Movement For Democratic Change
Weekly Briefing Note
4 November 2003
For Further Information Please Contact:
Nkanyiso Maqeda, MDC Director of Information: 0263 91 248 570
Grace Kwinjeh, MDC EU Representative: 0032 494 181 621
James Littleton: 00 27 727 310 554
Morgan Tsvangirai’s Court Challenge Against The March 2002 Presidential Election Result
After a delay of more than 18 months, Morgan Tsvangirai’s court challenge against Mugabe’s victory in the March 2002 Presidential election finally got underway in the High Court on 3 November.
In his opening remarks, High Court Judge Ben Hlatshwayo, described the case as ‘a serious matter nearest the heart of the nation.’
Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett, head of the Morgan Tsvangirai’s defence team, stated that the court challenge had been brought in terms of Section 102 of the Electoral Act, which requires that all elections in Zimbabwe must be free and fair, and permits the High Court to set aside any election which is flawed ‘by reason of irregularity or for any other cause whatsoever’.
"The fairness and genuineness of the elections were stifled at birth by that extraordinary sight of the incumbent…being set up as a main rule-maker in an election in which he was one of the two main actors," said Advocate Gauntlett
The table below illustrates just how far our standard of living has deteriorated since the Presidential Election.
| Commodity |
Unit |
Cost – Mar 02(in Z$) |
Cost – Oct 03(in Z$) |
| Maize Meal |
Kg |
32 |
656 |
| Bread |
Loaf |
60 |
1,500 |
| Cooking Oil |
750 ml |
240 |
5,525 |
| White Sugar |
Kg |
40 |
1,200 |
| Beef |
Kg |
250 |
5,000 |
| Salt |
Kg |
72 |
1,723 |
| Bar Soap |
1 |
118 |
5,600 |
| Matches |
Box |
7 |
100 |
| Toilet Paper |
1 Roll |
78 |
1,127 |
| Milk |
Litre |
98 |
1,900 |
| Margarine |
Kg |
352 |
9,000 |
| Petrol |
Litre |
74 |
2,800 |
| Diesel |
Litre |
66 |
2,800 |
Political Violence/Intimidation
Daily News Directors Arrested
Last Monday, police charged four more directors of the Daily News for ‘publishing without a license’. The charges against the four followed the arrest the previous day of another director, former Supreme Court Judge, Washington Sansole. Sansole was held for 24 hours before being released. The other Directors, Sam Nkomo, Rachel Kupara, Brian Mutsau and Stuart Mattinson, were held for 48 hours in police custody and released on bail pending a court appearance on November 13.They have also been charged with ‘obstructing the course of justice’.
The arrest followed the reappearence of the Daily News on newsstands on Saturday 25 October in response to the ruling by Harare’s Administrative Court ordering the media commission to grant a license to the Daily News. Following publication police immediately raided the Daily News office, closing down the paper yet again and briefly detaining 18 journalists.
"We are outraged by these arrests, which show the Zimbabwean authorities will stop at nothing to prevent the country’s sole independent daily from appearing…They must halt this series of arbitrary arrests and this unacceptable harassment of the newspaper’s directors and employees," said Robert Menard, Secretary General, Reporters Without Borders.
"The ongoing circus in Zimbabwe, where the government is now detaining directors of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of the Daily News, must be a cause for concern for all leaders of this continent," said Mathatha Tsedu, interim chairman of the Africa Editors Forum
"I am deeply concerned about the situation of the Daily News…muzzling the press cripples a country’s development and prosperity. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are the driving forces behind democratic processes," said UNESCO Director-General, Koichiro Matsuura
Recent Attacks on MDC Supporters
Last week Zanu PF thugs in Mashonaland West assaulted MDC officials and prevented them from submitting their papers to the nomination court for the council and mayoral elections in Chinhoyi, scheduled to be held on 29 and 30 November.
"We cannot rest while the electoral process is being abused by Zanu PF. We have to fight for our democratic rights," said MDC Secretary General Welshman Ncube
- Gift Konjana, the MDC administrator for Mashonaland West was severely assaulted at Chinhoyi NominationCourt where he had gone to pay the election fee for the MDC mayoral candidate. The attack took place in front of the police who refused to intervene. Konjana was later abducted in Harare by Zanu PF youth and severely beaten
- Edeline Huchu, the MDC Mayoral candidate for Chinhoyi and the MDC candidate for ward 3, Cleophas Watama were last week brutally attacked by a group of 50 Zanu PF supporters. Both were admitted to hospital for treatment for the injuries they sustained.
- Edwin Matekenya, the MDC chairperson for Chinhoyi District, received minor bruises when he was attacked at his home in ward 6, where he is standing as the MDC candidate.
The on-going trend of Zanu PF supporters deliberately preventing MDC candidates from submitting their nomination papers is indicative of the contempt with which Zanu PF views the electoral process. Such anti-democratic behaviour is an admission by Zanu PF that in a free and fair poll their candidates are unlikely to win. Zanu PF has become synonymous with poverty, violence, torture and corruption, hardly characteristics that are likely to endear them to the electorate. Their election campaigns are therefore often based around cynical strategies aimed at blatantly distorting the electoral process to secure pre-determined outcomes, a point illustrated yet again in by their activities in Mashonaland West last week.
Human Rights Group Slams Mugabe
A recent report published by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), entitled, Not Eligible: The Politicisation of Food in Zimbabwe, has slammed the Mugabe regime for deliberately denying food aid to supporters of the MDC.
Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the HRW's Africa division, says the government's action is "a human rights violation as serious as arbitrary imprisonment or torture."
WCC Speak Out
The World Council of Churches has written to Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, expressing deep concern over human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and has called on the Mugabe regime to prosecute those responsible for perpetrating such barbaric acts.
Brief Extract:
"The World Council of Churches is deeply concerned at the deteriorating law and order situation in Zimbabwe. During the year 2003, there has been an unprecedented increase in incidents of police harassment and brutality against human rights defenders and members of the judiciary…The WCC urges the government to put a end to arbitrary arrests, torture and killings."
General News
Doctors Strike
Public sector doctors in Zimbabwe have gone on indefinite strike demanding significant pay increases. Over the past three years doctors have seen their incomes eroded by the triple digit inflation caused by Zanu PF’s irresponsible economic polices. Hundreds of doctors and other medical staff have left Zimbabwe in recent years due to poor remuneration and appalling working conditions caused by lack of investment by the ruling authorities.
A United Nations Development Programme-funded study released this year estimates that doctors, nurses and pharmacists constitute about 25 percent of the 500 000 Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
Zimbabwe now has just 800 doctors, way below the required number of about 2,200.
Zimbabwe’s Spiralling Debt
Official balance of payments forecasts predict a current account deficit in 2003 of US$1.1bn and an overall deficit of almost US$1.5bn - approximately 25 per cent of gross domestic product. Since the politically induced crisis started in 1999 exports have fallen by more than a third while imports have increased. Foreign currency payments arrears are estimated at US$3bn or about half of GDP.
End
Zimbabwe Information Centre Inc, PO Box K824, Haymarket NSW 1240, Australia. www.zic.com.au; info@zic.com.au
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