Zimbabwe run-off election day wrap-up

Ink-stained finger voters hope will keep them alive

· Zimbabweans forced to vote by militia
· Some made to show ballot papers

Chris McGreal in Harare
The Guardian,
Saturday June 28, 2008

The young man who gave his name only as Wilson wanted just one thing from
yesterday's presidential election in Zimbabwe: the indelible red ink on his
little finger to show he had voted.

"They said they would come to see if we voted," he said after casting his
ballot in a tent in a Harare suburb. "They know if we went to vote we would
have to vote for the president. They were watching."

Who are "they"?

"The ones who made us go to the meetings at night. The ones who told us we
must be careful to correct our mistake."

Wilson voted for Robert Mugabe yesterday, against his will but judging that
it was the best way to save himself from a beating or worse.

So did many other Zimbabweans, driven to the polls by fear after a bloody
and relentless campaign of beatings, abductions and murders against the
voters by the ruling Zanu-PF to reverse Mugabe's humiliating defeat at the
hands of Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change leader who
beat him clearly in the first round of voting three months ago but without
an outright majority.

The state-run Herald newspaper yesterday predicted a "massive" turnout in
support of Mugabe. There were few signs of that in Harare although those who
stayed away from the polls in the more upmarket parts of the capital tended
to be the homeowners. Their maids and gardeners, subjected to nightly forced
political meetings by Zanu-PF, were taking no chances.

The Zanu-PF militia was out early in Chitungwiza, one of the Harare
townships where the ruling party unleashed its violent campaign of
retribution to "reorient" people who voted for the opposition last time.
They moved from house to house at dawn, singing liberation war songs and
banging on doors to warn people to vote.

Near some polling stations in the township, voters were directed to
buildings where ruling party activists told them to record the serial
numbers of the ballot paper they received at the voting booth and to return
with it.

Zanu-PF set up tents close to some polling stations in Harare where people
were expected to show their identity cards so their names could be ticked
off as having voted.

But some people remained defiant. "I refuse to vote," said Blessed Manyonga
in Chitungwiza. "If they ask me I will say I lost my identity card. I will
not vote for my own oppression."

Others said they spoiled their ballot papers. "I put a question mark next to
Robert Mugabe," said a man who gave his name only as Tendai. "It's a joke."

In Harare, one man said he had not voted at all and instead smeared his
finger with ink from a ballpoint pen. But in many rural areas people were
being driven en masse to the polls and left in no doubt about what they were
expected to do.

Opposition officials said some voters reported having their identity numbers
written on the back of their ballot papers. In other places they were forced
to show how they had marked the ballot before they dropped it in the voting
box.

Still others were handed pre-marked ballots by ruling party activists and
told to hand back the blank ones they received inside the polling booths to
prove they had not voted for the opposition.

Pishai Muchauraya, an opposition MP in Manicaland, said he witnessed a low
turnout in Mutare, the province's main city, but had received reports of
voters being forced to the polls and intimidated in large numbers in rural
areas where the vote swung against Mugabe in March.

"Here in the urban areas people have just stayed at home. They are defiant.
In rural areas like Buhera and Makoni people are being forced to go and
vote. They say we will check your finger and if you don't vote ..." he said.
"They are also expected to say they cannot read and write, and to ask for
assistance to vote. People were forced to sleep at Zanu-PF bases and then
taken to vote. All that kind of coercion."

Opposition activists in Mashonaland said whole villages had been warned that
if there was anything short of a substantial victory for Mugabe when the
count was made at local polling stations, then those who voted there would
be collectively punished.

But there were those who voted for Mugabe more than willingly. "Why should
we vote against our president when he liberated this country?" said Agnes
Tapera in Chitungwiza. "What is Tsvangirai? Did he fight in the liberation
war? Why is he so friendly with those white farmers? Why does Britain
support him? Tsvangirai is not a president. He runs away every time it gets
difficult. Right now he is hiding in that [Dutch] embassy. Mugabe stays and
fights. He fought Ian Smith and the British and he is fighting Tsvangirai
and he will win."

It was all in stark contrast to the first round of presidential elections
three months ago when Mugabe's opponents briefly believed they might finally
remove him from power simply by marking a ballot paper. There was no such
illusion yesterday.

Mugabe emerged from voting in Highfield township in Harare proclaiming
himself "very optimistic" and "upbeat" that yesterday's ballot would reverse
his first round defeat. That was one thing Zimbabwe's president for the past
28 years and the opposition agreed on - that there's little doubt Mugabe
will be declared the winner.

His Zanu-PF party says it is a popular response to its campaign for "100%
empowerment and independence" from British imperialism.

The ruling party chairman, John Nkomo, made a televised appeal to
Zimbabweans to support Mugabe by portraying support for the opposition as
akin to recolonisation and Tsvangirai as a Downing street puppet.

"Our statehood and our nationhood are under severe threat. The question
before each and every one of us is whether, advertently or inadvertently, we
will go down in the annals of history as defenders of our motherland or as
traitors who unabashedly volunteered for servitude," he said. "The ferocity
of the anti-Zimbabwe campaign underscores what is at stake - our
independence and future as a nation. Evidently this onslaught is being
directed from London and Washington."

Even the Queen - or what the Herald called the High Priestess of England -
got dragged in for stripping Mugabe of his honorary knighthood this week.

The paper said it was a welcome development ahead of the election which
confirmed the need to support "total independence".

"No one has ever referred to our president as 'Sir' Robert Mugabe. He is
known as 'Comrade' Robert Mugabe and that says it all," said the Herald.

Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the race because of the systematic violence
that has virtually wiped out his party's structures on the ground but who
remained on the ballot paper, urged his supporters to stay away from the
polls. But he said they should vote for Mugabe if that was necessary to save
their skins.

"What is happening is not an election," he said yesterday. "It is an
exercise in mass intimidation with people all over the country being forced
to vote. Fortunately, Zimbabweans are attempting to stay away from the polls
as they can tell the difference between democracy and a dictatorship
desperate for the illusion of legitimacy."

But Tsvangirai said the vote would strip Mugabe of the last vestiges of
legitimacy as president whatever the outcome of the election."Zimbabweans
know that there is nothing legitimate about this election and they know that
there will be nothing legitimate about the result. This is a view shared by
many African and world leaders," he said.

"The end of this terrible, violent dictatorship is now assured, the people's
victory may have been delayed by this sham election but it will never be
denied."

Many of the voters are not so confident."It was our mistake to think we
could get rid of Mugabe," said Wilson. "He is right when he says only God
can get rid of him. I want to ask God if he is on our side."

All the intimidation may in the end prove academic because ultimately what
matters is the numbers on the final returns, and Zimbabwe's state-controlled
election commission will decide what they are beyond the reach of prying
eyes.

The violence not only scared the voters but drove opposition and independent
local election observers away from monitoring the polls. MDC polling agents
have been systematically beaten up, thrown into jail, abducted and murdered.

The thousands of independent local observers who oversaw the election three
months ago have also been terrorised into staying away, leaving the voting
and the count largely unscrutinised by outside witnesses.

Only a few hundred observers from African organisations are monitoring the
poll and they were hard-pressed to cover more than 9,000 polling stations.
Many of those observers have seen enough to decide that the election was
anything but free and fair, and seem ready to say so.

Mugabe plans to attend an African Union summit in Egypt next week as
Zimbabwe's newly re-elected president, and he will defy any of the
continent's leaders to question his legitimacy.

"When I go to the AU meeting next week, I am going to challenge some leaders
to point out when we have had worse elections," Mugabe told a final election
rally on Thursday. "I would like some African leaders who are making these
statements to point at me and we would see if those fingers would be cleaner
than mine."

That is largely irrelevant to the voters, who just wanted to get through the
day in one piece. But the end of balloting did not necessarily bring relief.
In some parts of Harare, the voters were told to report back to the polling
station after dark and to wait for the count to be completed. They were
warned that if the numbers were not right, there would be a price to pay.

"I hope everybody did what I did and voted for Mugabe," said Wilson.
"Otherwise we're all in trouble."

Fear in Zimbabwe as voters awake to Operation Red Finger

The Times
June 28, 2008

Harangued by the militia and watched by police, Zimbabweans headed to the
polls for the election run-off

Catherine Philp in Harare
Robert Mugabe was last night preparing to brazen it out with his fellow
African leaders after Zimbabwe voted with no option but to return him as
president.

After a day of voting in which the intimidation saw all but a brave handful
cast their vote for the 84-year-old, Mr Mugabe is expected to bask in the
light of the election result and take his country's seat at the African
Union summit in Egypt.

As the country voted, in the cities, the streets were all but deserted. In
the country, the queues stretched for yards. But everywhere the mood was the
same: fear, dread and resignation.

The dawn that illuminated President Mugabe's pantomime election day could
not have been more different to that of three months ago, when three
challengers shared the ballot with him and voters got up before first light,
quivering with excitement to be part of the change they scented.

An e-mail being passed around from the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
urged supporters not to boycott the polls if doing so would put their lives
at risk.
"Whatever might happen, the results . . . will not be recognised by the
world," Mr Tsvangirai vowed. "God knows what is in your hearts. Don't risk
your lives." The result, he added, would "reflect only the fear of the
people of Zimbabwe" and he urged the international community to reject the
result.

Even by the standard of the past two terrifying weeks, the atmosphere of
fear yesterday was extraordinary. In the capital, police patrolled every
block while white pickup trucks of Zanu (PF) youth militia hurtled around
the streets, their passengers singing revolutionary songs and heckling the
few passers-by, demanding to know why they were not voting.

At farms south of the capital, huge queues outside polling stations were
watched over by party officials. There and in the slum areas of Mbare and
Epworth, groups of voters arrived at the stations in groups accompanied by a
local Zanu (PF) marshal, who ticked their names off lists and summoned them
one by one to vote.

Along highways in Masvingo and Mashonaland scores of roadblocks had sprung
up overnight, mostly manned by Zanu (PF) militants. Motorists were stopped
and ordered to the polls if they could not show the telltale little finger
dyed pink with indelible ink, proving they had voted.

Frances, a staunch MDC supporter, said that she had gone to vote purely to
get her finger marked because of "Operation Red Finger", a reprisal campaign
that the regime has promised to launch against anyone unable to prove that
they voted.

"If we don't vote, they don't see the finger. We will be in trouble," she
said. "They called it Operation Red Finger - if you didn't vote, why? It
means you are an opposition supporter."

At a rally, the militia gave warning that failing to vote would be fatal.
"They are going to cut off our heads," Frances said. "We believe them
because many people in Mbare were butchered."

In the event Frances opted to spoil her ballot. It was an act of almost
foolhardy bravery: she had to dodge the party officials outside recording
the serial numbers of everyone's ballot paper in order to check them after
the vote. Inside the station, election officials directed vendors from the
sprawling Mbare market to their own ballot box, warning them that if a
single MDC vote was found there they would all be driven out of the market.
Similar patterns of coercion and intimidation were reported across the
country, suggesting a highly orchestrated and centralised campaign. Voters
in some areas were told to pretend they could not write and to ask for help
from police or party officials; in others they were told to feign arm
injuries.

International condemnation was swift. Foreign ministers of the G8
industrialised nations meeting in Kyoto denounced the systematic violence,
obstruction and intimidation in Zimbabwe and demanded that the Government
work with the opposition. "We will not accept the legitimacy of any
government that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people," the
ministers said in a statement.

In an interview with The Times, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary,
called the country's economic collapse and political brutality "a scar on
the whole continent".

He said: "I think that there's now a real responsibility on the African
Union, as well as SADC [Southern African Development Community]. There are
leaders across the AU speaking out, and I think that's very significant. The
AU is going to have to be part of the solution. It's very clear to the UK
that there's no legitimacy for the Government of Robert Mugabe." Both the US
and the EU dismissed the election as a sham. In an interview with Channel 4
last night, Archbishop Desmond Tutu implored the Zimbabwean leader to quit.
"For goodness sake, Mr Mugabe, you can end this tragedy - step down," he
said. He added that Africa's leaders "should declare Mr Mugabe illegitimate
if he claims that he is the newly elected president of Zimbabwe".

But in a sign that Mr Mugabe intends to challenge the authority and
character of the AU, the Zimbabwean President said that he would be at the
group's summit in Egypt and would point out that other African countries
"have done worse things". He added that he wanted them "to point at me, and
we would see if those fingers would be cleaner than mine".

Mr Tsvangirai left his refuge in the Dutch Embassy again yesterday to let
fly at President Mbeki of South Africa, saying that he could no longer see
"any role" for him as mediator in the crisis and accusing him of being ready
to recognise yesterday's election. Archbishop Tutu was also critical, saying
that Mr Mbeki's "softly softly" approach had not worked.

Few outsiders have been allowed in to observe the vote. Among those present
were monitors from the Pan-African Parliament and the SADC. Their early
assessments were grim. "The people are reluctant to talk," Khalid A. Dahab,
the Pan-African Parliament spokesman said. "Some of them are saying, 'We
were told to come here'. It's just not normal. There's a lot of tension."

A SADC observer said that the elections "were worse than those we witnessed
in Angola in 1992 after decades of war and are not credible". Domestic
monitoring groups called off their plans to observe the vote because of the
extreme violence their volunteers have been subjected to during the last
months of terror.

State newspapers had predicted the massive turnout that Mr Mugabe had
demanded but government radio was forced to concede that voters were only
"trickling in", attributing the slow start to the chilly winter weather.

As the polls drew to a close, fears were rising of a rapid backlash against
those who refused to turn out. In contrast with the unexplained weeks-long
delay that followed March's election, this result is expected today and Mr
Mugabe could be sworn in as early as Sunday, by which time "Operation Red
Finger" could be well under way.

People have been warned that the intimidation will not end with the vote.
The all-day and all-night pungwes, or indoctrination sessions, that millions
have been forced to attend are to continue in case people "forget" who they
should support.

Where Are the Voters?

Despite threats from Zimbabwe's ruling party that voters should turn out for Mugabe, many apparently stayed home.

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / AP

Giving Mugabe the Finger: Harare residents lined up to vote Friday, but turnout appeared to be low

By Rod Nordland | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Jun 27, 2008 | Updated: 5:26  p.m. ET Jun 27, 2008

Some details, such as timing and description of movements, in the following are altered for the safety of NEWSWEEK's reporter.

What if they held an election and no one came? Friday's runoff election in Zimbabwe was pretty much like that. Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition candidate and front-runner, sat out the election against President Robert Mugabe, and so did most people, at least in Harare and environs. Downtown Harare was a virtual ghost town, and at polling places around the city, the voting queues were twos and threes long, sometimes as many as 10s; rumor had it that at a few polling places in strongholds of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, there were actually hundreds, but I didn't see that in a long day of cruising the streets.

I did take a brief break, to run out to the airport and change cars; my little yellow thing had probably been seen lurking around too many places by now. And I took care to change hotels, even though the very helpful front desk fellow had registered me under one of his relatives' names rather than my own. He didn't even care about the tip.

There actually wasn't that much to see. Most stores and businesses had closed up shop for the day, not because it was a holiday, but out of fear of violence. So people were certainly able to vote. The Zimbabwean government mouthpiece, The Herald, had confidently predicted a massive turnout. ZANU-PF thugs had gone door to door rounding up people for re-education sessions, teaching them how they'll be punished if they don't turn out and vote for Mugabe. Many people were warned that they'd be attacked if ZANU-PF Green Bombers, their youth militia, found that their fingers hadn't been dipped in ink (normally this is done to prevent people from voting more than once). In this case, there was an effort to use it to scare people into voting.

It clearly didn't work in most instances. The scenes Friday were in marked contrast to the March 29 presidential poll, which Tsvangirai won 48-43 percent against Mugabe (even after the government finished tampering with the results). Reasonably free and fair until the time of the vote-counting, that election took place in a carnival atmosphere. Queues were measured in hundreds of meters and even kilometers rather than twos and threes, and people waited in them happily and patiently. Fast forward to Friday; whenever there was a short queue, it was a sad and sorry-looking one, people with downcast eyes and grim expressions, and almost entirely silent as they waited their turn of shame. Even for ZANU-PF, after all, what was the point?

An example was Mrs. Mazhindu (I didn't get her first name), a very fearful-looking lady in her 70s, who was waiting to cast her vote in the town of Chitungwiza, about 25 miles south of Harare, at the Zengazi 3 polling place—like most of them, a military style tent flanked with policemen on the shoulder of a main road. She was voting, she said, for two reasons: "I don't want to revisit the experience of the wars of the 1970s," she said, referring to Mugabe's campaign pledge that his followers would wage war on the victors if he lost. And "we were given strict instructions to vote for the president and no one else." She had good reason to be nervous, because the local president of the Zimbabwe Election Commission at that polling place was recognized by my translator as an officer of the Central Intelligence Organization, Mugabe's internal security apparatus, the secret police.

That particular polling place was one of the busier ones: There were three voters inside and three outside when I got there about 1 p.m., but in the early morning, some hundreds had been lined up, according to ZANU-PF folks there. Chitungwiza is one of the relative ZANU-PF strongholds and a place where Mugabe chose to make his last big election-eve speech, in which he railed against all the African leaders lining up to take potshots at him for the abominable snow job June 27 was shaping up to be. They managed to scare up a crowd numbering thousands for that speech; not surprising, then, that they could get a few of them to vote. In fact, one of them apparently voted four times. I met him in a coffee shop, and he had four purple fingers, trying no doubt to make up for the low turnout single-handedly, as it were.

Other places were even more lightly attended. At the Queen Elizabeth School in Harare, the polling place president said, with no apparent regret, "People just aren't coming, we've had only 20 or 30 so far." And this was at 11 a.m. in a country where traditionally most people vote early. Voter Charles Mutema, an employee at the ministry of justice, didn't look happy about doing his civic duty as he dipped his finger in the telltale purple ink. "We need a president," he said, "so we have no choice."

John Makumbe, a professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe, said he has no doubt that Mugabe's marauders will be out by Saturday, looking for people who don't have purple fingers, but even so he had no intention of supporting a sham election by voting in it. "I went along to one of the polling places just for a chuckle," he said. "I saw an old man I knew and said, 'Why are you voting?' He said he didn't want to get attacked, but he fully intended to spoil his ballot."

It wasn't an entirely grim day. My translator, who prefers to go by the pseudonym of Myamuziwra, became adept at the drive-by interview, through the open passenger-side window, which we thought might minimize our chances of running afoul of the authorities for committing criminal journalism. "Hey, did you vote?" he called to a man lounging on a corner. "No, did you?" Myamuziwra showed him his clean fingers. "Well," said the man, "I can see who you voted for."

'If you vote MDC, they will destroy your house'

The Times
June 28, 2008

Jan Raath in Harare
Nyasha was waiting last night to have his fingers checked. At stake was his
house, his health and possibly even his life.

Nyasha, like every other voter, had had to dip his little finger into a
sponge soaked with pink indelible fluid. "Operation Red Finger" is a vital
pillar in President Mugabe's strategy to maximise turnout, to give yesterday's
one-man presidential race a semblance of respectability.

So everybody went to vote, even in Epworth, a sprawling jumble of mud and
brick huts that has witnessed some of the worst political violence in
Zimbabwe in recent weeks. When Nyasha and his lodger Brian got to the
polling station in Epworth, at 7am, there was already a very long queue.

There were as many people waiting to cast their ballot yesterday at the
school where the vote was held as in the relatively free first round in
March, but Nyasha sensed that the atmosphere was much more subdued. A crowd
of youths lurked at the gate of the school, without their Mugabe T-shirts,
so as not to make the purpose of their presence too obvious. Their job was
to make sure that everybody voted the right way.

"When I got to the gate, a war veteran gave me a pen and a piece of paper.
He told me I had to write the serial number of the ballot paper when I am in
the polling booth," Nyasha said.
"When you come out, you go to another war veteran waiting at the gate and he
writes down your serial number, your name, your address and your ID number
in an exercise book. They say that later they can find your ballot paper and
check who you voted for. If you voted for the MDC, they will destroy your
house and you have to leave Epworth.

"I have a red finger," he said. "I wanted to vote for Tsvangirai, but I
voted for Mugabe, because of fear. Everyone is afraid their houses will be
destroyed, so they are voting for Mugabe."

In the last two weeks, nearly 200 homes of suspected MDC supporters have
been smashed by Zanu (PF) gangs, up to 15 of them in Nyasha's ward.

"Now we are waiting for the end of the day," Nyasha said on his way home.
"They said they will come to everyone's houses after voting is finished and
see that everybody voted. They will look at our fingers for the red ink. If
you don't have red ink they will beat you and then destroy your house," he
said. In Epworth, the Zanu (PF) election campaign for the run-off featured
systematic floggings, preceded by "confessions" forced out of people who
voted for the MDC in the first round in March.

Amazingly, there are still some people who are prepared to defy the regime.
Mary, a maid in her late 50s, was going to make sure she got her red finger,
but she could not bear to tick the name of the sole remaining candidate. "I
am going to draw a big X all over the voting paper, to spoil my vote," she
said. "I don't want Mugabe."

Zimbabwe: Big queues for bread, but little enthusiasm for election charade

Independent, UK

By Daniel Howden in Harare
Saturday, 28 June 2008

Two lines of people at dawn yesterday told the story of an unwanted election
in Zimbabwe. The first queue stretched in an L-shape, more than 200 strong,
waiting for bread. In the adjacent lot four policemen guarded a polling
station where three people waited to vote.

The crowds that gathered from dawn til dusk three months ago in the hope of
voting freely stayed away yesterday from a "one-man election" that has been
almost universally condemned as a charade.

The huge support that Robert Mugabe is expected to boast of today was
invisible on the empty streets of the capital, Harare, where police and
militia were out in force from first light.

The systematic effort to beat out the vote that followed the 84-year-old
president's first-round defeat, and left more than 100 dead and thousands
tortured, left him as the only candidate in the race but appears to have
done nothing to rebuild his popular support.

Of the dozen polling stations across the capital visited by The Independent
during the morning there were no more than a handful of voters. In somem
cases there were none at all.

In the middle-class suburb of Strathaven the cynical government ploy of
releasing flour stocks for the first time this week backfired as people
flocked to the bread line, not the polling station.

"They should put the poll station next to the bread if they wanted to get
some votes," joked one man waiting to buy a loaf.

The euphoria that marked the most important election since independence gave
way yesterday to an exhausting tension. Police road blocks were ubiquitous
as were Mugabe posters demanding "one last push for total control".

In Mbare, one of the poorest districts south of the city, the morning's
trickle of voters became a march after ruling party officials press-ganged
reluctant locals into the queues. Witnesses saw militia beating people with
sticks, while at one station people's names were read aloud from a register
as they entered the voting tent.

A local vendor who refused to be identified said people had no choice.

"Many are standing there in the line so that the Zanu people will see them."

He pointed out three men wearing slings who he said were opposition
activists. They had been told to fake the arm injuries so that polling
agents would be called on to help them vote and "make sure they vote Mugabe".

Elsewhere, people improvised by rubbing fingers with people who had just
voted to get the ink stain that could mean the difference between life and
death in the retributions some fear will follow.

In some areas terrified people "registered" their vote at ruling party
command centres showing their fingers as proof. Already last night others
who had no ink stain to show were being rounded up in Harare.

Speaking from his refuge in the Dutch Embassy opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, who won the first round of voting by a clear margin, said the
vote "reflected only the fear of the people".

"What is happening today is not an election. It is an exercise in mass
intimidation."

The rural areas which have witnessed the worst of a terror campaign where
people have been routinely beaten, raped and mutilated were effectively
sealed off from the outside world. Reports told of ballot stuffing, arson
threats and voters being marched to polling stations.

The thousands of independent monitors and opposition polling agents who
fanned out across the country for the 29 March poll were not there to bear
witness. The Mugabe regime has barred many foreign journalists from
reporting in the country and even local reporters were attacked for
questioning people in a city-centre breadline yesterday.

The result is expected to be announced swiftly in contrast to the marathon
delays last time, showing a predetermined "realistic" turn-out of 1.6
million for Mugabe, according to the MDC's election director, Ian Makoni.

"The turn-out was very low, the public took heed of our call not to take
part. The figures they are going to release are meaningless.

"The election we recognise happened in March and it made Morgan Tsvangirai
the legitimate president.

An official polling agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there
was no comparison between the first and second rounds. By mid-afternoon at
one of the busiest polling stations outside the capital he had counted fewer
than 100 people. "In the last round they were queuing around the block," he
said by telephone.

The first round defeat appears to have taken the president and the military
junta by surprise. In the crisis that ensued Mr Mugabe's top generals and
financiers, the Joint Operations Command, decided to hit back with a
ruthless and well organised campaign to beat the opposition into submission
and take the second round by force.

That strategy was derailed by the MDC's decision to withdraw from the
run-off saying the country resembled a "war zone" and denouncing the poll as
a "sham". That stance has won strong Western backing and also drawn
unprecedented support from African leaders past and present.

The international dissent has left the former liberation hero Mugabe with a
crisis of legitimacy that he will attempt to confront today as he flies to
Cairo to attend an African Union meeting.

Mr Makoni said that the international community must now "act" against
Mugabe: "They have got to apply a lot of pressure. That's what happened at
the end of Apartheid and the same can happen here."

The regime will hope that the false calm in Harare's empty polling stations
will be enough to persuade regional SADC observers to sanction yesterday's
vote. But they need look no further than the South African embassy for
evidence of what has really happened. Hundreds of refugees from the violence
were huddled there yesterday in white tents. Clothes were left to dry on the
razor wire fence and infants were washed in buckets, while adults walked
around half naked to display the wounds they inflicted on them.

Four road blocks surround the compound, trying to keep this side of the
election story out of sight.

A stain on democracy as voters are frogmarched to polling stations

The Scotsman

Published Date: 28 June 2008
By Gerri Peev
Political Correspondent
ZIMBABWE'S main opposition leader has urged the world to ignore the
country's "sham" election in which President Robert Mugabe was the only
candidate.

The poll, marred by violence, was dismissed by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as "an exercise in mass
intimidation, with people all over the country being forced to vote".

World leaders also condemned the election, as reports came that voters were
marched to the ballot box by marshals carrying books with people's names.

Some voters were given pre-marked ballots and ordered to prove they had not
voted for the opposition. Their fingers were marked by indelible ink,
contradicting the Mugabe claim it was a free and fair election.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, joined a chorus of international
condemnation, insisting the poll was not legitimate. He echoed the words of
G8 foreign ministers at the close of a Tokyo conference of the world's
wealthiest lands, saying: "There is no legitimacy for a government claiming
election on the basis of today's events."

In Washington, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, called the
run-off a "sham". The US would raise possible sanctions with other UN
Security Council members, she said.

Despite desperate attempts by the ruling Zanu-PF party to portray the
contest as fair, the result will be undermined by what was tipped to be a
patchy turn-out.

Abel Chikomo, of the independent Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project in
Bulawayo, said: "There are more queues at bars than at polling stations.
People know the election is a farce."

Voters in rural areas had reportedly learned their homes would be burnt down
if they did not go to the polling stations. Mr Tsvangirai, who had removed
himself from the contest, warned supporters not to risk their personal
safety by voting for anyone other than 84-year-old Mr Mugabe.

In an e-mail message from the Dutch Embassy where he had sought refuge, Mr
Tsvangarai said he expected voters to be threatened, told to record their
ballot numbers and filmed as they voted. He advised them not to resist.

Later, at a press conference, he said that he understood Thabo Mbeki, the
South African president, planned to recognise the outcome of the poll.

This is in contrast to his pre-decessor, Nelson Mandela, who this week spoke
of the failure of leadership in Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe himself appeared jovial as he voted, telling a reporter he was
feeling "very fit, very optimistic, upbeat and hungry". But outside the
Harare polling station, two Zimbabwean freelance journalists were detained
by police as they waited to watch the president vote.

Dozens of opposition supporters have been killed and thousands of people
injured in the run-up to the vote.

Yesterday, there were reports of paramilitary police in riot gear deployed
to a central park in Harare. Militant supporters of Mr Mugabe also roamed
the streets, singing revolutionary songs, heckling people and demanding to
know why they were not voting.

A gunman in civilian clothes was also seen attacking a TV news cameraman and
the voter he was interviewing on a Harare street, then forcing them into a
police vehicle.

In contrast to the excitement and hope for change that marked the first
round of voting in March, this poll is expected only to deepen the nation's
pol-itical and economic crisis.

Widespread intimidation seen in Zimbabwe vote

By ANGUS SHAW - 25 minutes ago

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Roaming bands of government supporters heckled,
harassed or threatened people into voting in a runoff election Friday in
which President Robert Mugabe was the only candidate, ensuring he will
remain in power despite international condemnation of the balloting as a
sham.

Residents said they were forced to vote by threats of violence or arson from
the Mugabe supporters, who searched for anyone without an ink-stained
finger - the telltale sign that they had cast a ballot.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who withdrew from the runoff after an
onslaught of state-sponsored violence against his Democratic Movement for
Change, said the results would "reflect only the fear of the people."

"What is happening today is not an election. It is an exercise in mass
intimidation," he said at a news conference.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the vote a "sham," and said the
United States would use its position as president of the U.N. Security
Council until July 1 to drive international condemnation of Mugabe's regime.

"Those operating in Zimbabwe should know that there are those ... who
believe that the Security Council should consider sanctions," she said at a
meeting in Japan. "We intend to bring up the issue of Zimbabwe in the
council. We will see what the council decides to do."

The presidents of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, in a rare
comment about the affairs of another African country, said Zimbabwe's
one-candidate runoff, "cannot be a solution," to the country's political
crisis. The presidents, at a regular summit of the East African Community
held in Kigali, Rwanda, urged Mugabe's and Tsvangirai's parties "to come
together and work out an amicable solution through dialogue in the interest
of all Zimbabweans."

Jacob Zuma, the head of South Africa's African National Congress, said the
situation in Zimbabwe was "extremely difficult and distressing."

"We reiterate that the situation is now out of control," he said in
Johannesburg, South Africa, in one of the few times a senior South African
politician has openly criticized Mugabe. "Nothing short of a negotiated
political arrangement will get Zimbabwe out of the conflict it has been
plunged into."

European Union spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy said the election result will be
"hollow and meaningless."

Reporters and independent observers in Harare saw low turnout. As polls
closed at 7 p.m., officials at one Harare station said they hadn't seen a
voter for several hours.

Paramilitary police in riot gear deployed in a central Harare park, then
began patrolling the city. Marshals led some voters to polls, and militant
Mugabe supporters roamed the streets, singing revolutionary songs, heckling
people and asking why they were not voting.

Human rights activist Dusani Ncube estimated that fewer than 2,000 people
voted in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city. But he said people in
surrounding rural areas were told that if they did not vote their homes
would be burned down.

Human rights groups have said tens of thousands of rural Zimbabweans had
been displaced by campaign violence and would not be able to vote.

"I've got no option but to go and vote so that I can be safe," said a young
woman selling tomatoes in Harare.

A gunman in civilian clothes was seen attacking a TV news cameraman and the
voter he was interviewing on a Harare street, then forcing them into a
police vehicle.

In addition, Reporters Without Borders expressed concern about a freelance
reporter and cameraman who were arrested Friday while covering Mugabe at a
polling station. The group said Frank Chikowore - who on a blog entry calls
himself a Zimbabwean independent journalist - along with a camerman who
wasn't fully identified were taken to a police station.

Hundreds of journalists, mainly from Western media organizations, have been
banned from covering Zimbabwe's elections.

Tsvangirai, whose name remained on the ballot because his withdrawal on
Sunday came too late, said he still wanted negotiations about a transitional
authority for Zimbabwe but was not sure whether he could talk with Mugabe,
84.

The two leaders have been under pressure to sit down and find a solution to
the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, who has been president since independence in 1980, offered an olive
branch to the opposition Thursday, saying he was "open to discussion" with
them.

He appeared jovial as he voted, telling a reporter in Harare he was feeling
"very fit, very optimistic, upbeat and hungry."

Shortly after voting, Mugabe told Southern African Development Community
observers he was confident he would be victorious, a spokesman for the key
regional bloc said on Angolan state radio.

Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliament observer mission, told
the BBC the mood in Harare was somber and that the turnout was low.

He said while walking in one high density suburb, observers mistook a long
line of people for voters waiting at a polling station, only to find that
the people were queuing for bread.

"It was quite a very long queue," he said.

Khumalo said he had not seen signs of intimidation and that the organization
would make an announcement on the election on Sunday.

However, he said he had not seen "the ingredients that make this election
free and fair."

Tsvangirai was first in a field of four in the March vote, an embarrassment
to Mugabe. The official tally said he did not gain the votes necessary to
avoid a runoff against Mugabe. Tsvangirai's party and its allies also won
control of parliament in March, dislodging Mugabe's party for the first time
since independence in 1980.

Mugabe was once hailed as a post-independence leader committed to
development and reconciliation, but in recent years has been denounced as a
dictator intent only on holding onto power through intimidation and election
fraud.

Zimbabwe was the topic of long, closed-door discussions Friday in Egypt
among foreign ministers gathered ahead of an African Union summit that
begins Monday - and that Mugabe has said he will attend.

Some AU members say the runoff shouldn't have been held, while others, such
as regional powerhouse South Africa, refuse to publicly criticize Mugabe
even on that point.

"Our position is that the parties in Zimbabwe should work together for the
future of Zimbabwe," South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
told AP Television News.

Hmmmmmmmmmm...

africasia

 HARARE, June 28 (AFP)
Zimbabwe vote turnout 'massive:' official newspaper
Turnout was "massive" in Zimbabwe's run-off presidential election, in which
incumbent Robert Mugabe ran unopposed, the official newspaper The Herald
reported Saturday.

"The presidential run-off poll contested by President Robert Mugabe of
Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T closed peacefully yesterday evening
with massive voter turnout recorded in most parts of the country," the
newspaper reported.

Tsvangirai, 56, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), won the
first round 13 weeks ago with 47.9 percent of votes to Mugabe's 43.2
percent.

The MDC says Mugabe, 81, has since tilted the election in his favour through
a campaign of systematic violence and intimidation, and Tsvangirai pulled
out of the contest last weekend.

The Herald did not provide any data on turnout, but provided anecdotal
evidence, mentioning in particular "hundreds of voters had by 5:00 am queued
at various polling stations" in the south of the capital Harare.

AFP journalists found few people lining up at polling stations in the early
morning in the capital, in sharp contrast to crowds which had gathered to
vote in the first round.

A spokesman for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said the first results
from the 210 constituencies were not expected to be announced until
Saturday.

Voting proceeded smoothly according to police.

"We did not get any negative reports and the situation was calm," police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena was quoted as saying by The Herald.

Amid widespread reports that the electorate was being coerced into voting
for Mugabe, Tsvangirai advised his followers not to risk their lives with
futile gestures of defiance.

"If possible, we ask you not to vote today. But if you must vote for Mr
Mugabe because of threats to your life, then do so," he said Friday.

African leaders look to discredit Mugabe

Mail and Guardian

MANDY ROSSOUW | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 28 2008 00:00

Pressure is mounting on African leaders gathering this weekend at Sharm El
Sheikh, Egypt, to repudiate President Robert Mugabe publicly by not
acknowledging him as a head of state.

It is unclear whether Mugabe has been invited to the African Union summit
scheduled for Saturday and whether he will be lionised, as he usually is.

Meanwhile, Kenya took the first step on Thursday, declaring that it will not
recognise Mugabe's "illegitimate presidency" and declaring the presidential
run-off scheduled for Friday "illegal, illegitimate and inconsequential".

In a joint statement Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and civil society
organisations asked the Southern African Development Community to replace
President Thabo Mbeki as chief mediator between Zanu-PF and the MDC because
of Mbeki's "overt bias towards Mugabe and dismal failure to oversee a
credible mediation process".

Kenya will use the AU summit to lobby other countries to follow suit by
isolatingMugabe's government.

Most African countries have publicly denounced the election violence in
Zimbabwe and declared that a free and fair election is impossible. They have
urged Mugabe to postpone elections and enter talks with the opposition
parties. Mugabe insists he will talk only after the election.

Western diplomats say they are hoping that African heads of state at the AU
summit will snub Mugabe.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has suggested sending a
peacekeeping force to Zimbabwe, but insists this process must be led by
Africans. The idea is that it would be sanctioned by the AU and either form
part of the African Standby Force or be constituted from scratch.

But MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai said at a media conference in Harare on
Wednesday that he does not favour this option.

The international community hopes that the statement by the United Nations,
endorsed by the South African government this week, will heighten the
pressure. The statement condemns the violence in Zimbabwe and asks for the
poll to be postponed.

The MDC appealed to the AU to decide on a mediation team at its Egypt
meeting, which could include President Thabo Mbeki but would have to be a
team effort.

"In our view Mbeki as an individual has failed, but we will accommodate him
if [the team] includes other African leaders or former heads of state," MDC
spokesperson George Sibotshiwe told the Mail & Guardian.

Sibotshiwe will represent the MDC at the Sharm El Sheikh meeting.

The MDC wants the postponement of elections and a transitional arrangement
whereby Mugabe will remain the caretaker president while negotiations take
place. It foresees that the transitional process could take as long as two
years.

But the MDC has set the release of political prisoners as a non-negotiable
condition for talks. MDC secretary general Tendai Biti is in jail facing
treason charges, while Tsvangirai has taken refuge at the Dutch embassy in
Harare.

He tried to go to the Botswana high commission on Sunday evening to escape
an attack by Zanu-PF militia but because of roadblocks he could not get
there and opted to go to the Dutch embassy.

Tsvangirai cannot leave the country because the Zimbabwean authorities have
refused him a new passport.

Since the March 29 election Mugabe has reinstated himself as president and
has represented Zimbabwe at a UN summit in Rome.

A SADC meeting in Swaziland on Thursday called on the AU to "get involved"
and do everything possible to postpone the elections so that inter-party
talks can take place.

The European Union is also looking at ways of ratcheting up the pressure on
the Zimbabwean ruling elite. At a meeting in July it is expected to slap
heavier travel bans on more people in Mugabe's inner circle and institute
forensic procedures to track down their accounts in Europe and freeze them.

England's Queen Elizabeth yesterday revoked Mugabe's honorary knighthood "as
a mark of revulsion" at the political intimidation and human rights abuses
in Zimbabwe, The Guardian reports.

The decision was announced by the UK Foreign Office, which said it had been
taken on advice from Miliband.

UN fails to agree on calling Zimbabwe vote illegitimate

Yahoo News

23 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday failed to agree on
declaring Zimbabwe's runoff election illegitimate in the face of South
African opposition but the United States said it was considering sanctions
against Harare.

After hours of contentious council debate, US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay
Khalilzad, who chairs the 15-member body this month, said members "agreed
that conditions for free and fair elections did not exist and it was a
matter of deep regret that the election went ahead in these circumstances."

South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, whose country has been trying to
mediate an end to the election crisis in Zimbabwe, effectively derailed
adoption of a British-drafted statement what would have stated that the
results of Friday's runoff election "could have no credibility or
legitimacy."

Adoption of the text would have required unanimous approval by all 15
members and Kumalo argued that the Security Council was not in the business
of certifying elections.

Speaking in his national capacity, Khalilzad vowed to remain focused on the
issue, adding: "We have already started discussions with some colleagues on
a resolution that would impose sanctions, appropriately focused sanctions on
the (Harare) regime assuming conditions continue as they have."

In Zimbabwe, polls closed in the run-off election Friday with President
Robert Mugabe certain of victory as the sole candidate in a contest that the
opposition urged world leaders to reject.

Counting began immediately after voting ended at 7:00 pm (1700 GMT),
following a 12-hour process denounced as a sham by the United States, the
European Union and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, amid claims of
forced ballot casting.

Tsvangirai won the first round 13 weeks ago with 47.9 percent of votes to
Mugabe's 43.2 percent but decided to boycott the second round after deadly
attacks against his supporters.

Khalilzad said council members did reaffirm a statement they adopted Monday
in which they condemned the violence and intimidation against the opposition
in Zimbabwe and urged that Friday's runoff vote not be held.

He said they also expected a report from the United Nations on regional and
international efforts on the crisis, including an upcoming meeting of the
African Union in Egypt Monday.

He said the council agreed to revisit the issue "in the coming days."

The simultaneous March 29 presidential and legislative elections saw
Mugabe's ZANU-PF lose control of parliament for the first time since
independence from Britain in 1980, although the outcome is being challenged
in the courts.

Mugabe said at his final rally he wants to continue as president, a post he
has held uninterrupted since independence. While he would be willing to talk
to the opposition, negotiations would begin only after he had won a sixth
term.

But in a press conference on Friday, Tsvangirai urged the international
community not to recognize the run-off.

Millions fearing crackdown try to flee Zimbabwe after refusing to vote in Mugabe's sham poll

By Andrew Malone
Last updated at 10:49 PM on 27th June 2008

 

With darkness falling over Zimbabwe last night, terrified men, women and children fled into the bush as violence broke out.

Fearing a vicious crackdown after millions defied Robert Mugabe by refusing to vote in yesterday’s rigged elections, they gathered what few possessions they had and tried to escape in any way they could.

As world leaders refused to recognise Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s legitimate president, thousands of families massed to cross into neighbouring Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.

Enlarge  

Intimidated: Hundreds queue to vote under the eyes of Zanu-PF officials. But many more defied the threats

Risking crocodile-infested rivers, some tried to flee by foot while thousands begged to be let across the country’s border after arriving in cars and buses.

Others darted into the bush, preferring to live on roots and berries than risk death at the hands of Mugabe’s dreaded secret police.

Many ordinary Zimbabweans, who have seen their life expectancy drop from 75 to 35 since Mugabe came to power 28 years ago, said they would rather go into hiding than vote.

‘What’s the point in voting in elections for one person?’ said Oliver Goodness, who survives by selling cigarettes by the roadside for one billion dollars each.

Fear: A mother and child sheltering outside the South African embassy last night

Last night, huge crowds gathered outside foreign embassies in the capital Harare begging to be saved.

At the South African embassy, a man shouted through the fence when he saw a westerner: ‘Please, can you take my family? We will die if we stay here.’

Yesterday’s vote was held despite the fact the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, headed by Morgan Tsvangirai, won parliamentary elections in March.

Mugabe came second to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round of the presidential vote, which was held at the same time.

Branded: Voters hands were marked with red ink so Mugabe's thugs could spot those seen without and take them to polling stations

But Mugabe insisted yesterday’s run-off still needed to be held because the MDC had not gained ‘a big enough majority’.

And this time, he left nothing to chance. As millions went into hiding, others were taken under military escort to polling stations and ordered to put a cross alongside the name of His Excellency Commander Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

There was also a nationwide campaign of terror and intimidation to make sure people voted ‘the right way’.

Under Operation Who Did You Vote For?, police roadblocks were set up throughout Harare to check for ‘enemies of the state’.

Wonder who he's voting for? 'Optimistic' Robert Mugabe casts his ballot

The entire country has also been ordered to ensure a Mugabe victory – or face the consequences.

But the dictator claimed to be taking nothing for granted last night. After casting his vote in Harare, in an election in which he was the only candidate, Mugabe smiled and said he was ‘optimistic’ rather than certain of success.

Last night, this charade of an election was condemned across the globe. EU spokesman Krisztina Nagy said: ‘The election is a sham. Its result will be meaningless.’

At a meeting in Japan, foreign ministers for the G8 nations said a free election in Zimbabwe was now impossible and accused Mugabe’s regime of ‘systematic violence, obstruction and intimidation’. 

Despair: Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is protected at the Dutch embassy

The U.S. said it would push for new, tougher sanctions.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: ‘There is no legitimacy for a government claiming election on the basis of these events, because this was a onesided election in every aspect.’

Nobody could doubt that. Hundreds of torture camps have been set-up, with thousands being raped and mutilated for not carrying membership cards for Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party.

At dawn yesterday, in scenes replicated throughout the country, the victims were temporarily freed and told they could go home to their families – as long as they voted for 84-year-old Mugabe.

Sham vote: A Zimbabwean shows his ballott for the presidential election. It still shows MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, even though he has withdrawn

To ensure they did not cheat, their identity numbers were written on their ballot papers so the 300,000-strong secret police could check who had got their vote.

Voters’ hands were also marked with indelible red ink.

On the streets, Mugabe’s armed thugs roamed, on the lookout for anybody without the ‘red finger’, rounding them up and herding them off to polling stations.

With Mr Tsvangirai under the protection of the Dutch embassy after repeated threats on his life, Mugabe remained defiant last night, as he launched a tirade at Gordon Brown, calling him ‘an idiot’.

Defiance: A poster calling for the boycott of the vote is fixed to a pole in second city Bulawayo

‘It’s treason to call for war in Zimbabwe,’ he told ‘ supporters’ who had been rounded up from townships and bussed under escort to a rally outside the capital. ‘We will never give up. Never, never, never.’

Having reported on four ‘ elections’ in Zimbabwe since 1997, with violence and death intensifying each time, I fear for this country, once described as Africa’s ‘Garden of Eden’.

The situation has never been more perilous. There will be a war, I was told by all ages of these peace-loving people. Yet, with a highly-trained army and Chinese fighter aircraft, ordinary Zimbabweans would not stand a chance.

With his people fleeing the onslaught, it seems that Mugabe – said to be increasingly paranoid and suffering from chronic insomnia – will never give up power while he is alive.

Meanwhile, most people in this deeply-religious country hope that, one day, their suffering will be over.

Zimbabwe: UN envoy holds talks with regional leaders on political strife

United Nations News Service

Date: 27 Jun 2008

A United Nations envoy is continuing to hold talks with Southern African
leaders about the troubled political and humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe,
where the run-off round of presidential elections is being held today
despite international objections.

Haile Menkerios, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, held
talks yesterday in Luanda with Angola's President José Edoardo dos Santos.
Today he is expected to meet Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in
Dar-es-Salaam.

Mr. Menkerios is then slated to travel to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for the
current African Union (AU) summit.

The diplomatic efforts are taking place as the run-off round of the
presidential election is staged today in Zimbabwe, which has been beset by
deadly unrest and deteriorating humanitarian conditions since the first
round of elections was held on 29 March.

Violence and intimidation directed towards the opposition forces led to the
withdrawal of Morgan Tsvangirai, the candidate of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), from today's run-off, in which he was set to face
President Robert Mugabe.

Many MDC activists have reportedly been killed or injured in recent weeks
and human rights defenders and staff with non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) have been harassed.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week that the run-off should have
been postponed given the current circumstances, as a free and fair poll
could not be held.

Describing the crisis as 'a perversion of democracy,' UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Louise Arbour has also voiced deep concern and called for
the perpetrators of political violence to be brought to account for their
crimes.

Mr. Ban and Mr. Menkerios have said they will continue to work with the AU
and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to ensure a
satisfactory and non-violent resolution to the current crisis.

Zimbabwe: Enemies of the State

BY FRONTLINE/World Editors

A cameraman, Edward Chikomba, was killed after he shared video with the outside world of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (shown here leaving hospital) after Tsvangirai was arrested and beaten unconscious by Robert Mugabe's police force.

Editor's Note: In the last of our three-part series, our anonymous correspondent in Zimbabwe details what it is like to work as an independent journalist in one of the world's most repressive regimes. "By exposing the government's shortcomings journalists have become enemies of the state," says this writer. "I work in fear every day." Read her dispatch about the crackdown below.

Since the latest round of election-related violence, our reporter has gone into hiding in the capital of Harare. From her safe house, she spoke with iWitness correspondent Joe Rubin and described the frightening conditions in the city over the last few days.

WATCH VIDEO

Read more in-depth reports from our correspondent in Zimbabwe and a related video from South Africa in our iWitness section.

* * *

Practicing journalism in Zimbabwe has become a crime punishable by death.

Last year, my colleague Edward Chikomba learned this the hard way. I still can't believe he's gone -- the jovial spirit, the burly tummy, the camera bag he always wore slung backward over his shoulder. He worked for the country's only TV station, the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

Whenever I met up with him, he would complain that his videos were always edited by government officials and that his wages were pathetic. "I have to feed my children," he often said. To make ends meet, he had begun to shoot extra footage to sell to foreign networks abroad.

In March 2007, Edward finally got a scoop. He captured footage of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after he was beaten in police custody for attempting to lead a march protesting Mugabe's rule. The story made a big impact. After the video was beamed over satellite TV channels around the world, Mugabe was summoned by a group of African heads of state to explain the treatment of Tsvangirai. Mugabe had always denied that the police were torturing opposition members. Edward's footage angered and embarrassed the government.

Edward told me jokingly that he had the feeling someone was following him. He also said he got a note at home telling him, "You will pay for Tsvangirai."

Afterward, Edward told me jokingly that he had the feeling someone was following him. But I knew him better. Behind his infectious laugh I sensed he was hiding a cold fear. He also said he got a note at home telling him, "You will pay for Tsvangirai." He brushed it aside.

A few days later, Edward was abducted from his Glen View home in the capital of Harare by men in a white truck. He was eventually found dead by the roadside, beaten and bruised. Edward paid the ultimate price for his love of the profession. To this day, there has never been any investigation into who is responsible for his murder.

Edward's death shook me to the core. I made a decision I had put off for far too long. I moved my two-year-old son to another town to live with my aunt. I can only hope that will protect his identity.

Working In Fear

I have wanted to be a journalist since I was 15 years old. I remember reading accounts by intrepid Zimbabwean reporters who had exposed a group of corrupt government ministers, using state funds to buy and resell cars for their own profit. The investigation gripped the nation. I knew I had found my calling.

But now I work in fear every day. The job has become so dangerous that I am grateful to see some of my fellow journalists still working each day. In February, a handwritten death threat and a pack of bullets were delivered to an independent newspaper office. The threat was reported to the police, but nothing happened. The police claim they are "still investigating."

A government document leaked to the media has been making the rounds. It targets 15 journalists who have been described as "agents of the West" and "sell-outs" that need to be "eliminated."

Mugabe's government has cracked down especially hard on journalists over the last five years. What was once a noble profession has been driven underground by draconian laws and police harassment.

A government document leaked to the media has been making the rounds. It targets 15 journalists who are considered a security threat to Mugabe. I have little doubt about the authenticity of the document.

Mugabe seems paranoid about any criticism. The list describes the 15 journalists as "agents of the West" and "sell-outs" that need to be "eliminated." Eight of those 15 have already left the country.

Sometimes it seems as if I am one of the last in a dying profession.
There are only two independent newspapers left in Zimbabwe -- The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard. Both are weekly papers. I think the government has let these two survive in order to hoodwink the rest of the world into thinking that there is some small measure of free speech here.

With inflation hovering at 1.7 million percent, most Zimbabwean currency notes are worthless and litter the streets.

Mugabe is cunning. Only people in larger cities have access to these newspapers, and the papers are expensive, far beyond the reach of most people grappling with an inflation rate of 1.7 million percent.

Newsprint in Zimbabwe is supplied by a monopoly, Mutare Board & Paper Mills, so that the newspapers have no control over cost. The government-owned company decides how much newsprint to sell to which customers. In that way, the government tightly regulates the number of papers the independent media can print.

There are also wide areas where these papers can't be distributed at all. In the Mugabe party strongholds of Northern Zimbabwe, gangs of youth militia burn any copies they find. Government supporters say that independent papers poison people's minds.

Zimbabwe's only daily newspaper is the state-owned Herald. It publishes government propaganda, so it is distributed unhindered nationwide. A colleague tells me that the Herald editor gives all finished pages to the Information Minister for approval before going to print. Zimbabwe's four radio stations are also state-controlled and report directly to the Information minister. Applications to the government for new newspapers, radio stations or TV licenses are simply ignored or thrown out.

A Game of Cat and Mouse

By exposing the government's shortcomings, journalists have become enemies of the state. Most have been driven into exile out of fear for their lives. Twelve of the 20 reporters I trained with at college have already left the country.

Every day, reporters must play a game of cat and mouse with the police in an endeavor just to do their job.

Not long ago, an editor was jailed for two days for an opinion piece he published by one of the leaders of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Not long ago, an editor was arrested for an opinion piece he published by one of the leaders of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. The article suggested that Mugabe has run Zimbabwe into the ground since helping the country achieve independence in 1980.

The editor was jailed for two days, and I attended his trial. He was charged under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. This law makes it a crime to publish or even utter aloud any statement that may cause hatred toward the President. I almost laughed in court. What sort of a law is this? Thankfully, the editor was released on bail.

I attend all court hearings of arrested journalists. Partly, I am studying for my own defense in case I, too, am in the dock one day. The charges are often flimsy. In April, freelance journalist Stanley Karombo was arrested and held for three days just for taking notes during Mugabe's Independence Day speech.

Police initially charged Karombo with invading Mugabe's right to privacy. That charge fell away comically in court when the judge pointed out that the president was making his speech in public. Karombo was eventually acquitted.

All sorts of ridiculous charges are levied that do not really exist under the law. Countless journalists have been arrested and fined for a vague charge the state calls "abusing journalistic privilege."

Gift Phiri, a correspondent for the London-based weekly The Zimbabwean hugs his wife outside the Harare magistrates court. Phiri was hospitalized and treated for injuries resulting from the beatings he received during four days in police custody.

Fewer and fewer lawyers are willing to represent journalists in court, and the state has begun to target them as well. Prominent media and human rights lawyers Beatrice Mtetwa and Harrison Nkomo have been locked up several times and tortured by police for coming to the defense of journalists.

Banana and Orange Peels

Under Zimbabwe's media law, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, all journalists and media outlets must register with the government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC). Every January, after rigorous screening, the MIC hands out white plastic accreditation cards to a handful of journalists. Most are denied.

The MIC requires journalists to surrender personal details including home address and phone number in order to get approval. Most journalists do not bother to apply since giving out such personal information is just too risky.

Even with the card, there is still no guarantee of protection from the police or the Central Intelligence Organization. A correspondent for the London-based weekly The Zimbabwean landed in the hospital after 4 days in police custody. His crime was covering an opposition party rally, even though he had official accreditation to do so.

The conditions in Zimbabwe's prisons are infamous. I spent a day in one recently after being arrested at a march. The cell reeked from the stench of overflowing toilets, and prisoners had no choice but to relieve themselves on the floor. The cell was crammed with four times as many people as it could hold. No one could lie down so we had to take turns sleeping. There was very little food available and some prisoners have starved to death.

Prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has spent years defending Zimbabwean journalists, many of whom have been arrested for their work.

The former news editor of the Daily News, Luke Tamborinyoka, who has been arrested several times for reporting, remembers the conditions there. "During one of my several arrests, I sneaked in a banana and an orange," he later told The Standard. "There was a stampede for the banana and orange peels by inmates. Such is the level of hunger in prison."

The Last Election

Covering the election in April was a mammoth task for journalists, especially foreign reporters. Mugabe's government drew up a list of who would be allowed to report and broadcast from inside Zimbabwe. Media that it deemed "hostile" were banned from reporting. This list included CNN, BBC, MSNBC and the Associated Press. Even African outlets considered friendly to the state were denied access.

A number of foreign journalists entered Zimbabwe undercover as "tourists." But many of them did not realize that you can't even trust other journalists here. A number of foreign correspondents were sold out by state informers posing as reporters and were arrested or deported as a result. But they are the lucky ones. Their embassies and governments come to their aid when they are arrested. We local journalists are here on our own without a safety net.

Even I never know whom to trust. Recently, a colleague with whom I'd worked for a number of years was dismissed after it was discovered he was providing intelligence to Mugabe. It's not even safe to share notes in a newsroom.

But I can't let this stop me. Not many things satisfy me more than finding the truth. If atrocities are occurring here, someone has to expose them.

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Zimbabwe: Shopping for Survival
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Also in iWitness, FRONTLINE/World talks to a young American filmmaker over webcam who was filming a documentary in a Johannesburg township recently when xenophobic riots broke out. The violence was mainly directed against refugees flooding in from neighboring Zimbabwe.

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BY FRONTLINE/World Editors

A cameraman, Edward Chikomba, was killed after he shared video with the outside world of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (shown here leaving hospital) after Tsvangirai was arrested and beaten unconscious by Robert Mugabe's police force.

Editor's Note: In the last of our three-part series, our anonymous correspondent in Zimbabwe details what it is like to work as an independent journalist in one of the world's most repressive regimes. "By exposing the government's shortcomings journalists have become enemies of the state," says this writer. "I work in fear every day." Read her dispatch about the crackdown below.

Since the latest round of election-related violence, our reporter has gone into hiding in the capital of Harare. From her safe house, she spoke with iWitness correspondent Joe Rubin and described the frightening conditions in the city over the last few days.

WATCH VIDEO

Read more in-depth reports from our correspondent in Zimbabwe and a related video from South Africa in our iWitness section.

* * *

Practicing journalism in Zimbabwe has become a crime punishable by death.

Last year, my colleague Edward Chikomba learned this the hard way. I still can't believe he's gone -- the jovial spirit, the burly tummy, the camera bag he always wore slung backward over his shoulder. He worked for the country's only TV station, the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

Whenever I met up with him, he would complain that his videos were always edited by government officials and that his wages were pathetic. "I have to feed my children," he often said. To make ends meet, he had begun to shoot extra footage to sell to foreign networks abroad.

In March 2007, Edward finally got a scoop. He captured footage of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after he was beaten in police custody for attempting to lead a march protesting Mugabe's rule. The story made a big impact. After the video was beamed over satellite TV channels around the world, Mugabe was summoned by a group of African heads of state to explain the treatment of Tsvangirai. Mugabe had always denied that the police were torturing opposition members. Edward's footage angered and embarrassed the government.

Edward told me jokingly that he had the feeling someone was following him. He also said he got a note at home telling him, "You will pay for Tsvangirai."

Afterward, Edward told me jokingly that he had the feeling someone was following him. But I knew him better. Behind his infectious laugh I sensed he was hiding a cold fear. He also said he got a note at home telling him, "You will pay for Tsvangirai." He brushed it aside.

A few days later, Edward was abducted from his Glen View home in the capital of Harare by men in a white truck. He was eventually found dead by the roadside, beaten and bruised. Edward paid the ultimate price for his love of the profession. To this day, there has never been any investigation into who is responsible for his murder.

Edward's death shook me to the core. I made a decision I had put off for far too long. I moved my two-year-old son to another town to live with my aunt. I can only hope that will protect his identity.

Working In Fear

I have wanted to be a journalist since I was 15 years old. I remember reading accounts by intrepid Zimbabwean reporters who had exposed a group of corrupt government ministers, using state funds to buy and resell cars for their own profit. The investigation gripped the nation. I knew I had found my calling.

But now I work in fear every day. The job has become so dangerous that I am grateful to see some of my fellow journalists still working each day. In February, a handwritten death threat and a pack of bullets were delivered to an independent newspaper office. The threat was reported to the police, but nothing happened. The police claim they are "still investigating."

A government document leaked to the media has been making the rounds. It targets 15 journalists who have been described as "agents of the West" and "sell-outs" that need to be "eliminated."

Mugabe's government has cracked down especially hard on journalists over the last five years. What was once a noble profession has been driven underground by draconian laws and police harassment.

A government document leaked to the media has been making the rounds. It targets 15 journalists who are considered a security threat to Mugabe. I have little doubt about the authenticity of the document.

Mugabe seems paranoid about any criticism. The list describes the 15 journalists as "agents of the West" and "sell-outs" that need to be "eliminated." Eight of those 15 have already left the country.

Sometimes it seems as if I am one of the last in a dying profession.
There are only two independent newspapers left in Zimbabwe -- The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard. Both are weekly papers. I think the government has let these two survive in order to hoodwink the rest of the world into thinking that there is some small measure of free speech here.

With inflation hovering at 1.7 million percent, most Zimbabwean currency notes are worthless and litter the streets.

Mugabe is cunning. Only people in larger cities have access to these newspapers, and the papers are expensive, far beyond the reach of most people grappling with an inflation rate of 1.7 million percent.

Newsprint in Zimbabwe is supplied by a monopoly, Mutare Board & Paper Mills, so that the newspapers have no control over cost. The government-owned company decides how much newsprint to sell to which customers. In that way, the government tightly regulates the number of papers the independent media can print.

There are also wide areas where these papers can't be distributed at all. In the Mugabe party strongholds of Northern Zimbabwe, gangs of youth militia burn any copies they find. Government supporters say that independent papers poison people's minds.

Zimbabwe's only daily newspaper is the state-owned Herald. It publishes government propaganda, so it is distributed unhindered nationwide. A colleague tells me that the Herald editor gives all finished pages to the Information Minister for approval before going to print. Zimbabwe's four radio stations are also state-controlled and report directly to the Information minister. Applications to the government for new newspapers, radio stations or TV licenses are simply ignored or thrown out.

A Game of Cat and Mouse

By exposing the government's shortcomings, journalists have become enemies of the state. Most have been driven into exile out of fear for their lives. Twelve of the 20 reporters I trained with at college have already left the country.

Every day, reporters must play a game of cat and mouse with the police in an endeavor just to do their job.

Not long ago, an editor was jailed for two days for an opinion piece he published by one of the leaders of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Not long ago, an editor was arrested for an opinion piece he published by one of the leaders of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. The article suggested that Mugabe has run Zimbabwe into the ground since helping the country achieve independence in 1980.

The editor was jailed for two days, and I attended his trial. He was charged under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. This law makes it a crime to publish or even utter aloud any statement that may cause hatred toward the President. I almost laughed in court. What sort of a law is this? Thankfully, the editor was released on bail.

I attend all court hearings of arrested journalists. Partly, I am studying for my own defense in case I, too, am in the dock one day. The charges are often flimsy. In April, freelance journalist Stanley Karombo was arrested and held for three days just for taking notes during Mugabe's Independence Day speech.

Police initially charged Karombo with invading Mugabe's right to privacy. That charge fell away comically in court when the judge pointed out that the president was making his speech in public. Karombo was eventually acquitted.

All sorts of ridiculous charges are levied that do not really exist under the law. Countless journalists have been arrested and fined for a vague charge the state calls "abusing journalistic privilege."

Gift Phiri, a correspondent for the London-based weekly The Zimbabwean hugs his wife outside the Harare magistrates court. Phiri was hospitalized and treated for injuries resulting from the beatings he received during four days in police custody.

Fewer and fewer lawyers are willing to represent journalists in court, and the state has begun to target them as well. Prominent media and human rights lawyers Beatrice Mtetwa and Harrison Nkomo have been locked up several times and tortured by police for coming to the defense of journalists.

Banana and Orange Peels

Under Zimbabwe's media law, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, all journalists and media outlets must register with the government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC). Every January, after rigorous screening, the MIC hands out white plastic accreditation cards to a handful of journalists. Most are denied.

The MIC requires journalists to surrender personal details including home address and phone number in order to get approval. Most journalists do not bother to apply since giving out such personal information is just too risky.

Even with the card, there is still no guarantee of protection from the police or the Central Intelligence Organization. A correspondent for the London-based weekly The Zimbabwean landed in the hospital after 4 days in police custody. His crime was covering an opposition party rally, even though he had official accreditation to do so.

The conditions in Zimbabwe's prisons are infamous. I spent a day in one recently after being arrested at a march. The cell reeked from the stench of overflowing toilets, and prisoners had no choice but to relieve themselves on the floor. The cell was crammed with four times as many people as it could hold. No one could lie down so we had to take turns sleeping. There was very little food available and some prisoners have starved to death.

Prominent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has spent years defending Zimbabwean journalists, many of whom have been arrested for their work.

The former news editor of the Daily News, Luke Tamborinyoka, who has been arrested several times for reporting, remembers the conditions there. "During one of my several arrests, I sneaked in a banana and an orange," he later told The Standard. "There was a stampede for the banana and orange peels by inmates. Such is the level of hunger in prison."

The Last Election

Covering the election in April was a mammoth task for journalists, especially foreign reporters. Mugabe's government drew up a list of who would be allowed to report and broadcast from inside Zimbabwe. Media that it deemed "hostile" were banned from reporting. This list included CNN, BBC, MSNBC and the Associated Press. Even African outlets considered friendly to the state were denied access.

A number of foreign journalists entered Zimbabwe undercover as "tourists." But many of them did not realize that you can't even trust other journalists here. A number of foreign correspondents were sold out by state informers posing as reporters and were arrested or deported as a result. But they are the lucky ones. Their embassies and governments come to their aid when they are arrested. We local journalists are here on our own without a safety net.

Even I never know whom to trust. Recently, a colleague with whom I'd worked for a number of years was dismissed after it was discovered he was providing intelligence to Mugabe. It's not even safe to share notes in a newsroom.

But I can't let this stop me. Not many things satisfy me more than finding the truth. If atrocities are occurring here, someone has to expose them.

Related Stories

Zimbabwe: Shopping for Survival
Read the author's first report from Zimbabwe as part of our new iWitness series. Traveling hundreds of miles to find food and basic supplies, our correspondent describes how impossible daily survival has become for millions of Zimbabweans.

South Africa: "Go Away and Fight Mugabe"
Also in iWitness, FRONTLINE/World talks to a young American filmmaker over webcam who was filming a documentary in a Johannesburg township recently when xenophobic riots broke out. The violence was mainly directed against refugees flooding in from neighboring Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe: Shadows and Lies
Watch our broadcast story from 2007, where FRONTLINE/World goes undercover in Zimbabwe to find a population struggling with hunger and poverty, and living in fear.

Zimbabweans in the UK Mourn the Death of Democracy