Messages From Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, Thursday said he would return home this weekend, after nearly a month and a half out of the country, despite fears of an assassination plot.

Speaking during a visit to a violence-hit township in Johannesburg, he told reporters that he would return home on Saturday, to begin campaigning ahead of a run-off election against veteran President Robert Mugabe scheduled for June 27.

He also linked the violence against immigrants in South Africa to the crisis in his homeland, where inflation is the highest in the world at 165,000 per cent and employment runs at 80 percent.

“The causes for this crisis are none other than our political crisis back home,” said the former trade union leader as he visited Alexandra, a slum area in northern Johannesburg where anti-immigrant violence began last week.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean government has accused the United States and Britain of fanning the politically-motivated violence rocking the country ahead of the run-off election.

President Robert Mugabe told police Thursday to ignore opposition accusations that they are behind political intimidation and blamed his foes for violence, ahead of a presidential election run-off.

In a new twist to the long-drawn out political crisis in the southern African country, President Robert Mugabe’s government said it had unearthed “overwhelming evidence” that the US embassy and other Western embassies in Harare were playing a pivotal role in the violence.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose leader Mr Tsvangirai beat Mr Mugabe in the initial polls in March, but failed to avoid the run-off, says 42 of its supporters have been killed and thousands displaced by the violence blamed on ruling party followers.

The violence flared up soon after it emerged that the ruling Zanu PF had lost its parliamentary majority to the MDC factions, for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980.

Speaking on a live programme on state television Thursday evening, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa claimed that the two countries were providing transport to MDC youths from the cities, allegedly carrying out the attacks in rural areas.

“There is evidence of a third force behind politically-motivated violence cases,” Mr Chinamasa said.

“We are aware that the US and British embassies, with the help of their allies, are bussing MDC youths to attack hapless ZANU PF supporters.”

He claimed that the two countries were only paying medical bills for MDC victims of the violence, ignoring the ZANU PF supporters.

But MDC spokesman Mr Nelson Chamisa, who was also part of the panel, immediately shot back, accusing the minister of lying.

He said the police had been reluctant to respond to reports that their supporters were being killed and tortured by veterans of the country’s liberation war and ZANU PF youths because of political pressure.

Despite the government’s vehement denials that soldiers were involved in the spiralling violence, the United Nations last week said security forces, youth militias and war veterans and supporters of both ZANU PF and the MDC were perpetrating acts of violence.

“There is an emerging pattern of political violence inflicted mainly, but not exclusively, on rural supporters of the MDC party,” the UN’s country representative, Mr Augusto Zakarias said.

Mr Mugabe, 84, accused Zimbabwe’s former colonial master, Britain, and the US of funding the MDC to effect a regime change.

He says the two countries are bitter that he took away commercial farms from white farmers, for redistribution to landless blacks.

Last week, ambassadors from Western countries, including representatives from the US and Britain, were detained at a police road block outside Harare after they visited victims of the violence in rural areas.

The MDC officials have expressed fears that there appeared to be a campaign to ensure that the party’s members flee their homes, so that they do not vote in the presidential run-off.

Meanwhile, the party said police had arrested two of its newly-elected legislators, Ian Kay and Amos Chibaya, on what it called “an onslaught on key party activists and leaders to render it comatose ahead of the runoff.”

“The charges against Chibaya are that he addressed a rally two weeks ago, where he sought to incite junior police officers to rebel. The charges against Kay are unclear,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Reuters.

At least six MDC lawmakers have been arrested since the combined March elections, and the opposition says 43 of its members have been killed by militias loyal to Mugabe.

But speaking at a ceremony to confer ranks on senior police officials in Harare, Mr Mugabe said the MDC was on an “evil crusade” to divide the people of Zimbabwe.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police and all security agencies should not shudder because of the barrage of false and orchestrated criticism by the opposition…,” he said.

“The MDC opposition, formed at the behest of Britain in 1999, is on an evil crusade of dividing our people on political lines as they continue to fan and sponsor heinous acts of political violence targeting innocent citizens,” said President Mugabe, who dismisses his opponents as stooges of the West. The MDC denies the charge.

Zimbabweans hope next month’s run-off will arrest a downward economic spiral.

Mr Tsvangirai is a former union leader who has been a thorn in Mugabe’s side for a decade as the head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition group.

The son of a bricklayer, Mr Tsvangirai was born in 1952 in central Zimbabwe.

He worked in a mine to feed his family and cut his political teeth in the labour movement as a mine foreman.

Mr Tsvangirai helped found the MDC in 1999.

Despite intimidation, it stunned the ruling party by winning 57 of 120 seats at stake in a 2000 parliamentary vote.

Mr Tsvangirai was acquitted of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe and seize power before 2002 presidential elections.

Mugabe’s party won a crushing majority in a 2005 parliamentary election, which the MDC said was rigged.

The MDC split in 2005 in a bitter feud over how to tackle Mugabe. A splinter group accused Mr Tsvangirai of behaving in a dictatorial fashion.

Mr Tsvangirai was arrested at an anti-Mugabe rally in 2007.

He said he had been attacked at a police station. Critics said the incident help revive his sagging political fortunes.

The long-awaited second round follows the disputed 2008 presidential elections, in which official results showed Mr Tsvangirai beat Mugabe, but not by enough votes to avoid a run-off.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has delayed his return home because of an apparent assassination plot, it has been reported.

Mr Tsvangirai had been due to return to Zimbabwe today to prepare for the second round of elections.

But a spokesman said his return had been put on hold.

Spokesman George Sibotshiwe says party officials received information from a “credible source” that an attempt would be made Saturday on the life of the Movement for Democratic Change leader.

Mr Tsvangirai has been out of Zimbabwe for over a month and had been due to return from Europe today to campaign for the June 27 run-off.

Mr Tsvangirai beat the country’s president Robert Mugabe in the first round of the election on March 29.

But he did not by enough votes to avoid a second round and has been out of the country since April 8.

The opposition scored a small victory on Friday when a court ordered police not to interfere with the Bulawayo rally.

The March elections were followed by widespread violence, which the MDC says left at least 40 of its supporters dead and scores of others injured.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s presidential runoff cannot take place in the time allotted by law, the head of the electoral commission said in an interview published Sunday. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has insisted the vote should be held within 21 days of the May 2 announcement of the results from the initial vote. However, Zimbabwean government officials have said the electoral commission has up to a year to hold the runoff. “It was ambitious for the legislature to think 21 days would be enough,” George Chiweshe was quoted as saying in the state-run Sunday Mail. Chiweshe said the electoral body was still waiting for funds from the government to hold the poll. It took the commission more than a month to announce results from the March 29 election. Tsvangirai maintains he won the first round outright and that official figures showing a second round was necessary were fraudulent.

Mugabe has been accused of orchestrating violence against the opposition since the first round, raising questions about whether a runoff would be free or fair. Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party, meanwhile, has already launched its runoff campaign. Tsvangirai said Saturday at a news conference in South Africa that although another election may bring more violence, he will return shortly to Zimbabwe to face Mugabe. He and other top opposition figures have stayed out of Zimbabwe since the initial voting. Speaking after a meeting with Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos later Saturday, Tsvangirai said he assured regional leaders that if he were to win the presidency, he would respect Mugabe’s place in Zimbabwe’s history. Dos Santos is seen as close to Mugabe and heads the key political, defense and security committee of the Southern African Development Community.

Tsvangirai told reporters in the Angolan capital that he had assured dos Santos Mugabe would be treated as the “father of the nation” in the interest of building peace and stability in Zimbabwe. That position appeared to indicate a softening: Tsvangirai told The Associated Press in an interview last month he believed the Zimbabwean people would press for Mugabe to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Tsvangirai also said he spoke with dos Santos about escalating violence in Zimbabwe, and what needed to be done to improve conditions for the presidential runoff.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights has said 22 people have died and 900 have been tortured in postelection violence, while 40,000 farmworkers have been displaced in an effort to prevent them from voting in the runoff. “If this is going to be a successful runoff, opposition leaders and supporters must be able to freely campaign free of violence,” said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council. “We would like to see election monitors - U.N. human rights monitors to ensure we have a safe electoral process there.”

(Source)

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on Saturday for an end to violence and asked the Southern African Development Community to send peacekeepers to monitor an upcoming presidential run-off. He detailed a series of conditions needed to ensure a fair election against veteran President Robert Mugabe, who lost the first round of disputed elections on March 29. “We have given some conditions to SADC (Southern African Development Community) for the run-off,” he said. “One, total secession of all violence; number two, unfettered access by international observers; number three, the reconstitution of ZEC (Zimbabwe’s electoral commission); number four, media access should be unfettered; number five SADC should provide peacekeeping to curtail violence.”

Tsvangirai criticised the ZEC, which has played a central role in the country’s elections. Results from the first round were delayed by five weeks and no date has been given for the second-round run-off despite a legal requirement for it to take place within 21 days of the first-round results being announced. “ZEC is partisan to ZANU PF,” Tsvangirai said, referring to Mugabe’s party which has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980. The SADC is a regional African body that has been traditionally reluctant to criticise Mugabe, but some of its members are losing patience with the 84-year-old.

(Source)

ZANU PF and MDC-T have filed a total of 105 election petitions, prompting Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku to appoint 17 more High Court judges to the Electoral Court to preside over the cases.

ZANU PF is challenging results in 53 constituencies while MDC-T is contesting those in 52 constituencies. The appointments, made in terms of Section 162 of the Electoral Act, bring to 20 the number of judges who will handle the election disputes.

Three judges - Justices Tendayi Uchena, Antonia Guvava and Nicholas Ndou - were appointed to the Electoral Court early this year. In a letter dated April 29, 2008 and copied to Judge President Rita Makarau and Master of the High Court Mr Charles Nyatanga, the Chief Justice said the appointments were made in terms of the country’s electoral laws. The appointments were also made in consultation with the Judicial Service Commission and Justice Makarau in her capacity as the Judge President and would be effective from April 29, 2008 to April 29 2009.

Justice Makarau would also preside over some of the petitions. Mr Nyatanga confirmed the latest development saying the Judge President had scheduled a meeting with lawyers handling the petitions for 10am this Friday at the High Court. “All the lawyers who are dealing with election petitions (are invited) to attend the meeting where the procedure would be discussed with the Judge President chairing. “The JP (Judge President) is going to issue a practice directive on the procedures to be followed in dealing with the petitions,” he said. Mr Nyatanga said his office had received 105 petitions, which have to be determined within six months in terms of the Electoral Act.

He said both parties filed more or less an equal number of petitions challenging results of the concerned constituencies countrywide. In its petitions, ZANU PF will, among other issues, contend that MDC-T bribed election officials while the opposition party will argue that ZANU PF candidates and its supporters bought votes and interfered with the voting process.

In the synchronised presidential, parliamentary and council elections the opposition MDC-T won 99 seats against ZANU PF’s 97. The MDC got 10 seats. ZANU PF won the Senate while no absolute winner emerged in the presidential election, which now requires a run-off between President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.

(Source)

The opposition candidate who bested Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in the March presidential balloting is in no hurry to announce whether he will participate in a runoff election, his spokesman said Sunday. A day earlier, a spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai said the opposition leader would make an announcement Sunday. “This is a historic decision. The party is still consulting,” spokesman George Sibotshiwe told CNN Sunday morning. “We need to ensure that the decision we make is a people’s decision. The date of the run off has not been set yet so there is no urgency to make an announcement.” A runoff is required under Zimbabwean law if neither candidate gets 50 percent plus one vote in an election. The African nation’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has refused to agree to a second round of voting, claiming its candidate already has enough votes to replace Mugabe.

The MDC says the initial tally of votes showed Tsvangirai garnering 50.3 percent of the vote in the initial tally from the March 29, before a verification of the numbers was done this week. That official tally was released Friday by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, showing that Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent of the vote compared to 43.2 percent for Mugabe. MDC Vice President Thokozani Khupe held a news conference Saturday after a meeting of top MDC officials, who she said agreed that a runoff was unnecessary. If they refuse to support a runoff, Mugabe will retain the office. “We need to be convinced that there is need for a runoff,” Khupe said. “The verification process was not done properly. In other words, there is a deadlock resulting from the (ZEC’s) failure to execute its duties as required by the law.” The Tsvangirai spokesman told CNN the candidate was consulting with political leaders in the region, in hopes they can convince Mugabe to step down. Tsvangirai also was traveling to Ghana to meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s presidential poll results announced on Friday “lack credibility”, Britain’s Foreign Office said, adding that a second round could not be fair unless more international monitors were present.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was finally declared the winner of the March 29 vote but fell just short of toppling incumbent Robert Mugabe.

“The election results released five weeks after polling day lack credibility but it’s clear that at least 60 percent of the population voted for change in Zimbabwe,” a Foreign Office spokesperson told AFP.

“President Mugabe’s campaign of violence and intimidation, coupled with the arrest of 99 electoral commission officials in the last month, show exactly how (his ruling party) Zanu-PF would approach any second round.

“Without an immediate end to violence and the introduction of a wider range of international monitors and in much greater numbers than were present for the first, no second round could be free and fair.”

Nearly five weeks after polling day, Zimbabwe’s electoral commission announced that Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, had won 47.9% against 43.2% for the 84-year-old Mugabe and the pair will now face off in a run-off on a date yet to be announced.

A third candidate, former finance minister Simba Makoni, won 8.3% and now drops out of the contest.

(Source)

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe’s presidential election, winning 47 percent of the vote against the president’s 43 percent, senior government sources said on Wednesday.

One source, declining to be named like the others, told Reuters a run-off would be needed because Tsvangirai did not win enough votes for an outright victory.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has said he won the March 29 vote outright and accuses Mugabe - in power for 28 years - of delaying results to rig victory.

The standoff over the election has raised fears of widespread bloodshed in a country already battling to cope with economic meltdown.

The MDC said on Wednesday 20 of its members had been killed by pro-government militias in post-election violence and that soldiers had taken part in the attacks. “Only over the past two days five MDC activists have been killed,” it said.

The government has denied waging a violent campaign against the opposition and accuses the MDC of carrying out attacks.

Tsvangirai has said there is no need for a second round because he won outright but has also suggested he could take part if there were international observers led by the UN.

If Tsvangirai refused to take part in a run-off, Mugabe would be declared the winner, according to election rules.

The MDC leader, who has been touring Africa seeking support, says he is a prime target for Mugabe’s security forces but would return home when conditions were right.

The state-run Herald newspaper reported police wanted to question MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti for illegally declaring results and were concerned he was “urging and abetting political violence”. Biti is believed to be outside Zimbabwe.

Police have arrested 10 MDC activists on allegations of violence, kidnapping, attempted murder, the Herald reported.

There was no immediate comment from the Electoral Commission or opposition officials on the leaked result. The commission has invited candidates to start verifying the count from Thursday.

A top official in Mugabe’s ZANU PF party said: “Those figures are in line with the official figures and the MDC knows that the official tally is more or less around that but they have been inflating their numbers to claim a false victory.”

Zimbabweans had hoped the election would ease economic turmoil. Instead, severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages are worsening and there are no signs an inflation rate of 165,000 percent - the world’s highest - will decrease.

The MDC and human rights groups allege ZANU PF has embarked on a violent campaign to scare Zimbabweans into voting for Mugabe in a run-off, accusations the government denies.

Earlier, Mugabe’s government dismissed the United Nations’ first session on Zimbabwe’s election crisis as “sinister, racist and colonial” and said it would have no impact on the country.

At the UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Western powers pressed for a UN mission or envoy to visit Zimbabwe.

“For us, this (UN session) is a sign of desperation by the British and their MDC puppets,” Zimbabwe’s Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Reuters.

European countries, Latin American UN members and the United States supported sending an envoy, diplomats said, but South Africa, which currently holds the council presidency, said such a move was not a matter for the council.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has come under attack at home and abroad for his “softly, softly” approach to Zimbabwe.

Former colonial ruler Britain has been at the forefront of international pressure on Mugabe. It is seeking an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, an investigation into post-election violence, and has called for the election results to be issued immediately.

(Source)

We have won Zimbabwe. We have won.

No matter what happens in the days that follow, we need to remember that we have won.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is taking a long time to release the Presidential results and this is creating a sense of despondency around many in the country. We are getting worried messages from Zimbabweans and we are seeing and hearing people beginning to feel filled with despair.

We have won, so why has this not been announced?

Zimbabwe… this is Robert Mugabe we are dealing with, and his party is ZANU PF.

What did we expect?

Did we really expect that after our victory that Robert Mugabe would step forward like a gentleman and congratulate Morgan Tsvangirai before handing over power?

This is not what Robert Mugabe will do: he will struggle to the end; that is in his nature.

We need to set aside unrealistic expectations, and we must expect that we will witness all sorts of efforts from Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF to silence the will of the people.

None of this changes the fact that the majority of people in our country voted for change and nor does it change the fact that we have won.

Say no to despair!

In this uncertain period we must remember that dictators thrive on despair.

Mugabe and ZANU PF know that the longer ZEC delays with announcing the winner, the more likely it will be that people in our country will start to feel despondent. They know that people who are depressed and struggling with despair also find it hard to stand strong and to confront challenges.

The road to democracy is not a 100m sprint: it’s a marathon.

We are at that stage of the race where our limbs are tired and our muscles are aching and our body is telling us to slow down and maybe even give up. But this is the stage where our minds and our hearts have to take over and we need to keep focused and we need to stay strong and committed to seeing our will, loudly expressed through our votes on March 29th, come to fruit.

The next stage of the struggle we are all involved with now begins within ourselves. We have to stay strong. We must not be weakened by despair. We must not sink into doom and gloom. We must resist these impulses and remember a few truths.

Truth 1

For the first time in many, many years, it is us, the forces of democracy and freedom and of peace and justice, who have established the rules of the game. As a nation, with one clear voice, we voted for change. Those scores were placed on the doors for all of us to see with our own eyes. We know the results because we saw them.

Truth 2

For the first time in their 28 years of history, ZANU PF is obviously and publicly on the back foot. They are struggling to find a way to change the incontrovertible reality that they are finished. We are watching them respond to the simple truth that the people said ‘no more’. What we are witnessing now are the reactions of a dying regime dancing to tune we started to sing on March 29th.

Truth 3

If Mugabe had been victorious, the results would have been released a long time ago. We would have seen the inauguration ceremony already, and we would have seen the Heads of State of certain nations flying in to Zimbabwe to eat, drink and be merry at Mugabe’s party.

This has not happened; it has not happened, because Mugabe is not victorious and he knows it.

Truth 4

Yesterday an article appeared in the Sunday Mail (ZANU PF’s mouthpiece) telling us that ZANU PF is demanding that ZEC should defer announcing the results of the Presidential vote. The article said

“ZANU PF has requested the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to recount and audit all its electoral material relating to last week’s presidential election following revelations of errors and miscalculations in the compilation of the poll result. Consequent to the anomalies, the party has also requested that the commission defer the announcement of the presidential election result.”

Zimbabweans must note that a request for a recount of Presidential ballots before results are announced is unprocedural and premature. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) have already issued a statement pointing out that this is wrong.

ZLHR say: “In relation to a presidential election, the Electoral Act, as amended, does not have any provision for a recount of the votes at all, and especially during the verification process.”

They go on to point out: “such a recount can only be requested once the declaration of due election has been made by the constituency elections officer or the senatorial constituency elections officer respectively” and that this request for a “recount must be done within 48 hours of the declaration of a candidate to be duly elected.”

This means that Robert Mugabe can only demand a recount of the votes after Morgan Tsvangirai has been declared the winner.

Robert Mugabe’s effort to subvert the electoral process must be seen for what it is: an attempt for him to avoid the humiliation of being publicly declared the loser.

Truth 5

The Sunday Mail article has also revealed Mugabe’s weakness and frailty.

Places ZANU PF cites as having votes miscounted includes Mberengwa East and South, “Where Cde Mugabe was deprived of 468 votes, one of his co-contestants, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, had the benefit of 100.”

Zimbabweans must note that the figures under dispute are pathetically small - so small that in normal circumstances they would almost be considered irrelevant. To Robert Mugabe, however, they are very relevant because he is desperate and he is struggling to claw back the smallest number of votes.

Mugabe is not fighting for victory here; he is fighting for a run-off.

He is fighting for a run-off because he has lost the Presidential vote.

His fight now is for one last chance to try and steal a victory in a run-off. He knows he has been defeated, and so do we.

Truth 6

Last week The Herald reported that ZANU PF would be contesting results in 16 seats in the House of Assembly. Isn’t it very ironic, laughable even, that ZANU PF is trying to contest results?

We must remember that ZANU PF themselves have set a precedent when it comes to what happens when results are contested.

In 2000 the MDC contested 39 seats, but before the court could rule on these, ZANU PF insisted that those ZANU PF MPs who had been ‘elected’ (or had stolen) those seats, should be sworn in to the House of Assembly anyway.

So despite their claim that they will be contesting 16 seats, Zimbabweans can still expect to soon see a House of Assembly where ZANU PF is in the minority in accordance with the results announced by ZEC for the House of Assembly.

This means that the democratic opposition parties who have fought for justice for the people will be in the majority. This is a massive victory that marks a very big turning point in the history and future of Zimbabwe.

Truth 7

What many Zimbabweans don’t realise because they are cut off from communication with the rest of the world, is that the world is watching. We at Sokwanele know this because we are getting emails from the press, emails from people all over the world, and we have seen the traffic to our website and subscriptions to our newsletter increase exponentially.

This time the feedback we are getting is different.

In previous elections the world has watched Mugabe steal and cheat his way to victory. It has witnessed regional countries endorse victories in the face of overwhelming evidence that they were stolen.

The world’s reaction to those previous elections has been impotence; they have been left with a sense that there is nothing they can do in the face of what looks like yet another African cliché of misery and corruption - a tragedy that the region has allowed to take place.

For Zimbabweans, the world’s impotence has felt like a slap in the face, as if we have been abandoned to a life without justice, stripped of our basic human rights.

The difference on March 29th 2008 is that the world witnessed an old monster of a regime, one that appears to be a monolithic undefeatable force, be quietly overwhelmed at the ballot box.

We - ordinary Zimbabweans - did this despite every effort of the Mugabe regime to bias the election playing field in its favour; we did this despite years of abuse and violence; we did it despite the fact that we are poorer and hungrier and weaker than we have ever been.

The messages we are getting from outsiders around the world is that the dignity of the Zimbabwean people has impressed and moved those who are following our story.

Ours is no longer a typical African story of misery and failure.

It’s an incredible achievement, and almost a fairytale story of how the dignity and spirit of peace and justice can dominate the forces of evil. We did that, and the world is watching with barely suppressed excitement.

With all its heart, the international community wants to see us victorious; they are cheering for us from the sidelines and praying for us everywhere.

It may not feel like it, but we are not alone.

Truth 8

Zimbabweans have done this by themselves. No country anywhere in the world can claim that they created our victory.

We did it by ourselves.

Truth 9

We are on the brink of momentous change in our country. As individuals our lives will change for the better. Now is the time to defeat despair by daring to dream about what that change will be like.

Imagine what it will be like to have food on our shop shelves again, fuel at the petrol stations, power throughout the day, water that has been properly purified and comes out a tap when you switch it on.

Imagine education, jobs, and healthcare.

Imagine that when we go to visit South Africa it will be because we want to go on holiday rather than shopping trips to buy bread and soap and toilet paper.

Imagine our family and friends all coming home.

Above all, imagine a life without fear.

Truth 10

Zimbabwe is standing on the brink of being a beacon of hope for Africa.

With our dignity and adherence to democratic processes and values, and our rejection of violence as a route to change, we have shown the world and other African nations that the Zimbabwean people challenge the cliché that Africa is a continent plagued only by war and cruelty.

We have managed to resist all the violence that Mugabe has thrown at us, and time and time again we have turned to the ballot box.

When people turn to us and say ‘This is Africa‘; we can respond, ‘No it’s not, this is Zimbabwe‘.

We did it. Rather than feeling filled with despair, we should be feeling strong, and very, very proud.

What if there’s a run-off?

We do not want a run-off because we are the winners.

But it might happen, and if it does happen we must be prepared for it. We go into a run-off knowing that in a two-horse race there will be even more votes going towards Morgan Tsvangirai than in the House of Assembly results, where some of the votes went to Simba Makoni. Zimbabweans, excited by how far people at home have brought them will come home to add their votes to ours.

We all know, because we know Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF, that if we go to a run-off then it is likely to be a bumpy ride.

But we also know that Mugabe’s fight for power is just one fight on his hands. The bigger challenge he faces is the economy and poverty in our country. Robert Mugabe has no solutions to the problem of the economy.

He has passed laws which suppress the free press and control information in our country, making it hard for us to know the truth amidst all the rumours that circulate. But the one truth that Mugabe cannot hide from us is the reality that we are hungry, we have no jobs, we cannot school our children anymore, and we can barely survive from one day to the next.

To stand any chance of a victory, Robert Mugabe has to be able to tell us that he can make our lives better. Mugabe cannot offer us, the people, a solution to our problems unless he can secure support from the international community. All he can offer us is anti-western rhetoric and propaganda. This will not feed us, and it will not help us school our children. He cannot prevent us from knowing this as a fact.

To get the support of the international community, Robert Mugabe needs to be able to them that his victory is legitimate. Mugabe has relied on extreme violence in the past to secure his victories, but since the 2005 elections his propensity for violence has begun to try the patience of even the regional supporters.

Operation Murambatsvina, for example, brought condemnation from the UN onto the Zimbabwean government. This happened just after the 2005 elections. The images of our beaten and tortured civic and opposition leaders in March last year disgusted the world and shamed regional leaders. Those images showed the world what we in Zimbabwe already know; that the Mugabe regime can behave like violent thugs. Violence will not earn him the legitimacy he craves.

Nor will rigging and fraud: many in our country have worked hard to expose all of Mugabe’s tactics, and those people in the world who have the ability to help Zimbabwe recover now know his tricks.

If we go into a run-off, we will be prepared to continue exposing the rigging and the fraud and the violence.

We have the advantage this time that by delaying the results in the way he has, the world is already very suspicious of Mugabe’s motives and believe he is stalling and rigging. Their minds and ears are open and they are ready to listen to the truth from us.

What can we do as individuals?

1. Begin to break down the barriers between us

Mugabe has done his best to divide our nation, to turn us against each other and build suspicion and hatred. Now is the time to challenge those lies and begin to heal and build unity. Smile at those who you previously feared: the police and security forces. Show them in your behaviour and attitude that the future is positive and that we all stand to benefit.

2. Keep all of our spirits up

Do your best to remind those around you that just because ZANU PF and Robert Mugabe are thrashing about like a fish on a hook, it doesn’t mean that we have lost.

Support each other when we begin to let go of hope.

Never forget: we have won.

(Source: Sokwanele)

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission) has been following with deep concern the electoral impasse that has gripped the Republic of Zimbabwe, following the March 29 , 2008 Presidential, Senatorial and National Assembly Elections. The Commission notes that while the results of the Senatorial and National Assembly elections have been released, the results of the Presidential Elections are still pending more than two weeks after the voting.

The African Commission notes that while the voting process took place in a peaceful and generally satisfactory manner, the tabulation/counting of the votes has encountered some difficulties, resulting in an unusual delay in the publication of the results.

The Commission wishes to state that this unusual and prolonged delay flies in the face of the SADC Principles on Elections and may constitute a violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in particular, Article 13, which provides for the right to vote and participate in government. The African Commission is of the view that the right to vote and participate in government is not limited to the casting of a ballot paper but invariably includes the individual right to know, and in a timely manner, the outcome of the voting exercise.

The African Commission is concerned that the delay in the publication of the results has the potential of undermining human rights and the rule of law and may compromise an already volatile and tense situation.

The African Commission calls therefore on the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe in particular, to provide the Zimbabwe Elections Commission (ZEC), in an open and transparent manner and in accordance with the law, with all the necessary assistance it may require to enable it release the elections results immediately.

Where it becomes necessary for there to be a recount of the results, the African Commission wishes to call on all parties to work together and agree on an open and transparent formula for recount, which shall be done in accordance with the law, and in the presence of all the parties and election observers.

Finally, the African Commission avails its good offices to all the parties of the conflict, to work with the Zimbabwean people to find a lasting solution to this impasse.

(Source: via email)