The magnitude of the violations in 2008, and the comparative magnitude against previous years, is also shown in Figure 1 above.8 Clearly, 2008 is comparatively the worst year since reporting by the Human Rights Forum began, with an average monthly rate far exceeding even 2007, which was itself nearly twice as bad as previous years. Hence, against this background, the conclusions of the Human Rights Forum cannot be seen as provocative or frivolous, but they do draw conclusions that most African countries, and their observer groups, were, and still are, unwilling to do. For example, whilst all observer groups to the Presidential Run-off concluded that the poll was not free or fair, and cited the unacceptable levels of violence, none attributed blame or castigated the Zimbabwe government for failure to, at the very least, prevent the violence. This failure to determine accountability leaves the inappropriate conclusion that the violence is the consequence of partisan clashes, when the evidence suggests wholly to the contrary that the violence is committed in the vast majority of cases by the supporters of the ZANU PF party, often with the complicity of the Zimbabwe Republic Police [ZRP] and the Zimbabwe National Army [ZNA], with very senior members of Robert Mugabe’s government, and including Robert Mugabe, publicly condoning or inciting this through hate speech against the MDC and other opposition groups. However, there was some awareness that the Zimbabwe government was at the least responsible for controlling or preventing the violence, as evidenced by a statement by the then Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, Aziz Pahad, who called on the Zimbabwe government to take immediate steps to end the violence, or the South African government “would take whatever action is possible to stop it”.9 There is some acknowledgement in the Global Political Agreement [GPA], signed on 18 September, that there has been violence, but, inevitably, the GPA stops well short of ascribing blame. However, it is crucial to both the success of the Agreement, the accompanying mediation and the long-term security of Zimbabwe that there is a concerted effort by all parties to determine the nature and extent of the violence, as well as attribution of the responsibility for the violence. Here, it is important to make reference to the GPA, which has called for an end to the violence, and to the taking of steps to ensure that the law is applied fairly. As the GPA states in Article 18: 8 Whilst the overall total for 2008 is considerably less than that reported by the ZPP, this is due in the main to differences in the methods of collecting information. The Human Rights Forum depends upon direct reporting of victims to itself and its members, and to a smaller degree (since the closure of the media space, and in particular the closure of the Daily News) on reports in the public domsain. The ZPP receives reports from a wide network of community informants, and hence has wider capture, but not necessarily more reliable information. 9 “ZANU PF must stop violence, MP arrests or else we ‘act’-Pahad”, Gerald Harper ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ July 4, 2008. http://zimbabwemetro.com.