Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) SA police crush anti-Mugabe protests

SA police crush anti-Mugabe protests
by Staff Reporters
11/06/2011 00:00:00

SOUTH African police used teargas to disperse an anti-Mugabe protest in Johannesburg on Saturday after tribal clashes between the marchers, reports said.

Police moved in after activists from the radical Mthwakazi Liberation Front pressure group burnt an MDC T-Shirt. Shona speakers trying to address the crowd were also heckled, Radio VoP reported. The marchers were assembled near the venue of a SADC summit which President Robert Mugabe is attending.

Radio VoP reported that a group of people dressed in ZAPU regalia protested at being addressed by Shona speakers, resulting in the proceedings being disrupted. Tribal jingles were also sung in the assorted anti-Mugabe crowds.

Madock Chivasa, the spokesman of the National Constitutional Assembly pressure group which also took part in the march said: “It is unfortunate that we have to witness people in the pro-democracy movement fighting among themselves due to tribal and political differences.

"We had initially been impressed by the unity of Zimbabweans but these disruptions are a clear indication of behaviour we have to root out in our broad movement."

Southern African leaders were set to meet later Saturday to lay out a plan to guide Zimbabwe toward elections and end a shaky alliance between Mugabe’s Zanu PF party and the two MDC factions led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Industry Minister Welshman Ncube.

The coalition was meant as a transitional government to oversee the drafting of a democratic constitution, which would pave the way toward new elections and avoid a repeat of the bloodshed that marred the 2008 vote.

The process is running a year late, prompting a faction within Mugabe's Zanu PF party to push for quick elections this year, even though SADC, Ncube and Tsvangirai insist on a new constitution first.

The summit Saturday is expected to reinforce the SADC's decision by setting a new timetable for completing the charter.

But Mugabe bristles at any outside pressure, and the SADC's verdict may not sway hardliners within his party, especially military leaders who have publicly called for quicker elections.

"It appears the majority opinion in Zanu PF is against elections in 2011," said Eldred Masunungure, an analyst from the University of Zimbabwe.

"With those who want elections, we are talking of a minority of a minority, but it appears that minority is a powerful one.

"We heard it from the horse's mouth when one of the generals said elections should be held this year. The military has the muscle and may be tempted to rail through their preference," he added.

Part of the urgency comes from mounting concern in his party over Mugabe's age and health, said Takavafira Zhou, political scientist at Masvingo State University.

"The rallying point in Zanu PF is Mugabe, who is old, and there is a fear that if the elections are delayed and he dies or for some reason the elections are held without him, Zanu PF is gone," said Zhou.

"There is a small group in Zanu PF who want elections while they still have Mugabe as the unifying figure. They know that Zanu PF is Mugabe, and Mugabe is Zanu PF and that without him they are doomed."

South African mediators last month publicly raised concerns about Mugabe's health and the succession debate, following reports that he had had surgery for prostate cancer in Singapore early this year.

Mugabe has denied the reports, and no one within the party is willing to publicly consider a future without Mugabe.

"Has anyone changed his or her father just because he is old? Until your father dies, only then can you have a stepfather -- that is that," Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, a top army official with close links to Zanu PF, said recently.

But two top Mugabe allies, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and central bank governor Gideon Gono, have both cast doubt on the wisdom of quick polls.

Election officials say the wildly outdated voters roll -- an estimated one third of the people on it are dead -- will never be ready this year. The finance ministry says it has no money for elections.

Tsvangirai and Ncube want SADC leaders to support elections no earlier than 2012.

"We expect SADC to look at security sector reforms to remove bias, partisanship and lack of professionalism from our security forces," Douglas Mwonzora, the spokesman for Tsvangirai’s MDC party said.

"If these issues are not addressed the securocrats will pose grave insecurity to the people of Zimbabwe."

Ncube said: “We expect the summit to adopt the roadmap that has been agreed to by the parties.

“We also expect the summit to devise a mechanism to ensure that there is faithful implementation of the roadmap. Our problem has been a lack of faithful implementation of what is agreed on.”

Media reports have suggested the regional body was likely to come down heavy on Zanu PF’s alleged intransigence. But Ncube said predictions of fireworks between President Mugabe and the SADC leaders may be misplaced.

“I don’t know where that is coming from,” he said. “The Livingstone Summit made resolutions and they have been followed. I find it hard to believe that there will be any fireworks.”

Labels: MDC VIOLENCE, SOUTH AFRICA

posted by MrK @ 2:25 PM