Bulawayo’s outspoken Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube has openly called for a Ukraine-style ”peaceful popular mass uprising” by Zimbabweans to oust President Robert Mugabe, the Sunday Independent newspaper reported.
”I hope that people get so disillusioned that they really organise against the government and kick him (President Mugabe) out by a non-violent, popular, mass uprising,” Ncube told the paper in an interview.
”Because as it is, people have been too soft with this government. So people should pluck up just a bit of courage and stand up against him and chase him away.”
Commenting on Thursday’s poll, Ncube said: ”No way will elections kick him out.
”Mugabe has made all his plans. He cheated in 2000 and in 2002. They are very well schooled. They will cheat.”
He went on to say that Zimbabwe’s registrar-general was ”200% pro-Mugabe and he has shown how dishonest he can be in elections in the past.”
Another front-page article of the Sunday Independent reported that the answer to the question of how the ruling Zanu-PF was cheat was: ”It’s in the voter’s roll, stupid!”
The report read that as of last week, the voter’s roll had 5,7-million registered voters, according to the Zimbabwe Election Commission, which said it closed registration for Thursday’s election on February 4.
”It has grown by more than 100 000 in the past three weeks,” read the report.
”The Zimbabwe government has persistently refused the Movement for Democratic Change access to two CD-Roms that hold all the information on their voter’s roll.”
The newspaper reported the MDC saying the accurate figure for the voters’ roll should be 3,2-million based on the census of 2002 and extrapolating statistics collected door to door of people not known at addresses given on the roll in a mix of a dozen rural and urban constituencies ahead of Thursday’s poll.
It further reported that Mugabe’s former spin doctor, Jonathan Moyo, now standing as an independent, was also unhappy about the voters’ roll, ”although he saw no problems in 2002 when he was information minister”.
Wife of jailed MP to run in elections
The wife of jailed opposition legislator Roy Bennett confirmed on Saturday she would contest his constituency in this week’s parliamentary elections rather than postponing the vote so he could run.
Heather Bennett (42) said her husband had reached an agreement with the Electoral Court and government-appointed Electoral Supervisory Commission that would allow her to stand as opposition candidate for Chimanimani in Thursday’s election.
The Electoral Court had ordered the region’s vote be delayed until April 30 to allow Bennett himself to stand, saying he had been improperly barred from filing candidacy papers. Heather Bennett said, however, that she and her husband wanted the vote to go ahead as scheduled to spare voters any possible intimidation by youth militia loyal to President Robert Mugabe.
”Roy was concerned for the guys on the ground,” she said, after consulting her husband at Mutoko prison, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Harare, where he has been since November.
”A delay will let the government direct all their resources into Chimanimani, bring in the youth league and intimidate people. They have never lost a by-election.”
Mugabe, speaking at a March 17 ruling party rally in the mountainous constituency about 500 kilometers (311 miles) southeast of Harare, ordered his supporters to ignore the court ruling during Thursday’s election. He also said he would appeal the ruling.
Bennett, one of 57 opposition legislators elected in 2000, was jailed on the majority vote of ruling party lawmakers after a scuffle in the house. He has been prevented from appealing his imprisonment to Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court.
Heather Bennett said a fall in violence in recent weeks had allowed her to hold several well-attended rallies for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. ”I think we have a fair chance of holding the seat if voting takes place on March 31,” she said. There was no immediate comment from either Mugabe’s party or election officials.
Tsvangirai urges supporters to ‘give change a chance’ Meanwhile, Tsvangirai told 25 000 supporters on Saturday that it was ”time to give change a chance” in next week’s elections and end 25 years of rule under President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.
Addressing the crowd in his stronghold near Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo, Tsvangirai dismissed Mugabe’s tactics of blaming Prime Minister Tony Blair for the country’s woes and accusing his opponents of being the British leader’s puppets.
”It’s not about Blair,” said Tsvangirai. ”It’s about food and jobs for the youths. If Mugabe wants to stand against Blair, he must go to Britain.”
Tsvangirai addressed supporters at a stadium in Bulawayo’s Pelandaba suburb, in the heart of Matabeleland province, which is emerging as a key battleground in the elections on Thursday, Zimbabwe’s sixth parliamentary vote since independence from Britain in 1980.
”Zanu-PF keeps asking for time. But how much time do they need?” asked Tsvangirai. ”They have had 25 years and failed. Now it’s time to give change a chance.”
There was a moment of tension during the rally when two tear gas canisters were lobbed into the crowd, prompting a MDC speaker at the podium to call for calm.
In his speech, Tsvangirai urged his supporters to turn out and vote for ”freedom, a new beginning in a new Zimbabwe”, drawing thunderous applause from the crowd for the statement that is also the party’s slogan in the campaign for 120 contested seats in parliament.
The opposition leader also touched on health issues, promising that his party would ensure hospitals are well equipped to treat people living with HIV and Aids.
”The youth especially must be careful and use condoms — three, three –if necessary to stop the spread of Aids,” he emphasized. Zimbabwe is grappling with the world’s fourth highest Aids rate, with one in four adults or 2,3-million people living with HIV and Aids, according to UN figures.
Traditional leaders used to intimidate
Zimbabwe’s opposition on Saturday accused President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF of enlisting traditional leaders in a campaign of intimidation ahead of next week’s elections.
”Chiefs, kraal heads and other traditional leaders continue to be used by Zanu-PF in its desire to steal the March 2005 election,” said Paul Themba Nyathi, spokesperson for the MDC.
The MDC named chiefs in the northern town of Hurungwe who they said had tried to block an opposition rally, threatened to evict residents who vote for the opposition and also deny them agricultural aid.
It also said that Vice President Joyce Mujuru had announced at public rallies that chiefs and other traditional leaders ”should shepherd their subjects to polling stations on voting day” to ensure that they cast their ballots.
Mugabe’s government has in recent years sought to shore up traditional leaders, providing them with amenities such as vehicles, water and electricity in their rural communities.
Zimbabweans are going to the polls on Thursday to elect 120 representatives to parliament with an additional 30 seats to be appointed by Mugabe directly. Of those 30, ten are traditional leaders. The elections are closely watched to measure Mugabe’s commitment to a hold free and fair vote following the 2000 and 2002 polls that were tainted by violence and allegations of vote-rigging.
Mugabe is hoping to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament for his party, in power in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. ‒ Sapa, Sapa-AP, Sapa-AFP