http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Ndodana Sixholo Friday 09 April
2010
HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday
promised business
leaders new and “more progressive” empowerment laws, as
Zimbabwe’s ruling
coalition continues to give conflicting signals over its
controversial plan
to place more of the economy in the hands of local
blacks.
Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist seen as friendlier to
business compared
to veteran President Robert Mugabe, said the unity
government was reviewing
empowerment laws announced last February and which
sent foreign-owned
business into panic with threats of stiff penalties
against firms that fail
to sell 51 percent stake to locals by March
2015.
Mugabe has backed the earlier version of the empowerment laws
announced by
Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, among the hawks in
the President’s
ZANU PF party.
But Tsvangirai, who has led calls on
foreign investors who quit Zimbabwe
during the past decade of political
turmoil and recession to return to help
rebuild the country’s shattered
economy, said the new versions of
empowerment laws will not force
foreign-owned businesses into mergers with
locals and would not criminalise
those that fail to meet indigenisation
targets.
“Let me assure you
that the new regulations . . . will be very different and
much more
progressive than when originally gazetted,” Tsvangirai told a
Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce meeting in Harare.
As the government pursues
economic empowerment of locals it will also aim to
create conditions that
will ensure Zimbabwe is able to compete for the
limited available
international investment capital, said Tsvangirai.
The new empowerment
laws will ensure the majority benefits instead of a
“minority elite”,
Tsvangirai said, in thinly veiled reference to fears among
Zimbabweans that
only a few elite blacks will benefit from empowerment as
happened with
Mugabe’s controversial land reforms that saw top ZANU PF and
military
officials walking away with most of the best farms seized from
whites.
Tsvangirai said: “The revised regulations will ensure amongst
many other
changes, that no-one is criminalised, there will be no forced
acquisitions
and assets will be purchased, not ceded.
“The
regulations will reflect broad-based empowerment and ensure that a
minority
elite does not benefit at the expense of the many who deserve to
benefit
from our nation’s riches.”
Under the empowerment laws announced by
Kasukuwere, foreign-owned firms have
45 days from March 1 to submit to plans
showing how they will transfer
shareholding to black
Zimbabweans.
Kasukuwere, who threatened to impose punitive taxes against
foreign-controlled firms that fail to transfer majority stake to indigenous
Zimbabweans by March 2015, did not say where impoverished locals will get
cash to buy shareholding in large mines banks and other
businesses.
Critics fear that Mugabe and ZANU PF – who wield greater
power in the unity
government – could be plotting another chaotic seizure of
property in the
style of farm seizures that destroyed Zimbabwe’s farming
sector to leave the
country facing acute food shortages. – ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Ndodana Sixholo Friday 09 April
2010
HARARE - Two prominent Zimbabwean academics who had been
appointed to
represent the civil society on parliamentary committee leading
the country's
constitutional reforms have been dropped at the request of
rights activists.
Women's University head Hope Sadza and former National
University of
Technology vice chancellor Phineas Makhurane - both regarded
in some circles
as too close to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party -
had been appointed
to the Constitutional Parliamentray Committee as
rapporteurs.
But Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told civic society
leaders on Thursday
that the two academics will be replaced by National
Association of NGOs
(NANGO) chairperson Dadirai Chikwengo and Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR)'s Jonah Gokova.
Tsvangirai said the
two educationists were removed from the committee after
talks between
himself and Mugabe.
He said: "There have been some consultations. NANGO
submitted two names,
Gokova and Chikwengo. Those will replace Sadza and
Makhurane."
Orgainsed civil society in Zimbabwe is split right through
the middle over
the Parliament-led constitutional reforms with some groups
backing the
reforms while others including the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions and the
National Constitutional Assembly are opposed to the process
that they say is
open to abuse by politicians.
Meanwhile the COPAC
this week resumed training of rapporteurs who will
record views of Zimbabwe
during an outreach programme to establish what
citizens want included in the
new governance charter.
The constitution making process is legging behind
because of problems over
funding and frequent squabbles between the
country's three governing parties
over the direction of the
reforms.
Zimbabweans hope a new constitution will guarantee human rights,
strengthen
the role of Parliament and curtail the president's powers, as
well as
guaranteeing civil, political and media freedoms.
The new
constitution will replace the current Lancaster House Constitution
written
in 1979 before independence from Britain. The charter has been
amended 19
times since independence in 1980. Critics say the majority of the
amendments
have been to further entrench Mugabe and ZANU PF's hold on
power. -
ZimOnline
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
09 April
2010
In a taste of things to come, as far as the constitutional outreach
is
concerned, the ZANU PF governor for Mashonaland Central banned a meeting
organized by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) which was meant to
discuss electoral reforms as part of the new constitution. A statement
issued by ZESN said it had organized two workshops in the Mbire area of the
province scheduled for the 7th and 8th of April this week. Despite the
District Administrator sanctioning the meetings, instructions were later
issued by the governor claiming the community did not need the
workshops.
ZESN has since expressed its disappointment at what is meant
to be a people
driven process where every citizen has the right to
participate and express
their views. The country's largest independent
election monitor says it
wanted to 'sensitize the communities on the various
options available for
electoral reforms, exploring the pros and cons of
each. The issues for
discussion included the constitution-making process,
electoral systems, and
electoral management bodies, systems of governance as
well as encouraging
peace and tolerance in the process.'
Members of
the community wanting to participate in the workshops received
threats of
'unspecified action' if they got near the venue. ZESN said; 'This
act
reveals the levels of intolerance still prevailing in some parts of the
country,' and that this was a 'gross violation of democratic principles and
processes as well as the letter and spirit of the GPA.'
The training
of rapporteurs who will be responsible for recording what
people say during
the outreach program finally began on Wednesday, raising
hopes that the
process was back on track. But despite initial reports that
outreach teams
from the Constitution Parliamentary Committee would be
deployed at the
weekend, ZANU PF co-chair Paul Mangwana put a damper on
this, claiming
donors had only provided US$2,1 million out of a total pledge
of US$14
million. He said this meant outreach teams will only be deployed
once the
remaining funds are released.
It is often pointed out by critics that
ZANU PF is not sincere about having
a new constitution and has used numerous
delaying tactics to stifle the
process. A first all stakeholders conference
held in Harare last year
provided a warning shot of ZANU PF's attitude when
war veterans and party
youths besieged the conference centre chanting
slogans and disrupting
proceedings. Human rights activists also report that
youth militias are
currently being deployed countrywide to intimidate people
into pushing a
draft constitution that favours ZANU PF.
http://news.radiovop.com/
09/04/2010
08:03:00
Murambinda, April 09, 2010 - A member of President Robert
Mugabe's much
dreaded arm, the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), who
recently
publicly apologised to villagers in his home area for being used by
Mugabe
to torture suspected Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) party
members has
gone missing according to relatives.
Innocent Makamure
recently confessed to villagers and apologized for
victimizing them during
and after the 2008 elections. He was part of hit men
who were based at Gaza
business center here.
A family spokesperson, who declined to be named for
security reasons, told
Radio VOP that Makamure's whereabouts were unknown
since he made the bold
decision to bite the hand which used to feed
him.
"He never came back after he went to the beer hall, it is now close
to a
week while he is AWOL. His phone is switched off; we think something
bad has
happened to him. We have made a police report," said the
relative.
Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Philip
Makomeke
confirmed having received such a report, but said he was booked
under the
missing persons list. He refused to talk more about the
issue.
"I believe he has been abducted or even killed by now. We were
seeing
strange faces near our house days after he made the confession," he
said.
Makamure had said to villagers; "I was used for peanuts; I did not
gain
anything in my life by beating people. I violently campaigned
for
President Mugabe towards the June run-off elections," he said in a public
apology to the villagers.
"All I know is that I was used and I am no
longer interested in such
activities again."
Recently some war
veterans in Mutoko and Murewha also said they were tired
of being used by
Mugabe and were seeking to break free but feared for their
lives. Some of
the war veterans have since had their pensions and other
benefits
withdrawn.
http://news.radiovop.com/
09/04/2010
18:16:00
Harare, April 09, 2010 - Confusion surrounds the fate of
eight Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) councilors who were arrested for
exposing land grab
scandals involving the mega rich minister of local
government and urban
development Ignatius Chombo and controversial
businessman Phillip Chiyangwa
after the state failed to take them court as
previously arranged in Harare
on Friday.
The councilors were supposed
to appear before a Harare magistrate in the
morning but were still at Harare
Central police station by end of day Friday
the police still to decide how
to proceed.
In the morning they had been told that their court appearance
would be
delayed because the mayor Muchadeyi Masunda who is likely to face
the same
charges had not been questioned.
But Masunda was eventually
quizzed in the afternoon. "The just recorded a
statement and have not
charged me. It's in connection with Chiyangwa who is
alleging that there is
a case of criminal defamation," Masunda said on
Friday evening soon after
returning from the Law and Order section.
Sources however said he will
face the same charges with the councilors and
they are now expected to
appear in court either Saturday morning or on
Monday depending on whether
the Attorney General's office decides that there
was a case to
answer.
The charges emanate from a report made by Chiyangwa to police in
which he
claims that the contents of the explosive report produced by the
special
council committee are defamatory and injure his good name and
impeccable
reputations in the eyes of the general public.
Chiyangwa,
a former Rhodesian police officer during the Ian Smith regime,
claims to
police that the council report is harmful to his good reputation
and
standing in the eyes of the community. Chiyangwa is also arguing that
the
leaking of the report to the media was maliciously done to damage his
reputation and this has led to him losing lots of
business.
Journalists from South African based Sunday Times and the
Standard have
already been interrogated by police over the same issue. They
wanted to know
the origin of the council report at the instigation of
Chiyangwa.
A Harare city councilor who was still holed up at Harare
Central police
station by end of day Friday said they were still in the dark
on their fate
as police officers ran from one office to another working on
the issue.
"When Phillip Chiyangwa went to the police to make the
report, he was
supposed to be arrested for stealing council land. Yet the
police decide to
twist the law and arrest us for investigating a clear case
of land theft. We
are yet to establish the deal between Chiyangwa and the
police.
"It becomes even more ridiculous if you consider that Chiyangwa
is dictating
pace, forcing police to arrest councilors even if some of the
police
officers are telling us that there is no case to answer.
"Even
the investigating officers are clearly not confident of what they are
doing.
You can tell from the way they are investigating that they are under
severe
pressure. Right now we have been loitering around the police station
like
streets kids.
"Yesterday, they told us we were supposed to appear in
court today but they
keep changing goal posts saying they are waiting for
further instructions.
"There is a clear attempt to silence everyone
including journalists. We are
aware that the arrest of councilors is a
determined effort to stop us from
proceeding case," said the councilor just
before appearing in court.
The lawyer representing the councilors Aleck
Muchadehama also said he was in
the dark about what exactly was happening
saying he was also waiting to hear
from the police on the next
move.
http://news.radiovop.com/
08/04/2010 22:29:00
Harare,
April 09, 2010 - Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights)
director Okay
Machisa has said the organisation will not be intimidated by
police in their
quest to showcase pictures of the victims of political
violence and will
soon be taking its photo exhibition to rural areas.
Machisa said taking
the pictures to rural communities across the country
will be don in the
spirit of "truth telling" and national healing. "We have
planed exhibitions
across the country and I think they will go ahead. We are
not doing this in
order to confront anyone but in the
interest of truth telling to facilitate a
genuine national healing process,"
said Machisa.
He said police
officers have been visiting their offices in Harare and other
provincial
offices in search of the pictures but they have not
managed to confiscate
anything.
"We are not intimidated at all by those threats. Why would the
police want
those pictures? It is now evident that they must
have
participated in maiming of political activists and all the killings that
happened in 2008," he said.
Machisa said the police claims that they
want to take the pictures to the
Censorship Board were baseless since the
pictures are not an
artistic impression.
"This is not a matter for the
Censorship Board. These people did not seek
any permission when they were
beating up people. Those pictures are of real
people who were beaten up at
the height of the political violence in 2008
and the exhibition is meant to
denounce all the perpetrators of the
violence," said
Machisa.
Zimrights last month started an exhibition to show gory pictures
of the
victims of political violence and the showcase was
officially
opened by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Machisa was briefly
detained by
police just a few hours before the exhibition started and had to
be released
after Tsvangirai had intervened. The police also took away the
photos and
had to return them after a High Court ruling.
The
exhibition narrates the story of Zimbabwe's political violence from
March 11
2007 when the police blocked a Save Zimbabwe Campaign prayer
meeting.
One photo shows former opposition leader Tsvangirai, his
face swollen after
he was assaulted by police two years before he joined the
coalition
government with Mugabe in February last year.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
09 April
2010
Yet another journalist has been arrested, this time in Beitbridge,
as the
ongoing clampdown of the media continues.
Mashundu Netsianda,
a Beitbridge correspondent for The Chronicle newspaper,
was arrested on
Thursday in the southern border town, over a story titled
"Cops flee police
station as injiva opens fire". The story detailed an
incident involving a
Zimbabwean man, living in South Africa, who is said to
have shot at the
police when he was being searched on suspicion of carrying
an unlicensed
firearm in his bag.
The police questioned Netsianda over the 'offending'
article in question,
apparently saying it put the security of the country at
risk. The journalist
was then pressured to reveal his sources before being
told that he should
not have published the information without an official
comment from the
police. Netsianda was reportedly warned before being
released two hours
later, without being charged.
The incident comes
in the wake of the arrest of journalists Stanley Gama,
Jennifer Dube, Feluna
Nleya and Vincent Kahiya, who were detained after
exposing the Philip
Chiyangwa land scandal. Their stories, which appeared in
The Standard and
The Sunday Times newspapers, quoted a Harare council report
exposing how
Chiyangwa, with help from ZANU PF officials, bought council
land on the
cheap without following proper procedures. Police demanded to
know the
source who 'leaked' the council report to the journalists.
Loughty Dube,
the chairman for the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute
of Southern
Africa, expressed his concern Friday over the ongoing clampdown
against
media professionals, calling it a 'worsening situation'. Dube called
promises of media reform made by the unity government, 'empty' because they
haven't been coupled with reform of repressive laws like the Access to
Information Protection and Privacy Act (AIPPA).
"Until these
repressive laws are reformed and the country's security force
is reined in,
then we will likely see more intimidation of journalists,"
Dube said.
The
ongoing harassment of media officials and the lack of media reform in
the
country have already seen severe criticism aimed at the unity
government. A
recent report by an international press group in February
detailed how ZANU
PF loyalists have continued to harass, detain, and attack
journalists,
despite the formation of the coalition government in February
last
year.
A May 2009 conference organised by Minister of Information Webster
Shamu was
touted as promoting 'an open, tolerant, and responsible media
environment.'
Instead, the government demonstrated its own intolerance. The
media
conference was boycotted by members of the private press in part over
the
government's harassment and detention of freelance photojournalist
Andrison
Manyere. Then, while the conference was under way, police arrested
Zimbabwe
Independent Editor Vincent Kahiya and News Editor Constantine
Chimakure on
charges of 'publishing falsehoods.'
Last month a Mexican
journalist was arrested while he was in Masvingo where
he was gathering
footage for a documentary on the upcoming football World
Cup in South
Africa. He was released only after the Minister of Tourism's
intervention,
despite his having received permission from the Minister
himself to be in
the country. Meanwhile in January freelance journalist
Stanley Kwenda was
forced to flee the country after receiving a death
threat. The caller,
allegedly a police officer, warned Kwenda that he would
not survive the
weekend if he didn't leave.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
9
April 2010
Nathaniel Punish Mhiripiri, a ZANU PF ‘enforcer’ and an
aspiring MP who
shocked MDC activists in January by declaring he had
‘authority and an open
licence’ to eliminate them, is now behind bars facing
charges of bank
robbery and murder.
Mhiripiri was last Thursday
arrested by the homicide squad on allegations of
supplying a firearm that
was used by a gang to rob the Nyanga ZB Bank on
18th March. The gang was led
by Mhiripiri’s close friend, John Teramayi,
alias John Cena.
Teramayi
fled to South Africa but Zimbabwean police supplied information to
their
counterparts in Durban and he was tracked down and cornered and when
he
tried to flee he was shot dead.
In the gang that robbed the bank SW Radio
Africa understands Mhiripiri’s
late friend Teramayi had teamed up with
Tafadzwa Nindi of Rusape and Bright
Madani of Headlands.
Police found
Nindi and Madani in Nyanga two weeks after the robbery and
there was a shoot
out, during which police Detective Sergeant Joseph Maximus
(29) was killed
by the gun that was used in the bank robbery, and traced
back to Mhiripiri.
Although the suspects fled from the scene, they were
arrested a few days
later when they had disposed of the gun.
MDC MP for Makoni South, Pishai
Muchauraya, told us police in Rusape
confirmed the gun used in the robbery
and the shoot-out in which the
policeman was killed was registered in
Mhiripiri’s name. The gun was
recovered from his farm in Rusape along the
Harare-Mutare Road.
‘He was a loose cannon in ZANU PF, a hired gun for
the party whose name will
always be associated with terror. He is a purveyor
of evil, a man who enjoys
torturing and killing people, but unfortunately
this time he killed one of
their own, a policeman under Chihuri, the police
commissioner,’ Muchauraya
said.
When police pounced on Mhiripiri at
his business offices he was immediately
put in leg irons and looked subdued
and humiliated. All he could do was
shake his head in
disbelief.
Mhiripiri, who runs the Dumukwa Safari and Tours, gained
notoriety for his
rule of violence and intimidation across the Rusape
district in Manicaland
province. He instilled fear in MDC activists who say
that in recent years
his life was full of violence, intimidation and
underworld activities.
They alleged that on many occasions he led ZANU PF
youths to torture, beat
up and even murder MDC activists. Police were too
scared to bring him to
book because of his close links to big fish in ZANU
PF.
His brutality is something of a legend and his violent history can be
traced
to its beginning nearly eight years ago when he invaded a farmhouse
in
Nyazura and evicted the farmer. Soon after the presidential elections in
20002 he had gone to Abed Farm and declared himself the new owner of the
farmhouse, forcing Barry Martin, the owner, off his property at
gunpoint.
In January this year Mhiripiri told a ZANU PF meeting at Jani
resettlement
area in Makoni South that he alone in the area was ‘allowed to
kill’ in the
name of ZANU PF. He also told the meeting he moved around with
guns in his
vehicle and was always prepared to deal with
‘sell-outs.’
http://www1.voanews.com/
Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said corporate sponsors will fund
public
viewings in cities where "critical mass" presents a marketing
opportunity
Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye | Washington 08 April
2010
The Zimbabwean government has allocated US$2 million through the
Ministry of
Tourism to provide free access for rural dwellers to
transmissions of the
World Cup of soccer in South Africa starting in June,
while corporate
sponsors are funding public viewing stations allowing urban
residents to
watch the games.
Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Marvellous
Mhlanga-Nyahuye that corporate sponsors will
fund viewing locations in
cities where "critical mass" presents a marketing
opportunity.
Mzembi said there will be no charge to watch games in the
rural viewing
locations, while city residents will be charged one dollar to
access the
sites.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
09/04/2010 00:00:00
FORMER Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
Prime Minister and retired Bishop Abel Muzorewa
died at his Harare home on
Thursday apparently after receiving news about
the passing of a younger
brother based in the United States.
He was 85.
Bishop Muzorewa had not
been feeling well but his condition is said to have
deteriorated after he
received news that younger brother Farai, whom he
visited in the US three
weeks ago and was shocked to find hospitalised, had
later passed
on.
Farai's widow, Angeline and other family members arrived in Harare on
Wednesday with news of the younger brother's passing but the elder
Muzorewa's
condition deteriorated leading to his death on Thursday afternoon
at his
Borrowdale home.
Bishop Muzorewa served for a few months as
Prime Minister of
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia after the Ian Smith regime cobbled-up an
internal
settlement in 1978 with moderate black leaders who were opposed to
the armed
independence struggle.
The settlement was rejected by the
Zanu PF and PF Zapu movements which
continued with the armed struggle. The
agreement also failed to end
international sanctions after the United
Nations Security Council declared
the agreement illegal.
The British
government then pressured Muzorewa to participate in the
Lancaster House
negotiations which led to fresh elections and independence
in
1980.
Murozewa's UANC party only managed to win three out of the 80 seats
reserved
for blacks.
The Bishop then lost dismally after contesting
the Glen View parliamentary
seat in the 1985 elections and was soundly
defeated again in 1996 before
retiring from active politics in
2001.
He briefly returned to the limelight ahead of the 2008 elections
when he
claimed that people had approached him to run for
President.
Born to a lay preacher on 14 April in 1925, Bishop Muzorewa
was the eldest
of eight children and was educated at the United Methodist
School at what
was then Old Umtali.
He worked as a school teacher in
Murehwa between 1943 and 1947 before
becoming a full time lay preacher in
Mutoko between 1947 and 1949. He
studied theology at Old Umtali Biblical
College between 1949 and 1952 and
was ordained in August 1953.
Bishop
Muzorewa obtained a masters degree from the Christian Education
Scarritt
College in the United States and another MA in Philosophy and
Religion from
the Central Methodist College also in America.
In July 1963, he became
pastor of Old Umtali and a year later was appointed
national director of the
Christian Youth Movement, in the process being
seconded to the Christian
Council. He became Secretary of the Student
Christian Movement in 1966 and
was consecrated Bishop of Rhodesia in the
United Methodist Church at Masera
in Botswana in 1968.
Bishop Muzorewa gained national prominence in the
early 1970s after forming
the United African National Council with the late
Professor Canaan Banana to
oppose a 1971 settlement between Ian Smith and
the British government which
offered to end international sanctions in
exchange for a transition to
majority rule.
Zanu, then led by
Ndabaningi Sithole and Joshua Nkomo's Zapu initially went
along with the
Bishop but later broke-off after Muzorewa opposed the armed
struggle.
Following the fall-out, Muzorewa's UANC was, then, the only
legal black
party tolerated by the Smith regime because of its opposition to
the armed
struggle.
Bishop Muzorewa was reported to have taken over a
white-owned farm near the
eastern border city of Mutare in January 2008
stating that: "I just wanted
to have land which was taken from my
forefathers without any recompense. It's
correction of injustice".
In
March of the same year , he issued a statement which commended the
government's land reforms attacked the Britain for reneging on promises made
during the Lancaster House negotiations to compensate white farmers for land
taken for re-distribution.
http://www1.voanews.com/
Commercial Farmers Union vice-president Louis Fick confirmed some
members of
his organization have sought tribunal action and intend to refer
the matter
to SADC, whose next summit is likely to be held in the Democratic
Republic
of Congo in August or September of this year.
Patience
Rusere | Washington 08 April 2010
Some white Zimbabwean commercial
farmers who lost their farms under land
reform have asked the Southern
African Development Community tribunal in
Namibia to find the Zimbabwean
government in contempt for ignoring a 2008
judgment by the tribunal saying
farm seizures were illegal and
discriminatory.
The farmers also
intend to ask the next SADC summit to take up Harare's
refusal to respond to
the tribunal ruling and rejection of its jurisdiction.
Commercial Farmers
Union Vice President Louis Fick confirmed members of his
organization have
asked the tribunal to take enforcement action and will
refer the matter to
SADC as a whole. The next SADC summit is likely to be
held in August or
September of this year in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, which currently
holds the rotating SADC chairmanship.
Spokesman Nickson Mau of the Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition's Johannesburg
office told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Patience Rusere that putting the matter to
the SADC summit will mainly be
for the record as it is not likely to give
the white farmers satisfaction
http://www.thedailynewszw.com/?p=28703
April 8, 2010
By Mxolisi
Ncube
JOHANNESBURG - The opposition Zapu this week accused its suspended
national
executive members of trying to destroy the re-launched
party.
Six members of the executive were suspended in December last
year on
allegations they had among other things, held unauthorised meetings
with the
intention of showing insubordination to the party and its
leadership.
The members were also accused of making statements to the
press that were
viewed to be in contempt of the party's
leadership.
It is alleged they participated in the distribution of
material on the
formation of a party called Matabeleland Progressive Party,
which Zapu said
was pursuing a "cessationist policy".
The suspended
members - Evans Ndebele, Retired Colonel Ray Ncube, Smile
Dube, former
Bulawayo councilor Alderman Charles Mpofu, Nhlanhla Ncube and
Charles
Makhuya, last week threw a salvo at the party's interim leader,
Dumiso
Dabengwa, whom they accused of maintaining strong links with his
former
party Zanu-PF.
However, party spokesman, Methuseli Moyo, on Thursday
accused the rebels of
working in cahoots with "their handlers" to
destabilize the party, which was
re-launched in 2008, after pulling out of a
Unity Accord they signed with
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party in
1987.
"The stunt by suspended Zapu members, namely Charles Mpofu and
Smile Dube,
and those whom they claim to represent and speak for, has gone
too far and
can not be ignored anymore," said Moyo in a
statement.
"Their latest charade of authoring a screed containing
defamatory
allegations against our party and interim national chairman, Dr
Dumiso
Dabengwa, is further confirmation that the gang is under pressure
from their
handlers to accomplish their mission of destroying
Zapu.
"Their strategy is to present themselves as more Zapu than all of
us; yet
they are the opposite. Mpofu two months ago declared Zapu "dead",
yet he
spends sleepless nights co-authoring anti-Zapu documents and forging
other
so-called "concerned members" signatures with his handlers for
distribution
to the media. If Zapu is dead, why is he overworking himself to
kill a dead
party?"
Moyo castigated the members for singling out
Dabengwa for vitriol as if the
interim leader was the one who signed their
suspension letters, adding that
the rebels were suspended by their
respective provincial executives.
"Also, Mpofu and crew are fully aware
that the Zapu Council of Elders
chaired by Advocate Cyril Ndebele, and not
the National Executive Committee,
is responsible for disciplinary issues,"
added the Zapu spokesman.
He said that the actions of the six members
were meant to put a spotlight
Dabengwa with the motive of trying to
influence Zapu members
against him, something the party said had failed to
work.
"We are glad to announce that their plan has only succeeded in
rallying more
people to join Zapu," said Moyo.
"The revival of Zapu
can only be lead by a real Zapu person, who in the
present circumstances is
Dr Dabengwa - a man who pioneered, prosecuted and
won the war of
independence with Zapu, Zipra and the masses, survived
Gukurahundi, came out
of prison in 1986 to work for the unity of the people
of Zimbabwe, always
voiced his displeasure while in Zanu-PF, and heeded the
call by Zapu members
to leave Zanu-PF and come back home.
"Such a hero and icon does not
deserve the sort of disrespect and
provocation he has been subjected to by
dubious, opportunistic,
failure-prone, empty vessels of the sort of Mpofu
and crew.
"Mpofu thinks he can make it big by shouting obscenities at
political giants
like Dr Dabengwa. Our leader has fought and won real wars,
survived real and
serious plots, and remains unshaken by the childish,
foolish and amateurish
actions of Mpofu and his gang."
He further
accused Mpofu of trying to mislead people into believing that
Dabengwa was
still attached to Zanu-PF simply because the former minister
was in Zanu-PF
as part of the unity accord. He said Mpofu himself was once a
Zanu-PF
councillor for Bulawayo for years, attaining Aldermanship in the
process.
"The charlatan is not even ashamed to blame others for what
he himself was
and still is: Zanu-PF to the bone. Charles Mpofu is not the
right person to
accuse anyone of being Zanu-PF," said Moyo,
"Mpofu is
a political nomad with no match in Zimbabwe's political history.
There is no
party that he has ever joined that did not expel him. Was it Dr
Dabengwa who
expelled him from all the parties he has been to?
"Here is a man who is
so dull that he does not realize that no one takes him
seriously anymore. He
does not realize that what makes news is that he is
barking at a newsworthy
person, Dr Dabengwa, and not that Charles Mpofu is
speaking. That is his
tragedy: he talks and never thinks.
"Mpofu needs to be reminded that the
real problem in Zimbabwe is Robert
Mugabe and Zanu-PF and not Dr Dabengwa
and Zapu. He also needs to understand
that Zapu is Zapu and MDC is MDC. Zapu
does not owe any
party any favour, in as much as no party owes us any
favour.
"It is not Zapu and Dr Dabengwa's problem that the MDC factions
refused to
unite to win the last elections. Their chance came and went. Now
is our
chance.
"Zapu, the founder and authentic liberation movement
and defender of human
rights in our country, remains focused on organizing
our congress set for
August 2010 to prepare ourselves to win elections and
form a government next
year.
"It is the Zapu Congress, and not
Charles Mpofu and his crew that will
choose who leads Zapu. Mpofu remains
free to go back where he came from. He
will not be missed by anyone at Zapu.
No one can kill Zapu.
"Mpofu and his fellow agents cannot achieve what a
whole brigade and CIO
failed to achieve - killing Zapu."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
09 April
2010
The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is demanding an
independent
commission of inquiry to investigate the death of Batanai
Hadzidzi 9 years
ago. During a student protest on the 9th April 2001 riot
police descended on
the University of Zimbabwe 'closing all emergency exit
doors, firing tear
gas canisters into the halls of residence and
indiscriminately beating up
students.' During this chaos riot police entered
Hadzidzi's room and beat
him to death.
In a statement marking the 9th
anniversary of the incident ZINASU say they
want a commission to revisit the
case and ensure the culprits are brought to
book. 'If the truth and
reconciliation commission agenda is to be pursued
then the overzealous riot
police officers involved in the murder of Hadzidzi
should face the wrath of
justice'. It also warned those responsible for this
crime and other
brutalities against student leaders 'that they may abandon
responsibility
but they will not elope to impunity.'
Narrating the background of the case,
union spokesman Kudakwashe Chakabva
told us that when police arrived at the
UZ 'it was unfortunate that his
(Hadzidzi's) door was unlocked and the
police door-to-door operation started
in his room. The police bashed him and
realizing that he was either dead or
critically injured, they poured water
on him in an attempt to resuscitate
him.' He was later put on a mattress and
taken to the trauma center, where
he was pronounced dead.
Although an
inquest was held at the Harare Magistrates Court the police
simply denied
responsibility, by claiming Hadzidzi had been 'trodden upon by
fellow
students in a stampede during the demonstration.' A post mortem
examination
however concluded that he died of 'Asphyxia due to bilateral
lung contusions
and rib-cage soft tissue injustices caused by blunt force.'
The marks made
by baton stick beatings were visible all over his body and
this beating,
combined with suffocation from teargas smoke, led to his
death.
The
students union believes the inclusive government has failed to deliver
justice for victims of past abuses. Chakabva told us ZINASU will campaign
for justice for the Hadzidzi family and make sure his case will be a
template for other people to get their own justice. He said it was critical
to have one case that sets an example for all and this was the only way to
discourage future abuses.
http://news.radiovop.com/
09/04/2010
18:27:00
Harare, April 09, 2010 - The Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) will next
week formally complain to the African National Congress
(ANC) over
sensational outbursts by its youth league president Julius Malema
in which
he described the MDC as a "popcorn" party.
In a statement
the MDC has hit back at Malema describing his attack on Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's party as irresponsible and immature outbursts.
A
highly placed MDC official told RadioVOP Friday that they were now left
with
no option except to complain to ANC president Jacob Zuma. "The
outbursts by
Malema are just coming out from nowhere and without substance.
We need that
to be corrected as soon as possible even if it means going to
South Africa
to understand what is going on.
"Given that President Zuma is involved in
talks to resolve the crisis in
Zimbabwe we find it strange that Malema
attacks us like this," said the top
MDC official.
In the official
statement released on Friday evening, the MDC says it is
dismayed by the
inflammatory hate speech by the ANC youth league president
saying it was
improper and impolitic for him to do so.
Malema was in Zimbabwe over the
Easter holiday to prop up failed Zanu PF
policies like the violent and
chaotic land reform programme and the
indigenisation and empowerment act. He
however also lambasted Zanu PF for
using violence to win
elections.
"Malema should know that the MDC is not an opposition party
but a ruling
party that overwhelmingly beat Zanu PF on 29 March 2008. It is
unbridled
naivety on the part of Malema to refer to a party that
overwhelmingly won an
election as a "popcorn party."
"Malema's
pilgrimage and his chanting of Zanu PF slogans represent gross
interference
in Zimbabwe's internal party politics to prop up the fortunes
of the
rejected Zanu PF.
"The MDC is a party that is fighting for democracy,
rule of law and human
rights for all unlike Zanu PF, which has a violent
track record, which saw
over 20 000 people killed during the Gukurahundi
period in the 1980s and as
recently as 2008. This violence prompted even
Malema himself to say
militancy does not mean violence
"The MDC is
shocked by Malema's claims that the MDC is holding rallies in
leafy suburbs
such as Sandton in South Africa when it is well known that the
MDC has been
holding real change rallies across the country, which have been
attended by
thousands of Zimbabweans who overwhelmingly voted for change on
29 March
2008," reads part of the statement.
The MDC added that they are now
demanding answers from the ANC leadership.
"The MDC is a party of
excellence. We demand an unequivocal position from
the ANC on whether
Malema's utterances represent the official position of
that party which is
involved in a delicate mediation process in this
country.
"We hope
the ANC realizes the gravity of Malema's utterances and their
significance
to the people of Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabweans know what they want. Zimbabweans
want real change as
represented by the MDC. Zimbabweans deserve hope,
freedom, prosperity,
security and dignity."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
09 April
2010
South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, has distanced itself from the
behaviour and comments of the President of its youth league, who once again
made headlines this week after throwing an international journalist out of a
press briefing and aligning his group firmly alongside ZANU
PF.
Controversial ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema was addressing
reporters
in South Africa on the outcome of his Zimbabwe tour last weekend.
But the
press briefing took an unexpected turn when Malema lashed out at BBC
journalist Jonah Fisher, called him a ‘bastard’ and an ‘agent’, and then
forced him to leave the briefing. Fisher had interrupted Malema with a
question that the ANC youth league has since argued was
‘disrespectful’.
Malema also used the same press conference to state that
the ANC Youth
League would follow in ZANU PF’s footsteps, applauding the
country for its
destructive land and indigenisation policies. Malema said he
would encourage
the ANC leadership to adopt the same policies, because of
their so called
‘successes’ in Zimbabwe.
But the ANC has now moved to
condemn Malema’s behaviour and comments,
calling his treatment of the BCC
journalist ‘aggressive’ and ‘insulting’.
The party, whose leader and South
African President Jacob Zuma is the
regional mediator in the Zimbabwe
crisis, also moved to distance itself from
Malema’s comments on Zimbabwe.
The party argued it was fully supportive of
the mediation process involving
both the MDC and ZANU PF, saying: “The ANC
would like to strongly disagree
and distance itself from utterances by the
ANC YL that they will support
President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF to win
the forthcoming general
elections in Zimbabwe.”
“The ANC stance on the Zimbabwe issue is that we
fully support the mediation
process that is currently underway, which is led
and facilitated by
President Jacob Zuma,” the ANC said in its
statement.
Observers have commented that the ANC’s statements, while
welcome, are not
necessarily true of the party’s real sentiments. The ANC
has previously
referred to ZANU PF as their ‘comrades’, who share the same
political
history. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki also had a
close
relationship with Robert Mugabe, which led to his policy of quiet
diplomacy
as Zimbabwe’s political mediator. That policy has been continued
by
President Zuma, who has repeatedly demonstrated his allegiance to ZANU PF
by
lobbying on its behalf for the removal of targeted Western sanctions that
are in place against Mugabe and his inner circle.
But his lobbying
has been dismissed by Western nations, with Germany this
week becoming the
most recent country to state that it is too soon for
sanctions to be lifted.
German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Guido
Westerwelle said in South
Africa on Friday that the ‘time is not right’ to
lift sanctions against
Zimbabwe
“We don’t believe that the moment is right to take away the
measures put by
the United Nations. Democratisation in Zimbabwe has not
advanced,”
Westerwelle told reporters at the Union Buildings in
Pretoria.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Caroline Mvundura Friday 09 April
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe's cash strapped central bank will next month
begin
retrenching about half of its bloated staff as it embarks on an
exercise to
realign its structures after governor Gideon Gono was instructed
to halt his
controversial quasi fiscal operations last year, a senior
official at the
bank said Thursday.
Speaking on condition that he was
not named the official said most
departments in the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ), which were set up to run
the controversial operations, have been
disbanded and staff in those
divisions are expected to be offloaded once the
bank's new board is set up
in the next month and approves the staff trimming
exercise.
The official said hundreds of workers who had initially decided
to quit the
RBZ, which had only been paying allowances because of the cash
squeeze, have
decided to stay until the packages are paid.
"The
package is expected to come once a new board is appointed within the
next
month," said the official, adding; "The bank has promised attractive
retrenchment packages."
RBZ media manager Kumbirai Nhongo was not
immediately available for comment.
Since Zimbabwe's power-sharing
administration between President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai came into office in February
last year and introduced the
multicurrency system, the RBZ has failed to pay
its workers and announced
plans to cut the headcount last year but sources
said retrenchments had been
delayed by the shortage of cash.
The RBZ, once described by Finance
Minister Tendai Biti as a mini government
during the height of the quasi
fiscal operations, is also facing multiple
lawsuits from companies that it
contracted to provide food, agricultural
equipment, furniture and other
goods in the past five years but has failed
to pay them after the
dollarisation of the economy.
Last month auctioneers flogged off RBZ
property including beds, DSTV
decoders, bedroom suits, vehicles and
refrigerators to recover money the
central bank owes to an agricultural
equipment supplier, marking an
embarrassing end to Gono's controversial
operations that made him an instant
hero among Mugabe's cronies at the
height of the country's economic crisis.
Economists and the International
Monetary Fund blame Gono, who became the
country's chief banker in December
2003, for compounding Zimbabwe's economic
crisis through quasi-fiscal
activities that saw the RBZ pump trillions of
dollars into financing
Mugabe's populist projects and political programmes.
They say printing
money was fuelling inflation. Hyperinflation and the
shortage of banknotes
were the most visible signs of a severe economic
crisis blamed on Mugabe's
policies and seen in shortages of food and every
essential commodity. -
ZimOnline
U.S. Embassy, Harare
Public Affairs Section
Press Release: U. S. Congressman Donald M. Payne concludes Zim tour
Congressman Donald M. Payne concluded a two day trip to Zimbabwe on April 9. He met with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and leaders of civil society in order to assess political and economic progress since the signing of the Global Political Agreement. The Congressman expressed disappointment that he was not able to meet with President Robert Mugabe, despite a U.S. Embassy request made two weeks before the visit.
Issued by Tim Gerhardson, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy Harare, April 9, 2010
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/
James Myburgh
09 April
2010
James Myburgh says it's time Western opinion made a 'question' of
African
nationalism
JOHANNESBURG - In many ways Julius Malema should
not pose much of a threat
to South Africa. He loudly articulates the basest
desires of racial
nationalism. The track record of the project he advocates
is so horrendous
that no reasonable person can be in any doubt about what
the consequences
would be if it were to be fully realised here. His
faction's agenda is
transparently aimed at looting and
self-enrichment.
Faced with the combination of bad men that Malema
represents, enough good
South Africans should be able to associate to safely
see off this threat.
Or, at least, this would be the case if Western
intellectual opinion also
pushed back against the noxious racial nationalism
that threatens to destroy
our future. One reason this country is edging ever
nearer to the abyss is
that it has not, and still does not.
There has
been a very disturbing subtext to much of the Western commentary
on the
events of the past week. This is that while Malema might be a nasty
little
thug, who says odious things, the real problem facing South Africa is
the
continued prosperity of the white minority.
In a facetious piece in The
Times (London) Hugo Rifkind commented that
Malema "has a fondness for
singing a song called Kill the Boer. With more
than 3,000 white farmers
having been murdered since the end of apartheid,
this obviously makes him
pretty evil. And yet, in this vast and
disproportionately white-owned
country, there is a clear moral case for land
reform. In a very, very tiny
way, despite being chubby bum-faced scum, he
sort of has a
point."
What point is that? Seventy seven years ago members of the Hitler
Youth went
around singing Jude Verrecke in their vast and disproportionately
Jewish-owned country. Does Rifkind think that there was a clear moral case
for Aryanisation, and "in a very tiny way, despite being chubby bum-faced
scum," they also sort of had a point? At the time many sanctimonious Western
intellectuals thought they did.
The Financial Times editorial (April
7) was even more sinister. The
newspaper had two pieces of advice for Jacob
Zuma. The first was to make
Malema shut his mouth. The second was to
accelerate racial land transfers
from the white minority (what it also
euphemistically termed 'land reform.')
The editorial stated:
"Mr Zuma
should address one of the substantive issues that Mr Malema has
exploited:
the glacial pace of land reform. In 1994, nearly nine-tenths of
arable land
was in the hand of white farmers. Despite 16 years in power, the
ANC has
largely failed to redistribute it. This is a running sore and stirs
up the
rural violence. The longer meaningful reform is delayed, the greater
the
risk that unscrupulous politicians may turn to Zimbabwean solutions to
cover
up their own failures. Mr Zuma has to his credit sought to revive land
reform. He must follow through. Having raised expectations, he cannot afford
to dash them."
The editorial confuses the 87/13 apartheid-era
political divide between
'white' and 'black' South Africa with the
allocation of arable land (i.e.
land on which it is possible to grow crops).
Since the homeland areas were
generally located in the high rainfall areas
to the east of the country, and
much white farmland in the arid West, the
black/white division of arable
land was actually far more
even.
Setting this aside, there is a curious moral logic to the
editorial. It
accepts that the property and lives of white farmers are under
threat. But
what is its solution? The ANC government must move quickly to
take away more
and more of their property. To avoid a Zimbabwe solution
South Africa must
adopt a Zimbabwe solution. The fact that these farmers
acquired their
property completely legitimately and their enterprises feed
the entire
subcontinent is irrelevant. Their continued success and
productivity is a
provocation to Western intellectuals and racial
nationalists alike, and they
should be dispossessed.
It is striking
how in its editorial on April 8 the racist Zanu-PF mouthpiece
The Herald
expressed much the same view as the FT had done the day before.
It
stated:
"Wisdom should have convinced the white community in South Africa
that they
need to co-operate with the South African government to address
the
inequalities prevalent in that country. In the same way that Zimbabweans
got
frustrated with the willing buyer-willing seller approach, the South
Africans will also begin to take what is rightfully theirs by force if they
see no progress in land redistribution. Their patience is wearing thin with
each passing year."
In a sense, what is truly frightening is that a
significant body of Western
opinion instinctively sides with our racial
nationalists; and backs the
application to our country of the same
principles that have brought such
ruin to the rest of
Africa.
Although the bulk of ordinary opinion in Britain and America is
humane and
decent, and sympathetic to the plight of minorities in Africa,
the
interpretation of events in South Africa is dominated by a stratum of
intellectuals with a very different attitude. This group regards it as
intolerable for a racial minority, in a nationalist democracy, to own a
share of the economy too much greater than its percentage of the population.
In their analysis one can see the same emotional impulses (and mental
short-circuiting) at work that underpinned earlier debates around the
'Jewish question' in the 1930s and the 'Asian problem of East Africa' in the
1960s.
In 1940 the German journalist Sebastien Haffner wrote of how
after the Nazis
took power in 1933 ordinary decent liberal minded Germans
looked westwards
for rescue and liberation from the barbarous regime that
had taken control
of their country. Over the following five years their
hopes - that the
Western powers would act to protect the basic values of
European culture
(and them) - were repeatedly betrayed. Haffner
observed:
"In all the years up to 1939 there was no active opposition to
Nazism from
Western Europe. But spiritual resistance was also lacking... The
world's
problems and topics of discussion were dictated, without opposition,
by
Hitler. He decreed anti-Semitism, and the docile world discovered the
'Jewish Question'. He attacked Austria, and there was an 'Austrian
question'...To make a 'question' of Hitler, the Nazis, the German Reich,
occurred to no one...In those years European-minded Germans experienced a
physical and spiritual sense of being utterly forsaken and lost, such as no
one can realize who has not felt it."
It is a 'spiritual sense'
familiar enough to those liberal-minded southern
Africans who have resisted
the ANC's racialist agenda. If Western
intellectuals are going to perform
any kind of constructive role in South
Africa at this critical moment in its
history they need to recognise and get
over their prejudices and start
making a 'question' not just of Malema but
also the racial nationalism that
he so bluntly articulates.
Rights, challenges and opportunities
With leading Zimbabwean civil society activists
11.15am Saturday, 17 April 2010
Unite, 128 Theobald's Road, London, WC1X 8TN
Free event
As Zimbabwe marks 30 years of independence, this landmark conference will
hear from three of the country's most prominent civil society leaders.
'Zimbabwe 30 years on' will examine the country's current challenges and
opportunities for the future from a diaspora, trade union and human rights
perspective.
Confirmed speakers include:
Lovemore Matombo,
President, Zimbabwe Congress of TradeUnions
Irene Petras,
Executive Director, Zimbabwe Lawyers for HumanRights
Gabriel Shumba,
Executive Director, Zimbabwe Exiles ForumJohn Mawbey,
South African Municipal Workers Union
Lunch is available on the day for £5 if reserved in advance
Places are limited so please confirm in advance
:Name/s __________________________________________________
Email address ____________________________________________
...
I/we will attend all day 11.15am-3.30pm (registration from 11.00)...
I/we will attend the morning only 11.15am-1pm (registration from 11.00)...
I/we will attend the afternoon only 2pm to 3.30pm...
I/we require lunch £5 (indicate numbers for lunch, payable on day or in advance).
Please return to:ACTSA, 231 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 1EH
E:
campaigns@actsa.org T: 02032632001 F: 02079319398 www.actsa.orghttp://www.cathybuckle.com
Dear Friends.
Returning to my desk after two
weeks away, the one picture that shocked me
more than any other was the
image of Christian worshippers in Harare forced
to conduct their Easter
services in the open air. I have no religious
allegiance myself but the
concept of freedom of worship is basic to any
democracy and the thought that
Christians in Zimbabwe are prevented by the
ZRP from entering their own
churches is deeply shocking. And, as always in
Zimbabwe, the reason for this
assault on a basic human right is political.
The ZRP in their partisan
support for Zanu PF have chosen to back the
ex-communicated 'Bishop' Kunonga
for no other reason than his fanatical
support of Robert Mugabe. Despite a
High Court ruling that St Mary's
Anglican Cathedral in Harare be shared
between the two factions of the
Anglican church, the police continue to bar
Anglican worshippers at gunpoint
from entering their spiritual home. The
most shocking aspect of this dispute
is the failure of other Christian
churches to raise their voices in support
the Anglicans; once again Robert
Mugabe and Zanu PF have succeeded in
dividing people. Through fear of
incurring the violent retribution of the
political class, the churches
remain silent instead of speaking out on an
issue which should concern all
Christians: the freedom to worship. As a
result, Kunonga and his handful of
violent supporters remain in control and,
with police protection, bar
genuine Anglican worshippers from entering their
own churches.
From the
thuggish fanaticism of Kunonga, it is just one short step to the
rabid
rhetoric of Julius Malema, the ANC Youth leader who was in the country
on a
four-day visit at the invitation of Zanu PF's Youth League. Why he was
in
the country and whether he represents the ANC's official policies is not
clear; he said he had come to learn from Zimbabwe's 'land reform' and the
Indigenisation process. Whether he was learning or teaching, Malema was
certainly singing from the Zanu PF song book. His own hymn of hate 'Kill the
boer'- which has been banned in South Africa- rang out in Harare and is
reported to have been sung with gusto by his Zanu PF hosts. The ANC defence
of such songs as 'part of our liberation history' is hardly surprising when
you consider that President Zuma's own theme song is 'Bring me my machine
gun'.
It was while Malema was in Zimbabwe that the white supremacist,
Eugene
Terreblanche, was murdered back in South Africa. We have yet to
understand
whether there is a connection between Malema's hymn of hate and
Terreblanche's
killing. President Zuma's office immediately issued a
statement designed to
prevent any possible violent outbursts from any
quarter and that appears to
have had the desired effect, at least in South
Africa.
But Malema's message, contradictory and illogical though it was, went
down
well in Zimbabwe with the likes of Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and
other fat
cat business leaders hoping to profit from 'Indigenization' which
Kaukuwere
describes as "the final blow against colonialism". In a message to
the
opponents of his Indigenisation Act, Kasukuwere repeated his earlier
remarks
that there was no going back. "We have no reverse gear in our
gearbox. If
there is an insane Zimbabwean who is opposed to the Act then he
must go and
die" Yet again, Zanu PF demonstrates that violence is their only
response to
opposition. The invitation to the young firebrand from South
Africa was
surely a desperate attempt by the former ruling party to
re-ignite their
flagging support inside Zimbabwe. When even war veterans say
they are fed up
with Mugabe and Zanu PF, as they did in Mutoko last week,
then we can fairly
assume that the writing is on the wall; desperate
measures are needed; hence
the invitation to Julius Malema who was received
by Robert Mugabe in the
presence of journalists. Malema said he would not
talk with the MDC because
they were not his friends and they had not been
part of the Liberation
struggle.
In the light of all this talk of
violence and evidence of Zanu PF's clear
intention to continue along the
path of non-co-operation with its partners
in the Unity Government, it is
confusing to say the least that Morgan
Tsvangirai should choose this moment
to go to the EU in Brussels to call for
the lifting of travel restrictions
on 192 named Zanu PF individuals whose
crimes have included horrific attacks
against MDC members. Indeed the news
this week that it is only the North
Koreans who have taken up the offer to
train in Zimbabwe for the World Cup
is a painful reminder that Zimbabwe is
prepared to host the very nation
which provided the training of the
notorious Fifth Brigade which carried out
the massacre of 20-30.000 Ndebele
people during Gukuruhundi in the 80's. It
is incomprehensible to me that
Morgan Tsvangirai of all people should be the
one to intervene on Zanu PF's
behalf with the international community when
it is his own MDC followers who
have been murdered and continue to be
brutalised and arrested by Mugabe's
police and CIO agents. If Morgan
Tsvangirai hopes to convince the EU that
Mugabe and the so-called Unity
Government is on the way to a democratic
future, the news that none other
than Iran's President Ahmadinejad will be
the 'honoured guest' to open the
International Trade Fair in Bulawayo is
hardly going to convince the
Europeans - or the Americans for that matter -
that Zimbabwe is a friend of
democracy.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH