Whites warned as polling begins

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 10

Whites warned as polling begins

NZPA-Reuter Harare

Black Zimbabweans began voting yesterday in their first General Election since independence in 1980 which could set them on a path of confrontation with the 100,000-strong white minority. The Prime Minister, Mr Robert Mugabe, who is widely tipped to win, signalled that he would abandon his policy of reconciliation with the whites because they voted for the former Rhodesian rebel leader, Mr lan Smith, in a separate poll last week.

Mr Mugabe, who was winding up a three-week campaign for the two-day

election, told a gigantic rally that the whites had rejected his hand of friendship by their pro-Smith vote.

Mr Mugabe waged a guerrilla war for seven years against Mr Smith, whose Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe won 15 of 20 seats still reserved for whites in Parliament. “In the vote what became clear is that the enemy of yesterday is still the enemy today. They used to lie that they wanted to co-operate with us while they met in their homes to plot against us,” Mr Mugabe said. He threatened to tear up Zimbabwe’s British-drafted Constitution and scrap the

20 seats for whites guaranteed until 1987.

“We have never accepted that only 32,000 voters can be entitled to 20 seats in Parliament,” Mr Mugabe said. “We will not live with that indignity for much longer. The sovereignty of our people is far greater than any piece of paper ...” he said.

Blacks are voting for 79 of 80 members of Parliament because voting in one constituency has been deferred after the death of a candidate.

As campaigning drew to a close, a Government spokesman said one rebel was killed by security forces in a clash near the Western

border town of Plumtree, in Matabeleland province, and that six others escaped.

According to the authorities, rebels active in Matabeleland since 1982 have so far killed more than 300 people. The Government says the rebels are supporters of the chief Opposition leader, Mr Joshua Nkomo’s, PF-ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union-Patriotic Front), one of six parties in the election race. Mr Nkomo denies any links with the insurgents.

ZAPU formed an uneasy alliance with Mr Mugabe’s ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union-

Patriotic Front) during the war for independence but the parties are now archrivals.

Other parties contesting the poll are the United African National Congress of a former Prime Minister, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the Zimbabwe African National Union of the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, now self-exiled in London, and the little known, National Front of Zimbabwe and the National Democratic Union.

Opposition parties have complained that the election campaign was not free and fair and alleged they were harassed by supporters of the governing party.