MORE than three million Zimbabwean citizens living in exile — 1.2 million of them in Britain — have been denied the right to vote in parliamentary elections on March 31 by the country’s Supreme Court.

An application brought by seven Zimbabweans, most of them living in Birmingham, for all exiles to be able to cast their ballots “is without merit and is hereby dismissed”, said Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, a loyal supporter of President Mugabe, quoted in the state-controlled Daily Herald yesterday.

The ruling — not unexpected — delivers Mr Mugabe from the prospect of defeat at the hands of the dominant bloc of the electorate of 5.6 million voters. Many of the Zimbabwean diaspora cite violent persecution and economic collapse brought about by his Government as their reason for flight. Most would very probably have voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The Diaspora Vote Action Group claimed in its petition to the court that a government ruling allowing people to cast their votes only in the constituencies in which they are registered denied them “the fundamental right to vote”.

Beatrice Mtetwa, their lawyer, said that the ruling violated a treaty signed by Mr Mugabe and other southern African leaders in August last year which committed them to free and fair elections, including “full participation of the electorate”.

“The Supreme Court has just decided that about half of all Zimbabwe’s voters will not be able to vote,” she said.

President Mbeki of South Africa said this month that all the issues in the election treaty had been addressed by Zimbabwe’s Government.

No reasons were given for the ruling, but during the hearing in February, judges said that voting was not a fundamental right and that exiles should not expect to be allowed to vote “because they left the country voluntarily”.

A key strategy of Mr Mugabe’s state-appointed election authorities since 2000 has been to focus on groups likely to support the MDC — urban residents, white people, the educated middle-class and exiles — and to use laws or bureaucracy to prevent them from voting.

The Zimbabwean central bank estimates that 3.4 million citizens have fled the country since 2000 when Mr Mugabe began a campaign of terror against the MDC and drove the productive white commercial farmers off their land.

A third of the exiles are in Britain and slightly more in South Africa, with the rest in the United States and New Zealand. The exodus has devastated the country’s reserves of professionals and skilled workers. The Diaspora Vote Action Group said they had left the country because it was the only way to find employment.

Last year, central bank officials travelled around Britain, South Africa and America, trying to persuade exiles to send their hard currency earnings home to boost collapsed foreign reserves. Many responded: “No vote, no money.”

• Harare: The MDC said that Zimbabwe was heading for “starvation of major proportions” because of Mr Mugabe’s failure to attract international aid.

  Renson Gasela, the Shadow Agriculture Minister said: “The country has now virtually run out of maize. The Government has been misleading everybody about the food situation to create the impression that everything is under control.”

  Mr Mugabe’s Government is importing 15 tonnes of maize every month, which Mr Gasela said fell way short of what was needed. He said that starvation would set in after the elections and that a victory by the ruling Zanu (PF) party would compound the crisis as Zimbabwe would continue to slide into international isolation. (AFP)

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