wfn.org | Church leaders decline to endorse Zimbabwe election results

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 14, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-21-31-71B{106}

By Dean Snyder and Jane Malone*

HARARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) - An international delegation of church and human
right leaders that served as official election observers has refused to
confirm the re-election of President Robert G. Mugabe as a "universal,
transparent, fair or free" election.

However, the delegation said it believed the votes were counted accurately.
The group, comprising representatives from the World Council of Churches and
the All Africa Conference of Churches, had been invited by Mugabe to observe
the March 9-11 voting under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches.

Several hours after the Zimbabwe Electoral Supervisory Commission announced
on March 13 that Mugabe had won with a 57 percent majority, the delegation
issued a statement criticizing the election. The Rev. Arnold C. Temple,
executive secretary of the theology and interfaith desk of the All Africa
Conference, read the statement during a press conference at the Jameson
Hotel in downtown Harare, Zimbabwe's capital.

In its statement, the delegation was especially critical of "the many cases
of intimidation we observed or which were reported to us."

About 150 people were killed in political violence, and many incidents of
harassment, rape, malicious damage to property and general breakdown in the
rule of law occurred during the campaign, according to the 109-member
delegation's report. 

"The documentation from the human rights organizations, as well as our own
observations, indicates that the clear majority of cases should be blamed on
the ruling party," the statement said. 

Some observation teams were stopped near polling sites by youth gangs
affiliated with the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front,
Mugabe's party, according to Dag Hareide, a professor of peace studies from
Norway. He reported that an observer asked a gang member what would happen
if observers said they were affiliated with the Movement for Democratic
Change, the opposition party, and the youth replied, "Then we will beat
you." 

Observation teams also visited opposition leaders' homes that had been
burned and interviewed people who had been beaten as a result of their
political views, Hareide said.

"To participate in an election, one needs the freedom of expression,
association and assembly, and the freedom from intimidation," the report
concluded. "The most serious problem in Zimbabwe during this election has
been the political violence." 

The statement also criticized election procedures in Harare as "a sad
process where many people gave up queuing and thousands were turned away
even after waiting for days."  

The defeated opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, is arguing that
polling places were reduced by 40 percent in urban areas, such as Harare,
where his party was overwhelmingly favored, in order to disenfranchise his
supporters.

However, the delegation stated that the actual voting and counting of votes
followed due process, with representatives from both competing parties
present at almost all polling places to monitor the election. 

"In the areas we observed, the counting was solid and effective," Temple
said during an interview following the press conference. "That is one area
where we have a lot of credence."

The report also said that the secrecy of individuals' votes seemed to be
preserved, except for voters needing help and possibly those casting
absentee ballots delivered by mail. It commended polling officers and
monitors for their efforts to supervise a fair election.

The election was the stiffest challenge yet to the Mugabe government, which
came into power in 1980 following a war for independence. The voting,
originally scheduled to last two days, was extended by an additional day
after the opposition party appealed to the Zimbabwe High Court, citing long
lines of voters still waiting at the polls.

About half of the delegation's members were international observers while
the other half were church leaders affiliated with the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches. International observers included 51 representatives from 17
African countries, as well as six Norwegians and a Canadian. 

Zimbabwean observers included five United Methodists, according to the Rev.
Gladman Kapfumvuti, United Methodist council director and assistant to
Bishop Christopher Jokomo of the Zimbabwe Area.

The African delegation included youth observers from the Zambia Student
Christian Movement and the World Student Christian Federation. 

Bishop Cephas Z. Mukandi of the Methodist Church of Zimbabwe, an observer
who serves as president of the Zimbabwe ecumenical council, said he hopes
the churches will be able to open new avenues of dialogue with the
government. 

Said Mukandi: "We are going to make efforts to talk with our government so
we are able to arrive at solutions to the problems facing our country." 

# # #

*Snyder is the director of communications for the Baltimore-Washington
Conference. Malone, a United Methodist laywoman and Snyder's spouse, is an
advocate for affordable housing. They are in Zimbabwe on a mission trip.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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