Election Day Special - ZNU 114 (dd 29 March 2008)

March 29th, 2008

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 here4shared.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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Police ‘Manhandled’ Brit Pilot

March 29th, 2008

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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“Don’t Pasi Our President!”

March 27th, 2008

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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“We Taught The British Democracy…”

March 27th, 2008

I have just seen a report on the Zimbabwean election on BBC News 24 - and I will endeavour to find the link if they have made it available online. (EDIT: The link to the video is here - but for how long, I have no idea!)

In the report, Mugabe states: “We taught Britain democracy - through the barrel of a gun…”

I ask you! The statement is an oxymoron… I say no more.

Take care.

‘debvhu

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The Herald: “We Will Not Allow Anarchy Here”

March 27th, 2008

President Mugabe has warned the MDC against harbouring anarchist ambitions in the event of defeat on Saturday saying such impudent adventures will be met with the full wrath of the law.

Cde Mugabe, who was addressing thousands of ZANU PF supporters at Nyanga Country Club yesterday, cited utterances by MDC MP for St Mary’s Job Sikhala whom he said announced that the opposition would embark on Kenya-style disturbances if ZANU PF wins.

Similar sentiments have also been made by MDC faction leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and faction spokesperson Nelson Chamisa, who were quoted as saying if ZANU PF wins, Kenya would look like a picnic.

The inflammatory statements, which have been condemned by progressive people countrywide, prompted the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, to lodge a complaint with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, saying such utterances were tantamount to intimidating the electorate.

Kenya was thrown into turmoil after the opposition Orange Democratic Movement refused to accept the outcome of presidential elections that retained incumbent President Mwai Kibaki of the Party for National Unity. The post-election violence claimed over 1 500 lives and displaced over 650 000 others, many of whom fled to neighbouring countries, particularly Uganda.

Zvino tinoda kuvati ivo veMDC, makabvuma kuiswa makasho muhuro, mutambo wenyu ngaunake. Tiri kunzwa vamwe venyu, vana Job Sikhala vachiti ah ZANU PF ikahwina tichaita mhere-mhere yekuKenya, zviitei muone, zviitei muone. Hatitambe, kana muchiyanzva maBritish enyu, muchazviona, mukangozviita izvozvo. We want to see you do it.

Tinoda runyararo munyika muno, toda kuti vanhu vavhote murunyararo but no nonsense after victory. Tinoda peace now, peace tomorrow, vanhu vaite mabasa avo zvakanaka. When you join in a political fight by way of an election, you must be prepared to lose. You will win some seats, you will lose some.

“If you lose more seats, others win more than they lose. You must accept it. If ZANU PF wins you must accept it, if you win we will accept. We have accepted it all along. Muchihwina mumatowns, hatina kumbofa takaramba. There was never an occasion when we said you did not win. But imi munoda to tell lies, lies ‘there has been rigging’. Ndivo vakauya with the language of rigging. There was no language of rigging in this country until the MDC,” Cde Mugabe said to applause from the crowd.

Police have since declared zero tolerance for politically motivated violence, and have held anti-violence marches in Harare and Marondera, in addition to launching a blitz on all forms of violence. They have also warned all political parties to respect the outcome of the elections or face the full force of the law.

Cde Mugabe said MDC leaders were speaking the language of their masters who have since pre-judged the election. The EU recently issued a statement claiming the electoral environment was not conducive for free and fair elections, a claim that has been repeated ad nauseum by their ambassadors accredited to Zimbabwe prompting analysts to say the Westerners were running scared after sensing a ZANU PF victory.

“We know these are the lies they borrow from their masters, because their masters now are saying the elections will not be free and fair. The damn liars, devilish liars that they are. They never tell the truth, never the truth in Number 10 Downing Street, never the truth in Washington, about us, never ever,” Cde Mugabe said.

Cde Mugabe said the MDC had adopted the culture of lies mastered by their handlers in the West who never tell the truth about Zimbabwe, the same way they were lying about the illegal sanctions they imposed, which sanctions they claimed were targeted at top ZANU PF and Government leaders.

Cde Mugabe told the gathering that the sanctions - that were imposed at the instigation of the MDC - were behind the socio-economic hardships people are facing. He said no British or American companies, apart from those already here, are allowed to conduct business with Zimbabwe, the same way American officials at multilateral lending institutions were instructed to vote against the extension of any credit to Zimbabwe.

Despite this, Cde Mugabe said, Government would continue working to improve people’s livelihoods.

The Look East Policy, he said, had since begun to bear fruit as evidenced by improved foreign currency inflows.

He said the Westerners were also looking East, and found themselves in a Catch-22 situation since they could not bar Zimbabwe from accessing ‘the goods their companies were producing in the East.’

Cde Mugabe chronicled the critical role played by Manicaland in the liberation struggle, saying the province that gave the nation luminaries like the late national heroes Cde Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo and Chief Rekayi Tangwena had a duty to safeguard their legacy by voting overwhelmingly for ZANU PF on Saturday.

Our Mutare Bureau reports that at his second star rally, attended by thousands of supporters, at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare, Cde Mugabe said Zimbabweans must reject Western-sponsored opposition parties because their masters were the initiators of the socio-economic problems the country is facing.

He said Britain and Australia were bankrolling the opposition in a bid to effect regime change following a fallout over land, and that Britain and Australia had since confirmed pumping U$18 million and £3 million into the opposition coffers.

“We must deliver the final blow against the British on March 29. We are voting against the British, not the MDC, which is the puppet of British.

“We are under siege and they are desperate for a regime change because we took our land. The land now belongs to its rightful black owners,” said President Mugabe.

“MDC is a creation of the West. It was formed to reverse the land reform. It is not our fault, but when (Mr) Blair refused to honour his country’s obligation to fund the land reform, we said, ah waramba nemari, gara nemari yako, keep your money and we take our land,” said President Mugabe.

He said while ZANU PF and Zimbabwe owed their history in the liberation struggle that claimed the precious blood of the likes of Herbert Chitepo, Josiah Tongogara and Josiah Ziyapapa Moyo, among thousands who perished at Nyadzonia, Chimoio and Tete in Mozambique, it was shocking to note that some cadres had abandoned it at the instigation of the West.

Kuuya kwamaita kufuratira kupoya kwakaitwa musango naSimba Makoni naDumiso (Dabengwa). Inga kana mudanga mombe dzinopoya wani, hamungaputse dangaka nekuti dzapoya, danga rinogara riripo. VaMutasa (Didymus), tinonzwisisa shungu dzenyu kuti sei zvakadai izvizvi zviri kuitika kuno kuManicaland kunove ndiko kwakabva magamba akaita saVaChitepo.

“You should not cry much because Makoni is a minor, aitove zvake kuchikoro vamwe vari kuhondo,” said President Mugabe.

He also attacked Britain for internationalising a bilateral conflict which culminated in the imposition of sanctions by its Western allies against Harare.

He said the sanctions were disguised as targeted, when they were aimed at punishing the country and suffocating it economically.

President Mugabe said although the imposition of sanctions was a desperate bid to coerce the people’s revolution into backtracking, it dismally failed to achieve its desired objectives.

“Knowing that they are staring defeat, the British are prejudging that the election will not be free and fair. Why are they not going to be free and fair? Lies, lies, these devils never know the truth. You can never go into an agreement with them, they are hypocrites.

“They devised painful ways of punishing us, sanctions and sanctions. They imposed sanctions saying there is no democracy, there is no rule of law, and there is no respect of human rights and property rights. Our fundamental differences emanated from the deadlock on land. They pretend that the sanctions are targeted, but have crippled trading, investment and balance of payments. They are not targeted, but meant to hurt our country. We are in a war situation, this is a time to fight, not pleasure,” said President Mugabe.

Cde Mugabe commissioned 23 buses, the first tranche of 35, to be distributed to districts throughout the province.

(Source)

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Pilot Ferrying Simba Makoni Arrested In Zimbabwe

March 25th, 2008

A Johannesburg helicopter pilot has been arrested in Zimbabwe shortly before he was due to transport presidential hopeful Simba Makoni on his campaign trail and is still in police custody, his employer said.

“He is at Harare central police station where he is being detained,” said Wessel van den Bergh, chief executive officer of ATS aviation services.

The pilot, British citizen Brent Smythe, was due to ferry Makoni to various constituencies in Zimbabwe over the next two days and was expecting to take off from an airfield north-west of the city at 7am on Tuesday, Van den Bergh said.

“He sent me an SMS just after seven saying ’please help, the police have arrested me’,” Van den Bergh told Sapa.

The helicopter “worth millions” was also impounded and Van den Bergh was still trying to establish why Smythe was arrested because he believed all the paperwork was in order.

He received a later SMS from Smythe saying he was at the Harare police station and the police had a notice to detain him.

Van den Bergh said the British Embassy and the South African Department of Foreign Affairs were assisting.

Smythe’s family was informed of the situation and the company had been informed that he was unharmed.

(Source)

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NCA Statement

March 25th, 2008

TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE SECURITY FORCES
(Police, intelligence services, youth brigades, prison warders and army personnel)

We the PEOPLE of Zimbabwe, both inside and outside the country call on YOU as our defenders and protectors to exercise your power and role in Zimbabwe, in the interest of your mothers, fathers, siblings and children.

We are days away from another election. The hope and expectation of every Zimbabwean is that this election will herald the beginning of a life of dignity and quality. The political elite is hopeful that YOU will protect their positions and maintain the status quo. The people of Zimbabwe are hopeful that YOU will support their yearning for change.

You have heard your commanders declare that they would not support and salute anyone other than the current president. But it is this President and his elite that have made the lives of you, your family and all of us, a daily misery. The security establishment holds the key to what a post election Zimbabwe will look like, and whether reconstruction and development will take hold. You are recognized as a key force in Zimbabwe that holds the balance of power. It is YOU that can ensure an environment that is conducive for the reconstruction of Zimbabwe.

You hold an extreme amount of power. Power that can be abused and manipulated, as has been done in the past, to hurt, intimidate and further subjugate the ordinary people of our country. As sons and daughters of Zimbabwe, who hold a position of strength and power, we call on you:

ACT RESPONSIBILY and HONOURABLY

DEFEND YOUR PEOPLE, NOT THE POLITICAL ELITE

YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE

It is not too late to refuse to be used as pawns by those who hold no allegiance to you and your families and whose only interest is in their own personal greed and ambition.

Show your support and allegiance to the people of Zimbabwe.

ACCEPT the will of the people as manifested through the electoral process, irrespective of the outcome.

REFUSE to be party to any form of vote-rigging and underhand attempts at manipulating the results of the forthcoming election.

REFUSING to intimidate, harass and carry out acts of violence. Go against the orders of your commanders. Lay down your arms and rally behind the people of Zimbabwe to foster reconstruction and development.

Your role as defenders and protectors in the post-election period is most critical, especially where and when the needs and demands of people are not met. PROTECT the people of Zimbabwe and not the narrow interests of the greedy political elite.

USE YOUR POWER WISELY, BE COUNTED AS THE TRUE DEFENDERS OF THE INTERESTS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE.

DR LOVEMORE MADHUKU
00263912286804
0027827794565

(Source: via email)

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Doubts Over Presidential Run-Offs

March 18th, 2008

The determination of a winner in next week’s Presidential election has been thrown into uncertainty amid revelations that Section 110 of the Electoral Act contradicts the Second Schedule of the same legislation which outlines how the winner will be determined. This, lawyers said, had the potential to cause confusion as it remained unclear how the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) would read the provisions. Section 110 (3) of the Electoral Act says in the event that none of the candidates gets a majority, there has to be a run-off within 21 days. “Where . . . no candidate receives a majority of the total number of valid votes cast, a second election shall be held within twenty-one days after the previous election in accordance with this Act.” But unknown to many political activists, the Second Schedule to the Electoral Act states otherwise. It says that “the Chief Elections Officer shall forthwith declare the candidate who has received . . . the greatest number of votes; to be duly elected as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe with effect from the day of such declaration”.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) warned “this inconsistency has the potential to cause serious problems in the event that none of the Presidential candidates obtain a majority of the votes cast”. The ZLHR said there was a need for an “immediate clarification” of the position regarding a run-off. It sent questions to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which were not responded to, at the time of going to press. Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa could not clarify the inconsistencies. He said he was addressing a campaign rally in the rural areas. Repeated attempts to get clarification from the ZEC were in vain. ZEC spokesperson, Shupikai Mashereni, referred questions to the commission’s legal team, who in turn referred the matter back to Mashereni.

But David Coltart, the Legal Affairs Secretary in the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara, said if no candidate obtained a majority, there would be a run-off as “the requirement for a run-off in section 110 (3) prevails over the more general provision in the Schedule”. “The usual rule is that where there is a conflict between a section of an Act and that one of the provisions in a schedule, the enactment in this section prevails over that in the schedule,” Coltart said. A Harare lawyer said he suspected “a drafting error in the wording” of the Second Schedule. “Regrettably paragraph 3 creates confusion because it is somewhat inconsistent with section 110 of the Act,” said the lawyer. “It also makes no provision for the run-off election as envisaged in Section 100 in the event of no candidate receiving a majority of the total valid votes cast.”

Meanwhile, an MDC MP has filed an urgent applicant in the High Court seeking to compel the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Registrar General to provide her with a readable and proper electronic copy of the Mount Pleasant voters’ roll. Trudy Stevenson made the application as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) also refused to avail hard copies of the voters’ roll to the Morgan Tsvangirai led faction of the MDC. In her application, Stevenson observed the bits and pieces of the electronic voters’ roll she obtained would not help her as a candidate to prepare for the elections. She also pointed out the roll was seriously flawed, and contained people who should not be on the list of voters. “I have noticed that Desmond William Lardner- Burke is listed as a voter… Desmond William Lardner Burke was minister of Law and Order under Ian Smith and I cannot believe that he is still alive and residing in Mount Pleasant.” Born in 1908, Lardner-Burke died in SA years ago.

Tsvangirai’s MDC said it has received only 50 compact disks containing the electronic voters’ rolls and repeated requests to ZEC to get more “have been met by various excuses, the main one being that their machines have broken down.” Apart from that, said the MDC, the format in which the voters’ rolls are saved makes them “materially deficient” in various respects. “Even this is difficult in respect of some of the compact disks supplied to us because the JPEG image has a watermark obliterating some of the names. We are unable to analyse and interrogate the voters’ rolls because it is an electronic picture and not electronic data.” In a letter dated 11 March 2008 to ZEC chairman George Chiweshe, MDC Tsvangirai secretary general Tendai Biti said it was illegal for the commission to deny the party the voters’ roll. He said the Electoral Act clearly states that the commission shall provide any person “without delay” who requests it, with a copy of the voters’ roll. Biti said in the past two weeks, MDC national director of elections Dennis Murira had been trying to get copies of the voters’ roll and was informed by a ZEC official that copies would only be available after elections “since production centre is busy”. Biti also sought assurance from ZEC that the ink to be used by in the election could not be washed away after voting, making it possible for voters to vote more than once. ZEC chairman George Chiweshe could not be reached for comment as he was said to be out of town on business.

(Source)

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I’ll Beat Robert Mugabe, Says Former Ally

February 28th, 2008

Robert Mugabe is to blame for the suffering of the Zimbabwean people, his former ally and main rival for the presidency has said. Simba Makoni, 57, served in President Mugabe’s government from the moment the country won independence from Britain in 1980. But his decision last month to challenge Mr Mugabe in the March 29 polls reflects a growing dissatisfaction among leading figures in the ruling ZANU PF party, who have grown tired of the 84-year-old president and baulk at his determination to remain in his post as the country rapidly disintegrates. Simba Makoni is anticipating a resounding win of 70 per cent . “Zimbabwe is in the condition it is in because of a failure of leadership,” said Mr Makoni, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. Mr Makoni, who will run as an independent candidate after he was expelled from Zanu PF for daring to challenge the president, said that this realisation had come to him over several years. “There was not a ‘St Paul on the road to Damascus’ awakening,” he said. “It wasn’t an event, it didn’t just happen, it was going on as the situation evolved - that this is not the correct way for our people.” With an estimated four million Zimbabweans needing food aid, and with inflation officially running at more than 100,000 per cent, Mr Makoni predicted he would win by a landslide. “We will win resoundingly, by 70 per cent plus,” he said. “The people who are supporting me in ZANU PF and in other quarters, agree with me that the country is ripe for change at the highest level, that the country needs to take a different direction, a positive direction.”

The destruction of Zimbabwe’s economy dates from 2000, when Mr Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms. Mr Makoni is calling for an end to race-based policies. “What we had in Zimbabwe in 1980 was a national government, we had people from different parties and different ethnic groups. We offered the African continent, if not the world, national reconciliation, so I am merely reactivating those values.” But whatever a candidate’s vision, winning an election in Zimbabwe is not just a matter of crosses on ballot papers. Mr Mugabe is widely regarded as having stolen the last poll in 2002 - and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) believes that a fair ballot is impossible. With the ruling ZANU PF having control over the media and police, the MDC is participating in the elections only under protest. A new constitution that would have changed the political climate was recently agreed but Mr Mugabe announced the election before it could be implemented. Mr Makoni’s campaign alleges it has been victim to “dirty tricks”. He was unable to leave Harare to campaign in rural areas yesterday because registration plates for his vehicles were not available. Meanwhile, his printers had supposedly run out of paper to produce fliers. “I wish and hope and expect this election will be free and fair,” Mr Makoni said. He added, however, that he had no access to the state television broadcaster or to the national daily newspapers. “I respect our president. Up to Feb 5 [when Mr Makoni formally announced his candidacy] we had a good, cordial relationship. I don’t know what he feels now.” So what of the comments Mr Mugabe has made since then, comparing him to a prostitute and a frog? “I am puzzled,” replied Mr Makoni. “You had best ask him about that.”

(Source)

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Simba Makoni Interview On Radio 702…

February 26th, 2008

I listened to this interview this morning. The one thing that I noted - and was saddened by - was the initial confrontational manner of Simba Makoni.

I ask - why should the Presidential hopeful be so negative when dealing with an interviewer? Does he not realise that millions of Zimbabweans are going to hear this? He talks of being in ‘coaltion’ with the people of Zimbabwe.

Well, if his treatment of the interviewer is an example of his ‘coalition’ then I’d much rather go without.

Avoiding the issues at hand is one thing - but when the candidate refuses to address the questions asked, I begin to ask - in capital letters - WHY?

I do not reject Makoni out of hand, but my defence mechanisms are on full alert.

Take care.

‘debvhu

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