I'm not aware that the Labour Party has observers currently in Zimbabwe watching the progress of the presidential election. If they did, they might pick up some helpful tips for November, as per this piece in this morning's NZ Herald - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10500974
Mugabe is determined to hang on to power at any cost, whatever it takes. To do this, he and his thugs do things like:
* Enrol the dead and intimidate the living
* Stop food supplies to villages which are supporters of the opposition
* Beat, torture and even kill opposition politicians and their supporters
The Herald article also reports more subtle and insidious means - things like the opposition candidate's name being able to be erased from the paper, thousands of enrolments in areas where no-one lives, and opposition supporters being refused the right to vote.
Whatever it takes. Get the picture? So when Dr Michael Bassett said a few weeks ago, commenting on the government's intervention in the sale of Auckland International Airport shares that "They don’t care. If this means that overseas investors pull out and won’t invest here any longer, why worry? They’ll do whatever it takes to stay in office.", should we be afraid, be very afraid?
No comments:
Post a Comment