Open air election
Thursday, August 1st, 2013 by Bev ClarkPhoto: Jamie McLaren
Kubatana.net ~ an online community of Zimbabwean activists
At one time Mugabe’s skin colour made him worse than a pig, or a dog to those who wanted to rob him of his dignity. You can choose to learn from prejudice, or you can perpetuate it.
“If you’re a woman, if you’re a person of color, if you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, if you’re a person of size, a person of intelligence, a person of integrity, then you’re considered a minority in this world. And it’s going to be really hard to find messages of self-love and support anywhere. It’s all about how you have to look a certain way or else you’re worthless. For us to have self-esteem is truly an act of revolution and our revolution is long overdue.”
- Margaret Cho
I’m seeing election posters coming down as quickly as they were put up. May the force be with poster removers!
Photo: Jamie McLaren
I have met with the chair of the AU observer mission, former Nigerian President Obasanjo, head of the SADC observer mission, Minister Mmembe and I have given a diplomatic briefing. The message we have given is that this is not a credible election. It does not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
For the above reasons, the election has been heavily manipulated. In our view, the outcome of this election is illegitimate. But more importantly, the shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis.
We therefore call for SADC and the AU audit teams to look into this process, in particular the voters roll, the ballots and the manner in which the whole process was conducted. In our view this election does not meet the SADC, AU and international standards for a credible, legitimate, free and fair election.
- President Morgan Tsvangirai’s Press Briefing on Elections