Cape Town — Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is rearming and mobilising his infamous militias ahead of a referendum and an electoral showdown with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the Democratic Alliance said yesterday after a fact-finding mission north of the Limpopo.
The report by Wilmot James and Kenneth Mubu recorded that the Chinese boat load of weapons and ammunition that had been refused transit through SA had been flown to Zimbabwe from Angola.
There is also a deal pending before SA's arms control authorities to sell ammunition to Zimbabwe.
James, the party's representative to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and Mubu, the international relations spokesman, called on President Jacob Zuma , in his role as SADC chairman, to ensure that Mugabe abided by the agreement with the MDC he had signed.
They also urged full support for the unity government and efforts to promote economic recovery .
The two MPs, after returning from Zimbabwe late last month, said credible sources had reported that Mugabe was "mobilising his well-organised paramilitary terror apparatus in the countryside". The MPs said "they should be actively restrained by SADC and specifically by ... President Jacob Zuma, as its chairperson ".
They called on Zuma to "be prepared to -- in collaboration with other agencies -- send enough election monitors to cover every voting station in time for the forthcoming referendum and any elections flowing from that; by assisting the Joint Monitoring and Implementations Committee of the Global Political Agreement, to keep president Mugabe and prime minister Tsvangirai to its terms .
This included "the writing of a new constitution, the introduction of the rule of law, free political activity, freedom of assembly and association, security of persons, freedom of expression and other key elements as contained in the agreement".
They continued, "as Zanu (PF) and president Mugabe appear to be mobilising for war against their own citizens and as they have ... in the past used national elections to terrorise the Zimbabwean people, we believe it is appropriate to request Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea to desist (from) funding Mugabe's war machine and for SA to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe".
James and Bubu said before their visit they had not appreciated "how well oiled is Mugabe's repressive machinery". They said he had under his personal control a paramilitary machine consisting of soldiers, thugs, the so-called war veterans and Zanu (PF) political commissars.
The Human Rights NGO Forum said that last year alone there had been six politically motivated rape cases, 107 murders, 137 kidnappings, and 1913 assault cases .
"Mugabe and his cronies surely have a record that would lead them to the International Criminal Court....
"There are reports of ... increasing paramilitary activity in the countryside, especially in the Shona populated areas. Hit squads are still busy. Land invasions have not ceased. The judicial machinery is still being used for Zanu (PF) ends," they said.
Comments 1 to 3 of 3 Post a comment
This story needs more collaborative evidence, rather than just a scary story. It is hard to believe that After Zimbabwe has gone thru the poverty, Mugabe would start this. Why then did Morgan Tsvangirai not raise the subject on his visit to South Africa with President Zuma. There is a tendency by a group of minorities in SADC who like to shock the public with their stories (only they know types). More evidence is required!
Phiri:
I agree that more direct evidence would be beneficial, however, don't we have SADC's pronouncement that the July 2008 elections were "neither free nor fair" to believe that ZANU-PF/Mugabe have at their disposal a large number of so-called "war-veterans" and other "militias" to "further their political efforts"?
The abuses that occurred between the March 2008 Elections and the July 2008 "election" serve as proof enough for me.
If ZANU-PF/Mugabe want to play the same play out of the since-discredited marxist playbook, then woe unto the people of Zimbabwe! We'll see another bloodbath ahead of any "election" so long as ZANU-PF/Mugabe insist that they "own Zimbabwe".
But the reports since March '08, leading up to July '08 and continuing to the the GPU of February '09 are worrying.
ZANU-PF/Mugabe probably see an election run under their auspices without international supervision to be their only saving grace at this point.
Question being, will Zuma allow it? With the World Cup coming to SA, does Zuma really need Zimbabwe to be the continuing festering sore on Africa's backside?
I fear that ZANU-PF is trying to do what they have always done, as if they didn't get the memo that things have changed in Zimbabwe and there's no going back.......
The so-called 'SA opposition' are LIARS!
We know this because europeans are historical LIARS! And the 'SA opposition' is nothing but a tool for continue european domination in Southern Africa! We are sure that ANC and Zuma knows this fact.
It is always wise for Zim Patriots to place themselves in a position to DEFEND AFRICAN SOVEREIGNTY in Zimbabwe!