Mugabe unmoved in face of growing unrest
African leaders publicly criticised Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe regime today, breaking their self-imposed silence over the country’s crisis.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress split from President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of quiet diplomacy and described the situation as “dire”.
The ANC’s top national working committee said the country’s failure to release election results was having negative consequences for the whole of southern Africa.
It said it would be “undemocratic and unprecedented” for President Robert Mugabe to hold a second vote without announcing the results of the first election.
Mr Mbeki had said over the weekend, when he met Mugabe before a regional summit on Zimbabwe, that “there is no crisis” despite the failure to publish results more than two weeks after presidential elections.
Mr Mbeki was appointed last year to mediate in Zimbabwe and has consistently refused to criticise Mugabe.
In a snub to him, the ANC said it would “make contact directly” with Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change “with a view to having dialogue on the situation in Zimbabwe.”
Meanwhile the MDC announced it it would take part in a second ballot to decide the presidency, but only if international observers were allowed to oversee the election.
It seems unlikely that Mugabe would agree to that. He has already been accused of delaying the announcement of the first election result because he lost it and wants time to rig the results of any re-run.
Any impartial supervision of the voting would ruin his plans, and government spokesman Bright Matonga declared today that such a move would be unconstitutional and an affront to Zimbabweans.
“We don’t need outsiders. We can do it ourselves,” he said.
A spokesman for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the long delay in releasing results from the March 29 election showed that the Zimbabwe electoral commission had “no capacity to run any credible election” and therefore should not be allowed to oversee a second round.
The MDC’s attempted new initiative came after a nationwide strike it called to protest the withholding of the results appeared to falter as police and soldiers fanned out across the country.
The government said they were sent to prevent violence and looting.
There had been little publicity about the strike and traffic moved through the capital Harare as usual. Banks and stores were open and many in the city centre said they did not know a strike was called.
Some said the state’s control of the media meant it was difficult for MDC to fully inform everyone.
However commuters reported fewer privately run minibuses on the road, suggesting that some transport workers were staying away. Some restaurants said they were missing staff.
Past strike calls have been met with resistance by impoverished workers, who cannot afford to lose even one day’s wages in a country with surging inflation and 80% unemployment.
Police have banned all political rallies, and the party described today’s action as intended to be a quiet “stay away,” not a raucous strike with street protests.
Ruling party militants have waged a campaign of violence against opposition supporters in advance of a possible second round of voting.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said yesterday it had documented at least 130 attacks on opposition or independent poll monitors.
