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Out for the Count: Democracy in Zimbabwe
Legalbrief Africa
Issue No: 131
May 23, 2005

http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=200505231545441

Hunched forward and leaning heavily on a walking stick, the old woman shuffles to a seat with the help of Archbishop Pius Ncube. She lowers herself on to a chair and begins to speak, ignoring the microphone lying on the table infront of her. ‘Yes, there is much hunger here,’ she says in Ndebele. ‘There is also much conflict between the open palm and the clenched fist. Us – we joined the open palm. But now the fist people say, if we don’t join them, we’ll get no food.’

The scene is from a video produced by the Solidarity Peace Trust, a group of church leaders committed to human rights and democracy in southern Africa and chaired by Ncube, Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, and Rubin Phillip, Anglican Bishop of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The video and a report of the same name, Out for the Count: Democracy in Zimbabwe, which documents fact-finding and observer missions of two groups of religious and civil society leaders to Zimbabwe for its parliamentary elections in March, were launched in Johannesburg on 18 May, two days before Ncube was named the winner of this year’s Robert Burns Humanitarian Award, Scotland’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize.

While the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Zimbabwean government before, during and following the elections have been widely reported, the video provides a compelling degree of authenticity: the voices and faces of people directly affected by political intimidation, hunger and oppression. It is one thing to read about human rights violations, it is another to see and hear victims recount their personal experiences in their own words.

What makes these accounts particularly effective is how they are juxtaposed with on-camera comments from government officials. This juxtapositioning of the two sides is often startling. In one scene, for instance, the Zimbabwean Minister of Finance dismisses questions from a South African journalist about the politicisation of food distribution and the severe food shortages in Zimbabwe as ‘sheer propaganda’. In subsequent shots, several ordinary Zimbabweans recount how they are denied maize meal from the government-alligned Grain Marketing Board – in rural areas, the sole source of the staple food – because of supposed allegiance to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the ‘open palm’ of the old woman’s testimony.

Several people went on camera to describe how they were told they would not get food unless they attended rallies of the ruling Zanu-PF-PF before the elections or were denied maize meal after the elections, accused of having voted for the MDC. Several interviewees echoed what one man said: ‘When the food comes what they say is: "You cannot get any food unless and until you join the Zanu-PF-PF. We are going to sort you. "’

The report complements the video with accounts from members of the South African ecumenical monitors as well as the fact-finding missions. They each described wide-spread hunger and fear of political intimidation and harassment. Reverend Gugu E. Shelembe describes her conversation with a woman community leader. ‘She told me, "Life in Zimbabwe is hell. " (...) She said, "There is no violence, but a lot of fear is already in us. " She went on to relate how traditional leaders are being bribed [with] cars and money to make sure that people in their clans vote for Zanu-PF PF.’

Reports such as these make a mockery of statements made on television, and included in the video, by leaders of the South African and Southern African Development Community observer missions that the elections were free and fair, and by Zimbabwean ministers and President Mugabe himself that allegations of food shortages are mere propaganda. Ironically, on the day of the release of Out for the Count, the media reported that Mugabe had tentatively agreed to accept food aid as long as no political conditions are attached to it.

One of the members of the ecumenical observer team, Virginia Zwane, fell victim to harassment by Zanu-PF youth members while on a bus to Harare from Marondera during the elections. The youth militia boarded the bus and forced passengers to chant Zanu-PF slogans. As a South African, Ms Zwane does not speak Shona and told militia members so when asked why she wasn’t chanting the slogans. She was sexually harassed and pushed by members of the youth militia who searched her purse for South African Rands and stole one of her rings. Despite her cries for help, the passengers were too terrified to assist her.

The Solidarity Peace Trust makes a number of recommendations in its report, including: a repeal of the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Public Order and Security Act and a shelving of the proposed NGO Bill; an overhaul of the system of registration of voters and a transparent redrawing of constituency boundaries; the prosecution of people who have threatened voters or who threatened to withhold food. The Trust also calls on the Electoral Court to ‘hear and rule timeously’ on the MDC’s challenge of election results in 13 constituencies.

In 30 constituencies discrepancies were found between the number of votes announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the final tallies. In one almost comical scene in the video, the broadcast of election results on Zimbabwe’s state television was included. Just to give one example: a ZEC official announces the results for Manyame constituency. The figure for total votes cast – 14,812 – is flashed on the screen. Above it, the votes won by the Zanu-PF-PF candidate: 15,448. And finally the votes won by the MDC candidate: 8312. The votes won by the two candidates combined exceeds the official number of votes cast by almost 9000 ballots. It is obvoius that the votes do not tally up – and yet the ZEC has to date not explained these anomalies.

The media has continuously reported on the distribution of food along party lines, on the high levels of fear, as well as on the repressive laws which have strangled the independent media and made it impossible for the opposition to stage even peaceful demonstrations. And yet, to read the accounts of the members of the fact-finding team and, in particular, to see the interviews with ordinary people is to understand how deeply rooted the fear of the security forces is in the average Zimbabwean and how entrenched the politicisation of food distribution has become. Testimonies, such as this one from Selina Siwela in the video, make turning away from the dire situation in Zimbabwe impossible.

‘They told me I will never be allowed to buy food from the headman’s scheme because I can’t get it into my head and I support the MDC. (...) They say I’ll never buy food for the rest of my life. But why can’t I buy food? How will I feed the children? Now my name is on the top of the list. Selina Siwela – no more food.’

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