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Concern over pre-election environment
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)
January 25, 2008

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a domestic election-monitoring and observation group in Zimbabwe, which in December 2007 deployed 120 long-term observers countrywide, is concerned with the current social and political environment as it relates to the forthcoming elections. The organisation also expresses its disquiet with the manner in which critical electoral processes such as voter registration and delimitation of constituencies have been conducted. The recent events in the country are particularly worrying as they reflect a regrettable level of political intolerance.

ZESN is also disturbed to note that the aforementioned issues that were discussed and agreed upon under the SADC initiated talks still lack a concrete and positive implementation. When SADC appointed President Mbeki in March 2007 to facilitate the talks between ZANU PF and MDC, the main objective of these talks was to have an election whose outcome would not be contested. More than ten months have elapsed since these talks started and the electoral environment in Zimbabwe is still far from yielding a result whose outcome would not be contested.

ZESN condemns the police's heavy-handedness in dealing with the MDCs` Freedom March on Wednesday 23 January 2008. After initially sanctioning the march to go ahead, the police later inexplicably declared the march illegal, arguing that they had evidence that it would turn violent. They briefly arrested the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, but later released him without charge. The MDC appealed to the magistrates' court as provided for in the recently amended security legislation and the court upheld the police's arguments. This was in stark contrast to ZANU PF`s "Million Men March" in December 2007 which went on without hitches, with the police actually providing escort for the marchers. The police's conduct raises unnecessary tension and only helps to fuel doubts whether the country is ready to hold a credible, free and fair election.

Investigations by ZESN have revealed that the electoral management body, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), is not taking voter registration seriously. A visit to the district registration office in the city centre in Masvingo by one of the officers intending to register as a voter on Thursday 10 January 2008 yielded interesting observations on how ZEC is treating the voter registration exercise. While one would expect voter registration to be given prime importance and due priority given the importance of elections and their imminence, the officer was told registration is only done between 1400hrs and 1600hrs daily, hence he had to wait for that slot if he was to be registered. The situation was even worse at the Gutu Registrar's office where the ZESN team was told no registration was being undertaken due to unavailability of materials to expedite the registration process.

In Harare, despite ZEC's claims of decentralisation of the registration process, the ZESN team noted that the Registrar General District offices were referring would-be voters to their Head Office at Makombe Building in Harare for registration. This rather nonchalant approach towards the voter registration exercise seems to be the modus operandi guiding the operations of most of the Registrar General's offices across the country.

In addition, the organization observed that the delimitation exercise that was done by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission started late. The preliminary delimitation report was only presented to the President last week and hastily tabled before Parliament for noting on Thursday 17 January 2008. Parliament was immediately adjourned without debating the report.

ZESN is perturbed to note that there were no copies of the report for each Member of Parliament for scrutiny; instead, there was only one copy that was available for parliamentarians in the papers' office in Parliament. This is despite constitutional provisions in section 61A subsection (8) that mandate the President to cause the document to be tabled for debate by parliament. ZESN is concerned that the report will be finalized without any scrutiny by the legislature rendering academic the recent reforms to the Constitution of Zimbabwe brought in by Constitutional Amendment No. 18. Furthermore the report and its contents have not been made available to the public and other key stakeholders for comment or analysis.

ZESN also noted the continued abuse of state resources by ruling party parliamentarians and senators. This has been done through the government's farm mechanization programme as a campaign tool. In Mutoko North people in the constituency were told that farm implements (ploughs and scotch carts) were coming from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and ZANU PF. Unscrupulous politicians in Mashonaland East have also taken advantage of the farm implements distribution exercise to launch their political campaigns. In Marondera, there were donations of seed to women in the Mahusekwa Community by a ZANU PF senator who also allegedly threatened and intimidated the people that the war veterans would deal with them if they do not vote for the ruling party in March 2008. It is also disturbing to note that some politicians continue to use food like maize and beans as a vote-buying tool and heartlessly direct food distribution in a partisan manner.

ZESN therefore calls for an urgent refocus on the planning that is needed if the elections are to be held successfully in March. It also calls for urgent measures that would ensure an environment conducive for the holding of free and fair elections to be put in place. It is ZESN's considered view that, politically and administratively, the situation is inimical to the holding of credible, legitimate, free and fair elections.

It is also worrying to note that the date of the election is not yet known. ZESN therefore urges the responsible authorities to ensure that the date to be announced will take into cognizance the fact that there will be harmonized elections hence there is need for ample time for logistical and administrative preparations as well as the provision of adequate voter information to avoid unnecessary confusion on voting day.

ZESN hopes that the ZEC will take it upon itself to satisfactorily meet its constitutional mandate of conducting voter education in order to ensure that every voter participates from an informed position. It should also allow other players to conduct voter education.

ZESN calls on all stakeholders to create an enabling environment for the conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections. It reiterates that, it is necessary for the government, ZEC and political parties political parties to conduct the elections in a manner that conforms to regional and international standards thus conferring legitimacy to the resultant government.

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