'Mugabe playing for time'

Zimbabwe's High Court yesterday again postponed a decision on an opposition bid to force out the result of a presidential election which President Robert Mugabe wants to delay.

The High Court rejected a Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) argument that it had no jurisdiction over the release of results but postponed a ruling on whether it should consider the case urgently.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has been trying since Saturday to accelerate release of the results for the March 29 vote, saying its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won and should be declared president, ending Mr Mugabe's 28-year rule.

Mr Tsvangirai says Zimbabwe is "on a razor's edge" because of the election impasse and accuses Mr Mugabe of planning violence to overturn results of both presidential and parliamentary votes. The ruling ZANU-PF party wants a delay pending a recount, as part of its strategy to extend Mr Mugabe's uninterrupted rule since independence from Britain.

The MDC legal moves now seem to have backfired after becoming bogged down in judicial processes that help this strategy.

MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama told reporters after the High Court hearing: "I think ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) just wants to delay this whole thing".

The High Court had adjourned the case on Sunday to decide on a ZEC argument that it did not have jurisdiction.

The opposition says Mr Mugabe is trying to buy time to organise a fight-back after his first electoral defeat, when ZANU-PF lost the parallel parliamentary election. As the court case continued, Mr Tsvangirai went to regional power South Africa for private talks on the crisis. "Major powers here, such as South Africa, the US and Britain, must act to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe's suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions to retire,"

Mr Tsvangirai wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

But South African President Thabo Mbeki, who failed last year to mediate an end to the Zimbabwe crisis, said at the weekend the post-election situation there was "manageable" and it was not the time for international intervention.

ZANU-PF and independent monitors' projections show Mr Tsvangirai has won the presidential election but will be forced into a runoff vote after failing to win an absolute majority.

ZANU-PF's strategy to stay in power includes legal challenges to some of the parliamentary results and the mobilisation of pro-government militias before any runoff.

The re-emergence of liberation war veterans, often used as political shock troops by Robert Mugabe, has increased concern that he plans a violent response to his election setback.

On Saturday, Mr Tsvangirai accused the 84-year-old former guerrilla leader of "preparing a war on the people".

The veterans led a wave of violent occupations of white farms as part of a government land redistribution programme.

Meanwhile Zimbabwean police said yesterday they had arrested seven election officials for undercounting votes cast for President Robert Mugabe in the March 29 presidential poll.

"There are seven people who have been arrested in connection with irregularities in the presidential poll," police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.