Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited South Africa on Monday for private meetings in his first foreign trip since the March 29 presidential election, a party official said. Meanwhile, about 200 Zimbabwean exiles gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday to hand over a petition to President Thabo Mbeki.
African observers charged on Saturday that they had discovered fraudulent voters rolls in the Zimbabwe election, listing more than 8 000 apparently non-existent people. Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan African Parliament, said that in one Harare constituency, ”8 450 [voters] have been registered under block 081083 … which is a deserted land with a few scattered wooden sheds”.
Eager to vote, Zimbabweans began lining up before dawn on Saturday for elections that present President Robert Mugabe with the toughest political challenge of his 28 years in power. The house of a ruling Zanu-PF parliamentary candidate in Bulawayo was reportedly bombed earlier in the day, shattering its windows.