Violence as voters herded to polls

June 27, 2008

A woman and her husband pray in front of a deserted polling station on election day.

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s capital Harare witnessed grotesque violence by Zanu-PF militia on the eve of an illegal presidential election run off aimed at giving President Robert Mugabe a veneer of legitimacy.

Fearing a low turnout, a vigilante Mbare-based youth militia group, Chipangano, which means our agreement, moved door-to-door in Mbare and Sunningdale dragooning hundreds of people to a base at the Sunningdale shopping centre for an all night vigil, where suspected MDC supporters were brutalized with rubber truncheons and forced to swear allegiance to Zanu-PF.

Across the poor ghettos, reports continued streaming in the whole night of similar violent attacks in several townships dotted across Harare.

Suspected MDC supporters at a Zanu-PF base in Sunningdale were forced to recite the new Zanu-PF slogan, “WW” which means win or war.

After enduring a night of massive brutality, the hapless voters were this morning force-marched to the polling station as early as 4 am to vote for Mugabe.

Militant violence has overshadowed the campaign and was expected to result in a low turnout.

But a 10 metre-long queue had already formed at the Sunningdale district offices by 6:30 am, with the youth militia, resplendent in the now mandatory and ubiquitous Zanu-PF headgear, illegally singing liberation war songs next to the polling station, which is next to a police post.

It is illegal under the Electoral Act to campaign within a 100 metre radius of the polling station, but the police ignored the blatant harassment of the voters and the apparent injuries inflicted on the suspected MDC supporters.

The Zimbabwe Times could not independently verify reports that one person could have died in the attack at the vigil at the Sunningdale Zanu-PF base.

But a man was confirmed killed and five people were seriously wounded in a shooting near a Zanu-PF district office in Mbare. The police said the motive appeared to have been a personal dispute.

“I will never vote for Mugabe despite everything they did to me,” said a Sunningdale-based middle-aged man with deep soft-tissue bruising all over his body. “I will spoil the ballot with a special message, ‘Mugabe can go to hell.’”

Across town, dozens of victims of political violence, turned away at the South African embassy, flooded the German embassy.

The South African embassy closed at 11 am a day before the election and left dozens of refugees in the embassy car park. They spent last night there, with no protection from the elements, with no food and with no hygiene facilities. The refugees include women and children.

The authorities have also thrown roadblocks along Cork Road for yet unknown reasons. The road runs through the Dutch embassy where MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who withdrew from the second presidential race last Sunday because of the violence, is currently holed.

Cork Road is popular with foreign embassies. Victims of political violence yesterday breached the security cordon and sought refuge at the Germany embassy, where they spent the night in the car park.

Many of the refugees who spoke to The Zimbabwe Times this morning said they were disillusioned with Zanu-PF politics and said they will not recognize the outcome of the election.

“What have these Zanu-PF politicians ever done for us?” said Sheila Mutepfa, a staunch MDC supporter. “Zanu-PF has failed and has never fulfilled any of their pre-election promises. Now they are saying it’s illegal for Tsvangirai to contest the election. What nonsense is that? They can have their stupid election but they should not kill us for refusing to be part of this charade.”

She said she had fled from Budiriro when Zanu-PF youths hurled stones into her home “demanding to drink my blood” and accusing me of being a traitor.

An MDC senator-elect, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the MDC had information that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission had prepared hundreds of ghost polling stations where ballot boxes would be stuffed with votes for Mugabe in a bid to give him his cherished “thunderous victory”.
“They are rigging an election they are contesting against themselves,” he said.