Civic groups lambaste Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s leading civic groups on Saturday called for an end to political violence, economic decay and land reforms and stressed the need for free and fair presidential polls next year, news reports said. At the end of a one-day conference entitiled “Crisis in Zimbabwe” an estimated 500 delegates from development agencies, professional associations, church and human rights groups, labour and student unions urged Mugabe to set a programme that would guarantee a free and fair poll. They agreed that the crises facing Zimbabwe needed to be resolved immediately before the country slid into an abyss.

“The conference believe that the crises in Zimbabwe must be resolved immediately before the country descends into chaos,” a resolution by the group was quoted as saying. “We reserve the democratic right to engage in civic action, including civil disobedience, if government refuses to accede to the demands of this conference or to engage in meaningful discussion on these demands.”

Reports said delegates also called upon regional and international bodies to “use their influence to bring about a restoration of peace, functioning democracy and the rule of law within Zimbabwe”. “We fully accept the present inequities and that there is urgent need for a major land reform in Zimbabwe,” but “the reform must be properly planned and executed... and carried out within the legal framework and without violence. There must be an immediate cessation of the current fast track land reforms and evacuation of all occupied farms,” the group said.

Meanwhile conference spokesman Brian Raftopoulos was quoted as saying that the “chances of an internationally acceptable presidential election taking place in Zimbabwe (were) looking bleak”. “Therefore the need for intensified pressure at national, regional and international levels for the creation of conditions for a legitimate election process to take place in Zimbabwe in 2002, is of paramount importance,” he said.