Human Rights Group Accuses Zimbabwe President With Bribery, Electoral Blackmail

March 24, 2008 10:13 a.m. EST

Johannesburg, South Africa (AHN)- The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum in its pre-election report accused Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe of bribery and electoral fraud to ensure his victory in the upcoming polls.

Aggravating the situation, the group said is the fact that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is not doing anything to stop Mugabe. The group's assessment of the pre-election period in Zimbabwe is contained in its report 'It's The Count That Counts: Food For Thought', which was released recently.

'The SADC initiative has failed to achieve its objective of establishing an electoral environment in Zimbabwe in which free and fair elections will take place,' the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO cited in its report.

The group also cited that even the 'critical food shortages' in the country is being taken advantage of by politicizing food handouts as a form of electoral blackmail. "The chief culprit, this time around, ahead of violence and the closure of democratic space, is the politicization of food handouts. If this is not effective, there is a danger that the defective voters' roll, the voting process and vote counting will be manipulated to secure a ZANU (PF) victory," said the group.

"The Government of Zimbabwe has ensured that it retains sole control over the distribution of food. All grain has to be sold through the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board. Any NGO involved in food aid and famine relief is obliged to work through government structures. Accordingly, the distribution of any food aid, regardless of its source, is through government-controlled bodies," the report further cited.

To recall, South Africa's Thabo Mbeki mediated talks between Zimbabwe's government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last year, which resulted to concessions from both parties for the March 29 national polls. According to the NGO forum however, Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF did not honor the agreement and does not respect Zimbabweans' 'right to freely choose whom to elect into government'.