maZimbiringwa eZimbabwe

Day of drama in Harare
By Farai Sevenzo

 

It was inevitable something dramatic would have to happen.
The electoral playing field had become so one-sided, the incidents of violence and murder against his supporters so widespread, that Morgan Tsvangirai had to do something.
On Sunday afternoon he called a press conference in his Strathaven home in Harare’s central suburbs and announced that his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was pulling out of the presidential run-off scheduled for Friday, 27 June.

 

In the week preceding this announcement, the city had become numbed by the ongoing violence and ruling party Zanu-PF’s brand of aggressive campaigning.
Whole constituencies comfortably won in the 29 March poll were being overrun by Zanu-PF’s youth militias. Mob rule reigned even in the townships.
Those affiliated with the opposition – elected MPs, councillors, organising secretaries, activists – were being systematically targeted.

 

I visited houses that were stoned and ruined, burned to ashes, and the families of such officials were seen as targets too.
One youth was dragged out of his councillor relative’s home in Chitungwiza, a satellite town south of Harare, and the axe used to break down their door was embedded in his skull. An opposition mayor had his young wife kidnapped and murdered.
It was against this background that Sunday promised something dramatic from the opposition.

 

Rally hopes dashed
Despite their Secretary General, Tendai Biti, appearing in leg irons at the high court last Friday, MDC supporters were hoping that one rally in Harare, which the authorities had granted permission for through the High Court, would go ahead.
But it was not to be.
The ruling party headquarters was filled with militant youth spoiling for a fight and the location for the rally, a wide open space nearby, behind what used to be the Sheraton Hotel, was filled with police officers in riot gear.

 

With the rally not going ahead as Mr Tsvangirai prepared to announce his decision to pull out, the militant Zanu-PF youths went on the rampage and beat people in the centre of town.
For just under an hour, tear gas fired by police drifted along Samora Machel Avenue, and passing cars were stoned. A text started doing the rounds from around 1200 GMT: “Avoid Samora Machel and Borrowdale road big riot underway police with teargas army zanu thugs stoning cars mdc uprising at rally.”

 

Mr Tsvangirai listed many reasons for his decision. Among them the obvious fact that his campaign has been frustrated at every turn, that he has had no access to the state broadcaster, his only means to speak to the people.
The MDC says three-quarters of the country is no longer accessible to its election agents and campaigners, “war veterans” having set up bases and roadblocks which make it impossible for anyone from the opposition to move freely.

 

The opposition says 75 activists have been murdered since the first election on 29 March and 200,000 people displaced amid appalling levels of violence.
“Zanu-PF has no respect for SADC (Southern Africa Development Community), for the AU (African Union), for the UN, for anybody,” said one party official.

 

‘Bloody campaign’
Tineyi Munetsi, MDC organising secretary for Chitungwiza, rang me from Mr Tsvangirai’s house and I asked him what he thought of the decision to pull out.
“I believe it is the right decision,” he answered. “For the last week it was my task to organise polling agents for the rural constituencies, and they are all being targeted.
“There is not a single area we can campaign in, even the townships are closed. And think of how many of our people have been murdered. This is not an election, this is a war, and we will not legitimise it by taking part in what is a farce.”

 

Mr Munetsi also alleged that the MDC had discovered plans for massive ballot-rigging.
“Look here, people are being told that after they vote they have to write down the serial numbers of their ballot papers so the fake election monitors can cross-reference them to who they voted for.”

 

As for ordinary Hararians, a snap poll on the streets and on the phone revealed little knowledge of the opposition leader’s decision to pull out of the presidential race.
“You’re not serious, why did he do that?” said a woman selling fruit in the winter sun.

 

Stella in Highfields agrees with the decision. “We are being made into their goats and livestock, being herded here and there, forced to wear their T-shirts, asked [to chant] the Zanu-PF slogan which is ‘June 27, Mugabe in office by force’, and losing our relatives to their bloody campaign.”

 

The drama of this story is far from over, and the pleas for international action and intervention may get louder, but there is little sign that the party which prides itself on its tactics of war and its own brand of persuasion will be listening.

 Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has taken refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare, officials say.
The move comes a day after he announced he was withdrawing from the 27 June presidential elections in the face of violence from ruling party militias.

 

A Dutch foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters news agency Mr Tsvangirai had spent the night at the Dutch embassy but had not requested asylum.
Zimbabwean officials have said a run-off election will still go ahead.
On Monday, more than 60 supporters of Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party were arrested at its Harare headquarters.

 

 

 

Zimbabwean elections to go ahead

 

Zimbabwean officials have said a run-off presidential election will go ahead, despite the withdrawal of opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Mr Tsvangirai’s announcement was a ruse – he had not sent a formal notice yet.

 

Mr Tsvangirai said he would quit to curb violence by ruling party militias he says killed 86 of his supporters.
More than 60 opposition supporters have been arrested at the Harare office of Mr Tsvangirai’s party, it says.

 

Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said those arrested were women and children who had fled political violence.
But Mr Chamisa said the ruling Zanu-PF’s militias should be disbanded, adding that his party had received no direct approaches from mediators since the announcement.
The move has sparked international criticism of Zimbabwe’s government. But President Robert Mugabe has blamed the MDC for the recent violence.

 

The leader of neighbouring Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa – who is head of the regional Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) – said a vote held in current conditions would be an “embarrassment” to the region.
Meanwhile, African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping said he was worried about the situation.
“This development and the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election are a matter of grave concern to the Commission of the AU,” he said.
The US and UK have said they are prepared to bring Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council over the election violence.

 

But South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating in the crisis, called for further dialogue.
“From our point of view it is still necessary that the political leadership of Zimbabwe should get together and find a solution to the challenges that face Zimbabwe,” he said.
‘Humiliation fear’

 

Zimbabwe’s electoral commission said that preparations for the election were under way and a credible result was still possible.
Mr Chinamasa said Zanu-PF was not treating Mr Tsvangirai’s “threats” to withdraw seriously.
“This is the 11th time that Tsvangirai has threatened to withdraw from the presidential run-off and on each occasion I have challenged him to put it in writing as required by the law,” he said.

 

Mr Tsvangirai’s announcement of withdrawal was to avoid “humiliation”, he added.
“Tsvangirai went into the election thinking that it was a sprint and was not prepared for a marathon and wants to avoid defeat,” he said.
“He spent his time globe-trotting and gallivanting in Europe and left MDC-T supporters without leadership.”

 

There has been no response from Mr Mugabe himself to Mr Tsvangirai’s announcement.
On Sunday, Mr Tsvangirai said that there was no point running when elections would not be free and fair and “the outcome is determined by… Mugabe himself”.
He said that while the decision had been a difficult one it was necessary to protect the people of Zimbabwe.

 

The opposition’s decision was announced after its supporters, heading to a rally in the capital Harare, came under attack.
Correspondent Peter Biles says Mr Tsvangirai did not want to expose his supporters to any more violence.
He will now be hoping that the SADC will refuse to confer legitimacy on the process, he says.

 

Our correspondent adds that the country’s economic crisis – with unofficial figures putting inflation at 2m% – could drive Zimbabwe’s government to negotiate for a political solution.
The MDC won the parliamentary vote in March, and claims to have won the first round of the presidential contest outright.
In the official results, Mr Tsvangirai led but failed to gain enough votes to avoid a run-off.

 

 [From the Media]