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African Press Review 2 August 2018

Post-election violent and a brutal crackdown by the military ruin Zimbabwe's hopes for a post-Mugabe era of peace and democracy.

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We begin in Zimbabwe where an announcement by the elections body of handing a landslide victory to the ruling ZANU/PF party in the parliamentary vote sparked violent protests by supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change which had claimed victory in the July 30 polls.

NewsDay Zimbabwe reports that at least six people were feared dead Wednesday night, while several others sustained gunshot injuries in Harare, after soldiers and police  "used brute force to suppress MDC Alliance activists protesting the alleged electoral theft of their vote by the ruling ZANU/PF party and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

The newspaper reports that the city center resembled a war zone, as soldiers drove in their armoured vehicles and indiscriminately fired live ammunition at anyone they found in the central business district, with several passersby caught in the cross fire.

"Harare mayhem, MDC supporters go on rampage", headlines The Bulawayo Chronicle.

The publication reports that the opposition Alliance's propensity for violence came to the fore on Wednesday as hundreds of its rowdy  supporters armed with iron bars, bricks and sticks wen on rampage in Harare, destroying property , torching vehicles, blocking roads and attacking pedestrians in the city's central business district.

Meanwhile the State-owned Herald quotes police as saying that they were fully aware of the instigators of violence, adding that the full wrath of the law would be applied against them without fear or favour. 

The paper says it is able to report that police were keen to interview MDC-Alliance stalwarts Tendai Biti and Happymore Chidziva in connection with the disturbances.

The South African TimesLive observes that the MDC leader Nelson Chamisa was sticking to his line that the election had been stolen and the people would fight for their rights. This was despite a flat denial by the Electoral Commission’s chairwoman Priscilla Chigumba of the accusations of rigging and bias in favour of ZANU/PF.

The army's deployment to deal with the post elections violence is also a major issue of concern in nearby South Africa. 

The Sowetan reports that the army was bought in to disperse MDC Alliance supporters, because the police who had deployed 71‚000 of its officers around the country ahead of the high stakes elections, did not have the capacity to deal with the crowds.

The military’s involvement has been widely condemned by the public that embraced it when it took to the streets during the fall of former president Robert Mugabe.

Journalist Mduduzu Mathuthu tweeted on his handle that soldiers are not trained to control crowds but kill. 

Also in South Africa, City Press carries a statement from African observer groups claiming that the vote was peaceful, orderly and largely in line with the law. But the paper highlights concerns they raised about alleged bias of state media and the elections commission relaying the calls for improvements in the counting procedure.

And in Kenya, Daily Nation reacts to the chaotic post-election violence in Zimbabwe, claiming that hopes of a new era for the country had been dented. According to the newspaper, European Union observers had earlier declared that they found an "un-level playing field and lack of trust" in the election process.

The former colonial power Britain on Wednesday called for "calm and restraint", urging "political leaders to take responsibility... at this critical moment", according to the Nation.

 

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