Dorothy-Grace Guerrero and Firoze Manji (ed) (2008) China’s New Role in Africa and the South: A search for a new perspective. 
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Pambazuka News 360: India takes on China in Africa
The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa
Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839
With nearly 500 contributors and an estimated 500,000 readers Pambazuka News is the authoritative pan African electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa providing cutting edge commentary and in-depth analysis on politics and current affairs, development, human rights, refugees, gender issues and culture in Africa.
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CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Comment & analysis, 3. Pan-African Postcard, 4. Letters
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Highlights from this issue
FEATURES: Paranjoy Guha Thakurta on India in Africa
COMMENTS&ANALYSIS:
- Paul T Zeleza on Zimbabwe and future of change
- COSATU and ZCTU call for the release of election results in Zimbabwe
- Blessing-Miles Tendi on Muagbe's nine lives
- Zimbabwe Global Forum condemn handling of Zimbabwe elections
- Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace call for the release of electoral results
- International Federation of Journalists calls for release of arrested journalists
- Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights on health care
- Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum calls for SADC intervention
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Jennifer Lentfer on hope and children in Zimbabwe
LETTERS: Readers' comments and announcements
Features
India takes on China in Africa
2008-04-08
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
In the March 27th, 2008 Pambazuka issue, Firoze Manji argued that in comparison to Europe and the US, China in Africa is still a small player and that while keeping an eye out on China, Africans should not be distracted from paying attention to the West's continued exploitation of the continent [http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/46990]. In this essay, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta adds yet another layer by looking at India's growing role in Africa
The world's two most populous countries, China and India, are now seriously competing with each other to engage resource-rich Africa, thereby imparting a new dimension to South-South relations.
From Apr. 7-9 New Delhi will host heads of government of 12 African nation-states and a similar number of regional economic groupings. Many see this as a modest answer by India to the grand Africa summit that Beijing hosted in 2006.
Among heads of government expected are Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Joseph Kabila Kabange of Congo, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, John Kufuor of Ghana, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, Maitre Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Tertius Zongo of Burkina Faso and Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania.
The New Delhi meeting will be attended by leading functionaries of the African Union, various regional economic communities and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Notable absentees will be Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
While this is the first time India is organising such a large summit of African leaders, this country has had long links with the continent. "Indian traders once sold glass beads to an eager African market (and) now its expertise centres on science and technology," observes a media release of the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
The release added: "China's inroads into Africa are well known; India's approach has been much quieter. The India-Africa Forum meets for the first time?offering a fresh insight into this modern-day scramble for Africa."
A government of India official told IPS, who may not be named according to briefing rules, that unlike "China's greed for Africa's oil, copper and other minerals", India is more interested in longer-term economic partnerships that are mutually beneficial and do not replicate colonial systems of exploitation of African wealth.
This official pointed out that India had for long supported South Africa's anti-apartheid movement because of the personal involvement of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the 'father' of the Indian nation, who had cut his political teeth in that country. More recently, India was the first country to send United Nations-sponsored troops to Congo.
The Indian government has, in addition, supported technical exchange and training programmes in most African countries. For more than four decades now, 1,000 individuals from sub-Saharan countries have been provided technical training in India each year. Besides, there are an estimated 15,000 students of African origin currently studying in Indian universities and educational institutions, many of them on government scholarships.
Pointing out that the "waters of the Indian Ocean united us" and that India and Africa had a "common civilisational heritage and shared experience of colonialism", India's Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee recently said "our commitment to solutions based on common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability remains steadfast".
Ethiopia's Minister of State for Trade and Industry Tadesse Haile, on a visit to India, last year, said this country should be a ''shareholder and not just a stakeholder in Africa's development process''.
India has participated in projects relating to rural electrification in Mozambique and Ethiopia, railways in Senegal and Mali, cement in Congo and computer training in Lesotho. Indian companies are involved in building Ghana's National Assembly and military barracks in Sierra Leone.
Private corporate groups in India have had long-standing ties with African countries. For instance, the Tata group has a presence in 14 countries in areas such as hotels, telecommunications, hydro power and transportation. The word 'Tata' is synonymous with 'bus' in a country like Uganda, writes Seema Sirohi, Indian journalist for the 'Outlook' magazine who was recently in Johannesburg.
Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla has led the way in supplying inexpensive generic anti-AIDS drugs to African countries in the teeth of opposition from Western multinational corporations. Other Indian business groups have made major investments in Africa in the areas of information technology, hospitality, electrical equipment, and hospitals.
Senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury told IPS: "India had ignored its natural allies in Africa for a long time and in fact, many in this country had a rather patronising attitude towards Africa that was seen as a backward continent. Thankfully, that attitude is changing somewhat and the Indian government is re-focussing on Africa." Nevertheless, she said relations between India and Africa are "still nowhere what they should be".
While annual two-way trade between India and Africa has gone up fivefold from five billion US dollars to 25 billion dollars over the last five years, this volume is half that of Africa's export-import trade with China. Indian officials, speaking off-the-record, say China's economic strategy is more aggressive than that of India's and basically aimed at capturing Africa's mineral resources like oil, copper and manganese.
In a paper, Navdeep Suri, India's consul-general in Johannesburg has written: "We cannot match China dollar-for-dollar nor do we have the command economy where state-owned companies can be ordered to pursue the government's directive regardless of their own bottomline."
India's Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, while stating that the New Delhi summit would "help the pace and spirit of historic and time-tested ties between India and Africa gather momentum", has argued that it "would not be correct" to see India-Africa relations as "competition with any other country".
Sirohi, who spoke to influential South African minister Essop Pahad, quoted him saying that while he wanted to engage with both India and China, the two countries would have to compete. "Let the best man win," he remarked.
Arun Kumar, professor of economics at New Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, told IPS in an interview that there is "considerable potential between India and Africa in the areas of agriculture, energy and sustainable exploitation of minerals". He added that the fact that persons of Indian origin had settled in large numbers in East African countries besides Libya, Sudan and Darfur, could help strengthen economic ties.
In Durban, South Africa's foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa told the Press Trust of India news agency that the New Delhi summit could not only consolidate and drive the position of developing countries in the World Trade Organisation but also lead to the "writing off (of) the debt owed to India by the poorest countries of the world, a large number of which are African countries."
What may indirectly help India, Sirohi wrote in her article in the 'Outlook', is that the Chinese presence in Congo and Zambia has sparked off local resentment. Trade unions have protested against China's policy of 'dumping' cheap goods. Congo reportedly recently expelled 600 Chinese nationals and shut down three firms.
*Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is a journalist with over 20 years experience in print, radio and television, the last two years of which have been with Television Eighteen. Paranjoy anchors the India Talks discussion and interview show on ABNI. This article first appeared in Inter Press Service.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Comment & analysis
Zimbabwe's political watershed
2008-04-08
Paul T Zeleza
Paul T Zeleza looks at the long road that might yet see Mugabe's downfall and calls for a democracy that ultimately serves the Zimbabwean people through political and economic enfranchisement
As of now, results for the presidential elections in Zimbabwe have not yet been declared, five days after the elections were held last Saturday, March 29. In the meantime, the results of the parliamentary elections, which had been announced at snail's pace by the Electoral Commission over the past few days are now complete. They show that President Mugabe's ruling party, ZANU-PF, has lost its parliamentary majority. The opposition party, MDC, has won 99 to ZANU-PF's 97 out of 210 parliamentary seats. Eleven other seats were won by an MDC splinter group, and one by an independent candidate. Thus the opposition has won 110; three seats remain to be contested in by-elections because they were postponed following the death of opposition candidates. The ruling party's loss of its parliamentary majority represents a shockwave in Zimbabwe's post-independence political history.
But the real earthquake would be President Mugabe's downfall. Thus, as crucial as the parliamentary elections are, it is the results of the presidential elections that everyone is waiting for with mounting anxiety. The Electoral Commission is appealing for patience and blames logistical problems in releasing the results. But all the evidence including the very delay in the announcement of the results indicates that the irascible octogenarian dictator, President Mugabe, is, at the very least, trailing the veteran opposition leader, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai. In previous presidential elections (which were held separately from parliamentary elections) the predictable (the opposition would say predictably rigged) outcome was announced with a lot more alacrity and fanfare. Even more likely is the probability that President Mugabe has lost and his regime is trying to rig the elections. Outright rigging of the results will be difficult, but not impossible, because of a pre-election agreement among the parties that results should be posted outside each polling station: the opposition insisted on this to avoid blatant rigging that it suspected robbed it of victory in previous elections.
In the immediate ecstasy of the elections, the MDC claimed outright victory, that Mr. Tsvangirai had decisively beaten President Mugabe by 60% to 30%. Perusal and sampling of 435 of the 9,400 polling stations by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a coalition of civic groups, projected a more modest victory by the MDC leader. It indicated that Mr. Tsvangirai would receive between 47-51.8 percent to President Mugabe's 39.2-44.4 percent. In its latest announcement the MDC claims its leader has won 50.3 percent of the vote to President Mugabe's 43.8 percent. This is crucial figure: to avoid a runoff, the winner has to garner more than 50 percent of the popular vote. While conceding that the President failed to win 50 percent of the vote, for the first time in his twenty eight year reign, the government mouthpiece, The Herald, insists neither did Mr. Tsvangirai, thus making a runoff election later this month inevitable (according to the law, a runoff election has to be held in 21 days).
Zimbabwe and the wider southern African region, not to mention the rest of the continent and the so-called international community, are watching this unfolding political drama with intense interest and growing trepidation. In the absence of the presidential results, rumors are rife: about the shock and tensions within the ruling party with some of his lieutenants reportedly ready to ditch him, that there are negotiations between the opposition and the embattled president's advisors to ease him into resignation and retirement, and about the unpredictable machinations and loyalties of the security chiefs.
Expectations that the despised autocrat was too humiliated to stay are now giving way to fears that he will hang on and fight in the runoff election. Many political commentators believe that he will be trounced in a new election that is free and fair. That is the big question: will the mortally wounded tyrant be allowed by his security forces and political cronies who are running scared of losing their ill-gotten wealth built on the carcasses of deepening poverty of millions of workers and peasants, not to mention the immiseration of significant sections of the middle classes, to unleash the wrath of state power to terrorize the opposition into defeat?
Whatever happens next, it is not hard to explain the defeat of ZANU-PF and President Mugabe in the recent elections. A government that has impoverished its population as spectacularly as President Mugabe's inept dictatorship has done cannot maintain popular support. Zimbabwe's descent into the economic abyss has been staggering for a country not at war: inflation has apparently risen to a mindboggling rate of 164,900 percent, life expectancy has nearly been halved, and between a quarter and a third of the population has fled to neighboring countries and overseas. In this election Zimbabweans have shown that they have had enough of the Mugabe government's bankrupt stewardship of their well-being.
Predictable as it may seem from afar and in hindsight, what explains the opposition's victory is that support for President Mugabe's government finally collapsed in the rural areas, its political backbone since the liberation war from settler colonialism. It was in the enduring interests of repossessing land stolen by the European settlers under colonial rule and in the endearing name of the peasantry that the liberation war was fought and the violent land seizures embarked upon from the late 1990s after the British government reneged on the Lancaster House agreement and as the Mugabe government lost became increasingly unpopular thanks to its embrace of structural adjustment and abandonment of radical development policies including land reform. Yet, the peasantry benefited little from either, whose principal beneficiaries were functionaries of the political class. The urban working classes had long grown disenchanted with the tired socialist rhetoric of ZANU-PF which promised broad-based development but delivered unfettered neo-liberalism that benefited the elite that fragrantly flaunted its affluence as the country has sunken deeper into economic decline.
The rural peasantry did not simply catch up, as it were, with the urban working classes. Rural discontent has been growing. Indeed, the rural areas bore the brunt of economic decline and political terror as the regime sought to shore up its dwindling legitimacy and tattered revolutionary credentials by tightening its grip on the peasantry, its symbolic and substantive basis of power. The costs of the economic crisis, as manifested in food shortages and the politicization of food relief efforts, finally broke the proverbial patient backs of the peasantry.
Connecting the two, the peasantry and the working classes, the rural and the urban areas, and the country's other spatial and social divides, including the ethnicized divisions between the old Mashonaland and Matabeleland, which the Mugabe regime had manipulated to weaken the opposition and maintain its iron grip on power, was the draconian "Operation Murambatsvina", officially translated as "Operation Clean Up", but literally translated as "getting rid of the filth", through which the government sought to drain the cities including Harare, the capital, of political opposition. The operation was launched in 2005 and affected more than two million people. The bulk of the MDC's parliamentary seats from previous elections were located in the cities. This criminal evacuation program, which was widely condemned within Zimbabwe and internationally including by the United Nations, led to the destruction of the informal sector in the cities and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people many of whom flocked to the increasingly destitute rural areas. This not only exacerbated rural poverty, but also helped dissolve some of the social and political boundaries, both real and imagined, between the rural and urban areas and dwellers, which raised national consciousness and reinforced opposition to the former liberation heroes turned into predators in power.
If we are indeed witnessing the death throes of the Mugabe dictatorship, the full credit for this goes to the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe, not the so-called international community, neither feeble regional organizations like SADC nor imperious western powers such as Britain or the United States who have little moral credibility in Africa's protracted struggles for democracy. It is also a testimony to the transformative power of the ballot box.
But as we have seen across Africa and elsewhere where dictatorship have fallen, the electoral process offers, at best, minimal conditions for democracy; full democracy, which is still a work in progress globally notwithstanding the conceit of the so-called mature democracies, must entail political and economic enfranchisement for all that goes beyond ritualized certifications of fractions of the political class every four or five years. And that requires eternal vigilance by civil society, continuous struggles against the self-serving political class. This is to suggest that sustaining and expanding democracy in Zimbabwe will be as hard as getting rid of the Mugabe dictatorship.
Given its social composition and the present regional and global conjunctures, the MDC will not, if and when it takes power, magically turn Zimbabwe around into a developmental democratic state and society: that will require building and sustaining cultures and communities of accountability.
* Paul T Zeleza is editor of The Zeleza Post. This article was first published at http://zeleza.com
** Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/
COSATU and ZCTU: Election results must be announced
2008-04-08
COSATU
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions held a meeting this morning, Tuesday 8 April 2008, to receive a report from the ZCTU on the current political crisis in Zimbabwe.
The ZCTU salutes the people of Zimbabwe, especially in the rural areas, for overcoming all the obstacles to prevent them exercising their vote. These included the chaotic state of the voters' roll, restrictions on the media, the cancellation of some political meetings, the denial of access to opposition parties into certain rural areas, village headmen calling people to the polling stations brandishing the voters' roll in order to intimidate them, statements by Generals that they would not salute any opposition party leader, and by President Mugabe that he would not accept defeat. The arrest of the South African pilot had nothing to do with the trumped up charges but was a blatant attempt to stop the MDC from campaigning in the rural areas.
All these factors combined to make many people not to participate in the elections - the turnout was low. It was not a free and fair election, yet despite that the people defied all the odds and have spoken. The urban areas voted overwhelmingly for opposition parties and the rural votes swung dramatically against the ZANU-PF.
The ZCTU had hoped that all the results would have been announced by now. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is not obliged to announce the council, parliamentary and senate elections as they are counted at polling stations, with results posted at each of the polling stations and announced at constituency command centres. The ZEC is however compelled by law to announce the Presidential results.
It appears that when ZANU (PF) saw the results of the presidential vote, they leaned on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to only release the parliamentary and senate results first, in order to give them time to find a way to prove that Morgan Tsvangirai received less that 50%, so that a run-off would be necessary. The independent NGO, the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network has calculated that his vote was between 47% and 49%, with Robert Mugabe receiving 41%-43%. The MDC through the party agents that were observing at all polling stations put the poll at 50.3%.
The ZANU (PF) claim that no candidate has a majority and that they have been cheated of 4900 votes, through ZEC officials 'under-counting' their vote, though they have not revealed how they know that.
It should be noted that all political parties including the ZANU (PF) and the MDC had party agents in all polling stations. These party agents signed for the results before these were posted in the polling stations. In addition to this ZCTU and other NGOs had monitors who witnessed the counting and the signing in most polling stations.
In the face of the above fact it is very clear that the arrest of ZEC officials is an attempt to force some ZEC officials to change tune. The suspicion is that they will be tortured into "confessing" that they, and other agents, under-counted President Mugabe's votes as claimed by the ZANU (PF) Politburo, which has issued a statement that some of its party agents were bribed by the MDC. This is the reason behind the arrest of the ZEC officials. Yet no party agent and police officers who all signed the V11 and V23 forms which contained the results posted outside the stations were arrested.
The ZANU-PF is also challenging the results in 16 parliamentary wards, just enough, if they succeed, to reverse the results in their favour and give them a majority of seats. It is speculated that the reason why ZANU PF is so desperate to undermine the will of the majority is that Mugabe intended to resign in six months and make way for Emmerson Mnangagwa, which will be impossible if the ZANU-PF does not have a parliamentary majority.
ZANU - PF clearly knows it lost the vote, yet it is still illegal for anyone to say this in public. Even if Mugabe came second, for an incumbent president, that amounts to a defeat. The ZCTU and many other civil society formations are coming under intense pressure from their constituencies to initiate protest action in the face of the refusal of ZEC to announce the Presidential elections results.
The leadership is aware that such protest may be what President Mugabe is praying for, in that it would give him the excuse to declare a state of emergency and rule by decree. With the history of violence including, the massacre of 20 000 people in Matebeland between 1983 and 1987, this fear is not far fetched.
For that reason the ZCTU is urging all its members to remain calm, as the situation is a cliff-hanger and the popular mood is explosive. The ZCTU is however extremely concerned that in the context of divisions in the uniformed forces and even amongst the war veterans a possibility looms that people may lose patience. No one predicted the Rwanda and Kenya scenarios until they happened.
The ZCTU and COSATU demand that the results be announced. If there is a clear winner that winner must form a government. If there is no winner the election must be rerun, with an increased number of international and local observers.
The federations are preparing themselves for three scenarios. First is that a winner is declared and he forms a new government and begin a process of national unity. The second scenario is that there will be a run-off election. The third, more negative one, is that President Mugabe will rule by decree and in effect stage a coup.
The ZCTU, speaking for all progressive Zimbabweans who want a change to their plight, thanks COSATU and South African civil society for their constant support for the struggle for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe.
*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Talk of Mugabe end is premature
2008-04-08
Blessing-Miles Tendi
Blessing-Miles Tendi argues that it is too early to rule out a Mugabe led Zimbabwe - he will find ways to remain in power.
I have been following Zimbabwe's 2008 elections closely. My emotions have mutated with alacrity, checking news sites more often than I should, and receiving calls and messages from family and political contacts in Zimbabwe. Since last week, I have gone from 'Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF will win' to 'it will be a landslide victory for the opposition' to 'Mugabe has already fled the country fearing retribution' to 'the army has ordered the electoral commission to declare Mugabe the winner' and now, my present mood and thinking is that a lot of people are going to be disappointed by the eventual outcome of the presidential poll because we are headed for a do or die run-off between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.
The two things that stand out about Mugabe's political pattern is his consistency, and that he is too wily and resolute in power to be swept away in a pseudo democratic election. Zimbabwe is better off without him at the helm but we must temper our emotions and stop our imagination from running wild. Mugabe has been in difficult situations before and wriggled out of them amazingly. 'Jesus rose from the dead once but I have come back from the dead several times', he once boasted. The probability is high that Mugabe can come back from the dead once again. I would not bet against it. This is my position now, after what has been a rollercoster week of miraculous flip-flopping on my part.
Sovereignty is a vehicle towards the good life for the ZANU PF political elite. The font of sovereignty is the powerful executive presidency through which ZANU PF has privatised the institution of the state as a means to authoritarian rule and personal aggrandisement: 'the desire to retain sovereignty and not to surrender it or even share it is a powerful motive perpetuating the ex-colonial status quo in Sub Saharan Africa. Sovereignty gives a relatively small number of people control of state positions which confer enormous palpable advantages and privileges. Ruling elites literally live off sovereignty and most live very well indeed - as long as they live. They fight to keep it and others fight to take it away from them'.
When Mugabe and ZANU PF play up sovereignty it is in order to protect their hold on power and its benefits. Their uses of sovereignty are less about protecting the country and its inhabitants' sovereignty but more about protecting the 'enormous palpable advantages and privileges' sovereignty affords them. In Zimbabwe it is not the governed who are sovereign – it is ZANU PF that is sovereign. ZANU PF elites live off sovereignty. Thus, sovereignty is one of the themes commanding broad consensus in ZANU PF and the party will strive – at all costs - to keep its hold on sovereignty by retaining the presidency in the looming run off.
A run off between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai may suit Mugabe better than facing Simba Makoni in a runoff because if there is anything many in ZANU PF and Zimbabwe's top security officials are united on, it is that Tsvangirai must not rule. Those comprising the status quo not only stand to lose their sovereignty but also fear prosecution for crimes committed in office if Tsvangirai prevails.
ZANU PF was divided in this election but expect it to put its differences aside and to rally behind Mugabe forcefully in a run off with Tsvangirai. Mugabe risked damaging defections if he had faced Makoni in a run off. A Mugabe-Makoni run off would have presented Makoni's secret and powerful backers in ZANU PF, such as Solomon Mujuru, with the opportune moment to abandon Mugabe in favour of Makoni. Mugabe will also find it easier to marshal ZANU PF's rank and file to campaign for him against Tsvangirai as opposed to Makoni who has many sympathisers in the ruling party. Indeed some will not need to be marshaled at all for retaining the presidency means guaranteeing their life of privilege.
ZANU PF will leave no stone unturned in a Mugabe-Tsvangirai face off. ZANU PF was complacent in the rural areas and some of its rural party structures were not as formidable as they normally are. It underestimated the extent to which Tsvangirai would make significant in roads into its rural strongholds. The free political space Tsvangirai enjoyed in the rural areas during this campaign will be gone in the run off. A run off in 3 weeks, or 90 days as has been suggested, also allows ZANU PF some time to tinker its rigging machinery. The war veterans have started making threats. There is a developing discourse proclaiming the return of white farmers and how the land revolution can only be defended by re-electing Mugabe. The military looks set to be more involved than ever before in guaranteeing Mugabe's re-election. We are about to be blitzed with everything ZANU PF has left.
* Blessing-Miles Tendi is a researcher at Oxford University.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Zimbabwe Global Forum condemns handling of elections
2008-04-08
Zimbabwe Global Forum
Statement of the GZF on the situation in Zimbabwe, issued after the Global Teleconference by all the regions present
Zimbabwe Global Forum (GFZ) condemns the actions by the Government of Zimbabwe for the arbitrary handling of the electoral process as well as the results of the presidential elections held on March 29, 2008.
The Government of President Robert Mugabe, and his ruling ZANUPF party have frustrated, not only the conduct of the elections but the timely release of the election results.
What is even more troubling is that President Mugabe’s ZANUPF are demanding a recount of the presidential votes, while at the same time preventing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission from releasing the presidential election results.
President Robert Mugabe and his subordinates have started arming the youth militia and war veterans to unleash retributive and coercive violence against opposition supporters, especially in rural areas. President Mugabe is embarking on a warpath to impose himself on Zimbabweans in the aftermath of his defeat in the elections. It is self evident that President Mugabe does not respect the democratic process of elections in accordance with the SADC Guidelines and the laws of Zimbabwe.
Well -confirmed results - even from the vote-counting officers of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission - show that the Movement for Democratic Change led by Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai won both the presidential and parliamentary elections. These results, which were posted outside the counting centers in accordance with the mandate of ZEC, also clearly show that Morgan Tsvangirai won by more than 50 percent.
Constitutionally, President Mugabe is by law obligated and required to concede defeat and hand over power to the MDC, according to the procedures provided for by the Constitution.
President Mugabe and ZANUPF have a proven history of political violence against members of the opposition parties. This is how he has maintained his rule over the years.
President Mugabe will now use all the barbaric and brutal force at his command to go after the Zimbabweans who voted against him and his party.
Already, reports are emerging of an assault on innocent civilians, aimed at forcing them to vote for Mugabe at the next run-off election and hence:
1. We call upon the international community to bring pressure to bear on the Mugabe regime to respect the people’s verdict and accept defeat. We quote from President Mugabe himself before the elections when he said if ZANUPF loses the elections he will concede defeat.
2. We demand that the countries of SADC insist that President Mugabe should follow the electoral procedures as laid out in the SADC guidelines and the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
3. We call upon, the Secretary General of the United Nations to begin consultations leading to the convening of the Security Council on the crisis in Zimbabwe.
4. We call upon the African Union, in consultation with SADC, to send a strong African delegation to mediate the crisis in Zimbabwe. The delegation should stay in Zimbabwe for as long as is necessary to resolve the crisis.
5. We call upon the countries of Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Botswana which have expressed concern at the denial of human and civil rights in Zimbabwe to play a leading role in bringing pressure to bear on President Mugabe.
6. The Government of the Republic of South Africa has a unique geopolitical and historic influence on Zimbabwe. We call upon President Thabo Mbeki, whose country will be adversely affected by the ongoing crisis of governance and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, to initiate a shuttle diplomacy between President Mugabe and President-elect Tsvangirai in order to resolve peacefully the country’s electoral conflict.
7. Should a rerun of the presidential election become the only option to resolve the crisis, we call upon the United Nations to supervise the election with the active participation of SADC, AU and civil society in the country and region.
8. If President Mugabe and ZANUPF refuse to accept reasonable conditions for resolving the crisis, we call upon the international community not to recognize the Mugabe regime, especially, if the regime is fraudulently and by force of arms imposed on the people of Zimbabwe.
9. We also call upon the international community to impose more effective targeted sanctions against the Mugabe regime if it refuses to comply with the democratic norms for elections and handing over power.
10. We call upon the industrialized countries of North American, the European Union, etc. to increase, expand and extend the scope of their humanitarian assistance programs to include Zimbabwean refugees, especially the traumatized victims of assault by the Mugabe regime.
11. We call upon the international community to continue to strengthen civic society in Zimbabwe, and to distribute aid through civic organizations rather than a disputed government to avert politicization and misappropriation of resources and ensure that aid reaches its intended beneficiaries.
12. We call upon the international community to stand ready to engage the new democratic Zimbabwean on the basis of the Zimbabwe Strategy paper.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
CCJPZ calls for release of election results
2008-04-08
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe
It is now more than a full week since the historic harmonised elections took place on 29 March 2008 but there has been near deafening silence about the outcome of the flagship election, the presidential contest. The results of the House of Assembly and Senate elections were also released at a painfully slow pace. This has understandably generated a hive of rumours, speculation, fears and nervousness among the stakeholders, and in the nation and international community. At the centre of the mystery is the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), a constitutional body mandated to conduct elections and referendums “efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law.” It is the CCJP’s understanding that this mandate includes but is not restricted to ensuring that the results of the elections are made public to the contesting parties and to the nation as a whole as expeditiously as possible, that is, within reasonable time.
The rumours and nervous speculation swirling around the presidential election results and the mystery surrounding ZEC’s reluctance to speedily release those results has the effect of producing unnecessary suspicions that ZEC is being manipulated to produce results at variance with the verdict of the people. This is unfortunate if only because there does not appear to be any compelling reason for the inordinate delay in releasing the results. This delay is stretching the patience of the people to the limit to the point where ZEC appears to be abusing the legendary patience of the Zimbabwe people.
We have previously noted with considerable satisfaction that ZEC managed to conduct what to many objective observers has been one of the most free and fair elections since independence though there were still many flaws and lapses. The integrity of the election body is now seriously under threat because of its disinclination to quickly make the results public and allay the fears and suspicions of the nation. If ZEC has the public interest and is not driven by partisan interests, then it surely should release the results without any further equivocation. The inordinate delay is a recipe for distrust, political tension and even instability. ZEC must not only act impartially and honestly, it must be seen to be respecting these cardinal values. So far, and with respect to the snail’s pace at which the results were announced and the apparent reluctance to release the presidential election results, ZEC is failing the test. The autonomy and professionalism of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission have been seriously eroded and deeply compromised, reinforcing accusations of embedded partisanship and bias. In the event of a re-run of the presidential election, Zimbabweans and the international community now have grave doubts about the fairness and impartiality of ZEC to conduct the poll.
The CCJP joins the domestic and international community in urging ZEC, in the interest of peace and the search for justice, to urgently release and publicise the results of the presidential election held on March 29, 2008. Many Zimbabweans are anxiously waiting for these results; and they deserve and have a right to know. CCJPZ will continue to observe the post election period countrywide and produce reports.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Zimbabwe: IFJ demands release of foreign journalists held in raid
2008-04-08
International Federation of Journalists
The International Federation of Journalists today accused the authorities in Zimbabwe of intimidation of journalists and called on the authorities to allow media to report freely as tension mounts following the elections for President held last Saturday.
The IFJ says the arrest of journalists in Harare yesterday was an attempt to sabotage media coverage media of the current political crisis and a possible run-up election which may be needed.
"It is absurd to suggest, as the authorities have, that these arrests are part of an investigation over spying," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "Put simply, this is a sinister act of political bullying."
New York Times reporter Barry Bearak, 58, and Steven Bevan a 45-year-old freelance journalist from Britain were arrested and charged with “practising without accreditation,” according to reports. They were held at a guest house in the capital Harare that is popular with foreign journalists. Two others who were not identified were also arrested.
"At this critical moment in the history of modern Zimbabwe people have a right to know about different political opinions in the election," said White. "Journalists must be allowed to report freely and without intimidation.”
The authorities have banned most foreign media coverage of the elections last week but a number of news organisations have filed reports from correspondents who snuck into the country. In the moths before the election the government cracked down on local and national journalists, shutting down newspapers and allowing members of Mugabe’s political party to harass and attack journalists with impunity.
“It appears that people are voting for change and if that means a fresh start for media and freedom of the press, then it is long overdue,” said White.
*The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide. For more information contact the IFJ at + 32 2 235 2207
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Zimbabwe Doctors on the Zimbabwe elections
2008-04-08
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights
Statement on World Health Day
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights calls to attention the state of the public health system. Zimbabwe?s healthcare system, in a known state of crisis, is in need of urgent attention. It is crippled by dilapidated infrastructure, drug shortages, equipment breakdowns, brain drain and costs of healthcare skyrocketing beyond the reach of the majority of Zimbabweans.
Average life expectancy, according to the WHO, has declined from 60 years to 37 years for men and 34 for women during the past decade. Maternal mortality is rising to a level which meets that of the world poorest countries.
ZADHR commends health professionals and health workers in Zimbabwe who have continued to deliver health services in very difficult circumstances and remain committed to the recovery and improvement of the public health system.
ZADHR notes the need for a comprehensive national health plan to replace some of the uncoordinated ad hoc measures that have been put in place to address the crisis in the short term. Such a plan must guarantee that Zimbabwean?s are able to enjoy their right to health. The responsibility for this lies with government in consultation with other stakeholders.
Marking World Health Day, ZADHR calls upon the newly elected Parliament of Zimbabwe, amidst a myriad of challenges ahead of it during its term in office, to prioritise policy interventions to address the public health crisis in Zimbabwe. In doing so ZADHR urges the new Parliament to attend to the following key areas:
- Formulating legislation that protects, respects and fulfils the right to health for all Zimbabweans.
- Providing adequate infrastructure needed for effective and equitable healthcare such as safe running water, adequate sanitation, electricity and transport.
- Taking measures to address shortages of drugs and medical equipment in the short, medium and long term.
- Creating conditions under which good training quality for health professionals is guaranteed and ensure that conditions in which these skills can be retained exist.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Unacceptable shenaanigans of Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
2008-04-08
Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum
The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum salutes the Zimbabweans and their organisations who have courageously spoken out against the unacceptable shenanigans of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The tension surrounding the announcement of the election results is only fuelling the deep suspicions that ZANU-PF is again involved in efforts to falsify the outcomes of an election. We have seen this before but this time it cannot and will not be accepted.
Already reports are coming in that the figures being reported have inflated the total individual votes received by ZANU, paving the way for efforts to announce a dishonest ZANU victory at Senate and Presidential levels. The corresponding increase in police and army presence on the streets of Harare and Bulawayo, the ransacking of the offices of the opposition MDC, the harassment and arrest of journalists and inflammatory statements from ZANU officials does not bode well for the democratic process.
Foreign observers are leaving the country before the process is over, media attention is already shifting to new fresher stories, but the ZANU machinery is only just preparing to unleash the full might of its violent capabilities.
The ZSF reminds key security force personnel in Zimbabwe of the statements made by the African National Congress those public pronouncements that refuse to accept the leadership of the MDC is unacceptable. As in any democracy the military in Zimbabwe must recognise that they are accountable to the state, and that the state is accountable to the electorate.
The ZSF calls on SADC and the African Union to intervene decisively in Zimbabwe. It must be made clear that violence and repression is not part of the solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis and that it will not be tolerated. South Africa must continue to engage the ZANU Politburo in dialogue aimed at preventing violence. The rigorous defence of democratic principles is critical not only to the future of Zimbabwe but for the whole of the Southern African region and the entire African continent.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Pan-African Postcard
Where is the hope?
Civil society and children in Zimbabwe
2008-04-08
Jennifer Lentfer
I first arrived in Zimbabwe in the mid 90s as a young, naïve university student, curious and open to all that the world had to offer. And at that time, Zimbabwe offered quite a lot - a strong economy based on formidable exports, a literacy rate unmatched by other nations in the region, and people who were proud and welcoming, who had dreams for themselves and their families.
Over a decade later, only one of these remains recognizable to me…Zimbabwe’s people.
Though now I have experienced more of the world’s triumphs and disappointments, I believe that Zimbabwe remains a country that should continue to invoke pride in its people. Not because of what now seems like utter economic and political regression, but rather in spite of it.
Zimbabwe today is plagued by shortages – shortages of life’s basics like cash, fuel, food, and most recently, water and electricity. Not to mention the shortage of trust in the formerly strong institutions and leaders that governed Zimbabwe after independence in 1980. These shortages are hard to make sense of in a country whose well-managed economic development once made it a strong, respected nation the world over.
I work for a U.S.-based family foundation that makes small grants to local, grassroots organizations working with vulnerable children in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Our grantee organizations in Zimbabwe have struggled tremendously over the past seven years with these shortages and with hyperinflation, at 250,000% in January. Through 2002’s Public Order and Security Act, each one of their activities and meetings are subject to government approval and surveillance. Yet our grantees remain committed to keeping their doors open. This, despite the tremendous burden of what is euphemistically referred to by Zimbabweans everyday as the socio-, economic-, and/or political- “situation.”
Our grantees work at the community-level to serve children and their families, providing such myriad services as education support (paying school fees, providing uniforms and materials), counseling for bereaved children who have lost their parents to AIDS, vocational skills training and income-generating projects, abuse prevention and treatment, rehabilitation of street children, provision of anti-retro viral treatment for HIV-positive children, and legal aid on such cases as stolen inheritance. While in Zimbabwe in January, I was astounded by what our grantees must now do to ensure these services continue. Everyday tasks now takes so much effort - the steps and details so complicated given the shortages and constraints. Time is never on our grantees’ side, especially in dealing with the immediate protection needs of children. Yet our grantees carry on. This speaks of not only their compassion and commitment, but of their remarkable coping and management skills.
What they are able to do is now more important than ever. Children are undoubtedly carrying the heaviest burden of the impact of Zimbabwe’s situation. They are obviously the most disadvantaged by the pressure on families and communities, but also through the “politicization” of everyday life in Zimbabwe and the significant damages to the health and education sectors.
There is no doubt that people are suffering in Zimbabwe. But it is equally true that many people and organizations in Zimbabwe are responding. Civil society, though struggling, remains strong and present. These organizations’ efforts must be recognized, valued, and supported.
Now is not the time for the philanthropic or donor community to withhold funding from Zimbabwe. Limited funding or a “wait and see” attitude is a flawed, and potentially dangerous strategy, especially for children. True, a foundation’s dollars might not retain the same value as in other countries, but seeing the incredible work of our grantees, I have no doubt that our dollars go just as far.
As philanthropists, our dollars are meant to support societal transformation. In spite of the difficult operating environment, civil society organizations in Zimbabwe are not only providing vital services for children and families. They are also well-positioned to ensure this change, both before and after an eventual regime change.
Children in Zimbabwe deserve to have their dreams. And in a time when it is hard to find hope, civil society organizations, both large and small, are building a brighter future through their work with children in Zimbabwe.
Letters
Export processing zones
2008-04-08
Barbara Murray
Thank you for the excellent article Pitfalls of export processing zones by Herbert Jauch [http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/46932].
A copy of this article should be sent to every minister of finance and minister of trade in every African country. It should be printed and hung on the wall of every parliament building and every 'investment centre' and every university economics department in Africa. It relates to all the issues raised in Pambazuka: China/Africa, agrofuels, Chad/France, the future of Zimbabwe. This is the fundamental issue for developing Africa.
Instead of adopting an open-door policy towards foreign investment, Namibia (and Africa in general) need to adopt selective policies that channel investments into certain strategic sectors that will have a lasting developmental impact.
They require a very clear and strategic development agenda that is not based on blind faith in foreign investment as the panacea to our development problems.
The lack of alternative programmes for effective economic development and job creation places government in a weak position to negotiate adherence to labour, social and environmental standards with foreign investors."
How can this be distributed more widely? Can the AU hold a conference on this?
Kenya CSO's on Zimbabwe
2008-04-08
Nyaradzai Mugaragumbo - Gumbonzvanda
The Rozaria Memorial Trust Board of Trustees ae grateful for the support and voice of kenyan civil society on the current crisis in Zimbabwe [http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/47089]. Any further deterioration of the situation will have huge implications for human rights especially for women and children. At the moment the election commission has mised the legal deadline for announcing results, and we therefore have a potential constitutional crisis.
Mugabe: What is wrong with this picture?
2008-04-08
Emmanuel Onyango
I am surprised to have heard this morning from my national broadcasting corporation (TBC) that President Robert Mugabe has asked the Zimbabwe Electoroal Commission (ZEC) to recount the Presidential election votes. But why?
This means that the delay of not giving out the results clearly shows that the opposition has won the election and that, the ZANU-PF leader is in the process of manipulating the results. President Mugabe must accept the results whatsoever, why plunging the nation into a political turmoil? It really shows that Mugabe has sensed a situation of failure on his own side.
Why is he asking for the vote recounting when the election commission has not yet announced the results? If the results would have been out, then a disatisfied contestant is given time to complain of the results. But for him, this is in vice versa.
Fahamu - Networks For Social Justice
www.fahamu.org
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