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/ 5 September 2008
Mugabe this week gave Morgan Tsvangirai until Thursday to sign the proposed power-sharing agreement.
The leader of a rebel faction of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change became the most senior opposition politician to be arrested when he was held on Sunday over a written attack on President Robert Mugabe. Arthur Mutambara was picked up at his home in Harare, his party and lawyer said.
Zimbabwe’s opposition accused Robert Mugabe’s military intelligence on Monday of trying to wipe out its leadership. With opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai refusing to return home over fears for his safety, his number two, Tendai Biti, claimed he was one of dozens of top figures in the Movement for Democratic Change who were on a hit list.
Zimbabwe’s run-off presidential election has been delayed and will now be held within 90 days of May 2, when official results of the disputed vote were released, Zimbabwe’s government announced on Wednesday. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat President Mugabe in the presidential poll, but not by enough votes to avoid a run-off.
Pressure mounted on the Zimbabwe government on Thursday to admit foreign observers to oversee a presidential election run-off amid fresh claims that pro-government militias were instilling terror in communities in the countryside. Meanwhile, there was still no word on when a second round should take place.
Zimbabwe’s opposition on Monday mulled whether to contest a presidential election run-off after winning the first round as President Robert Mugabe’s camp began gearing up for the ballot. "We are still putting things together and when we are ready, we will get the press informed," George Sibotshiwe, a spokesperson for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said.
Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe accepted that the opposition’s Morgan Tsvangirai won more votes in the presidential election and will contest a run-off in a political battle that has raised fears of bloodshed. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) cried foul after Zimbabwe’s electoral body announced on Friday that he had won 47,9% of the vote
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader defeated President Robert Mugabe in the presidential election but faces a run-off vote after he failed to win an outright majority, the electoral body said on Friday. Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47,9% of the vote on March 29 and Mugabe took 43,2%, said the chief elections officer.
A month after Zimbabweans took to the polls to pick a president, the outcome of the vote is still not in sight as the United Nations prepared on Tuesday to discuss the Zimbabwe impasse. Suggestions by the country’s electoral body that results of the March 29 presidential vote could be out later this week have been met with scepticism.
Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will take its claim of victory in last month’s election over President Robert Mugabe to the United Nations Security Council this week. MDC secretary general Tendai Biti will lead a delegation to New York, where he will tell a Security Council session that the party is not prepared to partake in a presidential run-off.
President Robert Mugabe’s party has failed to secure control of Zimbabwe’s Parliament in a partial recount of the March 29 election, results showed on Saturday, handing the ruling party its first defeat in 28 years. Results of a parallel presidential poll have not been released and Mugabe has been preparing for a run-off against Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition.
Armed riot police raided the headquarters of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Friday and detained scores of people, officials said. Dozens of riot police detained about 100 MDC supporters who were bundled into a crowded police bus before being taken away, a witness said.
Zimbabwe’s opposition alleged widespread irregularities as the partial recount begun on Saturday of votes cast in the presidential and parliamentary elections held three weeks ago, including ballot boxes with seals broken before they were delivered for the count or with no seals at all.
Supporters of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF have set up a network of torture camps where they have been assaulting opposition activists, a leading rights group said on Saturday. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said that suspected supporters of the opposition were being rounded up and then beaten.
President Robert Mugabe’s security forces clamped down hard on unrest during a general strike in Zimbabwe, arresting dozens of opposition supporters before the stoppage fizzled out on Wednesday. The security forces scaled back their presence in the capital as it became clear that the call for people to remain off work had failed.
Zimbabwe’s High Court on Monday refused to order the immediate release of delayed presidential election results, in a major blow to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Rejecting an MDC application to force the electoral commission to release the result, Judge Tendai Uchena said: ”I dismiss the case with costs.”
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 High Court on Sunday ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to refrain from recounting the results of March 29 elections because the presidential results have not yet been announced. The ruling followed an announcement by the ZEC that it would carry out a partial recount of votes.
Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders called on Sunday for the rapid release of results from Zimbabwe’s election after a two-week delay that has raised fears of violence. A 13-hour summit in Lusaka also called on President Robert Mugabe to ensure that a possible run-off presidential vote be held ”in a secure environment”.
An emergency summit of Southern African leaders on Zimbabwe’s post-election crisis opened on Saturday with a plea from its chairperson not to turn a blind eye, but President Robert Mugabe stayed away. Zambia’s Levy Mwanawasa told Southern African Development Community leaders that doing nothing was not an option.
Police have banned political rallies and the opposition has accused the authorities of waging a violent crackdown as Zimbabwe’s political crisis deepens nearly two weeks after a presidential election that produced no official winner. Zimbabwe’s neighbours hope to find a resolution on Saturday at an emergency summit in Zambia.
President Robert Mugabe will boycott a weekend Southern African summit on the Zimbabwe crisis, state radio said on Friday as the opposition called for a general strike to press for the release of election results. Mugabe signalled a further clampdown in the country with a ban on all political rallies.
The Zimbabwe opposition’s bid to build up pressure on President Robert Mugabe after disputed polls bore fruit on Wednesday as plans were unveiled for a weekend summit to discuss the crisis. The president of neighbouring Zambia said he would gather his peers for talks on Saturday, aimed at breaking the deadlock that has persisted since the March 29 polls.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai urged the leaders of Southern Africa on Wednesday to use their influence to help prevent his country from sliding into chaos following disputed elections. MDC lawyers, meanwhile, were trying to persuade the High Court to order the immediate release of the results of the March 29 presidential election.
Zimbabwe sunk deeper into political stalemate on Sunday, with the opposition going to court to get election results released and President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party asking for a delay. Tensions between the two sides have risen sharply since the elections last weekend, fuelled by opposition suspicions Mugabe is preparing to rig the outcome.
Zimbabwe’s opposition was pushing for the High Court to consider an urgent petition on Saturday demanding the immediate release of results from last weekend’s presidential election, its lawyer said. ”We are doing everything in our powers to have it heard today but we are not expecting anything before lunchtime,” Alec Muchadehama said.
A leadership meeting of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party will decide on Friday to contest a runoff election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, a senior official said. Referring to a meeting of the Zanu-PF politburo, a senior party member told Reuters: ”I have no doubt the resolution will be in favour of a run-off, I have no doubt about that.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party edged ahead of the main opposition on Tuesday with over half of parliamentary election results released as concerns grew that President Robert Mugabe was trying to rig the vote. Riot police in armoured carriers patrolled two of Harare’s opposition strongholds overnight and residents were told to stay off the normally bustling streets.
Simba Makoni’s decision to enter the presidential race is a ploy by former colonial power Britain to divide Zimbabweans, a state-controlled newspaper reported President Robert Mugabe as saying on Wednesday. Mugabe told ruling Zanu-PF supporters at a rally that voters have to ”bury British regime-change schemes”, the Herald reported.
Reviving Zimbabwe’s moribund economy would require inflation-battered citizens to swallow the bitter pill of reduced state spending and higher interest rates to attract foreign cash, analysts say. The ousting of veteran President Robert Mugabe is essential to pave the way for reforms to put the country back on track, they believe.
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/ 1 February 2008
Simon Kamunhukamwe just shrugged when Zimbabwe’s official inflation figure topped 26 000%. Exploding prices have become a part of life and protesting against the economic meltdown can be risky, especially as President Robert Mugabe digs in for elections next month.
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/ 31 January 2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe may have dealt a fatal blow to Pretoria’s "quiet diplomacy" by calling an election in the middle of mediation efforts by his South African counterpart, say analysts. President Mbeki was handed the poisoned chalice of mediating between Mugabe and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change last April.