The Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) yesterday became the latest in a string of CSOs to launch an adverse report on the July 31 poll, highlighting the flaws that have bedeviled the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s preparations.

ZDI launched Electoral Battleground: Voters Roll Rigmarole, which I thought was a play on the rigging apparatus Zanu PF has already put in place!

And indeed it has been endless talk about the country’s preparedness, or lack thereof, to hold such an important national process, with Zanu PF’s insistence coming under scrutiny and wide speculation that the “revolutionary party” already has a poll outcome in its favour, and most disturbingly, in collusion with ZEC.

Yet ZDI insists on the vigilance of not only itself but other CSOs working for a better Zimbabwe.

But with Tobais Mudede fashioning himself as the sole custodian of the voters’ roll, the ZDI remains awake to the fact that this has become the arena where Zanu PF will cook the numbers to rig the poll.

And like many critics of these rushed elections, ZDI raises concerns of the flawed reading of the pre-election conditions which so far have seen little or no violence as a template to give these polls as clean bill of health.

The rigging machine has been re-fashioned, and only yesterday, a senior South African government official actually made reference to the violence-free atmosphere as reason not to condemn the poor preps plaguing the ZEC.

Among many issues the ZDI report raises is the disenfranchisement of millions by deliberate exclusion from the voter’s roll through the frustrating voter registration exercise, the role of the security apparatus where the report comments that “ZANU-PF and the military have proven to be inseparable” and also laments the arrest of human rights defenders and raids on CSOs.

These are concerns that have been raised before, and as the election beckons next Wednesday, all these remain unresolved, and the logical “therefore” is a poll that does not meet the benchmarks of normal practices.

Only today, we read from Patrick Chinamasa that poll funding had been secured from domestic resources, and we long thought it was finance Minister Tendai Biti’s mandate to make such an announcement!

But as Pedzisai Ruhanya, the ZDI director said, “We are not here to cause chaos; we are here to manage ZEC chaos.”

And one needs not be a clairvoyant to foresee mayhem on July 31.

Today’s Herald announces “Govt secures poll funding.” Given that elections are in less than a week, that’s lucky I suppose. The article says “domestic resources mobilised,” and mentions “US $ 85 million released.” Phew. I knew all that diamond money would come in handy someday.

Meanwhile, the late access to election funding is just one more way in which this election is a mess before we’ve even voted. And yet shockingly, the African Union looks and says “Nothing gives us any cause for concern.”

There are 5 days till Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Election on 31 July 2013. And Nothing gives any cause for concern? Not:

• The fact that the election date itself was set in an illegal manner
• The illegal way in which the electoral laws for this election were promulgated
• The atrocious state of Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll and the disenfranchisement of Zimbabweans that will result
• The mess that was made of the special voting for the police
• Continued media bias by Zimbabwe’s state television broadcaster
• The fact that political parties still don’t have access to the final voters’ roll as promised
• The fact that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission still hasn’t issued the final list of polling stations
• The fact that POTRAZ has ordered mobile phone carriers like Econet to not carry international bulk text messages for political reasons

With a list like this what is most of concern is that the African Union doesn’t see anything of concern. Is this the low standard we have for Zimbabwean elections, and African elections more generally. As long as the violence stays minimal and the intimidation low-grade, it will do.  Never mind how many laws you break or rights you trample on along the way, our African colleagues will just turn a blind eye so it can be deemed “credible enough.”

Photographs by Linette Frewin

One of Zimbabwe’s best known singers, Chiwoniso Maraire, has died aged 37. More from the BBC here and you can share your memories of Chi on their page.

On: Monday 5, Tuesday 6, and Wednesday 7 August 2013
For: Boys and girls aged 6 years and above
From: 9am to 1230pm
At: Kifoc at the Kabin, 2 Canterbury Rd, Kensington (close to Kensington shops)
Bring: Comfy gear/shoes. A notebook and a pack snack.
Cost: $50, discount for siblings

We offer a chance for children to learn performance skills that work wonders for their self confidence, concentration and social skills, through the use of creative drama, singing, dancing and photo modeling, all under one roof, to bring out their true potential

All activities are filmed and shown in a safe and welcoming atmosphere

Enrolment has begun so if you wish to register your child/children, please contact Bev on Telephone 04 570869 or 0733 402 696

Email: bmathison [at] mango [dot] zw

Get active!

If you have had political posters pasted on your wall or gate, and if you don’t want them there, stand up to the abuse of power and remove them. It is your right to do so. Don’t be intimidated.

You can also email the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on: inquiry [at] zec [dot] gov [dot] zw and file a report.

You add, we multiply!

That Mugabe is a bully is now a historical fact, and the he brooks no criticism or censure from fellow African presidents is a fact that has made a spoof out of Nepad’s much vaunted African/Peer Review Mechanism.

And it’s even worse when African diplomats and presidents alike are very much awake to the fact that Mugabe can indeed tell them off despite all efforts to knock sense into his head.

This became apparent with the arrival of Nkosazana Zuma-Dlamini into the country where she said there was no guarantee that African Union Mission chairperson Olusegun Obasanjo was going to be allowed into Zimbabwe, “saying it depends on whether Government will allow him.”

“I think he will come. If he is allowed he will come. They allowed me to come, that is all I’m saying.”

Why go ahead with the goddamn charade then when it is already known that even African observers are not viewed too kindly, not by government but, by Zanu PF?