12 In order to induce or compel that person…to vote or refrain from voting… Any person who by abduction, duress, threats to invoke any unnatural means whatsoever or references to such unnatural means or by fraudulent device or contrivanceImpedes or prevents the exercise of his vote by a voter; or Compels, induces or prevails upon a voter either to vote or to refrain from voting at an election xiv Devittie’s interpretation of the Electoral Act’s guidelines above goes beyond the onus of personal liability. He believes that violence and intimidation even if committed by other parties, yet proven to permeate an entire community, could still reasonably affect constituents’ ability to exercise their vote freely. Should pervasive violence and intimidation be proven to have prevailed in a constituency, the issue of a respondent’s liability becomes irrelevant. Because fundamental to the Electoral Act is “the principle of freedom of election,” xv Judge Devittie believes that although not expressed specifically in the Act, his more expansive interpretation has sound foundation in the law. Although claimed in all four of the petitions before him, Devittie rejects the idea that “constitutional violations” serve as a sufficient ground to overturn an election. Such a charge would rely on the “same grounds upon which an election may be set aside in terms of the express provisions of the [Electoral] Act”, which embraces the very values of the Constitution itself. xvi Constitutional violations as a charge would therefore be redundant. Other claims asked the court to inquire about the conduct of the election in other constituencies and potentially invited the Judge to make a finding on the election as it occurred in the nation as a whole. However, Devittie chose to interpret his own role in this legal inquest as one limited to the events and circumstances of the election within the specific constituency in question. In his view, dealing with issues about the entire electoral process in general would be beyond the purview of the inquiry. Should either party believe that the election was neither free nor fair in its entirety, then all results in contested seats should be challenged and, if proven, set aside. The main instances of violence and intimidation in Hurungwe East that Judge Devittie took particular note of were as follows: At Mulichi Farm, war veteran militias assaulted and harangued Langton Ndlovu, the MDC coordinator for Hurungwe East, and Maposa, an MDC member, with bottles and iron bars. Both men sustained injuries, some serious. The petitioner, Richard Chadya, on this occasion escaped injury by hiding behind a counter in a nearby shop. Thereafter, Zanu (PF) supporters began hunting around for him and his campaign team. Ndlovu recounted how over the space of two days at Chiedza Township, he and the campaign team had to flee a pursuing mob of Zanu (PF) supporters three times. When the police advised them to make a report at the station, the police arrested Ndlovu and Maposa for assault. It’s interesting to note that Assistant Inspector Mwale, a Karoi policeman who disarmed Zanu (PF) supporters as they harassed MDC members on their way to a rally at Magunge Growth Point, was transferred to Bulawayo when angry war veterans demanded his removal for “supporting” the MDC. At Blockely Farm, on 13 May 2000, Kabalami, a farm worker, testified that war veteran militias extorted money from all the workers, threatened them with death if they did not hand over money, and demanded their presence at a meeting on Mawunga Farm. At Mawunga Farm two farm workers, one named Charles Taruvinga, were accused of being MDC members and were paraded in front of the other workers and assaulted. When Kabalami tried to intervene on their behalf, he too was assaulted with logs. He was beaten, blind folded and threatened with death. Kabalami’s clothes were removed and he was beaten on the soles of his feet. He testified that on Election Day, although he decided to vote, the majority of farm workers on both Blockely and xiv xv xvi See Electoral Act, Part XX, Section 105 Devittie, J., Hurungwe East Election Petition. Devittie, J., Hurungwe East Election Petition. AMANI TRUST: Neither Free nor Fair: High Court decisions on the petitions on the June 2000 General Election.