Mandebvhu Talks “Zimbabwe”…

Justice George Chiweshe, who chairs ZEC, hinted that official results will be released from 06.00 hours this morning.

But the fact is that the results are common knowledge to the electorate as each polling station has posted the outcome on the walls of each polling station countrywide and all ZEC was expected to do was verify, collate and aggregate the figures in various constituencies then announce them.

Instead ZEC has withheld releasing of the aggregate results for any constituency while any emergency meeting of the Joint Operations Commission (JOC) was hurriedly convened from 17.00 hours on 30 March 2008 ostensibly to ratify and authorise release of the results which were at ZEC’s disposal by then.

The JOC meeting which draws together heads of security Ministries and Service Chiefs is understood to have resolved to withhold the announcement of the results overnight to allow ZEC to thoroughly authenticate the results before it which clearly showed the MDC and its leader had won 67% of the vote and should have been announced winners of the election according to impeccable ZimDaily sources within the CIO privy to the goings on in ZEC.

The same sources indicated that outgoing President Mugabe had conceded defeat and slipped out of the country when the Military Heads refused to accept the results and ordered ZEC to invent results that will show a Zanu PF and Mugabe victory and announce those from 06.00 hours today.

Our sources disclosed that only the Deputy Air force commander backed Mugabe while all others led by Didymus Mutasa rejected the outcome and literally placed the dissenting Air force Commander under military arrest in typical fashion to the execution of a military coup.

It is further understood that Mutasa was peeved and livid about losing his constituency to the opposition MDC after attempts for him to stuff votes in his constituency were circumvented by the vigilant monitoring mechanisms at polling stations.

Why ZEC has to take orders from JOC when they claim to be the Supreme electoral authority in the country must be sending shivers of rage in the expectant electorate.

The SADC heads of state are believed to have convened a meeting where they urged the Military to reconsider its undemocratic stance in this election and hopefully sanity will prevail among them and Justice Chiweshe will have the nerve to be the custodian of our democratic processes and refuse to be bulldozed into announcing false results that could cause the country to sink into mayhem.

The electorate must remain calm and resolute in defence of their vote and the MDC must be prepared for the worst and deal with the imminent political and electoral impasse swiftly and decisively for this time their victory is not assumed but confirmed by results at each and every polling booth in the country.

(Source)

Comment: The key for me, in this article, is the assertion that Mugabe has slipped out of the country, having conceded defeat. He hasn’t been seen since he voted - and told the world that he couldn’t sleep if he had cheated.

I hope he doesn’t have another restful night for the rest of his miserable days - in Mayalysia, or wherever it is that he has run to.

I wonder what a new government will do about the exiled Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam who was tried and convicted in abstentia in that country and sentenced ro life in prison for being complicit to the deaths of 2000 people.

‘debvhu

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Miss Mugabe, a former ZANU (PF) MP for Zvimba South, Robert Mugabe’s home area, died on Sunday morning due to ill health, ZimDaily has confirmed.

At the time of her death, she had indicated she was not seeking a fresh mandate as ZANU (PF) MP because of her deteriorating health condition.

Miss Mugabe is survived by two sons, Leo Mugabe, a prominent businessman and Member of Parliament, and Patrick Zhuwao, a deputy minister who is also an MP. Miss Mugabe’s first son, the late Innocent Mugabe, was a former director-general of the Central Intelligence Organization,

News of the death of Miss Mugabe, whose three sons are with different fathers, came amid opposition confirmation that President Mugabe has dismally lost the poll to Morgan Tsvangirai, prompting speculation that she died of shock.

But a family source rubbished these allegations and said she had been in and out of hospital for quite a span. Miss Mugabe had quit politics because of ill health after serving Government for more than 20 years.

ZimDaily heard that Miss Mugabe suffered a stroke and died early Sunday morning. She had been hospitalised several times because of “Bell’s palsy” a family source told ZimDaily. Miss Mugabe first served government as MP for Makonde East in 1985 and became the legislator for Zvimba in 1990 and later represented Zvimba South in 2000.

She was also a member of the party’s Women’s League serving as its national production secretary.

A carbon copy of President Mugabe, Sabina, who used to drive around in an official black Mercedes Benz limousine, is famed for seizing the farm of murdered white farmer Terry Ford, killed by war veterans in 2002 in Norton.

Mourners are gathered at her house in Glennnara in Harare.

(Source)

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As you may imagine, running three pages about the same subject is not that hard, but I am not going to duplicate the working table of result that I have put together for the election results.

The table, for simplicity’s sake, is here.

The table will remain the topmost posting on the blog until all results are in.

Take care.

‘debvhu

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Zimbabwe’s opposition claimed victory today in the country’s general elections even before the first results had been announced, saying it would not accept any other outcome.

Despite warnings from the authorities against any attempt to pre-empt the result, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said President Robert Mugabe had been roundly beaten and warned it would not accept an alternative verdict from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

Mugabe’s camp meanwhile said it would treat any announcement by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he was now the rightful president as tantamount to a coup which would be dealt with accordingly.

“This far, short of a miracle, we have won this election beyond any reasonable doubt. We have won this election,” MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti told a news conference.

Biti said the party’s assessment was based on unofficial returns posted at polling stations where counting had been completed and cast doubt on the electoral commission, a supposedly independent body whose executives are appointed by Mugabe.

Asked why he was not waiting for the ZEC, Biti said: “We are protecting our vote. We don’t trust the ZEC, which is not independent.

“We made a mistake in 2002 by not claiming our victory. We made a mistake in 2005 by not claiming our victory.”

Tsvangirai has always insisted he was the rightful winner of the last presidential election in 2002 while the party also says it was robbed of victory in 2005’s parliamentary elections.

Both claims have been vehemently denied by Mugabe who said yesterday he would not be able to sleep at night if he had cheated.

Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba meanwhile fired a warning to Tsvangirai, who has twice been charged with treason, against an early victory claim.

“How will it play?” Charamba told the state-run Sunday Mail.

“He announces results, declares himself and the MDC winner and then what? Declare himself president of Zimbabwe? It is called a coup d’etat and we all know how coups are handled.”

The electoral commission meanwhile said counting could take a while and patience was needed.

“I have not received anything yet. They are still verifying and counter-verifying,” commission chairman George Chiweshe told AFP.

“I would rather wait than push so I can get proper and accurate figures. I am a very patient man.”

With this year’s elections involving simultaneous votes for president, parliament and councils, first results were not expected until later in the day and final results may not be known until later in the week.

No Western observers were allowed to oversee the ballot but African observers have already raised concerns.

One pan-African team complained that 8,450 voters were registered on a patch of deserted land in Harare.

As he cast his ballot, Tsvangirai claimed his party had uncovered evidence of widespread vote-rigging, including the names of a million “ghost” voters registered in a northern region.

As well as Tsvangirai, Mugabe is being challenged by former finance minister Simba Makoni whose candidacy highlighted splits in the ruling ZANU PF party.

While Makoni is not given a realistic prospect of victory, analysts say he may peel away votes from Mugabe who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980.

The election comes at a time when Zimbabwe is grappling with the impact of the world’s highest rate of inflation - officially put at 100,580.2 percent - and an unemployment level which has breached the 80 percent mark.

Once seen as the region’s breadbasket, the country is now suffering from shortages of even the most basic foodstuffs such as bread.

The president has blamed the country’s economic woes on the European Union and the United States, which imposed sanctions on his inner circle after he was accused of rigging his 2002 re-election. He has portrayed the election as a chance to stand up against the West and in particular Britain.

Voting passed off largely without incident, although the security forces have been placed on high alert for fear of a repeat of the bloodshed which followed Kenya’s disputed elections in December.

(Source)

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In Photos: ‘Zimbabwe Elections’

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I have just had the misfortune of watching the Zimbabwe Ambassador to Mozambique being interviewed on the BBC.

I could not believe the lies coming out of his mouth.

He says that Mugabe is ‘principled’ - he says Mugabe is ‘in touch’ with the people - and says that Mugabe has brought land to ‘the majority of the people’.

He also says that the country is under ‘international sanctions’ and he knows of no country that was able to operate under unternational sanctions.

Mugabe is not ‘principled’ - he is a megalomaniac.

Mugabe is not ‘in touch’ with the people - no leader ‘in touch’ with his people would subject them to Operation Murambatsvina or fail to house them adequately, even if the demolition campaign was ‘principled’.

Mugabe has not brought land to ‘the majority of the people’ - he has brought land to the majority of people within his government and in the armed forces. The landless blacks in Zimbabwe are probably even more in number than when he started, after Murambatsvina.

To look for a country that has survived under ‘international sanctions’ (even though the Mugabe regime is the subject of TARGETED sanctions), the Ambassador doesn’t have to look very far at all. Rhodesia was under international sanctions, and the economy was good, the agricultural produce was sufficient to feed the country.

The Ambassador represents the government that took over that economy - and they should have been advantaged because that not only took it over, but the sanctions were lifted. Why then, did Mugabe and his government fail in their remit?

Sadly the BBC has not put the interview up - I don’t blame them!

I say no more.

Take care.

‘debvhu

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Howzit

A special election day podcast ZNU 114 is released. You can listen to the show using the multiplayer in the right hand sidebar on The Bearded Man, or here. 4shared.com which I use for download of the show seems to be down right now, so there is not a lot I can do there.

In this show I look at Mugabe’s claim that the poll is free and fair whilst the police issue blanket threat to the country.

I also look at the radio skit to profile the intimidation used.

My Odeo page lists all historical programs should you wish to listen to them.

Take care.

‘debvhu

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The Movement for Democratic Change official who was detained by Zimbabwean police together with Johannesburg-based British pilot, Brent Smyth, said they were manhandled by police. Jameson Timba told The Times both he and Smyth - a pilot with ATS aviation service - were confronted by Zimbabwean police at the Charles Prince Airport in Harare on Tuesday. Timba, who was released after eight hours, said their detention was meant to derail the MDC’s political campaign. Zimbabweans go to the polls on Saturday. Zimbabwean authorities have now decided to charge Smyth with contravening immigration laws - after initially claiming his flight plan was not approved. Smyth’s attorney, Innocent Chagonda, said his client was still in jail, and is yet to appear in court. “Police are now alleging he is in contravention of the immigration act and that he can be detained for two weeks. But I am going to lodge an urgent application in the high court to challenge his detention as this is unlawful,” Chagonda said.

Timba described how events unfolded on the day of the arrest: “I needed to pick up campaign material that was in Smyth’s aircraft. “Within five minutes, police arrived and instructed me and my chief election agent, Garikai Chuma, to go to the police post at the airport.” Timba said he and Chuma were not allowed to make any phone calls. Ten heavily armed policemen then arrived at the airport. It was then that he saw Smyth being dragged out of another room at the airport police post. “He was being shoved into a car. We were taken to the Harare Central police station ,” Timba said. He said while they were pushed around, they were not physically assaulted. Timba said a representative from the South African embassy arrived and had a discussion with Smyth. He recalled how the police initially told Smyth that his flight plan was not approved in terms of the law. “They knew he hadn’t committed a crime and tried to tell him that he needed to pay the hotel where he had stayed in foreign currency,” he said.

(Source)

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Politicians and nappies have one thing in common, they need to be changed, and for the same reason…

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1) Today, 7 brand new tanks were seen driving from Harare down towards Nkomo barracks.

2) One of our employees was at his kumusha in Chinhoyi at the weekend and went to a Makoni rally out of interest and he got a T shirt! When Makoni started sloganning “pasi ne MDC, pasi ne Morgan Tsvangarai” more than half the small crowd rose up and shouted “don’t pasi our President” and they took off their t-shirts and left the stadium!<

(Source: via email)

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