- Wilf Mbanga Zimbabwe needs tolerance and diversity
- The Zimbabwean, Harare HIV victims denied drugs
Wilf Mbanga: Zimbabwe needs tolerance and diversity
The people of Zimbabwe have spoken. More than 80% of the registered voters boycotted the sham senatorial elections despite the combined best efforts of Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rebels to persuade them to go to the polls.
The statistics speak volumes. One analysis maintains that Zanu-PF held back in Bulawayo to give the MDC pro-senate faction some seats and that in those areas rigging was minimal. MDC won the five seats there with a 7.5% poll. If this is indeed the case, it would mean that the total poll of 19.48% was the result of wholesale fraud.
Across the whole country, only 631,000 voters turned out. Of these, 3% spoiled their votes and 124, 000 voted for the MDC candidates despite the boycott call by Morgan Tsvangirai. The message is clear the people of Zimbabwe cannot be fooled.
They know very well that, at this stage of near-total national economic collapse, what the country needs is food, fuel, jobs, a health service that works, respect for human rights, an independent judiciary and democracy. Just for starters.
And democracy is not simply about holding elections, which in Zimbabwe are rigged anyway. It is much, much more. It begins with freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of the press. Elections are only one very small part of democracy. Its all about tolerance and diversity.
Wilf Mbanga is editor of the weekly newspaper The Zimbabwean
openDemocracy articles on Zimbabwes humanitarian and political crises include:
Novel Chivukanyanga, Those in government (December 2003)
Andrew Meldrum, Who won Zimbabwes election? (April 2005)
Wilf Mbanga, The end of Mugabe? (October 2005)
Netsai Mushonga, Two nights in Harares police cells (December 2005)
Andrew Meldrum, A glimmer of change in Zimbabwe (December 2005)
If you find this material valuable please consider supporting openDemocracy by sending us a donation so that we can continue our work for democratic dialogue
When you look at the quality of the senators who have been sworn in to that august body, it is plain for all to see that these are political has-beens who have nothing to contribute to the development of our country. The senate is a cushy warehouse for Mugabes cronies who are being pampered in return for their support for his succession plan.
The fact that the MDC rebels were trounced in all urban areas (traditionally MDC strongholds) other than Bulawayo shows that they failed to read the mood of the people. We commend Zimbabweans for taking a principled stand and showing the world that they know what they want. Despite the very real terror of authorised punishment, they stayed away from the polls, demonstrating that they had not been fooled at all by the convoluted rhetoric and machinations of Zanu-PF and the MDC rebels.
We hope that these dissenting opposition members can read the writing on the wall and bow out gracefully. It would be folly for them to resort to desperate, perhaps underhand, methods to undermine the wishes of the people. It is quite clear that the people of Matabeleland as a whole are not behind them. In fact, it is patently obvious that the people of Zimbabwe as a whole are simply not interested in elections any more. And we dont blame them.
It would appear that MDC executive member, Gertrude Mtombeni, had her finger truly on the pulse when she said that the people of Matabeleland do not want Mugabe to continue to rule any part of Zimbabwe. They were not interested in a piecemeal vote just to keep Mugabe away from Matabeleland. Mtombeni was emphatic that the people of Matabeleland do not subscribe to tribal politics and have a national vision for a free and truly democratic Zimbabwe.
National unity is the only way forward and we sincerely hope that those mischievously and destructively attempting to promote tribal divisions will be shown once and for all that Zimbabweans are done with tribalism.
In this regard we condemn the weekend assault on MDC legislator Timothy Mabhawu who was hospitalised on Sunday after being attacked by a mob of youths loyal to Morgan Tsvangirai. We commend the party leadership for condemning the action by the unruly youths and urge it to take a very strong stand against it.
We expect such thuggish and intolerant behaviour from Zanu-PF. But powerful signals must be sent that it is totally unacceptable for any member of the opposition. What Zimbabwe needs perhaps more than anything today is political tolerance.
The Zimbabwean: HIV victims denied drugs
While United Nations statistics show Zimbabwe still has among the worlds highest HIV prevalence rates, there is, surprisingly, a drop in infection rates among pregnant women.
Zimbabwes HIV infection rate has fallen to about 20% of the population from 25% five years ago, apparently due to more condom use and fewer sexual partners. The country, with a population of 12.5 million, is, however, expected to record 134,993 new HIV infections and 142,330 Aids cases by the end of 2005, while another 139,950 people are expected to die from the disease. Some 57% of infections and deaths are women.
United Nations statistics, based on governmental and NGO research, showed that HIV infection levels among pregnant women dropped from 26% to 21% in Zimbabwe, while in South Africa it rose to a record 33%.
Meanwhile, health minister David Parirenyatwa marking World AIDS Day on 1 December by talking of the need for more people to have access to life-prolonging anti-retroviral (ARVs) drugs, while Robert Mugabe chimed in with some bluster about British demonisation of our country leading to a drop in help from international donors.
Parirenyatwa announced that an estimated 21,000 Zimbabweans were on ARVs, while the latest official figures showed that 1.6 million are living with HIV/Aids. I am hoping that come next year, with the global fund money coming through, we should have more people on treatment, he said, but offered no further details.
Neither Parirenyatwa nor Mugabe, naturally, mentioned Operation Murambatsvina. It was all as if nothing had happened. As if there were no thousands of people rendered homeless, uprooted, living in the open; as if this cruel displacement had not interrupted the strict medical regimes of those receiving ARVs.
Worse still, there are reports that the Mugabe regime has actually ordered some organisations to stop distributing the drugs, while Zanu-PF chiefs and officials are still getting the medication. SW Radio Africa spoke to a woman who for years had been helped by an organisation in Mabvuku, which supplied single HIV-positive women with drugs and the required nutritional foods and supplements.
The woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said that in July supplies suddenly dried up and the organisation said it had been ordered by the authorities to stop distribution of both food and drugs. Three women on the programme have since died, she said, and she herself is deteriorating rapidly. She now has infected cancerous sores from her throat to her stomach and can barely afford painkillers.
The falling rate of HIV infection in Zimbabwe suggests that deaths from diseases associated with the virus are outnumbering the newly infected. Zimbabwes social collapse, including acute food shortages, means that what can appear positive news hides a darker reality.
