'Zimbabwe elections could be postponed'

By Vusumuzi Sifile

ON Friday last week, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was still "working flat out" to finalise the list of candidates to contest the 1 958 wards in next month’s harmonised elections, a week after nomination courts sat across the country.

This, and the way a few nomination courts failed to complete their business on time, in some instances continuing until the next morning, has sparked speculation on the commission’s preparedness to run the harmonised elections.

Observers and analysts last week said if the confusion at the nomination courts were to be taken as an example, then the ZEC has shown "very little by way of readiness" for the 29 March polls. Commentators noted "it is still legally possible to postpone the elections" as there are still a number of "fundamental issues requiring more time to correct".

Noel Kututwa, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), said the same problems encountered at nomination could spill into the elections.
"This was to be expected," Kututwa said. "I anticipate the same problem with the voting ... It would be undesirable for polling to go on and on beyond 7PM given the on-going power cuts and no electricity in some rural constituencies."

Last week, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) also said the situation was not ideal for elections next month.

But ZEC officials insist they are ready, as they have been "preparing for over a year".
ZEC spokesperson, Shupikai Mashereni, on Thursday acknowledged they faced challenges putting together results of the nomination court.

"We had nomination courts sitting throughout the country," Mashereni said. "Results were sent mostly by phone or fax, but when we got them, some of them were not very clear. Each ward had an average of six contestants, and we had to tabulate the information ward by ward," he said.

Asked whether this was not an indication that ZEC was not fully prepared for such a massive election, Mashereni said: "ZEC now has all the logistics required for the elections...We did not start preparing for the elections this year. Remember, we are employed full-time and our job is to prepare for and run elections. So what do you think we have been doing all along?"

But Mashereni could not disclose the exact figures of the various logistical requirements, such as the translucent ballot boxes, indelible ink, motor vehicles, generators, fuel and mobile phones, among others.

Early this month, Mashereni told The Standard "ZEC has arranged for air transport" to access areas rendered inaccessible by the recent floods".

Among other things, it was reported last week that the commission would set up 11 000 polling stations for the harmonised elections.

Kututwa said considering what had happened in previous elections "11 000 polling stations may not be enough to allow all voters to exercise their right to vote within a reasonable time in this election".

"These harmonised elections are the first time that Zimbabwe will be holding four elections at the same time," he said. "This has never been done before. I would have expected that the polling stations would have been doubled to take into account the fact that each voter will be given four ballot papers to cast. Just the time that it will take to go through four ballot papers will unduly lengthen the voting process and it would have been preferable to increase the number of polling stations."

But others believe if the number of polling stations is increased, political parties and their candidates would face another challenge: spending a lot of money on polling agents.
Every candidate needs at least one agent at each polling station. Considering there would be four elections running simultaneously at 11 000 polling stations, each political party would need to field at least four candidates at each polling station. Parties fielding candidates in all constituencies would need 44 000 polling agents. They don’t come cheap either.

But Kututwa said "it is better for the election to be expensive for parties than to have voters’ democratic rights to vote prejudiced by having few polling stations".
He proposed that the political "parties would rather take the risk" than let people fail to vote because there were fewer polling stations than could cater for all the voters.
He said some candidates could also volunteer their services.

David Coltart of the MDC Mutambara faction said this was not likely to be a problem for the "serious political parties".
"For example, in Bulawayo we already have a surplus of people who want to be polling agents," said Coltart. "Maybe this could be a problem for the smaller parties and independents. But generally, we share the same concerns with them. So we can say they will be covered by other opposition party agents."

In the past, voters could vote anywhere in their constituency. This year, voting will be ward-based, but not much has been done to enlighten voters on the new arrangements.
"Very little voter education is being conducted by the ZEC," Kututwa said. "The solution is to change the whole administrative set-up and ensure that adequate human and financial resources are in place to be able to carry out these activities properly."

Paul Themba Nyathi, also from the Mutambara faction, said the distribution of polling stations "should be based on the mathematical factor that there are four entities being voted for simultaneously. It is not something one can just do from the air."

Political analyst, Felix Mafa, the spokesperson for the MDC Tsvangirai faction in Bulawayo, said with the current number of polling stations, the "voting process will definitely need more time for each voter to cast four votes".

"If each voter takes about 10 minutes inside the polling station in order to cast his/her votes, there are many votes that will be lost, as many eligible voters might not afford to spend the whole day in a queue to cast their votes," he said.

Some candidates — especially those from newly established political parties — appear not conversant with the new regulations relating to the election, which could result in their papers being rejected as not being in order.

Others, like perennial loser Egypt Dzinemunhenzwa, went to the court without enough money to file the papers.

Others, like Moreprecision Muzadzi of the obscure Vox Populi, were not aware that presidential candidates, for example, have to be over 40 years old. The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) says it would have fielded eight candidates "but many fell by the wayside for various reasons".

The party ended up fielding only two.

First published in The Standard, 24 February 2008

Move over MDC, Enter Vox Populi

By Vusumuzi Sifile

AN unusually large number of newly-formed fringe political parties have emerged since the beginning of the year, all promising to turn around Zimbabwe’s fortunes once elected to power.

In the past month, leaders of the United Democratic People’s Constitution (UDPC), Zimbabwe Integrated Party (ZIP), Voice of the People/Vox Populi (VP) and the Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP) knocked at The Standard doors to announce their arrival on the political scene. All the parties have, somewhere in their manifestos, symbols depicting fingers.

The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) was launched in Harare recently. It is led by William Gwata. The Zimbabwe Progressive People’s Democratic Party (ZPPDP) has been advertising its manifesto in this newspaper over the past two months.

Except for Kisinoti Mukwazhe, the president of ZDP, the leaders of all the other parties have no known political background. Mukwazhe is a former Zanu PF member. He was defeated in the Zanu PF primaries for Masvingo Central in the 2005 elections.

In September 2004, he called for the indigenisation of the name of the country’s currency, changing it from Dollar to Ivhu (soil).

While all the party leaders insisted there were genuine, there is some suspicion in some circles they could be are part of a grand plan by Zanu PF to create the impression of a healthy multi-party system.

This, say analysts, would make Zanu PF’s victory more genuine if the main opposition, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) boycotted the election.

But in separate interviews, the new parties’ representatives said they were entering the elections, even if they are yet to be officially launched.

Mukwazhe said his ZDP was formed in December 2006 and spent last year laying the groundwork for its campaign.

"Our delay is strategic," he said. "In fact, it was deliberate. We want to launch a surprise attack. If you look at African opposition parties that ended up in power, you will realise that only those launched just before an election were successful.

Despite the "strategic delay", the party still has no offices. Its structure so far has only three members: Mukwazhe, his deputy, Jansen Mudzadzavara, and organising secretary, Facemore Museza.

UDPC leader Tasunungurwa Mhuruyengwe said a "struggle starts any time; it doesn’t need years of preparation".

"I know there is limited time," said Mhuruyengwe. "But it would be stupid for me not to participate. The trick is to use a different approach, that has not been used by the other parties."
Mhuruyengwe, an army deserter, would not explain his "different approach".
The party is still to register with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The party’s leadership currently comprises Mhuruyengwe, who claims he was jailed for two years for desertion from the army.

Vox Populi president and secretary general, Moreprecision Muzadzi said the party was formed in January 2006 by Zimbabweans living in Botswana and South Africa. Muzadzi said their membership was drawn mostly from members of Pentecostal churches.

The ZIP chairperson, Fanuel Zimidzi, said he was not even aware of the existence of a party with a similar name. The first ZIP was formed by mathematics professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei over a decade ago. It started off as a pressure group for the involvement of rural Zimbabweans in the decision-making process for their development. Zimidzi appeared unaware of a number of key issues on the current political landscape, raising doubts about his political credibility.

Apart from the new parties, there are older ones rising up from their slumber as election draw closer.

The Zimbabwe People’s Democratic Party (ZPDP), led by Isabel Shanangurai Madangure, has bounced back on the internet, with a colourful website. Although it was not immediately possible to contact Madangure or any of the party’s leaders, information on the party’s website indicates that ZPDP "is focusing its efforts on developing its capacity to provide Zimbabweans with a viable opposition choice in 2008".

The leader of the African National Party, Egypt Dzinemunenzva, a perennial loser in all presidential and parliamentary elections, says this year his party "means business". Dzinemunenzva has, since 1995, been among presidential candidates, and always contests by-elections.

Since independence, only few opposition parties have been able to mount a meaningful challenge to Zanu PF. There was PF-Zapu,, led by Joshua Nkomo. In the 1985 parliamentary election, the party retained most of the seats it had won in the 1980 election.

In the 1990 election, Edgar Tekere’s Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) scored well in the presidential election, where Tekere lost to Mugabe but was generally said not to have been disgraced.

In 2000, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) provided the stiffest challenge to Zanu PF, winning 57 seats. No other opposition party had performed so well since independence.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the proliferation of new parties this time around may part of an intelligence ploy to create the impression of a multiplicity of opposition parties.

First published in The Standard, 10 Feb 2008

Even with a Commission, graft breeds in Zimbabwe

BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE

ON Monday last week, two senior government employees — Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele and Grain Marketing Board (GMB) operations director, Samuel Muvuti— appeared in court on corruption charges.

That same day, a close ally of President Robert Mugabe, Nicholas van Hoogstraten, was charged with illegally dealing in foreign currency.

Could this be the beginning of the end of the honeymoon for corrupt government officials and businesspeople? Is the Anti-Corruption Commission ACC) beginning to get tough? Could Muvuti become the first top official to be prosecuted by the commission — more than two years after its establishment?

Two weeks ago, Vice President Joice Mujuru said the nation was suffering because of high level corruption.

"When we appoint some of these people," said Mujuru at a function at Hupenyuhutsva Children’s Home. "we assume they are capable, but I think to some extent we have misjudged some people who hold important positions.

"They are full of the individualistic feeling and practice. We know what happened during Operation Restore Order. This is what we call corruption; it is not good. Our society is no longer clean. It’s like we are developing crooks."

A month earlier, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Gideon Gono, said he knew many top officials were engaged in corrupt activities.

Gono said corrupt officials were responsible for the three-months-long cash crunch, which forced him to introduce six sets of high denomination notes.

On two occasions, Gono said he was prepared to name and shame the officials. But he seemed to develop cold feet, when he failed to turn up for a meeting with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget and Finance.

Over the past few weeks, The Standard has gathered information the RBZ has taken part in corrupt activities.

Even President Robert Mugabe has on many occasions hinted that he is aware most officials in his government are corrupt. In one memorable speech a few years ago, he spoke of top people taking "ten percent" of the total value of each government contract.

But despite this acknowledgment of corruption, there appears to be little progress in stamping it out.

In its Integrity Systems Report on Zimbabwe in 2007, international corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI)said: "Corruption in Zimbabwe is fast becoming a way of life.

"The vice has become so deep-rooted and institutionalized that some people now accept it as their sole means of survival due to a total collapse of systems that offer checks and balances," said TI.

Zimbabwe is among the 12 countries ranked 150 in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). This, said the TI, is despite the fact that Zimbabwe has a Ministry of Anti-Corruption, and the ACC.

The ACC was established in 2005, but up to now, its "effectiveness is yet to be fully realized". There is growing belief the ACC could actually turn out to be another white elephant, like The Ombudsman.

John Makumbe, a respected political analyst, believes corruption is an indication of the rot in the entire governance system of the country.

Makumbe said there was no way efforts to fight corruption could yield anything when the "very people who are supposed to fight it are leading the corruption vicious circle".

"When systems of government collapse," said Makumbe, "people resort to corrupt means of survival. At the moment, there is no commitment whatsoever to fight corruption. It is almost like there is no one running the country."

Makumbe said during an election campaign, like this year, the situation was most likely to get worse.

"There is no political will to fight corruption, especially in an election time like this. The cost of fighting corruption is very high for the government. So they would rather leave things as they are. Look at what we have just witnessed: we have Gono being stopped from exposing cash barons. This was to avoid the possible political damage that would result."

The Commission’s deputy chairperson, Rutendo Faith Wutawunashe, said it was not only senior figures who were corrupt, "even small ones are so serious".

"Some of them are so small, but they are the most serious," said Wutawunashe. "They move trillions of dollars. Some of these small ones are fronts for the big fish."

But Wutawunashe would not reveal the names of the big fish fuelling corruption.

She referred this reporter to Bessie Fadzai Nhandara, who in turn asked questions to be sent to her.

Nhandara later claimed she had not seen the questions, and then said she was in a meeting.

Makumbe said the corruption commissioners were dodging questions, possibly because some of them could be corrupt.

"What has the commission been doing, if they cannot give us even one major case of corruption?" he asked. "Why has there not been an imprisonment for a case handled by the commission? They are part of the rot. If we are to fight corruption, we have to get rid of the commission and the regime that put it in place?."

In 2006, the ACC received 147 cases but only four were completed because of "a number of challenges ranging from legal, operational, financial, technical and administrative".

Transparency International says there "is more symbolic than substantive political commitment to curtail corruption and strengthen the integrity system".

Attempts to contact the Minister of Anti- Corruption and Anti-Monopolies, Samuel Undenge were futile.

An official at his office said Undenge was "running around" preparing for the forthcoming elections.

Government spokesperson, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said it was "unfounded" to say the government was not committed to fighting corruption.

"Whoever has factual information about corrupt government officials should just bring factual information and see if they will not be prosecuted," said Ndlovu.

"When we have the facts, we can prosecute anyone whether he or she is in government or not. That is why one of them even fled to the UK because he knew no one is above the law. The people who say government is shielding corrupt officials have double standards."

First published in The Standard, 4 Feb 2008