Chiweshe. Hence the same person who headed the Delimitation Committee chairs the very body that should be tasked to examine the fairness of the delimitation of constituencies. There are two further difficulties in contending that the Electoral Commission will ensure fulfilment of the SADC Guidelines. The Act only came into force in mid January 2005, and the chairperson was appointed on the 25th January 2005, too late to perform any of its ostensible pre-electoral functions. Secondly, the functions of the constitutionally established Electoral Supervisory Commission overlap those of the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Supervisory Commission’s five members have, in accordance with the National Constitution, all been appointed by the President and again consists of persons sympathetic to ZANU (PF). There has been no attempt to make this body representative of all parties. The Electoral Supervisory Commission has been tasked with identifying who may, and who may not receive accreditation to observe the 2005 elections. Accordingly, no organisation that gave a negative report after the 2000 and 2005 elections has been invited to observe the current elections. Electoral fraud is a key mechanism by which the fairness of the election may be compromised. The second key element that has compromised the freeness of the election is the politics of food. Electoral Blackmail Zimbabwe is currently facing critical food shortages and the situation does not appear to be set to improve in the post election period. The explanations behind the food shortages are given different weightings depending upon one’s political affiliation, but there is a general consensus that drought and decreased agricultural output caused by the land reform programme have resulted in Zimbabwe needing to import grain to prevent starvation. While food shortages would ordinarily cause a governing party to lose votes, this is not the case in a country where a large rural population is dependent upon food handouts. The Government of Zimbabwe has ensured that it retains sole control over the distribution of food. All grain has to be sold through the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board. Any NGO involved in food aid and famine relief is obliged to work through government structures. Accordingly, the distribution of any food aid, regardless of its source, is through government-controlled bodies. The extent of this control is indicated by the fact that rural farmers may not bring any sizeable quantity of maize meal into the cities for urban-based relatives, and large quantities of maize have been confiscated from rural farmers who have attempted to do so. Food shortages have thus rendered large sections of the rural population dependent upon government largesse. ZANU (PF) officials have not made any attempt to conceal this manipulation. For instance, in July 2004, a local newspaper reported that Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abednico Ncube, told villagers in Matebeleland that maize “will be available only to those who dump the opposition and work with ZANU (PF)". The party would “start 12