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8. This Could Be Why Tsvangirai Had To Withdraw
- LANGAA RPCIG
- Chapter
- Additional Information
77 8 This Could Be Why Tsvangirai Had To Withdraw n the first election in March 2008 he had defeated Mugabe by 47per cent against 43per cent so there had to be a run-of, since nobody had got the constitutionally 50 per cent plus one vote needed to form a government. These results were what we were told by ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission), an organisation that runs these elections in Zimbabwe, not that anyone else was able to prove, afterwards, who got what percentage or what votes. Tsvangirai really had to withdraw from the June presidential runoff because of the following, among other reasons. 1 After the run-off date was announced, no advertising or campaign time was allowed to Tsvangirai on the public media, and the public media constitute over 80per cent total coverage of Zimbabwe. 2 Representatives of the MDC in ZEC were arrested and purged from this body. 3 The MDC was denied campaign rallies throughout the country by the police, Central Intelligence Organisation, the Army, and ZANUPF militias. Not once was Tsvangirai able to do a campaign rally. The only day he tried to organise his only campaign rally, in Harare at the Glamis stadium, the showground, on the eve of the election’s week, it was disrupted by the military, police and Central Intelligence organisation (CIO). They were even pictured beating the few observers from the SADC. There were few observers, about 400, who were allowed to observe these elections in Zimbabwe, from outside of the country. They were only observers from countries that supported Mugabe and ZANUPF. I 78 4 The ZANUPF militias, youths, soldiers, and CIO agents were killing grassroots MDC leaders and activists, for example; Tonderai Ndira of Mabvuku suburb. According to the MDC records, they were over 100 of its activist who were killed during this time. They are still some killings happening, even today (28 July 2008). 5 There was vote rigging where by every military and security service person, it was said, had been forced to vote in the presence of their superiors. These service people could add up to nearly a million votes through rigging, which was also alleged to be happening in some of our embassies and military barracks. When they were doing a recount of the 23 constituencies that the ZANUPF said they were irregularities, On 21 April 2008, a South African member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer team, MP Dianne Kohler-Bernard, said that the recount was “fatally flawed”. She reported of miscommunication of venue addresses, protocol registers at several counting stations missing, ballot box seals holding the keys for the two padlocks on each box broken. One set of ballot boxes was missing from a book of voting papers from the presidential election box, although all the other books were locked inside. Loose ballot box seals with serial numbers identical to those on already-sealed boxes were easily available. 6 There was total intimidation of the general populace. Nowhere would you go without hearing of stories of mass beatings and killings, forced participation in rallies and pungwes (all night vigils) at political bases. People from one ward were being forced to go to another ward where they would be forced to beat all the suspected opposition supporters. People from the Free Market, at Zengeza 2 shopping centre, were taken to beat Seke township people, in unit D by the ZANUPF youth provincial leaders, accusing these Seke people to have voted for the MDC Member of Parliament, in the previous march election. 7 Most times the television, the radios and newspapers were [44.200.141.122] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 10:12 GMT) 79 critical and disparaging of the MDC, and were so full and foul of ZANUPF slogans, rallies, programs. On the public electronic media, in every 5 or so minutes there was a song; or a speech in praise of the ZANUPF. It was so painful to even try to listen, watch or read these public Medias. 8 The MDC couldn’t field election agents throughout the country because just like in the previous 2000, 2002, 2005 elections, the whole country, especially the rural areas were closed off to the MDC, and nobody in his right sense could have volunteered for this dire job. 9 There were just a total of about 400 international observers to cover over 9000 voting stations and a country, the size of which, the United Kingdom constitute two thirds of; which meant they...