Financial Gazette (Harare)
Njabulo Ncube
16 May 2008
Zanu — ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) appeared to be locked in another bruising political duel this week over pre-run-off conditions, which analysts fear could further stall the staging of the second round of the disputed presidential race.
The country's electoral supervisory body dashed any hopes for an early finalisation of the process for a campaign-weary electorate when it announced that there was no clear winner on March 29.
There are serious concerns among analysts that delaying staging the second balloting beyond May 23 would result in an upsurge of politically motivated violence that Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC claimed at the weekend has so far left 32 of its supporters dead and several thousands displaced, maimed, raped or assaulted.
Tsvangirai, who has been on self-imposed exile for the past month, shuttling between Botswana and South Africa allegedly because of fears for his own safety, fired the first salvo on Saturday when he tabled a list of demands as conditions for his participation in the run-off, whose date is still to be announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Tsvangirai, buoyed by what is viewed as his successful diplomatic offensive in and around Africa, made full access for international observers and media one of the pre-conditions for his participation in a run-off against President Robert Mugabe.
"We want unfettered access of all international observers. The ZEC has totally discredited itself to a point now they are partisan to the (ruling) ZANU-PF. The reconstitution of ZEC is therefore paramount," said Tsvangirai. The MDC leader is still adamant he polled more than 50 percent of the total votes cast on March 29.
However, according to official ZEC statistics, none of the four presidential candidates, including independent candidates Simba Makoni and Langton Towungana, polled more than 50 percent plus one vote as stipulated by the electoral laws that governed the March 29 polls.
ZEC gave Tsvangirai 47,9 percent, President Mugabe 42,3 percent, Makoni 8, 6 percent and Towungana 0,6 percent, effectively paving the way for a presidential run-off.
While Tsvangirai had initially indicated he would not participate in the run-off citing the orgy of violence in the rural and urban areas that his party attributes to ZANU-PF, the MDC leader has had a change of heart, saying that his participation also hinged on the local and international media being allowed access to all facets of Zimbabwean society.
ZANU-PF flatly denies sponsoring rampaging hordes of anarchic militias who are brutalising the electorate mainly in the rural areas.
"Media access should be unfettered, both print and international media," Tsvangirai said, adding that the alleged ZANU-PF militia bases and stations should be dismantled in the rural areas and violence should be stopped.
But Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, who now doubles-up as ZANU-PF spokesman, has hit back, ruling out President Mugabe's party accepting any pre-conditions for a presidential run-off.
"The run-off will be held within the framework of the constitution and the electoral laws. There will be no conditionalities that will be outside this framework," Chinamasa told the international media.
Chinamasa said ZANU-PF was tabling its conditions, chief among them being that Tsvangirai and the MDC implore Britain and its allies in the West to immediately lift targeted sanctions for ZANU-PF and President Mugabe to accede to the opposition demands.
The United States and European Union countries slapped President Mugabe and about 500 members of the ruling elite, including close family members, with targeted sanctions after the 2002 presidential elections controversially won by the veteran politician.
The US and its allies cited violence, which marred the 2002 presidential race, when imposing travel sanctions on President Mugabe and his close lieutenants.
President Mugabe blames the targeted sanctions for the economic meltdown playing out in Zimbabwe, during which official inflation has reached more than 165 000 percent.
While ZANU-PF appeared serious about its demands for the MDC to prevail on the West to revoke sanctions, MDC insiders said Tsvangirai and his party had no legal basis to demand the removal of the sanctions as respective Western parliaments and the United States Congress put them in place.
The White House on Saturday called for the presence of election and human rights monitors for the run-off vote in Zimbabwe between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
"We'd like to see election monitors come in, we'd like to see UN human rights monitors come in and ensure we have a safe electoral process in Zimbabwe," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Texas.
"Opposition leaders and supporters must be able to freely campaign free of violence," he said.
Tsvangirai said on Saturday he would return home within two days to contest in the run-off against President Mugabe and deal him a "final knockout" after almost three decades in power.
The MDC leader's demands tally with those tabled last week by civic society organisations, especially the dismantling of militias and their bases, particularly in vulnerable rural areas where unconfirmed reports say more than 32 opposition supporters have been killed while several thousands have been allegedly displaced.
Government media reports this week said police were moving with speed to dismantle base stations, firstly in the volatile Masvingo province where President Mugabe lost key constituencies to Tsvangirai and the MDC.
Analysts say the country has been stuck in a political stalemate since the March 29 elections when official results showed that President Mugabe's party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980 and that Tsvangirai beat President Mugabe in the presidential ballot but not by enough votes to avoid a run-off.
Tsvangirai's party has accused the ruling ZANU-PF of vote-rigging by intimidating and attacking voters.
Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe said ZANU-PF has used the period between March 29 and now to mobilise through night vigils to regain lost ground and the atmosphere was no longer conducive for free and fair elections.
"It is not possible for the opposition leader to win the second round of voting because of the violence," said Masunungure.
"The MDC structures have been decimated, from top to bottom through a military led operation and any further delays will result in more bloodshed. Tsvangirai is in an un-winnable situation," he said.
Takura Zhangazha, a Harare-based political analyst echoed the same sentiments, saying the stalemate would worsen an already bad situation, which would render the outcome of the polls disputable.
"The demands for the removal of organs of violence are a prerequisite for an undisputed poll outcome. But if we go to the polls amid the reign of terror, I can foresee problems of legitimacy still persisting," he said.
"The electoral environment should be peaceful as was the case before March 29, otherwise anything else will result in a disputed outcome as was the case in previous elections."
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