that did not or will not
occur.
"It's a document based on 'if this is to happen or that is
to happen.'
These factors have a bigger bearing on the outcome of this
matter."
Lawyers said most frustrating was the AG's Office's
resolution to
oppose bail on these matters.
"That compromises
the legal process which requires that each matter be
looked according to its
merits", Zhou said. "That position is a clear abuse
of power."
Concern was also raised over some prosecutors' attitude which saw them
deliberately delaying some cases by failing to attend court on "flimsy
excuses".
"The fact that some prosecutors fail to attend court
without giving
prior notice to the defence has not been brought to my
personal attention,"
Patel said. "If this is true, the prosecutors in
question would be guilty of
misconduct entailing the institution of
disciplinary measures."
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights recently
complained that the AG's
director of prosecutions, Florence Ziyambi, had
illegally extended MDC
MP-elect and prominent advocate Eric Matinenga's
incarceration by defying a
High Court Order demanding his
release.
Patel said he was not aware of the manner in which it is
alleged that
the orders of the High Court had been defied by Ziyambi or by
any other
prosecutor. "I would need more detail in this connection in order
to be able
to comment."
Muchadehama said that although the
majority of his clients were
granted bail and others were acquitted, they
remained insecure and thus
would need psychological therapy to be able to
lead normal lives again.
"People are not used to these
things...whereby they just get arrested
for committing no offence and endure
torture for no wrongdoing. Their
experiences are traumatic and they will
have to be rehabilitated first".
He said while others had their
homes destroyed and their identity
cards confiscated by suspected Zanu PF
supporters, some lived in fear as
"faceless names" continued to hunt for
them outside the courts.
By Jennifer Dube
Zim Standard
Business
Saturday, 28 June 2008 16:37
ZIMBABWEANS are poised for a gloomy outlook after the country plunged
headlong with a one-man presidential election run-off last Friday,
disregarding local and international pressure to defer the poll to a later
date.
When MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from
the race citing
escalating violence, pressure from both local and the
international
community to defer the plebiscite to a later date was not
heeded leaving
Robert Mugabe to compete against himself in Friday's
poll.
There are now fears that Mugabe will be isolated as the world
tightens
screws on him.
Analysts warned last week that mending
the tattered economy is beyond
the capacity of Mugabe and his lieutenants
without the assistance of all
stakeholders.
"We are not going
to overcome problems until we make big political
changes," said John
Robertson, an independent economic analyst. "For the
last nine months the
government has been talking of elections while
neglecting the country's
problems."
Production in industries is at an all time low since
1980 as raw
material shortages and obsolete equipment take their toll on one
of the
largest employers at independence.
Policy
inconsistencies have haunted the economy creating uncertainty
at a time
Zimbabwe's regional neighbours are instilling confidence in their
economies.
The exchange rate liberalisation introduced on 30
April has lost steam
after authorities attempted to tinker with it nearly
two weeks ago.
Attempted interventions came as the battered Zimbabwe dollar
continues
losing value at an alarming rate. From $160 million per US$ in
May, the
Zimbabwe dollar has depreciated to $17 billion per US$, pushing
prices to
the roof.
Analysts say conditions on the ground do
not stabilise the exchange
rate and the central bank is in a fix on how to
handle the situation.
"If they stop it (interbank trading), there
will be chaos," said Dr
Daniel Ndlela, an independent economist. "If they
don't stop it, the chaos
will continue."
Robertson says as a
first step, the new government has to remove all
attempts to regulate or
direct activities of the business sector but warned
that past experiences
have shown that the government is unwilling to discard
controls.
Businesses have never recovered since the populist
price blitz in June
last year. The business sector has since last year been
accused of being
part of a "regime change" agenda through hiking prices at
alarming rates.
But analysts dispute the assertion and instead blame
excessive printing of
money for driving prices.
"There is a
misunderstanding of where the problems lie. What caused
the difficulties is
not the business sector but government caused price
increases through
printing money," Robertson said.
The tough hurdle awaiting the new
government is how to tame inflation
which has single handedly reduced
citizens to paupers.
But despite multiple terminologies used to
describe it from "Number
One Enemy" to "Economic HIV", Zimbabwe's inflation
continues breaking new
grounds to the extent that authorities are even
embarrassed to announce the
figures. At about 9 000 000%, according to
analysts, Zimbabwe's inflation is
unprecedented in a country not at
war.
The first casualty has been the currency whose value has been
eroded
at alarming rates. Despite the central bank introducing higher
denominated
notes to ease convenience analysts warn that the move is a stop
gap measure.
The highest note, the $50 billion hardly buys a decent
lunch barely a
month after its launch. What inflation has done is creating a
multitude of
disgruntled billionaires, the first of its kind in the
world.
"Where else in the world have you seen a billionaire who is
unhappy?
It's unheard of anywhere in the world except Zimbabwe," said a
banking
executive.
"I hope this time around we will have real
currency not bearer cheques
that cannot be accepted across
borders."
Already, the machines in supermarkets have failed to
grasp an
avalanche of zeros raining on our currency. Analysts warn unless
some zeros
are lopped off the 2008-2009 National Budget will be in
quintillions, a
world record.
A key statistic such as inflation
figures has been kept under wraps
denying businesses an indicator necessary
to plan in a hyper-inflationary
environment.
Zimbabwe's
companies have failed to adhere to international accounting
standards by
failing to produce inflation-adjusted results, a key
requirement for
companies operating in a hyper-inflationary setting.
The Central
Statistical Office has in the past attributed the delay in
announcing the
figures to shortages of basic goods used to calculate
inflation, a tired
excuse analysts say will not fit for a bed time story.
Robertson
believes that inflation figures will be made available as
"the government
tries to recover some credibility".
Analysts say the new government
has to sort out the mess in the
agricultural sector spawned by the farm
seizures since 2000.
Each and every farming season, Zimbabwe has
been found wanting with no
inputs despite claims that the government had
made necessary preparations.
Already, the country braces for a severe bread
shortage after putting under
crop a tenth of the required hectarage under
the winter wheat programme.
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 28 June 2008 15:48
THE first bout was a bruising contest. The
contender and the title
holder traded punches.
The
contender struck some fierce blows for democracy, tolerance and
economic
stabilisation, and the title holder responded with some less
telling blows
for sovereignty and anti-imperialism. When the bout ended, it
took a long
time for the referee to announce the result because some
necessary
adjustments had to be made to the scorecard, but eventually the
contender
was proclaimed the winner on points.
The title holder, egged on by
the gods of strife, refused either to
accept the result or surrender his
crown and loudly complained about match
fixing. After all, no man could take
away a title personally bestowed for
life by the gods. (Titles conferred by
Queens are a different matter as
Queens, it seems, don't play according to
the Queensberry rules.)
The former but still title holder threw a
tantrum. It should be noted
that tantrums resent being chucked about in this
fashion and become even
more riled when this happens to them. The gods of
war encouraged the title
holder to become the fist of fury and he was more
than willing to oblige.
Indeed he saw red. His opponent, he maintained, had
treacherously used foul
smelling spells to win the contest and therefore he
had not won at all.
Rather forcefully, he demanded a re-match.
The referee, who was an accommodating fellow, readily acceded to this
request. As instructed, he scheduled the return match for a date that would
allow the still holding onto title person the maximum time to regroup and
mobilise everyone to rally behind him. Those who did not want to do so would
be taught how.
His supporters fanned out across the country
spreading the message
that there could only be one possible winner in the
re-match. His supporters
were armed and fortified by the gods of persuasion
and given other
stimulants. It was not long before everyone was singing from
the same
hymnbook, a book titled, Songs of Praise, although some needed a
bit of
extra voice training.
The title holder embarked on a
victory tour throughout the land making
a fist of things. Naturally the
contender who still harboured the insane
notion that he had won, was not
permitted to move around spewing out the
dangerous falsehoods his backers
ordered him to spread.
Realising that he couldn't win and that all
his supporters had been
run off, the contender chickened out and wanted to
run away from the
run-off. But the title holder was determined that the bout
go ahead anyway,
despite shrill urgings from former allies outside the
country for a
postponement.
There was great excitement when the
day of the mother of all contests
finally came round. The ring was decked
out in the livery of the title
holder. All around the ring the title holder
was to be seen on the T-shirts
of the young men who had been deployed just
in case the contender had the
nerve to show up after all.
The
public turned out in record numbers to participate in this event.
All the
judges wore the same T-shirts. The cheers were deafening as the
title holder
stepped into the ring. The announcer introduced the
contestants. "In the
right corner", he exclaimed enthusiastically, "we have
the one and only
undisputed victor."
When the wild cheers finally subsided he went
on to announce to the
accompaniment of boos and jeers, "In the wrong corner,
we have the rest of
the world with few exceptions." The referee then told
the contestants that
he wanted a good clean fight and would tolerate no low
blows or other
irregularities. He said that he sincerely hoped that the best
contestant
would win, provided that it was the right
contestant.
The bout then commenced. Wearing gloves made out of
steel mesh, the
title holder showed his mettle. He danced around the ring
striking a
dazzling series of jabs, body blows, uppercuts and lowercuts.
Within no time
he had all of his many opponents, who seemed to proliferate
as the contest
proceeded, on the ropes. Almost before it had started the
contest was over
bar the shouting. The inevitable knock out punch had landed
on its target.
The few detractors who were still mouthing silly
utterances like
"Pyrrhic victory" were encouraged to go and wash out their
filthy mouths
with acid.
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 28 June 2008 15:45
THE
African Union has the legal power to condemn the conduct of
Zimbabwe's
elections, to suspend the country from membership and to require
new
elections.
The question is whether the continent's leaders
have the political
will to do so.
As African heads of state and
government prepare to meet for the 11th
African Union (AU) Summit in Sharm
el-Sheikh in Egypt, Zimbabwe continues to
spiral downwards.
The
Chairman of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, has now spoken out on
the
country's political crisis, making clear that the AU is gravely
concerned at
what he called "increasing acts of violence". He also indicated
that the
commission has entered consultations with the current AU chairman,
Tanzanian
President Jakaya Kikwete, and leaders of countries in the Southern
African
Development Community (SADC) in order to find a solution.
The
question is what can the AU really do?
Two legal opinions
commissioned by the Southern African Litigation
Centre, based in
Johannesburg, provide a legal foundation for AU
intervention in
Zimbabwe.
Based on an analysis of Zimbabwe's Constitution and its
Electoral Act
of 2004, the two opinions conclude that Morgan Tsvangirai, the
front runner
in the first round of presidential voting on 29 March, should
be recognised
legally as the head of state of Zimbabwe.
The
first opinion analysed the legality of the postponement of the
presidential
run-off vote until tomorrow - when nearly two months will have
elapsed since
the first round of voting. It found there was a breach of
Section 110 of the
Second Schedule of the Electoral Act, which stipulates
that run-off
elections should be held within 21 days of the first round.
The
authors of the opinion held that the power, asserted by the
Zimbabwean
Electoral Commission, "to amend or ignore the
constitutionally-required
period... by abrogating or amending the provisions
regarding the run-off
period, is constitutionally objectionable".
The second legal
opinion dealt with what the Electoral Act required in
the event of a failure
to hold elections within the prescribed 21 days. The
opinion noted: "Where
no second election is held and there were two or more
candidates for
President, and no candidate received a majority of the total
number of valid
votes cast, item (3) (1) (b) [of the schedule to the
Electoral Act] provides
that the candidate with the greatest number of votes
[in the first round of
elections], and not the majority of the total number
of votes, shall be duly
elected President."
In the first round of voting, Morgan Tsvangirai
won 47.9% of votes,
against 43.2% for President Robert Mugabe. On the basis
of the law and the
vote count, Tsvangirai should have been installed as
President.
Given the two legal opinions, and that the results of
the first round
of elections were accepted by African institutions, a case
can be made for
an AU intervention under the "Declaration on the Framework
for an OAU
Response to Unconstitutional Changes of Government," signed in
Lomé, Togo in
2000 and endorsed by the Zimbabwe Government.
The
declaration defines unconstitutional changes, inter alia, as "the
refusal by
an incumbent government to relinquish power to the winning party
after free,
fair and regular elections".
Since Mugabe does not want to
relinquish power, the declaration allows
action to be taken similar to that
taken against Togo in 2005, when the
military in that country installed
Faure Gnassingbé as president upon the
death of his father.
The
Lomé declaration clearly describes the steps that can be taken:
*
The Chairman of the AU, currently President Kikwete, should openly
condemn
the unconstitutional change and clearly indicate to the perpetrator
that the
AU will not tolerate the takeover.
* At the request of the
Chairman, the Secretary-General of the AU, or
any member state, the "Central
Organ" of the AU's "Mechanism for Conflict
Prevention, Management and
Resolution" meets as a matter of urgency to
discuss the situation and issue
a statement.
* Following an initial condemnation by the Central
Organ, a period of
six months is given to the perpetrator of
unconstitutional change to
withdraw and hold new elections (although, given
Zimbabwe's electoral law,
it can be argued that the winner of the first
round should be declared
president). During this period, the government
concerned is suspended from
participating in the policy organs of the AU,
including the Council of
Ministers and the meeting of heads of state and
government.
* In the event of failure to comply within the
six-month period, "a
range of limited and targeted sanctions against the
regime" will be imposed.
These may include travel bans and trade
restrictions.
Such action proved effective in forcing Togo's
Gnassingbé and the army
to back down and allow elections in 2005. That
precedent has shown that the
AU is able to react, provided there is
political will.
But the AU could not have acted without the support
of the regional
leaders of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African
States. Similarly,
in the case of Zimbabwe, the role of SADC leaders will be
paramount in
supporting an AU intervention
Clearly, African
instruments for dealing with the current crisis do
exist. Now is the time to
use them in Zimbabwe. Will our leaders, meeting in
Sharm el-Sheikh, have
enough political will to act?
Faten Aggad is a researcher on the
Governance and African Peer Review
Mechanism Programme at the South African
Institute of International Affairs,
in Johannesburg.
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 28 June 2008 15:39
IT goes without saying
that the sham election of 27 June will not
solve the difficult political and
economic questions facing Zimbabwe.
It will go down as one
of the most meaningless exercises in the
country's history.
It
will do absolutely nothing to lift the country out of the economic
quagmire.
The exercise was no more than a show of arrogance, stubbornness
and
selfishness on the part of a small clique in the ruling elite. But there
will, no doubt, be victory parades, even though it was a one-horse
race.
The MDC withdrew from the Presidential race citing the levels
of
uninhibited violence which paralysed large parts of the country,
rendering a
free and fair election futile. It was a bold decision, which has
rightly
been commended given the prevailing circumstances. The MDC
strengthened its
moral leverage and authority over Zanu PF. But this moral
leverage of itself
is inadequate; it has to translate into practically
meaningful results.
Part of the moral authority and its pull and
impact on the world stage
is driven and sustained by publicity of the
Zimbabwean story. The more it is
heard, the more it remains useful currency
that can be used to persuade and
pressure key actors both regionally and
internationally. It is here, that
caution must be exercised. That is because
the medium through which
publicity is sustained is the media. And here, news
is driven by events and
in the new world of 24-hour rolling news, big events
make big news. The
Zimbabwean story will have to compete, in the coming
days, and weeks with
other big events that could well take the shine off the
story of Zimbabwe.
This much happened after 29 March, when natural
calamities hit Burma
and China and, for a while, the Zimbabwe story gave
way. The withdrawal of
Morgan Tsvangirai was a big event which drove news
coverage for some days
but it also took the shine off the resulting sham
election. Being a
non-event, news on the election will not be on the same
scale. Unless
something "really big" happens again, we may find that the
appetite for the
Zimbabwean story will diminish. We may well become a
forgotten people;
another failed African Banana Republic deemed unworthy of
any further
attention.
Work must now focus on finding a
practical solution to our problem. In
doing so there are critical things to
note:
First, now that Mugabe will retain the Presidency, he will
have on his
side the nominal presence of legality on his side, unless this
is
successfully challenged in a court of law. Given the state of Zimbabwe's
judiciary, this may be a pointless and wasteful exercise. What Mugabe will
find hard to achieve, however, is local and international recognition and
the moral capital that comes with it. Already, erstwhile friends in Africa
have begun to show signs of digression.
On the other hand,
Tsvangirai and the MDC have in abundance the moral
leverage gained from
years of toil and cemented by election withdrawal
against the background of
intimidation and violence. Between the two men,
Tsvangirai appears to now
command greater moral authority as the legitimate
representative of the
people of Zimbabwe.
But having withdrawn from the race and
therefore effectively conceded
the Presidency to Mugabe, however
controversial it may be, Tsvangirai lacks
the legal apparel that Mugabe
wears. Even when the MDC Parliamentarians take
their seats in Parliament it
will, symbolically, be on the recognition that
the country has a newly
elected President, as the Constitution mandates.
The two men
therefore have in effect one thing that the other needs:
Mugabe rides on the
crest of legality, Tsvangirai resists on the wave of
recognition and moral
legitimacy. The country cannot move forward as long as
the situation remains
that way - someone will need to have the combination
of the legality,
recognition and legitimacy.
The formal response of the African
community of leaders, under the
auspices of the AU and SADC, to the sham
election will be crucial. It's fair
to say that my own faith in these
organisations is not generous. SADC's
dealings with Zimbabwe in the past
have left many questions, not about its
willingness but about its capacity
to deal with the problem. SADC needs to
be bolder and more resolute. For as
long as it dilly-dallies and takes a
cotton wool approach to the Mugabe
regime, it will remain no more than a dog
barking at a moving, albeit
wrecked locomotive.
Having called for the postponement of the
poll and been rebuffed by
Mugabe, their reaction to the easily predictable
outcome of the election
will be eagerly awaited. The question is not hard to
state. It is whether or
not SADC will recognise the result. Recognition
would, of course, be a blow
to the MDC. Rejection would be a further dent in
the regime's authority and
standing.
There is a fear, here,
always lurking in the background of optimism,
that the international
community, however defined, may not go beyond the
usual "gesture politics".
The condemnations we hear are nothing that we have
not heard before. It's
the same chorus, now repeated like a scratched old
record. Taking away
Mugabe's honorary degrees, Knighthood, etc (why were
they ever conferred in
the first place, we ask? Please don't give any more
of these accolades to
our political leaders) make good gestures but such
actions alone will not
change much in the way Mugabe behaves. Instead, he
has become even more
defiant. This is no longer time for press condemnations
and woolly
communiqués.
Bu it is quite likely that Mugabe will try to present
a conciliatory
face in the aftermath of the election. His last campaign
speech in
Chitungwiza is instructive in this regard. He appeared to
water-down his
rhetoric against the MDC, whose force he, deep-down, surely
acknowledges. He
knows he cannot govern meaningfully without more than half
the people of
Zimbabwe, represented by the MDC. He knows there will be
nothing to talk
about when his regime will not be recognised. The first
steps will therefore
be to implement a damage limitation exercise. Already
he has said, "Should
we emerge victorious, which I believe we will, sure we
won't be arrogant, we
will be magnanimous and say 'let's sit down and
talk'".
So Mugabe is offering to talk, but only after his
confirmation as
President after a one-man race. Tsvangirai issued an
ultimatum prior to the
run-off election, saying that he was open to talks
but only if the run-off
election was called off. This has not happened and
thus there is clear
conflict.
In all this there is an
indication of common ground that there is need
for the political actors to
talk. They differ on the pre-conditions, as
appears to have been the case
since the controversial 2002 Presidential
election, when the initial
attempts for talks were aborted. Hindsight is
always a good thing - you look
back with better judgment at things that have
already happened. One
therefore, might pause here and ask, if they had
talked; properly talked in
2002, could Zimbabwe have averted the situation
to which it has descended so
far? If the answer is in the affirmative, the
next question for present
purposes is, if there is willingness to talk and
if they do talk, could it
avert further disaster in the future?
Personally, I have come to
appreciate two things:
First that there is an ideal way of
achieving an ideal outcome. But
somehow we are not always favoured with this
scenario.
The second is that there is a less ideal way of achieving
a less ideal
but, nevertheless, practical outcome. I have always thought and
still think
that Zimbabwe needs to and CAN find a practical way out of its
mess. The
process that is set in motion, backed by the experiences we have
had in the
years since independence, should eventually lead us to a more
ideal
solution.
As it is, Zimbabweans stand in the position of
the farmer who, upon
seeing his beloved cow stuck in the mud, he either
chooses to put it down
quickly to relieve it of its pain and misery or to
wait and watch it slowly
dying, with faint hopes that somehow it might make
it out, but knowing full
well that the end will, surely,
come.
By Alex Magaisa
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 28 June 2008 15:36
NEXT to the humiliation
of losing the 2000 Constitutional Referendum
and 57 Parliamentary seats to
the MDC in the same year, Zanu PF and Robert
Mugabe, received a bloody nose
when the Commonwealth decided to continue its
suspension from the group's
councils in 2003.
The significance of the decision being
made on African soil was not
lost on Mugabe and probably contributed to his
petulant response - the
withdrawal from the Commonwealth before the
conference ended.
What remains poignant for me was the report from
Harare that Mugabe
and his retinue were preparing to fly to Abuja, in
apparent anticipation of
the suspension being lifted. Some of this might
have been entirely due to
the self-delusion of a positive resolution from a
multiracial group,
dominated by the Third World.
But another
reason might have been the misconception members of the
group from the
developed world -Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand -
might be
psychologically intimidated by the prospect of a protest from the
developing
countries if Zimbabwe's suspension was not lifted.
The
miscalculation stemmed from a misreading of the profound
resentment to how
Mugabe's government had conducted the 2000 parliamentary
and 2002
presidential elections.
I was among journalists in the Nigerian
capital for the CHOGM - the
Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting.
President Olusegun Obasanjo was ebullient in his
flowing robes as he
welcomed other heads of state and government. It was a
plum public relations
coup for him, as there were already rumblings at home
and broad about his
style of governance, culminating in his abortive attempt
at a third term in
office.
In anticipation of a positive
result, Reuben Barwe of the ZBC had been
sent in advance, in readiness for a
victorious broadcast on the lifting of
the suspension and a triumphant
interview with Mugabe.
But Barwe got more than he bargained for, as
I saw him fending off
searching, sarcastic questions from a corps of
sharp-tongued journalists.
"But you are one of those who was given a farm by
the government, aren't
you?" one asked testily.
Mugabe had not
done his reputation much good since the two elections.
The
government had tightened the screws, not only on the media, but
also on the
opposition parties. The Daily News had been closed down and the
story of its
offices in Harare being visited by armed police had caused much
excitement
in the media in West Africa - as had the case of Charles Taylor,
the
Liberian strongman then being hunted for crimes against humanity, and
sheltered, for a while, by Obasanjo.
The government had passed
the Public Order and Security Act (POSA),
aimed at the political opposition.
The freedom with which the newly-formed
MDC had campaigned in the 2000
parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections
had frightened the ruling
party into introducing tough restrictions on their
freedom to organise and
campaign - with the ultimate sanction being for them
to seek police
permission before holding any public meetings.
The restriction
on media freedom was initiated in the repressive
Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
In Abuja, there was open
sympathy for the beleaguered media and the
MDC delegation, one of whose
members was Paul Themba-Nyathi. The Nigerian
newspapers were generally
sympathetic to all sectors of Zimbabwe targeted by
the
government.
If Mugabe and Zanu PF hoped for an instant response
from the Asian,
Caribbean and Pacific members of the group to threaten to
quit or to quit,
nothing of the sort was even hinted at in
Abuja.
In other words, it looked, on the surface, as if Mugabe had
gravely
miscalculated. An even more serious miscalculation related to the
multilateral economic benefits of membership of the so-called "Club". Most
of the bilateral economic ties were anchored on membership of the
group.
Most of this is incalculable. Although neither Mugabe nor
anyone else
in his government has ever catalogued how much non-membership of
The Club
has cost Zimbabwe, it's obvious that it is a lot.
Mugabe is not one of the coolest politicians on the continent.
Moreover,
even his public posture suggests a man quite often on tenterhooks,
a man
whose temper flares unexpectedly, often with unforeseen consequences:
an
outburst in language often considered "un-presidential".
Mugabe has
now antagonised most members of both the Sadc group and the
African Union.
Among some critics of his brinkmanship there is a feeling
that both
organisations may find themselves facing the choice faced by the
Commonwealth in 2003: dare they risk the stability of their organisations by
condoning what most of them see as Mugabe's stubborn insistence that only
his way is the right way?
Mugabe may yet find he has dug his
own political grave by alienating
almost everyone who tried to help resolve
the crisis in his country.
saidib@standard.co.zw
Zim Standard
Opinion
Saturday, 28 June 2008 15:31
IN 1987 the late
nationalist Joshua Nkomo, driven by a desire to see
an end to the killings
and widespread disturbances in Matabeleland and the
Midlands, agreed to the
Unity Accord, now commemorated every year on 22
December.
It needed the underdog, in this case Nkomo,
to grasp the nettle for
this country to return to peace.
After
last Friday's one-horse presidential election run-off, Zimbabwe
may need the
courage and moral conviction of an underdog to pave the way for
a return to
prosperity and the community of nations.
President Robert Mugabe on
Friday went ahead with an election in which
he was the only contestant after
the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out
citing a concerted campaign of
violence by the government targeting his
supporters as demonstrated by
nationwide arrests of his officials elected
during the 29 March harmonised
elections, the killings of more than 90 of
his supporters and displacement
of scores of others.
By going ahead with the poll, Mugabe wanted to
prove that he has the
numbers behind him, even though some of the methods of
how these were
arrived at are clearly contentious. He will derive comfort
from these
numbers, disregarding the choice the people of this country made
on 29
March. There will be a re-enactment of similar but not identical
events to
those that led to conclusion of the Unity Accord.
Dr
Nkomo put the interests and safety of a traumatised nation first
for
Zimbabwe to begin the process of recovery. It may very well now require
Tsvangirai to reach some consensus on the course this country will take and
its prospects for development and re-engaging the international
community.
Mugabe has demonstrated in his actions and
pronouncements since 29
March that it is the people of Zimbabwe who owe him
and not vice versa.
The international community, so quick to
condemn the theatre of
absurdity that has paraded itself since March, has
proved long on rhetoric
but woefully short on action. Thousands of
internally displaced Zimbabweans
need not suffer the fate of victims and
survivors of Gukurahundi and
Operation Murambatsvina, who to this day remain
objects of pious sympathies
but are essentially neglected.
A
fund should be set up to help the internally displaced people to
return to
their homes so they can begin to rebuild their lives. Without
international
support, these people who have been so traumatised will be
unable to cope
with their devastation.
The roots of the exodus of Zimbabweans to
neighbouring countries such
as Botswana and South Africa can be found during
and after Gukurahundi.
Failure to support the return of the internally
displaced or to create
conditions for their secure return will spur them to
flee to the presumed
sanctuary of our neighbours. These people deserve
better.
South Africa has stood by while Zimbabwe burnt. Sadly, it
could reap
the rewards of its indulgent policy towards the regime in
Harare.
Apart from Zimbabweans continuing to trek south, South
Africa's
tourism, its attraction as an investment destination, and the 2010
world
soccer extravaganza could present that country with a crisis it is
unprepared for, the consequences of which it might live to
regret.
It is time South Africa appreciated that Zimbabwe's
continued problems
have potential for destabilising the region.
The African Union meets in Egypt tomorrow but Zimbabweans should not
expect
much from this African indaba because if it had the capacity to go
beyond
platitudes, we would not have Darfur today and the other unresolved
conflicts on the continent.
Before Friday's poll Mugabe
promised he would only engage in talks on
resolving Zimbabwe's crisis after
the election run-off. Now let's see if he
is prepared to walk the talk.
Who Will Speak For Suffering,Voiceless Victims Of Violence?
Letters
Saturday, 28 June 2008 15:59
LET'S have an alternative
moral voice as Zanu PF presidium remains mum
on
violence.
They pretend to be Christians. They attend mass,
wear uniforms and
play their church instruments and claim to be part of the
flock. But they
are hypocrites and they have been unmasked because they are
not genuine
Christians but are mere "church-goers".
Church-goers are mere socialites. Christians live the talk and gospel.
They
respect the sanctity of life. Christians feel for each other. Are we
the
only ones who are hearing and seeing horrific pictures of people being
maimed in and around the rural areas, farms and mining
communities?
Where in all this is the Zanu PF presidium? Why are
they conspicuous
by their appalling silence over the ogre of violence that
is gripping the
nation?
They are not only the ruling elite, but
are supposed to be elders of
this nation and custodians of the citizenry's
safety. They have abdicated
the constitutional trust mandated to them by
citizens of this country to
provide security.
Their own
children are in the safety of Harare and overseas,
therefore, they do not
see any reason for intervening.
These Christians should challenge
leaders such as President Robert
Mugabe, Vice-President Joseph Msika,
Retired General Solomon Mujuru and Air
Vice-Marshal Henry Muchena, who claim
to be Christians. I am addressing them
as Christians and not as political
leaders. The Word says: "Elders must be
men whose lives cannot be spoken
against. have a good reputation. must not
be violent. must be gentle,
peace-loving. must be people who are respected
and have integrity. live with
a clear conscience . must not speak evil of
others and . must exercise
self-control."
I ask fellow Zimbabweans, do these "leaders" fit the
bill? No! They
must stop going to church. They have the power and means to
stop all the
suffering we are witnessing. But what do we see? Total and
deafening
silence! We know and God is watching. In the fullness of His time,
He makes
all things beautiful.
In the absence of concern from
these elders, may God please raise
other voices among us? We need voices
from artists, intellectuals, sport
celebrities, musicians, the rich,
unpolluted war veterans and church elders
to speak out against
violence.
We need men and women of high moral values now more than
ever before.
We need leaders who do not remain silent while defenceless
families are
being traumatised? Where are all the prominent church
leaders?
Politicians have failed us, but history will record that
Dumiso
Dabengwa and Vitalis Zvinavashe, among others, as people who showed
their
concern against what is happening to defenceless
Zimbabweans.
We need mothers of the nation - Mai Maud Muzenda, Mai
Victoria
Chitepo, Mai Msika. Are they not senior citizens who can make a
difference
if they choose to speak out against violence?
Finally, the Word says: "The Lord hears his people."
Sithole O
Moyo
Pelandaba, Bulawayo
-------------
Let's
Refuse To Be Cowed
Letters
Saturday, 28 June 2008
15:57
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is being fooled by the army who say they
will
go back to war if he loses.
He must be reminded
that most of the members of the army now belong to
the young generation, a
generation that has suffered under his regime. These
young men and women
might pretend to support Mugabe, but they do not.
Threats to go to
war is just but a dream, how many war veterans are
there to be afraid of?
Zimbabweans, it is high time we stood our ground
against this system that
wants to continue ruling us with an iron fist.
Zimbabwe is not meant for
Mugabe only.
Why should we be cowed into submitting to his
dictates? We have
suffered enough. Let him threaten us, it will not change
our minds.
Clyde B Chakupeta
Pretoria
---------
Where Is The Struggle
History?
Letters
Saturday, 28 June 2008 15:53
WHERE is the history of the liberation of this country? Why is there
no
comprehensive history of the struggle for liberation
written?
It is now 28 years since we attained our
independence but we still
await the true, factual and accurate account of
the struggle. Why is it that
those who took an active role in the struggle
are not so keen to tell
generations that came after them just what
happened?
We should have been reading about the struggle before the
end of the
first decade after independence, does this suggest we need an
inquiry to
look into the matter?
Mfanasibili
Dubinduna
Bulawayo
-----------------
No To
Pseudo-war Veterans Tormenting Villagers
Letters
Saturday, 28
June 2008 15:51
SURELY, the war was fought so that all Zimbabweans
could live happily
thereafter and not just a few greedy, selfish leaders. We
thank the genuine
freedom fighters for a job well done.
But we are against pseudo-war veterans, who have been making life hell
for
fellow Zimbabweans.
These evil pseudo-war veterans are being paid
by their diabolical
leaders in Zanu PF to torment villagers. When people
like Jabulani Sibanda
shout about "defending gains of the liberation
struggle and our land" they
mean protecting their multiple farms that they
grabbed and their untold
wealth they have accumulated over the years by
extra-legal means.
Sibanda and his fellow leaders are naïve and
short-sighted in their
actions because they cannot read the signs of the
times.
The writing is clearly on the wall and it is written in the
letters of
the alphabet and not in Hieroglyphics. The one million man-march
in support
of President Robert Mugabe came and failed. The parliamentary,
presidential
and council elections as well as the recounts show that Zanu PF
was defeated
beyond reasonable doubt.
Now what does Sibanda and
his gang really want? After all, who do they
think they are? They are not
bigger than Zimbabwe? Zanu PF has had its good
time but it did not use it
well. Instead, it decided to destroy the economy
through its myopic
policies.
No matter what Zanu PF says about the MDC, it is not a
front for the
West. It is a people's popular party and demonstrated this by
its thrashing
of Zanu PF at the 29 March harmonised polls.
Long
live the MDC and curse be upon those who claim to have liberated
Zimbabwe
but are now showing their true colours of the murderers of the very
people
they claim to have liberated.
The Chimbwidos and Mujibhas must wake
up and refuse to be used against
their own parents and relatives by greedy
and selfish leaders.
DR Mutungagore
Mutare
Washington Post
As Zimbabwe
Crumbles, Pressure Mounts for a Power-Sharing Deal
Washington Post Foreign
Service
Sunday, June 29, 2008; Page A12
HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 28 --
President Robert Mugabe has emerged from the
most tumultuous election in
Zimbabwe's history with his grip on power
restored but his nation's daunting
problems -- including hyperinflation,
international isolation and an exodus
of skilled workers -- dramatically
worsened.
Between March 29, when
he lost a first-round vote to a surging opposition,
and Friday, when Mugabe
presumably romped to victory unopposed in a runoff
election, sparsely
stocked store shelves here emptied, long bread lines grew
longer, and
inflation soared from several hundred thousand percent to
millions.
The
crisis has become so severe that Mugabe's peers on the continent have
broken
with their long tradition of not criticizing fellow African leaders.
The
president plans to attend the African Union summit this week in Egypt,
where
his deployment of political violence is expected to face unprecedented
scrutiny. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on him to offer a power-sharing
deal to his defeated rival, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who
boycotted Friday's election.
Even within Mugabe's own ruling party, a
new generation of leaders is
working to engineer his departure. Many party
officials acknowledge that
economic revival is impossible without
substantial international help, which
will never come as long as Mugabe
clings to power.
Zimbabwe is "in the worst possible shape since
independence," said former
information minister Jonathan Moyo, now an
independent member of parliament
and a Mugabe critic. "I don't think he
would have wished for this kind of
scenario for himself or his
country."
On Saturday, President Bush announced plans for new sanctions
against the
Mugabe government, after what he has called a "sham
election."
Bush said in a statement that he is instructing the State and
Treasury
departments to draw up sanctions against "this illegitimate
government of
Zimbabwe and those who support it." He also said the United
States would
press for a U.N. arms embargo on the country and a travel ban
on Mugabe
government officials.
The move marks a significant policy
change by the Bush administration and
puts the United States on a potential
collision course with South Africa and
other nations that are likely to
oppose a wider confrontation with the
Mugabe regime.
As Zimbabwe's
electoral commission counted ballots, ruling party officials
expressed
confidence that Mugabe would soon be inaugurated for another term
in
office.
He won the first election ever held in Zimbabwe, when a
nationalist movement
he led took over from the white supremacist government
of Rhodesia in 1980,
and he has won every one since, except for the March 29
vote, when
Tsvangirai got more votes but fell short of outright victory,
setting up
Friday's runoff.
Mugabe's comeback was a triumph of
ruthlessness. He reunited a ruling party
severely fractured amid Zimbabwe's
catastrophic economic crisis, which has
sent millions of people over the
borders into South Africa and other
neighboring countries.
The
military and intelligence services worked together with ruling party
militias to assassinate dozens of opposition activists, while beating,
torturing and arresting thousands of others. Hundreds of thousands of
opposition supporters were driven from their homes, as well, forcing the
party to abandon the runoff campaign.
Norway Post
Norway
does not recognise Friday's presidential elections in Zimbabwe, nor
Robert
Mugabe as the country's legitimate president for another term, says
Prime
Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
29.06.2008
08:24
- This is an election which does
not comply with the requirements for a free
and fair election, and it is
therefore an election whch Norway like a great
number of other countries
does not recognise, Stoltenberg says.
Norway is pleased with the increasing
international condemnation of the lack
of democracy in Zimbabwe, and urges
the African Union not to recognise
Friday's election.
The Norwegian
Prime Minister hopes that regional mediation will bring about
a political
solution to the conflict.
Mr Mugabe came second to Mr Tsvangirai in the
first round of the
presidential vote in March.
Since then, the
opposition MDC party says some 86 of its supporters have
been killed and
200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to
Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party.
(NRK/Aftenposten)
Rolleiv Solholm
africasia
ROME, June 28 (AFP)
Italy's ambassador to Harare could be recalled in response to the
one-man
presidential election in Zimbabwe and the violence against
opposition
supporters there, the foreign ministry said on
Saturday.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was looking "very seriously"
at bringing
the ambassador back so as to give a "political signal" of
Italy's
disapproval, his spokesman Pasquale Ferrara told the ANSA news
agency.
The recall order could be given "in the coming days", he
said.
Western powers strongly criticised Friday's presidential vote in
which
veteran incumbent Robert Mugabe was the only candidate following the
withdrawal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after attacks on his
supporters.
US President George W. Bush condemned the Mugabe regime's
"ruthless campaign
of politically-motivated violence and intimidation"
during the elections and
said the run-off "was in no way free and
fair."
Official results were expected on Sunday with a Mugabe win a
certainty.
Sunday Nation, Kenya
EDITORIAL
Publication Date: 6/29/2008 Zimbabwean opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai
is optimistic about the future of his country. Speaking to
the Sunday Nation
from the Dutch embassy in Harare where he has sought
refuge, he said
Zimbabwe "will rise from the ashes."
It is a
brave position to occupy. President Robert Mugabe is like a
stubborn piece
of yam choking his nation. He is difficult to remove, but
unless that
happens he will ruin country.
The run-off went ahead on Friday
despite protests from around Africa
that the conditions in the country did
not permit free expression of the
people's will.
In any case,
it was a one candidate run-off, the opposition having
withdrawn, citing the
murder, intimidation and violence against its
supporters.
It
was reported that Zimbabweans had stayed home in their thousands
rather than
take part in an election described as "hollow" and a "sham".
But
there were other reports that armed Zanu-PF bands were attacking
anyone who
did not have fuschia ink on their finger.
Such was the intimidation
that Mr Tsvangirai asked his supporters not
to put their lives in danger and
to vote if they felt that to do otherwise
would expose them to
risk.
President Mugabe lost the first round of the election in
March that
was held under better conditions. But the electoral authorities
would not
release the results of the presidential election.
Instead, election officials were prosecuted for "falsifying" results
against
Mr Mugabe. Finally, the authorities conceded that Mr Mugabe had
lost, but
not by much, hence the run-off.
The military had already made it
known that an opposition president
was unacceptable and have been taking
their cue from Mr Mugabe that the only
way they will lose is through the
bullet, not the ballot.
Therefore, the electoral process from the
Zanu-PF point of view, is in
actual fact a nullity; the only way they would
concede power is through
armed conflict.
The Mugabe regime will
not leave, it will not respect the outcome of a
democratic election - and it
will not allow Zimbabweans to boycott an
election they believe to be a sham.
Zimbabweans are in a most difficult
position.
True, Mr Mugabe
does enjoy the support of many people, especially
because of the country's
deep racial problems, connected with the
exploitation and oppression of
black people under white rule.
The whites were privileged, owning a
good part of the best land where
blacks were landless and poor. Zimbabwe was
the replica of South Africa on a
smaller scale.
If Mr Mugabe
had been a good effective leader and had empowered the
black without
forcefully dispossessing the white, he would have been a
success as a
liberator.
But he did not treat whites with fairness, neither did
he recognise
them as his countrymen, equal to him and the rest in the eyes
of the law.
That is when he lost the respect of Africa.
And his
management of the country is a lesson in failure. He has a
Cabinet of 64, in
a country whose inflation is now more than 2 million per
cent and whose
currency is technically worthless.
Eighty per cent of the people
are out of work, millions are in exile,
and the cronies to whom he gave land
are growing neither corn nor tobacco.
Yet, Mr Mugabe still raises a
clenched fist and shouts defiance against
imperialism.
Mr
Mugabe will certainly get his victory; after all he is running
against
himself. But the repair of Zimbabwe is impossible as long as he
remains in
power.
Zimbabwe must get help from the international community. It
must also
rehabilitate its farms.
The African Union, with
leadership from South Africa and SADC, must
force a solution of Mr Mugabe. A
transitional government of national unity,
bringing together moderates from
Zanu-PF and the opposition must be put in
place quickly.
Mr
Mugabe must leave the scene and the country - at least for while.
Modern Ghana
By Mercy Adede Bolus
Sun, 29 Jun 2008
Feature Article
"The
Author's/Authors' views do not necessarily reflect those of
ModernGhana."
Ghana must never allow any dictator or the
Military rule us ever again.
A nation is innovative, creative and yearns
to improve itself if and only if
there is evidence of safety, good housing,
food, freedom of speech and
opportunity for further
education.
Reflecting on the crisis in Zimbabwe made me realise how lucky
Ghanaians are
right now. I am so thankful that the late President Kwame
Nkrumah was indeed
our first leader. Kwame was a man with a strategic vision
for everyone. He
saw what the opportunity of higher education could do for
an individual like
him and therefore seized on this key element and followed
it through.
President Kwame Nkrumah brought about free education for all
to the extent
of earmarking money for uniforms free books, pencils the whole
lot. In some
case free dental care provision in the grounds of some state
schools.
This is why Ghana is so unique as Kwame Nkrumah ensured and
secured our
current state. He ensured the foundation for other countries to
offer
scholarships students with talents thus adding that extra dimension to
Ghana.
The late President Kwame Nkrumah and his team not only fought
selflessly for
Ghana but also for Africa.
Such a man of self respect
felt betrayed by many of us who were only self-
centred those I classify as
me, myself and I type. They use their position
to better mainly the their
immediate families, friends but not the a nation.
Reflecting on the
legacy of the late President Kwame Nkrumah whom my late
grandmother Mrs
Mercy Fenuku had the opportunity of sharing spiritual growth
with at
Adabraka. Kwame humbled himself to seek to for God's wisdom and
guidance for
us all. No one would say Kwame Nkrumah was too arrogant and
didn't reach out
to the vulnerable. He was the people's man because he knew
his
roots.
The peace we enjoy in Ghana right now was due to the selfless,
strategic
thinking and the critical analysis of situation with his team, the
Big Six.
Today those he offered the free education to are spreading the
benefits good
education up to this day as generations are benefiting. Hence,
the populous
of Ghana are better educated, well informed and ask questions
better than
many of our African cousins.
Thank you so much President
Kwame Nkrumah for following that vision you had
for Ghana. To educate your
people a gift, a weapon to link Ghana to the
global world. Your memory will
continue to live within Ghana.
On the other hand, reflecting on what is
happening in Zimbabwe, the first
thing that strike anyone is that it appears
they never had the opportunity
we had from our late President Kwame Nkrumah
who saw educating the nation as
a priority even to all very remote
villages.
Our cousins lack the opportunities we take for granted in
Ghana. Seeing the
Zimbabweans reminded me of what could have happened in
Ghana if Kwame and
his team never bothered to step in at the right time.
Thank you so much and
those who struggled and fought mercilessly for the
freedom we have today.
Ghana must not just sit there and keep mute to the
calls and cries of the
Zimbabweans. Africa nations must act now for history
sake. Let us all
reflect on the body language of our cousins. Let's
critically analysis what
their body language on 27 June 2008 is saying to
us. Why should we let our
cousin and feel so despondent as the no one wants
to intervene.
The whole world is watching Africa, the AU must do
something and all African
constitution should state that a term in office
must be only two as it
appears some African leader enjoy power rather needs
of its people.
Seeing some Zimbabweans with sticks and clubs and chasing
their fellow
Zimbabweans as if they are chasing a snake. This is totally
unacceptable.
Ghana must not just sit there and keep watching without saying
anything.
Would we like to be treated in this way when a President goes this
way
one-day? Come on. Ghana has learnt from past mistakes within our own
country. In ensuring that these incidents do not happen on a Ghanaian soil
we need to denounce such evil.
Ghana must continue to uphold the
legacy that the Kwame Nkrumah gave us.
Free education to a higher level with
vocational and technical colleges,
polytechnics etc offered to all to ensure
that the populous are astute and
could freely challenge any Government
without any intimidation.
It is so obvious to analysis that perhaps only
few people in Zimbabwe have
had the opportunity of higher education in order
to be astute be well
informed stand up to any bullying tactics
etc.
How can an African President think the power he has to rule its
people is a
personal thing? Why can't we accept defeat gracefully so that
what ever we
have achieved aspires others to even do greater
things?
Ghana and the rest of the African nations must learn from these
mistakes in
the Zimbabwe. Reflecting to the Bible John the Baptist within
him self that
he was only a process in God's plan. Why can't we as humans
accept God's
plan to move on and leave the space for others to take
over?
A Presidential term in office of a nation is a rollover affair but
sadly
many presidents just don't get it.
Our cousins, the Zimbabweans
are reaching and stretching to us. I wonder
what our answer, as a nation
would be?
Intimidation, lack of free and fair election, killing,
oppression of the
vulnerable and still the world looks on. The crisis in
Zimbabwe is simply
not acceptable to even in the animal kingdom. What are
the U.N, AU , EU
doing > This is the question being asked by ordinary
people on evevry street
around the world.
What is Ghana, the leader
of the Black Star leading the light to Freedom and
Justice doing about this?
The Zimbabweans are watching their true friends
indeed. Would it be Ghana to
emerge as a true friend of the people of
Zimbabwe or just a friend to their
President Mugabe? This is the critical
issue facing us right now.
Is
it about time some African leaders learn to perhaps listen more to the
people they represent and talk less. God is watching us all from above and
those of us who yearn to lord over people, with torture, bullying tactics,
and all kinds of evils watch out as your judgement is awaiting you in
heaven. After all our period in this world is only three scores and ten or
four scores and ten if you are lucky to enjoy God's grace in the case of
Nelson Mandela.
Let's hope the AU summit would bring some assurance
and a sense of peaceful
solutions to the current crisis facing our cousins.
No longer would any
African leader live in a fool's paradise when the world
is watching 24/7.
Hello
Food for thought.
Mr Robert Mugabe main focus has
been the land to the people. He has stated
that he would not step down until
this works is completed.
Why has Morgan Tsvangirari not address this
problem to the Zimbabwe people.
Most of the people that are supporting Mr
Mugabe are doing so for land. The
way it is coming across to the local
Zimbabweans is that Morgan will give
the land back to the people. If Morgan
made the people aware of that would
happen on land I am sure that he would
have got greater support including
the people that support
Mugabe.
This would also support Mugabe policy to give land back to the
people that
he said he will address before he leave or hands power to
others.
It might seem barbaric what Mr Mugabe is doing but, for some of
the people
that knew what it was to live in Rhodesia with no land and not
being equal
support Mugabe.
Most of Morgan supporters are young and
just want to work and earn money for
day to day life.
Most of the
reports have been about the elections only and there has never
been the
focus of what the people want fully.
Regarding the last White farmer this
is incorrect report there are still
white farmers on the land. Yes they farm
have been reduced in size but, are
still farming.
The comment that
the black Zimbabwean farm is not producing has any one gone
out to do a
survey to confirm this and considering that the farms have just
been given
to the black Zimbabwean farmer has any one took on board that
they have not
had the money, experience and support to be able to farm as
the White
Zimbabwean farmer.
Why has there been no comments on the above issues or
is it just on the
Election , starvation, suffering, and
torture.
Regards
SK