Posted on 02/21/2002 12:10:31 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Two weeks before the most competitive presidential elections in Zimbabwe's history, many analysts, human rights workers and foreign diplomats have given up hope for anything resembling a free and fair poll.
Ruling party militants have killed and tortured opposition supporters with impunity in what human rights groups say is a clear drive to scare Zimbabweans into voting for the ruling party, or not voting at all.
New laws have also made it illegal for the opposition to gather without government permission and have opened the way to possible ballot box stuffing, critics charge.
"Those democratic rights not removed by legislation will be snuffed out by violence," said Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, a professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe. "The presidential election cannot be free and fair."
For nearly two years, bands of ruling party militants have occupied white-owned farms and attacked supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which presents the strongest challenge ever to President Robert Mugabe's 22-year rule.
About 150 people have been killed, thousands tortured and at least 70,000 rendered homeless, according to the Human Rights Forum, a consortium of local rights groups in Zimbabwe. The ruling party and the government were behind more than 90 percent of the attacks, the forum said.
In a report Tuesday, the forum said the ruling party had set up at least 22 militia bases around the country where militants tortured opposition supporters and gathered for attacks on opposition strongholds.
Tony Reeler, an official with the human rights group the Amani Trust in Zimbabwe, said the violence and intimidation is so widespread that "the no-go area is called Zimbabwe."
Police have either stood by passively or actively participated in the attacks, Reeler said.
"There's no way that we could claim these conditions approximate the kinds of conditions you expect to see in a decent democracy," Reeler said.
The government has denied any connection to violence.
"Zimbabwe is a democratic state that upholds democracy, the rule of law and human rights," Zimbabwe's deputy justice minister, Munyaradzi Mangwana, said at an open forum in South Africa on Thursday. "The government is committed to the holding of free and fair elections."
Recent amendments to the election law forbid grass-roots civic and religious organizations from monitoring the election and from running voter education campaigns.
Many military officers have been appointed to the election directorate, and only civil servants - dependent on government jobs - will be allowed to monitor the vote.
Seals will no longer be placed around the whole ballot box when it is moved to the counting station, but only around the opening. Since the new law allows the ballots to be transported in the absence of party representatives, many fear the boxes can be unscrewed during the move.
"That gives the ruling party ample opportunity to stuff the ballot box. If that is not the case, why introduce such a law anyway?" Mukonoweshuro asked.
State-run television and radio stations, the main news source for most Zimbabweans, have given glowing coverage to Mugabe's campaign, lionizing him as the courageous leader who liberated the country from minority white rule 22 years ago.
The stations call MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai a terrorist who serves white interests and have given intense coverage to allegations he plotted to assassinate Mugabe.
"What we see is propaganda and not media," Reeler said.
The government has also refused to allow some foreign journalists whose coverage it considers unfavorable to cover the election.
New security laws have allowed police to ban scores of opposition rallies, saying they were a threat to public safety. Police permitted a march Monday by 10,000 ruling party supporters that ended with an attack on opposition headquarters.
Zimbabwean political analyst Masipula Sithole expressed concerns that the government had appointed the country's intelligence chief to distribute emergency food aid in an effort to use it "as a campaign ploy."
The U.S. government and the European Union have questioned whether the election results can truly reflect the will of the people.
"The restrictive framework imposed by the government of Zimbabwe contradicts the international standards for free and fair elections," the EU said Monday as it imposed sanctions on the southern Africa country.
MDC officials say they will contest the election anyway, because the alternative is a violent revolt.
"We're simply not prepared to go that route," said MDC parliamentarian David Coltart.
Besides, party leaders are convinced they can achieve a massive victory that will overwhelm any attempts at foul play.
"We still believe that we can win this," Coltart said.
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