Amid Famine, Zimbabwe Voters Fed Anti-Blair Vitriol

Grain stores are empty in many parts of this country, the maize crop has largely failed and there has been panic buying in markets. Yet Zimbabwe’s food crisis barely rates a mention in the state media election coverage here.

Instead, a campaign tightly controlled by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has focused on the issue of leadership. Not that of longtime President Robert Mugabe, but of the prime minister of a country thousands of miles away: Britain’s Tony Blair.

“Bury Blair, vote ZANU-PF,” run the ruling party’s newspaper advertisements, promising “an end to racist factory closures, an end to racist withholding of commodities,” along with a litany of other domestic problems blamed on the British leader. Mugabe is furious with Britain, the country’s former colonial power, especially since Blair said he would like to see a change of regime in Zimbabwe.

Opposition leaders and rights activists charge that the government has nonetheless underpinned its anti-Blair parliamentary election campaign with threats that play on fears sparked by the food crisis. They allege that the government has threatened to bypass areas that fail to support ZANU-PF when it distributes food after Thursday’s voting.

“Every time you turn on the television, you hear about how bad Tony Blair is. People are taking it as a joke. There’s no strong anti-British sentiment,” said a supervisor at a factory in this southwestern city. He agreed to a surreptitious interview conducted in a car outside his workplace but, fearing repercussions, gave his name only as Jack.

But he said there was plenty of anxiety about food. His elderly mother in rural central Zimbabwe and his three children at school in Bulawayo had all been warned, he said, that supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change could miss out on rations.

It is difficult to predict whether the food shortages will translate into popular anger against the government in the vote or fear of being denied food will boost the ruling party’s support. Either way, analysts expect ZANU-PF to win the elections.

Although the killings and violence of past elections under Mugabe have waned, a recent Human Rights Watch report warned that a continuing climate of intimidation in Zimbabwe meant that a fair election was impossible, and other reports have suggested that 40% of names on voter rolls are suspect.

In a country where opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai faces treason charges for organizing anti-government rallies, the Human Rights Watch report cited “serious irregularities” in the electoral process, repressive laws on public security, biased electoral institutions supervising the poll and closures of independent newspapers.

“As a result, the elections are highly unlikely to reflect the free expression of the people,” the report found. Human Rights Watch researcher Tiseke Kasambala said the threats to deprive people of food aid after the election were being made at ruling party rallies, particularly in rural areas.

An audit of the voter roll by pro-democracy group FreeZim Support Group found that more than 2 million of the 5.6 million names on the rolls were suspect, with up to 800,000 dead people registered and 300,000 duplicate names.

Mugabe, the former liberation struggle leader who has ruled Zimbabwe through 25 years of independence, has in recent years overseen a catastrophic decline in farm production and economic collapse.

Opposition newspaper advertisements focus on the crash and runaway inflation, contrasting the power of 1,500 Zimbabwean dollars to purchase a car 25 years ago with its ability to buy a bus ticket in 2002 and a single nail today.

Mugabe eschewed humanitarian food aid last year as his government predicted a bumper grain crop of 2.4 million tons. “We are not hungry. Why foist this food on us? We don’t want to be choked. We have enough,” Mugabe said in an interview with British Sky News television.

The South African-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network recently warned that 5.8 million people were at risk in Zimbabwe’s current food emergency. It reported that most rural households had run out of food in mid-2004, and soaring food prices and falling incomes had since worsened the crisis. Many rural people rely on sons and daughters living in the cities or abroad to send money or food.

In recent weeks, the government has dropped its predictions of an excellent crop and conceded the need for emergency food for 1.5 million people.

“The situation right now for my family is very bad. There’s no food,” said a 28-year-old security guard in Bulawayo, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals. His 42-year-old sister recently called from rural Masvingo province, normally a government stronghold, to tell him she had run out of food.

He said his parents had always supported ZANU-PF, but now there was anger in Masvingo, with people blaming Mugabe because of his rejection of international aid.

“People are not happy, because CARE International used to give them porridge, beans and [maize] almost every month,” he said. “Some of the people are saying this government is not good because almost everybody managed to hear what the president said. I’m sure people will go and vote for the other party. There’s a big change in the rural community.”

Despite the decline in violence, David Coltart, a member of parliament for the MDC, argued that threats to deny food were more frightening than physical threats. “The threat of food is insidious, but it’s far more powerful than murdering people. It affects everyone.”

But he argued it was possible that anger about food could backfire on ZANU-PF. “That’s the big unanswered question of the election. They clearly are not delivering sufficient food to people yet. We’re getting information countrywide that people are out of food and angry because they know Mugabe is responsible. There’s a problem for the government if they can’t deliver food before the election.”

One employee at a small Bulawayo factory said that although he was no longer afraid to wear a shirt supporting the MDC, he felt sure the vote would be rigged.

“Now people feel that even if they vote, it’s not going to make any difference because they’re just rigging,” he said. “People are saying, ‘Let’s just wait till the old man dies to see if things get any better.’ ”