As two days of polling in local council elections in rural areas of Zimbabwe drew to a close on Sunday, the main opposition party disputed the legitimacy of the vote, saying government opponents had been subjected to ongoing violence and intimidation.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the main challenger to the ruling Zanu-PF party for the
1 397 council posts, said several of its candidates and agents were prevented from entering polling booths, while others had been detained or gone missing.
”Reports received from various parts of the country, so far, indicate that Zanu-PF has stepped up violence in a bid to prevent the people from choosing their preferred councilors,” the opposition said in a statement.
Zimbabwe has been wracked by more than two years of political and economic turmoil, widely blamed on the ruling party. Local and international observers accused the increasingly unpopular President Robert Mugabe of rigging March presidential elections, to extend his 22 year reign.
Results of the local council elections are expected on Monday.
Thomas Bvuma, a representative for the government’s Electoral Supervisory Commission, said on Sunday that voting was going smoothly in all areas.
Police representative Wayne Bvudzijena said he had received reports of two huts being set afire, one belonging to an independent candidate and another to a ruling party official, but no one was hurt.
Meanwhile lawyers said they were still trying to get access to opposition activist Thomas Spicer (18) who has been detained in Harare since Thursday for what authorities said was riotous behavior.
Newton Spicer, the activist’s father, said his son had been subjected to electric shocks and beatings, but was being denied medical treatment. Police declined to comment on the allegations.
Meanwhile police arrested a ruling party lawmaker and his wife on Saturday in the Chimanimani area in southeastern Zimbabwe.
Roy Bennett (48) and his wife Heather’s were detained at a roadblock because they had resisted government efforts to seize their farm, said a friend who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The government had earmarked thousands of white-owned farms for seizure, claiming they are to be redistributed to landless blacks.
Mugabe says the measure is necessary to address the legacy of inequitable land ownership left by colonial rule.
Critics of the program say many of the best farms have been allocated to senior government officials and ruling party
supporters.
More than half of Zimbabwe’s 12,5-million people face severe food shortages, blamed on drought and the land reform program, which has ground commercial farming to a standstill.
Bennett, who has won several court orders preventing the seizure of his land, faces renewed charges of defying government eviction orders.
He was detained at the Chimanimani police station, and had been denied access to lawyers, his friend said.
Bvudzijena confirmed Bennett had been arrested for defying land takeover notices that came into effect in August. – Sapa-AP