Zimbabwe...

[Michaelangelica]

Zimbabwe: Mugabe Hands Out Cars

 

 

President Robert Mugabe gave out 450 cars to senior and midlevel doctors at government hospitals in what opponents say is a vote-buying campaign ahead of Saturday’s presidential election.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/world/africa/28wbriefs-MUGABEHANDSO_BRF.html?ref=world

[Boerseun]

With Zimbabwe going to the polls tomorrow, this will definitely be a very interesting, yet sadly a very predictable, weekend...

 

How can you have a "Free and Fair" election if you deny the opposition access to the Voter's Roll?

 

Right there the argument over whether this election and the outcome thereof will be credible, should stop for any reasonable person with the feintest understanding of democracy.

 

So what does that tell you of the ruling elite in Zimbabwe who insist that it is, indeed, "Free and Fair"?

 

Watch this space - I'll keep you guys updated as things unfold over the weekend...

[Qfwfq]

The sad thing is, from the passion in his voice, I think he spoke from the heart. Some of the people is so conditioned by BS that they are really believing that this guy is their saviour and god. :eek2::confused::hihi:;)

Well, I'm sure they had no difficulty finding one, if they needed several they could find them too. It's obvious that Mugabe has a few vassals, else ya can't very well keep a regime in place, have you never heard a political activist campaigning?

 

The shrewd human mind works very well, when it has interests at heart...

[REASON]

Here's a brief article I found in today's headlines on the MSN Homepage regarding tomorrow's election in Zimbabwe.

 

At least it hasn't been completely overlooked here in the US.

 

Charges of rigging before Zimbabwe election - AP

 

HARARE, Zimbabwe - The military patrolled the capital in armored personnel carriers Friday, a day after the opposition accused President Robert Mugabe of plotting to rig Saturday's elections.

 

The chiefs of police, army, air force, prison service and the intelligence agency told reporters that the armed forces were "up to the task in thwarting all threats to national security."

 

Many see the election as the strongest challenge yet to Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980. He faces both opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, 55, and former ruling party loyalist and finance minister Simba Makoni, 58....

[Boerseun]

So, the Big Day has arrived - and I can't tell you much about it.

 

All foreign journalists have been denied accreditation, except a few (expressly all black) reporters from the Southern African Development Organisation, who have a proven track record of supporting Mugabe.

 

...and the South African ANC government, who've been fighting against racial discrimination for years on end in their battle against Apartheid, simply shrug their shoulders and reckon, "well, it's their country, they can damn well do as they please".

 

If there's one thing that'll sink this continent, it's double standards.

 

...and with the rolling blackouts we've been experiencing the last few months due to the State-owned utility company Eskom ignoring warnings since 1998 that they will reach full capacity by 2007/8, there's a joke doing the rounds:

 

"What's the difference between South Africa and the Titanic? When the Titanic went down, the lights were still on..."

 

Watch this space - if anything pops up, I'll let you guys and gals know.

 

Hopefully, this weekend marks the end of Mugabe's tyranny. But, somehow I doubt it.

[Boerseun]

Mr Makoni showed photographs of a large, empty field in a Harare township, where the only signs of development had been pegs in the ground to mark plots for would-be homeowners. Yet, according to the electoral roll, it is a ward where 8,000 people are resident with specific addresses, at a density of up to 75 people on each 30 sq m plot, and who are to be served by ten polling stations. "This is evidence of a deliberated, sophisticated and premeditated plan to steal the election from us," Mr Makoni said. Mr Mugabe denied that his Administration had rigged elections and was about to do so again. "They want to tell lies, lies," he said.

Well, I suppose if you keep on telling the same bullshit over and over, someone is bound to believe you...

 

Check it out for election updates...

[InfiniteNow]

Your frustration is visceral. While I truly dislike and try to avoid the feeling situations like this cause in my belly, I sincerely thank you for sharing it here. This is the type of situation which will only ever change once enough people have been made aware of it and band together to make it stop.

 

 

But hey, if the SA folks keep with the rolling blackouts, maybe that will distract the populace long to enough to let even more heinous **** go on in Zim! :eek_big:

[Boerseun]

A text message from Harare mentions that the voting stations in that city were mostly empty. Keep in mind that Harare is one of the opposition's strongholds.

 

So why did so few voters turn out?

 

Turns out that the booths were cleverly placed, so that the population concentration there meant that every person had exactly 22 seconds in which to be processed. This entails:

 

Positive identification via ID document, finding the aspirant voter on the Voter's Roll, issuing the voter with the necessary ballots (they were supposedly casting four votes - National Assembly, Senate, President and House of Representatives), leading the voter to the booth, having him draw his four X's, escorting the voter out and getting the next guy.

 

22 Seconds.

 

So why bother?

 

Also, the biggest part of Harare's population is now residing in Johannesburg, South Africa, and no votes outside the borders of Zim is to be cast.

 

This election is yet another scam in the history of Mugabean election fraud.

 

I'm sorry if I might have created the impression that I was excited about this election - I should've known better.

 

Ah, well. The only people who can save Zimbabwe, are the Zimbabweans themselves. We'll see how the next week pans out as the election results and the scope of the fraud committed by Mugabe becomes clear.

[Boerseun]

Cool...

 

Election fraud & irregularities, mapped for your pleasure.

[InfiniteNow]

Cool...

 

Election fraud & irregularities, mapped for your pleasure.

 

Good site. Too bad the news they're sharing is so shitty.

 

 

I'd like to see that same map with an overlay of the death toll by locale. That would be even more telling...

 

 

In other news today, Paris Hilton put gas into her Range Rover. :applause:

[Mike C]

This is an informal poll, so informal that there are no options!

 

What I want, is for you to tell me, briefly, what your impressions are of Zimbabwe, under Robert Mugabe's rule.

 

The only catch is that I don't want you to Google anything at all - I want to hear from you off the top of your head what you know about the situation in Zimbabwe.

 

The reason I'm doing this is simply because I'm interested in the common international perception of this specific issue, I don't want any ready-to-eat instantly-served pret-a-porter microwaved downloaded google opinions; I want to know what you know about this issue. Will I know if you cheated? Hell now! But you will be forever consumed by guilt for lieing to

 

me...

 

I just saw a report on World News on ABC last night.

 

After confiscating the farms of 'white' farmers, the country is in a poor condition because of gigantic inflation where the money is practically worthless

The money to buy bread is said to weigh more than the bread.

The country is said to have all millionaires but the money is so cheap that as I said, its weight is greater than the bread they buy.

 

This is an example when a chauvinist dictator takes the country over.

 

We had a chauvinist mayor in Detroit MI USA and during his 20 year rule, the population in Detroit shrank from 1.5 million to below one million.

His chauvinism caused 'white flight'.

 

Mike C

[REASON]

Here's another AP article posted on msnbc.

 

Zimbabwe slowly releases elections results - AP

 

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's Election Commission released a handful of results Monday from presidential and legislative elections, announcing an equal number of wins for both parties after a delay that raised tensions amid fears of rigging.

 

But the opposition party claimed unofficial partial results showed it had garnered 60 percent of the vote, compared with only 30 for President Robert Mugabe's in the toughest challenge yet to the leader's 28-year rule.

 

In an early morning nationwide broadcast on radio and television Monday, deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana declared results for six parliament seats — three for Mugabe's ruling party, three for the opposition.....

[InfiniteNow]

Here in the States, NPR has been reporting on this pretty well. This evening's story available here:

 

Mixed Reports Boost Scrutiny of Zimbabwe Elections : NPR

 

Results from Saturday's key parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe are trickling in. A long delay in releasing the results has prompted the opposition to accuse President Robert Mugabe of trying to rig the vote.

 

The election is seen as the toughest challenge to Mugabe's 28-year hold on power. Zimbabwe is in an economic melt-down, with eight out of every 10 people out of work, and inflation running at 100,000 percent.

 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — who is on a mission to the Middle East — had sharp words for the conduct of the elections and for Mugabe himself: "We've tried to make the case, and as has the entire world, that there needed to be free and fair elections in Zimbabwe as much as it was possible. The Mugabe regime is a disgrace to the people of Zimbabwe and a disgrace to southern Africa and to the continent of Africa as a whole."

 

 

Go to the link and click Listen Now:

 

Mixed Reports Boost Scrutiny of Zimbabwe Elections : NPR

 

 

The list of related stories at the link above are quite good, as well.

 

 

 

Mugabe Foes Claim Win Amid Slow Tally : NPR

 

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of Tsvangirai's party, worried that people might be "seduced into violence," which could create an excuse for a military crackdown.

 

"Zimbabweans are not a violent people and we hope people are not provoked into violence if official results differ from those posted at polling stations," he said.

[Boerseun]

I've got a sneaky suspicion Mugabe's gonna win it again.

 

Tsvangirai is currently leading 47 to 41 seats, but most of the tallied votes were in urban areas - the rural areas must still come in.

 

And this is where Mugabe will work his magic, you see. Like the single squatter shack with more than 8,000 registered voters on the Roll will attest...

 

And Tsvangirai will cry foul, and his supporters will get all kinds of angry in having their election stolen from them, and the pro-Mugabe army will harshly suppress any form of public dissent.

 

Basically, I expect balls-to-the-wall crap up north before the end of the week.

 

I hope to God it just turns out peaceful, though.

 

There are big rumours around that Mugabe's been in Malaysia since the beginning of the elections, and is awaiting the results there - because if the hungry masses decide enough is enough, they'll want to take it out on Mugabe first...

 

But for now we'll just twiddle our thumbs and wait it out.

[Boerseun]

Quite a coincidence (or is it?):

 

Quite likely, the Zimbabwe election results are to be made public today.

 

And today is...

 

...wait for it...

 

...waaaaaiiit for it...

 

April 1st.

 

(Maybe the entire election was an elaborate April Fool's joke just to give the populace some hope? Laughter all 'round...)

[InfiniteNow]

I hope to God it just turns out peaceful, though.

Our hope here is quite aligned, but I wouldn't place any bets on that as being a likely outcome...

 

 

The violence will likely come from both sides, both from those in support and from those in opposition to the outcome.

 

[REASON]

BREAKING NEWS!

 

Zimbabwe's Mugabe discusses leaving power

Reports indicate opposition leader has edge over Mugabe, may force runoff

 

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Advisers of Zimbabwe's president and main opposition leader are discussing Robert Mugabe relinquishing power, The Associated Press has learned from someone close to the state electoral commission.

 

Meanwhile, a projection by the ruling party, ZANU-PF, indicates that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will beat Mugabe, but be forced into a runoff vote in three weeks, Reuters reported.

 

Zimbabwe’s opposition has claimed victory in Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Mugabe has been accused of stealing past elections, though that was before Zimbabwe’s economy collapsed and leading members of his own party openly defied him.....