Movement for Democratic Change (1999–2005) the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observers and the South African Ministerial Observer team held that the election was substantially free and fair. In 2004, opposition offices in Bulawayo were raided by police officers, armed with search warrants, looking for illegal documents and weapons. During Morgan Tsvangirai's treason trial, pressure built up within the party due to the possibility that Tsvangirai would be imprisoned. There were allegedly rumors of a faction desiring an Ndebele president, Secretary General Welshman Ncube (now Secretary General of the Mutambara led Movement for Democratic Change) to replace Tsvangirai, as well as rumors of tribal prejudice
Robert Mugabe bring Mugabe to trial in front of the International Criminal Court. Australia and New Zealand had previously called for this in 2005, and a number of Zimbabwean NGOs did so in 2006. A 2005 article from the New American titled "Democide in Zimbabwe" says that Mugabe reduced the population of Zimbabwe a few millions in just a few years. In 1994, Mugabe received an honorary knighthood from the British state; this was stripped from him at the advice of the UK government in 2008. Mugabe holds several honorary degrees and doctorates from international universities, awarded to him in the 1980s;