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HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's electoral
commission said Sunday it would soon fix
a date for the presidential
election second round, as the opposition
continued to consider under what
conditions, if any, it would take part.
The opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has insisted that
according to its own calculations
its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March
29 election
outright.
Official figures however, while putting Tsvangirai in the lead,
did not give
him an outright win.
But while Tsvangirai has said
previously there was "no need for a run-off"
he may yet take part in a
second round if international observers are
present.
An MDC official,
who asked not to be named, told AFP the party was busy
discussing conditions
for a second round of voting. One condition they have
set is that United
Nations officials be invited to observe the elections.
The MDC was due to
announce officially on Monday whether it would
participate in the run-off.
But most observers consider it unlikely that
Tsvangirai would boycott the
poll as this would leave incumbent Robert
Mugabe the automatic
winner.
"There are a number of conditions which we have lined up, such as
the United
Nations being invited to observe the run-off," the MDC official
said.
"The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has lost credibility, so
we feel
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should come and
assist
ZEC.
"Results should be announced within 48 hours after the
elections, and
ZANU-PF should accept the results. We also demand that
soldiers should be
removed from the rural areas and return to their
barracks," the official
added.
The ZEC told the state-run Sunday Mail
it would meet "as soon as possible"
to decide on a date for the run-off,
which has to take place within 21 days
of the publication of
results.
"I cannot state exactly when the run-off will be held but I can
confirm that
the poll will be held on a date to be announced by the
commission," ZEC
chairman George Chiweshe was quoted as
saying.
Zimbabwe has been rocked by post-poll violence since the
announcement of
parliamentary results saw the ZANU-PF lose its majority in
parliament for
the first time in 28 years.
Election officials on
Friday said there was no outright winner of the March
29 election, with
Tsvangirai getting 47.9 percent and President Robert
Mugabe getting 43.2
percent.
Thokozani Khupe, deputy leader of the MDC, speaking after a
meeting of
senior part leaders on Saturday, said: "In the unlikely event of
a run-off,
the MDC will once again romp to victory by an even bigger
margin."
The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF),
while accepting the results, nevertheless insisted that the polls
had been
fraught with electoral fraud. They cited vote-buying and the
bribery of
election officials to count votes in favour of the
opposition.
ZANU-PF officials have said that Mugabe will will contest the
run-off. The
84-year-old president has had a stranglehold on power since
independence in
1980.
The stand-off in Zimbabwe has been accompanied
by a wave of political
violence in rural areas that human rights groups and
the MDC have said was
aimed at forcing people to vote for Mugabe in a second
round.
South Africa's ruling African National Congress has encouraged the
parties
to seek a compromise in the form of a government of national unity,
rather
than going into a run-off.
"We need to look whether a re-run
will be in the best interests of Zimbabwe,
or whether they can negotiate a
more accommodative arrangement," ANC
Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told
the Sunday Times.
Tsvangirai has been a thorn in the side of Mugabe since
the 1990s. He has
faced charges of treason and was given a brutal beating by
police last year.
In 2002, he accused Mugabe of rigging his way to victory
against him.
Financial Times
By Tony
Hawkins
Published: May 4 2008 17:32 | Last updated: May 4 2008
17:32
Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Sunday was
seeking
international and regional support for a list of conditions under
which its
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, would contest a second-round run-off
against
President Robert Mugabe. These conditions include demands for the
immediate
deployment of international election observers from beyond Africa
as well as
from the African Union and the 14-nation Southern African
Development
Community.
The MDC continues to insist that Mr Tsvangirai
won the first round outright
with more than 50 percent of the popular vote,
despite a firm rejection from
the chairman of the state-appointed Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission, which
took almost five weeks to publish results of the
presidential poll.
At the weekend, George Chiweshe, the ZEC chairman,
attacked the MDC, which
he accused of “playing games” in the vote
verification process. Mr Chiweshe
said that while the Zanu-PF party and
Simba Makoni, the independent
candidate, had produced their own voting
numbers to compare with those of
the commission, the MDC had failed to do
so, despite being given extra time.
Mr Chiweshe claimed that both the
Zanu-PF and Makoni figures were identical
to those compiled by the
commission, but no comparison with the MDC figures
had been possible because
the opposition refused to produce its voting
numbers.
The MDC’s
demands for international observer missions and a guarantee of
prompt
publication of the results of the second round are almost certain to
be
rejected by both the government and the electoral commission, meaning
that
within the next week Mr Tsvangirai and his advisers will have to decide
whether to contest the election or hand Mr Mugabe victory
unopposed.
The opposition party fears that during the run-off campaign
its supporters,
especially in rural areas, would be the target of violent
attacks by Zanu-PF
militia. The MDC says that since the March 29 poll, 20 of
its members have
been killed by government supporters and 1,000 homes have
been destroyed,
but government ministers claim that that it is the MDC that
is responsible
for the violence.
The MDC’s hopes that international
and regional pressure will force Mr
Mugabe to scale back the violence and
allow international observers to
monitor the second round are unlikely to be
realized. The ruling Zanu-PF
party appears determined to ensure not only
that Mr Tsvangirai loses the
next round, assuming he contests it, but also
that the courts overturn the
MDC’s parliamentary majority.
Zanu-PF
says it will contest the parliamentary results in the courts for 52
of the
109 seats won by the MDC, and given the courts’ partisan track
record, it is
quite possible that sufficient results will be overturned to
give Mr Mugabe
a working parliamentary majority. No date has yet been set
for the second
round of presidential voting, but it is likely to be in the
last week of May
or the first half of June.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: May 4,
2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Educators have become targets in
Zimbabwe's post-election
violence, a teachers' union said Sunday,
threatening a nationwide strike
unless the government stops the
attacks.
The Zimbabwean opposition and international and local human
rights groups
have accused the governing party, its militant allies and the
army of waging
a campaign of terror since President Robert Mugabe came in
second in March
29 presidential elections. Electoral officials have said
that a second round
of voting is necessary because neither Mugabe nor his
rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai, had won a simple majority, and there are fears of
increased
violence in the lead-up to a runoff.
Teachers have
traditionally assisted in running elections. The Progressive
Teachers Union
said Sunday that the violent campaign against its members,
many of them
respected figures in local communities, was meant to instill
fear and
prevent them from participating as polling officers in the
runoff.
"Whoever is calling himself the government should act to stop
violence in
schools, or we will be forced to act," the union said, adding it
was
considering calling a nationwide strike.
The union said more than
1,700 teachers had fled violence. It said its
members were under attack
across the country and urged teachers to withdraw
from "politically volatile
zones." It also said disruptions in schools
threatened examinations
scheduled for June in rural areas.
It said that 133 members were
assaulted over the past week and 496 were
"interrogated over election
matters." Other rural teachers were said to have
been forced to pay a
"repentance fee" in money, cattle or goats.
Human Rights Watch said last week
that it had received reports that more
than 100 polling station officers,
most of them teachers and low-ranking
civil servants, had been detained in
an eastern province. The group
described these detentions as an indication
the government and its loyalists
were targeting those seen as betraying
Mugabe.
Mugabe's officials have denied fomenting political violence and
accused the
opposition of being behind the unrest.
Thokozani Khupe,
vice president of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, said
Saturday that the group still believed a runoff was
unnecessary, maintaining
that Tsvangirai had won the first round outright.
At a news conference
Saturday, Khupe called on the Southern African
Development Community to help
verify the results. "We still need to be
convinced before we participate in
a runoff," she said.
No runoff date has been set. Deputy Information
Minister Bright Matonga said
that the Constitution required a second round
no sooner than 21 days from
the announcement of the results, and no later
than a year.
The opposition has consistently rejected a runoff, but its
stance has
appeared to soften since the official results were released.
Mugabe's party
said that he would take part in a second round.
On
Friday, Tsvangirai's deputy in the Movement for Democratic Change, Tendai
Biti, acknowledged that skipping a second round could result in another term
for Mugabe.
International observers have questioned whether a runoff
would be
legitimate, given the violence the opposition has faced. The
opposition's
top leaders, including Biti and Tsvangirai, have been staying
outside of
Zimbabwe because they fear being arrested.
News24
04/05/2008 20:03 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean police violently dispersed a group of people
aligned to
the new head of the Methodist church who were attending a service
in Harare
on Sunday and arrested a clergyman who was presiding over the
service.
About 20 armed riot policemen had descended on the group aligned
to the new
head of the Harare diocese, Bishop Sebastian Bakare, and ordered
them to
disperse before arresting Reverend Farai Mutamiri. They bundled him
into a
police truck and drove him away.
Those who tried to resist the
order were beaten up with batons. Police
spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena could
not be reached for comment regarding the
reason for the arrest of Mutamiri
and his whereabouts.
Recently High Court judge Rita Makarau ruled that
both church members
aligned to axed bishop Nolbert Kunonga and Bakare must
share the St Mary's
Cathedral church.
Kunonga's faction had attended
the service early morning inside the church
building and the Bakare faction
was scheduled for mid-morning in the church
courtyard.
Kunonga has
made no secret of his sympathy for President Robert Mugabe's
government and
its policies, which handsomely rewarded his support by giving
him a farm
seized from its former white owner.
He has resisted his expulsion from
the church and formed a splinter church
group after his
ousting.
Since the wrangle started, armed police have been called to
disrupt church
services in Harare, arresting at least three priests and a
number of
parishioners opposed to Kunonga and openly challenged the decision
to allow
the disgraced bishop to take over against the will of the
people.
There was also a heavy deployment of secret security agents to
attend the
Bakare faction services. - Sapa-dpa
Zimbabwe is still very much
in the news so we got a lot of media coverage of
our demonstration in
protest at Mugabe’s post-election reign of terror.
Fugayi Mabhunu gave three
television and radio interviews while Stendrick
Zvorwadza of Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) was on the radio
a couple of times. Others
were also called on for media contributions.
ROHR activists were
at the Vigil in force to express their abhorrence of the
violence being
inflicted on opposition supporters. Stendrick briefed the
Vigil on ROHR’s
plans for actions on the ground in Zimbabwe. Ephraim Tapa,
a founding
member of the Vigil and also the founder of ROHR, is currently in
Johannesburg at the invitation of South African activists who want to join
up with the ROHR project.
To support our demonstration we
displayed graphic images of the injuries
inflicted by Mugabe’s terrorists.
They stopped passers-by in their tracks
and people lingered to study
cartoons about Mugabe’s lunatic world.
The Vigil was galvanized
by the singing of Ancilla Chifamba, now of the
Glasgow Vigil. She had to
relocate to Scotland and has helped launch a very
successful Vigil in
Glasgow. She came down with fellow Glasgow Vigil
co-ordinator Patrick
Dzimba and attended a Vigil team meeting to talk about
the way
forward.
For this week’s Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
FOR
THE RECORD: 160 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY: Saturday,
10th May 2008, 2 – 6 pm. Next Glasgow Vigil.
Venue: Argyle Street Precinct.
For more information, contact: Ancilla
Chifamba, 07770 291 150 and Patrick
Dzimba, 07990 724 137.
Vigil Co-ordinators
The
Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every
Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human
rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October
2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections
are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
The Australian
Greg
Roberts | May 05, 2008
BESIEGED white farmers in Zimbabwe report widely
varying responses from
police to attacks on their properties by Robert
Mugabe's henchmen,
indicating patchy support for the President from his
security forces.
Police have acted forcefully in recent days to evict
supporters of Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party who occupied white-owned farms in early
April near the
northern town of Centenary and the southern town of
Masvingo.
However, in much of southern Zimbabwe and the country's east,
the attacks on
properties have increased in the past week.
The main
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, is undecided
about
whether to contest a runoff presidential election after the Government
declared late last week that no candidate won a majority in the March
elections. Observers speculate that Mugabe has not yet stolen the election
because he is not assured of the universal backing of police and military
personnel.
Whites retain ownership of just 500 of the 4600 farms that
were targeted by
Mugabe's former bush guerillas during a bloody takeover in
the early 2000s,
leading to the collapse of Zimbabwe's agriculture-based
economy.
The Commercial Farmers Union says 160 white-owned farms are now
under attack
by Mugabe supporters, but while police often ignore calls for
help from
besieged property owners, they are intervening in some
cases.
"Around the country there is a very confusing picture about the
security
situation," said Farmers Union consultant Mike Clark.
"We
are caught in the middle of this huge political argument and nobody
knows
what really is going on."
Simon, the Australian son of a Zimbabwean
farming couple, said his parents
had returned to their property north of
Harare after Mugabe's henchmen were
evicted by police last
week.
Simon, who asked that his surname not be published, said police had
jailed
and beaten many ZANU-PF zealots.
"Much to the surprise of
everyone, about half of the people who were trying
to take the farms over in
our area, many of whom were drunk and acting
crazy, were taken away by the
police. They were locked up and some of them
were bashed."
However,
John Borland, a farmer from near the southern city of Bulawayo,
said he was
preparing to leave his property because he feared for his
safety. Mr Borland
said about 50 ZANU-PF supporters were camped 150m from
his home. They had
set up a barrier on his entrance road and had slaughtered
livestock. "This
is my home," he said. "I've been here 65 years and I've got
nowhere to go
and nothing else to do but farm."
Mr Borland said many local MDC
supporters had been beaten and they had told
him several had been
killed.
Farmers Union president Trevor Gifford said his property near
Chipinge was
occupied last month but that he had been allowed back with the
assistance of
police. He said his workers had been evicted from the property
and that some
were beaten severely.
"People working here on the farm
have had to flee into the bush and they are
in hiding," Mr Gifford
said.
"Everyone is absolutely petrified. It is a horrible existence. My
family has
been here since 1894 and it is just barbaric that this is taking
place."
In a bid to shore up support, Mugabe has claimed that whites are
returning
to take back properties that had been taken from them.
Zim Online
by Lizwe Sebatha Monday 05 May
2008
BULAWAYO – Politically motivated violence gripping
Zimbabwe since last month’s
disputed elections is hampering efforts to
assess food aid requirements for
a country grappling with an acute food
crisis and facing poor harvests this
year, relief agencies said at the
weekend.
The Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN) and the Cooperation for
International
Development Solidarity (CIDSE) that are among groups helping
to feed
Zimbabweans, said they had been unable to reach all parts of the
country to
assess the food security situation because of violence and the
intimidating
presence of state security forces.
The EZN comprises
more than 20 faith-based organisations involved in
humanitarian assistance
in Zimbabwe while the CIDSE is an alliance of 15
Catholic Church development
organisations from Europe and North America.
The two groups said in a
statement: “Our partners cannot carry out food
security assessments in the
post-harvest season and are unable to plan
properly the appropriate support
to the most vulnerable sectors of the
population in this coming
year.
Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, has grappled with food
shortages
since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe launched his haphazard
fast-track
land reform exercise that displaced established white commercial
farmers and
replaced them with either incompetent or inadequately funded
black farmers.
A shortage of seed and fertilizer hampered planting while
erratic rains for
most of the farming season has meant yields will be much
lower again this
year and international relief agencies will have to step in
with food aid.
The EZN and CIDSE said because of violence across much of
the countryside
they were unable to carry out surveys to establish the
extent of food aid
required.
“The intimidating presence of security
personnel and the physical violence
taking place across the country is
severely limiting our partners’ ability
to fulfill their humanitarian
mission. This security situation severely
limits access to certain areas of
the country,” the statement from two the
groups said.
Politically
motivated violence and human rights abuses have resurfaced in
many parts of
Zimbabwe since a March 29 election that Mugabe and his ZANU PF
party lost to
the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) party.
The MDC, Western governments and human rights groups
have accused Mugabe of
unleashing militias to scare Zimbabweans into backing
him in a second round
presidential ballot being held because Tsvangirai
defeated the veteran
President but failed to garner more than 50 percent of
the vote needed to
take power under electoral laws.
MDC deputy leader
Thokozani Khupe told journalists at the weekend that ZANU
PF militia have
killed 20 supporters of the opposition party and destroyed
more than 1 000
homes since the elections.
The government however denies the allegation
and instead says it is the MDC
that has carried out political violence. –
ZimOnline.
Zim Online
by Prince Nyathi Monday 05 May 2008
HARARE – President
Robert Mugabe’s government has ordered editors of its
vast media empire to
intensify a propaganda blitz in favour of the veteran
leader ahead of a
tricky second round election against opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Sources said Mugabe’s press secretary George Charamba,
Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa and deputy information Minister Bright
Matonga last Friday
met editors of state radio, television and newspapers
and told the to tore
the line or face dismissal.
The state-owned
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) operates the country’s
sole radio and
television stations while the government’s newspaper empire
is the largest
in the country.
"Chinamasa said if we are not prepared to tore the line
we better leave and
they will look for those who are committed to the
revolutionary cause," said
one of the state editors, who did not want to be
named for fear of
victimisation.
Zimbabwe holds a second presidential
ballot at a yet unknown date after
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a March 29
election but failed to garner more
than 50 percent of the vote required to
win the presidency.
Matonga refused to take questions on the matter
saying meetings between the
government and editors at state radio or
newspapers were confidential and
not for public consumption. “If there was a
meeting, what business is it for
you? We hold several meetings with
editors,” he said.
According to our sources, the government officials
criticized the editors
for failing to support ZANU PF and Mugabe in the
run-up to the March polls.
Chinamasa, who heads ZANU PF’s information and
publicity sub-committee, is
said to have accused the ZBH of biased in favour
of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) party and claimed
radio and television carried
too many opposition adverts in the weeks before
the vote.
Charamba reportedly accused state editors of failure to
adequately cover
rural areas which he said was partly the reason ZANU PF
faired badly in the
rural areas that have been its strongholds in past
elections.
Mugabe’s government, which tightly controls the media and has
closed four
independent newspapers over the past four years, often uses
public-owned as
propaganda mouthpieces. – ZimOnline.
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HARARE - 5 May 2008
Anglican-Information is sending us daily reports from Zimbabwe of
intimidation and violence directed against opposition MDC (Movement for
Democratic Change) supporters and members. There is a systematic government
action to ensure that any run-off election between opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and 'President' Robert Mugabe will produce a 'victory' for
Mugabe, despite his overwhelmingly unpopularity. Readers should note that if
a new election takes place voters have to return to their home town to cast
their choice. The Mugabe government is contriving to prevent voters from
doing so.
A correspondent writes (3rd May):
People are pouring
out of the country.
Many young blacks (in order to escape the violence
and intimidation) are
thronging the border posts into Botswana. With a
Zimbabwe passport no visa
is required for Botswana. Last time many of these
refugees hired buses to
return home to vote in the March 29 election. The
buses were then held up at
the border. This time the government have already
had five weeks to set up
such blocking schemes.
The push factor for
the few remaining elderly whites is inflation, now
estimated at 400,000%
(some commentators put the inflation rate at a mere
165,000% although that
is simply academic and these Weimar Republic-like
levels are crippling
everybody - except the ruling elite) - They just cannot
make ends meet.
Bread last week was 35 million a loaf. This week it is 70
million. This
group also need medications which again, if you can get them,
are very
expensive. Most health insurances only pay up after six weeks or
so. So the
pull factor is the NHS. This group are selling their homes and
setting off
for family in Britain or New Zealand.
Many more Africans, especially
families of MDC activists, are internally
displaced, living in Harare or
Bulawayo with relatives. With the huge cost
of transport how will they get
back home to vote? So the Tsvangirai vote is
being very successfully eroded,
without actually killing many people.
Also worrying is that, with many
MDC leaders on the run, there is no one to
hold back the MDC Youth. In one
or two areas, especially Mudzi, where they
have retaliated, the injuries
have been the worst. The US Ambassador is
keeping records, and reports that
the MDC is responsible for about 1 in 10
of the serious injuries. The
majority are perpetrated by the army, police or
their agents.
We hope
to be able to worship at ................., Harare, this morning (4
May).
Our churchwarden seems confident. Our priest was not held over last
week and
has promised there will be a service in English today. It may be
the last
Sunday for one 90 year old who has worshipped at ...............
since its
foundation 52 years ago. She is going to her daughter in South
Africa next
month.
Please pray particularly for the polling agents, many of whom are
being
threatened. A headmaster friend, whose school now has resident War
Vets and
Youth Militia, is one.
And another report:
Please
everyone 'pray against fear'.
There is now a concerted effort to attack
the schools throughout the rural
areas. The message to the teachers is: 'One
vote for the MDC in your village
and we will kill you.'
The
headmaster of a rural school not very far from town (we were to go out
there
today, May 1st, with books and provisions sent from England) rang up
on
Tuesday evening to say thirty war veterans and youth militia had arrived
in
the school, and the parents had told him it was not safe to go there.
We
met the Head in town and took him and the parcels to the room where he is
lodging in Chitungwisa. The story was that these people (the so-called war
veterans) just arrived to tell the people there must be no more voting for
the MDC......or else. They have ordered themselves rooms to lodge in (free
of charge for the 'services' they are providing) in the Secondary School
next door, and help themselves to any food they can find by banging on
village doors. The Heads were told the government has abolished school fees.
Fortunately some of the parents have purchased essentials like chalk. Only
five of the seventeen teachers turned up for work, but the Head is
determined to keep the school open.
In Mudzi there has been the
greatest violence. One of the Headteachers there
campaigned for the MDC and
after the election his home was burnt down. He is
now in hiding having lost
everything except his life. One teacher in that
area has been
killed.
© Independent Catholic News 2008
Zim Online
by
Mutumwa Mawere Monday 05 May 2008
OPINION: Only a few weeks
ago, Zimbabwe celebrated its 28th independence
anniversary and for the first
time in post colonial Zimbabwe, citizens
wondered whether their vote would
be counted; whether their civil rights
would be protected by a government
that was born from the womb of racial
oppression; whether justice would
prevail and the promise of independence
would still be
honoured.
Zimbabweans have now been officially informed after an
unprecedented month
of anxiety that only two individuals remain standing and
when the storm will
eventually be over only one of them will remain standing
as president.
Who will it be? Who best captures the imagination of the
Zimbabwean people?
What does Zimbabwe need at this juncture in its history?
If President Robert
Mugabe, then what next? Can you imagine what Zimbabwe
will be like in five
years with Mugabe at the helm? If you cannot, then you
still have a chance
to voice your opinion.
The real difference will
come when people choose to be engaged in the
debates of the time and become
the change they want to see.
Anyone who does not believe that Mugabe
offers the change they want to see,
there is no other choice than voting for
and supporting opposition Movemnet
for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader
Morgan Tsvangirai.
For the first time, Mugabe goes into an election
without knowing its outcome
and this must be an experience for
him.
The people of Zimbabwe appear to be serious in reclaiming their
heritage and
in actively shaping their future. The first step into a new
future was the
transformation of ZANU PF into a minority party.
In as
much as Mugabe had wanted the election to be about the past, albeit
oblivious of his record, the people of Zimbabwe seem to have other
ideas.
Mugabe offers no new ideas but would like to take Zimbabwe back to
1979 to
recapture the rare moment when Zimbabweans broke down colonial
barriers with
the hope that the country would be inched closer to the ideals
that informed
the revolutionary struggle.
It was Mugabe, huddled with
brilliant minds of his day, some of whom have
been condemned to retire in
abject poverty, who embarked on a journey that
was expected to transform the
exclusive colonial state into an inclusive
one.
It was obvious then
that there was a fierce urgency to change the course of
history. Mugabe was
not elected in 1980 to just make history but deliver on
the promise of
independence.
Now 28 years later, it must and should not be enough just
to look back in
wonder of how far Zimbabweans have been reduced to become
spectators while
the country has been sliding into a dangerous economic and
political
quagmire through Gono’s economic experiments under the leadership
of Mugabe,
but it is time to seriously think about whether he is still best
suited to
take the country forward given the journey still to be
traversed.
Predictably Mugabe has already offered himself for the final
showdown
against his own record. It would be wrong to suggest that Mugabe’s
competitor is Tsvangirai, for it is really his own
record.
Twenty-eight years in office is a long time for anyone to run on
his record
and yet it is not obvious that Mugabe has accepted that he should
take some
responsibility for plunging the country into an economic
abyss.
Zimbabwe is at a historic and defining crossroads and the run-off
provides
yet another opportunity for Zimbabweans to pronounce their opinion
about
what time it is in Zimbabwe. Is it Mugabe time or his time is
up?
This year and this election come at a time of great challenge and
promise.
Zimbabwe is challenged and citizens find themselves fearful of
their own
government and less respected globally than at any time since
independence.
It is a time for change that citizens can believe in. I am
not convinced
that if in the rare chance that Mugabe is re-elected, hope
will be restored
and the country can be put back to
work.
Accordingly, Zimbabweans have another chance to turn the leaf and
choose a
fundamentally different future not only in terms of policies and
style of
leadership but a chance to heal a divided nation.
It must be
accepted that some of the challenges that confront the country
that have
been made worse by Mugabe and his administration, existed long
before he
took office – challenges like health care; energy and environment;
ethics
and political morality; education; rural development; economy; rule
of law;
urban policy; poverty; security; and civil rights – but were not met
for
decades because of a post-colonial political system that has failed the
Zimbabwean and African people.
We must accept that Mugabe is a
skilled politician who is now a master at
employing textbook campaign
strategies and tactics. However, the country
requires a break from the
failures of his administration and it is time to
be honest about the
challenges that Zimbabweans face. Zimbabweans need to be
told what they need
to know and not what they already know about the vices
of
colonialism.
This election is really about the future and not the past.
As Zimbabweans
prepare for the run-off, it is important that they resist
surrendering their
future to a president whose world view is a threat to
prosperity for all,
opportunity and justice.
We all know that in
Mugabe’s mind, winning elections and staying in power
means everything. Even
people who may have doubts about Tsvangirai, this is
a time when differences
must be put aside in the interests of advancing
Zimbabwe’s
promise.
Some have proposed a government of national unity as a solution
but like
Mugabe has said before, competition is healthy and it should not be
the case
that losers end up miraculously as winners just because they
control the
arsenal to intimidate others.
The people of Zimbabwe need
to move forward and it seems that for better or
worse, Tsvangirai is the
chosen one and history must allow him to lead and
define his own agenda
without the fear of the ghosts of the past 28 years.
Any ZANU PF
supporter must surely be aware of what time it is and it is not
too late to
smell the coffee and, in the interests of the country, send the
message to
Mugabe that he is alone in the run-off and the real final push is
in the
making.
The country should mean more than the fate of Mugabe and now is a
time when
only two names are on the menu of Zimbabwean voters to eloquently
convey a
message that it is time for Mugabe to look for another
career.
Zimbabwe needs change and the mere fact that the name of
Tsvangirai is still
on the ballot box means for the first time, Zimbabweans
are ready to break
from the past and textbook politics that President Mugabe
is good at. –
ZimOnline
The Times
May 5, 2008
The outside world must
make it possible for the MDC to fight on in Zimbabwe
In the midst of the
spectacular local election results declared in Britain
on Thursday night and
Friday, that an outcome was finally announced - after
five weeks - for the
presidential contest in Zimbabwe might easily have been
forgotten. Robert
Mugabe certainly prays that the eyes of the world have
moved elsewhere. The
final numbers for the ballot, 47 per cent for Morgan
Tsvangirai compared
with Mr Mugabe's 43 per cent, were exactly the same as
the figures that
emerged in South African newspapers, courtesy of Zanu (PF)
sources, a mere
72 hours after the polling stations closed. This deepens the
mystery of why
it took so long for them to be released and reinforces the
suspicion that Mr
Tsvangirai failed to reach the 50 per cent level required
for him to become
president immediately because electoral fraud kept his
rival in
contention.
No date for the run-off ballot has yet been set. The dilemma
for the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is whether or not to
participate in it.
The party has been contemplating taking part even if this
awards the first
count far more legitimacy than it deserves. The hope of
forcing Mr Mugabe
from office at the second attempt comes with risking the
lives of MDC
supporters. The alternative is boycotting the poll on the basis
that the MDC
has already won and assuming that it will be impossible for Mr
Mugabe to
remain in power, recognised by neighbours, in this situation. That
there has
been such a discussion is entirely understandable, The personal
safety of Mr
Tsvangirai himself is threatened and the fear that another
round of voting
would be the pretext for atrocities on a more brutal scale
than anything
seen so far is, sadly, very well founded.
Another
ballot will only be credible if the outside world, particularly
South
Africa, insists that it is run in a manner that is fundamentally
different
from Mr Mugabe's notion of democracy. The MDC has to be confident
that the
numbers of election observers - especially again those who are
independent
in affiliation and from within the region (not Cuba, Iran or
Libya) - are of
a scale so that not only is corruption on the day identified
but also
intimidation in advance of the vote witnessed and highlighted.
South Africa
has to state unambiguously at the outset that if violence
associated with
Zanu (PF) emerges then it will disown the second round of
voting there and
then and agree that, on the basis of the initial poll, Mr
Tsvangirai is the
proper President of Zimbabwe. The media also have a moral
obligation not to
move on to other stories but to focus on this one.
It is only if the
conditions for a second round are right that the MDC will
be able to compete
in it without the spectre of rigging or bone-breaking and
so the will of the
people might be expressed. The man best placed to
restrain Mr Mugabe or,
better still, persuade him that it is he and not Mr
Tsvangirai who should be
withdrawing at this stage is President Mbeki of
South Africa. If he is not
prepared to be the saviour of Zimbabwe, then it
must fall to Jacob Zuma, who
today controls the ANC and who will probably
succeed Mr Mbeki in just under
a year, to take the stage.
Zimbabwe has been taken to the edge of ruin.
It could still be retrieved if
an orderly transfer of power can be
implemented. It will take incredible
courage but the MDC must not allow
itself to be cowed. If ever there were a
country where it is “time for a
change”, it is surely this one.
The East African
A JOINT
REPORT
The EastAfrican
Lawyers from East Africa and the Southern
Africa Development Community
(SADC) are seeking legal action against the
Chinese government over arms
supplies to Zimbabwe.
The East African
Law Society and the Law Society of the Southern Africa
Development Community
say they have finalised preparations to institute
legal action at the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
Two weeks ago, the 77,000-tonne An
Yue Jiang ship carrying several container
loads of weapons for the Zimbabwe
Defence Force, including three million
rounds of AK47 ammunition, 1,500
rocket-propelled grenades and more than
3,000 mortar rounds and mortar
tubes, was denied entry by several Southern
African countries.
The
ship was turned away in Durban and Cape Town, where dockworkers refused
to
unload the cargo, and later from Beira port in Mozambique, where it was
refused permission to dock.
Tom Ojienda, president of the East
African Law Society, told The EastAfrican
last week that the two bodies will
approach the ICC to investigate why China
is sending arms to Zimbabwe given
the current political situation there.
Mr Ojienda said that the two
organisations will seek court redress on the
post-election situation,
including torture and assaults carried out on
citizens.
“The two
organisations are going to engage the African Union and the United
Nations,
into actively addressing the situation.
The lawyers were speaking at an
emergency Pan-African summit in Dar es
Salaam on April 21 to discuss the
election crisis in Zimbabwe.
The summit asked the African Union not to
recognise results of the vote
recount. Instead, it wants the continental
body to appoint an independent
high level Pan-African panel of eminent
persons to deliver a political
settlement to the country.
Saying that
the electoral crisis in Zimbabwe can only be resolved through a
political
settlement that reflects the will of the people as expressed
during the
March 29, election, the meeting also wants the AU to call upon
China and
other countries “that are propping up the Zanu-PF regime,” to
desist from
such actions.
It also called on the AU to openly condemn the state
campaign of violence
against the people of Zimbabwe for exercising their
democratic rights.
The summit, called by the East Africa Law Society,
brought together 105
representatives of civil society, the legal fraternity,
trade unions,
academia from 21 African countries.
According to the
participants, the mediation efforts spearheaded by SADC and
endorsed by the
African Union have failed to deliver the necessary solutions
to Zimbabweans
and to uphold the will of the people.
“The entire mediation process has
lacked transparency, neutrality, openness
and consultation of the majority
of the people. The SADC-elected mediator
has shown a clear bias for the
incumbent government and he should be removed
from the mediation process
with immediate effect,” they said.
However, they said they recognised the
important role played by certain
countries and individuals in attempting to
resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.
“We are encouraged by efforts and support
of particular African heads of
state who recognised that the will of the
people as reflected on March 29
has been compromised in the subsequent
electoral process,” they noted.
According to the statement, realisation
of the change for which the people
of Zimbabwe voted on March 29, 2008 is
being threatened by Zanu-PF’s
attempts to cling to power “through
coercion.”
Civil society in East and Southern Africa has demanded a
rethink of the AU
approach on handling the Zimbabwe post-elections crisis,
in a move that
could put President Jakaya Kikwete, the current chairman of
the AU in a
precarious political situation, given the current continental
political
divide.
The entry of civil societies also marks another
acid test for Tanzania.
Tanzania and Zimbabwe have had a cordial
relationship since the latter’s war
of liberation, and last year, President
Kikwete — then SADC chairman —
appointed South African President Thabo Mbeki
to head a peace mission to
Zimbabwe in regional efforts to pursue a long
lasting solution even before
the election.
The summit participants
were shown digital photos of people with severe
injuries allegedly resulting
from the systematic Zanu-PF terror campaign
between March and April 2008 in
various parts of Zimbabwe against people
suspected of being Movement for
Democratic Change sympathisers.
It is also not lost on analysts that
Zimbabwe has put President Kikwete on a
diplomatic collision course with
regional power South Africa for the second
time in as many months, after the
Comoros military intervention, which South
Africa disputed.
Prof
Haroub Othman of the Institute of Development Studies at the University
of
Dar es Salaam and chair of Zanzibar Legal Services Centre said the
Zimbabwe
crisis is a symptom of widely practices politics of exclusion in
Africa.
Prof Othman said that regional bodies such as SADC, AU and
Comesa should not
only integrate economically, but should also seek to bring
into harmony
adherence to democracy and human rights, and must have charters
addressing
human-rights issues.
Through the ongoing delay in
announcing the presidential results and through
spurious attempts by Zanu-PF
to have a recount in some parliamentary
constituencies, the summit
participants said, the election process has been
negated and any run-off as
a result of a recount or an announcement of
results will be
illegitimate.
According to them, the announcement of the presidential
results has been
deliberately delayed to prevent a possible run-off. “These
results are
corrupted and compromised,” they claimed.
They said that
although the AU mediation process delegated to SADC was
supposed to deliver
an election that was broadly accepted by the people of
Zimbabwe, the delay
in announcement of presidential results and the recount
in some
constituencies have prevented such outcome.
“The Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission has not acted independently and is
discredited. The judiciary has
been compromised and is not independent. The
military is politicised and has
excessive control over the government.
Zimbabwe is in a constitutional
crisis and the legal environment has been
compromised and does not provide
for and protect the rule of law,” they
said.
And for some foreign
countries that they feel are using the crisis in
Zimbabwe to push their
agenda in Africa, they said a statement: “Certain
international countries
such as China are propping up an illegitimate regime
through a range of
activities from diplomatic silence to the provision of
arms and ammunition
to Zanu-PF. That must stop.”
They said that the international norm of
“responsibility to protect” places
primary responsibility in the hands of
the state to protect its people from
crimes against humanity, genocide, and
war crimes.
However, where the state itself is the perpetrator of such
heinous crimes,
and/or where it fails or neglects to protect its people, the
international
“responsibility to protect” cannot be stopped by self-serving
claims of
sovereignty on the part of armed and predatory
elites.
Reported by Wilfred Edwin and Francis Ayieko
Zimbabwe Metro
By Gerald
Harper ⋅ May 4, 2008
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki ’s senior Cabinet
ministers and
government officials worked to prevent the Chinese arms ship
from offloading
its cargo, despite his insistence that the mortar bombs,
rocket-propelled
grenades and assault rifles be allowed to reach Robert
Mugabe’s military.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Trevor Manuel played
an active voice in
preventing the Chinese arms carrier from docking in South
Africa.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, South African Revenue Service
Commissioner
Pravin Gordhan, director general in the Department of Transport
Mpumi Mpofu
and officials of the South African Police Service were among the
key players
in a plan to delay the docking of the ship. They hoped to seize
the six
containers of weapons on the pretext of customs and shipping
technicalities.
The goal appears to have been to ensure the cargo could
not be transported
to Zimbabwe.
This strategy flew directly in the
face of instructions from Mbeki to the
ministry of defence and the national
conventional arms control committee
that the arms transfer should be
permitted, according to government
officials who were close to the
process.
“He gave a direct order that they have to let it through,” one
close
observer told a South African paper.
The seizure ultimately did
not take place, because the ship failed to dock
to avoid a court order to
attach the weapons against debts owed by the
Zimbabwean government. But the
delays created by Sars and the transport
department opened a window for
court action, civil society protest and a
declaration by dock workers that
they would not unload the containers.
According to sources news of the
shipment began to break on Tuesday April
15, the day after the An Yue Jiang
arrived just off Durban. On April 16
Mbeki was in New York addressing the
United Nations on improving cooperation
between the African Union and the
world body. The Cabinet met in his
absence.
“Trevor Manuel was
determined to discuss it with his Cabinet colleagues,”
said one official.
The finance minister declared that he would “put his head
on a block” over
the issue.
But the ship was not discussed during the formal proceedings
of the Cabinet,
according to sources who were present, despite the urgency
of the issue,
mushrooming media coverage throughout the day and the fact
that several
ministers had known about it for two days.
It is not
clear if Manuel raised the shipment with colleagues such as
transport
minister Jeff Radebe on the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting. But
by the end
of that day a team of customs officials had already been
assembled to go
over the vessel and its cargo with a fine-toothed comb.
Meanwhile in New
York Mbeki told journalists that South Africa would not
interfere in a
legitimate transaction between Zim-babwe and China.
There was initially
confusion over whether the vessel would be granted
permission to dock. On
April 15 the National Ports Authority said the ship
would have to go through
a complex clearance procedure, but 24 hours later
NPA parent company,
Transnet, said there was effectively nothing they could
do to stop the ship
from tying up. But that situation changed when the
department of transport
weighed in, with Mpofu sending a letter to the ship’s
captain making it
clear that permission to dock had been revoked and that he
would have to
reapply for clearance. By April 17 officials from Sars’s
Pretoria
headquarters arrived in Durban to help coordinate the effort.
While the
bureaucrats attempted to stall the docking of the An Yue Jiang,
Sars
officials worked with the police on a plan to secure the containers on
landing. They were then to be escorted to a secure military site, where they
would be held.
Mbeki’s insistence on letting the weapons through is
seen by many who were
formerly among his closest allies in government and
the ANC as “bizarre” and
“embarrassing”.
“It was a real revolt,” said
one. “Every-one is asking what has happened to
him. It is very hard to
explain.”
Contact the writer of this story, Gerald Harper at :
southafrica@zimbabwemetro.com
Zim Online
by Own Correspondent Monday 05 May
2008
JOHANNESBURG – A Chinese cargo ship carrying arms for
crisis-torn Zimbabwe
offloaded cargo in Angola after Luanda have indicated
that the vessel would
be allowed to offload only cargo destined for that
country.
The Chinese vessel was believed to be carrying three million
rounds of AK-47
ammunition, 1 500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3
000 mortar
rounds and mortar tubes destined for Zimbabwe.
Early last
week President Mugabe’s right hand man, Emmerson Mnangagwa had
held talks
with the Angolan leader Eduardo dos Santos.
Although details of
Mnangagwa's visit were not officially disclosed, sources
said he was trying
to persuade Luanda to allow the Chinese ship carrying
arms for Harare to
offload its cargo in Luanda after dock workers in South
Africa blocked the
vessel from unloading the weapons at Durban port.
Quoting Angola’s dock
workers union the, country’s Coordination Council for
Human Rights (CCDH),
told the media on Saturday that some containers had
been offloaded, but that
there was no information as to their contents.
The Angolan government had
announced on Friday that it would allow the An
Yue Jiang to offload
Angola-bound cargo but not the weapons destined for
Zimbabwe’s
army.
The CCDH, to which the dock workers union belongs, failed in its
bid earlier
last week to get a court injunction against the entry of the
Chinese ship
into Angolan ports.
African and international opponents
of the arms shipment have argued that
the munitions could be used by Harare
in its crackdown against the
opposition in the country’s post-election
crisis.
The Chinese government had announced on Thursday that the ship,
which had
not been reported as carrying cargo for Angola, would be recalled
home due
to the lack of authorisations to offload in South Africa and
Mozambique. –
ZimOnline
OhMyNews
ZANU-PF split over
published presidential election results
Nelson G.
Katsande
Published 2008-05-05 04:44 (KST)
Zimbabwe is on a
precipice following the March 29 disputed presidential
results and Mugabe's
denial to concede outright victory to Morgan
Tsvangirai. The opposition has
disputed the published results in which the
electoral commission put it 43.7
percent ahead of Mugabe's 43 percent.
It is baffling how the electoral
commission came up with the percentage
considering that the total number of
votes has not been made public. Mike
Mbofana, an opposition supporter, on
Friday told OhmyNews, "Where is the
percentage coming from?"
"The
people want to know the total number of votes cast, and the number of
votes
for each candidate so as to come up with the percentage," he
added.
Esther Marufu a former ZANU-PF supporter who switched allegiance
to the
Movement for Democratic Change, said, "Literally the percentage that
the
electoral commission came up with represents the parliamentary votes not
presidential."
The opposition's concerns that the results were rigged
are further fueled by
the late release of the results. Even before the
results were announced,
Mugabe was already on record as saying a runoff was
needed. The opposition
insists Tsvangirai won outright considering that the
results were posted at
individual polling stations.
A source close to
the electoral commission said, "The opposition has
documentary evidence that
they won outright. Mugabe is in a state of
denial."
The opposition
must not be intimidated by Mugabe's brutality and must in
fact engage him
head on and prove that the people have spoken. Even some of
Mugabe's
supporters acknowledge that time is running out for him and that he
must
step down with dignity.
Should Mugabe continue to hold on to power,
he will surely go down in the
history books as a man who went from
"liberator" to "liability."
ZANU-PF is said to be split over the
published results. Even the war
veterans, Mugabe's loyalists, are divided
over whether Mugabe should stand
for the runoff, as they fear the opposition
will emerge victorious once
more.
Mugabe's supporters have embarked
on a terror campaign in rural areas where
villagers are reported to be
force-marched to Mugabe's rallies. In Chivhu
and Mutoko, villagers are
fleeing their homes as ZANU-PF youths go on the
rampage. More than 400
villagers have been displaced in Mutoko.
Reports of opposition supporters
being abducted have increased since the
presidential results were announced.
A school was forced to close in Chivhu
last week as ZANU-PF supporters and
war veterans threatened teaching staff
with violence.
It is highly
unlikely that Mugabe will accept the results of a runoff should
the
opposition win. There are also concerns that Mugabe will delay the
runoff in
a bid to scare and terrorize the voters before the voting begins.
The
opposition is said to be undecided on participating in the runoff.
Should
the opposition pull out of the contest, Mugabe will be declared the
winner.
It is only prudent and desirable that the opposition participate in
the
runoff, with assurance that international observers will supervise the
elections.
There have been allegations that ZANU-PF was already
drawing plans for
rigging the runoff presidential
elections.
Zimbabwe's economy has deteriorated since the government's
land reform
programs, which saw more that 3,000 white commercial farmers
being
displaced. In 2000, the war veterans and ZANU-PF supporters waged a
war
against white commercial farmers, evicting them from their land. The
land
was later shared among Mugabe's supporters and war
veterans.
Government officials also benefitted from the haphazard land
seizures.
Zimbabwe, which was Africa's breadbasket, now relies on the
support of other
neighboring countries for basic food
necessities.
Hospitals are poorly equipped, with thousands of doctors and
nursing staff
having fled to other counties in search of greener pastures.
The death rates
at government hospitals are reported to be on the increase
due to inadequate
medical supplies.
With the March 29 presidential
elections, the people of Zimbabwe were hoping
for a change of government,
for the ushering in of a leadership with
solutions for the deteriorating
economy. But with the status quo, the
economy is set to deteriorate
further.
The Zimbabwean
Sunday, 04 May 2008 19:37
President Thabo Mbeki can no longer be
considered a credible mediator
in the Zimbabwe crisis, the Democratic
Alliance's parliamentary leader,
Sandra Botha, said on Sunday, reports
Sapa.
When Parliament reconvened on Tuesday, Botha said, she
intended moving
a motion calling for a debate on the post-election crisis in
Zimbabwe, and
more specifically, probing Mbeki and the SA government's
"distinct lack of
action" on the matter.
Botha last month gave
a representative of Foreign minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma a letter
detailing proposed demands to the Mugabe government to
help bring about an
end to the post-election violence and political
stalemate in
Zimbabwe.
If the Zimbabwean government failed to meet these
demands, the DA
proposed that SA pursue more stringent measures, such as
imposing targeted
travel and financial sanctions on Zanu-PF's ruling elite,
and calling for an
international arms embargo on the country.
Despite having received these proposals, government had yet to respond
to
the crisis in any significant way, Botha said.
"To add insult to
injury, we now know from reports in the media that
President Mbeki not only
endorsed the effort by Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF to
procure a massive cache of
arms and ammunition from China, but that Mbeki
instructed the Ministry of
Defence and the National Conventional Arms
Control Committee to allow the
arms transfer to continue unhindered."
This morally bankrupt move
would have contributed to the violent
suppression of the Zimbabwean people
by the military and the police there.
This was "further evidence
that President Mbeki can no longer be
considered a credible mediator in the
Zimbabwe crisis".
Zimbabwe Metro
By Asher Tarivona Mutsengi ⋅
May 4, 2008
On March 29th 2008,Zimbabweans went out to vote,they voted for
change,they
rejected the status quo. A month after we are still back at
where we
started,instead of the change that the people voted for, opposition
and
civil society offices have been raided, opposition supporters tortured,
and
murdered all this perpetrated by a minority party ZANU PF, the military
and
police which make up less than 3% of the population.
A few
factors stand out on the elections,which I will point out.
The electoral
body it self is not independent, its chairman George Chiweshe
is a war
veteran and was awarded a farm in Mazowe under the violent land
redistribution. Not that there is anything wrong with that,but that is
enough grounds to doubts his bi-partisan ability.
Lets not
forget,that he was appointed to the bench in 2001 following a purge
of
“unpatriotic judges” by the government. The purge occurred in 2001 after
the
2000 elections when Judges who delivered sentences that were not
favourable
to the government including the nullification of the 2000
parliamentary
results in some constituencies were fired and replaced by a
new crop of
judges sympathetic to the government which include Chiweshe and
Tendai
Uchena who sits on the Electoral Court and dismissed the MDC petition
to
release Presidential poll results.
The manner in which the results were
announced to the media revealed the
partisan nature of ZEC. The results were
released slowly at a rate of about
30 a day. The manner in which they were
released was both curious and
revealing. The results were released using a
one each approach. Hence, at
the end of each broadcast there was a rough
parity of seats won between the
two parties. In order to accomplish this,
ZEC must have had the results of
all constituencies to know that the process
could be continued until all
results had been disclosed.
Yet ZEC
sought to explain the delay by maintaining that results were still
awaited
from far polling stations. In view of the “one each approach” this
explanation was preposterious , the fact is that the results released bore
no relation to their distance from the command centre. Results from outlying
Uzumba, Goromonzi and Makoni rural areas were announced in advance of
results for constituencies in Harare.
The delay in the announcement
of presidential results was baffling and no
substantial explanation
held.
The results were finally announced this past week and ZEC said they
were
being delayed by the recounts,but firstly recounts of the House of
Assembly
results should not have a bearing on the presidential results, and
thus
should not be a ground to delay the release of the latter.
The
recounts and subsequent re-announcement of winners was illegal the
electoral
law states that the previous declaration by the constituency
election
officer of the winner is final and may only be reversed on petition
to the
Electoral Court.
Further more, the procedure for resolving the dispute of
a House of Assembly
results, by way of petition, should not have any impact
on the presidential
results and there is no need to delay the presidential
result on this basis.
In any case if a run-off was indeed needed why
would they hold back the
results?
There are realistically only two
possible outcomes of the presidential poll,
Morgan Tsvangirai won with an
absolute majority or he won with a simple
majority. That announcement by ZEC
was pure lies. The so called independent
estimates provided by ZESN had a
margin of error of 2.4% which means
Tsvangirai could have been at
51.8%.
Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba himself confessed that indeed
Tsvangirai
had won with a absolute majority and argued that that ZEC should
not be
forced to release “faulty results” because they need to be fixed
first.
Writing in his weekly column in The Herald he said, ‘Which is why
there was
a bit of desperation to stampede both Government and ZEC into
announcing
faulty results that would have rigged Tsvangirai into an outright
win. ‘
After writing this we all know what followed,ZEC relocated its
operations
from the command Centre and it announced recounts of 23
constituencies
mostly in which ZANU PF had lost narrowly to the MDC. Results
in some seats
it had won were challenged after it emerged that despite their
win they had
lost the presidential vote in those constituencies.
It
appears the recount was conducted because ZEC reasonably believed the
miscounts were significant enough to take Tsvangirai below the threshold
required for an absolute majority. Since 1% of the poll is some 23 883
votes.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s chief election agents Chris Mbanga and
Morgan Komichi,
have been excluded from the verification process for a full
month where have
the ballot boxes been all this time.
When ZEC
finally announced the ‘correct results’ which we all know placed
Tsvangirai
below 50%,two options remain for the MDC. To participate or not
to in the
runoff.
My two cents is,the MDC should never participate in the so called
run-off
under any conditions. If ZANU PF cannot accept these results what
makes the
MDC think they will accept the results of a second run if he
wins?
Let us not forget how ZANU PF reacted when they lost the
Constitution
referendum in 1999,the election that followed was marred by
violence which
claimed the lives of over 100 MDC supporters.
In the
run-off the MDC cannot guarantee the safety of their House of
Assembly
elects. There is no doubt that ZANU PF will go after them and
eliminate them
to necessitate by-elections. How can the MDC be so naive to
forget what
happened to David Mpala,George Ndlovu, Learnmore Jongwe, and
Amos
Mutongi.
In all good faith the MDC should boycott the run-off because it
is not a
reflection of the wishes of the masses,they should straighten their
diplomatic efforts and deny Mugabe the legitimacy he so badly
craves.
Asher Tarivona-Mutsengi, a former student leader is the Publisher
of the
Zimbabwe Metro and zimbabwemetro.com he writes from
Calgary,Canada,and can
be contacted at ashermutsengi@zimbabwemetro.com
