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Zim election observers report problems
Angus Shaw, Associated Press
January 10, 2008

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=329325&referrer=RSS

Harare - Impoverished Zimbabwean farmers have to show they are loyal members of the ruling party if they want free equipment that the government is offering, and opposition supporters have been threatened with dogs, independent democracy monitors said on Thursday. Thursday's report by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) three months ahead of planned national elections also outlined problems with voter education and registration. The report underlined concerns by the main opposition party about the fairness of the poll. There was no immediate response from the government, which has insisted that the elections will be open and democratic. Instead, a government newspaper equated election monitors with United States spies.

The support network, in its latest election bulletin, said it deployed 120 observers throughout the country and based its findings on information from members of the public attending its community workshops. Observers in the Masvingo district in southern Zimbabwe reported that ox-drawn plows being distributed by the government were allocated only to people holding cards showing they were dues-paying members of the ruling Zanu PF party and who could chant three party slogans. The local governor said that donated plows would be taken away in districts won by opposition candidates, the network reported. In the central district of Gokwe, villagers were told they would not have to pay for plows as long as the ruling party won the March polls, the report said.

The distributions were part of a Reserve Bank programme begun in November to get 120 000 plows, tens of thousands of donkey carts, seeds and other equipment into farmers' hands to revive crop production and end acute food shortages in the former regional breadbasket. The election report said that in Zaka, in south-eastern Zimbabwe, a ruling party councillor threatened to set dogs on opposition supporters in his area. In the south-western community of Silobela, traditional leaders "indicated they do not welcome opposition supporters in their areas". The election support network reported that although campaigning was still low key, observers reported cases of violence and of voters being forced to attend a ruling party rally in December. Observers reported that in one recent incident in Harare, two police officers failed to intervene when young people in ruling party regalia assaulted a man, who eventually managed to flee.

The support network reported voter-education programmes had still not been put in place by the state Electoral Commission and irregularities were seen in voter registration and the compiling of voters' lists by state election authorities. The government says 5,6-million voters were registered by December 6. Network observers reported new registrations had come to a virtual standstill in some areas and voter registration "risks becoming a cosmetic exercise unless it is adequately resourced and given the prominence it deserves". The state-controlled Herald newspaper said on Thursday that the US government had "stepped up its anti-Zimbabwe campaign by clandestinely recruiting undercover political officers". It said recruits were asked to compile periodic reports on the political and economic situation and proffer advice on how best to advance a regime-change agenda. The US embassy dismissed the allegations as untrue.

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