Softening Up The Vote
Robert Mugabe, the godfather, grandfather, saviour, of modern Zimbabwe, a veritable sage of African wisdom, claims to have earned many academic degrees, including the claim that he "has a degree in violence".Which is certainly credible, given his style of governance, and the manner in which he has settled dissent throughout his rule. Including his incomparable style of sharing out the land, taking it from white farmers and distributing it to his followers, turning fertile and productive farmland into sterile wastelands through sheer disinterest.
He's busy settling scores now in the wake of an election his supporters ineffectually corrupted. Even so, the official results which eventually came down from the country's electoral commission demonstrated that Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition, drew a greater number of votes than Mr. Mugabe did.
Which doesn't mean that the resulting figures, albeit demonstrating a loss for President Mugabe represent a true accounting; merely that despite their best efforts at fiddling the vote, rigging election results, they still couldn't give Mugabe winning numbers.
Well, there are other ways of settling this unsettling situation. A run-off vote, something certainly not unheard of in the country. And, under most circumstances, a reasonable enough way of solving a political impasse.
In the meanwhile, government troops are out there, doing their duty. Killing opposition members, arresting journalists critical of the process, along with farm workers known to have voted against President Mugabe. Going into villages, harassing the people, beating them, causing them to flee for their lives.
Pity, that, since increasingly farm workers have been targeted for revenge attacks, and they've become refugees within the country, fleeing persecution. And if they're not present where they belong, they are not permitted, under law, to vote. Catch-22, got that?
So the onslaughts and the torture and the killings go on unabated. Re-balancing the scale of Mugabe's opportunities, so to speak.
Understandably, rural residents, seeing their huts burned down, flee elsewhere, lest they also be put to the torch. They understand what their attackers are about, since they're invariably young, and in uniform.
It's more than slightly clear that the game plan for the ZANU-PF has been first to launch an election-ready campaign of terror, then, when the stage has been adequately set, have the run-off vote. It's been estimated that some 40,000 farm workers have fled.
Another 142 farms have been invaded. The farm workers have actually been addressed with agents informing them in the most avuncular manner: "We need to discipline you because you voted for the opposition."
Brutal intimidation of that extent will have its inevitable outcome. People fearing for their lives, let alone their livelihoods, will be constrained to vote in a manner belying their preferences, their self-interests.
It's been reported that ZANU-PF is already hard at work, pre-marking ballot papers. Where the previous vote had been rigged, this one is set to be super-rigged.
Mr. Tsvangerai has stated he will, albeit reluctantly, take part in the run-off, but if and only if, Western observers are permitted. Predictably, Mr. Mugabe balks at this unnecessary provocation, and it just won't happen.
Meanwhile, police continue their good work on behalf of their one, their true and only leader. Arresting the editor of The Standard for "publishing false statements prejudicial to the state".
Just as a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer has been arrested for "insulting or undermining the authority of the head of state".
Labels: Political Realities, Societal Failures, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, May 11, 2008
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