Stories from SW Radio

On Sunday Barrica told reporters at a press conference in Harare that the polls were an expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe. He also said that the Electoral Commission (ZEC) had adhered to SADC’s Principles and Guidelines on the conduct of democratic elections.

On Tuesday the Forum said Barrica’s view cannot be substantiated at this juncture. 
The Forum is comprised of over a dozen key human rights groups in Zimbabwe.
They recently issued a report titled Can the elections in Zimbabwe be free and fair in the current environment? which raised concerns about the pre-election period. The report criticized the tactics used by the ruling party, including vote buying, biased media coverage, hate speech and allegiance statements by the service chiefs.

Eileen Sawyer, Director of the Forum, said she was shocked at Barrica’s comments. She explained that officials from the Forum met with Barrica and some SADC delegates last week, and told them all about the irregularities and abuses contained in their report. She was greatly disappointed when headlines in the state controlled press showed Barrica praising the electoral process and saying conditions were free and fair.

Sawyer was also shocked that the SADC mission head would make such pronouncements before the official results had been announced and accepted by the electorate. She criticized the slow pace at which the ZEC was announcing results, saying the long delay without an explanation creates suspicion that the results are being manipulated.

Sawyer described the current mood on the ground as elation and jubilation, which she said indicates that the people had finally succeeded in being very vocal about their desires to remove the current government. However, she also believes they would be just as passionate about expressing their anger should the results of the poll appear to be tampered with.

The Forum urged all Observer Missions to remain objective and to continue to monitor the situation in Zimbabwe, especially in light of the delays in the announcement of results.MDC says poverty forced rural electorate to dump Mugabe
By Tichaona Sibanda
1 April 2008
 
The newly elected MDC MP for Gutu South, Professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro, said on Tuesday that Zanu-PF has paid the price for neglecting its support base, concentrating instead on lining the pockets of it’s leaders.
 
Once you neglect or ignore the needs of your supporters, then you must know that you are doomed as a political party,’ said Mukonoweshuro. The secretary for International Affairs in the Tsvangirai led MDC, beat long standing Zanu-PF MP Shuvai Mahofa, who has been a ruling party legislator since 1985.
 
They’ve taken Zimbabweans for granted for a long time and I’m not surprised they have been rejected now. They left people to starve, they made people homeless and they made many more destitute. The inroads we made in strong Zanu-PF areas are an indicator that the country needs political change,’ he said.
 
Mukonoweshuro was critical of the international and regional community, especially the Southern African Development Community bloc, for its deafening’ silence on the current crisis brought on by Mugabe’s long delay to accept defeat.
 
All we hear is they are putting pressure on the regime to give out the results faster, but we are not seeing it on the ground. There should be a flurry of activity between the diplomatic community and the regime to see to it that Zimbabweans are not cheated once more,’ Mukonoweshuro added.
 
Meanwhile the European Union’s Slovenian presidency has called on Robert Mugabe to step down. If Mugabe continues it will be a coup d’etat. I hope he is on his way out, most Europeans think this way,’ Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told journalists on Tuesday after addressing the European Parliament.
 
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Service chiefs block release of presidential poll?
By Tichaona Sibanda
1 April 2008
 

The country’s defence and security chiefs have allegedly blocked the announcement of the presidential winner, after it emerged that Robert Mugabe came second to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
 
A source within the MDC told us on Tuesday that their figures from all the 207 constituencies showed that their leader got 67 percent of the votes in the presidential race.
 
The MDC allege that officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission handed the Joint Operations Command (JOC) the results that showed that opposition would also win the parliamentary race. The JOC is made up of service chiefs from the army, airforce, police, prisons and the CIO.
 
We got information that the service chiefs are divided over what to do with the stunning MDC victory. This is why they are trying to save Mugabe’s face by trying to force a re-run. We don’t know how they are going to do it because the results are in the public domain already,’ our source added.
 
The MDC is confident Zanu-PF will not get a majority in parliament, according to their own figures supplied from the constituencies. The Tsvangirai led formation has verified that so far they are guaranteed 98 seats. Paul Themba-Nyathi from the Mutambara formation said according to information supplied by their winning candidates, they have won 13 seats. Independent candidate Jonathan Moyo won in his constituency. That totals 114, enough to deny the ruling party a majority in Parliament.
 
This would be the first time since independence that Zanu-Pf would not have a majority in the House of Assembly.
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Poll count drags on as Mugabe plays for time
By Lance Guma
01 April 2008
 
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission continued presenting official results at a snails pace Tuesday, amid speculation that Mugabe’s regime was playing for time after a shock election defeat to the MDC. Unofficially the opposition has won enough seats to form the next government but as Macdonald Lewanika from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition observed, figures can still be manipulated for the presidential vote.
 
Lewanika spoke to Newsreel from the ZEC command centre and says although the results are coming in, province by province, the commission is not announcing them in that order. They are picking results randomly and jumping from one province to another, to present a picture showing the MDC and Zanu PF running neck and neck.
 
Lewanika also said discrepancies were emerging between what ZEC is announcing and the figures the opposition and independent groups have for most constituencies in Mashonaland Central and West. The winning margins for Zanu PF in the two Bindura constituencies were cited as examples, as were the winning margins of Zanu PF in Goromonzi and Vice President Joyce Mujuru in Mount Darwin West.
 
Pressure groups and the MDC have already demanded the V11 forms that were signed by the contesting parties at the close of counting at the polling stations. Although these were requested on Monday the state controlled electoral commission has not yet provided them. Fears are also mounting that any inflated Zanu PF victories will be used to shore up Mugabe’s presidential vote count and force either a second round run off with Morgan Tsvangirai, or simply to declare Mugabe the winner by the slimmest of margins.
 
The advantage for Mugabe is that he could then use his presidential powers to dissolve an opposition controlled parliament. In the absence of official clarification the speculation is endless.
 
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SA youth observers call for deployment of SADC, UN forces

A delegation of youth observers from South Africa who were part of the SADC observer mission to Zimbabwe have urged the regional grouping and the United Nations to immediately deploy peace keeping forces on the ground in order to avert any attempt towards sinking Zimbabwe into violence. The Young Communist League (YCL) had a team of 15 members observing the elections.
 
YCL Deputy National Secretary Khaye Nkwanyana said in Zimbabwe they experienced harassment and interrogation at the hands of intelligence agents who kept them under constant surveillance. They were followed by agents who consistently questioned them about the interviews they were conducting with ordinary Zimbabweans and civil groups.
 
Nkwanyana said as the early results started being announced, they noticed many people on the streets in a jubilant mood. But at the same time they were very anxious, due to statements that had been made by the army commanders warning Zimbabweans to avoid violence and accept the results of the polls if Mugabe wins. This created what the youth observer described as, a dangerous situation, because he believes Zimbabweans will not accept a Mugabe victory.
 
To avoid violent reactions Nkwanyana said the YCL urges SADC and the UN to get a peacekeeping force in place immediately. He believes it is important to have forces on the ground that do not have any particular interest, unlike Zimbabwe’s military who say they will defend Mugabe only.
 
In a statement released on Monday, the YCL said three of their members had returned to South Africa early due to fear of being arrested. Another member who is based in Bulawayo alleges that he was also interrogated by the CIO. Nkwanyana said they had noticed a state agent hiding his face behind a laptop in a coffee shop. He believes that they were under surveillance even when they went to pubs to relax.
 
The YCL statement also said: The remaining result for the presidential contest is reported to be in favour of Morgan Tsvangirai. There is fear of rigging the presidential leg, thus the delay of the announcement of the results.
 
 
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MDC UK to protest at embassy Thursday
By Lance Guma
01 April 2008
 
The MDC United Kingdom and Ireland province says it plans to protest against what it perceives as an attempt by Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe to rig results of the just ended elections. On Tuesday Jaison Matewu, the organising secretary of the party, told Newsreel that MDC activists are meeting in Trafalgar Square London on Thursday before marching to the Zimbabwean embassy around lunchtime. Matewu says the party agreed at the mock elections held in Coventry last Saturday that they would make their voice heard if Mugabe’s regime attempted to tamper with the final result. Police in London have already sanctioned the protest.
 
Asked what would happen if the MDC were declared the winners before the protest Matewu said they would convert the march into a victory celebration. Diaspora groups have in the past struggled to attract people to their demonstrations or meetings and Matewu urged MDC supporters to, defend the peoples vote. Forget about shifts on this day. We are about to make history.’ Turning to the election itself Matewu said everyone in Zimbabwe knew the results. The results were posted outside all the polling stations and even a grade one pupil can add up and find out the winner,’ he said.
 
An upbeat statement from the MDC UK province read, be encouraged fellow fighters because the people of Zimbabwe have made their choice and despite the obvious attempts by the regime to hang on, the people’s wishes shall prevail.  Do not be discouraged by the regime’s delaying games, all they can achieve is prolonging their own suffering.’
 
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BBC says deal for Mugabe to leave office close
By Lance Guma
01 April 2008
 
According to the BBC a deal to facilitate the handover of power from Robert Mugabe to Morgan Tsvangirai is close to completion . The BBC quote opposition sources who say there were meetings between representatives of Mugabe, the military chiefs and the opposition. The story also says Mugabe will give an address to the nation, but up until then the parties concerned have urged caution. The news agency initially reported that South Africa had chaired the meeting, a claim that has been denied.
 
The parties are apparently locked in intense negotiations over how to manage Mugabe’s exit. At the centre of the new power play is Tsvangirai’s huge winning margin that has forced a rethink on any attempts at massaging the figures by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
 
The BBC reports say Tsvangirai scooped an unassailable 60 percent lead with Mugabe trailing on 30 percent.
 
Parliamentary results released so far show that the MDC has 73 seats, against 67 for Zanu-PF, with 70 still to come. 
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Human Rights Forum dismiss SADC report of free and fair polls
By Tererai Karimakwenda
01 April, 2008
 
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum on Tuesday issued a statement that expressed deep concern over the final report on the elections that was issued by the head of the SADC observer mission to Zimbabwe, Jose Marcos Barrica. On Sunday Barrica told reporters at a press conference in Harare that the polls were an expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe. He also said that the Electoral Commission (ZEC) had adhered to SADC’s Principles and Guidelines on the conduct of democratic elections.
 
On Tuesday the Forum said Barrica’s view cannot be substantiated at this juncture. 
The Forum is comprised of over a dozen key human rights groups in Zimbabwe.
They recently issued a report titled Can the elections in Zimbabwe be free and fair in the current environment? which raised concerns about the pre-election period. The report criticized the tactics used by the ruling party, including vote buying, biased media coverage, hate speech and allegiance statements by the service chiefs.
 
Eileen Sawyer, Director of the Forum, said she was shocked at Barrica’s comments. She explained that officials from the Forum met with Barrica and some SADC delegates last week, and told them all about the irregularities and abuses contained in their report. She was greatly disappointed when headlines in the state controlled press showed Barrica praising the electoral process and saying conditions were free and fair.
 
Sawyer was also shocked that the SADC mission head would make such pronouncements before the official results had been announced and accepted by the electorate. She criticized the slow pace at which the ZEC was announcing results, saying the long delay without an explanation creates suspicion that the results are being manipulated.
 
Sawyer described the current mood on the ground as elation and jubilation, which she said indicates that the people had finally succeeded in being very vocal about their desires to remove the current government. However, she also believes they would be just as passionate about expressing their anger should the results of the poll appear to be tampered with.
 
The Forum urged all Observer Missions to remain objective and to continue to monitor the situation in Zimbabwe, especially in light of the delays in the announcement of results.