Please Don’t Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Rift Over Zimbabwe Unity Plan – New York Times

But on Wednesday, The Herald, the state-run newspaper often used as a mouthpiece for Mr. Mugabe and the ruling party, described the country’s political dynamics as “so distorted that holding a free and fair election runoff in the immediate term is literally impossible.”

Swiftly disavowing that position, Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC on Wednesday that the editorial had not been sanctioned by the government, and that the ruling party, ZANU-PF, was still gearing up for a runoff.

Hey, here’s a handy definition of electioneering, ZANU-PF style:

 Gearing up for a runoff: waiting for the arms shipment to evade the ever-widening sanctions.

The ruling ZANU-PF better lawyer up as well, as the MDC’s own election lawyers are a pretty tough bunch (as they’d have to be). And Zim needs someone to pony up the funds as well, as their finances are on the “print more money” model of economics. They probably don’t have the forex (foreign exchange) to pay for this, either.

It’s actually somewhat heartening to note that there might be fractures appearing within party ranks; a monolithic dictatorship is only strong as long as it’s in one piece.

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