The Zim-date

• Former Zambian president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda said that British PM Gordon Brown “does not understand what he is talking about” and should refrain from criticizing and calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe. He added that the West should leave Zimbabwe to resolve its own issues—because that clearly is the proper response to rising state violence against its own people.
• Another vitriolic column in The Herald, Zimbabwe’s state newspaper and ZANU-PF mouthpiece, highlights the delusions of grandeur of Mugabe’s government. The column was written as a response to the international uproar over the attempted Chinese weapons delivery, but is all over the map, from a long and senseless rant about sovereignty to the “unjust” trial of former-Liberian dictator Charles Taylor to a supposed-SADC plan to invade and topple Mugabe.
• An editorial in the Zimbabwe Standard calls for the MDC to boycott a run-off election, should one occur, in protest of both the election fraud and the violence over the past month. I’m not overly familiar with the ins and outs of electoral politics, but it seems to me that boycotting might be counterproductive—even if the run-off is the result of fraud, and is fraudulent itself, non-participation will allow ZANU to win outright. But what do I know?
• The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said that it will allow all presidential candidates to verify the results of the election before they are made public. I’m not really sure what this will accomplish, as the ZEC has already had ample time for all kinds of vote-rigging fun. I’m thinking it’s probably an empty gesture to feign democratic commitment.
• U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer reports that the US embassy has received documented evidence of one death, over 450 beatings, and over 1000 displacements as a result of state-sponsored violence against opposition supporters.