Zimbabwe - From Another Board:
We discuss democracy here, but often in the abstract. If you'll pardon this rather long post, I attach a note describing the real-life struggle for a real democracy being played out in Zimbabwe today. Recognize that Zimbabwe is legally a parliamentary democracy but run as a de-facto one party state by Mugabe and his ZANU-PF Party.
Mugabe is an educated man who wants to be remembered as the liberator - not the enslaver - of his country. Thus he has choked off opposition without formally sweeping the constitution aside.
It is a sham.
The problem for him is that the opposition MDC(Movement for Democratic Change) refuses to give up and accept the sham or give an excuse for him to impose martial law. They have decided last week to contest the election, even though they know it is rigged and that they will be brutalized. The party and its supporters have taken heavy casualties in its short 5 year life. There have been hundreds of murders and countless beatings, rapes and torched homes. Yet they go on. They are generally understood to have won the last election handily in fact ..... but they were robbed.
Over the next few weeks, spare a few thoughts for Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC as they campaign without funds or outside attention against a party that controls the sale of grain to their families and has set gangs of paid thugs to stalk and brutalise their candidates and supporters. If you wish to support their effort, inbox me.
I'm attaching below a message outlining the situation. I received it today from a friend in Zimbabwe who has decided to act on his beliefs and fight for democracy through the MDC. We are in regular contact and what he writes can be taken as fact.
Cheers
poundmaker
Last week the government announced that the Parliamentary elections would be
held on the 31st March 2005. That gives us 8 weeks to campaign and do all
the things we have to do to compete effectively in the electoral process.
Not long. Fortunately we have in fact been hard at work on election
preparedness for several months and we were able to convene the National
Executive and the Council of the MDC within 48 hours and to decide - after
several hours of debate, to run in the election and then the following day,
to confirm 110 candidates out of a required 120 while ordering the re-run of
10 primaries where we were not satisfied with the procedures followed.
On the 12th February we will launch our campaign in Masvingo and on the same
day release our Party Manifesto and introduce our candidates. They will then
be submitted to the Nomination Courts on the 18th February for approval. In
the meantime our candidates - most of them, have already been in the field
for some weeks campaigning quietly under the noses of the powers that be!
There were some moving testimonies - three white farmers have been selected
by their districts to run as candidates - Roy Bennett has been confirmed
despite his incarceration by Parliament. Ian Kay - well known Marondera
farmer who was nearly beaten to death in the last campaign and whose great
friend Dave Stevens was in fact killed, won his primary by two thirds
majority. Threatened with death if he campaigned in the high-density
townships of Marondera, Ian went straight in and has been campaigning on the
ground for some time. Alan McCormack has gone back into Garuve and was
elected overwhelmingly by his District.
In the Mount Darwin district - a so called "no go area" for the MDC where we
have not been able to hold a meeting or canvas our structures for 4 years,
over 180 delegates from the district ward committees walked out of the bush
to attend the primaries - ordinary peasant farmers. They were supporting the
opposition on principle and voting with their lives on the line.
Who said that Africans do not care about principle or democracy? If you want
to see solid evidence of just that - attend any MDC function and watch the
disciplined, non-violent, commitment to democratic principles and human
rights. We are not a Party of intellectuals or the rich - you will see few
vehicles at our rallies, just thousands or ordinary, hard working people who
live simple lives. For me this is one of the most inspiring aspects of the
MDC.
Will the elections be free and fair? Of course not - we have not had any
time on any of the State media for nearly three years, only hostile
propaganda against us poured out 24 hours a day. All our meetings are
monitored and most are banned by the Police on one pretext or another. In
the Honde valley our candidate - a single mother, has had 10 out of 11
meetings banned in the past few days. She reported that the regional
governor has told local traditional leaders that the MDC will not be allowed
to campaign in that District.
Our security agencies and the military will run the election - the new
Election Commission (brought into being in response to the SADC pressure!)
has yet to be given an office or staff - our letters to them are hand
delivered to their homes. Yet they are on paper, responsible for the voter's
roll (closed yesterday) and the actual voting procedures and the
administration of the poll itself. Huge responsibilities in an election with
millions of voters and 12000 polling stations. It is a sick joke.
Zanu has been planning the election for two years. They think they have it
sown up - the opposition cowed, the people confused and the process totally
in their hands. They were so confident 6 months ago that we had information
from inside Zanu PF that they were actually debating how many seats to allow
the MDC and which ones!
Now the battle is on. MDC is in fact better prepared for these elections
than Zanu PF - we already have a manifesto which is coherent and well
thought through on all issues, we have over 90 per cent of our candidates
appointed and running. We have been campaigning quietly on the ground
throughout the country for some time. We do not have any money - but we have
no debt and what we get in now will go to the coalface. Zanu PF on the other
hand has no candidates in many districts and is heavily in debt. They are
deeply divided on many issues and the bruising primaries have sapped
support. Thousands of traditional Zanu PF supporters - including many who
have become wealthy on the back of Zanu patronage, are disaffected.
Morgan Tsvangirai said this week "this election will be won or lost on
technical issues". He is right - if we had a free and fair election in which
people were free to make up their own minds and could vote freely for the
party of their choice, it would be no contest. MDC would win. But it is not
going to be like that and every aspect of this election is flawed. Even the
modifications introduced in response to the SADC protocols make this
election flawed - for example, no mobile voting stations - instead we have
12000 polling stations - how on earth do we supervise that vast spread and
remember the vote is counted at the polling stations this time. Fine, if we
have observers and polling agents - but we have no assurance that they will
be allowed and on past experience, they will be barred from the process.
In 2000 Vice President Muzenda (since deceased) said, "If we (Zanu PF) put
up a baboon as a candidate, you must vote for them". Well we will see if
this is the case this time! We have done all we can to ensure that the
people have a choice. I think we have a chance - but we need help to make it
happen.
MDC needs - a great deal of money to campaign, to catch up in the media when
we finally are allowed space, to organise on the ground so that every
polling station is covered by trained and dedicated polling agents. We need
volunteers to man our campaign offices, to run errands and to do the million
and one things that must be done. In addition we are asking specifically for
volunteers to provide vehicles, drivers and fuel and food for polling day.
These will be used to deploy polling agents on the day before polling, to
then supervise the poll at up to 5 polling stations and then co-ordinate the
results from counting that night for relay to national headquarters. Why not
take three days leave and come and have some fun on the ground with us - and
in the process make sure that this time, the result is not stolen from the
people.
<<< NAME DELETED >>>
Bulawayo, 5th February 2005 |
