George Mhanda came to Johannesburg to feed his family, struggling to eat under Robert Mugabe’s derelict rule. The Zimbabwean mechanic found a job in a local garage and a room in a small house in Tembisa township, and sent cash home every month.
The boy with the shaved head and Kalashnikov slung across his legs is uncertain about a lot of things, even his age. He pulls at the long, dry grass around him and in a quiet voice says he thinks that he might be 13 years old because he was a baby when his mother wrapped him with the last of her possessions and made her escape across the border.
To the outside world it has become as known as Africa’s First World War with its foreign armies and invasions, and ceaseless killing and dying that seems to achieve nothing. The battleground is the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where to some of those who have fought it is a matter of the very survival of nations, while to others it is the prospect of immense wealth that drives them.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party has said that a second round of presidential elections could be delayed by up to a year in a move that would extend Robert Mugabe’s rule even though he admits to having lost the first round of voting five weeks ago. The election commission is expected to meet soon to set a date for the run-off vote between Mugabe and the opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Each day, Edwin Makotore’s wife and children hit the streets to earn cash so he can pay for the privilege of working. The 38-year-old father-of-two is the only one in the family with a full-time job, but by the time he has met the soaring cost of travelling to work in a small Harare supermarket, paid out of wages wildly out of step with the 165Â 000% inflation rate, Makotore is out of pocket.
Zimbabwe’s Health Minister, Dr David Parirenyatwa, armed himself with a Kalashnikov and threatened to kill opposition supporters forced to attend a political meeting unless they voted for President Robert Mugabe in a second round of the presidential election, according to witnesses.
Zimbabwe’s official presidential election results may remain secret for at least another week while substantial numbers of votes are recounted in a move the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says is designed to overturn fraudulently Robert Mugabe’s defeat and his Zanu-PF party’s defeat in Parliament.
Zimbabwe’s war veterans have launched fresh invasions of the country’s few remaining white-owned farms as President Robert Mugabe appears to be falling back on the tested tactics of violence and raising racial tensions, in preparation for a run-off vote in the presidential election.
Robert Mugabe’s aides have told Zimbabwe’s opposition leaders that he is prepared to give up power in return for guarantees, including immunity from prosecution for past crimes. But the aides have warned that if the Movement for Democratic Change does not agree then Mugabe is threatening to declare emergency rule.
Zimbabwe’s opposition was in contact with senior military and intelligence officials on Tuesday night to persuade them to respect the results of the election as pressure grew on Robert Mugabe, the President, to recognise defeat. Sources in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said the contacts were aimed at winning the security establishment’s support.