HARARE – The ruling Zanu PF has ordered non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to stop food distribution in the country’s rural areas accusing the organisations for having campaigned for the opposition in the run up to the March 29 elections.
Sources within the ruling party said there was a strong feeling in the party that the party lost many rural constituencies because the NGOs had used food aid to de-campaign Zanu PF.
“We have told them (the NGOs) to keep their food aid and we want to know how the MDC is going to campaign here. We want this area to be a no go area for the opposition and we are not sleeping,” said a Mr. Chauke, a political commissar from Masvingo while addressing supporters, who had come to buy maize in rural Masvingo.
Among the organisations that have been barred from distributing food aid are the World Food Programme and Care International.
Efforts to get comments from the organisations yesterday proved fruitless.
The villagers from Chidzikwe had to wait for more than five days to have their allocation of maize delivered to them. The allocation only arrived on Wednesday afternoon and the distribution was based on political affiliation.
From the way Chauke was speaking to the villagers, it became very clear that Zanu PF is already preparing for a run-off.
“All those who voted for the other parties, we know you, please come out and reform publicly and nothing will ever harm you. We will not accept any opposition forces in this area,” ordered Chauke, who is believed to be a major in the army and is one of the leaders in the ruling party campaign team in Masvingo.
The ruling party has deployed war veterans and its militia to the countryside to unleash violence and intimidate people believed to have voted against ZANU-PF and Mugabe in the elections.
“We are going to be the sole distributor of food in the country through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). Whoever wants to give out food has to do it through the party structures and it has to be approved by the party’s commissariat,” said a Zanu PF official.
A 50Kg bag of maize was being sold to the hungry villagers at 50 million Zimbabwean dollars and it was supposed to be a bag per each household.
The Zanu PF militias and the soldiers are supposed to ensure victory for Robert Mugabe through violence in a possible run-off. Political violence and intimidation of the electorate have always been thought to be ZANU-PF's winning card.
Winning Zanu PF Candidate for Mutare West Charles Pemhenai said the opposition claims that the ruling party had used food aid during their campaigns was baseless as the opposition also used food aid in their campaigns through NGOs.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said the ruling Zanu PF has already started its retribution exercise and hundreds of their supporters have been attacked by known war veterans and serving members of the army.
“What is happening is very worrying and they want to pretend as if everything is normal. Our supporters are being beaten up by soldiers on daily basis. They are also being denied food purely on the basis that they are MDC supporters,” said Chamisa.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is going ahead with the vote recounts, even though sources within Zanu PF believe any outcome favouring Mugabe will lack credibility.
So far ZEC has only managed to go through nine constituencies out of the earmarked 23. The nine went to the original winners.
25 Apr 2008
1 Apr 2008
Former Transport minister Mushohwe loses
FORMER Transport Minister Christopher Mushohwe has lost his constituency to the Movement for Democratic Change faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai in the latest batch of results announbced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
SADC petitioned over Zim results delay
THE Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe, a grouping of civic society organisations in Zimbabwe, has petitioned the SADC Heads of State and the AU heads of state and governement to urgently exert pressure on the Zimbabwe government to allow that the March 29 results are released immediately without being tampered with.
President Robert Mugabe, through the Joint Opperations Command (JOC), according to sources, has ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision to hold on to the presidential result as the regime ponders the possibilties rigging.
McDonald Lewanika, the coalition's spokesperson said they found it necessary to send the urgent petition in order to save the country from sinking into "complete anarchy" if election results are manipulated.
Zimbabweeans voted on the 29th March for the national president, members of parliament and councillors.
"The biggest concern that has emerged is the inordinate delay in the announcing of the election results. There seems to be absolutely no justification for this delay and the tokenistic announcement of results for 109 contested seats by 8 AM on 1 April is wholly inadequate," said Lewanika.
The counting was done immediately after the polls were shut generally around 7PM on 29 March at the polling stations and the results were posted outside the stations immediately.
Lewanika said the coalition also demand that the SADC leaders exert pressure on President Mugabe not to declare a state of emergency as well as apply pressure on the military and intelligence in Zimbabwe not to manipulate the results.
Arnold Tsunga, human rights lawyer and coalition chairperson said indications on the ground were clear that Mugabe preparing the nations for a state of emergency.
"The delay shows that they are not prepared to accept the people's verdict. There are heavily armed police offiers at every 200-m intervals. In other parts of the country there soldiers have been flying war jets at very low levels and all this is meant to intimidate the electorate," said Tsunga.
Meanwhile the ZEC chairperson Lovemore Sekeramai has revealed that electoral management body was currenctly receiveng the presidential election results from various constituency centres across the country.
He said the tabulation and verification of the presidential results would start as soon as they get all the results.
"We urge the nation to remain patient and we also want to commend the electorate for their
maturity," said Sekeramai.
ends//
President Robert Mugabe, through the Joint Opperations Command (JOC), according to sources, has ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision to hold on to the presidential result as the regime ponders the possibilties rigging.
McDonald Lewanika, the coalition's spokesperson said they found it necessary to send the urgent petition in order to save the country from sinking into "complete anarchy" if election results are manipulated.
Zimbabweeans voted on the 29th March for the national president, members of parliament and councillors.
"The biggest concern that has emerged is the inordinate delay in the announcing of the election results. There seems to be absolutely no justification for this delay and the tokenistic announcement of results for 109 contested seats by 8 AM on 1 April is wholly inadequate," said Lewanika.
The counting was done immediately after the polls were shut generally around 7PM on 29 March at the polling stations and the results were posted outside the stations immediately.
Lewanika said the coalition also demand that the SADC leaders exert pressure on President Mugabe not to declare a state of emergency as well as apply pressure on the military and intelligence in Zimbabwe not to manipulate the results.
Arnold Tsunga, human rights lawyer and coalition chairperson said indications on the ground were clear that Mugabe preparing the nations for a state of emergency.
"The delay shows that they are not prepared to accept the people's verdict. There are heavily armed police offiers at every 200-m intervals. In other parts of the country there soldiers have been flying war jets at very low levels and all this is meant to intimidate the electorate," said Tsunga.
Meanwhile the ZEC chairperson Lovemore Sekeramai has revealed that electoral management body was currenctly receiveng the presidential election results from various constituency centres across the country.
He said the tabulation and verification of the presidential results would start as soon as they get all the results.
"We urge the nation to remain patient and we also want to commend the electorate for their
maturity," said Sekeramai.
ends//