Posted on 03/10/2002 11:16:17 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
The people of Harare's poor Glen View neighborhood remained determined to vote, though many had waited in huge lines for more than a day and half and still were far from the ballot box. Worried that election officials might try to close the station, many swore they would not let the ballot boxes leave without their votes.
"We will block the doors or we will die here," said P. Philgo, an unemployed 27-year-old. There were still 1,500 people waiting to vote there two hours after the polls officially closed, but those in line said many had given up and gone home. HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's high court on Sunday ordered the government to extend voting by one day in the most bitterly contested presidential election in the country's history, just minutes after the government rejected the idea and said that only those already in line would be allowed to vote after the polling deadline.
Opposition officials said they had won an extension from Judge Ben Hlatshwayo in Harare and Chitungwiza, a neighboring township. Justice Minister Patrick Chinimasa told opposition lawyers that he would launch an urgent appeal to the Supreme Court Sunday night, asking them to strike down the high court ruling.
Almost simultaneously, Tobaiwa Mudede, registrar general in the election directorate said there would not be an extension and that by noon Sunday 2,475,147 of Zimbabwe's 5.6 million registered voters had already cast ballots.
"It is not our wish, or intention, to have an extension," Mudede said. "The whole country has voted, but about 10 polling stations in Harare are still going on ... I think things went very well."
Voters throughout the capital promised not to leave until they had a chance to choose between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader who has promised to transform the nation.
After the 7 p.m. closing time in one Harare township, Budiriro, several thousand voters waited in a slow-moving line as a half dozen riot police with bayonets on their rifles patrolled the crowd.
Precinct presiding officer Priscilla Mufunba said the station would stay open until everyone in line had voted, but lamented that "as long as we are open, they will never stop coming."
The people of Harare's poor Glen View neighborhood remained determined to vote, though many had waited in huge lines for more than a day and half and still were far from the ballot box. Worried that election officials might try to close the station, many swore they would not let the ballot boxes leave without their votes.
"We will block the doors or we will die here," said P. Philgo, an unemployed 27-year-old. There were still 1,500 people waiting to vote there two hours after the polls officially closed, but those in line said many had given up and gone home.
Tsvangirai, Mugabe's most competitive challenger since independence in 1980, cast his vote Sunday - his 50th birthday - and called for a two-day extension of the vote to deal with the high turnout, which most observers believe benefits his bid.
"The polling days should be extended, especially in Harare. If the authorities refuse to extend, it would be a tragedy for this country," he said earlier.
Learnmore Jongwe, spokesman for Tsvangirai's party welcomed the judge's decision.
"We understand that (Mugabe's party) is not considering extending and clearly this is how the elections are being rigged. This is one way of rigging elections as you are denying the people their vote," Jongwe said.
Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former military ruler of Nigeria who leads the Commonwealth observer mission, joined other monitors in calling for an extension of the voting.
Though lines were reported at polling stations throughout the country, none were as long as those in Harare, an opposition stronghold that has more than 14 percent of the nation's registered voters, but was assigned less than 3 percent of the polling booths for the elections, far fewer than in previous polls.
At a school-turned-polling station in Glen View, hundreds spent the night in line with no blankets and no food so they would not lose their place in line.
"I'd rather suffer for two days than suffer for six years," B. Ncube, 47, said.
Ncube originally came to the polls at 4 a.m. Saturday, but left at 8 p.m. to get food and a little sleep. He came back at 3 a.m. and was still far back in line by noon.
In the weeks before the vote, pro-Mugabe militants attacked opposition supporters, while police broke up several opposition rallies and arrested dozens of Tsvangirai supporters.
Civic groups, opposition supporters and witnesses said the violence and intimidation that plagued the election campaign continued during the balloting.
Ruling party militants took over two polling stations, stole voting materials from a third, and at another station, ballots arrived already marked in favor of Mugabe, observers and opposition supporters said Saturday.
In a statement Sunday night, opposition officials said attacks on movement polling monitors and supporters continued Sunday throughout the country. "The attacks appear to be systematically implemented and are clearly aimed at preventing (opposition) officials from observing the voting process in certain areas," it said.
Adrian de Bourbon, an opposition attorney who heads the Zimbabwe Bar Association, was arrested and charged with electoral corruption in Harare after distributing sandwiches and water to voters.
Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo said on state radio that the government had uncovered a conspiracy to destabilize the country after the voting and he said suspects were being investigated.
Government officials have repeatedly rejected accusations of intimidation and vote rigging through stringent election laws.
Tsvangirai is promising to revive the economy and end corruption.
Mugabe, however, has painted Tsvangirai as a servant to white interests and Western powers who want to see the country fail. Two weeks ago, Tsvangirai was charged with treason in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe, an allegation he has denied.
Mugabe has promised public works initiatives if he is re-elected and has pledged to continue his controversial program of seizing white-owned farms and giving them to landless blacks. Whites make up less than 1 percent of the country's population but own about a third of the nation's commercial farmland.
Many of those in line said they would support Tsvangirai's presidential bid because they blame Mugabe for the corruption, high unemployment, skyrocketing inflation and shortage of essential food items in the country.
Many said they hoped that when the votes are counted, Mugabe just might suffer his first election loss since leading the country to independence in 1980.
"Monday and Tuesday we are expecting something. Something special. Something different," said Precious Shundai, 26.
(rn/clt)
Hildar Chivende, right, who has been waiting in line for over 16 hours, is in the front of the line to enter a Harare polling station to cast her vote in Zimbabwe's presidential election, Sunday, March 10, 2002. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai is challenging Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
[Full Text] HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's high court Sunday granted an opposition request to hold a third day of voting in a crucial presidential election after long delays obstructed voting, an opposition lawyer said.
Eric Matinenga, a lawyer for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, told reporters that high court judge Ben Hlatshwayo "Has ordered that an extension be granted not only for Harare ... but the whole country until close of voting tomorrow."
There was no immediate comment from the government side. Matinenga said the government was expected to appeal but this would not prevent voting going ahead Monday.
The MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, appealed to the court to extend voting beyond the scheduled two days after huge queues built up at polling stations in the opposition stronghold of Harare.
Tsvangirai charged that President Robert Mugabe was deliberately obstructing the vote to disenfranchise opposition supporters.
Isn't that the guy whole stole half of Nigeria's wealth, when he was dictator? Talk about strange bedfellows!
I've read that Mugabe reduced the number of polling stations in opposition strongholds, opened additional ones in his strongholds, and has been sending taxis around to polling stations with boxes full of pre-fabricated "Mugabe" votes. Should a miracle occur, and Mugabe loses, I expect him to impose martial law and set aside the results, claiming that humbuggery occurred.
A child walks between the line of men, left, and women, right, voters who are waiting to cast their ballots in Zimbabwe's presidential elections in Harare, Sunday, March 10, 2002. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) presidential challenger Morgan Tsvangirai is challenging Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
You're thinking of Sani Abacha.
Another example to support the theory that crime cause poverty, not poverty causes crime, as the Left so ardently insists. Whether at a national level such as third world countries as Zimbabwe, or the local level as the cities of D.C. or Compton CA.
When this paradox is understood, poverty AND crime will decline.
Key Developments in Zimbabwe - Eve of Election--Chronology of Mugabe years
Short Drive, Long Walk to Wealth in S.Africa
And this is why the Leftists sit silent The perils of designer tribalism
Zimbabwe court orders government to extend voting as thousand wait in landmark election--[Excerpt] Voters throughout the capital vowed not to leave until they had cast ballots. Half a dozen riot police with bayonets on their rifles in one Harare township patrolled several thousand voters who waited in a slow-moving line after the 7 p.m. voting deadline passed.
Precinct presiding officer Priscilla Mufunba said the station would stay open until everyone in line had voted, but lamented that "as long as we are open, they will never stop coming."
The people of Harare's poor Glen View neighborhood were determined to vote, though many had waited in huge lines for more than a day and half and still were far from the ballot box.
"We will block the doors or we will die here," said P. Philgo, an unemployed 27-year-old.
In the weeks before the vote, pro-Mugabe militants attacked opposition supporters, while police broke up several opposition rallies and arrested dozens of Tsvangirai supporters. Civic groups, opposition supporters and witnesses said the violence and intimidation continued during the balloting.
Ruling party militants took over two polling stations, stole voting materials from a third, and at another station, ballots arrived already marked in favor of Mugabe, observers and opposition supporters said Saturday. [End Excerpt]
It said at least 58 people, including two Britons and two Americans, had been arrested by police between Friday night and Sunday morning. They included 11 white farmers and were mostly MDC supporters.
State radio said many queues had dwindled and polling was closing smoothly in rural areas which are the heartland of Mugabe's support.
The registrar-general, Tobaiwa Mudede, earlier ruled polling stations could stay open after the official closing time where there were long queues .
The Human Rights Forum reported that the voting process was painfully slow in many polling stations in Harare. In one constituency voting was at the rate of 35 people per hour.
The delays caused anger in the long queues in Harare.
"It is not fair. Voting is not a crime. We are not happy at all (with the lengthy delays). All these people are Zimbabweans and should be allowed to choose their leaders," said Peter Chiriseri, as he queued in Harare.
Mugabe and his government have overruled or ignored a number of court orders over the past two years, including two court instructions to halt the seizure of white-owned commercial farms.
Mudede said 2,475,147 voters, out of a total 5.6 million registered, had cast their ballots by 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tsvangirai lodged the court application after charging that Mugabe had deliberately reduced the number of polling stations and delayed voting in the MDC's Harare strongholds in order to fix the election.
Thousands of people were still queuing in Harare late on Sunday, hours after polls had been due to close in the two-day election.
Some people had been waiting 20 hours. [End Excerpt]
You're thinking of Sani Abacha.
Thanks.
A man near him said his number was 1,690.
[Full Text] An hour after polls officially closed in Zimbabwe's presidential election Sunday, Locs Makhombe — voter number 545 at a Harare polling station — was still waiting to vote. About 1,500 people stood behind him.
Makhombe was among tens of thousands of voters who stood in massive lines this weekend to have their say on whether President Robert Mugabe should extend his 22-year-rule of this troubled southern African country.
The opposition appealed for an extension of the voting, and Zimbabwe's High Court said Sunday that it should continue through Monday, but government officials said they planned to appeal the ruling.
As he waited, Makhombe, who is 48 and makes his living as a driver, tried to whittle away the time with a crossword puzzle.
"My mind is not on it. I just want to vote," he said. "I'm just trying to distract my mind so (the wait) won't hurt so much."
Makhombe arrived at the polling station at 5 a.m. Saturday, left 17 hours later and returned at 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
"But it's not better today. But we will stay here today because we must vote," he said. "We are hoping very much for a new thing because our lives have become too hard."
Many of those in line said they planned to vote for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai because they blame Mugabe for corruption, high unemployment, skyrocketing inflation and food shortages.
Tsvangirai poses the most serious challenge to Mugabe, who has not lost an election since he led Zimbabwe to independence from Britain in 1980.
The opposition has accused Mugabe's ruling party of putting too few polling stations in Harare, where opposition support is strong, and more in the country where the ruling party holds sway.
The capital has more than 14 percent of the nation's registered voters but was assigned less than 3 percent of the polling booths, far less than in the last election.
High turnout and poor organization in the election system also caused delays.
At the school where Makhombe waited to cast his ballot, voting ended late Saturday night after officials said they had run out of indelible ink to mark voters' hands to prevent multiple voting.
Many voters decided to sleep outside to save their places, and the men and the women were split into separate lines "to avoid any criminal offenses" during the night, said N.M. Sakusu, the presiding polling officer at the site.
Early Sunday morning the voters were given numbers — reaching well above 1,000 — to mark their places in line.
Voters who made it inside went through a long and laborious process: polling officers checked their hands for the indelible ink, searched for their names on the huge voter roll, then marked their hands as they headed into the booth.
In Harare, unlike in other areas, voters were electing a mayor and city council as well as president, further slowing the process because they had to fill out three separate ballots and put them in three separate boxes.
"They don't want people to vote. They don't want to change things," Lazurus Chineya said, pointing to the distant polling station from his spot far back in the line outside.
A man near him said his number was 1,690.
[Full Text] ZIMBABWE'S High Court last night ordered the government to extend voting by another day as tens of thousands of people in Harare were left waiting to cast their ballots.
The court granted an application by the opposition to extend the two-day ballot after Judge Ben Hlatwayo flew over the capital to see for himself the long queues outside the polling stations.
The government is to appeal against the ruling, with a hearing scheduled for today. As the court issued its decision, state radio announced that polling stations had closed and voting would not be extended.
An hour later, 60 riot police charged into the Glen Norah polling station in the capital, chasing away between 2,500 and 3,000 people waiting to vote, an opposition observer said. The polling station was then locked.
Tobaiwa Mudede, registrar general in the election directorate, said: "It is not our wish, or intention, to have an extension. I think things went very well."
According to official figures, the turn-out was unusually low. Tellingly, it was reported to be much larger in President Robert Mugabe's rural heartland than in the urban stronghold of his opposition challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai.
In several Harare townships, voters stubbornly stayed in line. "We will block the doors or we will die here," said one man vowing to stop the ballot boxes from being moved until everyone had voted.
Human rights groups reported beatings and scores of arrests throughout the country yesterday, including the detention of two Britons and an American jailed in the east of the country for attending an "illegal" opposition gathering and having radio equipment.
However, there were growing signs that South Africa and other African countries were preparing to recognise a new six-year term for Mr Mugabe.
Several observer sources said the South African government was exerting pressure on its official election observers to declare the election "free and fair".
In an interview, Dr. Zvobgo dismissed threats made last week by the government's external affairs chief, Didymus Mutasa, that ZANU-PF would initiate a military coup to keep Mugabe in power if opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai prevails.
Hinting at deep rifts among the president's political and military circle, he revealed that the party's "official position" is that it will abide by the result and will not tolerate attempts to subvert it. He acknowledged that there could yet be a coup attempt, but appeared confident that few within the armed forces would actually join it. "Even if such a thing happened and succeeded, it would not be permanent," he says.
While Mugabe regularly claims that British neocolonial interference is responsible for the state of the country, Zvobgo says, "I am not one who believes in blaming the world for the plight in which we find ourselves. Sure, some factors were beyond our control, but others were within our grasp, and we either mismanaged or we hesitated and lost an opportunity."
In particular, he said, was the government's failure to come up with an orderly and legal land-redistribution scheme - instead allowing the war veterans to launch farm invasions.
"The devil which has spoiled everything was when we decided to take land," he admits. "I spent 10 years in prison during the liberation struggle, but I didn't go through all that personal sacrifice simply for land," he says. "It was about matters of human dignity, an end to racism, opening up the opportunity for the human soul to freely soar so that every person can reach their highest capabilities." [End]
Hang in there guys.
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