Namibia: Anger over Zim election monitor
A senior member of an African observer group monitoring Namibia's elections had his own election in Zimbabwe's 2000 poll annulled because of violent intimidation in his constituency, according to court records, reports South Africa's The Star newspaper. Shadreck Chipanga, a former director of Zimbabwe's notorious secret police, was identified by witnesses as being at the wheel of a pick-up truck carrying ruling-party supporters who disembowelled a young man on the bonnet of the vehicle. The Namibian Society for Human Rights has issued a statement over the controversy.
Shady Namibian election observer
http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=2302317
November 17 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOTORIOUS ZIMBABWEAN AN OBSERVER?
NSHR is deeply disturbed by human rights and media reports that one of the two deputy chairpersons of the SADC Parliamentary Forum’s Elections Observer Team in the country is veteran of elections and other political crimes in Zimbabwe.
International media reports, citing Zimbabwe's state-controlled daily Herald, reported on Monday that Chipanga had been appointed as one of two deputy chairs of the SADC observer delegation in Namibia.
Upon enquiry from the SADC Parliamentary Forum’s Elections Observer Mission this afternoon, NSHR was told that Shadreck Tongesai Chipanga is leading the SADC Parliamentary Forum Elections observer team in the Oshana Region, some 700 kilometers northwest of Windhoek, the Namibian capital.
According to reports Chipanga--himself a former director of Zimbabwe's dreaded secret police, the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO)--is notorious for having engaged in widespread human rights abuses, including violent electoral intimidation in his own constituency of Makoni East, some 180 kilometers east of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Said one of the eyewitnesses on April 9 2000:
”I was wearing an MDC T-shirt and going to an MDC rally at Mabvazuva in Rusape in the company of J.M. Six people alighted from a white defender and kidnapped us. Shadreck Chipanga was with them. We were taken along Wedza Road and assaulted with sticks and iron bars. I sustained injuries to my back and currently experiences problems with my spinal cord. There were 12 people in the vehicle. We were threatened with death and being buried alive. We were told to remove our T-shirts and support Zanu (PF) if we wanted to survive. They took us to Mucheke River and threatened to throw us into it. Chipanga then gave the order for us to be spared. We were dumped at Mucheke River about 23kms from Rusape”.
Chipanga reportedly was also identified by eyewitnesses as being at the wheel of a pick-up truck carrying ZANU PF supporters who disemboweled Francis Chigonzo (23) on the bonnet of the vehicle for having Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) pamphlets during the run-up to the violence-ridden 2000 parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe.
“What criteria is being used by SADC to put people on a mission such as the elections observer mission? With observers like Mr. Chipanga at its helm it remains to be seen what the SADC Parliamentary Forum would say about election integrity in our Namibian elections. Isn’t that tantamount to asking rain to bring you fire? We were under the impression that part of election integrity is that observers themselves must have requisite credentials. We demand a thorough explanation from the Chairperson of the SADC Parliamentary Forum about the matter” said Phil ya Nangoloh, Chairperson of NSHR’s Elections Observer Team.
NSHR strongly recommend that for the SADC Elections Observer Forum to be credible in the future people selected for elections monitoring or observation must be persons of high moral character and recognized competence in that field.
In case of further enquiries, please call Dorkas Nangolo-Phillemon or P. ya Nangoloh at Tel: 061 236 183 or 061 253 447 (office hours) or Cell: +264 811 223 977 (Dorkas) or Cell: +264 811 299 886 (ya Nangoloh) or visit us at: www.nshr.org.na