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SA mission split over poll finding
Beauregard Tromp and Chiara Carter, Cape Times
April 05, 2005

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=272&fArticleId=2468604

Harare: A major row has broken out among political parties in the SA parliamentary observer mission to Zimbabwe over the mission's assessment of Thursday's parliamentary elections.

"The mission unanimously agreed that the elections were credible, legitimate, free and fair and conformed to the SADC elections guidelines," ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe, the head of the mission, said in a statement issued in Harare on Saturday.

But the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front and Independent Democrats all disagreed with this "unanimous" verdict, saying the election had been anything but free and fair.

Meanwhile, in its reports on the election released yesterday the SADC observer mission declared the elections free, but not fair.

Southern African Development Community observer mission leader, Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said the election was peaceful and credible.

"The fact that in the end when a person entered a polling station it was one person, one vote, and it was secret is the classical international standard to measure the freeness of any elections.

"In general we came to the conclusion that the election does reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe," she added.

The African Union (AU) observer team yesterday also issued a cautious approval of the elections, but stopped short of endorsing the results.

Team head, Kwagwo Asari-Gyan, said that at the "point of ballot" the poll was conducted in a "peaceful and orderly manner", but would not comment on whether it was free and fair, saying the AU team could not comment on this as it had not witnessed the full electoral process.

He expressed concern at reports alleging the number of voters who actually cast ballots did not tally with the final vote count in several constituencies.

Goniwe said the SA parliamentary mission had resolved to ask parliament to "severely reprimand" the DA's Roy Jankielson and the ID's Vincent Gorte for making unauthorised statements on their own in Zimbabwe about the elections - in violation of the mission rules - and to make them reimburse their expenses.

The DA has rejected the Zimbabwean elections as being neither free nor fair, and accused the South African government of deciding in advance to endorse the elections at a cost to the country's international credibility.

In a statement issued yesterday, DA leader Tony Leon said while the actual election itself had been more peaceful and orderly than the previous elections, Zimbabweans had been denied freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

"The playing field was vertical, with Zanu-PF assured victory from the start," Leon said.

The DA leader said the Zimbabwean government failed to meet the requirements of the SADC Protocol, and that reports from DA public representatives in various observer missions suggested the elections were "conducted in a climate of intimidation and repression that prevented the people from expressing their will freely".

"The observers themselves were subjected to extreme pressure, with ANC leaders threatening to abandon DA representatives to the whims of the Zimbabwean security forces. One DA observer, party chairperson Joe Seremane, was prevented from entering the country after the SADC Parliamentary Forum was barred by the Zimbabwean government," Leon said.

He added that the DA representative to the SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM), reported "the ANC commandeered it and sidelined other governments and parties, when in fact the SEOM should have been led by Mauritius as SADC chair".

"It is clear that the South African government and the ANC went to Zimbabwe with the aim of declaring the election as "free and fair", come what may, and with their report already pre-certified by President Thabo Mbeki," Leon said.

"Quite why President Mbeki has squandered South Africa's hard-earned place in the world in defence of the pitiless dictatorship across the Limpopo, is difficult to fathom."

In his statement of endorsement, Goniwe did not mention the Freedom Front's Willie Spies, a member of the mission, who had issued a statement on Friday that the elections had not complied with the SADC election guidelines.

They fell short in several areas, he said, including the unequal access of parties to the state media, the incomplete participation of all citizens and the partiality of the judiciary and electoral authorities.

Spies said although the election campaign had been peaceful, this was just a minimum condition for elections which overall could not be described as free and fair.

Jankielson said at the weekend: "If I had known the mission would be meeting to discuss a statement on the elections, I would have stayed for that. But Goniwe did not inform me. I don't know how he could make a statement like that without consulting all the members of the delegation."

He said he "absolutely disagreed" with Goniwe's assessment of the elections. The major flaws in the legal and constitutional environment and five years of violence, torture and intimidation against the opposition could not be ignored.

Goniwe's statement said: "There was unhindered, calm and peaceful campaigning and voting by the parties and electorate respectively; parties campaigned with reasonable confidence to win the election." - Foreign Service

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