MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE

SADC PROTOCOL WATCH

‘WEEKLY UP-DATE’ – an assessment of the extent to which the Zimbabwe Government is complying with the SADC Protocol on Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

Issue 8: 25 February – 4 March

PRINCIPLES & GUIDELINES	PROGRESS TOWARDS COMPLIANCE	INCIDENTS/DEVELOPMENTS (During the time-period stated above)
GRADING: 1 = No Compliance 2 = Very Minimal Progress 3 = Minimal Progress 4 = Good Progress 5 = Full Compliance
Full Participation of citizens in the political process	2	4 March: Nhamo Makwaza a youth in the Glen Norah Constituency was arrested at around 0300 hours for putting up MDC campaign posters.  2 March: 11 MDC activists in Guruve North were arrested by police while distributing campaign material. 21 February: MDC activist Tendai Matsine and his wife were severely beaten up by Zanu PF youth in Huruingwe East. They were attacked after being caught putting up MDC posters. The incident was reported to the police but police informed the MDC officials that they had been given instructions by their superiors NOT TO ARREST Zanu PF activists engaged in acts of violence. 20 February: a group of MDC youth was assaulted by a group of Zanu PF youth led by Fidelis Kangwere whilst putting up posters for the MDC Makoni West candidate, Remus Mukuwaza. The MDC activists were told that Makoni West was a no-go area for the MDC. 20 February: 2 MDC youths in Hurungwe East were abducted by a group of Zanu PF youth while distributing MDC campaign material. They were taken to the local Zanu PF offices and severely assaulted. 10 February: the Government deploys more than 2,000 members of the notorious youth militia in Kamativi, a perceived MDC stronghold in Matabeleland North. The youth have already begun patrolling villages in Binga and Hwange, two areas represented by MDC legislators. Hwange MP, Jealous Sansole, reported that people in his constituency were now afraid to attend meetings due to the presence of the militia. The militia have also been registered to vote in Hwange and Binga, despite not ever having resided in either of the constituencies. 8 February: Members of the army brutally attacked 15 MDC supporters as they departed a rally in Nyanga.
Freedom of Association	2	The government has barred opposition and independent candidates from canvassing for support amongst members of the uniformed forces. Commanders at army, police and prison camps have in the past few weeks refuse candidates permission to hold meetings or to distribute flyers in the camps where thousands of personnel live with their families. Ruling party candidates are able to enter the camps and canvass for support. 17 February: riot police beat up protesters, and arrested 14 of them, during a March in Harare for free and fair elections. 16 February: Police in Harare raided a training session of the MDC’s 120 candidates. Police claimed the meeting was illegal under POSA. Ian Makone, the MDC’s Director of Elections, was arrested. 12 February: police arrested 40 women in Bulawayo following a march organised by Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) ‘to spread the message of love’. 8 February: Godrich Chimbaira, the MDC candidate for Zengeza, was arrested for holding a meeting at his house with members of the local structures.
Political Tolerance	2	3 March: Prince Chibanda, the MDC candidate for Zvimba North and Paidamoyo Muzulu the information and publicity secretary, were arrested and detained at Chinoyi police station. 2 March: a group of Zanu PF supporters in Harare East travelled round in a government owned bus removing Zanu PF posters. 27 February: the MDC candidate for Lupane, Njabuliso Mnuni, was arrested by police for allegedly threatening a Zanu PF official. 22 February: MDC youth activist, Thembekile Moyo, suffered a fractured leg after being attacked by Zanu PF youth in Insiza while putting up posters. 20 February: 3 MDC candidates were attacked by a group of soldiers whilst returning from the launch of the MDC’s election campaign in Masvingo. 2 were admitted to hospital to receive treatment for their injuries. The incident was reported to police but no arrests have been made. 11 February: the MDC candidate for Hurungwe West, Godfrey Gumbo, was abducted by a group of Zanu PF supporters and taken to their HQ in Harare where he was severely assaulted. Mr Gumbo was abducted along with Stanley Razaro(the District Chairperson for Hurungwe) and Masavhaya Dipuka (the Organising Secretary). ALL THIS HAPPENED IN THE PRESENCE OF THE POLICE 10 February: Zanu PF activists, led by the son of the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Abednico Ncube, ordered a church sponsored feeding programme (responsible for feeding 300 children) to be stopped on the grounds that the ‘church was working with the MDC’. 8 February: 13 MDC supporters in Gwanda were arrested and fined Z$25,000 each by police for waving their open palms at Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Abednico Ncube. 8 February: Chiefs in Tsholotsho, Umzingwane and Insiza (Matabeleland South) ordered their subjects to attend Zanu PF rallies only and warned those who defy the order and attend MDC rallies that they will be denied food aid. Matabeleland South is currently affected by acute food shortages with a significant proportion of the population in desperate need of food aid.
Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media	3	1 March: MDC allotted 12 minutes on ZBC to present Manifesto. The party has also been given 9 free to air slots on both radio and TV. 20 February: The launch of the MDC’s election campaign in Masvingo was not carried live by the Zimbabwe Broadcast Corporation (ZBC). Instead it gave the event four minutes coverage later that evening. This was followed by a two-hour live interview with President Mugabe on Zanu PF’s manifesto pledges. The Zanu PF launch was featured on the news for 4 days and received over 4 hours coverage on TV and radio. This does not equate with Government claims that it has allowed opposition parties ‘reasonable’ access to the state controlled electronic media. The Government confirmed that the new regulations will not permit access to the state controlled print media which continues to refuse to carry adverts from opposition parties.
Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens	1	There has been no move to repeal those aspects of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) that place severe limitations on citizens’ basic civil and political rights. POSA continues to be used to ban MDC meetings and prevent free political activity. On 14 January amendments to AIPPA were signed into law by Mugabe. The amendments tighten restrictions on journalists and under the new regulations journalists who work without a licence from the state controlled Media and Information Commission, face a two-year jail sentence or a fine or both.
Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections	1	Gordon Moyo, the chairman of the Bulawayo Agenda, a civic education group, last week told the media that political violence, intimidation and the use of food aid to coerce voters was increasing ahead of the elections. Moyo further alleged that voters were being told that the use of translucent ballot boxes would enable the authorities to trace each vote cast. 20 February: An article in the Zimbabwe Standard alleges that the government has ordered Chitungwiza municipality to surrender more than 1,000 housing stands to Christopher Chigumba, the Zanu PF candidate for neighbouring Zengeza.
Non-discrimination in the voters’ registration	1	Under the new electoral reforms the exercise of voter registration remains in the hands of the office of the Registrar General; an office which has a proven track record of gross manipulation of the voter registration process to the political advantage of the ruling party. The Registrar General is openly supportive of Zanu PF. The Registrar General’s office embarked on a mobile registration exercise in May 2004 but the exercise was discriminatory because in urban areas the RG’s office was only issuing birth certificates and identity documents. In the rural areas, a massive door-to-door voters’ registration exercise was conducted.
Existence of an up-dated and accessible voters’ roll	1	Voters have been arbitrarily removed from the voters’ roll. Inspections that have been carried out thus far on sections of the voters’ roll have revealed an alarming number of anomalies. The Registrar General has consistently refused to provide the opposition with an updated electronic version of the voters’ roll which would enable them to check its accuracy in an efficient manner. The discriminatory nature of the voter registration process that has been undertaken ahead of the parliamentary elections has raised deep concerns about the accuracy of the voters’ roll. These concerns have been increased by the recent boundary changes, carried out by the Mugabe appointed Delimitation Commission, on the basis of the voters’ roll submitted by the Registrar General. In areas perceived to be MDC strongholds the Delimitation Commission reduced the number of constituencies. For instance, Harare lost two constituencies on the spurious grounds that the number of voters had fallen by 46,780. This is absurd given that official census published by the Government last year confirmed that Harare’s population had grown by 500,000. The areas of Manicaland, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West, where Zanu PF is perceived to have popular support, gained three constituencies.
Establish impartial, all-inclusive, competent and accountable national electoral bodies	1	The recently established Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will be chaired by Justice Chiweshe whose impartiality is questionable. More importantly, the ZEC is subject to the authority of the Electoral Supervisory Commission which is entirely appointed by Mugabe. All the other electoral bodies are entirely chosen by, and beholden to, the Executive.
Ensure that adequate security is provided to all parties participating in elections	1	The police and other state security agents continue to discharge their respective mandates in a partisan manner and deny MDC members their right to protection under the rule of the law. 23 February: MDC candidate for Bindura, Joel Mugariri and Mashonaland Central Provincial Chairperson, Tapera Macheka, were arrested by police for putting up posters. 23 February: Hilda Mafudze, MDC candidate for Manyame, reported that 11 MDC youths were assaulted by Zanu PF supporters while distributing campaign literature. The incident was reported to Norton police station but the police refused to arrest the Zanu PF youth. 15 February: 7 MDC supporters were arrested by police in Bulawayo for distributing MDC campaign material. All campaign material was confiscated. The increasing number of youth militia and war veterans being incorporated into the police force further erodes public confidence in the police to act impartially.
Independence of the judiciary	2	In a recent statement, the civic organisation, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), expressed its concern at the increasing incidences of intimidation of the justice administration officials by state security agents. ZLHR said that most of the victims were prosecutors, lawyers and judges handling human rights-related cases or those deemed politically sensitive. “The conduct goes to the root of the independence of the judiciary. In particular, such conduct seriously erodes the public’s confidence in the Courts and has grave consequences for the rule of law.”
Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens, including the freedom of movement, assembly, association, expression and campaigning	1	22 February: MDC candidate for Shamva, Godfrey Chimombe, was arrested along with five MDC activists while putting up posters.
Counting of votes at polling stations	4	The Electoral Act contains a provision expressing the need for votes to be counted at polling stations; however, the Act fails to make it clear whether or not this process will be mandatory.
Voter Education	1	The clauses in the ZEC Act that ban civic society from engaging in voter education and ban foreign funding for civic education are unconstitutional.
Polling stations should be in neutral places	2	Section 51 of the Electoral Act requires only that polling stations be established at ‘convenient’ places, determined solely by constituency election officers (section 17 of the Act allows the military to be constituency officers) and even permits a polling station outside the boundaries of the constituency.
Regular intervals as provided for by the respective National Constitutions	5	The constitution provides for parliamentary and presidential elections every 5 years and 6 years respectively.
Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging or any other illegal practices throughout the whole electoral process in order to maintain peace and security	2	The emasculation of the independent media, the presence of youth militia and the likelihood that members of the military will act as election officers raises the possibility of widespread incidents of electoral malpractice. The Government has raised allowances and salaries of headmen and village heads by 150%, with effect from January. This was a blatantly political move aimed at securing the loyalty of the chiefs ahead of the parliamentary elections. In recent elections chiefs and village heads have threatened villagers with expulsion if they are suspected of having voted for anyone but Zanu PF. The government plans to spend Z$8 million to import 15,000 tonnes of maize to feed 1.5 million people until the harvest in April. The timing of the announcement has raised concerns that the ruling party will use food aid to coerce the electorate – as it has done in previous elections. The removal of the incumbent Registrar General would go someway towards signalling the Government’s determination to prevent electoral malpractice from occurring. The establishment of multi-party liaison committees, as provided for in the ZEC Act, potentially provides a useful mechanism for preventing or resolving conflicts and enhancing peace and security during the entire election period.