The month of April marks a quarter-century that Robert Mugabe has been the able to
maintain an iron grip on Zimbabwe as its first and only prime minister. But now in his 82^nd year, he hungers for something that has as yet eluded him: Legitimacy in the eyes of the world.

That gives both outside observers and Zimbabweans reason to hope that fair parliamentary elections may take place on March 31.

In the parliamentary election of 2000 and in the presidential election of 2002, the principal opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change or MDC reported that its members were killed, tortured, arrested and beaten, and their properties were burned by supporters of Mugabe's ruling party, the ZANU-PF. The international community was outraged, causing the EU and the U.S. to impose sanctions against Mugabe and his closest associates.

Mugabe's disastrous "land reform" policy begun in 2000 has only damaged his image in the world community further. He gave virtual carte blanche to roving bands of black "war veterans" to seize most of the 4,000 white-owned farms in the country. Far from improving the nation, this licensed pillaging resulted in the removal over half of the farmland from production altogether John Donnelly of The Boston Globe summarizes the legacy of the land program: "a flight of foreign capital, the devastation of the economy, a loss of nearly 50 percent of corn crops and sanctions from the West" ( In Zimbabwe, Stirrings of Democratic Hope, published in the March 8, 2005 edition of The International Herald Tribune online ).

Some hope that the presence of an observer mission from the Southern African Development Community (SADc) might make a difference in the March 31 election. Led by South Africa's home affairs minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the SADc delegation will monitor the polls to see whether voters have free and fair access in accordance with SADc rules.

Theoretically, the SADc member states pledge themselves to the promotion of democracy throughout southern Africa. The 14 countries include: Angola, Botswana, R