While independent polling puts Tsvangirai ahead, the split between the top brass become public
Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, April 1. 8.0 am
Official - but mistrusted - results of the parliamentary elections have trickled out through the night from the ZEC, with the lead see-sawing between Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC. Latest figures early this morning were 56 to 53 seats in favour of the MDC, with 101 seats yet to be declared.
In the presidential election, no figures have been published which - according to the MDC - is to allow time for the government to rig the outcome. But an independent monitoring group, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, reports that Tsvangirai has won 49 per cent of the vote - just short of the 50 per cent needed to avoid a run-off - against 42 per cent for Mugabe.
What is becoming clear is that some well-known names have lost their seats, including two ministers - Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and former Public and Interactive Affairs Minister Chen Chimutengwende.
But, indicative of the confusion surrounding much of this election, Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, previously reported to have lost her seat, is now declared to have won it by a large margin.
Meanwhile details of the day-long crisis meeting yesterday of the country's top service chiefs have been passed to me, and they reveal a massive split between the top military commanders over how to handle the MDC's obvious success in the polls.
On one side, Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri, Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga, and Prison Services chief Paradzai Zimondi, all insisted that results favouring Tsvangirai must not be released.
On the other side, Air Force Commander Perence Shiri and National Army Commander Phillip Sibanda maintained that the results should be announced as they are.
At the climax of the stand-off between the two sides, Shiri, who is known to be close to Simba Makoni and General Mujuru, walked out of the meeting, saying he was ready to take up arms, and that civil war had become a strong possibility.
Meanwhile, as the international debate on whether the elections were free and fair continues to build, three of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) observer team, which controversially claimed the elections were fair, have quit in disgust.
The three are members of South Africa's ruling ANC youth league. They have told their South African superiors that the Zimbabwe election was by no means on the level, and that their leader, Angolan sports minister Jose Marcos Barrica, was wrong to say it was.
Their report to Pretoria spoke of fears of an army and police coup if Mugabe loses the presidency, and recommended the immediate deployment of SADC and United Nations peace keeping troops.
Back in Zimbabwe, both Mugabe and Tsvangirai remained out of sight yesterday, and rumours grew that Mugabe may already have left the country. Tsvangirai was said to be in seclusion after fears were expressed for his safety. Today, as the tension ratchets up, one way or the other both can be expected to break cover.
What a circus ! It seems every one including media commentators are expounding fine words about what should be done and what should not be done. But in reality, all there is, is a pack of bush dogs fighting over a very dead carcass.
Posted by: McPaul | Tuesday, 01 April 2008 at 08:46