By-election not free or fair - MDC

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has claimed that last weekends’ by-election, won by the ruling ZANU-PF party, in the rural constituency of Bindura, 35 km north of Harare, was neither free or fair, the ‘Mail and Guardian’ said on Monday.

The MDC’s secretary general told the newspaper that voters in Bindura were “enclosed in concentration camp like conditions”. “The commercial farming of Bindura was a no-go area for us,” Ncube said. He said that MDC supporters were beaten up and that the party was prevented from campaigning in the area.

Last week Ncube along with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai met with representatives from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and urged them to send election monitors to Zimbabwe at least three months prior to next year’s presidential elections.

The Zimbabwean deputy high commissioner in South Africa, Danson Mudekunye, denied the reports of intimidation and the allegation that elections were not free and fair. He pointed out that European Union (EU) monitors were present during the elections: “If the MDC had won, then the election would have been free and fair,” he was quoted as saying. ZANU-PF’s Elliot Manyika defeated MDC candidate Elliot Pfebve by polling 15,864 votes, 6,408 more than his rival.