Harare: Zimbabwe police said that three people had been killed in violence in Harare on Wednesday, state broadcaster ZBC reported, after opposition supporters clashed with police over this week’s presidential election.
Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said the three people killed were yet to be identified.
The sound of automatic gunfire reverberated through Zimbabwe’s capital on Wednesday as armoured military vehicles rolled through the city and soldiers fired on opposition activists protesting against alleged electoral fraud.
The killing of protests brings back to mind the dark days of former president Robert Mugabe’s era when elections and extreme regime violence went hand-in-hand.
Soldiers opened fire to disperse stone-throwing opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters, with some beating fleeing protesters with their assault rifles while at least one whipped a passerby with a belt.
MDC supporters had taken to the streets to vent frustration over delays to announcing the results of the landmark presidential polls. The opposition accuse President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling ZANU-PF party of stalling so it can steal the election.
Preparing ‘fake presidential results’
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said on Twitter he had won the “popular vote” in Monday’s election, in which he challenged Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa from the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Chamisa accused the ZANU-PF of trying to steal the election. He accused the commission of releasing the parliamentary results first to prepare Zimbabweans for a Mnangagwa victory.
“The strategy is meant to prepare Zimbabwe mentally to accept fake presidential results. We’ve more votes than ED [Emmerson Dambudzo]. We won the popular vote [and] will defend it,” Chamisa said on Twitter.
Official results show the ruling ZANU-PF party won the most seats in the parliamentary ballot but the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rejected the outcome and charged that there had been fraud.
The results of the presidential vote have yet to be released.
The electoral commission had said it would start announcing results for the presidential race from 10.30 GMT, but this was delayed as commissioners read out more parliamentary results.
With three seats yet to be declared, ZANU-PF had 144 seats compared to 61 for the MDC, meaning the ruling party achieved a two-thirds majority which would allow it to change the constitution at will.
President blames opposition
Mnangagwa said that violence in Harare on Wednesday was meant to disrupt this week’s presidential election, adding that he blamed the leadership of the MDC for those who were killed and injured.
“We hold the opposition MDC Alliance and its whole leadership responsible for this disturbance of national peace, which was meant to disrupt the electoral process,” Mnangagwa said, according to state broadcaster ZBC.
Mnangagwa said that MDC should remove its supporters from the streets, ZBC added.
However, Chamisa’s spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda said on Wednesday that the army’s reaction in quelling disturbances in the capital was disproportionate and unjustified.
MDC supporters were celebrating at their headquarters before they made their way to the head office of the election commission. They were met by a cordon of heavily armed riot police who used high pressure water cannon to repel them.
The growing crowd lit fires and chanted “Chamisa”. They burnt tyres in the centre of the capital Harare, blocking some streets and engaging in running battles with riot police.
Soldiers then arrived at the scene, jumping out of several armoured personnel carriers. Gunfire was heard and an army helicopter flew in the skies above Harare, witnesses said.
Capital in lockdown
By nightfall, a stream of security forces had locked down the city centre and normally bustling areas like the bus station were deserted.
“Deploying soldiers means they are ruling with an iron fist. We are now a military state,” said vegetable seller Mazvinetsa Muradzikwa, 24. “We have the police what’s the point on deploying soldiers?”
It had been hoped that the first elections following his removal - after a brief army takeover led by former army chief Constantino Chiwenga - would turn the page for the country.
“There’s no need for Chiwenga to control the elections,” said a protester, wearing a red sports jacket and holding a sign proclaiming “We don’t want fake elections”.
But moments after he spoke to AFP, a man wearing a black jumper and jeans was shot in the stomach and lay in a pool of his own blood that seeped onto the dusty tarmac.
Water cannons
The noisy but peaceful protest descended into chaos after security forces opened fire, sprayed tear gas and unleashed water cannons.
Two men fled for cover in the shadow of two election billboards emblazoned with Mnangagwa’s face and pro-government slogans.
“You said you were better than Mugabe - you are the picture of Mugabe,” shouted one young male protester wearing a white T-shirt. “We need security for the people.”
EU concerns
European Union observers also questioned the conduct of the presidential and parliamentary poll. The observers expressed concern about delays in releasing the results of the presidential contest.
The EU’s chief observer, Elmar Brok, said he did not yet know if the shortcomings would have a material effect on its outcome, and he criticised the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for being at times “one-sided”.
The EU’s assessment is critical in determining whether Zimbabwe can shed its pariah status as it could help attract investors and trigger an economic revival. The EU did not understand why the release of the presidential result was taking so long, he said.
“The longer it lasts that the results of the presidential election is not known, the more lack of credibility it provides,” Brok said.
Zimbabwe was once one of Africa’s most promising economies but under Mugabe’s rule became tainted by corruption, mismanagement and diplomatic isolation.
Its population of 13 million is struggling amid shortages of foreign currency, unemployment above 80 per cent and lack of foreign investment.
UN urges Zimbabweans to reject violence
The United Nations on Wednesday urged Zimbabwe’s political leaders and Zimbabweans to reject any form of violence after troops opened fire on opposition demonstrators protesting election results.
At least one protester was killed in the violence that erupted two days after Zimbabwe’s first parliamentary and presidential elections since Robert Mugabe was forced out of the presidency last year.
“We are concerned about reports of incidents of violence in some parts of Zimbabwe,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
“We call on the political leaders and the population as a whole to exercise restraint and reject any form of violence while awaiting resolution of the disputes and announcement of the election results.”
The United Nations reminds all sides of their pledge to hold a peaceful election, he added.
