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- guardian.co.uk, Sunday March 17 2002 02.17 GMT
Outside the state-run media, there were very few willing to defend Mugabe in Africa last week, although the overwhelming view was that Africa and the world will now have to accept the reality and deal with the consequences of President Mugabe's self-proclaimed victory.
One of the most telling editorials was that of The Monitor (Kampala, Uganda), which was representative of the majority view in its anger and measured pessimism, arguing that "what happened in Zimbabwe played into the hands of people who stereotype Africans negatively. For example there was the sheer incompetence. In Uganda, at least to our credit, even botched and stolen elections are executed relatively efficiently. ....Worst of all, was the inability of African leaders to express some outrage at the handling of the elections. Again this serves up the worst prejudices that African politicians are amoral. If Mugabe knew that other African leaders, particularly people like South African leader Thabo Mbeki or Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo would criticize his excesses, he would moderate his behaviour. He would still steal the vote, but not so brazenly. And the collective embarrassment to Africa would be less".
Here is a selection of comment on the election from Zimbabwe, southern Africa and beyond.
Divided observers
"The Electoral Supervisory Commission accredited, at the last minute, only 400 observers from our network, less than one hundredth of the names that ZESN had submitted. This severely curtailed the ability of ZESN and its network of 38 civic organizations from effectively observing the elections ... Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans were deliberately and systematically disenfranchised of their fundamental right to participate in the governance of their country. Without the participation of the full electorate there can be no democracy ... We express great concern about the figures we are being provided concerning the number of registered voters in the rural and urban areas. It appears there has been a deliberate attempt to significantly inflate the numbers of voters in the rural areas ... In summary, there is no way these elections could be described as substantially free and fair".
Post-election report of theZimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)
"Despite reported incidents of pre-election violence and some logistical shortcomings during voting, it is the considered opinion of the SADC Ministerial Task Force that the elections were substantially free and fair, and were a true reflection of the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
A Ministerial Task Force on Zimbabwe of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Zimbabwe's media
Zimbabwe's presidential election 2002 has come and gone. As expected Zanu-PF candidate Cde Robert Mugabe romped home to victory with a massive vote ... Naturally, MDC supporters cannot be part of the jubilation. However, the majority of people are all out celebrating their victory while others are going on with their day-to-day business. The prophets of doom have been shamed ... The police and other members of the security forces should be congratulated .. our democratic process has triumphed.
Celebratory verdict of the state-run Zimbabwe Herald (state-run newspaper)
President Mugabe's transparently stolen "victory" has not prevented regional observers, including the South Africans, from declaring the poll free and fair. In so-doing they have betrayed the trust placed in them by Zimbabwean voters. These acts of solidarity with the Mugabe regime may satisfy Sadc's rulers but will contribute to the region's isolation ... In its present sclerotic form this regime is irredeemable as it will soon discover. That is the message of the 2002 poll. Meanwhile, 1.2 million Zimbabweans have declared they will not be intimidated or coerced. We salute those brave people.
Editorial,Zimbabwe Independent
The Go-To-Hell policy has alienated countries whose aid and co-operation go back to the days of the liberation struggle. The West will not touch Zimbabwe with a barge pole, not after an election so riddled with violence and chicanery only countries with hidden agendas will endorse it as free and fair ...Morgan Tsvangirai and his team did not for one moment falter in their challenge to the political behemoth that is Zanu PF. The people who failed them may live to regret their preference for a party of violence and lies.
The tragic reality of a Mugabe victory, Daily News
The uneven playing field was bound to produce a pre-determined result. Zimbabweans were bound to be disappointed and angered, but that is now water under the bridge. They will fight another day. But the poll result spells much more pain and suffering because, from now on, the entire international community will treat this country as a pariah which it is
Editorial, Financial Gazette
African media
Save for some African countries, which unsurprisingly have validated the flawed elections, the dominant verdict is that the elections could hardly pass the test of freeness and fairness .... We commend the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN), an organisation representing 38 churches and civic groups, for its position that challenges the notion that the Zimbabwean elections satisfied African standards. It is pejorative to speak of African notions of democracy, which is only a shade better than monarchical and autocratic propensities so commonplace on the continent. Our standards must be universal or at least be seen to be striving in that direction.
The Guardian (Lagos, Nigeria)
South Africa's response will have a defining influence on the life chances of many millions of people ... The moral issue should be as clear to Mbeki as it is to the majority of Zimbabweans whom Mugabe has cheated of the president they want. Mbeki must make it clear in carefully modulated language that South Africa finds the conduct of the elections unacceptable - though it will now deal with the victor. Mbeki will appreciate that it is vital that Mugabe absent himself, or be removed, from government in Zimbabwe as quickly as possible. We have a real interest in how our neighbours behave. Their behaviour is our business. They must be made aware that we take this view. If Africa is to develop the productive forces and markets it needs in order to rise out of its poverty, some process akin that described in the new economic partnership for Africa's development (Nepad) will have to unfold. Nepad's lodestars include good governance, the rule of law, sound economic management and democratic government. These are values - moral, political and economic - on which we should brook no further compromise.
Editorial, Mail and Guardian, South Africa.
Whether we like it not - and many people do not like it - Dr Robert Mugabe remains the President of Zimbabwe. What we say is that the people have given their verdict. The way ahead for Zimbabwe is for both sides to drop the stridency with which they conducted themselves in the run-up to the ballot. Dr Mugabe and his party must be keenly aware of the great number of enemies they have internationally. They must recognise that, in many ways, these are enemies of their own making ... The opposition also has a vital role to play in this national and international reconciliation which is the only way save the country.
Editorial, The Nation(Kenya)
The dispute in the Zimbabwe election between the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition and critics illustrate just how similar contemporary opposition groups in Africa are. They have built a political trademark of over relying on their former colonial masters and imperial interests as their main driving force. Also they often heavily rely on well-orchestrated false propaganda against their incumbents to whip up local emotions and winning external support.
Editorial, New Vision (Uganda)
We would like to reiterate our disgust at the volatile political climate obtaining in Zimbabwe, and the political violence which continues to occur even at a crucial time when thousands of that country's citizens were hoping to use their democratic right to vote in a new President, although we at The Gazette, never cheated ourselves thinking that the Presidential elections would be free and fair ... Perhaps Mugabe needs to take a cue from Botswana and learn a few tips on how to conduct an election. If he has nothing to fear, why then does Mugabe hate anything that has pretences with democracy?
Editorial, The Botswana Gazette
Unfortunately it seems clear that there are those, and they include certain factions in Namibia, who hail Mugabe's win as a "victory over neo-colonialism, imperialism and foreign sponsored puppetry". These were the unfortunate words used in a message from Swapo to Zanu-PF ... It is truly a disgrace that Namibia's ruling party, presiding over a country which prides itself on its commitment to democracy, can condemn nearly half the Zimbabwean population who want Mugabe out. The African apologists for Mugabe are an embarrassment to all those who stand for democracy, good governance and the rule of law ... Whatever our concerns about the process leading up to the Presidential elections, it is now a 'done deal' and Mugabe gets another term. We would hope the outcome, however flawed, opens his mind to the reality that nearly half of all Zimbabweans voted against him; that he therefore has a huge task ahead to re-unite the people he has helped divide.
Editorial, The Namibian (Namibia)
Not many people will differ with Tsvangirai when he says the poll was "the biggest electoral fraud" of his life. But that "fraud" is the reality that Zimbabweans have to deal with. Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai should get over the election hangover and seek ways to work together and craft a future for their own country. Mugabe should invite the MDC into a government of national unity ... If the world, particularly the powerful nations in the world, seek to help Zimbabweans, they should seek constructive ways of doing so. Ways that reach far beyond the rhetoric contained in their post-election press statements.
Jovial Ranto, The Star, South Africa
Most observers saw a huge systematic effort by Mugabe to rig the election. Our mission chief Sam Motsuenyane saw only the odd "administrative oversight". He was jeered by diplomats and journalists when he delivered his report. South Africa is being ridiculed as an apologist for a despot ... If we think we can ease Mugabe out by quiet diplomacy, are we not once again in danger of Mugabe playing us for fools, as he has through every other episode of such diplomacy? We will do better in Zimbabwe by telling Mugabe what we really think of him and what he should do. Given the poor results of quiet diplomacy so far, he is probably just as likely to respond to public as to private pressure. And if he tells us to go to hell anyway, then we at least walk away with our credibility intact.
Peter Fabricus, The Star, South Africa
It is time Mugabe did a complete about turn and took a serious look at the economic wasteland that Zimbabwe has become. In the run up to the elections it became public knowledge that African leaders had buried their heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich in the face of the anarchy that was brewing in that country... The repercussions of the Zimbabwean crisis could spell doom for the SADC economy. African leaders should wake up to such a reality.
Editorial,Mmegi magazine (Botswana)
