More bad news from Zimbabwe

Of course, it's never good news, it it?

ZANU PF is planning a countrywide witch-hunt of party members suspected of sabotaging President Robert Mugabe's bid to win a sixth term of office.
Party sources say the plan was hatched last week as it emerged Mugabe intended to cling to power, even after failing a first-round knockout with his long-time nemesis, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), is yet to announce the presidential poll results, but it is being publicly acknowledged that Mugabe lost. . . .
The sources said Mugabe, disillusioned with his Zanu PF heavyweight colleagues, wanted war veterans and Zanu PF youths to play a central role in "mobilising" the rural folk to come out in large numbers to vote for him.

Oh, the "war veterans" again. If you've followed the Mugabe-induced nightmare in Zimbabwe, you know that the decisive moment in the spiralling decline was when Mugabe sent "war veterans" to seize the farms of white landowners. (The war ended more than 20 years earlier, but many of the "war veterans" weren't even 30 years old. They're just Zanu-PF enforcers whom Mugabe calls "war veterans" to cloak their thuggery in nationalism.)

Meanwhile, Mugabe's arresting election workers:

Zimbabwean police have arrested at least five officials for allegedly under-counting votes cast for President Robert Mugabe in last month's election.
Police said the election officials have been charged with fraud and criminal abuse of duty, accused of taking nearly 5,000 votes away from Mr Mugabe.

Ed Morrisey notes Mugabe's Gore-like tactics.

Mugabe’s Zanu-PF has now demanded a recount. That seems odd, since the election commission hasn’t released results yet. How can they know they need a recount if the votes have not yet been counted fully the first time? They’re stalling for time — time enough to figure out how to steal an election they obviously lost too badly to spin.

This is an ominous situation. Zimbabwe will be lucky if this mess doesn't end in a civil war and/or a Cambodia-style genocide.