|
|
Zimbabwe: Poll Violence Escalates As Opposition Set for Runoff
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Nation (Nairobi)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Kitsepile Nyathi
Harare
Mr Richard Nhliziyo could not help crying as menacing supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party set his three huts on fire in a midnight raid that left his grandchildren too traumatised to return to school.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki and Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe walk down the red carpet at Harare International Airport. Mr Mbeki and Mr Mugabe held talks on Friday on Zimbabwe's election crisis. Photo/REUTERS
"They accused me of campaigning for the Movement for Democratic Change and said I had no right to live among patriotic Zanu PF supporters," Mr Nhliziyo sobbed as he narrated his ordeal at one of the safe houses provided by churches in the second city of Bulawayo.
"All the family's food reserves, clothes and property went up in smoke that night and I do not even imagine where to start... it is terrible."
But he thanks his gods that the militia spared his life as over 30 people have been killed countrywide for supporting the MDC, which ended the ruling party's 28 year-old uninterrupted control of parliament in the March elections.
At least 3,000 villagers from across the country have been displaced in politically motivated violence spawned by President Robert Mugabe's first round defeat to MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
The violence escalated last week as the MDC finally confirmed that it will take part in the second round of voting after all, civic groups and doctors that have been treating the victims said.
There are reports that hundreds of schools have been closed down as the war veterans have set up bases in the institutions of learning to spearhead the violence in rural areas which were considered Zanu PF strongholds before the embarrassing defeat.
Mr Mncedisi Makhulumo, a teacher, told a heart rending account of how he was humiliated in front of his pupils by the militia before he was forced to abandon his job.
One of them grabbed me by the collar and threw me to the ground, in front of my pupils and their parents," Mr Makhulumo said.
MDC as a puppet party
"I was ordered to openly declare my allegiance to Zanu PF, sing their songs and denounce MDC as a puppet party of the West before I was heavily assaulted."
Fears mounted here at the weekend that the orgy of violence that has already driven 2,000 refugees to seek asylum in neighbouring Botswana would worsen when the campaigns intensify after Mr Tsvangirai confirmed that he would take part in the presidential election runoff.
Zimbabwean doctors treating victims of the violence and torture on Friday spoke of "a dramatic escalation" of the attacks directed and carried out by agents of the government and the ruling party.
The number of wounded soared to more than 900 since the disputed elections on March 29, with 22 confirmed deaths, the report said."This figure grossly underestimates the number of victims countrywide as the violence is now on such a scale that it is impossible to properly document all cases," the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said.
So many victims had come in with broken bones over the previous 24 hours thathospitals and clinics in Harare were running out of plaster, according to the report dated May 8.
Mr Tsvangirai on Saturday announced from South Africa, where he has been staying since escaping the violence a month ago that he would contest the run off, despite the evidence of intensifying violence.
He called for an end to the violence and an international peacekeeping force to calm the situation ahead of the runoff.
A South African observer mission that monitored the March 29 elections last week said it would be impossible to hold the election amid the violence.
|
Although the first round of the polls was generally peaceful, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) took a month to release the results, a situation that fuelled tension as it became clear that Mr Mugabe lost.
The official results rejected by the opposition as fraudulent put the opposition leader ahead of the geriatric former guerrilla leader.
The ZEC is yet to set a date for the run-off which should have been held 21 days after the results were released, with reports that the commission is broke to hold the polls within such a short period.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
