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HARARE (AFP) - Nine Zimbabwe opposition activists recovering
from beatings
in police custody were taken out of hospital by state security
agents, their
lawyer said on Sunday.
The nine were later found at
Harare central prison late afternoon after the
lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, had
visited several police stations throughout the
day, he told AFP.
The men
had been hospitalised on Saturday for injuries suffered after a
police
crackdown in the capital Harare in the week. They were sent to
hospital
after one collapsed while awaiting a bail hearing at a magistrate
court on
Saturday.
"The guys were abducted last night from hospital around 2300
GMT by state
security agents," Muchadehama, a lawyer for the main opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), said Sunday.
"They were taken
from the wards without any hospital discharge cards or
anything to say they
have been released.
"We understand the guys who took them were also
accompanied by prison
officials." Some were on intravenous drips when they
were taken away.
Muchadehama said he intended going to court on Monday to
ask for an order
that the nine be returned to hospital without further
police interference.
Several MDC officials and supporters were arrested
last week in what police
said was a clampdown on fire bombers accused of a
series of attacks across
the southern African country.
The MDC has
denied the accusations saying its members, charged with
attempted murder
over the firebombing of a ruling ZANU-PF office this week,
were
framed.
On Friday, a defiant President Robert Mugabe told supporters that
MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai had deserved a recent beating by
police.
The veteran leader, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence
from Britain
in 1980, said he had told fellow African leaders at a summit
last week that
his arch rival had deserved to be
assaulted.
Addressing a rally in Shona, Mugabe said of Thursday's summit
of the
Southern African Development Community in Tanzania: "Yes, I told them
he was
beaten but he asked for it."
"We got full backing, not even
one (leader) criticised our actions," added
the president, who on Friday was
chosen by his party to stand for another
term in office.
Mugabe has
been widely condemned by the West for the arrests and assaults of
Tsvangirai
and other MDC members last month as they tried to stage an
anti-government
rally.
By ANGUS SHAW
Associated Press
Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Heavily armed
paramilitary police raided a popular
nightclub in an affluent, predominantly
white part of Zimbabwe's capital,
attacking teenagers with riot batons and
detaining scores for hours,
witnesses said Sunday.
The raid came
after police shut down bars and beer halls in impoverished
black townships
as part of its latest crackdown on dissent. It was the first
time an upscale
establishment patronized by the nation's dwindling white
community has been
targeted.
Witness Keith Murray, 20, said about 20 paramilitary police
armed with
automatic rifles and batons stormed the Glow nightclub Saturday
night and
forced revelers - both white and black - to sit on the dance floor
in
silence. Three who protested and kept talking were assaulted, he
said.
Another witness, who did not want to be identified for fears of
reprisals,
said police struck the three teenagers with rubber batons and hit
them
around the head and shoulders. The witness said they were not
injured.
The youths were jostled into lines and frog-marched into a cage
wire
enclosure outside. At least 100 were then taken in police buses to the
feared downtown central police station. One who tried to get onto a police
bus to help his girlfriend was dragged off and hit. Another girl asking
friends to call her parents was slapped for not remaining silent, Murray
said.
A number of revelers outside the club said they saw teenage
girls being
slapped, manhandled and jostled onto the buses.
Police
said they launched the raid to clamp down on alleged underage
drinking,
according to witnesses. Some youths were also targeted for not
carrying
identity cards required under security laws, the witnesses said.
Most of
those detained were teenage girls, many of them white, and they were
released after daybreak. Several of the youths were treated for shock. One
parent said some of the girls became "hysterical" and were taken for medical
treatment.
"I was distraught," said one white parent, who asked not
to be identified
for fears of reprisals. "One way to drive more of us out of
the country is
to arrest our children."
The government has routinely
accused whites, mainly the descendants of
colonial-era British settlers, of
backing its opponents. An estimated 30,000
whites live in Zimbabwe, down
from about 270,000 when the country became
independent in 1980.
In
2000, Mugabe's government began violently seizing thousands of
white-owned
commercial farms as part of a program to redistribute land to
poor blacks.
The chaotic way the seizures were carried out disrupted the
agriculture-based economy in Zimbabwe, a former regional breadbasket,
plunging the country into its worst economic crisis since independence in
1980.
Annual inflation is running at more than 1,000 percent, the
highest in the
world.
Tensions have been high in Zimbabwe since
security forces broke up a prayer
meeting by opposition activists on March
9, severely beating dozens of
people, including Morgan Tsvangirai, head of
the Movement for Democratic
Change.
Last week, police stormed the
party's headquarters and arrested 60 people,
including Tsvangirai, who had
planned to talk to reporters about the recent
wave of political violence,
party officials said. They said several
activists were beaten.
Nine
of the activists detained in the raid were charged with attempted
murder and
illegal weapons possession in what the government alleged was a
terror
campaign. On Saturday, the activists all required medical attention
for
injuries sustained since their arrests, doctors said. One was carried
from
the Harare magistrates' court on a stretcher.
Doctors and staff at
private medical facilities where the detainees were
taken under police guard
said the nine appeared to have been assaulted while
in
custody.
Police later Saturday removed the detainees from the facilities,
saying they
were being taken for government treatment, said medical staff
who asked not
to be identified.
On Friday, Mugabe acknowledged that
police used violent methods against
Tsvangirai and other opposition
supporters and killed at least one activist
last month. Referring to
injuries suffered by at least 40 others in custody,
Mugabe warned
perpetrators of unrest they would be "bashed" again if
violence
continued.
Zimbabwe's ruling party has endorsed Mugabe as its candidate
in next year's
presidential elections, shrugging off international criticism
of the
clampdown on opposition activists. The 145-member decision-making
body also
agreed to bring forward parliamentary elections, scheduled for
2010, by two
years to coincide with the presidential poll.
The
election would allow Mugabe to stay in power until 2013, when he would
be
close to 90.
Financial Times
By Tony Hawkins
in Harare
Published: April 1 2007 18:08 | Last updated: April 1 2007
18:08
After the failure of last week's regional diplomacy to resolve the
Zimbabwe
crisis, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is staging a
two-day
"national stay away" to demand a ten-fold increase in industrial
minimum
wages.
Past efforts to stage national protests by the ZCTU
have flopped, but
tensions in Zimbabwe are running high because of the
brutal treatment of
political detainees and the collapse of real wages in
the economy with
inflation of 1730 per cent.
ZCTU President Lovemore
Matombo said the unions were demanding a national
minimum wage of Z$1m a
month (£22 at the parallel exchange rate of Z$40 000
to the pound) but this
has been rejected by the government which recently
gazetted a minimum wage
for domestic workers of only Z$25 000 a month.
The unions are locked into
negotiations with the government over a proposed
"Social Contract" that was
due to have come into force on March 1 but which
is stalled over employer
demands for price flexibility, labour calls for a
national minimum wage and
the government's refusal to take meaningful steps
to curb
inflation.
The ZCTU, whose leaders were severely assaulted by police
after their last
demonstration in 2006, said there would be no public
activities or marches.
Instead workers are being urged to keep a low
profile.
Reports of police brutality, especially in the last few days,
may weaken the
resolve of trade unionists to support the strike. Members of
the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change arrested last week on
allegations of
possessing arms and explosives and of throwing petrol bombs
at a train and
houses who were taken to court on Saturday had clearly been
seriously beaten
while in custody.
"Almost all of them were unable to
walk, and two were whisked to hospital by
ambulance while on life-support
systems," a MDC spokesman said on Sunday.
One was carried from the Harare
magistrates' court on a stretcher.
Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, the
party's secretary for international
affairs, said that some of the MDC
politicians who had been remanded by the
magistrate on instructions that
they be taken to hospital for treatment
under police guard, were later
abducted "by unknown individuals in uniform".
Ian Makone, a close adviser
of party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and the party's
election organiser is
said to be a serious condition following his arrest by
the police last
week.
Following Thursday's regional summit of Southern African leaders
that backed
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's continued rule, the Zimbabwe
leader
claimed that his African peers, including South African President
Thabo
Mbeki, also supported the harsh treatment of opposition activists.
Earth Times
Posted on :
Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:59:00 GMT | Author :
DPA
Harare/Johannesburg - Police will be deployed
to make sure workers are
not intimidated during a planned strike by
Zimbabwe's main trade union body
this week, Labour Minister Nicholas Goche
warned Sunday. President Robert
Mugabe's government, under fire from Western
nations over a brutal clampdown
on the opposition, is strongly opposed to
the nationwide job stayaway called
by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tensions are running high in
Zimbabwe following the brutal beating
last month of opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and several of his
colleagues - treatment which Mugabe said
Tsvangirai asked for.
A number of opposition officials were accused
of planning petrol bomb
attacks and were also badly beaten this week in a
move that has sparked
outrage in the West.
Writing in the
official Sunday Mail newspaper, Goche appealed to
workers to ignore the call
for a strike this week and to report for work as
normal.
Government would ensure that transport is available during the days in
question and police details will be there to ensure that workers are not
intimidated when boarding buses on their way to their respective workplaces,
Goche said.
The ZCTU has called the strike to protest
government's failure to deal
with a rapidly worsening economic crisis and to
press for a minimum wage
linked to the Poverty Datum Line. Planned marches
by the ZCTU in September
resulted in the arrests and beatings of union
officials.
Goche claimed some in the ZCTU were working with the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and other pro-democracy
groups seeking
regime change in Zimbabwe.
Police commissioner
Wayne Bvudzijena called on Zimbabweans to report
anyone who tries to
intimidate others into staying away from work, the
Sunday Mail said in a
separate report.
Meanwhile a number of foreign trade union groups
have expressed
solidarity with the ZCTU ahead of the planned
strike.
A statement signed by trade unions from Nigeria, Ghana,
Zambia,
Malawi, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands said: "We express our
solidarity with the actions the ZCTU is calling for on April 3 and 4, and
with all the workers and citizens of Zimbabwe joining in those actions."
Yahoo News
calls
by
Godfrey Marawanyika Sun Apr 1, 10:40 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - The Zimbabwean
government on Sunday urged workers to ignore
calls by labour union leaders
for a two-day general strike in protest
against the country's economic
meltdown.
"I wish to appeal to all workers to ignore the
politically-motivated
stayaway being called for by the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) on
April 3 and 4," Labour Minister Nicholas Goche said
in a statement.
The ZCTU said it decided to call a general labour shutdown
over the
authorities' failure to respond to concerns about the worsening
economic
crisis.
Four in every five potential workers are jobless in
Zimbabwe and official
inflation stands at 1,730 percent.
"Government
has learned that it is the individuals in the ZCTU who are
aligned to the
oppositional politics of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)...who want
to be seen participating in the current Western-backed
violence aimed at
regime change in Zimbabwe," Goche said.
He said everyone should report
for work as usual, adding that the
authorities would ensure public transport
was available and security ensured
during the strike days.
"Employers
are free to deal with the workers who choose to deliberately stay
away from
work," he said.
In September, labour unions were forced to abandon plans
for mass
anti-government protests after organisers were rounded up in a
police
crackdown.
Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downward spiral
for the last seven years,
characterised by runaway inflation and perennial
shortages of basic
commodities.
Its annual rate of inflation, already
the highest in the world, should hit
4,000 percent by year-end, according to
the International Monetary Fund
(IMF).
Several trade unions in Europe
and Africa have thrown their weight behind
the ZCTU strike call.
"The
government of Zimbabwe should take steps to address the economic
meltdown,"
said national umbrella unions of Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Malawi,
the
Netherlands, Finland and Denmark in a statement published in Zimbabwe's
The
Standard independent weekly.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU) said it would hold
demonstrations next week in a show of solidarity
with Zimbabwean workers.
"COSATU is giving its full support to its trade
union comrades in Zimbabwe,
as they struggle against an economic catastrophe
and more and more vicious
attacks on their members and leaders," it said in
a statement.
The congress, which is critical of the Pretoria government's
policy of
"quiet diplomacy" towards its northern neighbour, said South
Africans and
Zimbabweans living in South Africa would march on the
Zimbabwean consulate
in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
President Thabo
Mbeki was tasked by the Southern African Development
Community last week to
promote talks between the government and opposition
leaders in
Zimbabwe.
South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, meanwhile, reported that
at least
49,000 Zimbabweans were illegally crossing into South Africa every
month.
The Zimbabwean
(01-04-07)
GC, a middle aged
man was taken from Dzivarasekwa 2 around midday on
Thursday 29th March,
2007. They were actually looking for his sister who is
an MDC district
chairlady. Then they went direct to where her daughter
stays, picked her up
and took them both to Mondoro (approximately 80 kms
from Harare) where they
were beaten up. (full details to follow). The
daughter was treated and has
gone home.
GC was particularly badly injured and is in Hospital. He is
suffering from
TB, lost his wife 3 months ago and he has three small
children under the age
of 8.
AM, arrested by 6 plain clothes
operatives and driven out to Mazoe. They
blindfolded and gagged him. He
was beaten by the six men who all had
weapons and threatened to shoot him.
They used baton sticks, flat hands,
booted feet and their weapons to assault
him. He was then taken to the CID
Law and Order offices where the torture
continued, beating on his back,
buttocks and feet. He was threatened with
death if he did not sign an
affidavit admitting that he had petrol bombed
the Mbare Police Station.
Denied access to legal representation and medical
attention.
HM, also accused of petrol bombing. Armed CID Law and
Order details arrived
at his home at around 3am on 27th March, 2007 and took
him to their offices
(office number 22) at Harare Central Police Station.
He was assaulted with
baton sticks. His feet and hands were tied together
and he was suspended on
a plank between two tables. They said "you are now
Birchenough Bridge" and
all laughed as they continued the beatings.
Injuries sustained : swollen
legs, deep tissue bruising on back, buttocks
and legs. Denied access to
legal rep. and medical
attention.
EM, accused of petrol bombing. CID L & Order
details arrested him at home,
in Mbare at 2 am on 27th March, 2007. He was
forced to lie on the ground
while they beat him and threatened to shoot him.
He was then taken in a bus
to office 22, stripped naked and beaten all over
the body and feet
(falanga). He has a suspected fractured left arm. Denied
access to legal
attention and medical assistance.
A
NEW DREADFUL PHASE IN THE STATE SPONSORED VIOLENCE.
Occurred at
Glow Night club in Borrowdale village.
At 3am this morning
approx. 120 Riot Police (militia) most wearing the riot
uniform (some were
in civilian clothing wearing riot helmets) raided the
night club. They told
girls to go one side and boys to the other. They
shouted "every one get out,
get out" and started beating the young people
with batons. There was
pandemonium as kids tried to get out, most tried to
protect their friends
and were savagely beaten. Those, who in the chaos,
could not produce their
ID's were beaten.
One young coloured man was so badly assaulted on his
head and face that his
eye burst.
It is feared he may have
died.
This is a night club frequented by young people of all ethnic
groups and
social status.
WHEN THE STATE SPONSORED MILITIA THUGS IN
UNIFORM TARGET A GROUP OF YOUNG
PEOPLE SOCIALISING IN A NIGHT CLUB IT CAN BE
SAFELY SAID THAT THE STATE HAS
TAKEN THE WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE
JUST TOO FAR.
WHEN WILL THE TIME FOR ACTION AGAINST THIS GENOCIDAL REGIME
COME????
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
The six-digit salaries earned by those lucky enough to have jobs are
not
enough to cover the barest essentials.
From Florence Muchena in
Harare (AR No. 106, 1-Apr-07)
There is a new class of people in Zimbabwe
who go by the name "BSAP" -
"broke soon after pay".
Sibongile Ncube
is a typical white-collar BSAP, a young urban professional
who a decade ago
would have been driving a small car and renting a
two-bedroomed flat in the
posh Avenues district of the capital Harare.
Now she dreads the end of
the month when she gets her paltry salary, which
is not enough to cover
transport costs for her and her daughter, let alone
other things. She shakes
her head in despair as she calculates her budget
for the month and tries to
balance it with her pay.
Ncube's monthly salary of 384,000 Zimbabwean
dollars, ZWD, would come out at
a respectable 1,500 United States dollars if
you applied the official
exchange rate set by the country's central bank.
But as is generally the
case with government-enforced exchange rates, it is
an irrelevance because
no one except a few privileged insiders has access to
foreign currency at
this price.
Instead, a parallel exchange market
has grown up where most transactions
take place. Such is the pace of the
Zimbabwean dollar's depreciation that it
trades on the informal but
realistic exchange market at an astonishing 1,000
times less than its
official value. In other words, Ncube's salary in the
real world has the
purchasing power of not 1,500 but nearer 15 US dollars.
So her six-digit
salary may make her a millionaire earner over the course of
a year, but it
leaves her and her daughter on less than one American dollar
a day, well
within the parameters of extreme poverty defined by the World
Bank.
Ncube's monthly outgoings includes 660,000 ZWD for her own
commute to work
and her daughter's travel to school, 300,000 ZWD in rent,
35,000 for water
and 25,000 - so even without food, her costs are
two-and-a-half times her
income. Were it not for a relative living outside
Zimbabwe who sends her
money occasionally, life would be
impossible.
Asked what the point of going to work was, Ncube said, "I
have asked myself
the same question over and over again. I have been losing
weight - not
because I am ill, but because I simply cannot afford to feed
myself.
"I forego breakfast and lunch. And these days I can go into a
supermarket
and come out with nothing because prices would have gone up from
my previous
visit and I realise that I can no longer afford
anything."
As well as worthless wages, the 20 per cent of Zimbabweans who
are still in
work have to battle with consumer prices that rise
daily.
Annual inflation stands at 1,700 per cent - in other words, the
nominal
prices of consumer items in the shops are that much higher than they
were at
the same time last year.
The BSAPs - a category that these
days includes just about everyone - are
the result of the ever-widening gap
between prices and wages. Bread, at
5,000 ZWD a loaf, is now a luxury item
and is not always available, while
milk, meat and eggs are priced off the
menu. The price rises are
continuous - in March, for example, prices trebled
for many items.
Fuel prices, too, go up on almost a daily basis, leading
to rising fares for
commuters, so many people have just stopped reporting
for work.
People on lower pay than Ncube, plus the vast army of
unemployed, have an
even tougher time of it in the ongoing economic meltdown
described by the
World Bank as the world's worst outside a war
zone.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, which represents most of
those still
in employment, has called for industrial action, telling people
to stay away
from their workplaces on April 3-4. Yet despite poor wages and
economic
hardship, the signs are that most workers will ignore the
call.
One security guard - doing a job that is among the worst paid in
the
country - explained this apparent paradox. "The problem is that people
are
afraid of being beaten up by the police and the army and losing their
jobs,"
he said. "So we are saying that at least we have jobs and losing them
would
make life even more difficult, so why risk it? Personally, I don't see
people staying at home."
Several other workers interviewed were
worried about retribution from the
authorities if they stayed away from
work. President Robert Mugabe has vowed
to mercilessly crush any groups
showing resistance to his rule.
Ncube, meanwhile, has resigned herself to
a life on the margin, scrounging
for every bit of food and waiting for
divine providence,
"Why I continue going to work and still beg for bus
fare from friends and
relatives is because I hope and am praying that maybe
one of these days my
salary is going to be increased to levels that will
enable me to try and
survive," she said. "Had it not been for my sister in
the diaspora who
assists me with at least rent and tops up my transport
fare, particularly
for my daughter, I would be living on the
streets.
"Sometimes, I think of getting what we girls now call 'sponsors'
[sugar
daddies] to take care of me, but because of my Christian values I
haven't
taken that step. But if things get worse and I don't get an
increase, I
might be forced to."
Florence Muchena is the pseudonym
used by a reporter in Zimbabwe.
From The Sunday Times (SA), 1 April
Bumping along a sandy track in the pre-dawn gloom, security
guard Pappi
Molefe hisses "Illegals!" from the open back of the Land
Cruiser. The faint
beam of his torch reveals two frightened young men
huddled under mopane
scrub. Isaac and Nathan, in their 20s, say they made
their way from Harare
alone, but two other men joined them once they had
illegally crossed the
Limpopo River. Those other men are now gone. Molefe
tells them where to find
water, and points them in the direction of Musina -
and the possibility of
reaching the Promised Land: Gauteng. He's not going
to bother arresting just
two Zimbabweans; last week he caught a group of 175
men, women and babies
single- handedly just metres from here. According to
South African National
Defence Force officers and civilians in the area, the
number of "fence
jumpers" has increased significantly in recent months - and
coincides with
the political crackdown and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe.
Those arrested by
the security forces simply turn around and try again. One
young woman speaks
of being arrested for the eighth time. The border is a
roundabout for
desperate Zimbabweans.
Molefe and his colleagues
continue their patrol. They come across a swathe
of fresh tracks. "Maybe 60
in this group," he grunts. We pursue the group
through the bush on foot. "We
will catch them soon," he whispers. It is a
race to beat the Zimbabweans
before they reach the tarred road. There,
minibus taxis and bakkies await
them. There is cellphone contact. Moving
illegals across the Limpopo is big
business, and has become a sophisticated
operation. A toddler's pair of
shorts, perhaps lost in the dark during a
stop, lies in the bush, along with
shattered clay pots. They tell us
something of the individuals we are
chasing - the desperate and wretched
fleeing Mugabe's failing Zimbabwe. Our
chase ends at a gaping hole in the
barbed-wire fence that runs along the N1.
All we find are discarded water
bottles. For others, crossing the border is
a more banal affair. Right under
Beit Bridge, within calling distance of an
army base, two teenagers climb
down from the catwalk and race through the
bushes on the Zimbabwean side of
the fence. Within 15 minutes they are
crawling under one roll of razor wire
and then scaling a 3m- high fence.
Los Angeles Times
Violence may
no longer be enough to keep the oppressive dictator in power.
By Martin
Meredith, Martin Meredith is a journalist and historian whose
books include
"The Fate of Africa" and "Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert Mugabe
and the Tragedy
of Zimbabwe."
April 1, 2007
AFTER 27 years in power, President
Robert Mugabe is finally losing his grip
over Zimbabwe. Economic disaster
has provoked mounting criticism not only
from opposition groups but from
powerful factions within his own party.
Mugabe's customary tactics for
dealing with his critics have been violence
and repression. But so dire has
the plight of Zimbabwe become recently that
there are signs that even
violence is no longer sufficient to keep the
increasingly unpopular
president in power.
Zimbabwe has the world's fastest-shrinking economy
outside a war zone.
Agricultural production has declined by half since 2000,
when Mugabe sent
militia groups to seize white-owned farms in the hope of
restoring his
popularity. Vast tracts of land now stand unused. The
inflation rate has
officially soared to 1,700% and is expected to reach
5,000% by the end of
the year. Three-quarters of the population is
unemployed. More than 3
million people, desperate to find work, have moved
to neighboring countries.
Education and health services are on the brink of
collapse. Foreign
diplomats have begun warning of mass
starvation.
Amid rising public despair, opposition groups convened a
"Save Zimbabwe"
prayer meeting in Harare on March 11, defying a government
ban on public
rallies. Mugabe's response was to order armed police to break
up the
meeting - to "bash them," as he likes to say. Dozens of opposition
activists, including Morgan Tsvangirai, the 55-year-old leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change, were savagely beaten.
Last week,
opposition leaders charged that scores more advocates of
political and civic
change had been abducted and badly beaten in recent
middle-of-the-night
assaults by unidentified assailants - widely believed to
be part of a
government campaign to stifle dissent. Nelson Chamisa,
spokesman for the
Movement for Democratic Change, was attacked at Harare's
airport last month
by four men who fractured his skull with iron bars,
according to the New
York Times. "It's state terrorism," he said.
But far from intimidating
opposition groups, Mugabe's use of violence has
emboldened them. "They are
losing their fear, despite every effort of the
government to build that fear
over the last eight years," Christopher Dell,
the U.S. ambassador to
Zimbabwe, told a reporter.
Furthermore, this latest bout of repression
has led to a torrent of foreign
condemnation, even from Mugabe's allies in
Africa. The South African
government, which is Zimbabwe's largest trading
partner and has hitherto
been reluctant to criticize Mugabe's regime, has
made it clear that it wants
him to retire when his current term expires in
2008.
Mugabe, of course, has other ideas. Despite his age, the
83-year-old leader
is determined to hold onto power beyond 2008. He has even
talked of
continuing in office until 2014, vowing that Tsvangirai will never
be
allowed to become president as long as he is alive.
But it will be
increasingly difficult. These days, prominent figures within
Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF party are trying to maneuver him toward an exit,
fearing that their
private wealth amassed during the Mugabe years could be
lost in an economic
collapse. Mugabe previously retained their loyalty by
rewarding them with
farms, government contracts and other perks, but he no
longer has the
ability to offer such patronage because the government, mired
in debt, is
bankrupt. When Mugabe recently tried to postpone next year's
presidential
elections for two years, to keep himself in power for an
extended term, he
was thwarted by Solomon Mujuru, a former army commander
and one of
Zimbabwe's richest men.
Nevertheless, Mugabe has long experience in
outmaneuvering his critics
within ZANU-PF; the wayside is littered with
challengers. Moreover, as long
as he maintains control of the army and
police, the option of violent
repression remains at hand.
For much of
Mugabe's career, violence has been his stock in trade. As leader
of one of
the guerrilla armies that fought to overthrow white-minority rule
in
Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was previously called, he became obsessed with the
power of the gun, telling supporters that even when they had the vote, the
gun would always be ready for use. During the 1980s, he unleashed a campaign
of terror against opponents in the western provinces of Matabeleland in
which at least 20,000 civilians were killed.
So proud was he of his
record that he once boasted about having "a degree in
violence" to add to
his six university degrees. "The area of violence is an
area where ZANU-PF
has a very strong, long and successful history," said
Nathan Shamuyarira,
one of Mugabe's closest colleagues, confirming the
point.
It didn't
have to be this way. Mugabe came to power in 1980 in an atmosphere
of hope
and optimism. In the early years, he strove to build a good working
relationship with his former white adversaries; he reassured white business
about the future, stressing the need for foreign investment. Buoyed by a
huge influx of Western aid, he was able to embark on an ambitious program to
extend education and health services to the population.
But as the
years passed, he turned viciously on his black opponents and,
over time, his
goodwill toward the white community evaporated as well. In
his bid to create
a one-party state in the years since, he has crushed his
political
opposition, rigged elections, corrupted the courts, trampled
property rights
and suppressed the independent press. Now, however, his
style of government
has become a matter of embarrassment for other African
leaders. In return
for Western aid, they have repeatedly promised to adhere
to strict rules of
governance and to bring an end to the era when Africa's
"big men" could rule
the roost with impunity. But, like other big men before
him, Mugabe has no
intention of going quietly.
Jerusalem Post
Apr. 1, 2007
By ISAAC KFIR
Once again, African leaders have shown their
complete and total lack of
respect towards the rights of ordinary Africans.
In a shocking communiqu ,
the 14 countries that make up the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) declared their solidarity with Robert Mugabe,
the man responsible for
the destruction of Zimbabwe.
What is even
more beguiling was SADC's decision to blame the West and
sanctions for
Zimbabwe's troubles, when the only person responsible for the
dire state
that Zimbabwe finds itself is Robert Mugabe.
The Zimbabwean economy has
been declining for decades. GDP has decline by
more than thirty percent
between 1997-2005, inflation stands at around 1700%
and rising, (Z$10,000 is
equal to one US dollar) and due to rising poverty
levels around 20 babies a
week are found in Zimbabwean dustbins.
UNICEF reports that around thirty
percent of the population (2.2 million
people) has HIV/AIDs. More recently
and due to rising concerns over a coup,
Mugabe has recruited around 2,500
Angolan paramilitaries known as "Ninjas"
for their all-black uniforms. The
'ninjas' provide personal protection for
Jos Edurado dos Santos, the Angolan
president, and are reported to instil
fear among ordinary Angolans for their
brutality.
Mugabe's destruction of civil society began once he
successfully
out-manoeuvred Joshua Nkomo, the head of the Zimbabwe African
People's Union
(ZAPU) and Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa to ensure that Mugabe's
party: the
Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won
the April
1980 elections.
Mugabe has used ZANU-PF to cement his rule
through legislation, graft and
corruption. When politics failed, Mugabe
turns force as seen in 1983 when he
sent the North Korean-trained Fifth
Brigade to the Midlands and Matebeland
regions to crush opposition which
mostly came from Joseph Nkomo's Zimbabwe
African People's Union. More
recently, he has used the Youth Brigade and the
war Veterans, as well as his
usual henchmen and sycophants in the police and
the security services to
harass those who oppose the regime, as seen with
Operation Murambatsvina
('Operation Clear the Filth') in May 2005, in which
thousands were arrested
and approximately 700,000 people became homeless.
Under Mugabe, any form
of dissent or opposition is crushed severely as seen
recently when
Zimbabwean authorities detained Moragn Tsvangirai, the leader
of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and other senior opposition
members
(Arthur Mutambara and Lovemore Madhuku) for attending rallies and
calling
for the removal of Mugabe. Freedom House, a non-profit, non-partisan
organisation ranks Zimbabwe as one of the most oppressed countries in the
world, on par with North Korea, Sudan, Iran, and Syria.
At the heart
of Mugabe's destructive policies lie the controversial land
issue and which
he has repeatedly used to shore up support from fellow
African leaders. The
nineteenth-century 'Scramble for Africa' and the
imposition of White
Colonial rule allowed the whites who headed to the
territory of Zimbabwe
(known as Rhodesia at the time) to help themselves to
the best land by
pushed off the indigenous African population to the less
fertile areas or
forcing it to pay taxes and/or rents to the Whites.
Consequently, whites
came to own and control the best lands in Zimbabwe,
something that Mugabe
was determined to overturn. To this end, he has driven
whites off the land,
initially by providing some compensation but since 2000
his land eviction
policy has turned increasingly brutal, as he has grown
more authoritarian.
Mugabe's land reform campaign as seen productive farms
handed to war
veterans (those who fought in Zimbabwe's war of independence)
and to family
and close allies of the Zimbabwean dictator with the
consequence that it
effectively destroyed Zimbabwe's agricultural industry.
As the
international community became increasingly critical, Mugabe has
found
allies in China, Iran and North Korea, whilst launching tirades
against
Britain, the West and the homosexual community (Mugabe has described
homosexuals "as worse than dogs" and not entitled to basic human rights).
Overall, Zimbabwe is in a deep crisis, the country's infrastructure is
destroyed, while health, education, social welfare are
non-existent.
Yet, despite this, no real criticism or condemnation is
coming from South
Africa, Nigeria or Kenya, countries that vie for a
permanent representation
at the Security Council. It is becoming
increasingly apparent that in
twenty-first century the international
community has decided to continue to
treat Africa and Africans as
second-class citizens. The only difference
between the twenty-first and
twentieth-century is that nowadays, African
leaders are the cause of the
suffering.
The writer an expert on international politics and a lecturer
at the Lauder
School of Government at the Interdisciplinary Center
Herzliya
Reuters
Sun 1 Apr 2007,
7:10 GMT
By Andrew Quinn
JOHANNESBURG, April 1 (Reuters) - Smiles
and hugs marked Africa's crisis
summit on Zimbabwe, where President Robert
Mugabe won vows of support from
African leaders in the face of sharp Western
criticism of his autocratic
rule.
But political analysts said the
veteran leader may find Africa's embrace
uncomfortably tight as neighbouring
countries exert pressure on him to
change his ways even as he stands for
re-election in polls next year.
"The summit was not an outright victory
for Mugabe," said Chris Maroleng, a
researcher on Zimbabwe at South Africa's
Institute for Security Studies.
"Publicly they allowed him to declare
that he has the solidarity of Southern
African leaders. But behind closed
doors there was serious debate and
criticism ... they read him the riot act,
and are now waiting to see if he
listened."
Mugabe -- now 83 and one
of Africa's canniest political operators -- sailed
through last week's
special southern African summit in Tanzania with aplomb
after a month that
saw his security forces arrest and beat opposition
leaders.
He then
returned home and rallied his ruling ZANU-PF party to endorse him
for
re-election next year.
While the United States and Britain called for a
tough African response to
Mugabe's crackdown, regional leaders emerged with
little more than a call to
lift Western sanctions against Zimbabwe and a
plea for more dialogue.
South African President Thabo Mbeki was asked to
bring Mugabe together with
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), a mission critics
quickly dismissed as doomed given the failure of so
many earlier
reconciliation efforts.
But political analysts said
despite the low-key pronouncements, the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC) summit had achieved something that
Western grandstanding on
Zimbabwe had failed to do.
"What Zimbabwe has called an internal matter
is now being handled at a
regional level. To that extent, it is a major
breakthrough," said Shadrack
Gutto, head of the Centre for African
Renaissance Studies at the University
of South Africa.
"The onus is
now on Mugabe. But that does not mean it is going to be easy.
He is a
stubborn man, and the older he gets the more stubborn he
becomes."
WORLD CUP FEARS
Analysts said South Africa was the
main force behind the SADC strategy,
reflecting fears in Pretoria that
Zimbabwe could collapse into conflict just
as South Africa gets ready to
host the 2010 soccer World Cup.
With Zimbabwe's inflation above 1,700
percent and millions of economic
refugees streaming across its borders,
South Africa has watched nervously as
Mugabe's police force steps up
repression of the MDC amid an economic crisis
exacerbating splits in
Mugabe's own ruling ZANU-PF party.
Mugabe's endorsement on Friday as the
ZANU-PF candidate for new elections --
which could see him extend his rule
into a third decade -- appeared to paper
over some of those differences. But
analysts say other party leaders remain
worried the country is sliding past
the point of no return.
South Africa's Weekender newspaper on Saturday
quoted unidentified sources
as saying Britain and the United States had
drafted a five point rescue
package for Zimbabwe which could swing into play
if Mugabe steps aside.
But South African officials have warned that
focussing too much on Mugabe
himself risks underestimating the deep systemic
problems of ZANU-PF rule in
the country.
Olmo von Meijenfeldt of
South Africa's IDASA think tank said Mbeki would
likely seek to reach around
Mugabe, forging agreement with both the MDC and
disaffected ZANU-PF factions
on how to move forward.
"It won't have an immediate effect, but it is a
process that is under way.
From one perspective, the goal on all sides is to
oust Mugabe from his
position," he said.
Mugabe, of course, has
thwarted such efforts in the past and few observers
expect him to fade out
quietly.
But analysts say Zimbabwe's increasingly dire economic situation
--
illustrated in a U.N. report which said that hundreds of thousands of
Zimbabweans faced starvation this year due to poor harvests -- could prove a
tipping point that African leaders can exploit.
"The economy is
certainly imploding ... and at some point everyone inside
and outside the
country will see he has to go," said von Meijenfeldt.
Nine
actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated
in
March 2007, according to the new issue of CrisisWatch,* released
today.
In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe cracked down violently on the
opposition - sparking sharp local and international criticism - and yet
ended the month with his party's endorsement as its candidate for the 2008
election. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, clashes between government
forces and guards loyal to opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba killed
hundreds, while in Nigeria, a political crisis deepened ahead of April
elections. Conflict intensified in Somalia, where the capital Mogadishu saw
some of the worst fighting in fifteen years, and in Sri Lanka, where the
government opened a new front against Tamil separatists. Iran saw tensions
spike after seizing 15 UK navy personnel it claimed had entered its waters.
The situation also deteriorated in Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan and
Pakistan.
Six situations showed improvement in March. A peace agreement
was signed
between ex-rebels and the transitional government in Côte
d'Ivoire providing
for power sharing for a period of transition. Positive
steps were taken in
Israel and the Occupied Territories with the formation
of a Hamas-Fatah
national unity government and decision by the Arab League
to renew its
commitment to the 2002 Arab peace initiative. In Northern
Ireland, a
power-sharing agreement was signed between the Democratic
Unionist Party and
Sinn Fein, paving the way for the resumption of devolved
rule in Stormont.
In Nepal, a government was formed that fully incorporates
Maoists into the
political mainstream for the first time. The situation also
improved in
Guinea and Mauritania.
For April 2007, CrisisWatch
identifies Nigeria, Timor-Leste and Zimbabwe as
Conflict Risk Alerts, or
situations at particular risk of new or
significantly escalated conflict in
the coming month.
MARCH 2007 TRENDS
Deteriorated Situations
DR
Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri
Lanka, Zimbabwe
Improved Situations
Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea,
Israel/Occupied Territories, Mauritania, Nepal,
Northern Ireland
(UK)
Unchanged Situations
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Basque
Country (Spain), Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia
& Herzegovina, Burundi, Central
African Republic, Chad, Chechnya
(Russia), Colombia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Ethiopia/Eritrea,
Fiji, Georgia, Haiti, India (non-Kashmir),
Indonesia, Iraq, Kashmir,
Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia,
Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco,
Myanmar/Burma, Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan),
North Caucasus (non-Chechnya),
North Korea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi
Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra
Leone, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan Strait,
Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste,
Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu,
Venezuela, Western Sahara, Yemen
APRIL 2007 WATCHLIST
Conflict
Risk Alerts
Nigeria, Timor-Leste, Zimbabwe
*NOTE: CrisisWatch
indicators - up and down arrows, conflict risk alerts,
and conflict
resolution opportunities - are intended to reflect changes
within countries
or situations from month to month, not comparisons between
countries. For
example, no "conflict risk alert" is given for a country
where violence has
been occurring and is expected to continue in the coming
month: such an
indicator is given only where new or significantly escalated
violence is
feared.
Disappointed is too mild a
description of the feeling at the Vigil following
the SADC meeting on
Zimbabwe. Supporters were outraged at what was seen as
cowardly betrayal by
our neighbours. It was agreed we would immediately run
a new petition: "We
record our dismay at the failure of the Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) to help the desperate people of Zimbabwe at
their time of
trial. We urge the UK government, and the European Union in
general, to
suspend government to government aid to all 14 SADC countries
until they
abide by their joint commitment to uphold human rights in the
region." Of
course, we do not want to hurt our brothers and sisters in
Southern Africa
but we must drive home to their hypocritical governments
their obligation to
observe the commitment to good governance they have all
signed up to. We do
all we can to encourage humanitarian aid but it is
difficult to explain to
the British taxpayer why he should pay Malawi to
employ guards to stop
people defacing signs on the new highway Malawi has
named after Robert
Mugabe.
Today's Vigil was in solidarity with the suffering back home. We
watch with
great anxiety and helplessness as brave people suffer on our
behalf. The
perpetrators of violence will not get away with it. The Vigil
has a new
poster - "Roll of Shame" on which we list information on these
monsters with
their background and crimes committed. This will be added to
as information
comes to light. The Vigil is pressing for the creation of a
special
rapporteur funded by the European Union to record human rights
abuses. We
were all amused that Zanu-PF is to put forward Mugabe for
another term. It
will confirm to the outside world that the country is run
by clowns.
Our supporters in Free- Zim Youth claimed another scalp this
week when they
confronted Angola's Ambassador to the UK in his own Embassy.
They wanted to
establish the truth of reports that Angola has agreed to send
3,000 of its
para-military forces to Zimbabwe to shore up Mugabe's tottering
regime. The
good news is that the Ambassador denied this. The bad news is
that the
Vigil is getting reports from Zimbabwe that some of the
perpetrators of
violence do not appear to be Zimbabweans as they can't speak
either Shona or
Ndebele.
We had an interesting visitor today, Brian
Haw, who has been staging a
non-stop demonstration for six years in
Parliament Square over Iraq. He
briefly left his patch to visit a fellow
activist being held in our local
police station. He joined in the singing
and dancing and expressed sympathy
for our cause.
After four and a
half years we at the Vigil are used to the bizarre. Vigil
co-ordinator Dumi
said that when he had to report to the Home Office with
his baby son, Zizi,
the baby was issued with ID that stated he was not
allowed to work. Dumi
was planning to send him cleaning up chimneys as soon
as he could crawl.
Dumi is to feature in a video show in Paris in June.
"Here I Am Still
Strong!" a video interview with Dumi was made in 2005 by
artist/film-maker
Melissa Bliss on a mobile phone. It has been chosen for
the Pocket Films
Festival at the Pompidou Centre. The Festival is keen to
hear about the
situation in Zimbabwe and how mobile phones are useful.
Melissa would like
to hear any information about how mobile phones are used,
for example, to
collect evidence or to record news. You can contact her at
melissa@livingcinema.com.
We
are getting so many requests for interviews etc from university students
and
researchers that we have had to appoint a special team to look after
them.
It is encouraging to find such interest and sympathy.
With the peculiar
ritual of changing the clocks for British summer time it
was good to end the
Vigil in daylight. We welcomed several new supporters
including a singing
stuffed Rasta lion dressed in Zimbabwean colours which
our friend Caroline
from Devon brought as a mascot. He sings "Don't worry,
be Happy" when you
squeeze his paw. We were surprised to find after the
Vigil a beautifully
made new banner "ANC loves Mugabe. South Africa props up
Dictator". It had
not been unwrapped for the Vigil and we would love to
know who made it. We
will use it on Wednesday at the demonstration outside
the Embassy in support
of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. See below
for details.
The
Belfast Vigil reports "Our first vigil got off to a great start. We had
about a dozen Zimbabweans, lots of singing and dancing, banners and
placards. We were given chocolates by a passer-by and offered free coffee at
a local coffee shop by a sympathiser. We ran out of leaflets and had to
print off more. As you say there is more awareness recently and people are
sympathetic. We should have had a register also but asked anyone interested
in updates or in helping out to email us. We are reconsidering the venue -
although the City Hall is iconic it does not reach a lot of passers-by."
They sent us a photo which we have put on our photo site. We have already
passed to them a request for an interview from the Irish press. Their next
Vigil is on Wednesday 18th April, 2 - 5 pm (to mark Zimbabwean Independence
Day). Venue to be advised.
For this week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR
THE RECORD: 98 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
- Monday,
2nd April, 7.30 pm. Central London Zimbabwe Forum. The
speaker is Viomak
the Zimbabwean protest singer who launched her new CD
entitled "Happy 83rd
Birthday President R G Mugabe (bones of a 30 year old)"
at the Vigil on 24th
February. Upstairs at the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28
John Adam Street, London
WC2 (cross the Strand from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go
down a passageway to
John Adam Street, turn right and you will see the pub).
- Tuesday,
3rd April, 7.30 pm - Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place,
London W2 1QJ -
Zimbabwe in Meltdown - to be discussed by a panel consisting
of Lord
Triesman, Minister for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, Wilf
Mbanga, Founder, Publisher and Editor of The Zimbabwean
newspaper, Gugu
Moyo, Zimbabwean lawyer of the International Bar Association
and Bill Saidi,
Deputy Editor of The Standard in Zimbabwe - via phone link.
Tickets £7
available online at www.frontlineclub.com.
-
Wednesday, 4th April, 12 - 2 pm - join ACTSA and the Trades Union
Congress
for a demonstration outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in solidarity with
the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions who have called a general strike for
3rd
and 4th April.
- Wednesday, 18th April, 2 - 5 pm - the second Belfast
Vigil (to
mark Zimbabwean Independence Day). Venue to be
advised.
- Saturday, 28th April, 11 am - 3 pm. The Bristol Vigil
meets under
the covered way, just near the Watershed, Canon's Road,
Harbourside.
Vigil co-ordinator
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00
to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in
Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
stuff, New Zealand
By JOHN HENZELL - The
Press | Monday, 2 April 2007
Shupayi Mpunga did not want to spend
Saturday night sleeping in
Christchurch's Cathedral Square, providing
unexpected education for young
men out on the town.
However the
Zimbabwean is hoping that something as simple as a small 24-hour
vigil will
lead to change in her homeland.
Mpunga said she and a dozen others found
themselves the focus of men out
drinking, but soon informed them about the
plight of those in Zimbabwe who
did not enjoy political freedoms as simple
as sleeping out to make a point.
"Small things might make a difference
and we don't know what will tip the
scales," she said. "Sometimes we don't
know what to do and we feel helpless
and desperate. I don't want my children
to grow up in a foreign land. I want
them to experience the Zimbabwe I grew
up in."
The vigil included gathering scores of signatures on a large
cloth petition
calling on the New Zealand Parliament to lobby for the
Zimbabweans suffering
under President Robert Mugabe's dictatorship. The
petition was handed to
Green MP Keith Locke yesterday afternoon, who
promised to help raise
Zimbabwe's case whenever he could.
The Zimbabwean
Zimbabweans today got the shock of their lives when an innocent
man
whom the
Central lntelligence Organisation (CIOs) mistook for Promise
Mkwananzi
was
severely assaulted and left for dead.The State apparatus
have been
looking
for Promise Mkwananzi whom they accuse of working with
the opposition
to
effect regime change in Zimbabwe.Promise Mkwananzi is
the current
President
of the Zimbabwe National Students Union and has
been very articulate in
terms of advancing the interests of students and
speaking out against
human
rights violations.On wednesday last week
Promise Mkwananzi went into
hiding
after he learnt that he was now
topping the list of people earmarked
for
abductions.This came against the
backdrop of illegal abductions of key
opposition and human rights activists
that rocked Harare early last
week.Among those who were abducted and/or
assaulted are Nelson Chamisa
,MDC
Spokesman and MP,Ian Makone
Tsvangirai`s personal advisor,Hon Madzore,
Hon
Chisvuure,Hon Mhashu ,all
of whom are opposition MPs,Last Maengahama,
an MDC
Youth Leader and a
whole lot of other people.While speaking from his
sanctuary Promise Mkwananzi
urged government to stop sponsoring this
madness
and sqaurely blamed
Robert Mugabe for encouraging these barbaric acts
and
warned that time
would call upon him to pay for his sins.Promise
Mkwananzi
is also a
member of the Save Zimbabwe General Council.
Beloved
Chiweshe
Secretary General
+263912864534
Zimbabwe National Students
Union
21 Wembly Road, Eastlea, Harare, Zimbabwe,
00263912864534/
002634788135
zinasu@gmail.com
www.zinasu.org
Zim Online
Monday 02 April 2007
By
Patricia Mpofu
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party at
the weekend
brushed aside opposition calls for comprehensive and
people-driven
constitutional reforms and instead agreed to unilaterally
change Zimbabwe's
Constitution to hold concurrent presidential and
parliamentary elections in
2008.
Churches and civic society groups
have called for an inclusive process to
rewrite Zimbabwe's governance
charter while the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party
has threatened to boycott next year's polls
unless Mugabe and ZANU PF first
agreed to a completely new and democratic
constitution that guarantees free
and fair elections.
A ZANU PF central committee that on Friday nominated
Mugabe as party
candidate for the 2008 presidential poll appeared to ignore
the opposition
and civic society calls, agreeing to use the party's
overwhelming
parliamentary majority to make constitutional amendments that
analysts said
would only help further entrench Mugabe's hold on
power.
The ruling party, which controls more than the two-thirds majority
in
Parliament required to make constitutional amendments, agreed to amend
the
Constitution to cut short the life of Parliament to 2008 so new
elections
could be held together with elections for President.
The
planned constitutional amendment will also see elections for the House
of
Senate scrapped with new senators being chosen on proportional
representation. Each party will be allocated senatorial seats next year
based on support garnered in the general election to select House of
Assembly representatives.
The number of seats in the House of
Assembly will be increased from 150 to
210 while seats in the Senate will
expand from 66 to 84 members under the
proposed changes. ZANU PF presently
has 109 seats in the lower chamber
against the MDC's 41 seats. The
opposition party controls seven seats in
the Senate while the rest belong to
ZANU PF.
Local government elections - held last November together with
Senate
elections - will also be brought forward to next year which means
they will
thereafter be held every five years instead of after four
years.
Mugabe will be allowed to handpick 30 individuals to Parliament, a
provision
he enjoys under the present constitution and which he has used to
appoint
loyalists, friends and relatives to the House.
Another major
change endorsed by the ZANU PF central committee was that in
the event of a
sitting president dying, resigning or being no longer able to
continue with
his duties, Parliament would sit as an electoral college to
elect a
successor.
At present fresh elections to choose a new president would
have to be called
within 90 days in the event of Mugabe dying, resigning or
becoming unable to
continue with his duties.
ZANU PF expects to fast
track the proposed constitutional changes into law
within the next three
months.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti told the media that the push by
ZANU PF to
hold elections next year without comprehensive and democratic
constitutional
reform would only help strengthen Mugabe's power base, while
expansion of
Parliament was aimed at filling the House with Mugabe
loyalists. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 02 April 2007
Own
Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG - The South African Congress of Trade Unions
(COSATU) says it
will go ahead with protests on Tuesday and Wednesday to
force President
Robert Mugabe to address the worsening economic crisis in
Zimbabwe.
COSATU secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said the labour union
would proceed
with its protest plans this week despite calls for dialogue by
Southern
African leaders over the crisis in Zimbabwe.
"We are
proceeding with the protests. We are not going to let go because
there is a
promise of dialogue.
"We are having demonstrations on Tuesday and
Wednesday, we are having
marches in Johannesburg and we will be marching to
the Zimbabwean High
commissioner's office," said Vavi.
The Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) last week said it was forging
ahead with the
protest tomorrow despite a crackdown on the opposition by
President Robert
Mugabe's government last month.
The ZCTU wants President Robert Mugabe's
government to address a seven-year
old economic crisis that has manifested
itself in record inflation of over 1
700 percent, massive joblessness and
poverty.
COSATU said it will hold the demonstrations in solidarity with
their
counterparts in Zimbabwe.
The labour union, which is part of
South Africa's ruling tripartite alliance
together with the ruling African
National Congress (ANC) and the Communist
Party of South Africa, has been
highly critical of Mugabe's government.
President Thabo Mbeki has however
continued to pursue "quiet diplomacy" on
Harare and has consistently refused
to publicly censure Mugabe over human
rights abuses and failure to uphold
democracy. - ZimOnline
The Zimbabwean
(01-04-07)
Gift Phiri, chief reporter for The Zimbabwean, was
arrested in Harare
this afternoon (Sunday 1st April) by one plain clothes and
three uniformed
policemen outside his home in Sunningdale, Harare.
His
computer and his cell phone were confiscated. He is currently being
held
by the Law and OrderMaintenance section at Harare Central. Our
lawyer,
Alec Muchadehama, isurgently trying to get access to him.
In
the past 30 days Zimbabwean police have arrested, abducted, beaten
and
tortured hundreds of critics of Robert Mugabe's regime. We fear greatly
for
Gift's safety.
Wilf Mbanga, Editor
The East African
By WILFRED EDWIN
Will Thabo Mbeki be able to negotiate an
exit deal for President Robert
Mugabe on the expiry of his term in
2008?
Although the decision by an extraordinary summit of the Southern
African
Development Community (SADC) held in Dar es Salaam last week to
appoint
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to bring Zimbabwe's government
and
opposition to the negotiating table has been greeted with scepticism,
President Mbeki is best positioned to strike a peace deal for
Zimbabwe.
Throughout the Zimbabwe crisis, Mbeki has maintained a policy
of quiet
diplomacy and constructive engagement with Mugabe, the result of
which is
that South Africa is now in a position where it can play honest
broker in
the conflict.
Critics have blamed the summit meeting for
not taking a stronger stance
against Mugabe. Yet a closer look at the
situation shows that the meeting in
Dar es Salaam realised that a
confrontational stance against Mugabe would
not achieve much.
The
critical thing was to tactically commit him to SADC-sponsored
negotiations
with both the Zimbabwe opposition and elements opposed to an
extra term for
Mugabe within the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Mbeki's chances of clinching a
deal are stronger this time round because
although Mugabe remains in a
fairly strong position to choose the time and
manner of his departure,
growing economic and political pressure makes him
more amenable to a
deal.
As we went to press, a meeting of Zanu-PF's central committee was
scheduled
to deliberate on his plans to extend his term. If the committee
does not
approve, options will emerge for a negotiated
solution.
Mbeki's appointment as mediator came as Tanzania's President
Jakaya Kikwete
warned that SADC would not allow the economic meltdown in
that country to
continue.
SADC executive director Dr Tomas Augustino
Salamao was appointed to study
the economic situation of Zimbabwe and
propose measures SADC can take to
assist the country to recover.
The
summit, held at Kempinski Kilimanjaro Hotel from March 28-29, addressed
current affairs facing the region, particularly the crises in Zimbabwe and
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
President Kikwete, who is the
chairman of the SADC Defence and Security
Committee, said after the
closed-door emergency meeting that "Zimbabwe's
macroeconomic indicators -
inflation, economic growth and exchange rate -
are worrisome," and that SADC
will not allow this situation to continue.
Meanwhile, a delegation from a
coalition of civil society groups in Zimbabwe
that was in Dar es Salaam to
monitor the summit underlined the gravity of
the situation in the country by
stating that should the latest initiative
fail, they would be appealing to
neighbouring countries to open their
borders to what they predicted would be
an exodus of desperate Zimbabweans
fleeing the collapsing
country.
President Kikwete, who also chaired the SADC meeting, said the
leaders had
expressed grave concern over the worsening political situation
in Zimbabwe.
"You have the opposition complaining of infringement on
their rights and on
the other hand the government accusing the opposition of
violence and
disobeying the law. The situation is not good either way, so
SADC has
decided to act," he said.
He said it would be best if the
ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
co-operated with President Mbeki, who will be
working with the SADC organ
for politics, security and defence to facilitate
talks.
President
Kikwete said SADC was also appealing to the international
community to
accommodate Zimbabwe instead of isolating it.
"Diplomatic relations
between Zimbabwe, the EU and the United States are not
healthy," he
said.
Zimbabwe's official inflation stands at 1,700 per cent, but critics
and
insiders say the actual rate is about 4,000 per cent.
A sum of
$10,000 that, just after independence in 1980 would have bought a
decent
house, today buys only about 25 litres of petrol.
The Coalition of
Activists and Civil Societies in Zimbabwe said on the
sidelines of the
summit that it will appeal to neighbouring countries to
open their borders
to allow Zimbabweans to flee their country.
"Many Zimbabweans are fleeing
to neighbouring countries in search of a
better life but are being
deported," Rev Nicholas Mukaronda, the coalition
co-ordinator said last week
in Dar es Salaam.
New Zimbabwe
By Torby Chimhashu
Last updated: 04/02/2007 08:15:03
A
FACTION of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
has accused the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) of "playing
ping-pong" with the lives of Zimbabweans by accepting that the country's
problems stem from Britain's failure to support land reforms and
sanctions.
SADC leaders met President Robert Mugabe for crisis talks in
Tanzania last
week. After the meeting, the SADC leaders urged western
countries to lift
targeted sanctions against Mugabe and senior ruling Zanu
PF party officials.
Tendai Biti, the secretary general of a faction of
the MDC led by Morgan
Tsvangirai accused SADC leaders of swallowing
dishonest submissions by
Mugabe's government.
"SADC's view of our
crisis is totally dishonest and mendaciously
constructed," Biti said in an
interview Sunday. "It is not honest to say
Britain must pay compensation for
the land when the land has actually been
acquired from white commercial
farmers.
"Zimbabweans are suffering from Mugabe's misrule not economic
sanctions.
Targeted sanctions are not economic sanctions. SADC has been
taken for a
ride on the issues of land and sanctions," Biti told New
Zimbabwe.com.
He added: "SADC is playing ping-pong with the people of
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans are the biggest losers. Those who are holding the bats
should
stop playing ping-pong with the lives of Zimbabweans."
A
special summit of the Sadc last Thursday urged the West to drop sanctions
against Mugabe's government and appealed to Britain to "honoUr its
commitments" to fund land reforms in its former colony.
The summit
came amid Western calls for a tougher line on Mugabe's most
recent political
crackdown on human rights activists and opposition members.
Leaders at
the Tanzania summit put South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki in
charge of
defusing Zimbabwe's deepening political crisis.
Biti said the involvement
of President Thabo Mbeki in the troika to mediate
between Mugabe and the
opposition is not new.
While maintaining the MDC has faith in Mbeki, Biti
pointed out that Mbeki
had failed in the past to prevail over
Mugabe.
"We saw him (Mbeki) in 2002 when Zimbabwe was still part of the
Commonwealth. He was part of the troika that included Australian Prime
Minister John Howard and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo.
"Mbeki was
again involved in the collapsed talks between the MDC and Zanu
PF. We have
faith in President Mbeki but have no faith in Mugabe. As long as
we have
guarantees that come 11 March, 2008, Mugabe quits, it's ok. We would
love to
say good bye to uncle Bob," said Biti. "There must be a firm
decision on
that".
He said his party was ready to engage Zanu PF in a dialogue aimed
at
resolving the current crisis which has thrown the once prosperous
southern
African nation towards the precipice.
"We are ready to
engage Zanu PF but on condition that Mugabe is not part of
the process.
Mugabe belongs to the past and is not part of the future. It's
up to Zanu
PF. It must accept that Mugabe is a liability.
"We think he is delusional
and dishonest. Mugabe has no relation to reality.
He is caught up in a cold
wartime frame. His body demeanour does not reflect
someone in total control
of his mental faculties," said Biti.
"If Mugabe's performance on Zimbabwe
was a school card, it could have read
that he is an irredeemable and
incorrigible kid who does not know how to
spell and write his
name."
Biti spoke as the ruling Zanu PF resolved to field Mugabe as its
candidate
in next year's Presidential elections.
"The candidate of
the party will be the President (Mugabe) himself. He was
endorsed by the
central committee at the meeting today," said Shamuyarira
Friday, adding the
presidential term will be cut to five years from the
current
six.
Mugabe outfoxed hopefuls - Emmerson Mnangagwa and Joice Mujuru - to
earn the
right to represent his party in watershed elections that could end
his rule.
Although both Mnangagwa and Mujuru have so far not commented,
it is believed
Mugabe will face a tough time to win the support of
disgruntled provinces
that are against his decision to stand
again.
Mugabe has faced international condemnation over a brutal
crackdown on
opponents and stands accused of running down Zimbabwe's economy
with
reckless abandon.
Last month, security agents, at the behest of
the 83-year-old leader
launched a crackdown on the leadership of the two MDC
factions which saw
dozens of activists arrested and some beaten in police
custody.
New Zimbabwe
By Mutumwa D.
Mawere
Last updated: 04/02/2007 08:13:58
IN THE countdown to the 27th
birthday of Zimbabwe, we have no choice but to
continue to reflect on the
meaning of independence and the destiny of
Zimbabwe.
Ultimately life
is a nuisance of time but in a nation's life every minute
counts because
nations do not expire like natural persons. The history of
any nation is
informed by the actions of each generation. Like a relay, one
generation
expects to inherit a legacy from another generation.
With respect to
Zimbabwe, the baton remains locked firmly in the hands of
one generation or
one man to the exclusion of other generations. The world
can go hang so says
Zimbabwe's leadership while the country remains groping
for solutions to an
economic quagmire whose cause is a subject of dispute.
Last week was full
of drama. For some the week started with great
expectations that the SADC
Summit was going to provide the answers they were
yearning and working for.
They waited in anticipation to President Mugabe's
dressing down by his
colleagues in SADC. Some peddling the fragmentation of
Zanu PF into two
distinct factions allegedly united of late in a resolve to
replace President
Mugabe.
Even the opposition parties invested emotionally in the outcome
of the Zanu
PF Politburo and Central Committee meetings. In all, those
opposed to
President Mugabe were anxiously expecting the good news of the
old man
vanishing into the twilight and the red card being handed to him by
both
SADC and his own club.
On Friday, Mugabe was triumphant and yet
no rational analysis is evident on
why SADC would meet and arrive at the
conclusion that the Zimbabwean crisis
requires the western countries to back
off by lifting sanctions and for
Britain to honour its compensation
obligations with respect to land reform
made at Lancaster House. The media
and the international community i.e.
Britain, USA, Australia and some
countries in the EU were expecting a
different outcome that would locate
Mugabe at the centre of Zimbabwe's
problems. In fact, the construction of
the Zimbabwean problem is that Mugabe
has to go for Zimbabwe to be accepted
in the commonwealth of progressive
nations.
Having written on the
subject of the seemingly inability of Mugabe's
adversaries to read into the
complex Zimbabwean condition, I have come to
the inescapable conclusion that
it is important that those who seek to
unseat Mugabe must reflect deeply on
their strategies and go back to the
drawing board. Why is it that SADC and
Zanu PF members do not seem to see
what the opposition sees as critical to
the resolution of the Zimbabwean
crisis? Is the construction of the
Zimbabwean problem in the minds of Mugabe's
adversaries irrelevant and
uninformed? What sustains Mugabe? Why would
allegations of factional
fighting in Zanu PF take a life of their own and
yet Mugabe emerged at the
end of the week fully in charge with no alleged
faction electing to leave
the party? Is it true that Zanu PF is ridden with
factional fighting whose
leaders have no spine to stand their ground?
If Zimbabwe was a natural
person, what would it say for itself? Would the
country want five more years
of Mugabe's rule? What would the country say to
Mugabe, Tsvangirai,
Mutambara, Bush, Blair, and Mbeki? What would the
country say to its
citizens? Would the country agree with the MDC (both
factions) that unless
the country has a new constitution, a transitional
authority to run the
elections and a government of national unity, there
will be no resolution to
the crisis? What would the country say to Mugabe's
allegation that Zimbabwe
is a victim of imperialist machinations designed to
change the regime and
put in place a puppet government, and the land
question is at the core of
Zimbabwe's problems?
It is important that in as much as people may
find Mugabe's rule
unacceptable, we reflect on why the message from his
political adversaries
has failed to capture the imagination of the regional
governments. Even
President Chiluba and his former nemesis, President
Kaunda, agree on one
thing that the Zimbabwean crisis is externally
engineered. Why would all
these people be wrong on MDC? Could it be that MDC
is missing the point? How
justified is the allegation that MDC's analytical
and conceptual framework
of the Zimbabwean problem is a Rhodesian Front
construction that was wrong
during the liberation struggle and is wrong now?
Even Ian Smith in boasting
that majority rule was inconceivable in a 1,000
years failed to understand
the true nature of the forces underpinning the
liberation struggle.
Some people have argued alleged that notwithstanding
the personal views that
President Mbeki may hold on President Mugabe, he has
no choice but to take
the side that is consistent with the values that
informed the liberation
struggle. On issues related to the interplay between
race and politics, race
and land, race and African transformation, the views
of SADC heads of states
are at one.
So where is MDC getting it wrong?
This requires a new conversation informed
by the experience of the party
during the past seven years. Yes, MDC split
into two real factions and yet
Zanu PF's alleged factions have not split
from the party. Rather many people
including highly placed intellectuals
appear to speak on behalf of the
so-called faction leaders i.e. Mujuru and
Mnangagwa.
When Mnangagwa
was challenged on the Tsholotsho plot, he did not stand up
and yet people
still believe that while Mugabe is in power he will have the
courage of
making a stand. While no one knows what General Mujuru believes
in, many
have credited him for Vice President Mujuru's election by the
party. No one
has asked whether it is the case that Mujuru is indeed a king
maker or he
had nothing to do with his wife's rise to power.
Some have argued that
the premise of the MDC argument has a lot of problems
that make it difficult
to mobilize support from African heads of state.
Firstly, most of the
African heads of state say that the starting point must
be that the 2002
election is history. On this construction, it is
unreasonable for MDC to
seek to reverse the election result that SADC
endorsed as free and fair and
expect SADC to reconsider a position that has
already been made. How then
could MDC expect that SADC would take the
position that Mugabe is not a
legitimate President of Zimbabwe?
With respect to the constitution, they
argue rightly or wrongly that MDC is
hypocritical on this question because
Mugabe accommodated the push for a new
constitution by appointing a
Commission and conceded to a referendum whose
outcome is well known. Having
gone the referendum route, they argue that it
is unreasonable for the NCA
and MDC to continue to agitate for a new
constitution having failed to
achieve the result they sought i.e. to remove
Mugabe through the
introduction of a new constitution.
On the question of a government of
national unity, they argue that there is
no precedent where a President
having won an election can then accept to
accommodate his opponents. If one
accepts that Mugabe is a legitimate
President of the country, they argue
that it is unreasonable for MDC to
expect him to accommodate them. With
respect to a transitional authority,
they argue that Zimbabwe is a sovereign
country and there is no legal basis
for the involvement of third parties in
the domestic affairs of a country.
With respect to the economic meltdown,
they argue that MDC with the support
of its international friends is
responsible for the current state of the
Zimbabwean economy by advocating
the imposition of sanctions. While
acknowledging that the sanctions regime
is generally acknowledged as
ineffective is also argued that their existence
gives Mugabe a convenient
excuse to escape culpability.
Some would
argue that Zimbabwe has been targeted by imperialist forces for
taking a
principled stance on the land question and, therefore, it is
important that
any way forward for Zimbabwe necessarily has to deal with
this question. In
as much as people may dismiss it as a convenient excuse,
there are many who
genuinely believe that the same forces that were opposed
to majority rule
are the same forces that are taking the lead against
Mugabe. If in 1960,
Mugabe was not liked by the west and in 2007 he is still
not liked by the
west, then it means that nothing has changed and his party
and country needs
him to fully defeat the enduring enemy.
It is important, therefore, that
Mugabe's opponents framework their injury
broader than the political
question. What is clear is that notwithstanding
the voodoo economics coming
from the RBZ, no foreign investors who still
have substantial investments in
Zimbabwe have dared add their voice to the
opposition. Why would bad
policies not generate a negative response from the
private sector? With an
official exchange rate of US$1=Z$250 against a
market rate of US$1=Z$25,000,
why would exporters still remain in business
unless they are playing by
different rules? Why is it that the opposition
has failed to attract the
captains of industry to their ranks assuming that
the regime change agenda
is informed by the real interests of Zimbabweans?
It is true that
President Mugabe has positioned himself as the champion of
the common man
and as the ultimate protector of Zimbabwean sovereignty.
However, he boasts
of a number of black victims including myself whose
interests would not
attract the attention of Bush and Blair. In the
circumstances, why would the
opposition fail to articulate that any
continuation of the status quo ante
is necessarily harmful to the interests
of not only white property owners
but blacks as well who are being
externalized in large numbers on a daily
basis. It is important that the
true cost of bad governance is exposed and
critically examined with a view
to establishing whether Zimbabwe is the
victim or beneficiary of President
Mugabe's life Presidency. If Zimbabwe is
the victim, then surely it is up to
the citizens of the country to speak
loudly.
Some have argued whether President Mugabe truly enjoys the
support of his
party. They ask how many people would genuinely support
President Mugabe if
he ceased to be the President of the country. They make
the point that any
regime change agenda must necessarily be funded and yet
many of the western
countries that engage in megaphone diplomacy have not
put resources on the
ground choosing to impose ineffective sanctions. Can
you imagine what would
happen if the opposition has its own Gono? The role
of the state in
sustaining a party and leader who may have lost touch with
the soul of the
nation needs to be interrogated critically.
Finally,
what is next for Zimbabwe? The fact that President Mugabe is the
candidate
for Zanu PF in next year's elections clearly has implications on
the
country's future. Does President Mugabe have the solutions required to
give
hope to the country? Does the end justify the means? Will the solution
come
from intransigence or from accommodation? Zimbabwe is going to turn 27
in a
few weeks and must speak with clarity about what will sustain the
nation and
the kind of reforms that are required to promote the interests of
the
country rather than its leader.
Mutumwa Mawere's weekly column appears on
New Zimbabwe.com every Monday. You
can contact him at: mmawere@ahccouncil.com
Independent Catholic News
ACCRA - 2 April 2007 - 390
words
Following
a worldwide outcry over the suffering in Zimbabwe, Africa's
Catholic bishops
have said the country is in the grip of "a crisis of moral
leadership and
bad governance."
They appealed "to the Government of Zimbabwe, in the
name of Jesus, to
immediately stop the violence" against its
people.
A statement by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa
and
Madagascar (SECAM) on Saturday said: "the situation in Zimbabwe is not
the
result of a natural catastrophe or only of adverse international
conditions.
It is largely self-inflicted. It is a crisis of moral leadership
and of bad
governance."
President Robert Mugabe, a Catholic, has led
the southern African nation
since Independence in 1980.
The bishops
of Africa "are saddened and concerned about the suffering of our
sisters and
brothers in Zimbabwe."
Their statement came as Southern African leaders
gathered in Tanzania to
find a solution to the political and economic
crisis.
A fact-finding mission sent to Zimbabwe recently by SECAM
reported that the
situation there had reached a state where an uncontrolled
outbreak of
violence, chaos and anarchy was more and more becoming a
danger.
The bishops said freedom of assembly, expression and movement no
longer
exists in Zimbabwe. Members of the civil society, political opponents
and
even ordinary citizens are often victims of violent acts, meted out on
them
by the state for no legitimate reason.
"Basic needs are hardly
met; food has become unaffordable for the vast
majority of the population.
Drugs and medical services are far beyond the
reach of the ordinary
Zimbabwean. The education system is almost
collapsing," the statement
said.
The crisis had forced almost four million Zimbabweans into exile.
"At the
same time, the wave of refugees to Zimbabwe's neighbouring countries
is also
becoming a burden for that region." The bishops said.
The
bishops appealed to African leaders to prevail upon the government of
Zimbabwe to immediately take measures to stop the violence and carnage that
is engulfing the country.
They also urged all churches and people of
faith and good will in Africa to
join the people of Zimbabwe in their
national day of prayer scheduled for
the 14th of April 2007 by the Catholic
Bishops' Conference of Zimbabwe.
Source: CISA
http://africantears.netfirms.com/thisweek.shtml
Saturday 31st March 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
On the same
day that President Mugabe clapped his hands, declared that he'd
had an
"excellent meeting" and stepped into a gleaming limousine, at least a
hundred people clamoured outside a bakery in Marondera town. They were
desperately waiting for the chance to buy a loaf of bread. There is now no
bread at all in the town. Around the corner at the town's biggest
wholesaler, at least fifteen men pushed huge flat trolleys loaded high with
all the flour that was left in the warehouse.
It was only 9 in the
morning and the electricity had already been off for
three hours so it took
a while for the news to trickle in that SADC leaders
meeting in Tanzania had
appointed South African president Mbeki to "lead the
process of dialogue"
between political parties in Zimbabwe. The words are a
flat and hollow echo
of past meetings of these Big Men who lead the
subcontinent. They hold no
glimmer of hope, compassion or even empathy for
another gathering crowd of
sixty, then a hundred people waiting at the gates
of the Grain Marketing
Board in my home town on the same day. The people are
dwarfed by four
massive 30 tonne trucks - 22 wheelers - also waiting to try
and buy
maize.
Later in the morning I hear the statement that the Big Men have
made: "The
extraordinary summit appeals for the lifting of all forms of
sanctions
against Zimbabwe." There is still no electricity in the town, its
been off
for four hours now and I wander around a supermarket with a scrap
of paper
and I shake my head in amazement at what I find: bubble bath from
Bulgaria;
disposable razors from Poland; Band Aid plasters from Sweden;
deodorant from
France; welding holders from Germany; hair styling hot combs
from England
(still with the price sticker in British pounds attached to the
box!)
Sanctions, I ask myself? Where? Against whom?
I leave the
supermarket and have to wash my hands from a bottle of water I
keep for
emergencies as there is, again, no water in the town.
At nine pm that
evening, when local ZBC news has finished, the electricity
comes back on at
the end of the second power cut of the day. We've had ten
hours without
electricity that day and haven't even had the chance to get
the propaganda
bulletins. News comes though, one way or another: President
Mugabe has been
chosen by Zanu PF as their candidate for the 2008 elections.
He will be 84
years old by then and will have been in power for 28 years.
I will be
taking a short break for the next three weeks but wish all
Zimbabweans,
wherever you are in the world, a happy Easter and Independence.
A letter
from the outside, looking in, will be written by my Mum, a
Zimbabwean in the
Diaspora, and posted on the African Tears website for the
next three
weeks.
Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.