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Democracy Watch
The MDC National Executive spent the whole weekend debating whether or
not
to lift its suspension of participation in any elections in Zimbabwe.
The
debate raged and strong feelings were expressed on both sides but in
the end
we decided to maintain the suspension until we were more fully aware of
just
what the Zanu PF led government was doing - even at this late stage,
only 90
days at most from the date of the next election. We meet again within
the
next 30 days to review this decision.
When we met in August, just after the Mauritius meeting at which Mugabe
put
his signature on the SADC Protocols for elections in the SADC region,
we
again spent the whole weekend, debating the situation and the way
forward.
We examined the conditions for elections in Zimbabwe and what the State
had
said about reform and concluded that under these circumstances we could
not
justify participation. Now remember, for the MDC elections are the only
way
forward. We have consistently and firmly rejected the idea of
confrontation
and the use of force in any form. We have not requested economic
sanctions,
we have not suggested armed intervention by external forces, we have
simply
demanded that the Zanu PF allow the people to vote freely, in an
informed
manner and on the basis that their vote is secret and will be
respected.
What we have asked our neighbors to do is to demand that Mugabe live up
to
the SADC Protocols in the way the electoral system is managed in
Zimbabwe.
This past week Mbeki and the Chairman of SADC, the Prime Minister of
Mauritius, said they were coming to Harare to see Mugabe and Tsvangirai
about compliance and the progress made so far. Mugabe promptly invented
an
excuse and flew to Pretoria himself - an obvious effort to preempt the
proposed meeting with the MDC in Harare. It is ironical that every time
Smith wanted to see the South African President - he went to watch
rugby.
Mugabe goes to weddings! We have asked the SADC to send a team of
electoral
experts to Zimbabwe to investigate our compliance to the SADC norms and
report formally to the SADC leaders. This was the issue at stake this
weekend on the SADC front.
What about the situation here in Zimbabwe? Has Mugabe made any
meaningful
concessions in recent weeks as they claim? Lets look at what they have
done.
1. They have allowed the MDC access to the most
recent
voters roll. This was after two years when the MDC went to court to
demand
the roll that was used in 2002 for the presidential elections and the
consistent refusal by the government to allow us access. They have the
whole
roll - nearly 6 million names and addresses in electronic form and we
asked
for this, as it would then be easy for the MDC to analyze the roll. But
no -
we have to buy the thing in hard copy - the pile almost reaches to
ceiling
and then input the data into our own computers at great cost and
effort. It
will take us a long time to get the roll onto our own discs, something
the
State could have done in minutes and at virtually no cost.
2. They have agreed to a number of reforms in the way
the
elections will be held - voting will be in one day, there will be no
mobile
stations and translucent boxes will be used. Counting of the vote will
be at
each polling station immediately after voting closes. This is all well
and
good but it is expected that this will raise the number of polling
stations
to something like 12000 sites and this makes the task of administration
much
more difficult. In previous elections we had 4500 fixed polling
stations and
about 1100 mobile stations with 120 counting centers. MDC had to deploy
about 30 000 electoral officers to supervise the poll and teams to each
mobile station with vehicles to ensure that the system was not abused.
In
this next election the task of supervision has now been multiplied
three
times in terms of supervision at polling stations and nearly 100 times
in
terms of the control of counting.
In the two previous elections the task of voter education, poll monitor
training and deployment, was shared between the MDC and several NGO's
who
provided much of the financing and expertise. All of these NGO's are
now
expected to have to close down their operations and this avenue of
support
for the electoral system will be unavailable this time round. Zanu
knows
that and they are fully aware of the implications - hundreds of rural
polling stations without MDC or civil society monitors at which they
can do
what ever is necessary to ensure a massive victory for Zanu PF.
Zanu has announced that only "friendly" countries will be allowed to
monitor
the elections. We all know what that means and apart from a few
diplomatic
teams and perhaps some clandestine presence the poll will go unobserved
in
any serious way. In any event, what can 100 foreign observers with
limited
resources do in an election spread over thousands of square miles and
at
12000 voting stations?
On the ground it is business as usual - POSA is used to control all MDC
activities, even small constituency committee meetings to plan
activities in
local areas. AIPPA is used to control the media - astonishing to know
that
Morgan Tsvangirai is one of the best known opposition politicians in
the
world and he has not been seen or heard on radio or TV in Zimbabwe for
the
past two years. All references to the MDC and its leadership and
policies
are simply propaganda cleared through the offices of Zanu PF. The State
controlled media will not even accept paid advertisements.
Violence and intimidation is a daily occurrence - and we have not even
agreed to participate in the election! The use of arrest and detention
powers is so widespread that they hardly merit a press release. MDC is
spending hundreds of millions of dollars on lawyers and bail costs when
it
can hardly pay its own staff at the end of each month. Almost all key
legal
actions mounted by the MDC related to the situation are in limbo - held
up
simply by Judges sitting on their judgments or simply being remanded
from
month to month. There has still not been a single prosecution of the
persons
responsible for over 400 political murders of MDC activists in the past
4
years.
Now in the past three weeks we have seen a budget passed for the
elections
of a massive Z$300 billion dollars plus, the budget for the CIO
increased 5
fold to a billion dollars a day! What for - just to ensure that the
State
has the resources required to manage and manipulate the forthcoming
elections. And even then - we have yet to be told what the electoral
boundaries will be in the election and the actual date of the election
itself. Even after all that Mugabe still appoints directly 20 per cent
of
all seats in the house without a vote being cast!
We have firm evidence that a consistent campaign to intimidate
traditional
leaders and rural structures of the MDC is underway. In my own
constituency
in recent weeks, the CIO has visited every traditional leader. They
were
told to create a list of all the adults in their villages. They were
also
told that if their people supported the MDC in any way - they would
lose
their positions and their State allowances. The two Chiefs have been
given
vehicles and substantial tax fee allowances. The people are being
forced to
attend Zanu PF rallies and meetings. Non-attendance attracts "fines".
People
are told - "vote for MDC and you will starve, vote for MDC and you will
be
kicked out of the community." Both are life or death issues in this
area of
the country where there are no private property rights left and no food
is
available except through the aid agencies or the retail stores.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 22 December 2004
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