Zimbabwe Election Watch : Issue 3
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The Constitutions of all SADC Member States enshrine the principles of equal opportunities and full participation of the citizens in the political process. However, the Zimbabwean government continues its flagrant violation of the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections, as Zimbabwe Election Watch demonstrates.
Over the past few years, Mugabe has become increasingly reliant on the military for political survival, appointing serving as well as retired members of the armed forces to take charge of electoral bodies and institutions directly involved in the running of elections. Army and police officers have been engaged by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for the voter registration programme, due to end on 17 August.
In view of the many challenges faced by citizens as they try to register or obtain identity cards and other documents, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network has recommended that voter registration be extended and more effectively publicised.
Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party has traditionally relied on chiefs and village headmen to promote the party’s interests. The allowances for three chiefs and several headmen in the southern province of Masvingo have been withdrawn for backing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Apparently aware of efforts within his party to block his standing for next year’s elections, Mugabe has deployed the political commissar, youths and women leaders on his side to intimidate the pro-change faction within Zanu PF.
Activists, including nursing mothers, who tried to hold a demonstration were rounded up at the offices of the National Constitutional Assembly and taken to Harare central police station where they were beaten relentlessly for up to five hours.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party has filed a Z$504 billion lawsuit against the police for violently crushing a court-sanctioned rally earlier this year.
A secret memo emanating from the Central Intelligence Organisation states that 25 local journalists suspected of supplying stories to foreign media will be ‘eliminated’; by the end of the year. Authorities continue to employ a range of restrictive legislation - including the official Secrets Act, the AIPPA, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and criminal defamation laws - to harass journalists.
The Interception of Communications Act, signed into law by Mugabe, is unconstitutional and can be successfully challenged in the courts, legal experts said.
Number of breaches in sample: 59
Mugabe ropes in soldiers for voter registration
Source Date: 30-07-2007
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), that runs elections in Zimbabwe, has engaged hordes of army and police officers for the voter registration programme that ends on 17 August.
In a petition addressed to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, the Public Rights Information Forum civic groups condemned what they called “the militarisation of the voter registration exercise” and said it would “compromise the credibility of the polls.”
The forum said it was improper to hire individuals who had declared their loyalty and support to Mugabe to run voter registration as the move would intimidate potential voters.
Sources within Zimbabwe’s electoral body said almost half of all voter educators employed by the ZEC were members of the army. The rest of the voter educators were top civil servants and former liberation war fighters, all loyal to Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, said the source. Under Zimbabwe’s electoral laws, only the ZEC can conduct voter education.
ZEC chairman, Chiweshe, is a former senior army officer and, before his appointment to ZEC, he headed the Delimitation Commission that draws the country’s voting constituencies.
Zimbabwe’s attorney general Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, is also a former army intelligence officer while the chief executive officer of the country’s Grain Marketing Board Samuel Muvuti is a former army colonel.
Last month, the MDC said thousands of potential voters in the party’s urban strongholds had been denied the right to register as voters under the current registration exercise.
The opposition party also charged that the Registrar General’s office which is in charge of the process had opened fewer voter registration centres in urban areas that are known opposition strongholds, in what it said was an attempt by Zanu PF to rig the elections even before a single vote was cast.
Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 2.1.6: Equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for
- 2.1.7: Independence of the Judiciary and impartiality of the electoral institutions …
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 4.1.3: Non-discrimination in the voters’ registration;
- 7.3: [The member state holding elections shall] Establish impartial, all-inclusive, competent and accountable national electoral bodies staffed by qualified personnel …
- 7.8: [The member state holding elections shall] Ensure the transparency and integrity of the entire electoral process …
Zimbabwe election monitor calls for extension of voter registration
Source Date: 02-08-2007
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network has issued a report saying the mobile voter registration exercise now in progress must to be extended and more effectively publicised if all eligible voters are to have enough time to register.
ZESN’s preliminary report on the ongoing voter registration exercise documented the challenges many citizens face as they try to register or obtain identity cards and other documents. The organisation, which mobilized thousands of election monitors in the 2005 general election, said there has been some interference in the registration process by traditional rural leaders…
ZESN National Director Rindai Chipfunde-Vava said that the findings show the timing and logistics of the registration drive raise many questions as the country prepares for local, general and presidential elections in 2008.
Source: VOANews (USA)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.6: Equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for
- 2.1.8: Voter education.
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 4.1.3: Non-discrimination in the voters’ registration;
- 7.5: [The member state holding elections shall] Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging…
- 7.6: [The member state holding elections shall] Ensure the availability of adequate logistics and resources for carrying out democratic elections;
- 7.8: [The member state holding elections shall] Ensure the transparency and integrity of the entire electoral process …
Harare residents worried by voter registration
Source Date: 01-08-2007
Harare’s Kuwadzana residents have expressed concern at the way the Office of the Registrar General has set up voter registration centres in the whole constituency, creating a fertile ground for the marginalisation of the majority of eligible voters.
Voter registration has been running from 18 June and will end on 17 August 2007.
Simon Phiri, the Ward 38 Coordinator told the Combined Harare Residents’ Association that residents in Kuwadzana had only two centres to register as voters.
He said despite appeals to ZEC to increase the number of voter registration centres, they have not been successful, and it is feared more people have been unable to register as voters in next year’s crucial Parliamentary and Presidential Elections under the current exercise…
Source: Combined Harare Residents Association
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
- 2.1.6: Equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.3: Non-discrimination in the voters’ registration;
- 7.1: [The member state holding elections shall] Take necessary measures to ensure the scrupulous implementation of the above principles …
- 7.6: [The member state holding elections shall] Ensure the availability of adequate logistics and resources for carrying out democratic elections;
Mugabe withdraws allowances for chiefs backing MDC
Source Date: 26-07-2007
MASVINGO – The Zimbabwean government has withdrawn allowances for three chiefs and several headmen in the southern province of Masvingo for backing the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party has traditionally relied on chiefs and village headmen to promote the party’s interests by maintaining a tight grip on rural areas, where the party draws most of its support.
“I was summoned by officers from the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development and was advised that my allowances had been stopped,” said one of the chiefs. “They said I was not politically correct ahead of next year’s polls.”
Contacted for comment, Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, said, “if there are any who did not get their money for that reason, then it is unfortunate because we expect them not to bite the hand that is feeding them.”
Identified perpetrators: Local Government Minister, Ignatius Chombo
Identified victims: Chief Ziki of Bikita, Chief Masivamele and Chief Sengwe all from Chiredzi. Several headmen in Gutu, Chiredzi, Mwenezi and parts of Bikita
Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
- 7.5: [The member state holding elections shall] Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging…
- 7.8: [The member state holding elections shall] Ensure the transparency and integrity of the entire electoral process …
Additional comments on this event in relation to SADC standards:
The remarks of Local Government Minister, Ignatius Chombo, in which he refuses to condemn the unlawful actions of his officers, make him and his government complicit with the perpetrators. It places him, and them, in direct violation of the SADC guidelines.
Further comments in relation to Zimbabwean legislation:
Chiefs operate under the Traditional Leaders Act and it would be unlawful for the government to withdraw a chief’s allowances for solely backing an opposition party,” said MDC Masvingo spokesperson, Tongai Matutu.
One Man, One Party, says Mugabe faction
Source Date: 02-08-2007
President Robert Mugabe, apparently aware of the efforts within his party to block his standing for next year’s elections, has deployed the political commissar, youths and women leaders on his side into the provinces, to send the message that the party is intact and doesn’t need any leadership change…
The pro-change faction has confirmed this: “There is even the use of intimidation against party members, who are being told that there are dangers facing those that will be seen to be supporting the leadership change agenda because it originates from enemies of the party,” a source from the Mujuru faction said.
Source: Zimbabwean, The (ZW)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 2.1.6: Equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for
- 2.1.8: Voter education.
Scores of NCA activists arrested and beaten during countrywide demonstrations
Source Date: 25-07-2007
Scores of activists from the pressure group National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) were arrested during countrywide demonstrations intended to raise awareness of the need for a new constitution.
The protestors were distributing educational literature about the implications of the government’s proposed 18th amendment to the constitution which, inter alia, changes the entrenched provisions of the present constitution relating to dates for the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections.
NCA chairperson Dr. Lovemore Madhuku described Amendment no. 18 as ‘treacherous and contemptuous’. He added, “Zimbabwe needs a constitution that entrenches human rights and freedoms, ensures a free and open society and an electoral system that gives citizens power to elect leaders who are responsive to their needs.”
Identified victims: NCA field officer Bernard Dube
Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
- 2.1.2: Freedom of association;
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 2.1.4: Regular intervals for elections…
- 2.1.8: Voter education.
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
Babies abandoned as police beat mothers
Source Date: 27-07-2007
Six nursing mothers were among 160 people, including grandmothers, who were rounded up at the offices of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), an organisation dedicated to constitutional reform, after activists tried to hold a demonstration.
They were taken to Harare central police station and (the mothers were) told to leave their babies in the corner of a hall and join other adults lying on their stomachs. For the next four or five hours, the infants screamed as police lashed their mothers and the other adults continuously with metre-long, heavy rubber sticks.
The beatings were the largest mass assault yet carried out by Zimbabwean police. Violence in March, when Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, and about 30 others were beaten for 2½ hours, sparked international outrage.
Source: Times, The (UK)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.2: Freedom of association;
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
- 7.9: [The member state holding elections shall] Encourage the participation of women, disabled and youth in all aspects of the electoral process …
Lawsuit points up Zimbabwe’s breach of SADC Election Protocols
Source Date: 01-08-2007
Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has filed a Z$504 billion lawsuit against the police for breaching their role of protecting public order when they violently crushed a court-sanctioned rally earlier this year…
Hundreds of MDC supporters and senior party officials were seriously injured in violent clashes with police who sealed the venue in the suburb to prevent the rally…
“The police flagrantly defied a court order and denied our clients entry into the stadium in order to hold the rally, thus infringing our clients’ right to freedom of assembly, association and expression,” the MDC lawyers said…
Identified perpetrators: Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri
Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
- 2.1.2: Freedom of association;
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
- 7.7: [The member state holding elections shall] Ensure that adequate security is provided to all parties participating in elections;
- 7.9: [The member state holding elections shall] Encourage the participation of women, disabled and youth in all aspects of the electoral process …
Zimbabwe Secret Service to ‘eliminate’ journalists
Source Date: 03-08-2007
A secret memo, emanating from Magnet House in Bulawayo, local office of the feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), … states that 25 local journalists suspected of supplying stories to foreign media will be ‘eliminated’ by the end of the year.
The three page memo, titled “25 journalists: Enemies of the State”, is written by a CIO officer called Edward Chiromo, and is addressed to CIO director general Happyton Bonyongwe…
The memo makes clear that when it uses the word “eliminate” it means kill. Already this year a television cameraman, Edwared Chikomba, is believed to have been murdered by CIO operatives for supplying video clips of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai being beaten to foreign media.
Last week Abel Mustakane, an on-line editor and a noted opponent of the Mugabe regime, who is now based in South Africa, was shot outside his home in Johannesburg.
Identified perpetrators: CIO Bulawayo officer called Edward Chiromo; CIO director general Happyton Bonyongwe
Identified victims: Edwared Chikomba, television cameraman, Abel Mustakane, editor of Zim Online
Source: Zimbabwe Today (blog site)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 6.1.3: Unhindered access to and communicate freely with the media;
- 7.15: [The member state holding elections shall] Allow the members of the SEOM an unhindered access to and communicate freely with the media;
- 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
New Spying Law Unconstitutional
Source Date: 05-08-2007
The Interception of Communications Act, signed into law by President Robert Mugabe last week, is unconstitutional and can be successfully challenged in the courts, legal experts said.
The law authorises the government to set up an interception centre to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, open mail, and intercept e-mails and faxes…
David Coltart, secretary for legal affairs in the pro-Senate faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the law was unconstitutional and will have serious repercussions on people’s rights and freedom of expression…
The president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa, said the law could be challenged in the Supreme Court…
Source: Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW)
Link to source
SADC standards breached
- 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
- 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
- 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
- 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
- 7.1: [The member state holding elections shall] Take necessary measures to ensure the scrupulous implementation of the above principles …
- 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
- 7.7: [The member state holding elections shall] Ensure that adequate security is provided to all parties participating in elections;
- 7.9: [The member state holding elections shall] Encourage the participation of women, disabled and youth in all aspects of the electoral process …
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