Dumisani Muleya and Constantine Chimakure
27 June 2008
AFRICAN leaders - including South African President Thabo Mbeki - are for the first time expected to reject President Robert Mugabe's purported "win" in today's presidential election run-off in which he will be the only candidate after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out due to political violence.
The rejection of Mugabe's "victory" would compound his legitimacy crisis and leave him isolated and even more vulnerable to economic pressures than before.
This, analysts said, strengthens Mbeki's hand in his push for direct talks between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Mbeki's envoys have been in Harare in a bid to get today's poll postponed.
They are lobbying for a government of national unity between Mugabe's Zanu PF and Tsvangirai's MDC.
Mugabe at a rally on Wednesday said he was amenable to dialogue with the opposition after the poll. He said he was "open to discussion" with Tsvangirai and the MDC, softening his hardline stance against the opposition.
The same day, Tsvangirai said he wanted talks on forming a transitional authority, which would work for political stability and economic recovery before fresh elections.
Mugabe had previously shown little interest in talks, instead focusing on the election, but on Wednesday he showed signs of feeling the mounting pressure of rejection and isolation by world leaders, including African ones who had previously recognised his disputed electoral victories.
Mugabe has already lost the support of almost all neighbouring leaders. Those who supported Zimbabwe's liberation struggle the most such as Zambia, Tanzania and Botswana have broken ranks with him. Mbeki is also showing signs of growing impatience with Mugabe.
Zimbabwe Guardian
President Robert Mugabe meets Zanu-PF supporters at a rally this past March.
At the weekend he made it clear that there was no way out except through dialogue, a reality Mugabe is now beginning to acknowledge.
In a further sign Mugabe was changing tack on talks, MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti was yesterday granted bail by the High Court after more than two weeks in detention on charges of treason.
Tsvangirai had said on Wednesday no negotiations could take place over the country's crisis until Biti -- his MDC faction's chief negotiator -- and 2 000 other "political prisoners" were freed. The MDC had claimed Biti's arrest was part of a pattern of repression and harassment against the opposition.
World leaders have dismissed the presidential run-off as a farce. Tsvangirai had been the only candidate facing Mugabe, but withdrew citing a wave of political violence, intimidation, killings, internal displacements and disenfranchisement of voters.
Sadc, the African Union (AU), the United Nations Security Council and Western governments have since mobilised against Mugabe and called on his government to end violence and call off the run-off.
On Monday, the UN Security Council issued its first collective condemnation of the violence gripping Zimbabwe, saying it would be "impossible for a free and fair election to take place".
"The Security Council regrets that the campaign of violence and the restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on 27 June," it stated.
Britain led an effort, dominated by the West, to include the toughest language, while South Africa and allies including China and Russia pushed to dilute it somewhat. But in the end China and Russia, who have supported Mugabe in the Security Council agreed to the contents of the resolution which observers described as "tough and unambiguous".
Mugabe also faced increasing pressure from his fellow heads of state in Sadc, which is divided on how to deal with the Zimbabwe crisis.
South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, chosen by the 14-nation bloc as mediator in the crisis, has maintained a strategy of quiet diplomacy, pushing for negotiations between Zanu PF and the MDC, without criticising Mugabe publicly.
Zambian President and also Sadc chairperson Levy Mwanawasa on Sunday said the run-off should be postponed to avert a regional catastrophe.
"There are a lot of unconstitutional things that have been done in this process (election campaign)," Mwanawasa said. "It will, therefore, not be out of fashion to postpone this election to avert a catastrophe in this region."
He said it would be "scandalous" for Sadc to remain silent on Zimbabwe.
"The current political situation in Zimbabwe falls far short of the Sadc principles," said the Zambian leader. "Free campaigns have not been allowed, and the opposition have been denied access to the media. These are all in contravention of the Sadc principles."
The Sadc organ on politics, defence and security on Wednesday called for the postponement of the election, joining the UN Security Council and Western governments that have called for the cancellation of the poll.
Two members of the troika organ, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and King Mswati of Swaziland met in Mbabane.
"It is the considered opinion of the organ summit that holding the election under the current circumstances may undermine the credibility and legitimacy of its outcome," the leaders said in a communiqué after the meeting.
But the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said today's election would go ahead and rejected Tsvangirai's bid to withdraw from the poll saying his letter of pulling out was filed too late and of no legal force.
The Sadc election observer mission this week said members of Zimbabwe's uniformed forces were committing political violence against supporters of the opposition.
"There are acts of violence being perpetrated by the unformed forces . . . The violence is in some instances instigated by the political leadership," mission head Jose Marcos Barrica of Angola said.
The African Union on Tuesday said political violence in Zimbabwe was of grave concern, adding it had started consultations with African leaders on what action to take.
Jean Ping, the chairman of the African Union Commission said: "This development (Tsvangirai withdrawal) and the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election are a matter of grave concern to the Commission of the AU."
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and South African ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma also called for the run-off to be postponed.
Zuma called for urgent intervention by the UN and Sadc saying the situation in Zimbabwe was out of control.
"The ANC says the run-off is no longer a solution, you need a political arrangement first ... then elections down the line," Zuma said.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela on Wednesday described the Zimbabwean crisis as "a tragic failure of leadership".
David Miliband, Britain's foreign secretary said it was "important that African leaders continue to make clear that a government which violates the constitution in Zimbabwe... cannot be held as the legitimate representative of the Zimbabwean people."
He charged that the constitution was violated because the second round poll was meant to happen within 21 days of the March 29 election.
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You can't blame Madiba bor being a statesman, a man of respect and honor. He has paid his dues, and he has reserved the right to watch you carry on the fight against the oppressors, who not just the anglos, but the franco-philes and all europeans. Madiba, like Dr. King are celebrated by the Europeans, but that does not mean that we should honor them less. They must remain our heroes. However, we must tell the Europeans to their face that we support Mugabe, Farrakhan, Ghaddaffi, Castro and other leader who oppose them. I let it beknown that I support Mugabe and I am an American. I let Obama know that he has no business joining the White elites in their efforts to enter African affairs. The Europeans are planning to recolonize Africa again, I think that they will use Obama as a pawn to reenter Africa. Right now, the cycle of the world's economy moving towards raw material again. Africa will be on everyone's agenda for the next century. The Chinese are gearing up for exploitation now. There will be a fight for Africa and we the Africans are now in the game.
serious suffering from advanced delusions on here from the above two. What makes you two bozos think it is ok to kill and maim in the pursuit of retaining power. for God's sake the country is ruined beyond any reasonable repair and still you worship mugabe??? Wake up please...before it is too late and you rot in hell... i implore you..wake up!!!
white is not always right but in the case of Rhodesia v Zimbabwe..I have to say WHITE WAS RIGHT!!!
For once I agree. White Rhodesia and the Rhodesian Front is preferable to Mugabe and his ZANU-PF.
Dear Madiba:
It is rather unfortunate that the modern African does not like to say things as they are. This is why there is very little justice in African affairs. Justice only prevails when there are people who understand the difference between wrong and right, from a divine perspective.
Madiba, you have been propped up by one of the wickedest political establishments of all time: the Anglo-Saxon political establishment consisting of UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
They (the Anglo establishment) are an evil, unjust lot who use the sham "white is right" Christianity to try and project themselves as a just and moral people. Their political heritage, DEMOCRACY, is an evil form of government that is used to make peoples of the earth believe that they have control over their political and economic destinies. The reality though, is that it is rule by POPULAR OPINION that they, the Anglo-Saxons inspire. This is why regime change in other geographic territories is their tradition.
Madiba, I have understood why the Southern Africans suffered the most with European occupation of Africa. You people just do not get who it is you are dealing with. You are the types who simply smile with these people instead of frowning to express your true feelings. Why is your birthday not being celebrated in your hometown? But rather in London? That city of spiritually unclean proportions? Amy Winehouse, the drug addict to perform at your fete? Madiba!! Nelson Mandela of 27 years on Robben Island? I am appalled. This is disgraceful.
You are an old man Madiba, but I really cannot see the wisdom that is often attributed to you. You have simply become one of the many pawns of the European worldview. They always like the types who do not tell them straight to their faces, that they are an evil lot with little, if any, true love in their cultures or character. They always like the African kind that smile and pretend. As you can see, I am not that kind. Thank you for reading.
THE WITNESS AND PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS