Cartoon by Tom Scott of The Dominion Post featured in the April 2nd edition. (Click on image to enlarge.)
It has been five days since Zimbabweans took to polling stations and there has been no word as to who won the presidential elections. MDC has been claiming that they have won the elections stating that they have 50.3% and Mugabe 43.8% but there has been no official word from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. However, official results show that Mugabe has lost the majority in parliament which may mean the same thing for the presidential elections but people should not hold their breath because in the past, Mugabe has often done what he wants to do. The ZEC has said that they will release the results on Friday the 4th but that is not a given. Mr. Tsvangirai and a number of key figures from both MDC and Zanu PF have been seen in public talking about the elections but the man of the moment President Robert Mugabe had not been seen in public since the elections but he has resurfaced vowing to fight the good fight to hold on to presidency.
Here are some interesting things that some people have said through out the election period:
Teresa Makoni (MDC) – “It’s straight plain rigging.”
George Charamba (spokesperson for President Robert Mugabe) – “The present delay owes more to thoroughness than to all those sinister motives you are imputing on our impeccable electoral system.”
Tendai Biti (MDC Secretary General) – “President Morgan Richard Tsvangirai has won this election. He has won this election without a run-off.”
Bright Matonga (Zanu-PF Spokesman) – “We are not going to see a Kenyan situation. Zimbabweans are very mature, there is no need to fight, as Zimbabweans we don’t have a problem. The problem is coming from the MDC handlers, the United Kingdom and the United States, they are so eager, they want to see the back of President Mugabe, they want Mugabe to go. I think this is an opportunity for Mr. Tsvangirai to give back land to the white man and that’s wish full thinking and that’s a dream that will never come true.”
Heidi Holland (Author of Dinner with Mugabe) – “Mugabe is a strategist of note. He has outwitted all his opponents to date. That doesn’t mean his day won’t come.”
Boniface Chidyausiku (Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the UN) – don’t write him off…..if one member fails to get 50% + 1 there is need for a run-off so I think if that comes up he will take the challenge.
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