Robert Mugabe Bans Zimbabwe Political Rallies
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Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has banned all political rallies in the aftermath of the country’s disputed general election.
The opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has claimed victory in the poll, but full results have still not been announced amid evidence of vote-rigging.
“We see no reason for rallies since we have had elections,” said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena.
The first solid evidence of ballot rigging in the election emerged when a senior policeman told The Daily Telegraph that officers marked extra votes for Mr Mugabe.
Almost two weeks after polling day, the official result has still not been announced. Independent monitors say that Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, came first.
But the regime’s critics believe that the Electoral Commission—chaired by George Chiweshe, a judge and close ally of the president—will announce that Mr Mugabe is leading, although probably falling below the 50 per cent margin needed to avoid a second round.
“As a party we feel this is a sustained effort on the part of the authorities against people who assist the MDC,” party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
“This is an onslaught which is not only happening in the rural areas, but even in the civil service as people who are perceived MDC supporters are being intimidated.”
The MDC said last night that it would boycott a run-off in the presidential poll if one was declared, adding that Mr Tsvangirai won with a share “much higher” than the 50.3 per cent it claimed last week.
The police officer, who cannot be identified for fear of reprisals, saw a number of ballot boxes carried into a room at police headquarters in Harare last weekend, seven days after the election.
Five or six new recruits from Morris Depot, all in uniform, then filled out extra votes for Mr Mugabe. Ballots for Mr Tsvangirai were removed, the officer added, to bolster the president’s share of the vote.
“We were in the corridor and saw the ballot boxes being taken into Room 96,” the officer said. The police headquaters is only about 300 yards from Mr Mugabe’s office in Harare.
“We asked somebody who went in there and saw the trainees filling out the ballot papers. I am not the only one who knows this, there are others. The recruits will do anything they are asked to do. They were all desperate for jobs. If they have to beat people they will do that.”
The officer said that senior police commanders were desperate for 84-year-old Mr Mugabe to hold power to protect their own interests.
The force, he added, was “very, very corrupt because surely we cannot survive on what we earn”. Despite recent salary rises, policemen earn only £10 a week, before tax.
Shortly before the election, the ruling Zanu-PF regime changed the rules to allow police to “assist voters” inside polling stations. The police were also responsible for transmitting the presidential results to the Electoral Commission’s “command centre” in Harare.
Tendai Biti, the secretary-general of the MDC, said the party had evidence of nine million ballot papers being printed before the election, despite Zimbabwe’s registered electorate of only 5.9 million.
Figures from the parliamentary election, held on the same day as the presidential poll, show that some 2.5 million people voted.
Mr Biti said: “They want to re-engineer the results. They have re-stuffed these ballot boxes. An illegitmate government is in place. The failure of the regime in Harare to give in to those who were elected in our view constitutes a constitutional coup d’etat.”
The election crisis will be the subject of an emergency summit of southern African countries in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, tomorrow. Both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai could attend, raising the possibility of a public row.
(Posted on April 11, 2008)
Comments
Last year liberal New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristoff visited Zimbabwe and was shocked -SHOCKED!- when most of the blacks told him they wished Ian Smith and the whites were still running the country.
Though leftists never mention it, most blacks and South Asians in South Africa have also admitted in surveys that they were better off under white rule.
Posted by Madison Grant at 12:36 AM on April 12
The neocon owned pc media has dropped all coverage of Zimbabwe like they have South Africa knowing they caused all these problems in the first place just like they did in America and Europe.
Posted by at 8:14 AM on April 12
Here’s something I find interesting. Rush Limbaugh denounced Mugabe on Wednesday, and has done so several times in the past. Yet, nary a peep from him about South Africa, which is going the same way.
The answer to this riddle? Rhodesia was thrown under the bus by a Democrat (Jimmy Carter), while Gingrich/Reagan teamed up to topple ZA. Democrat bad Republican good don’t ya know.
Posted by Question Diversity at 11:49 AM on April 12
If Barack Obama wins, we’ll start seeing events like this occurring here. That black like all the others are incapable of organizing or leading any large institution effectively. The USA will become like any other African run hellhole.
We need constant white leadership for America to remain a first world country. Blacks should not be put in any position of power.
George Manuelian
San Jose, CA
Posted by George Manuelian at 2:48 PM on April 12
“Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has banned all political rallies in the aftermath of the country’s disputed general election.”
Hilarious. The old boy is so arrogant at 84 I have no doubt he thinks he’s going to live forever.
Posted by Robert Kelly at 6:03 PM on April 12
It’s funny, blacks call us racists for not wanting to give them power, YET THEY KNOW AND ADMIT that they are more comfortable under white rule. I guess you hate to admit the truth, right? How would you feel to the know the only way you got a job or ‘equal rights’ was through guilt and intimidation, rather than standing alone on your own merits?
Posted by at 9:24 AM on April 13
I have the perfect solution to restore and rebuild Zimbabwe, or what used to be Rhodesia:
1. Remove Robert Mugabe from office and disband the entire goverment of Zimbabwe.
2. Give the entire to country to the Disney Corporation, with the Disney Corporation having absolute control!
If the Disney Corporation were to own and govern this African country, it would be restored to being even better than when it was Rhodesia.
Of course , easier said than done. How do you remove Mugabe from office and convince the Zimbabweans to hand their country over to the Disney Corporation? And, of course, would the Disney Corporation want own the entire country, if given such an offer?
What gives me such a far out idea? Anyone reading this post, who has visited Disney World in Orlando, Florida, or Disney Land in California, will understand what I am talking about.
Anyway, I have heard there are blacks in Zimbabwe who long for the days of when this country was Rhodesia because employment, food, medicine, and other necessities were much better available.
I have also read on the internet that before Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, the Rhodesian Army had separate regiments of black soldiers who bravely fought against the Marxists. To anyone reading this post who knows the history of Rhodesia, better than I do, I welcome your comments.
Clem Tholet must have died a sad, depressed man to have seen what become of what used to be his country.
Posted by Ross at 11:55 PM on April 13
The South African president (whose name escapes me at the moment) recently said that the process in Zimbabwe was “normal”, and he refused to criticize Mugabe during a meeting of sub-Saharan leaders. If that wasn’t a wake-up call for white liberals, I don’t know what is.
Posted by Xenophon at 9:24 AM on April 14
“We see no reason for rallies since we have had elections.”
This is code for “We saw no reason for elections since we have a dictator.”
Decolonialization in black Africa generally means “One Man, One Vote, Once.”
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 12:31 PM on April 14
If the opposition really did win, they won because of their campaign promise to bring inflation down to a more manageable 5,000,000%.
Posted by Question Diversity at 1:07 PM on April 14
Clem Tholet must have died a sad, depressed man to have seen what become of what used to be his country.
Posted by Ross at 11:55 PM on April 13
Clem Tholet is dead? I remember going to coffee bars in Hillbrow, Johannesburg to hear him and his folk-singing trio sing back in the 60’s. Haven’t heard of him since. Hillbrow, alas, is now a typical African slum. Anybody interested can see the pictures at deathofjohannesburg.blogspot.com.
Posted by AnalogMan at 2:26 PM on April 14
“Last year liberal New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristoff visited Zimbabwe and was shocked SHOCKED! when most of the blacks told him they wished Ian Smith and the whites were still running the country.
Though leftists never mention it, most blacks and South Asians in South Africa have also admitted in surveys that they were better off under white rule.
Posted by Madison Grant at 12:36 AM on April 12 “
Madison,
Blacks may say that and even really believe it in their heart at the moment, but when push comes to shove at the voting booth, they will vote for the black over the white everytime.
Posted by SandyCSA at 5:34 PM on April 14