http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
11 April
2011
Reports say that Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace flew urgently to
Singapore
on Friday. It’s alleged that Grace is there to receive medical
treatment for
a painful hip.
Reports from Harare claim the first lady
recently slipped and fell in the
bathroom at their Borrowdale house and has
not fully recovered from the
fall. Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba
confirmed to the Zimbabwe Standard
newspaper that Mugabe and his wife were
in Singapore, but would not disclose
the purpose of the trip.
Since
January Mugabe has flown to Singapore three times, allegedly for
checkups
following an eye cataract operation.
The Standard said that Charamba did
hint that Grace Mugabe was seeking
medical attention, saying that she had
not fully recovered from a
complication she suffered 14 years ago, while
giving birth to her youngest
son Chatunga.
But there is renewed
speculation that this is a cover-up for the fact that
it is Robert Mugabe
who is seriously ill, since he was seen struggling to
walk at the recent
SADC Troika summit in Livingstone, Zambia. The 87
year-old had to use a golf
cart to move around the summit venue and there
were 6 medical personnel on
call at all times in the group that accompanied
him to the
summit.
While Charamba and ZANU PF party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo insist
there is
nothing wrong with Robert Mugabe, there are persistent rumours that
he has
cancer of the prostate.
Striking Air Zimbabwe pilots were once
again recalled on ‘national duty’ to
fly the couple to Singapore.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Tobias Manyuchi Monday 11 April
2011
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s three ruling parties have agreed in a
principle a
roadmap to elections to choose a new government to replace their
coalition,
officials said on Sunday.
Priscilla Misihairabwi
-Mushonga, who represents a breakaway faction of the
MDC in the inter-party
negotiations, told ZimOnline that negotiators were
expected to meet again
next week to discuss the time frames of when the key
vote can take
place.
There has been disagreement between President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU
PF and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC over timing of the polls with
the
former insisting they should take place soon after enactment of a new
constitution later this year.
Tsvangirai backed by his and the
splinter MDC faction prefers elections to
be deferred to early next
year.
Misihairabwi –Mushonga said: "We agreed and have drafted the
election road
map. We have not finalised anything yet on the time frames but
just agreed
on the principles of the road map. We will meet again on April
20."
The agreement by the Zimbabwean parties follows mediation by a team
of
facilitators dispatched to Harare by South African President Jacob Zuma,
who
is the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s official mediator
in
the inter-party dialogue.
A spokeswoman for the facilitators,
Lindiwe Zulu, said they were looking
forward to receiving a copy of the
election roadmap before inviting the
Zimbabwean parties to South Africa for
a workshop to discuss the document.
"We expect them to send us a copy of
the road map and we will invite them to
South Africa for a workshop to
discuss the document and review the process
as soon as they give us the
document,” said Zulu, without indicating when
exactly the representatives of
the Zimbabwean parties were likely to come to
Pretoria.
Under the GPA
Zimbabwe must first write a new and democratic constitution
before holding
fresh elections.
A multi-party parliamentary committee leading the
writing of the new
constitution expects to have a draft charter ready to be
taken before
Zimbabweans in a referendum by September.
But the MDC
parties supported by their civil society allies say Zimbabwe
should not hold
elections this year even after a new constitution has been
enacted because
the charter and several proposed electoral reforms would
need to be given
time to take root to ensure any future vote is free and
fair.
Mugabe,
who at 87 years will be the oldest candidate in the race for
president,
insists the vote must take place this year while he has in the
past
suggested elections could still take place even without a new
constitution.
Zimbabwe’s elections have been characterised by
political violence and gross
human rights abuses with the last vote in June
2008 ending inconclusively
after the military-led a campaign of violence and
murder that forced then
opposition leader Tsvangirai to withdraw from a
second round presidential
ballot.
Tsvangirai had been tipped to win
the second round election after beating
Mugabe in the first round ballot but
without the percentage of votes
required to avoid the run-off
poll
The former foes eventually bowed to pressure from southern African
leaders
to agree to form a government of national unity. -- ZimOnline
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
11 April
2011
Inter-party talks aimed at securing an election roadmap have
temporarily
broken off to accommodate the coming Independence Day holiday
celebrations
and other commitments involving Finance Minister and MDC-T
Secretary-General
Tendai Biti, who is one of the key negotiators.
Six
party negotiators from the MDC-T, MDC-N and ZANU PF, all signatories to
the
Global Political Agreement (GPA), were locked in talks last week. A
facilitation team from South Africa also jetted into Harare last Tuesday and
has since been in a number of meetings with the negotiating teams.
Some
reports suggested last week’s talks deadlocked over the role of
security
chiefs who have had an evident bias towards Robert Mugabe and ZANU
PF over
the years. It was reported negotiators failed to agree on issues
related to
violence and the continued tenure of the security chiefs. It was
even
suggested they “came close to trading physical blows” over the
issues.
But speaking to SW Radio Africa on Monday one of the negotiators
told us it
could not be said that there was a deadlock. The MDC formations
are raising
the point that police commissioner Augustine Chihuri and army
general
Constantine Chiwenga ‘cannot be in any other dispensation than the
one they
have served,’ having declared their allegiance to Mugabe and ZANU
PF.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Transport Minister Nicholas
Goche
from ZANU PF are said to be adamant the discussions should not centre
on
individuals but the institutions they lead. “This, to be fair to Goche
and
Chinamasa, seems a fair point to be making but the problem in Zimbabwe
is
that certain people have become institutions unto themselves,’ the
official
told us.
The MDC parties are insisting the security chiefs
are key to the talks as
they remain a stumbling block to any transfer of
power, should Mugabe lose
the election again.
SW Radio Africa was told
that last week’s meetings started off with what
they termed the ‘review
mechanism’, looking at what has been done and what
has not been done in
terms of implementing the power sharing deal. A report
by the negotiators
was then submitted to the facilitators.
“We covered substantial work on
the roadmap and are pushing for things like
the right to vote in a peaceful
environment, the security of the vote, the
security of the voter and the
security of the vote outcome.” He said they
also want international and
regional observers in Zimbabwe 6 months before
the vote and 6
months.
Other key points they are pushing for include a new digital
voter’s roll and
the right of people in the Diaspora to vote. ZANU PF
meanwhile are said to
be heavily resisting the Diaspora vote.
Another
meeting of the negotiators has been set for the 20th April. At the
conclusion of those talks the negotiators will travel to South Africa in
early May to meet the facilitation team, ahead of the SADC extraordinary
summit set for mid May.
Various commentators have criticized last
week’s talks for reportedly
shutting out the South African facilitators.
Former diplomat Clifford
Mashiri posed the question “was it worthwhile for
SADC to waste it’s time
sending facilitators to Zimbabwe only to be kept out
of fruitless talks by
their hosts? Will SADC continue to watch the regime in
Harare play games of
hide and seek?”
It was not possible to get a clear
answer from the MDC as to why the SADC
facilitators did not attend some
meetings. We were told they did not attend
the ones to do with the ‘review
mechanism.’
HRD’s
Alert
11 April 2011
13 of the 14 congregants who were arrested while
attending a prayer meeting on Saturday 9 April 2011 in Glen Norah suburb of
Harare were still detained in police custody on Monday 11 April
2011.
Police only released
one juvenile, who was arrested together with the congregants when riot police
violently stormed and suppressed a church service organised to pray
for peace in the high density suburb.
The 13 congregants, who include four Pastors have since
Saturday 9 April 2011 been detained in filthy police cells at Glen Norah Police
station before being transferred to Harare Central Police Station on Sunday 10
April 2011. As has become custom, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights member
lawyers, Marufu Mandevere of Mbidzo,
Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners and Gift Mtisi of Musendekwa, Mtisi Legal
Practitioners, were denied access to their clients at Glen Norah Police station
despite numerous requests to be able to interview their
clients.
One of the detainees Shakespeare Mukoyi was brutally
assaulted by police officers in the church building in Glen Norah before being
taken to the police station. Since then, Shakespeare has been denied access to
full medication after undergoing an X-ray examination which determined the need
for urgent treatment. Police allegedly took him to Harare Hospital during the
night on Saturday 9 April where he was attended to briefly before he was
unceremoniously seized from the hospital where the X-ray examination was being
undertaken and re-detained at Harare Central Police Station holding cells
despite the fact that he was in intense pain, with a swollen head, red left eye,
left swollen palm and was finding it very difficult to walk without assistance.
On Sunday 10 April, when Mukoyi’s lawyers were allowed
access to interview him they indicated to the police officers that their client
was in serious pain and could not walk as a result of the injuries he sustained
from the assault by the police. Mukoyi was then once again taken to Parirenyatwa
Hospital where he was again examined. He was taken back to the police cells
after the Doctor indicated that he was not supposed to be admitted to hospital
as the X ray taken did not show any injuries.
One of the four
Pastors, who is in police custody together with Pastor Mukome, the Resident Priest at the Nazarene Church, Pastor Isaya was also assaulted
by the police.
The 13 congregants were on Sunday 10 April charged with
committing the crime of ‘public violence’ as defined in the Criminal Law
Codification and Reform Act and they are yet to appear in court as police
indicated that they are doing further investigations with the arresting officers
since the facts do not disclose that some of the detainees committed any
offence.
Background
The congregants were
arrested by anti-riot police on Saturday 9 April 2011 during a church service organised to pray for peace.
The church service had originally been scheduled for St Peters
Kubatana Centre in Highfields, but the venue was changed after police camped in
Highfields overnight and sealed off the venue to block people from accessing the
grounds.
Riot police
stormed the church hall during prayer, and dispersed the
congregation, which included many church, civic and community leaders and
assaulted congregants who were inside and outside the
church.
The police went on to indiscriminately fire tear gas
canisters at residences and churches surrounding the venue of the church
service. Even children who were within and outside the parameters of the church
were affected by the tear smoke and the police
clampdown.
The church service was organised by a coalition of
churches under the theme “Saving Zimbabwe….the unfinished journey”. The church
service was aimed at presenting an opportunity to pray for peace in Zimbabwe as
part of the process of finishing the journey to save the country. It was also
meant to commemorate the events of the 11 March 2007 Save Zimbabwe Prayer
Meeting, where one activist Gift Tandare was shot dead while over 100 political
and human rights activists were arrested, tortured and detained through similar
heavy-handed police action.
ENDS
http://www.radiovop.com/
11/04/2011 13:41:00
Harare,
April 11, 2011 – Zanu (PF) and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
negotiators have referred public violence issues and the continued tenure of
the country’s partisan security chiefs to the principals after failing to
reach an agreement on the contentious items.
Sources have revealed
the negotiators, who met last week, haggled endlessly
over issues
outstanding but reached a deadlock over the two items.
So emotive are the
issues that it has emerged the negotiators came close to
trading physical
blows over the matter.
Reports say Zanu PF negotiators Patrick Chinamasa
and Nicholas Goche were
adamant national security institutions were
untouchable and should never
come before any political
negotiation.
On the other hand, Mugabe’s opponents have blamed the
security commanders
for patent bias towards President Robert Mugabe’s
party.
“The stumbling block to a return to democracy in Zimbabwe now lies
with the
partisan security commanders who fear change in Zimbabwe. It has
also become
apparent that Mugabe is no longer in control,” said the
source.
It has also emerged Zanu (PF) negotiators are vehemently
defending the high
handedness and "extra judicial" decisions often taken by
the security
organs, the most recent being the disruption of public
gatherings, some of
which would have been sanctioned by the
courts.
The negotiators are due to meet again on April 20 while the South
African
facilitators of the talks are expected in the country on May
07.
Key on the agenda is the completion of the writing of a new
constitution and
the drafting a roadmap that will lead to free and fair
elections in the
country.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Chris Goko and Reagan Mashavave
Monday, 11 April 2011
09:23
HARARE - Pretoria's anger towards President Robert Mugabe and
his Zanu PF
party mounted yesterday after Zimbabwean state media and erratic
politician
Jonathan Moyo ratched up their ctiticism of President Jacob
Zuma.
State newspapers slated the South African facilitation team at
the weekend,
alleging that it had presented an "embarrassing" report which
reads like "an
MDC-T pamplet" at last weekend's Sadc troika meeting on
Zimbabwe.
The newspaper reports, variously described by analysts and
regional
diplomats yesterday as “pathetic”, “patently contrived”,
“diplomatic
suicide” and “shockingly lacking in wisdom”, even went to the
extent of
making the outrageous claim that Zuma had not read the reports in
advance
and that he also had come to accept that his facilitation team’s
commentary
on Zimbabwe’s deepening political crisis was
one-sided.
Pretoria was further angered by yet another vicious attack on
Zuma and his
foreign affairs minister Maite Nkoane-Mashabane in yesterday’s
edition of
the state run Sunday Mail by serial political flip-flopper Moyo.
He was
particularly acerbic on Nkoane-Mashabane and accused her of engaging
in
“undiplomatic”, “unacceptable” and “reckless megaphone
diplomacy”.
Although Zuma’s international relations advisor, Lindiwe
Zulu, who is also a
member of SA’s facilitation team to Zimbabwe’s inclusive
government, tried
to calm down emotions and said the facilitation team would
not respond to
any issues which were being raised outside official channels,
sources in
Pretoria said the South African government was taking the
“unjustifiable
attacks” very seriously.
“Zuma knows that the
government media in Zimbabwe will never venture outside
of official
positions. To that extent, it is clear that these pathetic
attacks, many of
them personal, as well as the patently contrived stories
about what
allegedly transpired in Livingstone have a ring of official
blessing around
them.
“It is even more dumbfounding that Mugabe is choosing to let loose
people
like Jonathan Moyo, who we note sits in Zanu PF’s politburo, to
attack
President Zuma. This is akin to biting the hand that feeds him and
it is
not smart politics. Pretoria does not need Harare, it is Harare that
is in
desperate need of oxygen from Pretoria,” a reliable source
said.
Zulu said negotiators and the principals to the global political
agreement
(GPA) had not raised any issues in last week’s meetings in Harare
over the
resolution of the troika team in Livingstone, Zambia.
“The
facilitation team will not respond to any questions that are outside
its
mandate. It is clear that these pathetic attacks have a ring of official
blessing’ dealing with and they haven’t raised any issue with our
facilitation role and when we came to Harare last week, none of the
negotiators and the principals raised any complaints to us. The negotiators
and the principals have access to the facilitators,” Zulu said.
Zulu
also made it clear that the facilitation team was not required by
protocol
to present the facilitator’s report to the Zimbabweans before the
troika
accepts the report. She said the report they prepared was for the
troika and
not for the parties in the GPA.
“A report is presented to the troika by
the facilitator. The troika debates
on the facilitator’s report and make a
collective conclusion on what should
be done. The troika can only call the
three parties to clarify on any
position that they may want to be explained
but when everything is clear
there is no need to discuss anything with the
parties involved,” Zulu said.
A Zambian diplomat, who waded into the
furore yesterday, described local
state media allegations around the
Livingstone meeting, as well as Moyo’s
polemic as “incomprehensible
diplomatic suicide” and “shockingly lacking in
wisdom”.
“I cannot
understand what it is that our brothers in Zanu PF are trying to
achieve.
The region has been very good to them for more than a decade and
this is how
they are saying thank you to those who have shielded them for so
long, and
at huge cost to their own interests. This thing (furore) will end
badly,” he
said.
Human Rights researcher Pedzisayi Ruhanya said: “What it means is
that Sadc
now has balls. It is now serious in trying to resolve the Zimbabwe
crisis.
The time of quiet diplomacy is long gone. If Zanu PF is not careful
and
doesn’t listen to Sadc, there will be international
intervention.
“Any election that will be held in Zimbabwe that does not
take advice from
Sadc will result in a full-time pariah state. Zimbabwe will
easily become an
outpost of tyranny as was said by former US secretary of
state, Condoleezza
Rice some years ago.”Contacted for comment the Minister
of state in the
Prime Minister’s office Jameson Timba expressed surprise
that the lies were
being peddled against Sadc.
“The facilitator does
not report to the GPA parties in Zimbabwe but to the
troika. At Livingstone,
the facilitator submitted his report to the troika
which was deliberated on
by the troika three hours to the invitation of the
three parties. No GPA
partner submitted a report as being said.
“Instead all four were asked to
respond to the troika report which had been
presented by President Rupiah
Banda. None of the parties in the GPA were
given a copy of the report. To
therefore suggest that President’s Zuma’s
report is similar to a
non–existent report is the height of fiction,” said
Timba.
Political
analyst, Professor Eldred Masunungure said the opinion pieces that
are being
written in the state media by Moyo, a Zanu PF politburo member do
not
necessarily represent the position of the party but warned that they may
further ‘jeopardise’ the strained relations between South Africa and Zanu PF
in the last two weeks.
“Zanu PF needs to think strategically whether
the opinion pieces being
written will strengthen or further jeopardise its
relations with other Sadc
countries in the region,” Masunungure
said.
“It appears those comments will further jeopardise and contaminate
the
relationship between Zanu PF and Sadc leaders.”
Masunungure said
the handling of the issue by SA’s Zulu shows that she is
more
mature.
“That is a very mature and stateswoman reaction. It clearly
depicts someone
who is more diplomatic in her approach. She exhibits more
maturity in
handling sensitive issues, which is what diplomacy is all about.
Even though
South Africa achieved its majority rule 14 years after
Zimbabwe’s
independence, it is proving to be more diplomatically mature than
Zimbabwe,”
Masunungure said.
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo
distanced his party from Moyo’s
statements in the state media.
“I
haven’t read the statement you are referring to. Our party position was
clarified by George Charamba, that is the position we stand by,” Gumbo said.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Apr 11, 2011 10:45 AM | By Times
LIVE
After a decade of decline, Zimbabwe’s mining industry output
increased by
47.0 percent in 2010 finds Frost & Sullivan after recent
analysis.
Key contributors to this growth included an increase in
production output of
the country’s platinum, diamond, coal and ferrochrome
industries. Growth was
also supported by the resumption in production output
of the country’s gold
mining industry in 2009.
“The introduction of
multiple currencies has assisted most of the mining
entities within the
country to afford purchases of the required machinery,
equipment and
consumables to increase production output,” says Frost &
Sullivan’s
Automation and Electronics Industry Analyst, James Maposa.
Between 2006
and 2008, restrictive foreign currency policies, foreign
exchange shortages,
a weakened Zimbabwean dollar and unprecedented
hyperinflation were among the
major factors that crippled growth and
progression of Zimbabwe’s mining
sector.
“The new foreign exchange policies legalising the use of multiple
currencies
have, therefore, benefitted the country by stabilising the
economy and
curtailing inflation,” explains Maposa.
Mining
consumables such as fuel, chemicals, explosives and adhesives are now
being
imported from neighbouring South Africa with relative ease as a result
of
the new foreign exchange policies. Buoyed by this reform, Frost &
Sullivan expects Zimbabwe’s mining output t o grow by a further 44.0 percent
in 2011. Output growth will allow the country to benefit from the current
rise in global demand and pricing of platinum, diamond and gold
commodities.
For mining sector output growth to continue on an
upward-trend beyond 2011,
the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines has
stated that the industry
needs to invest an estimated US$5.00 billion on
upgrading and expanding
production infrastructure.
A capital outlay
of this magnitude will return production output to
pre-economic crisis
levels. Between 2000 and 2008, mining sector expenditure
had been reduced to
critical maintenance spends as a result of declined
industry earnings and
foreign exchange restrictions that were enforced by
Zimbabwe’s Reserve
Bank.
A weakened Zimbabwean dollar and hyperinflationary pressures were
among the
other factors that reduced the industry’s purchasing power. Maposa
points
out that political instability and prolonged electricity and fuel
shortages
further exacerbated the situation, causing current and potential
investors
to either divest or cancel any planned investment.
From a
production perspective, Frost & Sullivan anticipates a restoration in
investor confidence for Zimbabwe’s mining industry. The new found confidence
is a function of the double digit growth witnessed by the sector in
2010.
“To continue the upward trend, mining companies with operations in
Zimbabwe
will call on investors to support this growth by recapitalising
their
current operations,” says Maposa. The bulk of this investment will be
spent
on returning mines that had been placed under care-and-maintenance to
production.
A significant amount of capital will also be spent on
exploration and
development of reserves within existing mines with purpose
of growing
current production levels. Expenditure will also be channelled
towards
upgrading existing infrastructure, replacing near obsolete
technologies and
assisting the country’s power utility to ensure a constant
energy supply for
their operations.
“These investments are expected
to create lucrative opportunities for regio
nal industrial mining equipment
and machinery suppliers as well as Asian
importers,” believes
Maposa.
Zimbabwe’s mining industry’s positive outlook will however be
impacted by
the government’s indigenisation laws. Gazetted in 2007 with
supporting
regulations issued in February 2010, Zimbabwe’s empowerment laws
require all
foreign-owned companies with a minimum issued share capital of
US$0.5
million to localise ownership of at least 51.0 percent of these
shareholdings.
In March 2011, Zimbabwe’s minister of indigenisation
and economic
empowerment tasked all internationally owned mining companies
with
operations in Zimbabwe to submit an indigenisation plan by the 9th of
May
2011, and, if endorsed by the government, complete the divestiture of at
least 51.0 percent of their issued shares to certain designated entities
within six months.
“Reactions to this directive have been negative,
with shares of Australian
listed platinum mining companies with Zimbabwean
operations, being sold
off,” explains Maposa. Aquarius’ share price dropped
6.9 percent on the
Australian stock exchange following the minister’s
announcement. Zimplats
Holdings share price witnessed a similar trend,
falling by 8.32 percent.
With the government remaining adamant that it
will not reconsider
implementing the indigenisation programme, mining houses
and investors may
reduce their level of investment within the country. This
will therefore
result in Zimbabwe’s mining industry being unable to attract
the required
US$5 billion investment. A review of these indigenisation laws
should,
therefore, be prioritised by the Zimbabwean government to sustain
the
industry’s output growth.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
11 April
2011
The deputy director-general of the CIO, Menard Muzariri, has died at
the age
of 57, SW Radio Africa learned on Monday.
The spymaster, who
reportedly died of a liver ailment on Sunday night,
directed the country’s
intelligence network for nearly three decades. He
rose through the ranks of
the dreaded agency to become deputy head to
Happyton Bonyongwe, the
director-general.
Unlike most senior operatives who joined the CIO in the
1990’s, Muzariri was
one of the few former ZANLA combatants to join the
organisation soon after
independence. During the war of liberation, he was
an intelligence officer
for the ZANLA forces.
Despite working under
the radar for most of his life, Muzariri’s name
remains synonymous with the
Gukurahundi massacres in the Matebeleland
provinces. Known in CIO circles as
a ruthless operator Muzariri, together
with army Colonel Perence Shiri (now
the Airforce commander) presided over
the suppression of the Ndebele people
by the North Korean trained 5th
Brigade, in the southern regions of
Zimbabwe.
‘Generally he remained out of the public eye and shunned the
publicity but
he was well known in the security services for his brutality.
He committed
some of the most serious atrocities during the Gukurahundi
massacres,’ a
former CIO operative now based in London said.
He told
us Muzariri was one of the officers who led public executions, often
forcing
victims to dig their own graves in front of family and villagers.
‘Ask
anyone who survived the massacres and they will tell you, Muzariri was
bad
news. His CIO operatives, with the help of the 5th Brigade, would
routinely
round up villagers and march them at gun point to a central place.
There
they would be forced to sing Shona songs praising ZANU PF, at the same
time
being beaten with sticks. These gatherings usually ended with public
executions,’ another source told us.
Lately Muzariri was into farming
and was a neighbour to Reward Marufu,
brother to Grace Mugabe who died in
August last year at his farm outside
Bindura, in Mashonaland central
province. Both grabbed their farms at the
beginning of the controversial
land redistribution exercise.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
11/04/2011 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRIME Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai described as “excellent”
his meeting with
Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos on Monday as the
MDC-T leader
continued with his diplomatic tour of the
region.
Tsvangirai – who has already visited the DRC, Namibia, Tanzania
and
Zambia -- briefed the Angolan leader on the situation in the country
during
the 40-minute meeting in Luanda.
“The meeting was excellent as
it enabled to brief the President José Eduardo
dos Santos on the current
situation in Zimbabwe where there is an inclusive
government for about two
years”, Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters.
He said while Zimbabwe has made
significant progress over the tenure of the
inclusive government there were
some issues which still needed to be
addressed.
“We hope that with
the wisdom and the advice from our leaders of the region
we can overcome the
problems still prevailing in the country", emphasised
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The MDC-T leader said President Dos Santos had expressed his
availability to
hold talks with regional counterparts to help Zimbabwe’s
political
leadership fulfill the terms of the Global Political Agreement and
ensure
free and fair elections.
Zimbabwe is expected to hold fresh
elections later in the year to elect a
substantive government amid concerns
about renewed violence in the country.
http://www.radiovop.com
11/04/2011
11:44:00
Harare, April 11, 2011 - Community Radio Harare (CORAH), a
local initiative,
has filed an application with the High Court seeking a
relief to have its
broadcasting licence application considered by the
Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) as well as an order compelling the
regulatory board to call
for broadcasting licence applications.
The
application was filed on 4 April, 2011.
The respondents in this matter
are BAZ and the Minister of Media,
Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu,
in his official capacity as the
minister responsible for the conduct of
BAZ.
In the application, CORAH notes that it wrote to BAZ on September 28
2010,
applying for a community radio broadcasting licence as well as
notifying the
authority of their state of readiness to broadcast once a
licence is issued
to them. The application was subsequently declined on
January 24 2011 on the
grounds that there had been no call for licences as
provided for under
section 10 of the BSA (Broadcasting Services Act), which
states that
applications can only be received and processed after BAZ has
made an
invitation for such applications.
CORAH contends that it has
not been possible to apply for a licence since
BAZ has not called for
broadcasting licence applications since 2004 and that
the authority’s
failure to call and issue licences “...is on its own an
illegality and must
be justified.”
CORAH further contends that BAZ has a duty to enable
eligible applicants to
apply for and obtain radio licences and that as an
aspiring broadcaster;
they have a legitimate expectation to be provided a
fair and reasonable
opportunity to apply and be granted a
licence.
CORAH is also demanding that BAZ be compelled to make a call for
licences
twice annually.
The application was made by a member of MISA
Zimbabwe’s Media Lawyers
Network, Wellington Pasipanodya, with the support
of the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights. All the respondents are yet to
file their response.
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News |
Raoul du Toit, a Zimbabwe-based conservationist who has taken a very direct approach to saving Africa's Critically Endangered black rhino, has been selected as one of the six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize.
The prize, founded by American philanthropist Richard Goldman, is the world's largest award for grassroots environmentalists.
One recipient from each of the world's six inhabited continents will receive the $150,000 (£92,000) prize.
Mr du Toit's fellow recipients include a biologist who initiated a local movement to stop industrial pollution flowing into an Indonesian river that provides water to three million people, and an activist who has fought to protect a remote island off Russia's far east from being damaged by an oil development project.
Devastated population
Raoul du Toit founded the Lowveld Rhino Conservancy Project in 1990, whilst he was working with the World Wildlife Foundation.
We want to buy rhinos from the
commercial operations and give them to local communities Raoul du
Toit |
He is now director of the Lowveld Rhino Trust, and his work over more than two decades has saved Zimbabwe's black rhino population from being permanently decimated by poaching.
"In the late 1980s, Zimbabwe had Africa's largest black rhino population - about 1,500 animals," he explained.
"But cross-border poaching by Zambian gangs devastated the populations and by 1992 rhino numbers had fallen to under 600.
"We wanted to put these rhinos somewhere safer."
Throughout the project, he and his colleagues moved black and white rhinos away from the border into a range of conservancies in the Lowveld region.
Since the area was home to many large cattle ranches, he worked with the ranchers - in particular in helping them install perimeter fencing, to allow them to farm alongside the vast open plains that the rhinos need to range.
This was almost an immediate success; the thriving wildlife tourism industry meant that protecting rhinos was profitable for the private sector.
Breeding projects were set up and the rhino population recovered dramatically.
But in 2000, the private sector strength of these areas became their weakness.
Chaos and opportunity
Robert Mugabe's government turned ranching operations in Zimbabwe upside down.
"With the draconian land reform policies, the private ranching areas were subject to nationalisation - and subsistence farming expanded into the conservancies," Mr du Toit recalled.
"With the economic decline and political insecurity, the rhinos weren't able to pay their way any more."
Though many conservation projects collapsed as professionals left the country, Mr du Toit has continued his work.
"Politically, we are in a mess right now and we need to get out of it, but in times of chaos there's also some opportunity," he told BBC News.
"Because we don't have a country that's rigidly governed - that's set its own development goals - we can set out our own path and make alliances with people who want to plan for the future of Zimbabwe."
A reduction in law enforcement, though, has coincided with an increase in poaching in the formerly well-protected area.
The animals are slaughtered to supply the the illegal trade in rhino horn, which is a rare and prized commodity fetching high prices in Asia.
Mr du Toit's solution is to work with local communities in Zimbabwe, to make rhino conservation a self-sustaining business once again.
"We want to buy rhinos from the commercial operations and give them to local communities," he explained.
He envisions the money generated - from, for example, international development funds and from wildlife tourism - going into a trust fund that would pay a sort of dividend for these locally-owned rhinos.
"So we would be able to pay people every time a rhino is born in their community."
The Lowveld conservancies are now home to more than 400 black rhinos, 7% of the entire global population.
And Mr du Toit is optimistic about the future.
He says it is "a completely inaccurate cliché" to portray rhinos as dinosaurs that are due for extinction.
Mr du Toit concluded: "They are biologically capable of thriving and contributing to wildlife-based tourism to the extent that they definitely have a future in Africa if poaching can be controlled."
Environmental heroes
The Goldman Prize is in its 22nd year. The six winners will be awarded the prize at a ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House in the US on Monday.
Francisco Pineda (r) risks his life
to protect El Salvador's water resources
|
This year's other winners are:
• Francisco Pineda, from El Salvador, led a citizens' movement that stopped a gold mine from destroying the country's water resources. He now lives under constant threat of assassination and has 24-hour police protection.
• Dmitry Lisitsyn, from Russia, who has fought to protect the threatened ecosystem of Sakhalin Island in Russia's far east from being damaged by a large petroleum development project.
• Ursula Sladek, from Germany, created her country's first cooperatively-owned renewable power company.
• Prigi Arisandi, from Indonesia, initiated a local movement to stop industrial pollution from flowing into a river that provides water to three million people.
• Hilton Kelley, from the US, has fought for poor communities affected by pollution from petrochemical and hazardous waste facilities on the Gulf coast of Texas.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Oscar Nkala
Monday, 11 April 2011
09:52
BULAWAYO - The United States Africa Command (Africom) says the
continued
political instability in Zimbabwe and Madagascar poses a serious
regional
security threat to all member states of the Southern African
Development
Community (Sadc).
In an African regional security
breifing presented to the United States
House of Senate Armed Services
Committee last Tuesday, Africom said while
countries in the southern Africa
block are highly developed compared to the
other parts of the continent,
they currently face serious threats emanating
from governance failures in
Madagascar and refugees from Zimbabwe.
“Southern Africa is highly
developed economically; yet, the region still has
some significant problems.
Governance challenges, inflation, and refugees
from Zimbabwe present
challenges to Southern African nations.
“Two states with great potential,
Zimbabwe and Madagascar, have difficult
internal political challenges while
Botswana continues to rise from one of
the world’s poorest countries to
middle-income status,” reads part of the
statement, released from Africom
headquarters in Stuggart, Germany.
It noted encouraging progress in its
partnership with Botswana and growing
military relations with South Africa,
which it said actively participates in
the African Partnership Stations
programme, the US Africa Command’s primary
maritime security engagement
initiative.
It said the recent establishment of a Strategic Dialogue
initiative to
foster close cooperation ‘in areas of mutual concern’ between
South Africa’s
International Relations and Cooperation minister Maite
Nkoana-Mashabane and
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is evidence that
relations are
becoming even more cordial.
On East Africa, the
briefing says security threats range from the raging
al-Shabbab-led Islamist
insurgency in Somalia to the murderous operations of
the Ugandan Lord’s
Resistance Army rebels whose theatre of operation saddles
the DRC, Central
Africa Republic, Uganda, Chad and Sudan.
“The interlocking security
challenges of Somalia’s instability, Southern
Sudan’s transition to
statehood, al-Shabaab’s dangerous alignment with
al-Qaida, which threatens
not only the region but also the American homeland
and interests, and the
persistent threat from LRA, require both regional and
bilateral solutions,”
said Africom.
While the West African region was hailed as a promising
theatre of
heightened US-Africa security co-operation in the light of
military capacity
building collaborations with Nigeria and Ghana, recent
election disputes in
Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire are seen as indicative of
stubborn regional
problems.
However, it pointed out that Liberia’s
revitalisation demonstrates that West
African states can also take positive
steps ‘to overcome violence, poverty,
and disorder.’
The briefing
said the emergence of highly organised Islamic terrorism
threatens the
security of North Africa. “Al-Qaida in the Lands of the
Islamic Maghreb has
emerged as a direct threat to the stability and security
of North Africa as
well as the West African Sahelian countries of Niger and
Mali.
“To
assist these countries in meeting this extremist challenge, the US
Africa
Command supports the Department of State-led inter-agency
Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Partnership through Operation Enduring
Freedom
Trans-Sahara initiative, which we hope to use to strengthen regional
counter-terrorism and security capabilities.”
Africom said North
Africa also faces complex problems of trafficking in
humans, drugs and
weapons while territorial governance failures have left
huge acres of
isolated and ungoverned desert space in the Sahel which
extremist and rebel
groups have secured and continue to use as their
training academies and rear
bases.
Set up amid serious controversy at the height of former US
president George
Bush’s war on terror in 2007, the US Africa Command remains
headquartered in
Stuggart, Germany and operates only one huge forward base
with enhanced
operational, intelligence and surveillance capacities in the
small Horn of
Africa nation of Djibouti.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
Taking shape ... The ethanol plant
at Chisumbanje
11/04/2011 00:00:00
by Gilbert
Nyambabvu
GREEN FUEL, a $600 million agro-industrial and renewable
energy complex
under development at Chisumbanje in Manicaland is, this June,
expected to
produce its first litre of ethanol in a development that could
potentially
revolutionise the local fuel market by addressing the
twin-challenges of
cost and security of supply.
As a net importer,
Zimbabwe is vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the global
oil market where
crude oil prices have risen 75 percent since the second
quarter of 2010 and
supply concerns continue on the back of political
instability in the Middle
East.
Management at Green Fuel – a joint venture between the state-run
ARDA and
private investors -- say when fully operational, the project will
produce
enough ethanol to significantly cut-down Zimbabwe’s fuel import bill
and
help end shortages the country experiences all too
frequently.
Cheap alternative
Globally, the oil majors are also
turning to ethanol as a renewable and
cheaper alternative to petroleum with
BP chief executive, Bob Dudley noting
in February 2011: “There will
obviously be a time when oil will run out and
with that prospect on the
horizon we will use more renewable energy
sources.”
Dudley added
that his firm was committing 40 percent of its research on
renewable energy
resources for the year to Brazil ethanol, describing it as
an “ultra-potent
fuel that could revolutionise the market”. Not to be
outdone, Royal Dutch
Shell also announced that it had set-up a US$12 billion
joint venture with
Brazil’s biggest sugar and ethanol producer.
The interest in Brazil is
logical. The country has the second largest
national fuel industry after the
United States and 85 percent of vehicles on
the country’s roads have
flexi-engines which run on either ethanol or petrol
or a mixture of
both.
Green Fuel have also modeled their project on Brazil which took
this path
more than three decades ago when one litre of ethanol was three
times more
expensive than a litre of petrol.
The company envisages
putting up to 50 000 hectares of ARDA land at
Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi
under sugarcane which will supply at least three
ethanol production
plants.
Already, US$200 million has been invested in the project, rising
to US$270
million by December 2011 when 11500 hectares of land will be under
sugarcane, producing some 40 million litres of ethanol.
Advertisement
“We will be producing ethanol at a much cheaper cost than
we are currently
importing petroleum products into the country,” general
manager, Graeme
Smith told newzimbabwe.com recently.
But the
government and the local fuel sector will have to buy-into the
vision for
the project to work.
Support
Elsewhere, the US government
subsidies ethanol production and has introduced
legislation encouraging the
use of blended petrol. Senators are also pushing
for legislation forcing 90
percent of vehicles sold in the country by 2016
to be capable of running on
E85 blend -- fuel that is 85 percent ethanol,
and 15 percent
petrol.
In Brazil the government has, since 2007, fixed the mandatory
blend at 25
percent ethanol and 75 percent petrol which is known as E25. The
local car
industry has responded by boosting production of flexi-engine cars
with 85
percent of new vehicles sold in the country able to run on 100
percent
ethanol.
Smith says the necessary legislative framework for
ethanol use on vehicles
in Zimbabwe is already in place while the government
has backed the Green
Fuel project by giving it National Project
status.
“Legislation is in place and has always been in place since the
1970s in
terms of blending petrol and ethanol because of the water
requirement. Our
ethanol will be anhydrous (without water),” he
said.
“We have also held discussions with the local distribution network
and they
are very supportive of the project”.
The company says
vehicles manufactured after 2002 can use E50 (petrol
blended with 50 percent
ethanol) without the need for any modification while
drivers keen to run on
100 percent ethanol will require a software
modification that costs up to
US$40.
“Vehicles made between 2002 and 1997 can run on 50 percent blend.
Those made
before 1997 can only use E20 although we do not have many such
vehicles on
the road. The company will also provide facilities for the
software
upgrades. It is very viable for us to do that,” he
said.
Challenges
Still, the key question for motorists will be how
much better the ethanol
option is. Critics point out that ethanol is 34
percent less energy
efficient than petrol which means drivers have to make
more trips to the
pumps. They add that ethanol can only be transported by
road since it would
pick up water and impurities in pipelines which adds to
its cost.
Even so, ethanol also has a lower average price per litre than
petrol. A US
Energy Department report for January 2011 noted that a gallon
of petrol sold
for an average US$3.08 against US$2.72 for ethanol. Again, US
ethanol is
produced from maize which is more expensive than producing it
from
sugarcane.
There are also other challenges for the Green Fuel
project. Shareholders
have had to provide all the funding to date because of
a lack of capacity in
the local financial market.
“It has been a
large challenge to source financing for the project since the
local banks do
not have the capacity while sanctions have also put-off
potential investors.
At the moment the funding is coming from our Zimbabwean
shareholders,” Smith
said.
Again it is also predictable that a project of such magnitude would
face
political problems in a country where land is a sensitive issue and
some
politicians are uncomfortable with the arrangement between ARDA and its
technical partners.
The project is being developed on a Build,
Operate and Transfer arrangement
under which ARDA has given two private
companies a 20 year-lease on the land
with automatic rights of
renewal.
Employment
Already, near-on 3000 people have been
employed with company officials
saying 7000 more jobs would have been
created by the completion of all the
development phases, effectively
transforming Chisumbanje into a significant
agro-industrial area.
But
some politicians are not satisfied.
Said Agriculture, Mechanisation and
Irrigation Minister, Joseph Made in
March last year: “I am very concerned
about ARDA going into joint venture
operations that do not reflect the 51-49
percent government-stipulated
shareholding structures. ARDA is free to enter
into joint venture operations
as long as they reflect the 51-49 percent
ownership (requirement) or even
better.”
Smith insists that
shareholders in the companies partnering ARDA are
Zimbabwean; but accepts
that there is considerable risk in operating in a
country where the politics
are unpredictable at best.
“It’s a risk that the shareholders and
investors believe is worth taking.
Look: who has invested in this project?
These people are all Zimbabweans;
they know the country; they know the
people and they know the politics,” he
said.
“Yes, there is a
reasonable amount of risk; but I don’t think it’s a high
risk.”
The
US Embassy is now accepting applications for the 2012 Hubert Humphrey Fellowship
Program. The Hubert Humphrey Fellowship program is a 9-10 month non-degree
granting part academic, part professional program for mid-career professionals.
For more information about the program refer to attached flyer. If you are
interested and eligible to apply please complete the attached preliminary
application form. Deadline for receipt of applications is June 5, 2011.
http://mg.co.za
PIERS PIGOU: ZIMBABWE Apr 11 2011 15:51
Zanu-PF's
announcement at its December 2010 congress that only an election
could chart
a way forward for Zimbabwe signalled the beginning of the end
for the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) and the fractious coexistence of
its inclusive
government, now two years old.
Since then, there has been a significant
increase in reported levels of
violence, repressive state action, malicious
prosecution of leaders of the
Tsvangirai faction of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and civic
actors, as well as increased levels of
pro-Zanu-PF and anti-MDC state media
propaganda.
Two weeks ago, the
leader of the MDC, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,
briefed South African
Development Community facilitator Jacob Zuma on the
deteriorating
conditions, pleading for protection and warning that the
situation was
spiralling out of control and that the MDC may be forced to
pull out of the
government.
South Africa and the region have heard such pleas before, and
some may
remain suspicious that the MDC and its leader are crying wolf. The
"body
count" may be incomparable to other crises on the continent, but there
is no
escaping the fact that the house of cards Thabo Mbeki was instrumental
in
constructing in Zimbabwe is on the verge of collapse. Even if it does
survive, it seems incapable of delivering a sustainable solution in its
current configuration.
The GPA was intended to provide a platform for
implementing reform that
would lay the basis for the restoration of a
legitimate democratic process
in Zimbabwe. Seen by some as a betrayal of the
popular vote and a reward for
Zanu-PF's violent campaign to avert a transfer
of power to the MDC, the
agreement has been described as "the only game in
town" in the absence of
any feasible alternative. It is a game, however, in
which the odds have been
heavily stacked in favour of
Zanu-PF.
Indeed, from its inception, there was an obvious distortion in
the balance
of power in favour of Zanu-PF, especially because the party
would retain
virtually exclusive control over the security and
criminal-justice
establishment, and by extension the infrastructure of
repression.
This has enabled Zanu-PF to manipulate and resist the reform
matrix set out
in the accord, leaving large segments of the GPA in a
permanent (and
unresolved) state of negotiation. Even agreements made
between the
negotiating teams and subsequently endorsed by political
principals have,
without explanation, not been implemented. The GPA's
internal monitoring and
review mechanisms, designed to determine what is
working and what is not and
how to fix it, are essentially defunct.
Violations are not sanctioned and
those responsible for them have not been
held accountable.
Dealing with violence and impunity
Zimbabweans are
consistently told that they have the framework for resolving
their
differences and that failure to do so is primarily their
responsibility. Of
course, this is true, but it is a discourse that avoids
an honest reflection
on the import of the inclusive government's power
disparities and one that
hides behind unsustainable notions of equitable
responsibility for
non-implementation. It is designed essentially to avoid
having to hold
Zanu-PF accountable and exposes how the SADC appears trapped
in
no-man's-land between its increasingly contradictory roles of facilitator
and GPA guarantor.
The most immediate and pressing challenge is to
deal with violence and
impunity, the partisan nature of security and
policing concerns, and the
associated breakdown in law and order. Most
Zimbabweans have been affected
directly or indirectly by political violence
since independence and this
situation has degenerated significantly in the
past decade. There is a
widespread lack of trust and confidence in state
structures, which
underscores the importance of a sustainable reform agenda
that invests in
confidence-building measures in state institutions,
especially those
responsible for preventing and remedying
violence.
Lloyd Sachinkonye's incisive review of political violence over
the past 50
years in Zimbabwe, When a State Turns on Its Citizens (Jacana),
has recently
been published. It provides an essential overview of why and
how violence
has become an ingrained part of Zimbabwe's political culture
and what its
consequences are.
It sets out Zanu-PF's primary
responsibilities in this regard, and explains
why we should all be concerned
about the weakness of the current reform
process and the dangers associated
with not reforming the security sector,
not breaking the cycle of violence
and accompanying systems of impunity. It
has profound implications for human
security in Southern Africa beyond the
borders of Zimbabwe.
Further
elections are inevitable, sooner or later, but they do not provide
any
possibility of solving Zimbabwe's problems unless they are rooted in a
tangible reform process that is put into action. The correlation between
elections and violence in Zimbabwe is obvious and has contributed to
significant numbers disengaging from democratic participation. Just more
than 2,5-million Zimbabweans, less than 43% of registered voters (from a
highly contested voters roll) voted in the 2008 elections -- fewer than the
numbers who voted in 1980.
The violent 2008 election campaign
demonstrated how Zanu-PF could
successfully coerce more than a million
additional voters to the voting
booths. Whether elections are held in 2011
or 2012, the question is not
whether there will be intimidation and
violence, but rather how significant
it will be.
In this context, it
remains to be seen whether the SADC will prioritise
robust engagement with
issues of political violence. Its track record makes
it seem unlikely that
it can or will exert more pressure on the recalcitrant
elements swimming
against the tide of democratic reform and, by extension,
holding prospects
for a sustainable solution in Zimbabwe to ransom.
As Sydney Mufamadi, one
of the Mbeki's facilitation team, pointed out at a
civic briefing in Harare
in 2009, "If one party decides to place itself
beyond persuasion, there is
very little you can do." Can do, one might ask,
or will do? The South
Africans have made it clear they won't publicly
censure those they seek to
influence. It's a fine line to tread, especially
when constructive
engagement appears perilously akin to appeasement.
Piers Pigou is an
independent consultant
http://www.slate.com/id/2290945/
Africa's
Worst Dictator
By Christopher HitchensPosted Monday, April 11, 2011, at 10:35 AM
ET
Now that the South African political leadership has—after years of
shameful
silence and even complicity—declined to continue its open-ended
indulgence
of Robert Mugabe, it becomes possible to envisage a time when
Zimbabwe will
be free of the hideous regime of one man and one-party rule.
Other
contributing factors, such as Mugabe's age and the inspiring influence
of
events at the other end of Africa, can be listed. But the democratic
opposition in Zimbabwe predates the "Arab spring" by several years and must
now count in its own right as one of the world's most stubborn and brave
movements.
Peter Godwin's most recent book, The Fear, updates the
continuing story of
popular resistance. In my opinion it's not quite as
powerful as his earlier
book, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, but it does
convey the awful immediate
reality of a state where official lawlessness and
cruelty are the norm. It
also maps the symptoms of regime-decay: If only for
nakedly opportunist
reasons, there are increasing numbers of people among
Mugabe's own clientele
who are looking to a future when the
near-nonagenarian (he is 87) will no
longer be with us.
How did
things descend to this nightmare level? Robert Mugabe did not come
to power
through a coup. He emerged as the leader of a serious guerrilla
army, who
then fought and won a British-supervised election. For his first
several
years in office, he practiced a policy of reconciliation (at least
with the
white population, if not with his tribal rivals in the Matabeleland
province). During the years of the revolution, I met Mugabe several times
and am still ashamed of how generally favorably I wrote him up. But he was
impressive then, both as soldier and politician and survivor of long-term
political imprisonment, and when I noticed the cold and ruthless side of his
personality I suppose I tended to write it down as a function of his arduous
formation. Also, in those days the reactionary white settlers would console
themselves with a culture of ugly rumors (such as Mugabe's supposed syphilis
and mental degeneration), which I was determined not to
gratify.
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The syphilis story can't have been true or
Mugabe would not be the
annoyingly long-lived man he has become. But
something did go horribly
wrong, and among those who remember those years
there is an unending parlor
game about exactly what that something was.
Mugabe, some people say, was
never the same after the death of his charming
Ghanaian-born wife, Sally.
Not only that, but the second wife was the sort
who likes shopping sprees
and private jets and different palaces for summer
and winter. (Thank
goodness for this class of women, by the way: They have
helped discredit
many a dictator.)
Another early bad symptom was
Mugabe's morbid fascination with, and hatred
of, homosexuality. He suddenly
decided that Zimbabwe was being honeycombed
with sodomy and began to display
symptoms of acute paranoia. Macabre as this
was, it hardly explains his
subsequent decision to destroy his country's
agricultural infrastructure by
turning it into a spoils system for party
loyalists, or his decision to send
Zimbabwean troops on looting expeditions
into Congo.
Writing on all
this some years ago, Peter Godwin opted for the view that
Mugabe wasn't
explicable by any change in circumstances or personality. He
had had the
heart and soul of a tyrant all along, and simply waited until he
could give
the tendency an unfettered expression. Even though I have a
quasi-psychological theory of my own—that Mugabe became corroded by jealousy
of the adulation heaped on Nelson Mandela—I now think that this is almost
certainly right. In the Sino-Soviet split that divided African nationalists
in the 1960s and 1970s (with the ANC of South Africa, for example, clearly
favoring the Soviet Union) Mugabe was not just pro-Chinese. He was pro-North
Korean. He enlisted Kim Il Sung to train his notorious Praetorian Guard, the
so-called "Fifth Brigade," and to design the gruesome monument to those who
fell in the war of liberation. Some of his white-liberal apologists used to
argue that Mugabe couldn't really be a believing Stalinist because he was
such a devoted Roman Catholic. But this consideration—while it might help
explain his obsession with sexual deviance—might weigh on the opposite scale
as well. Catholics can be extremely authoritarian, and Mugabe has, in
addition, done very well from his Vatican connection. He broke the ban on
his traveling to Europe by visiting the pope as an honored guest. The church
unfrocked Pius Ncube, the outspokenly anti-Mugabe bishop of Bulawayo, for
apparently having an affair with his (female) secretary. Festooned and
bemerded with far graver sins, Mugabe remains a Roman Catholic in good
standing, and it's impossible to imagine what he would now have to do to
earn himself excommunication.
If you want a catalog of those sins,
turn to Godwin's books. But don't read
them just for outrage at the terrible
offense to humanity. They also
describe a new sort of Zimbabwean,
emancipated from racial and tribal
feeling by a long common struggle against
a man who doesn't scruple to
employ racial and tribal demagoguery. In those
old days of arguing with the
white settlers, one became used to their
endless jeering refrain: "Majority
rule will mean one man, one vote—one
time!" They couldn't have been more
wrong. Since gaining independence three
decades ago, the Zimbabwean people
have braved every kind of intimidation
and repression to go on registering
their votes. They have made dogged use
of the courts and the press, which
continue to function in a partial way, to
uphold pluralism and dissent.
Mugabe has lost important votes in Parliament
and—last time—his electoral
majority in the country at large. Only the
undisguised use of force and the
wholesale use of corruption have kept his
party in office. One day, the
civic resistance to this, which was often
looked-down upon by people
considering themselves revolutionary, will earn
the esteem and recognition
it deserves.