Zimbabwe's Mugabe Steals Another Election

As this is written, Zimbabweans are having their national sovereignty stolen from them by the man who claims to have won the last presidential election. Robert Mugabe, who has misled his nation for a quarter of a century, is going to make sure his ZANU-PF party stays in power by winning yesterday's parliamentary elections. The US and EU have already said the vote is a fraud, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has said the poll is not free or fair, and Mr. Mugabe will get to appoint 20% of the members of parliament anyway. Freedom is not on the march in Zimbabwe.

After 25 years in power, Mr. Mugabe still claims the colonialists in Europe and North America are trying to destroy his regime, and they are responsible for the nation's suffering -- ZANU-PF's slogan seems to be "Blame Whitey." So, a few facts about Mr. Mugabe's accomplishments are in order. In 1990, life expectancy in Zimbabwe was 52 years; today, it is 38. Contributing to this is an infant mortality rate of around 70 in 1,000 births, and 126 out of every 1,000 Zimbabwean children don't live to see their fifth birthday. Moreover, Zimbabwe has the world's highest infection rate of HIV/AIDS, 24.6% of the population between 15 and 49. Since this includes people who are older than the life expectancy, it is fair to conclude that HIV is skewed toward the younger part of the population.

The Mugabe government has also mismanaged the economy on a comic opera scale. Unemployment is around 80%. The Zimbabwean dollar, fixed at 37 to the US unit in 2000, now goes for 6,200 for a US dollar. GDP has shrunk 30% since 1999. The government hails its inflation fighting efforts by bringing it down to 126% today from 622% per annum in January 2004 -- and this would be impressive, but it was the Mugabe regime that let it get to 622% in the first place.

Clearly, a free election would throw the rascals out, but that won't happen. There are 500 international observers to cover 8,000 polling places. There are 5.7 million registered votes, and 3.4 million Zimbabweans living abroad (most have gone to neighboring countries searching for work) can't vote. Electoral rolls haven't been examined and purged of the dead and duplicates, which gives Mr. Mugabe 1.3 million votes to cast as he wishes. And he has used the general hunger in Zimbabwe to his advantage -- in rural areas, food aid only goes to those with ZANU-PF party cards. He justifies it saying, "Those who votes for the MDA are traitors." It makes the closing of opposition newspapers, which he has also done, seem harmless.

Without looking at the polls, turn-out or other psephological factors, one knows ZANU-PF will win on the order of 73 seats. With the appointed MPs, that gives ZANU-PF a 2/3 majority, which is needed to amend the constitution. Mr. Mugabe wants to ensure a hand picked successor since he just celebrated his 81 birthday, and amending the Constitution appeals to his vanity. The people and the army must then decide what to do. The Ukrainian uprising is a model, but one is doubtful. The Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, told The Economist, "There is no way for change, because of this rigging. It's likely to be more rigged than the last one. They [ZANU-PF] have learnt a lot of tricks. People just pray that Mugabe should die. I pray for that." Amen.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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