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ZIMBABWE-ELECTION Jan-22-2008 (450 words) xxxi
Church officials say it's unlikely Zimbabwean election will be fair
By Bronwen Dachs
Catholic News Service
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Church officials said it's unlikely Zimbabwe will hold a free and fair presidential election this year, since Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has refused demands for a new constitution to be implemented before the poll.
"Mugabe knows he can play games and get away with it," said Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa.
The 83-year-old Zimbabwean president "has the security forces on his side, and his opposition has no protection under the law, so he doesn't need to make any concessions," Bishop Dowling told Catholic News Service Jan. 21. Mugabe has rejected the opposition's requests that the election, scheduled for March, be postponed to June to allow for a new constitution to be put in place.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Great Britain in 1980, "is untrustworthy and does not intend to make significant changes to bring stability to the country," said the bishop, noting that until a new constitution that protects human rights is in place "there can be no free and fair elections."
At mid-January meetings in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, Mugabe rejected all suggestions made by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who since March has been mediating between Mugabe's government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
"Mugabe has been stringing Mbeki along all this time," said Bishop Dowling, a member of the Solidarity Peace Trust, an ecumenical group of church organizations from Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Alouis Chaumba, head of Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, said he was "not surprised the talks (Mbeki's mediation) have failed as the (Zimbabwean) government doesn't negotiate in good faith."
Zimbabwe "can't afford to have another election rejected by the international community," he told CNS Jan. 21. "But, as things stand now, there is no doubt that Mugabe will win elections in March."
Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate and chronic shortages of food, fuel and most basic goods.
"The mood in the country is very bleak and people are obsessed with day-to-day survival," Chaumba said. The people "cannot access cash, and our incomes are eroded every day," he added.
"Despite a good rainy season, farmers had no fertilizer, so crops have failed again," Chaumba said. "Electricity and water are in short supply, and there has been an outbreak of diarrhea in the major cities."
Hospitals around the country are paralyzed as doctors and nurses strike for more pay, and hospitals face "a chronic shortage of drugs," Chaumba said. Most schools "have less than half their quota of teachers, who can't afford the bus fare to get to work."
"Nothing is in good shape," he added.
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