Twice Beaten: Tsvangirai not once shy!

Twice Beaten: Tsvangirai not once shy!
-King James Yiye

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is still in the race to challenge one of Africa's 'overdue' serving leaders, Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangarai has been beaten in two previous elections and physically, he has been beaten severally.
Morgan Tsvangirai first contested against incumbent Robert Mugabe in 2002, then in 2008 and now in 2013.
Mugabe who has been in power since 1980 turned 89 years on February 21, he says, he will step down after 33 years in power if he and his Zanu-PF party lose this time.
In the 2002 elections, Robert Mugabe won, claiming 56.2% of the total vote, although the Organisation of African Unity described the election as "transparent, credible, free and fair", the conduct of the election was strongly condemned by the Commonwealth, Norwegian observers, Zimbabwean opposition figures, and Western governments and media. Zimbabwe was consequently suspended from the Commonwealth for a year.
This time, the Zimbabwe government has barred Western observers from monitoring the July 31 elections, only the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as well as local organisations, have been accredited.

Zimbabwe elections
I have been following Zimbabwe elections for sometime now, and I can say the campaigns and election so far are not as violent as witnessed in previous elections. In 2008 for instance, there was lawlessness across Zimbabwe after the disputed presidential election in which Tsvangirai won the highest number of votes in the first round, he however pulled out of the run-off after many of his supporters were attacked and killed.
The Zanu-PF and the MDC later shared a coalition government in 2009, but since then, there hasn't been much trust between Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

Arrests and intimidation
Morgan Tsvangirai has been beaten, arrested, and tried for treason and for leaKiNG government documents to wiki leaks. His body guard has been killed, his wife Susan also was killed in a head-on collision as they travelled to Tsvangirai's village, an incident opposition believed was not just an accident.

Accusations and counter accusations
This time, Morgan Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has already accused the Zanu-PF of 'doctoring the electoral roll', a charge the Zanu-PF has denied, the party instead pointed out that appointees from both parties were on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission or ZEC. The Zanu-PF in return accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti, from the MDC, of not funding the commission properly.

Candidates contesting
Besides Mugabe and Tsvangirai, there are three other candidates contesting for the Zimbabwe presidency, they are;
1. Welshman Ncube, leader of the breakaway MDC-Mutambara;
2. Dumiso Dabengwa of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), and
3. Kisinoti Munodei Mukwazhe, who represents the small Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP).

For any of these contestants to be declared winner, they must win more than 50% of the total vote cast. If no one reaches this percentage, a run-off will be held on September 11th, the day America will be marKiNG 12 years of Osama Bin Laden's terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.

For Morgan Tsvangirai, even though he has been beaten twice in previous elections, he is still confident and believes it's time for Mugabe to leave.


KiNG JAMES YiYE
Radio & Online Journalist
Africa Desk,
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
www.rnw.nl/africa

Executive Director
ASKiNG Media Limited
askingmedia@gmail.com