NEWS
High turnout in Zimbabwe’s first post-Mugabe poll
Published
5 years agoon

Voter turnout is high in Zimbabwe’s first general election since long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe was ousted, officials say.
Foreign observers have hailed the election as an opportunity for Zimbabwe to break with its repressive past.
The presidential election is expected to be a tight contest between the incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa and his main rival Nelson Chamisa.
Parliamentary and local elections are also taking place on Monday.
Opinion polls give Mr Mnangagwa, who heads the ruling Zanu-PF party, a narrow lead over Mr Chamisa, who leads the MDC Alliance.
Both leaders are running for the presidency for the first time.
On Sunday, Mr Mugabe, who first came to power after independence in 1980, said he would not vote for his successor.
Mr Mugabe, regarded as one of the last “Big Men” of African politics, was forced out of office last November by Mr Mnangagwa with the help of the military.
In Domboshawa village, about an hour’s car ride north of the capital, Harare, many had been in the queue even before sunrise.
The first group of voters were mainly elderly people but there were some youngsters too.
A local primary school has been converted into a polling station for the landmark election.
Surrounded by mountains and rolling hills, the villagers are in good spirits, chatting and laughing.
But the stakes are high. Zimbabwe’s future is in the balance and nothing is certain.
It has been a hotly contested race but there is an air of optimism, unlike the nervousness I’ve witnessed covering previous elections here.
“This election is different, there hasn’t been violence. It’s a good sign,” one voter told me. After casting his vote, he say his prayer is that whoever wins, puts Zimbabwe first. “We have suffered enough,” he says as he walks off on to the winding dirt road.
How were candidates received at polling stations?
Crowds whistled and broke into chants of “Chamisa” when the 40-year-old MDC leader cast his ballot on the outskirts of Harare, amidst a media scrum.
“We will win this election to the extent it’s free and fair… it’s a done deal,” he told the BBC.
In contrast, Mr Mnangagwa, thought to be 75, voted in a quiet polling station at a school in the central city of Kwekwe.
At one stage, he was seen taking his head out of the voting booth to check where he should put his cross on the ballot.
He tweeted that Zimbabweans should vote with “peace in our hearts”.
“We will sink or swim together,” he added.
Who makes up most of the voters?
The country is expecting a high turnout of first-time voters.
Younger voters are expected to be key – almost half of those registered are under the age of 35.
Hundreds of international observers have been deployed to ensure the vote goes smoothly, but the opposition has repeatedly alleged irregularities in the voter roll.
They have also expressed concern over the security of ballot papers and voter intimidation in mainly rural areas.
However, the Zimbabwe Election Commission (Zec) insists that it has acted within the law, and will deliver a credible poll.
ZEC head Priscilla Chigumba said 90% of polling stations had opened on time.
“The voter turnout is high and we are confident that by 7 pm central African time we would have completed the voting process at all polling stations,” she added.
BBC
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Zimbabwe Vice President Kembo Mohadi resigned on Monday following local media reports he had engaged in improper conduct.
Kembo Mohadi, along with Constantino Chiwenga, was a deputy to President Emmerson Mnangagwa since 2018, but without a political power base, he was not seen as a potential successor to the president.
In a rare move by a public official in Zimbabwe, Kembo Mohadi said he had taken the decision to step down “not as a matter of cowardice but as a sign of demonstrating great respect to the office of the President”.
“I have been going through a soul-searching pilgrimage and realised that I need the space to deal with my problem outside the governance chair,” he said in a statement released by the Ministry of Information.
Local online media service ZimLive has in the past two weeks carried reports that Kembo Mohadi had improper sexual liaisons with married women, including one of his subordinates.
Mohadi, 70, denied the accusations last week saying this was part of a political plot against him. On Monday he continued to deny the accusations saying he would seek legal recourse.
BUSINESS
Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers
Published
3 years agoon
29/07/2020
Zimbabwe agreed on Wednesday to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to Zimbabwe white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era.
But the southern African nation does not have the money and will issue long term bonds and jointly approach international donors with the farmers to raise funding, according to the compensation agreement.
Two decades ago Mugabe’s government carried out at times violent evictions of 4,500 Zimbabwe white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 Black families, arguing it was redressing colonial land imbalances.
The agreement signed at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House offices in Harare showed white farmers would be compensated for infrastructure on the farms and not the land itself, as per the national constitution.
Details of how much money each farmer, or their descendants, given the time elapsed since the farms were seized, was likely to get were not yet clear, but the government has said it would prioritise the elderly when making the settlements.
Farmers would receive 50% of the compensation after a year and the balance within five years. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and acting Agriculture Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri signed on behalf of the government, while farmers unions and a foreign consortium that undertook valuations also penned the agreement.
“As Zimbabweans, we have chosen to resolve this long-outstanding issue,” said Andrew Pascoe, head of the Commercial Farmers Union representing Zimbabwe white farmers.
The land seizures were one of Mugabe’s signature policies that soured ties with the West. Mugabe, who was ousted in a coup in 2017 and died last year, accused the West of imposing sanctions on his government as punishment.
The programme still divides public opinion in Zimbabwe as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself. But its supporters say it has empowered landless Black people. Mnangagwa said the land reform could not be reversed but paying of compensation was key to mending ties with the West. Reuters
NEWS
Chinamasa calls U.S. ambassador ‘thug’ as anti-government protests loom
Published
3 years agoon
29/07/2020
Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party on Monday called the United States ambassador a “thug” and accused him of funding the opposition ahead of this week’s planned anti-government protests that authorities say are meant to overthrow the government.
Without providing evidence, ZANU-PF spokesman Patrick Chinamasa told reporters that U.S. ambassador to Harare, Brian Nichols, was involved in subversive activities to topple President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
Chinamasa’s comments echo the Robert Mugabe era, where the ZANU-PF government regularly accused the United States and Britain of seeking to dislodge it from power.
“He (Nichols) continues to engage in acts of undermining this republic and if he does so, if he continues engaging in acts of mobilising and funding disturbances, coordinating violence and training insurgents, our leadership will not hesitate to give him marching orders,” Chinamasa said.
“Diplomats should not behave like thugs, and Brian Nichols is a thug.”
The U.S. embassy in Harare did not immediately respond to Chinamasa’s comments. Political tensions are rising fast in the southern African nation after activists called for demonstrations on July 31 against government corruption, which they blame for deepening the worst economic crisis in more than a decade.
Last month, the government summoned Nichols after a senior White House official said Zimbabwe was among “foreign adversaries” using the civil unrest in the United States following the death of George Floyd to interfere in U.S. affairs.
The U.S., Britain, E.U. embassies and the United Nations have all criticised Zimbabwe for the arrest of journalists and political challengers.
Relations between Zimbabwe and the West were promising when Mnangagwa replaced Mugabe after a coup in 2017, but have soured over the government’s human rights record.
Patrick Chinamasa urged party supporters to defend themselves from protesters and avoid a repeat of the deadly violence that followed post-election demonstrations in August 2018 and the January 2019 protests over a steep fuel price hike.“No, this time no. Use any means at your disposal to defend yourselves,” Chinamasa said. Organisers say this week’s protests will be peaceful. Reuters

Kembo Mohadi resigns amid sex scandal

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

Chinamasa calls U.S. ambassador ‘thug’ as anti-government protests loom
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