- South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) is dismayed by the Zimbabwean government's riding roughshod over the country's hard-won democratic rights.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ANC said Zimbabweans' right to government themselves and regularly choose their government was earned through sacrifices and struggles often eliciting the loss of life. As such, it said, "No one, no government, no political party, no political leader has the right to abridge or subvert these rights."
In totality, the ANC would not accept the "flagrant violation" of the democratic principles of governance.
"We are, consequently, deeply dismayed by the actions of the government of Zimbabwe which is riding roughshod over the hard-won democratic rights of the people of that country," the ANC said, ruling out the possibility of holding "free and fair elections" in Zimbabwe. In that case, it suggested "a negotiated settlement" as the answer to the country's woes. It also believed that a dialogue between all political stakeholders would lead to resolving the Southern African country's looming political crisis.
"The ugly incidents and scenes that have been visited on the people of Zimbabwe persuade us that a run-off presidential election offers no solution to Zimbabwe's crisis. In a society that is already highly polarized, a run-off election will only serve to widen the divisions."
The party said the legitimacy of the run-off poll had already been "severely compromised" by the unconcealed bias and actions of both state officials and Zanu-PF militants.
"Compelling evidence of violence, intimidation and outright terror; the studied harassment of the leadership of the MDC, including its presidential candidate, by the security organs of the Zimbabwean government; the arrest and detention of the secretary general of the MDC; the banning of MDC public meetings; and denial of access to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation - have all convinced us that free and fair elections are not possible in the political environment prevalent in Zimbabwe today.
The ANC has expressed "grave concern" over the government's defiance to proceed with the run-off polls even in the face of the deep political crisis, which forced the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to pull out of the race on Sunday.
Morgan Tsvangirai has since been holed up in the Dutch embassy in the capital Harare where he sought refugee. He said he would leave the embassy within 48 hours if his security is guaranteed. His party officials, who confirmed a hand-delivered letter to the electoral commission confirming their leader's pullout, said Mr Tsvangirai ran for his life.
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