Robert Mugabe, the Marxist dictator of Zimbabwe, is ready to relocate 500,000 registered and potential voters from urban to rural areas under the fast-track land resettlement exercise to try to bolster his support base ahead of next year’s presidential election, intelligence officials have said.
According to reports published in the Zimbabwean media and Mugabe watchers inside Great Britain, the plan is being drafted in conjunction with the Joint Operation Command, a think tank comprising ministers of state security, defense and home affairs, as well as army and air force generals and officials from the Central Intelligence Organization.
The Ministry of Local Government, which is overseeing the resettlement exercise, and the Registrar-General’s Office, responsible for registration of voters, are also involved in the formulation of the strategy.
According to the plan, about 500,000 registered and potential voters in urban areas – the power base of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC – would be resettled in the next six months on commercial farms, thereby diluting the strength of Mugabe’s opponents.
Mugabe has sent out his cadres to intimidate MDC officials and supporters. Many of these people, along with white Zimbabwean farmers, have been tortured and killed.
The voters, comprising mainly unemployed and land-hungry urban dwellers interested in venturing into commercial agriculture, would then be required to transfer their votes to a rural constituency in the area in which they are resettled.
The sources said the plan hopes to take advantage of loopholes in the present Electoral Act, which allows voters to transfer their votes and register in a new constituency – a move that would bolster Mugabe’s strength in the cities at the expense of the MDC.
“The whole plan is aimed at altering the voting strength in urban areas by moving people away under the resettlement program into commercial farming areas,” a source close to the plan told the Southern African Financial Gazette.
In anticipation of civil unrest, Mugabe ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs to seek authority from Treasury to make a down payment of Z$105 million to an Israeli company recently contracted to supply nearly Z$1 billion worth of special vehicles and water cannons that can be used in riots by the Zimbabwe Republic Police ahead of the presidential elections next year.
The Financial Gazette reported, “Official documents show that acting Home Affairs permanent secretary Mike Matshiya last Thursday wrote to Ellie Antebi of Israel’s arms manufacturer Beit Alfa Trailer Company, assuring the firm that Treasury had agreed to give high priority to mobilizing foreign currency for the purchase of the equipment.
“The equipment being bought is part of a wider government strategy to ensure that the ZRP is adequately equipped to deal with any possible riots ahead of a crucial election which President Robert Mugabe is seen losing,” the paper said.
Matshiya said in his correspondence to Antebi that the $105 million represented a 12.5 percent down payment of the total contract price of about $840 million.
“The money would be used to buy at least 30 specially-made vehicles that are equipped with riot equipment similar to that widely used by Israeli security forces in quelling running battles with Palestinian protesters, as well as water cannons.”
Mugabe’s cabinet staff visited firms in Israel, the United States, France and Austria earlier this year to scout for equipment to strengthen the police force. The visit was part of a plan to beef up the arsenal of the police force with the election in mind.
Yet not all is well in Mugabe’s realm. There is a growing consensus in the international community to directly punish Mugabe and his top officials accused of promoting lawlessness in Zimbabwe. European diplomats from the European Union are busy crafting sanctions against Zimbabwe.
According to an Associated Press report, Mugabe recently promised to curb violence and intimidation against white farmers and other opponents. His self-styled “war veterans,” however, have not indicated a willingness to back down. Mugabe has also agreed to end his land-seizure policy in exchange for international monetary payments to compensate the farmers whose land has been taken. Some observers see such a deal as nothing more than state-sponsored extortion.
The United States is also working on legislation to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe’s leaders that will likely include Mugabe and his officials being barred or restricted from entering America. Mugabe is being sued in a New York court for damages by a Swede, Maria Stevens, the wife of a white farmer who allegedly was murdered by Mugabe’s henchmen.
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