Zimbabwe is about to become embroiled in yet another election. Or rather two simultaneous elections, one Presidential and the other Parliamentary, according to the wishes of ZANU PF which is moving to change the Constitution in order to bring about this "harmonization" of two polls which hitherto have not coincided. No dates have been given for the electoral exercise though the indications are that it will take place at some time during the first quarter of 2008. Already political events in the country are beginning to move around this new centre of gravity.
The regime of Robert Mugabe claims to respect the democratic principle and to secure its political legitimacy from the consent of the majority of those it governs. Its opponents contend that it is profoundly undemocratic and now, following a succession of rigged elections between the years 2000 and 2005, without a popular mandate. The 2008 elections therefore provide the opportunity to assess these competing claims and decide where the truth lies. However we shall only discover where the truth lies if we are able to assess the conduct of the electoral process against a credible and agreed set of standards.
Fortunately there is to hand just such a set of agreed standards and, if there is any difference between the standards that apply in Africa and those that are accepted elsewhere in the world (though heaven knows why they should not be the same), then these must be taken to be truly indigenous, African standards because they were adopted by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2004. We refer to the "SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections", adopted by the SADC leaders on 17th August 2004 in Mauritius. As a member of SADC, Zimbabwe was a signatory to these benchmark principles, and therefore it is entirely fitting that the regime's performance in relation to the forthcoming elections should be measured against this standard.
As has often been pointed out and with good reason, an election is a process rather than an event. It follows that the compliance of any government staging an election must be measured over the whole course of the process, beginning as in this case from before the date of the election has been given and on through to after the vote has been counted and the official results delivered. Only so can one truly say whether or not the process has been "fair and free". Indeed this principle is acknowledged within the SADC guidelines themselves where attention is paid to what is happening on the ground from long before to long after the actual vote.
In relation to the Parliamentary Elections of March 2005, Sokwanele undertook a regular weekly feature, entitled "Mauritius Watch", which tracked the performance of the Mugabe regime against the same SADC guidelines. Readers are referred to those articles, and to our considered summary of evidence which can be seen in the archives section of our website.
Two years down the line, as the country gears up for yet another momentous event in its history, the need arises to undertake a similar service for the benefit of those reporters, writers, commentators, diplomats and others who wish to be well informed about events on the ground but who perhaps lack the time or resources to track events themselves on a daily basis. We trust our new regular feature, Zimbabwe Election Watch, will serve this purpose. While we certainly cannot hope to provide an exhaustive description of every event that relates to or has a bearing on the 2008 elections, we intend to provide a representative sample, enabling our readers to discern the trends and providing enough by way of our summaries and links to other news sources, to obtain the specific details any might require.
It should go without saying that we for our part will be doing all in our power to ensure that events are covered in an objective and non-partisan manner. We are quite content that the facts should speak for themselves - but at the very least let Zimbabwe and the world know what the facts are.
Sokwanele received information today (10th July, 2007) from an activist that while a well-known shop in Harare was refusing to sell bread to the general public it was supplying Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Air Force Zimbabwe (AFZ), out the back door.
Further enquiries revealed that the manager and owner of the shop concerned were among those arrested last week in the ZANU PF nation-wide purge of the business community.
Our sources on the ground in Zimbabwe confirm that, as a result of the recent orchestrated campaign of violence and intimidation, a number of shop owners and managers have reluctantly agreed to prioritise the sale of scarce goods to security forces. Those who have been "roughed up" by the police and Mugabe's youth militia were among the first to yield to the pressure.
Many commentators believe that the police are being allowed to get away with this sort of harassment and ill-treatment of the civilian population because the regime is no longer able to provide them with a livable salary. It is understood that the regime is deliberately turning a blind eye to looting, regarding it as a form of 'payment in kind' or reward to those in the security services.
Source: Sokwanele (activist information)
SADC standards breached
Despite the poor publicity of the voter registration exercise, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has said Zimbabweans are coming out in their numbers to register for the 2008 elections.
"When the ZESN team visited the Mbare Netball grounds registration centre on Monday 2 July there were over 300 people queuing to register as voters as well as to obtain other identification documents," said ZESN in the update.
The organisatin said turnout was however low in Harare as evidenced at Glen Norah District Office when the ZESN team visited the centre on Wednesday 4 July 2007.
"Most people at these centers claimed that they had not seen the newspaper adverts that publicized the voter registration exercise. This was particularly the case at Nyachuru Secondary School, Copley Farm and Mhandu Primary School in Zvimba District, Mashonaland West," said ZESN, revealing that only five people at Mbare Netball Grounds claimed to have seen adverts in the newspaper.
"The people were pessimistic that they would be registered at the centers considering the slow pace at which they were being served. Some claimed that they had been at their centres for two days and were yet to be served."
Although registration for those aged between 16 and 18 years was free, said ZESN, all those above 18 were supposed to pay $25 000-00. "Those seeking to replace lost identity cards were expected to pay $30 000-00. Some people who spoke to ZESN, at Copley Farm and Nyachuru Secondary School on this issue expressed concern that the amount was too exorbitant considering that they were poor and unemployed peasants".
Source: Zimbabwean, The (ZW) [1]
SADC standards breached
Additional comments on this event in relation to SADC standards:
At the time of writing this entry, inflation in Zimbabwe stands at an estimated 10-15,000 per cent, and is escalating fast. Unemployment exceeds 80 per cent. Asking people who are struggling to survive to pay for paperwork necessary to register to vote will inevitably lead to disenfranchisement.
A Gwanda chief last week allegedly threatened to banish from her area village heads who support the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), sparking fears of intensified "political cleansing" in Matabeleland ahead of elections next year.
Chief Ketso Mathe of Bulamba communal lands controls Tshoboyi and Lushongwe, in which there are allegedly three village heads linked to the MDC – namely Batang Moyo of Tshoboyi, and Zondelwa Dube and Jackson Ndlovu from Lushongwe respectively.
It is reported that Chief Mathe issued serious threats against the three village heads on account of their political affiliation. As a result the three now fear for their lives.
In recent weeks MDC leaders have claimed that the police were directing them to first seek clearance with the traditional leaders before they could hold meetings in areas under their jurisdiction. The opposition in Zimbabwe have long complained of the politicization of traditional leaders by Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party.
Identified perpetrators: Chief Ketso Mathe of Bulamba communal lands, Gwanda
Identified victims: Village heads - Batang Moyo of Tshoboyi, Zondelwa Dube and Jackson Ndlovu of Lushongwe
Source: Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW) [2]
SADC standards breached
Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)says it is not happy about the government's ongoing voter registration exercise ahead of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections. The MDC has described the exercise as "fraudulent and opaque". It says not only was the opposition not informed about the exercise, but that it was aware of several malpractices in the voter registration process.
The general secretary of the Tsvangirai-led faction of the MDC, Tendai Biti, complained about the current programme of voter registration by mobile units. “The process is not transparent”, he said. “these guys just wake up one morning and they decide to get out this opaque process across the country. We don't know where, how and when it is being done.”
The National Director, Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, which fielded thousands of monitors during the last general election in 2005, said the process was flawed because it started late and was not well publicized.
Mr Biti of the MDC also complained about the use of the present voters' roll in the exercise, a register which is, in his words, “irredeemably defective.”
Mr Biti again expressed the opposition party’s complete lack of confidence in any election process presided over by Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar General appointed by Robert Mugabe. Not only the opposition party but many independent election observers have in the past accused Mr Mudede of bias towards Mugabe’s ZANU PF.
Identified perpetrators: Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar General
Source: VOANews (USA) [3]
SADC standards breached
Joseph Mwale, the elusive Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative, controversially embroiled in the gruesome murder back in 2000 of two opposition MDC activists, is now safely ensconced in the Zimbabwe mission in Lusaka, the Zambian capital.
Sources in the CIO say Mwale was transferred to Lusaka last year and has become an official at the Zimbabwean embassy since then. Mwale's posting in Lusaka effectively scuttles efforts to bring the much feared intelligence operative to book for the alleged gruesome murder of Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya.
The two MDC activists were burnt alive in a callous petrol-bomb attack at Murambinda Growth Point in Manicaland as they campaigned for their party ahead of the 2000 parliamentary elections, amid an orgy of state-sponsored violence targeting opposition candidates and their supporters.
Efforts to bring Mwale to book through prosecution have proved futile over the years, amid reports that he enjoys massive political support from top ruling party politicians as well as government officials.
Efforts by former Manicaland prosecutor, Levison Chikafu, to bring Mwale to justice were frustrated. On September 23, 2006, Chikafu wrote to the then police chief in Manicaland Province saying: "The accused faces a charge of murder which was committed in the year 2000. The docket was referred to your office with instructions that you arrest Joseph Mwale and bring him for initial remand." The docket disappeared from the police station immediately, and now Chikafu himself has been arrested and faces a number of what he asserts are trumped up charges.
Meanwhile nothing further has been heard of the Mwale murder case, and now it appears the fugitive from justice has quietly slipped across the border into neighbouring Zambia to take up a government posting.
Identified perpetrators: Joseph Mwale
Identified victims: Talent Mabika, Tichaona Chiminya
Source: Zimbabwe Times, The (ZW) [4]
SADC standards breached
Additional comments on this event in relation to SADC standards:
This event undermines any remaining confidence for the security of opposition campaigners in the current process
The government's voter registration exercise began on the 18th of June and is due to end on August 17 this year. Meanwhile the Registrar General’s department already stands accused of political bias in opening fewer voter registration centres in urban areas, which in the past have proved to be opposition strongholds. Both the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the smaller United People’s Party (UPP) have said they regard this as a deliberate ploy to ensure that fewer opposition supporters are able to register to vote.
The MDC also charges that in the rural areas, chiefs and other traditional leaders, who are well known for their loyalty to President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, had been tasked to screen and vet people wishing to register.
At the same time there appears to be widespread confusion about the purpose of the exercise in the minds of many people. Member of Parliament, Abednico Bhebhe, who is also deputy spokesman for the Mutambara faction of the MDC, said in his constituency of Nkayi in Matabeleland North province, some registration officials were telling villagers that the current exercise was to register people wanting national identity documents and not voters.
The UPP’s director of elections, Anthony Kundishora, registered a strong complaint.
"Scores of our supporters," he said, "particularly youths who have just turned 18 have approached our offices complaining that they have been denied the chance to register."
Identified perpetrators: Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede
Identified victims: MDC UPP
Source: Zim Online (ZW) [5]
SADC standards breached
Mobile registration of voters started on Monday 18th June and, according to government sources, will continue up to the 17th of August 2007. However the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) which has been monitoring the electoral process in Zimbabwe for many years, believes that this time is inadequate and proposes that it be extended to at least four months.
The Network is also deeply concerned that the exercise has not been adequately publicised which might result in most of prospective voters being unable to register.
ZESN believes that advertisements in the print media are not an appropriate and sufficient medium of communication of this strategic component of the electoral process. This is especially so when considering that the targeted audience is usually the impoverished peasants who live in remote areas where they have little, if any, access to newspapers or are too poor to afford them.
The Registrar General has set up a number of registration centres throughout the country. However, the amount of time spent at some of the centers is so ridiculously short as to render the whole exercise a sham, says ZESN. For instance they cite the example of Kawondera Primary School and Dzikamidzi Primary School in Zvimba District, where the Registrar General's team will be visiting for only one day which, they say, makes a mockery of what should be a carefully planned and executed exercise.
The majority of the teams are due to spend an average of three days at most of the centres. According to ZESN the time allowed is insufficient, and they fear that not all eligible voters will get the opportunity to register if the exercise is to be ‘fast-tracked’, as intended.
Identified perpetrators: Tobaiwa Mudede - The Registrar General
Source: Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) [6]
SADC standards breached
On 15th June the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)reported that at least 50 of their activists had not been accounted for and six were then in police custody a day after plain-clothes and uniformed police officers blocked a planned demonstration in Harare. Tapera Kapuya, a spokesperson for the group, said police had not allowed the detained activists access to lawyers. No charges had been brought against them either. Kapuya said the NCA suspected the 50 missing activists were taken from their homes by government agents after the banning of the demonstration.
The six detained were taken from the Central Business District in Harare as police violently dispersed activists who had gathered for the demonstration.
Kapuya later explained that the police used excessive force and several injuries were reported. He said: "Police were quite vicious in their treatment of those who were participating in the protest. And several innocent ordinary people going about their business were caught in the chaos."
The NCA spokesperson expressed concern for the welfare of the missing activists, saying there has been a brutal ongoing campaign by the government against the NCA. He added: "It seems very organised, because they have been identifying our people, abducting, torturing and then dumping them in remote areas."
The NCA is campaigning for a new, democratic and people-driven Constitution ahead of any further elections in Zimbabwe. The opposition parties have reported that their officials and supporters are also being kidnapped by government agents who torture and then dump them miles away from home.
Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW) [7]
SADC standards breached
In recent months officials of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)and other pro-democracy activists have been subjected to a barrage of violent assaults, abductions and torture by agents of the state. In March the world was shocked by television images of bloodied and battered party leaders emerging from police custody. Since that time, though not so well covered by the world media, the violent assaults have continued and intensified against all levels of leadership in the MDC and those perceived to represent the opposition.
The MDC’s deputy national organising secretary, Morgan Komichi, is one of those on the receiving end of such brutality. It was reported on 1st June that he was battling for life in remand prison as authorities continued to block him from receiving specialist medical treatment. Harare Magistrate, Gloria Takundwa, had earlier ordered Komichi to be taken straight back to a prison hospital when he appeared before her for a remand hearing. Komichi is one of several activists who were savagely tortured in police custody, according to Jessie Majome, the MDC’s deputy secretary for Legal Affairs.
At the time of Komichi's appearance in court Majome expressed deep concern about the state of his health. He suffers from hypertension and it was feared that his condition had become life threatening.
The magistrate also ordered the police to investigate the alleged torture of the political prisoners after some of them appeared in court with fresh wounds and bruises. Among those who were having difficulties walking were Philip Mabika, Shame Wakatama, Piniel Denga and Komichi.
Identified victims: Morgan Komichi, Philip Mabika, Shame Wakatama, Piniel Denga
Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW) [8]
SADC standards breached
Links:
[1] http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?id=5115&linkid=1&linkcategoryid=36&siteid=1
[2] http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
[3] http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2007-07-06-voa2.cfm
[4] http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1100&Itemid=2
[5] http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1596
[6] http://www.zesn.org.zw/docs/pdf/Press_Statement_voter_registration07.pdf
[7] http://www.swradioafrica.com/news150607/nca150607.htm
[8] http://www.swradioafrica.com/News010607/MDC010607.htm