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Free Zim poll 'highly unlikely'
22/03/2005 10:02 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Thousands cram a soccer stadium near Zimbabwe's eastern Mutare city, their cheers rising to a deafening roar as the country's only effective opposition leader makes a triumphant entrance in an open-topped vehicle.
Club-wielding police have refrained from breaking up such rallies of late. But Human Rights Watch, in a report on Monday, is the latest to conclude that previous years of violence, intimidation and repression already have skewed the March 31 parliamentary poll for the country's aging and embattled President Robert Mugabe.
"The government has denied the opposition, civil society activists and ordinary citizens the right to freely express their opinions," researcher Tiseke Kasambala said at a news briefing in Johannesburg.
As a result, the report concludes, the elections are "highly unlikely" to reflect the free expression of voters.
Numerous incidents of intimidation
Calls to Mugabe's information department in Zimbabwe seeking comment went unanswered on Monday.
Mugabe, facing accusations that his nearly 25-year rule has descended into tyranny, has promised the vote will be peaceful and has enacted electoral reforms he says bring the country in line with regional standards.
On Saturday, police kept a discreet distance as Tsvangirai - casually dressed in a brown wide-brimmed hat and open-necked shirt - accused the government of chasing away foreign aid groups and failing to feed the population stricken by drought, Aids and a calamitous land redistribution program.
"The problem with this country is that the ones who are eating are the few; the ones who are suffering are the majority," he said.
While opposition officials and their suspected supporters are still threatened and beaten, the level of violence has declined markedly since the last legislative poll in 2000.
The 35-page Human Rights Watch report documents numerous incidents of political intimidation.
Traditional chiefs have been asked to compile lists of potential opposition supporters, and voters in desperately hungry rural areas have been told they could forfeit food aid if they don't vote for the ruling party, Kasambala said at a news briefing in Johannesburg.
Mugabe's government has also expanded its legal arsenal to restrict the activities of political parties and civil society activists.
MDC officials, however, believe the years of political and economic turmoil have created a groundswell of opposition that could yet propel them to power.
Giles Mutsekwa, an opposition candidate in the Mutare North district, pointed to the 20 000-strong crowd at Saturday's rally, many chanting the party's slogan: "A new Zimbabwe, a new beginning."
"The system is completely against us," he said. "The people would not have come here at all ... if they had not had enough of the Zanu-PF government." - AP
- SAPA
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Zimbabwe Special Report
