Photographer : John Rohan @ flickr
The recent elections in Zimbabwe provided Zimbabweans with the chance to vote for change after 28 years of brutal dictatorship under Robert Mugabe.
The elections saw Mugabe’s political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1980. And there was a renewed sense of hope that Mugabe may be forced to step down as Zimbabwean President.
However, the results of the presidential vote are still being violently contested by Mugabe, who claims the opposition did not receive the required percentage of votes to overthrow him. Without a change of leadership it is hard to see how the country will survive.
Liberation hero turned tyrant
The economic mismanagement and oppressive social policies of Robert Mugabe have forced Zimbabweans into lives of continuous suffering. But there was once a time when the Mugabe, now 84 years old, was viewed as a liberation hero.
When Mugabe helped free Zimbabwe from British rule in 1980 the country was fertile with stockpiles of cotton, maize and tobacco. Zimbabwe prospered throughout the 1980s and 90s and was the agricultural breadbasket of Southern Africa.
Mugabe has always been a devoted African nationalist, believing African nations should be governed by Africans, but throughout this period of prosperity it was the white minority farmers who were in charge of the country’s most fertile lands. In response, Mugabe, with the backing of parliament, decided to ‘strike fear into the heart of the white man’. He dispensed gangs composed of ex-liberation veterans to violently seize the land from the white farming elite and divided the land amongst ZANU party officials.
Charles Mangongera, a human rights and development expert based in Zimbabwe said, ‘Mugabe parcelled out pieces of land to his supporters, most of whom were not committed to farming at all and to date the once vibrant agricultural sector has become a pale shadow of itself.’
Since Mugabe’s land reform policies, the economy has been in free fall with the country’s annual inflation rate currently sitting at an unprecedented 160,000 percent. The most basic goods (soap, cooking oil, corn, toilet paper) have become so expensive that everyday Zimbabweans must simply do without.
According to Oxfam Australia and the World Food Program, since 2000 Zimbabweans life-expectancy has dropped to 37 years for males and 34 years for females, one in five Zimbabweans are now infected with HIV, and 50 percent of the nation is malnourished. And the nation’s unemployment rate has risen to a staggering 85 per cent.
29 March 2008: The end of ZANU’s unchallenged rule
Following Zimbabwe’s economic collapse, a political opposition called the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) emerged. Lead by Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC has given Zimbabweans hope that a change of leadership is not simply a dream but a true possibility. However, Mugabe has become increasingly violent in his attempts to maintain power. As the American based Human Rights Watch stated, ‘the government continues to restrict the political opposition, media, and non-governmental organisations. Torture in police custody is common, as is the harassment and arrest of journalists and human rights defenders.’
But on 29 March 2008, Zimbabweans were given the chance to vote in both parliamentary and presidential elections.
Zimbabweans are no strangers to the election process—elections were held in 1999 and 2003, but on both occasions the results were altered in Mugabe and ZUNU’s favour. Through the use of ghost voters (deceased people who appear on electoral roles) and limited polling stations in urban areas (where Mugabe’s opposition is strongest) the elections were rigged and unjust.
The results of the March 20 elections, publicly released by the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission after a long delay on 29 April, confirmed ZANU’s loss of the parliamentary majority. However, the presidential election results are still unclear. Mugabe claims that Morgan Tsvangirai did not win the required 50.1 per cent of the vote needed to overthrow him. However, Tsvangiria and the MDC claim they won 50.3 per cent.
Political analysts are sceptical about the fairness of ththe election. One thing is clear, Mugabe is not stepping down without a fight, According to the BBC, since the elections ZANU gangs have violently seized land from farmers accused of supporting the MDC. MDC headquarters were raided by police, approximately 200 MDC supporters were illegally detained by security forces, and ten opposition supporters have been murdered.
The problems in Zimbabwe must be confronted with a change of leadership. When a nation of people struggle to live to the age of 40 and the country turns into a mass of ‘beggars and street peddlers’, the leadership no longer has the interests of its people at heart. Mugabe’s only interest is in maintaining power.
The fact that Zimbabweans have voted to give the MDC control of the parliament shows that even ZANU supporters are beginning to turn on their government. As one former ZANU supporter, Philip Chiro, a bricklayer from Harare, comments, ‘[Mugabe] was the hero of the liberation struggle, just as he says. But now our struggle is simply to survive and if he does not go, I believe Zimbabwe will die.’
The lives of 12 million Zimbabweans depend on the overthrow of President Mugabe. ZANU are currently demanding an election re-run between Mugabe and Tsvangirai but it is highly unlikely the MDC will agree to such a campaign. The MDC are convinced they have already won the right to install a new president and see the re-run as an excuse for ZANU to further intimidate MDC supporters.
How do I know this?
allAfrica,
http://allafrica.com/zimbabwe
Amnesty International 2007, Amnesty International Report 2007: Zimbabwe, Amnesty International,
www.amnesty.org/en/region/africa/southern-africa/zimbabwe#report
Bearak, B 2008, ‘In Crisis: Zimbabwe Asks: Could Mugabe Lose?’ New York Times, 7 March
British Broadcasting Corporation,
www.news.bbc.co.uk
Human Rights Watch,
www.hrw.org/doc?t=africa&c=zimbab
Human Rights Watch, World Report 2008: Zimbabwe Events of 2007, Human Rights Watch,
www.hrw.org/englishwr2k8/docs/2008/01/31/zimbab17799.htm
Mangongera, C 2007, ‘Will Mugabe survive this time around?’ Zimbabwe Independent, 10 August
Oxfam Australia,
www.oxfam.org.au/world/africa/zimbabwe
Philip, C 2008, ‘a nation dares to dream: could this really be the end of Mugabe?’ The Times, 29 March
