Kitsepile Nyathi
15 April 2008
Harare — Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has fled to neighbouring Botswana fearing for his life as the presidential election standoff reached its third week Monday.
Mr Tsvangirai who maintains that he beat President Robert Mugabe in the March 29 elections held simultaneously with parliamentary elections left volatile Zimbabwe last week to lobby regional leaders ahead of a crisis meeting on Saturday.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders stopped short of criticising Mr Mugabe and instead called for an immediate release of the election results.
The summit was initiated by Botswana's new president Retired General Seretse Ian Khama who flew with Mr Tsvangirai from Gaborone to Lusaka on Saturday.
Mr Tsvangirai did not return to Zimbabwe after the summit and today the government owned Botswana Daily News said he was on an "indefinite stay in the neighbouring country."
The MDC, which beat Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF in parallel parliamentary elections says it believes the lives of its leaders are danger amid signs that the ruling party has embarked on a violent campaign to regain its power.
Botswana which hosts thousands of Zimbabwean political and economic refugees has broken ranks with its SADC neighbours in calling for tougher action against Harare.
Last week, its parliament adopted a motion calling for African Union and SADC action against Mr Mugabe's regime.
"They (AU and SADC) must be urged to be proactive and urgently meet the leadership of the major political parties in Zimbabwe to forestall any violence that may erupt and take all necessary measures aimed at ensuring that the will of the people of Zimbabwe is respected" reads the motion.
As the election stand-off continued, Zimbabweans have reported growing military build up around the country. The opposition has called for an indefinite strike starting Tuesday to protest the delays.
Army helicopters have been flying over Harare and police have been deployed on the streets in a massive show of force.
Last week, police banned all political rallies around the country as Mr Mugabe prepares for the fight of his political life after 28 years on uninterrupted rule.
Release the results
The High Court Monday rejected an MDC application seeking to compel the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision (ZEC) to release the results of the polls immediately.
The MDC is also expected to be back in court on Tuesday to fight moves by the ZEC to recount ballots in 23 constituencies whose outcome is being challenged by Zanu PF.
Yesterday, the opposition was granted an interim relief to stop the recounts described by legal experts as illegal since the Zanu PF request was only lodged after the legally permitted 48 hours following the polls.
Although the MDC claims that Mr Tsvangirai won the presidential vote, independent election monitoring groups, using election data posted outside polling stations, say he got more votes than Mr Mugabe but not enough to carry him over the 50 per cent threshold.
Zimbabwean law says that in the event that no candidate gets a clear majority, the two candidates with most votes must enter a second round of voting within 21 days of the last election.
But chances of an election on April 19, a day after Zimbabwe's Independence celebrations, have diminished with delays in announcing results, fuelling fears that President Mugabe will resort to repressive methods to contain rising public anger.
Meanwhile in Lusaka, yesterday, Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande told reporters that the a 13-hour summit in Lusaka had also called on President Mugabe to ensure that a possible run-off vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai be held "in a secure environment", adds Reuters.
The 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) "urged the electoral authorities in Zimbabwe that verification and release of results are expeditiously done in accordance with the due process of law", said Pande.
Human rights organisations
The opposition and human rights organisations have accused President Mugabe of orchestrating a systematic campaign of violence in response to his ZANU-PF party's first defeat in a parliamentary election on March 29.
The summit ran almost 10 hours over schedule and ended around 5 am. A senior Zambian official said earlier the delay was caused by a disagreement among leaders over whether the post-election impasse should be called a crisis.
But Pande, in response to questions, said: "It is not a crisis at all."
Thabo Mbeki, president of Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa, said after meeting Mugabe en route to the summit that there was no crisis.
The opposition and Western powers accuse Mugabe of wrecking the economy of his once-properous nation where many people have been reduced to misery by hyper-inflation of more than 100,000 percent.
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