African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma, in his toughest statement yet on Zimbabwe, expressed apprehension on Wednesday at the post-election deadlock there and its impact on the neighbouring region.
In a widening disagreement with President Thabo Mbeki, Zuma said: ”The region cannot afford a deepening crisis in Zimbabwe. The situation is more worrying now given the reported violence that has erupted in the country.”
Zuma ousted Mbeki as leader of the ANC last December and has moved gradually to increase his influence at the expense of his rival.
Mbeki says there is no crisis in Zimbabwe but Zuma has called several times for the rapid release of delayed presidential election results.
”We once again register our apprehension about the situation in Zimbabwe. The delay in the verification process and the release of results increases anxiety each day,” Zuma told South Africa’s Chambers of Commerce in a speech.
A court in Harare was expected on Wednesday to rule on an application by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to block a recount of all votes cast in 23 out of 210 constituencies in the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections.
The MDC says the recount is another tactic by President Robert Mugabe to delay the election results while he orchestrates a campaign of militia violence to intimidate opposition supporters.
The High Court has already refused to order the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release the presidential result, in which the MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, defeated Mugabe, ruler of Zimbabwe for the last 28 years.
Meanwhile, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, backed by some Western countries, urged Southern African leaders on Wednesday to take ”decisive action” to end the Zimbabwe crisis, saying the world body stood ready to help.
”The Zimbabwean authorities and the countries of the region have insisted that these matters are for the region to resolve,” he told a high-level meeting of the Security Council, referring to the delayed results.
”But the international community continues to watch and wait for decisive action.”
Officially, the worsening Zimbabwe crisis was not on the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting, but Ban and Western members made it a point to address the issue.
”The credibility of the democratic process in Africa could be at stake here,” Ban told the meeting hosted by South African President Thabo Mbeki, whose country chairs the 15-member council this month.
”If there is a second round of elections, they must be conducted in a fair and transparent manner, with international observers,” he added.
Beatings
A coalition of Zimbabwean doctors said on Wednesday its members had seen and treated more than 150 patients who had been beaten and tortured since the elections at the end of March.
The independent Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said 157 people had been treated between the elections on March 29 and April 14 with injuries clearly stemming from organised violence and torture.
”One third of the patients are women, including a 15-year-old girl who was abducted with her mother from her home, made to lie on her front and beaten on her buttocks,” a statement said.
”Her mother, who is pregnant, was similarly beaten. Both mother and daughter required hospital admission.”
The group said half of 30 patients still in hospital were from the opposition stronghold of Mudzi, north-east of the capital.
”The commonest injury observed was extensive soft-tissue injury of the buttocks. This results from prolonged beating with a hard blunt object,” the doctors said.
Nine patients had broken bones, mostly in their arms or hands, the statement said, adding that such injuries were consistent with victims raising their arms to try to protect their face or upper body.
A broken bone had been protruding from the leg of one patient, resulting from being hit with a blunt object, the doctors said, adding that some of the patients would have permanent disabilities.
The doctors’ association condemned the upsurge in violence and called upon all political parties to ”cease the use of intimidation, violence and torture as a form of retribution or victimisation”. — Reuters, AFP