Catherine Sasman
17 April 2008
Windhoek — Representatives from civil society organisations on Tuesday said the apparent Zimbabwe impasse since the March 29 general and presidential election constitutes a crisis, saying South African President Thabo Mbeki's pronouncement that there was none was "dishonest and malicious".
The five representatives who visited Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia maintained that "every reasonable person" could see that the country is in crisis.
This is contrary to what SADC Heads of State said after the consultative meeting over the weekend to broker an amicable resolution between the Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whom the five claimed was the "clear winner" of the presidential election.
The group went on the southern African weeklong tour to garner support to put the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) under pressure to release the presidential votes.
The ZEC has so far, nearly three weeks since the elections, refused to release the results, and Zimbabwe's High Court on Monday rejected MDC's urgent application to have the votes made known.
Abel Chikomo, head of the Advocacy and Communications Unit of the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) accused ZANU-PF of "subverting the will of the Zimbabwean people", adding that the party in power for 28 years since that country's independence in 1980 is a "disloyal opposition clinging to power and trying to overturn" the election results.
Chikomo said Zimbabwe is in a constitutional crisis, with a "caretaker president that implements executive decisions".
He added that the SADC Heads of State have failed to hold Mugabe to account, asking the rhetorical question after the Zimbabwean High Court turned down MDC's application: "What is SADC going to do now?"
Acting Director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Irene Petras, said the ZEC is being pressured by ZANU-PF into an "illegal recount", saying that there cannot be a recount without the initial presidential election results being made known.
She added that the ZEC has in contravention of a court order gone ahead and ordered a recount of ballot papers that have been kept under questionable security and other conditions since the election date.
She said all indications are that the ZEC will take "as long as it wants" to release the presidential election results or may even not release the results at all.
She claimed that neither the local accredited election observers nor any other party electoral official has had an opportunity to view the result forms from the electoral command centre.
"During the last two-and-a-half weeks, no-one was allowed access to the ballot boxes, we do not know where these were stored or if they got transported, and we do not know what kind of security measures were put in place. A reasonable perception is that these ballot boxes have been tampered with," Petras said.
Human Rights lawyers are currently representing 11 teachers and nurses seconded to act as electoral officials now "targeted by State institutions" and accused of having rigged ballots.
The officials are facing criminal fraud sentences - punishable by 35 years in prison - or alternatively "intentional failure to perform public duties" - punishable by 15 years - after being accused of having had a hand in the ZANU-PF defeat at the polls.
Petras said the ZEC's independence was "completely compromised", demanding that in the event of a re-election, there should be an independent regional supervisory body to oversee such elections.
Gordon Moyo, Executive Director of the Bulawayo Agenda, an organisation that has conducted various public meetings and conferences to advocate for the strengthening of civil society organisations in Zimbabwe, said the "Mugabe dictatorship regime" is denying the results being released for the Zimbabwean people "to react violently".
"The intention is then to come in and declare a state of emergency and then rule by decree for 12 months or more," said Moyo.
He said the ZANU-PF Politburo has decided on a run-off for the presidential election, without the results being announced.
He also criticised Mbeki's quiet diplomacy as "treacherous", saying the country needs "robust diplomacy" instead.
He urged SADC to send a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe to determine why people are being arrested or why the army, youth militias and police have been sent to rural areas.
So far, the group said, two people have died and the Zimbabwean police have assaulted more than 100 people, with 29 in serious condition.
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