Zimbabwean vote fraught with long lines, hostilities

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Tempers flared among voters waiting in long lines at polling stations Saturday as the opposition accused government officials of intentionally slowing balloting to frustrate its supporters in the most hotly contested presidential election in Zimbabwe's history.

Some waited for more than 10 hours to cast their ballots on the first of two days of voting. The election gives Zimbabweans a serious alternative to the authoritarian rule of President Robert Mugabe for the first time in two decades. Observers said a high turnout benefited Mugabe's challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Civic groups, opposition supporters and witnesses said that violence and intimidation, which plagued the election campaign and was blamed on Mugabe supporters, continued on the first of two days of voting Saturday.

Militants took over two polling stations and stole voting materials from a third. At another station, ballots arrived already marked in favor of Mugabe, the observers and opposition supporters said.

The most widespread and potentially explosive complaint was about the long wait at polls, which the opposition called a deliberate government ploy.

"The intention, of course, is that you frustrate as many voters as you can. Mugabe is trying to move the goal posts to disenfranchise people, these people he thinks will vote against him," Tsvangirai said. He called for voting to be extended two days and urged supporters to be patient.

Mugabe, 78, and his Zimbabwean African National Union Patriotic Front have ruled this southern African nation since independence in 1980 without significant dissent until recent years, when the economy was thrown into its worst crisis. Inflation is over 110 percent, unemployment is at 60 percent, and hundreds of thousands of people are going hungry.

The main reason for the slow pace Saturday appeared to be too many voters and not enough stations, observers said. The government reduced the number of stations in urban areas, where opposition is higher, and increased them in the countryside, where Mugabe's backing runs strong.

Between seven and 20 people were voting per hour in many of the 167 polling stations in Harare, the capital and an opposition stronghold. More than 5,000 people are registered to vote in each polling station, and thousands stood in line at most of them Saturday.

Polling officials at one Harare station took a two-hour lunch, despite raucous complaints from voters. Observers reported officials asking voters numerous questions and slowing balloting.

Some stations stayed open after the official closing time of 7 p.m. Saturday to accommodate voters already in line, while others closed because they lacked electricity.

People in line at the polls went home, got blankets and started bedding down to sleep in line so they wouldn't lose their place for the second day of voting today.

Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe who waited in line for 11 hours, said voters were not giving up.

"I have not seen such determination in my life, and they are staying put and the mood is quite jovial," he said by mobile telephone from a Harare suburb.

George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman, said the government was "perfectly happy" with the voting and was not concerned by complaints of slow balloting. "It might be a slight inconvenience," he said. "The government can very easily take a decision to extend the voting period."

Zimbabwe -- voters refuse to leave queues [Excerpt] Another determined auto electrician exclaimed: "Come rain, come thunder, I am going to vote."

Other hungry voters complained that they could not leave the queue to go and get food, because if they did leave the Mbuya Nehanda hall grounds, police would not let them back in.

Dorcas Zifambi, said she had left a seven-month-old breastfeeding baby at home at 03:00 hoping she would return home within reasonable time to attend to her child. Eleven hours later she had not yet cast her ballot and had not been back home.

Susan Gamunorwa, 60, who suffers from asthma and diabetes was lying on the ground next to the queue, saying she was feeling weak as she had not had recourse to either medication nor food.

Another woman said she had left her very ill sister at home who needed constant monitoring and was worried about her condition as she had not been fed. [End Excerpt]

Zimbabweans wait in line to vote in the presidential elections in Banket, Zimbabwe, about 100 kilometers west of Harare, Saturday, March 9, 2002. (AP Photo)

Voting Resumes in Zimbabwe After First Day Chaos--[Excerpt] Tsvangirai blamed the marathon queues -- some people took 15 hours to vote -- on deliberate foul play by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party to diminish his urban vote.

"ZANU-PF is now engaged in a last-ditch effort to stop people from voting it out of power by ensuring that the voting process in MDC strongholds is slowed down," Tsvangirai said after visiting polling stations accepting only 30 votes an hour.

Police clashed with angry voters outside the Kuwadzana polling station on Saturday and at dawn on Sunday detachments of riot police were still keeping a watchful eye on the tired queues. Many voters were wrapped in blankets to protect them against the chill.

……….. Australia is part of a three-country task force established by Commonwealth nations to decide on whether Zimbabwe faces suspension from the Commonwealth over election irregularities. The other countries are Nigeria and South Africa. [End Excerpt]

Mugabe knows the Commonwealth has a 2-1 vote in favor of his takeover. South Afica is encouraging Mugabe:

Mbeki attacks 'racist' Blair--[Excerpt] Mr Mbeki stopped short of naming names. But his words amounted to an implicit denunciation of Mr Blair and New Zealand's prime minister, Helen Clark.

Both criticised the Commonwealth's refusal to suspend Zimbabwe immediately at the organisation's summit in Australia last week. Mr Mbeki said the outcry reflected "a stubborn and arrogant mindset [that] at all times the white world must lead".

His views are particularly important because of South Africa's influence on its neighbour and Mr Mbeki's central role in the trio of Commonwealth leaders who will decide what action to take against Zimbabwe after the elections. [End Excerpt]

________________________________________________________________________

The Commonwealth countries met and the deck is stacked in Mugabe's favor

Zimbabwe 'bloodbath' predicted[Excerpt] Mr. Chrétien denied the final statement was a weak reaction by the Commonwealth and said it is a warning to Mr. Mugabe that there will be action taken if the elections are fixed.

"We said in the communiqué we want to have fair elections. They are on a warning that if it is not a fair election, there will be consequences," he said.

Under the plan, a team of about 50 observers in Zimbabwe will report back within days of the voting to Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary- General. The nations of the Commonwealth represent 1.7 billion people and a third of the world's nations.

He will consult with a special committee formed of the leaders of Australia, South Africa and Nigeria -- the past, present and future chairmen of a Commonwealth leaders group. Ms. Holland said she was concerned by the inclusion of Nigeria and South Africa on the three-nation panel. Both have been reluctant to move against Mr. Mugabe.

And Mr. Obasanjo, who is considered a friend of Mr. Mugabe, has already ruled out economic sanctions against Zimbabwe if the elections are judged to be unfair. [End Excerpt]

Boston Globe-[Excerpt]Zimbabweans approached the weekend poll split along distinct lines: ethnic and geographic; urban and rural; young and old. Mugabe's ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, dominates in the predominantly ethnic-Shona north, in the rural areas, and among the older generations. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change runs strongest in the ethnic-Ndebele south, in the cities, and among younger voters.

The critical battleground, analysts say, lies in the southeastern central province of Masvingo, an area that stretches out in acacia-studded grasslands and granite-strewn hillsides. Anchored by a small city of the same name, Masvingo province was a ruling party stronghold until it split down the middle in parliamentary elections two years ago.

The roadside villages of this area have been fierce battlegrounds ever since. Some of the worst political violence preceding this weekend's balloting took place here.

''Masvingo is the power broker,'' said John Makumbe, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare. ''It is the determinant.''

The reason for the shift in Masvingo is simple. Masvingo's most prominent politician is Eddison Zvogbo, a senior member of the ruling party and, until recently, one of Mugabe's closest confidants. But as Mugabe has grown more repressive in the face of Tsvangirai's challenge, Zvogbo has become more outspoken, and has been quietly urging his constituents to vote for change while keeping in touch with Tsvangirai.

Zvogbo's stand against Mugabe helped the opposition gain ground here two years ago, but there were few clues yesterday as to which way the province would lean this time. In the villages of Zaka and Bikita, lines outside polling stations yesterday morning were strikingly small. Both settlements have been torn by violence in recent months.

The streets of Gutu have been stripped of opposition posters, so Tsvangirai's supporters resorted to using spray paint to get their message out. At the town's main polling station, about 2,000 voters had lined up by mid-morning. Groups of young men cast their eyes warily up and down the queue. Police stood guard in pairs. Only Mugabe's face and fist appeared on the political T-shirts here. Few people near the station were willing to talk.

But down the road, things were different. In the village square Sipiwe Mutambara and Godwyn Maposa sell cabbages side by side, and they both earn about $20 a month.

Yet their politics could not be more different. Mutambara is 55 with six grandchildren and supports Mugabe. Maposa is 20, educated and jobless, and likes Tsvangirai.

On another point, however, they agreed: Apparel doesn't mean much in this election.

''Don't be surprised if you see people wearing T-shirts for the ruling party and voting for the opposition,'' Mutambara said. ''They're wearing the T-shirts for security.'' [End Excerpt]

This story ran on page A4 of the Boston Globe on 3/10/2002.

Mugabe in trouble--- There was drama at St Peters Kubatana in Highfield when some people were incensed by the arrival of unpopular war veterans leader, Joseph Chinotimba arrived.

September 17, 2001 Robert Mugabe isolated **With Commonwealth and regional pressure bearing down on him, he will at least get away with less than before ** By IDEN WETHERELL

[Full Text] When Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe returned from Libya last weekend he was full of cheer that the Abuja agreement on Zimbabwe's landreform programme had provided a welcome show of solidarity by African states. By Tuesday that optimism had evaporated as Mugabe had difficulty disguising his resentment of criticism from neighbours.

While last week's meeting in Nigeria of Commonwealth foreign ministers, which saw Britain offering to fund land reform in its former colony, might have provided the embattled leader with hope that things were going his way, this week's two-day summit in Harare of Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state appears to have disabused him of any idea that African leaders are on his side.

In his opening address SADC chairperson President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi did not mince words on the danger of Zimbabwe's economic crisis spilling across its borders, while in closed sessions South African President Thabo Mbeki was understood to have been sharply critical of the damaging policies pursued by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.

South Africa's relations with Harare have become increasingly strained over Mugabe's reluctance to rein in militia leaders who, during the summit, were unleashing violence on farms in the Beatrice area, south of Harare. Mugabe had even insisted on the heads of state greeting war veteran Joseph Chinotimba, self-styled "leader of farm invasions", on their arrival at Harare airport.

Muluzi announced on Tuesday the formation of a ministerial committee to carry on the work of the regional leaders. He assured reporters that "things are going to change because the government of Zimbabwe is committed to the issues which we have discussed".

It is their insistence that Zimbabwe must stick to the rule of law that has stung Mugabe most. The official media, Mugabe's mouthpiece, this week launched scathing attacks on Mbeki and Muluzi. Mbeki had been a "casualty" of the Abuja accord, The Sunday Mail curiously claimed, suggesting South Africa was not a "true African country".

The Herald alleged that Mbeki had refused to heed the Pan Africanist Congress at home on the land issue while listening to the opposition in Zimbabwe which, it claimed, opposes land reform.

Muluzi was accused of being discourteous to his hosts by lecturing them on the need for the rule of law.

The Abuja agreement obliges the Zimbabwe government to halt land invasions. But as most commercial farms are already under occupation by Mugabe's hired thugs, this will make little difference to violent realities, including the dispossession of about 300 000 farm workers of Mozambican, Malawian and Zambian descent.

As Mugabe's popularity wanes as economic privation and political repression mount, so he will resort to every instrument of coercion at his disposal. That means keeping war veterans and other armed supporters on the farms. But while the Harare government needs to mollify its own constituency it is, at the same time, anxious to be seen complying with the Abuja terms.

As this week's events show, Mugabe is facing growing international censure over his self-made crisis. The United States and European Union are threatening sanctions. Mbeki and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria are leading a Commonwealth initiative to bind Zimbabwe to the rule of law.

Next month Commonwealth heads of government meet in Brisbane, Australia, to examine ways of tightening measures against rogue members.

The Abuja and Harare agreements will likely head off the challenges to Mugabe's renegade rule and enable him to argue that he is cooperating with the international community.

But he is unlikely to give up the 2 700 farms seized under the so-called fast-track resettlement scheme which the Supreme Court has declared illegal. And Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge, on his return from Abuja, made it clear that about 4 500 farms designated for acquisition - 90% of the total - will not be delisted, nor will their occupiers be evicted.

Most Zimbabweans agree on the need for land reform. But most insist it must be planned and lawful, enhancing food production rather than sabotaging it. They are supported in this by the United Nations Development Programme and other donors.

It is doubtful whether the gulf between the two divergent approaches can be bridged - or whether the international community is prepared to turn a blind eye to the intimidation and electoral rigging taking place as Mugabe feels increasingly cornered by democratic forces. That sense of isolation will have been heightened by last weekend's overwhelming victory for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in a Bulawayo municipal poll.

Mugabe will no doubt soon be breathing defiance again. But with Commonwealth and regional pressure bearing down on him, he will at least get away with less than before while his carefully nurtured myth that Zimbabwe's problems centre on land has finally been laid to rest. Iden Wetherell is editor of the Zimbabwe Independent [End]

Well, now we know, neither Magube or the Commonwealth tried to change their spots.

December 5, 2001- Zimbabwe court rules seizing of white-owned land legal

Mark Steyn: Meet Barbie, Ken and Robert Mubarbie [Excerpt] "More than you'd think," said Armand, and handed me Kommonwealth Konference Ken. I pulled the string in his back, but nothing happened. "He's useless," I complained. "He doesn't do a thing." "Nonsense," said Armand. "Look at him. He's expressing `deep concern'.[End Exceprt]

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