Ship of Fools: Zimbabwe Election Fiasco

Thread: Zimbabwe Election Fiasco Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by shamwari (# 15556) on :

This from a reputed author ( Peter Godwin)

The analysis we have done on this roll shows that it contains at least 1 million dead voters; goodness knows how many absent voters who now reside in the Diaspora.

We know that there are over 350 000 people who are over 85 years old and 109 000 over a hundred years old, one of which – an army officer — is 135 years old.

We found 838 000 duplicate names: same name, same address, same date of birth, different ID numbers. All the ID’s checked were genuine and had been issued by the Registrar General.

We found 500 000 people had been moved out of their resident areas to other electoral districts, 45 000 people had their ID numbers changed without their consent.

Registering voters was a nightmare for the MDC. On the Zanu PF side they simply drew up lists of people and handed them in for registration.

They moved hundreds of thousands of people into strategic areas in preparation for the Poll. Some 250 000 families – over a million people, were settled on farms taken away from their owners in the peri urban areas. They then opened offices there and “sold” small plots of land to homeless people in the crowded towns.

These people were told that they were there by courtesy of Zanu PF and that on the day of the battle they were expected to vote Zanu PF. To reinforce this, their registration details were changed to a selected electoral District and they were told where to vote and that the Party would thereby be able to tell how they voted. Eviction was the threat.

Storm troopers were carefully brought onto the battle field – thousands were accommodated on a farm outside Chitungwiza owned by a Zanu PF company, called Koala Park.

In the Commercial farming Districts they simply told the 500 000 or so “settlers” that any sign of a vote for the MDC would make them lose their land.

The structures of the MDC were smashed and their leadership beaten or killed. In the Tribal areas they told all Chiefs (who were also promised rich rewards) that no voting for the MDC would be tolerated. Headmen – the backbone of rural Africa, were instructed to marshal their people, record names and ID numbers and then arrange for them to vote at a specified polling station.

They were told what would happen to them and their families, homes and livestock, if they voted MDC. With three quarters of all seats in the House of assembly in these areas, this alone guaranteed them victory on the day.

+++++++++++++++++++++

And still we beat our breasts in mock horror and do nothing. May the Lord have mercy

Posted by Darllenwr (# 14520) on :

Zimbabwe has no oil. Therefore the West is not interested.

Posted by Anglican't (# 15292) on :

I don't understand why the African Union monitors appeared satisfied with how polling had gone. Are we to understand that they are Mugabe stooges too? (Or at least biased.)

Posted by shamwari (# 15556) on :

Anglicant

The reason why the African monitors passed it off as "free" is because they act on the principle that those who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones.

They are all in the same boat.

Posted by shamwari (# 15556) on :

Forgot to add.

Zimbabwe has been recolonised. Not by the West but by China.

Their huge economic support has reclaimed Zimbabwe from bankruptcy.

At the cost of owning huge mineral rights and farm land.

Posted by Cod (# 2643) on :

Is it true that in about 1990 Zimbabwe put land reform on hold at the request of South Africa, who were petrified of political effect it would have on them? It is also true that this is the reason South Africa has soft-pedalled on Zimbabwe ever since?

It is South Africa's lack of pressure that has allowed the situation in Zim to get as bad as it got.

Posted by Cod (# 2643) on :

quote:
Originally posted by shamwari:
Anglicant

The reason why the African monitors passed it off as "free" is because they act on the principle that those who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones.

They are all in the same boat.

I haven't heard that South African elections are rigged. Far from it - the ANC government is resorting to draconian legislation to stifle dissent instead.

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

Allegations made on BBC Radio Leeds this morning are that there were areas of Zimbabwe where 30% of those wanting to vote were turned away.

Also fears were expressed that the improvements made in the Zimbabwe economy since 2009, when Mugabe was forced to share power, might now be reversed and the country be returned to poverty.

I can't give more details yet (I only half caught it) until the show becomes available in iPlayer.

BBC Radio Leeds Sunday Breakfast, not long after 8am.

[Perview psot is my friend]

[ 04. August 2013, 08:27: Message edited by: balaam ]

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

It's here now. You'll need to start 2 hours in.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

Did anyone expect the elections in Zimbabwe to be fair?? Talking with the people there, I got the impression that they aren't hoping for an Arab Spring style revolution, and much less for a Western invention.

They are waiting for 'D-day' as they call it. Mugabe is 89, so I think you can guess what the D means here.

Posted by Orb (# 3256) on :

quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
They are waiting for 'D-day' as they call it. Mugabe is 89, so I think you can guess what the D means here.

The terrifying truth is that, like North Korea a few months ago, this won't really change a thing. Just put another bloke in front of the microphone...

Posted by MarsmanTJ (# 8689) on :

What I'm struggling with is, yes I believe the Zimbabwe election mess is a fiasco and should not happen that way. But surely what has happened is just what we do in the 'Civilised West' taken a little bit further. The Right offers tax-breaks for the rich, the Left offers increased welfare for those on benefits, Zanu-PF offers direct bribery for votes. The difference between Zanu-PF and the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats is that Zanu-PF offers their bribes up front. On to electoral and not letting people vote... members of the Tea Party, fancy admitting to why this works just so well? Even in the UK, we have some serious gerrymandering that has gone on in the last twenty years to produce 'safe-seats' for various parties. I really think that what has happened is exactly what happens in the West, just on a slightly more blatant level and with police assisting the current government rather than being supposedly impartial.

Posted by shamwari (# 15556) on :

Mugabe may be 89 and on his last legs.

But he doesnt run the country anyway.

Its the Defence chiefs, the Police and the like who pull the strings and the old man goes along with them.

So even if he expires nothing will change.

Depressing.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

quote:
Orb: The terrifying truth is that, like North Korea a few months ago, this won't really change a thing. Just put another bloke in front of the microphone...

I'm not sure it's the same thing. In North Korea I have the impression that the next Kim is more of a figurehead of a well-organized system, in Zimbabwe I have a stronger feeling that everything is organized around Mugabe himself. I guess the lithmus test of this would be: what if one of the captains disagreed with the president?

I doubt very much that in Zimbabwe the 'defence chiefs' have the power to just appoint a sucessor. The way I see it, the most likely scenario after D day is an internal struggle over who will succeed him, fought out along ethnical lines with possibly a lot of bloodshed. According to the Zimbabweans I spoke with, the only way to prevent this is through heavy political and economical pressure from South Africa.

Posted by Mary LA (# 17040) on :

Le Roc, as someone with family in Zimbabwe, I agree that understanding the economic and political relationship with and dependency on South Africa is key.

Percy Zvomuya's commentary offers one perspective:

Zimbabwe is a Victim of Outsiders' Fantasies

Posted by shamwari (# 15556) on :

There was a time when SA influence, economic and political, made the difference.

It sank the renegade Ian Smith.

But today it is China and not SA which is the determining factor.

And the Chinese are not interested in who rules Zimbabwe and how they rule. They are in it for mineral rights and trade.

Posted by Barnabas62 (# 9110) on :

The controlling group (for whom Mugabe is increasingly a figurehead) will now be even more difficult to shift without some effective international support. The grip on the population is very tight and fear levels are high.

It seemed pretty obvious from Mugabe's "I will step down if.." promise that the result was a foregone conclusion. They've got election-rigging down to a fine art.

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