Robert Gabriel Mugabe was re-elected the President of Zimbabwe on
Saturday, extending a thirty three year reign at the helm of the country
he helped liberate from white rule in 1980. Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU (PF)
proved similarly dominant, winning two-thirds of the seats declared thus
far.
Now 89 years old, Mr. Mugabe and the ZANU (PF) have ruled Zimbabwe since
independence, seeing off numerous challenges through a recipe of
realpolitik and control of security forces and institutions of state.
The victory was as comprehensive as it was controversial with Mr. Mugabe
sweeping the polls with 61 percent of votes cast, nearly twice as those
polled by Morgan Tsvangirai, his closest rival, amidst opposition
allegations of fraud. At the time of press, Harare was calm with none of
violence of the 2008 election in which security forces killed 200
people after Mr. Tsvangirai emerged as the front-runner in a
presidential run-off.
In 2008, Zimbabwe’s neighbours intervened to force both sides into an
uneasy coalition, but four years later the country is confronting the
same questions. “We do not want an election in which the referee throws
away the whistle and joins the other team,” Mr. Tsvangirai said at a
press conference at his residence.
He labeled the entire process a fraud, offering an example of how 10,000
of 17,000 votes cast in a particular constituency were by assisted,
uneducated voters: unusual in a country with 90 percent adult literacy.
His party shall challenge the results in court and will submit a dossier
of alleged malpractices to the African Union (AU) and the South African
Development Community (SADC) and has asked them to intervene to avoid a
“constitutional, political and economic crisis.”
Yesterday, both bodies offered a cautious endorsement of the process,
maintaining that the election’s many inconsistencies did not fatally
flaw the outcome.
Senior ZANU (PF) hit back at the MDC’s allegations. “The election has
been declared free, fair and transparent,” said Emmerson Mnangagwa, a
senior ZANU (PF) leader, “We have 61 percent of the vote, we have the
capacity to rule for five years.”
In the run-up to the election, ZANU (PF) leaders had spoken of the
humiliation of having to share power with a opposition that they
consistently project as a tool of western powers like the United Kingdom
and the European Union who have imposed sanctions on the country.
“The people have shown their respect for the father of the nation by
giving him back his position as President,” Saviour Kasukuwere, the ZANU
PF minister for Indigenisation, “We want to focus on developing our
economy. Our message is, let the sanctions go and lets do business.”
In victory, Mr. Kasukuwere said, the ZANU (PF) seeks to deepen an
indigenization policy in which 51 percent of all large private companies
must be owned by black Zimbabweans, or the state.
The indigenization programme, the ZANU (PF) hopes, shall galvanize its
base in much the way of the land distribution programme of the mid-2000s
in which 170,000 black families were given land seized from a handful
of white farmers.
Critics fear that such policies shall lead to capital flight, but the
government believes that Zimbabwe’s substantial mineral deposits and
highly educated workforce shall convince international capital to stay.
“We have our manifesto which we are going to implement thoroughly:
Indigenization, empowerment, development and employment creation,” Mr.
Mnangagwa said. Critics fear that such policies shall lead to capital
flight, but the government believes that Zimbabwe’s substantial mineral
deposits and highly educated workforce shall convince international
capital to stay.
The opposition believes its concerns must be addressed before the
process is termed legitimate and sanctions lifted. “Mugabe needs the AU
and SADC. He needs the MDC,” said Mr. Tsvangirai, when asked what
leverage he had in the current situation.
However, ZANU (PF) leaders appeared confident. “The west must find a
ladder and climb down and respect the views of the people of Zimbabwe,”
said Mr. Mnangagwa, “A democratic election has taken place in Zimbabwe,
what else can they do?”
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