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Civic group says elections won't be free and fair
Nqobizitha Khumalo, ZimOnline
February 16, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2723

Bulawayo - The Christian Alliance on Friday said next month's presidential and parliamentary elections will not be free and fair as the electoral body charged with running the polls was inadequately prepared for the elections.

In a pastoral letter signed by spokesman, Useni Sibanda, which was released yesterday, the alliance said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), was inadequately prepared to run free and fair elections on 29 March.

"Christian Alliance is concerned that the electoral management institution, ZEC, appears not to be adequately prepared to handle the harmonized elections.

"The time allocated for the inspection of the voters roll has been inadequate. Information has not been properly disseminated and most of the electorate has no access to the media," read part of the letter.

The Christian Alliance is a coalition of churches, opposition political parties and civic groups that is pushing for sweeping political reforms and a negotiated settlement in Zimbabwe.

Last year, the alliance organised a prayer meeting in Harare's working class suburb of Highfield that saw Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and several other civic leaders brutally assaulted by state security agents.

"It is obvious that the coming elections are not going to be free and fair. The situation on the ground is worse than what it was in our (last) election in 2005. The voters' roll, we hear is in shambles," read the pastoral letter.

The alliance said despite these anomalies, it was encouraging Zimbabweans to go out and vote in the elections.

President Robert Mugabe will square off against his former finance minister Simba Makoni and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential election that comes amid a worsening economic crisis in the southern African country.

The alliance also took a swipe at South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki who led talks between the ruling ZANU PF party and MDC that excluded civic society.

Mbeki was last year tasked by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate in the search for a lasting solution to Zimbabwe's political crisis.

"The SADC talks failed to produce tangible results in terms of creating a conducive atmosphere for free and fair elections. There were many international figures who were interested in assisting in solving our crisis.

"President Mbeki kept them out by confidently claiming that his soft diplomacy was working and that the talks were on course and would yield the desired result," read the letter.

Tsvangirai earlier this week said Mbeki had failed in his mediation efforts and urged the South African leader to show more courage in dealing with the dictatorship in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the MDC parliamentary candidate for Bulawayo South, Eddie Cross, who was initially barred from filing his nomination papers by the ZEC, finally managed to do so after he won an urgent High Court interdict against the electoral body.

The ZEC had barred Cross from filing his papers arguing that the Bulawayo-based opposition official was not a Zimbabwean citizen as his parents were of British descent, a charge he disputed.

Cross will represent the Tsvangirai-led MDC in the 29 March election.

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