Zimbabwe "con court" upholds election result -- surprised?

On August 2nd, Walt reported that Comrade Emmerson "ED" Mnangagwa (pictured with his crocodile smile) won the presidential election in the banana Republic of Zimbabwe by a slim majority -- 50.8% -- just enough to avoid a run-off election.

The result, attributable to massive vote-rigging and intimidation, was challenged by the major opposition party, the MDC, who moved in the country's Constitutional Court (aptly nicknamed the "Con Court") to set aside the result.

This morning Deutsche Welle reports that the Con Court upheld the results of the election. Encore une surprise, non? Expectations of any change in the ultra-left ruling party's disastrous social and economic policies -- e.g. the land grab that dispossessed hundreds of white farmers, as mentioned below -- should therefore be set aside. Mother Africa Wins Again!

Prof. Schwab explains African elections

Zimbabwe's capital Ha-ha-harare (the Fun Capital of Africa) was calm today, hours after the government-appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared Comrade Emmerson "ED" Mnangagwa winner of the presidential election held July 30th. See "ED wins Zimbabwe presidential election - quelle surprise!", WWW 2/8/18.

The voting itself was peaceful enough, but things got ugly when the ZEC delayed announcing the results of the presidential race for three days, while making sure that they got their numbers right, to avoid a repeat of the 2008 contest in which Comrade Bob Mugabe failed to win an outright victory on the first ballot. As reported here yesterday morning, six people were killed in the melee when the army rolled in tanks to disperse rock-throwing demonstrators who denounced "the Crocodile" and and alleged vote-rigging.

Harare's roads appeared to be free from the troops today, but water cannons and police remained present at the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change (the main opposition party), which police raided yesterday, making 18 arrests. Ed. has obtained for us a picture of the authorities announcing the results to obviously disappointed MDC Alliance leaders.

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, who received more than 44 per cent of the vote, said on Twitter that "unverified fake results" had been announced by the electoral commission. The ZEC "must release proper and verified results endorsed by parties," Mr Chamisa tweeted. "The level of opaqueness, truth deficiency, moral decay and values deficit is baffling."

Well, it's only baffling to those who expect an African election to bear some resemblance to an election in western democractice, like the US of A. [Eh? Ed.] By the sheerest coincidence, I just read Africa: A Continent Self-destructs (Palgrave, New York, 2001) by Professor Peter Schwab, of SUNY Purchase. Here's what the "authority on human rights" has to say about how the process works in the parts of Africa where they even bother to hold elections.

Within Africa, certainly, elections have taken place.... But elections are merely one indicator of the democratic process, and they are not worth very much if one leader, party, or group totally dominatees the system and if opponents are harassed, intimidated, often shot at, even arrested, and obligated to campaign fearing for their very lives. Sometimes they are even killed.

That's what happened in Zimbabwe in the presidential election of 2008, mentioned above. When early results on polling day put the MDC candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, ahead of Comrade Robert Mugabe, counting was stopped. Just stopped, that's all. More than a month later, the ZEC announced that Mr Tsvangirai won 47.9% of the vote to Uncle Bob's 43.2%, necessitating a run-off. Faced with the likelihood that his supporters would be the victims of the mayhem described by Prof Schwab, Mr Tsvangirai withdrew from the race, and the only ruler Zimbabwe had known since independence was "democratically re-elected".

Old Africa hands know the saying "MAWA" -- "Mother Africa Wins Again" -- and that's exactly what happened in Zimbabwe this week. End of lesson.

Footnote: I do not recommend Professor Schwab's book. The introductory and concluding chapters are nothing more than a rehash of the usual white liberal American apologies for the abject failure of black government. The way the prof tells it, the all-but-hopeless mess that African is in today, half a century after independence, is the result of centuries of slavery, colonialism and systemic racism, all the fault of the evil whites -- Europeans, not Americans, of course.

In between the first and last chapters is a potted history of the political and humanitarian disasters visited upon their people by the leaders of black Africa, "big men" like Comrades Mugabe and Mnangagwa. In the chapter headed "Civil Wars, Wars, and Political Collapse", Prof Schwab concedes (without once mentioning the race of "modern" Africa's leaders):

...it should be obvious that...western nations, and in particular the United States, would be foolhardy to jump into the bog that is currently Africa. [Yes, that's what he called it. Walt] Unless and until indigenous leadership arises that is intent and willing to put its nation's interests above personal aggrandizement, there is little that can be done to resolve the complex and bloody civil strife operative in so many African states....

In the final analysis, it is up to Africa and Africans to finally take the initiative to fix what is broken and to address the problems confronting their respective states. These are clearly not nations where there is public loyalty to established politically legitimate institutions.... There are many cultures, many loyalties, and few national structures that are not riddled with graft and at the mercy of wanton leaders. No conspicuous anchor is available to tie the ship of state to while exploring solutions.

To repeat... MAWA.

ED wins Zimbabwe presidential election - quelle surprise!

The suspense is over. Just as I predicted this morning, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced late tonight (local time) that ED is the winner of the country's presidential election. Noooooo! Not our Ed., but Comrade Emmerson D. Mnangagwa, popularly (?) known as "ED". Or "the Crocodile", but don't say that too loudly or his supporters (pictured cheering the announcement) will punish you for insulting the President, an offence under Zim law since the days of President Banana. No kidding. You can look it up.

The ZEC announced that ED had won 50.8% of the vote, just enough to avoid a runoff. Nelson Chamisa, candidate of the MDC Alliance, got 44.3%. As our friend Poor Len Canayen would say, the Crocodile had the puck nailed to his stick. Lifetime pct .992.

The ruling ZANU-PF party won 144 of the 210 seats in Zimbabwe's rubber-stamp parliament. That's a two-thirds majority, which would enable it to change the constitution in the unlikely event that the opposition candidate had won. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) took 61 seats, and three seats remained "undeclared" when the lights went out tonight.

Shortly before the commission's announcement, the chief agent for the MDC Alliance took the stage at election central to say that his party "totally rejects" the results, and that he had not signed the papers. The police pictured in Walt's earlier post then escorted him from the room.

After being released, the chief agent said the elections were "fraudulent" and "everything has been done illegally." So, he said, he refused the ZEC's request to sign papers certifying Mnangagwa's win.
"We're not part of it," he said, adding that the opposition would be challenging the election in the courts.

The announcement came after clashes between opposition protesters and soldiers in Ha-ha-harare (the Fun Capital of Africa) left at least six people dead. The unrest marred what had been billed as an important milestone in Zimbabwe's efforts to return to democracy following 37 years of repression under longtime leader Robert Gabriel Mugabe. Comrade Bob is still alive but was unable to comment as he was said to be having a nap.

At least six killed in Zimbabwe post-election violence

I've been waiting patiently to be able to bring you the results from elections held in Zimbabwe on July 30th. Patience is a must, in African affairs, as things move slowly... very slowly. Future time is expresssed, in Zimbabwe, in phrases with rather vague meanings, which I'll translate for you:
- "Just now", as in "The results will be announced just now." Read: "at some time in the future, but not "now now".
- "Now now", as in "Could we have them now now?" Read: "sometime today".
- "Now now now!", as in "Do it now now now! I'm not going to wait any longer!" Read: "Move your ass, you [racist epithet deleted. Ed.]!"

Old Africa hands, like Walt, were therefore unsurprised when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), comprised of appointees of the ZANU-PF party which has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, announced on July 31st that results of the voting would be released, not "just now" but as soon as every last one of the 10,095 polling stations had counted every last one of the ballots.

Elections were held for every office from the presidensity to Zimbabwe's rubber-stamp parliament down to municipal councils. The only race of any consequence pitted 75-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa, who ousted Comrade Bob Mugabe in an almost bloodless coup last November against Nelson Chamisa, age 40, who succeded to the leadership of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after the death of its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

The ZEC has released results of the parliamentary and local elections in dribs and drabs, from July 31st until this afternoon, local time. The commission has said the vote was conducted properly in accordance with African tradition under the vigilant supervision of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and was therefore free and fair.

Supporters of the MDC disagreed, and the longer the ZEC delayed announcing the results of the presidential race, the more they complained that the fix was in. One observer, with experience of elections in the USA, said he was reminded of the delayed announcement of results in Philadelphia, where Democratic election officials would call their counterparts in certain black districts to ask for the vote count, at which time they were asked, "How many votes you need?"

Yesterday the opposition supporters got fed up waiting, and took to the streets of Ha-ha-harare, the Fun Capital of Africa, to express their anger. Zimbabwe Newsday, which was apparently afraid to print anything at all yesterday, reported this morning that at least six people were feared to have died last night, while several others sustained gunshot injuries after soldiers and police in Harare used brute force to suppress MDC Alliance activists protesting against alleged electoral theft of their vote by ZANU-PF and the ZEC.

Harare's Central Business District resembled a war zone, as soldiers drove around in their armoured vehicles, stopping every now and then to beat bystanders with sjamboks (still in use after the bad old apartheid days, but it's black on black now). They fired live ammunition indiscriminately at anyone found in the CBD, with several passersby caught in the cross fire.

Once-and-future President Mngagwa said this morning that his government has been in touch with the main opposition leader in an attempt to ease tensions after the election-related violence. Mr Chamisa said only that "We must maintain this dialogue in order to protect the peace we hold dear." Errr, yes. If you know you're going to lose an election in Africa, it's best to start backing towards the door as soon as the outcome can be discerned.

In a series of tweets, Comrade ED* called for an "independent investigation" into the violence in Harare, saying those responsible "should be identified and brought to justice." By that, he obviously meant the opposition, though some international observers criticized the military for opening fire on unarmed civilians. Those observers obviously need to cleanse their minds or their racist assumptions and get used to African ways.

* Footnote: Comrade Mnangagwa's supporters and the local meeja refer to him as "ED". Apparently no-one has told them that "ED" is commonly used here in the civilized (?) world to refer to a little problem that some men have.

Further reading: "Zimbabwe's elections turn violent", The Economist, 2/8/18. "So much for a fresh start...."

"Incidences" from the Zimbabwean election

As reported here on Wednesday, there was an election -- of sorts -- in Zimbabwe this week. Walt, who is an ex-resident of one of the darkest spots on the hide of darkest Africa, watched the proceedings with interest, to see if the people of the last country on the list would put an end to the 33-year reign of Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

They did not. Latest results from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (R. Mugabe, Prop.) show Uncle Bob re-elected in a landslide, and his thuggish, incompetent and corrupt party, ZANU-PF, winning about 2/3 of the seats in Zimbabwe's parliament. If they get 2/3 or better, as projected, they will be able to amend (again) the country's constitution. They could even make Bob "President-for-Life". As it is, he will be 95 at the end of his new term -- a bit old, surely, to have to fight another election.

Of course he wouldn't have to fight too hard. He and his cronies are past masters of coercion, rigging and election fraud. Case in point: this election's vanishing voters roll.

All parties contesting the election were to receive a copy of the roll prior to the election. MDC, the main opposition party, got its copy on the very eve of polling day. And it was hard copy too, impossible to check for duplicates and residents of graveyards, of which there were seen to be many 1000s.

But never mind. That's par for the course for an African election. Although the MDC and local impartial observers declared the exercise a sham and a farce, monitors from other African organizations -- SADC and the African Union -- declared the election "free and peaceful". Notice they didn't say "fair". Here's part of an article on the BBC website.

African Union (AU) mission head Olusegun Obasanjo dismissed the complaints of fraud, saying the election was fair and free "from the campaigning point of view".

He acknowledged incidents "that could have been avoided and even tended to have breached the law" but added: "All in all, up to the close of the polls, we do not believe that these incidences [incidents] will amount to the result not representing the will of the people. The former Nigerian president added: "I have never seen an election that is perfect. The process continues and we have to limit our comments."

Monitors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) described the elections as "free and peaceful" but said it was too early to call them fair. "In democracy we not only vote, not only campaign, but accept the hard facts, particularly the outcome," said SADC mission head Bernard Membe.

Which brings me back to the point I was making on Wednesday. The correction shown in brackets -- "incidences [incidents]" -- was made by the BBC, not Len or Ed. I quite believe that Mr. Obasanjo said "incidences", and that the BBC's stringer in Harare wrote it that way, because -- I repeat -- the misuse of "incidence" for "incidents" is so widespread, even amongst supposedly educated people, that it seems futile to point out the error. [So shut up then! Ed.]