African Blog Review: Focus on Zimbabwe
This week, many African bloggers focused on the twin elections in Zimbabwe, analyzing and commenting on the competing claims of victory, the rumors and sometimes outlandish allegations that have been coming from that country.
wonders whether the final election results will reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people:
“We now await the Zimbabwe election results to see if the election was fixed or fair -- or poorly fixed. Should the fix be in, will Zimbabweans accept the "result" as in past elections, or will Zimbabwe descend into the chaos Kenya faced?
Based upon the average Zimbabwean's aversion to more warfare, I doubt the Kenya chaos will result unless Mugabe loses and unleashes his thugs. But he does that after every election in order to secure the next one.
Will Zimbabweans be free? I don't know.”
Township Vibes shares the widespread impatience and suspicion at the snail’s pace in which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is releasing the results:
“Is there something going on that we haven't been told? The whole nation waits, very anxiously for the results of probably the most important election in the life of the long suffering Zimbabweans since independence.
Is the rigging machine at work? I don't know how you see it! How can one be a player and referee in the same game. Let's be serious, everyone knows the election results.
Why play with people's emotions? The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should just give people the results. Morgan Tsvangirayi and MDC won the election period! People know the results, Zanu PF knows the results, MDC know the results, and nearly everyone knows the results. Some may want to argue, some are saying let's wait for the results being announced by the Zanu PF government! Give me a break!
Zanu PF lost and lost big time!”
“Sure there needs to be an election to expose - what is so clearly being exposed - the work of Rigger Mugabe. But it doesn’t end there. A stolen election needs to be backed up by strong civic resistance. And usually it’s a good idea to have civic resistance guided by strong leadership. This is where Plan B comes in - the elephant in the room as far as the political opposition and civil society is concerned…
There is absolutely no question that the MDC has worked hard and campaigned strongly, but this is not enough. The MDC must prepare their supporters for resistance and be willing to lead them. Clear leadership from the MDC will mitigate spontaneous and sporadic violence. Civil society organisations must ignite their memberships (if indeed they actually have them) and lead them in defense of their vote. The international community must be prepared to speak out and support democratic change in Zimbabwe.
We cannot continue to sub contract the response to electoral fraud in Zimbabwe to the international community. We cannot continue to shield the MDC from criticism for their lack of follow through.”
Yblog ZA describes how activists were able to inform the world of the possible MDC victory even before the Mugabe regime had the time to get its act together:
“In 2000, 2002 and 2005 we encouraged MDC members and supporters to go to the polls but we did not claim our victories. MDC made a mistake of not claiming their victory and ZEC doctored the figures to keep Mugabe in power. In 2008 a secretive group of compatriots may have gotten the jump on Mugabe they came prepared and knowing Zimbabwe's electoral law they knew results would be posted as bulletin outside every polling station. The group deployed trained polling agents, equipped with phones and cameras, throughout the country on election day Saturday, and they counted voters and took photographs of voting results pasted up at voting stations (a previously unobserved requirement of voting regulations). The information was sent via text messages or satellite phone to a call center in South Africa, where it was collated and posted at www.zimelectionresults.com for all to see. "These will be archived on this Web site later as forensic evidence," the site says. "A separate report on discrepancies will be filed on the site later."
Although official counts for Saturday's election have been delayed, the Independent Results Centre has already announced that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai have won in a landside. Given the country's history of electoral fraud, the clandestine group's findings are likely to be widely perceived as at least as plausible as the official ones.”
Thinking Aloud wonders whether it is a good idea for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to step into Mugabe’s shoes if his victory is confirmed:
“… this man is a hero, he has managed to mobilise Zimbwabweans around a single cause of defeating Mugabe … he has fought a good fight, he has kept the faith till the end!
All emotion dictates that he finally ascends the throne and wear the crown of victory. But let us be a little critical and ask this question for the sake of a better Zimbwabwe from the head? Is Morgan the right guy for the job? Will he be able to handle the broken machinery of the Zim government? I will be the first one to say I don’t know Morgan very well, except his heroics against Mugabe… I believe Morgan should rather take a political father role of the new government. I believe he is more suited to be the unifier, and seek to sell MDC to the Mugabe rural constituencies. He can then make sure that the best brains that MDC has can then ascend to rule the country while he becomes the symbol of freedom. He stands to then be the real father of Zimbwabwe and avoid the tricky task of governance… liberators do not always make good governors. I also hope that the other faction stays as opposition and Zanu-PF remains as opposition, just to keep MDC on its toes. In SA we have learnt that in the absence of credible opposition, the liberators quickly loose their way!”
* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/