I struggle with ZANU PF's attitude that he can run slipshod over anybody and anything.

How can he declare a run-off when the long-awaited results have not even been verified - let alone published?

"President Robert Mugabe’s party declared today that there would be a runoff between the veteran leader and Morgan Tsvangirai, the head of the opposition - in defiance of the official verification process.

Bright Matonga, the Deputy Information Commissioner, said today: "As far as I’m concerned, there is going to be a runoff. We have got our own results."

His statement came as representatives from the main parties met in a Harare hotel to begin comparing their results from the presidential poll, which the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) said would pave the way for an official tally to be released."

This is before the expected week-long process of count verification by candidates even has had a chance to start. Is this because ZANU PF has had the ballot re-engineered and know exactly what the results will bring?

Again, I urge the MDC to publish the photographic evidence they have of the results at the polling stations.

I grow concerned at the abuse that Mugabe uses to bulldozed his own way in Zimbabwe. He put a very quick stop to the mediated talks last year by declaring the date for the election. By putting a date on the runoff before the results are even verified, he throws another spanner in the works.

"Senior government officials officials leaked results yesterday which apparently handed victory to Mr Tsvangirai - but not by enough votes to win outright.

According to the leaks, Mr Tsvangirai won 47 per cent of the vote against Mr Mugabe’s 43 per cent. He needed more than 50 per cent to avoid a second round.

Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claimed to have won 50.3 per cent of the vote based on results published at polling stations.

But a month after the March 29 poll the official tally has still not been released, prompting accusations of vote rigging against the government."

Matonga is more and more in character with the "Comical Ali" nickname he has been given.

"Mr Matonga would not say whether the leaked results were correct or give details about the ZANU PF party’s own figures. But he maintained that no one won the 50 per cent vote needed to avoid a runoff.

Individual polling stations have posted results, allowing parties and others to compile their own tallies while the nation awaits official results from the ZEC.

In Johannesburg yesterday, Mr Tsvangirai’s spokesman reiterated that the opposition would not take part in a runoff because it believed only fraudulent results would deny the MDC outright victory.

"If Robert Mugabe cannot accept the real results now, what’s the guarantee he’ll accept the real results after a runoff?" George Sibotshiwe said."

There is no guarantee whatsoever. That is African politics. But not participating in any runoff would hand the Presidency to Mugabe by default - which is exactly what ZANU PF want.

"The main trade union federation claimed that two schoolteachers were beaten to death in the latest wave of violence.

"We have received bad news. As we speak two teachers have been killed, beaten to death," Wellington Chibebe, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), said at a May Day rally at a stadium in Harare today.

Mr Chibebe, whose movement is closely allied to the main opposition, said the two had been killed at a school in the northwestern Guruve region."

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"Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has rejected the latest attempt by the ruling ZANU PF party to perpetuate the rule of veteran President Robert Mugabe. The move follows claims by government officials to have seen an as yet unreleased official tally of the March 29 presidential vote. It suggests the leader of the opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, won 47 percent of the vote, followed closely by President Mugabe with 43 percent, and independent candidate Simba Makoni trailing the two with ten percent of the vote. ZANU PF partisans say it is apparent nobody won the election and are demanding a run-off.

But the opposition is dismissing the ruling party’s claims. The electoral commission is expected to release the rest of the vote count today in Harare. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa tells reporter Peter Clottey the ruling party is playing dirty tricks on Zimbabweans in order to cling to power."

I find it rather strange that the police should indicate they want to have a word with Tendai Biti for releasing the MDC's version of the results, and yet ZANU PF are happy to give the waiting word percentages and tell us about the results - before the verification is complete.

If Biti has committed a crime, then so has ZANU PF...

"It is totally a distortion of the truth on the ground. As far as we are concerned, as far as the facts and the truth is concerned the MDC won well above the 50 percent threshold and the 47 percent being touted by the so-called sources within government is just an attempt by ZANU PF to prepare people in terms of mindset and a frame of a sort that there is going to be a run-off, which in fact again is an artificial result, which has been caused by the ZANU PF," Chamisa pointed out.

He said the opposition parties as well as ordinary Zimbabweans are calling on the international community to help resolve the economic and political crisis.

"We definitely need multinational approach to the resolution of the crisis. Certainly, the resolution lies within our borders, but we need international help, with international support and solidarity to resolve all the issues. We have a very serious dictatorship in Zimbabwe, which is prepared to decimate the entire population for the sake of power. It is really important for the region, SADC (Southern African Development Community), for the continent, the AU (African Union) to continue putting a helping hand on the Zimbabwe problems and to keep an open eye on the behavior and attitude of this regime," he said."

The country is under siege following a post-election violence campaign staged by pro-ZANU PF activists, soldiers and war veterans - although the UN has sided with Mugabe, stating that the violence was started by the MDC.

Of course, we must remember that the UN Security Council is presently chaired by Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, who has made no pretence of his alliance with Mugabe.

I did read this article with a serious feeling of relief - although I am unhappy that Mugabe is intent on fighting to the last man. And it concerns me that the MDC's participation legitimises the unverified ballot.

What a terrible position to be in!

If Morgan participates, then he is viewed badly in one light, but if he doesn't participate then everything that the MDC has ever done since their inception in 1999 would amount to nothing.

"Main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai will contest the looming presidential election run-off despite his public remarks to the contrary.

This came as the presidential election candidates or their agents yesterday met Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) officials to tackle the crisis triggered by the withholding of results - more than a month later - due to a demand by President Robert Mugabe for a recount of the votes.

Yesterday’s emergency meeting took place against a backdrop of a fresh problem sparked off by ZEC’s leakage of official results to defeated ZANU PF leaders who in turn passed them on to the international media in a bid to sustain their pursuit for a run-off.

ZEC and ZANU PF were anxious to ward off mounting pressure for results to come out and build a case for a run-off, especially against a background of MDC’s claims that Tsvangirai had won the election outright.

"The result gives us a decisive victory so there’s no need for a run-off," Tsvangirai told France 24 from Johannesburg yesterday. "How can you have a run-off when Mugabe over the last month has been unleashing violence, death squads and violence against our structures?"

But with the support that Mugabe has built up, from regional and international bodies - such as SADC, the African Union and the United Nations - it becomes increasingly difficult for the MDC to do much more than to comply with Mugabe's declaration.

I feel so very sorry for the MDC who have put it all on the line, and still are in danger of losing everything they have achieved because of the duplicity that Mugabe chooses to practise - right under the nose of the international community - knowing full well that any reaction by them will not have any effect whatsoever.

"The MDC says ZANU PF has deployed state security forces - the army, police and intelligence units - across the country to campaign for Mugabe.

This, it says, has triggered a wave of violence nationwide, which has claimed more than a dozen lives and left a climate of fear. A bruising political campaign is expected in the run-up to the run-off."

The death toll has now risen to 20.

"The MDC said it was shocked by the conduct of ZEC and ZANU PF officials, who after failing to release figures for more than a month, leaked the results to the 'hostile media'."

This article does deserve further reading as it lays out the agreement of the unification of the two MDC factions, and explains the plans - once the scuffle for the Presidency is complete.


I bundle the next two stories together as they are equally indicative of the violence that ZANU PF is prepared to unleash on the people - with absolute impunity. Whilst hoodwinking the international community that the violence is started by the MDC.

"Two schoolteachers have been beaten to death in the latest wave of violence after Zimbabwe's general elections, the head of the country's main trade union federation said on Thursday.

"We have received bad news. As we speak two teachers have been killed, beaten to death," Wellington Chibebe, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), said at a May Day rally at a stadium in Harare."

Teachers? I ask you - are teachers not people to be respected within the community? These are the people that we look up to and they are handed the mission to educate tomorrow's leaders. So why kill them?

Why kill anybody?

Meanwhile, "A white landowner in Zimbabwe has told how he fought off thugs wielding guns and axes after hundreds of men invaded his property.

The assault near Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, is evidence that the latest farm invasions have spread to the western half of the country in the wake of the disputed election.

The armed assault on the farmer, who asked not to be identified, happened only a few miles from where the first farmer was murdered when President Robert Mugabe first unleashed his land invasions in 2000.

The latest assault happened close to the property where the farmer and his family, including his bed-ridden grandfather, are under siege from around 200 so-called "war veterans"."

When does 'the right thing' stop being an option and either a hasty retreat or a stand is required? And who in their right minds would want to take on fired-up war veterans - armed to the teeth with firearms, axes, knobkerries and the like?

When someone points a loaded weapon at you, you have no choice but to listen. The alternative is a slow, painful death.

Too many people have died in Zimbabwe since the first major breakdown of law and order in 2000. And then, of course, there was the Gukurahundi before that...

"There was one guy who pointed a gun at me... I said 'If you’re going to shoot me, shoot me'," the farmer said yesterday.

"I tried to grab the barrel of the gun from him and a big brawl broke out between my workers and these guys. They were all hitting each other with sticks and stones.

"One guy hit me on the hand with the back of his axe handle. One guy had a weapon pointed at me and fired at me, then fired another three shots.

"I'm just lucky to be alive. It’s an extremely worrying situation. We’re just trying to keep our heads down without them getting taken off."

And the reaction by the police? Pathetic to say the least.

No thought of investigating the matter. No thought of providing protection to the farmer and his workers.

No. They opted to disarm the farmer!

"Police at first refused to attend the scene, then arrived only to confiscate three shotguns from the farmer.

The presence of land invaders in the Matabeleland North province is a sign that the campaign of violence instituted by the ruling ZANU PF party is spreading."

How many more people are to die before peace is restored? And with Mugabe in charge, how long would that peace last?


A good friend sent me this link to an internet television channel dedicated to Zimbabwe. Watch some of the programmes - if not all. This is a good thing if you want the rest of the world to take notice - and finally do something...


I have no doubt in my mind that there are a number of people who believed that Makoni entered the race to be an 'acceptable alternative' to Mugabe, whilst flying ZANU PF colours.

But there are also those, like myself, who saw Makoni's candidacy as nothing more than an effort to split the vote.

And, to a very large extent, it worked.

Makoni polled 8% - or so the leaked figures say. Split that in twa and add the 4% to each Mugabe and Tsvangirai and see who won then. Outright.

"MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected a proposal by Sadc and the United States to form a government of national unity (GNU) with former Finance minister Simba Makoni as one of its key members.

Impeccable sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that Tsvangirai last Thursday told the US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer in Pretoria that the MDC did not want Makoni to be part of a government of national unity or a transitional one.

The sources said Frazer had suggested that Tsvangirai should work with Makoni and ZANU PF to come up with a GNU as a solution to the country’s deepening political crisis heightened by the failure of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce the results of the March 29 presidential poll.

Apart from the US, SADC is reportedly also pushing for a GNU, or a transitional government, in Zimbabwe and want Makoni to play a crucial role in its formation."

I have read quite a few articles on the GNU concept. A government of national unity would only work if the people involved therein were united. The Mugabe camp and the Tsvangirai camp are just about as diametrically opposed as is possible.

I see no unity there. And Mugabe would be looking to load the government with failed people like Patrick Chinamasa, Didymus Mutasa (recently replaced in the illegal Mugabe government by Emmerson Mnangagwa). Then, of course, there is the question as to what to do with Mugabe himself.

I have an idea - but I rather think that a cell in Chikurube will no get any support.

"Tsvangirai rejected the idea of Makoni becoming part of his government," one of the sources said. "He accused Makoni of undermining him in SADC by suggesting that there should be a transitional government headed by him instead of Tsvangirai who won the presidential election."

Makoni reportedly told an extraordinary meeting of SADC on the Zimbabwe crisis on April 12 that he should lead a transitional government made up of ZANU PF and the MDC.

However, Tsvangirai questioned his proposal, arguing that the ex-finance minister came in a distant third in the presidential elections and could not be a leader without a mandate from the people."

Makoni's candidacy in the presidentials, as far as I am concerned, has tarred him for life. He is an unacceptable compromise, and, with just 8% of the vote, carries very little political clout.

Speaking to journalists after meeting Tsvangirai, Frazer acknowledged the possibility that negotiations between the ruling party, led by President Robert Mugabe, and the opposition may be necessary.

"The gap between Tsvangirai and Makoni widened this week when the former finance minister told a South African television station, etv, that the opposition leader and Mugabe should not be part of a transitional government.

Instead, Makoni said someone else, apparently himself, should lead it."

My response?

-o00o-