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Neither Free nor Fair: High Court decisions on the petitions on the June 2000 General Election
Amani Trust
March 03, 2002

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Introduction
This monograph focuses on the electoral irregularities, including gross human rights abuses, during the period preceding the June 2000 Parliamentary elections. This election marked the first time a strong opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had challenged the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu (PF)) in the political arena. In the General Election the MDC won 57 out of 120 contested seats but the price paid for these democratic gains was high. This was perhaps the most violent election in Zimbabwe's history, with killings, wide scale torture, threats and intimidation and property damage around the country. The organised violence and torture continued through the various bye-elections held in 2000 and 2001.

Following the General Election, the MDC brought legal challenges to the High Court of Zimbabwe in 38 constituencies in an effort to contest the election results in those areas. They alleged that the violence perpetrated by Zanu (PF) agents, with the knowledge or active participation of the Zanu (PF) candidate at the time, unfairly affected the outcome of the vote in these constituencies, and thereby violated the Electoral Act of Zimbabwe. The MDC asked in their petitions that the results be overturned, and that elections be held again in these 38 constituencies. The MDC additionally requested that, if any member of parliament was found guilty of election misconduct, that member be rendered ineligible to run for public office for five years.

The trial of 39 cases (Zanu (PF) submitted one case as the petitioner) began in February 2001, and, by December 2001, 15 petitions had been heard by a High Court Judge, and eight cases cancelled or withdrawn. First hand testimony was documented from all the election petition cases that were heard in the High Court of Zimbabwe from February to October 2001. A majority of data included in this chapter is based on the testimony from the 15 completed election petitions. Certain testimonies might additionally include excerpts from medical assessments that were performed by medical staff that had expertise with trauma victims.

This monograph concentrates upon the court hearings and the court decisions. It outlines the pleadings of the plaintiff-petitioners - the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the defence offered by the respondents - Zanu(PF), and the decisions of the High Court judges.

The fact that the election petitions were heard in the High Court is historic. Testimony about gross human rights violations is uncommon in the Zimbabwean courts, and even less common are testimonies about gross human rights violations in respect of election irregularities. For this reason, the AMANI Trust, together with the Legal Resources Foundation, felt obliged to use this opportunity to support the victims in their attempts to make public their experiences, as well as to use the opportunity to validate the many allegations of torture in the legal arena. This position was also supported by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.

For the MDC, the election petitions had three main goals. Firstly, to ensure that the stories of the victims were heard by the nation; the intention here was to ensure that the historical record was made complete. Secondly, the court hearings would combat the prevailing climate of impunity in Zimbabwe. That the Government was discomforted by the possible implications of the election petitions and the supporting testimonies was evident from both the passing of a Presidential Pardon in October 2000, as well as the attempt to vitiate the petitions by an amendment to the Electoral Act by the President using Presidential Powers in December 2000. This latter effort was thrown out by the Supreme Court, but the amnesty stayed and prevented the prosecution of many perpetrators under the criminal law. Such prosecutions would have had a very important consequence for the election petitions. Thirdly, there was the hope that the results might be overturned by the Courts, and, since such verdicts would justify the claims of an unfair election, to allow the voters the opportunity to elect the member of Parliament of their choice free from fear or irregularity.

This monograph is based on detailed observation of the election petitions held in the High Court of Zimbabwe, as well as testimonies available from victims seen during the General Election and the subsequent bye-elections. A team of researchers attended all the court hearings, making notes of all proceedings, as well as studying the case notes held by the AMANI Trust and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. There is a companion monograph on the violence , and both monographs, together with additional material, will shortly be consolidated into a book. As will be seen, the report corroborates many of the earlier reports of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum , as well as the reports of international human rights organisations.

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