Human Rights Watch (Washington,
DC)
GUEST COLUMN
April 5, 2007
Posted to the web April 5,
2007
Tiseke Kasambala
When President Thabo Mbeki and other
leaders of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) met in Tanzania
last week to address the crisis
in Zimbabwe, they responded by announcing
another round of "quiet"
diplomacy.
Not a word was said in public
about how Zimbabwean security forces
arbitrarily arrest, detain and brutally
beat opposition leaders and ordinary
citizens around the
country.
In an effort to end the crisis, SADC mandated Mbeki to lead
its efforts to
mediate a dialogue between Zimbabwe's ruling party and the
opposition. But
Zimbabwe's worsening crisis will not be resolved until SADC
leaders start
talking openly about the massive human rights violations
committed by the
Mugabe government, and demand an immediate end to
them.
According to SADC leaders, directly confronting and criticising
Robert
Mugabe about his abusive policies is counter-productive. But seven
years of
this approach have not resulted in an improvement in the country's
economic
or human rights situations. Instead, the suffering of Zimbabweans
has only
deepened, driving about three million of them to South
Africa.
The Zimbabwean government crushes dissent with violence and
brutality, and
denies its citizens their fundamental freedoms of expression,
assembly and
association. SADC's continuing silence and its failure to call
on Mugabe to
account only encourages further abuses.
Perhaps SADC
leaders should explain their approach to Chipo (not her real
name), a
46-year-old woman I met last week in Glenview, one of the Harare
suburbs
worst affected by the violence. Chipo knows all too well the brutal
methods
favoured by Zimbabwean authorities.
In the early hours of March 12 police
officers suddenly forced their way
into her home and beat Chipo and her
family with truncheons and rifle butts.
Chipo was beaten unconscious and
sustained serious head injuries and a
fractured wrist.
When I
interviewed her, Chipo started crying as she recounted how the police
officer told her she deserved to be roughed up because, "you are the people
who support the opposition."
Chipo and her family have never been
involved in politics. But in many
neighbourhoods like Glenview, police go
from house to house, randomly
beating people and accusing them of supporting
the opposition.
And Chipo is not alone. Throughout Zimbabwe ordinary
people live in constant
fear of random violence at the hands of the security
forces. During my
recent two-week visit to the country, dozens of
Zimbabweans told me they had
faced similar abuses from the police, members
of the Central Intelligence
Organisation, youth militia and Zanu-PF members
and supporters. Anyone
remotely connected to the opposition or other forms
of civic activism--and
even those who are not--runs the risk of arrest,
abduction and brutal
beating.
One opposition activist told me about
how police arrested her and her
relatives and savagely beat them. "I tried
to tell them not to beat my
mother because she is old and not an activist,
but they wouldn't stop," she
said.
"They said she was my mother and,
therefore, deserved to be beaten. We were
detained for three days and then
released without charge."
Zimbabweans are desperate for an end to the
brutal human rights abuses they
are suffering at the hands of the security
forces, and the restrictions on
their internationally recognised rights to
political freedom. Mbeki should
concentrate his efforts on bringing a robust
human rights agenda to the
mediation table.
This means calling on the
Zimbabwean authorities to rebuild the institutions
that ensure respect for
human rights, democracy and the rule of law;
including an independent
judiciary. It means calling for a professional
security force that protects
its citizens and respects human rights, rather
than one that beats people
who dare to oppose the government.
It is about calling for an end to the
disdain for human rights that is now
so entrenched in Zimbabwe's security
forces, and bringing the perpetrators
to account. It is about repealing
repressive legislation and opening up the
democratic space for free and fair
elections. It means upholding the tenets
of regional peace and security, and
the respect for human rights that SADC
leaders have vowed to
promote.
In the past, "quiet" efforts by African leaders to mediate the
crisis in
Zimbabwe have failed. This time Mbeki must succeed, or his talk of
an
African renaissance and a new era of respect for democracy and human
rights
in African governance sounds like empty rhetoric. Chipo and other
Zimbabweans like her have been consistently let down not only by their
government, but by their regional leadership.
If the SADC is serious
about its solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, it
needs to stand up for
justice and human rights in Zimbabwe.
Tiseke Kasambala is a researcher at
Human Rights Watch
Zim Online
Friday 06 April 2007
By Thabani
Mlilo
HARARE - The government's feared spy-Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO)
on Thursday moved in to occupy the sixth floor of Chester
House in Harare
which houses of the headquarters Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU).
The ZCTU occupies the ninth and 10th floors of the
building along Third
Street in the city centre.
ZCTU secretary
general Wellington Chibebe said he did not know whether the
move by the CIO
- that has imprisoned and tortured several union leaders -
was one of the
spy organs' attempts to intimidate the labour federation or
it was mere
coincidence that the secret service had found accommodation at
the same
building housing the union.
But Chibebe said whatever the reason, the
ZCTU was not unsettled at sharing
the same premises with government
spies.
"I had never thought about the feeling of sharing a lift with
members of the
CIO but whatever reason made them occupy a floor in the
building that we
rent does not unsettle us," he said.
The CIO that is
the cutting edge of President Robert Mugabe's vicious
crackdown against the
ZCTU and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
party has in the past
raided the labour union's offices ostensibly in search
of subversive
material.
The ZCTU this week called a two-day national strike to pressure
Mugabe's
government to act to end an economic crisis gripping Zimbabwe for
the past
eight years and which has seen inflation soaring to nearly 2 000
percent,
rising poverty, unemployment and severe shortages of
food.
But the job boycott largely flopped as workers turned up for work
and
businesses opened although analysts attributed this to fear of a
government
backlash, a few weeks after police brutally assaulted opposition
leaders for
trying to organise anti-Mugabe protests.
Chibebe said the
union was plotting further strikes to try and push the
government to end the
economic crisis that has condemned most workers to
destitution. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 06 April 2007
By
Nqobizitha Khumalo
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's sole tyre manufacturer, Dunlop,
on Wednesday stopped
production after hundreds of workers at its main
Bulawayo plant downed tools
to press for more pay.
Disrupting of
production at the Zimbabwean firm is sure to hit hard the
motor industry in
then country as well as in some neighbouring countries
that buy tyres from
Dunlop.
"Workers at the moment are not doing anything, they have staged a
sit in and
they want management to address the issue of salaries," said one
member of
the worker's committee who said he did not want to be named for
fear of
victmisation.
The workers' representative said management and
workers failed to reach
agreement despite several meetings convened to try
and reach a compromise on
the salary dispute.
Both Dunlop managing
director Eugine Turin and worker's committee chairman
Ishmael Nyahwa were
yesterday said to be locked up in meetings and unable to
take questions from
the Press.
On Wednesday, armed anti-riot police stormed the tyre firm in
a bid to force
workers to resume duty but the workers refused to
budge.
Zimbabwe is currently crippled by incessant strikes by workers
both in the
private and public sector demanding more pay to cushion them
against the
country's rampant inflation which at close to 2 000 percent is
the highest
in the world.
State doctors, nurses, university lecturers
and school teachers have all at
one time or another in the past four months
boycotted work to press for
money and better working conditions, as a long
running economic recession
threatens to bring Zimbabwe to a complete
standstill.
The economic crisis has also spawned severe shortages of
food, electricity,
fuel, essential medicines, hard cash and just about every
basic survival
commodity.
Western governments and the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
party blame the economic crisis on repression
and mismanagement by President
Robert Mugabe. He denies the charge. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 06 April 2007
Own
Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's deputy foreign affairs
minister Aziz Pahad
says there is no way his government could halt the
massive influx of
Zimbabweans into the country fleeing hunger and repression
at home.
Addressing the media in Pretoria yesterday, Pahad said South
Africa had
agreed to help in the search for a political solution to the
crisis to
create a conducive environment for Zimbabweans to return
home.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) last week tasked
South
Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to mediate in the conflict between
President
Robert Mugabe's government and the main opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) party.
Pahad said the secretary generals of
the two factions of the splintered MDC
were already in the country and had
already met South African government
officials on Wednesday over the crisis
in Zimbabwe.
"Before the summit we had asked the two secretary-generals
of the two MDC
formations to prepare a joint paper about what they consider
as free and
fair elections in their country.
"We are meeting them
today if the document is ready, then it would be
forwarded to Mbeki and
taken for his consideration and then he will report
back to the Zimbabwean
president," said Pahad.
The regional bloc was jolted into action last
month after the Harare
authorities brutally tortured Zimbabwe opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai
and several other opposition officials.
The
torture triggered a storm of international condemnation for Mugabe's
government with several African leaders who included Zambia's Levy Mwanawasa
and Ghana's Kuffour, also condemning the crackdown in Zimbabwe.
At a
hurriedly arranged SADC summit in Tanzania, the southern African
leaders
publicly rallied behind Mugabe but are said to have grilled Mugabe
behind
the scenes to put his house in order.
SADC appointed Mbeki to mediate in
the seven-year old political stalemate.
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara,
who head rival factions of the MDC have
already welcomed Mbeki's initiative
but warned him to be firm against
Mugabe, in power over the past 27
years.
South Africa has been reluctant to openly criticize Mugabe over
the past
seven years preferring instead to pursue a policy of "quiet
diplomacy"
against Harare. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 06 April 2007
By
Sebastian Nyamhangambiri
HARARE - Zimbabwe's High Court yesterday freed
on bail seven opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party
activists accused of petrol
bombing police stations and a public train but
denied bail to a second batch
of activists which the police say were the
brains behind the bombings.
Justice Joseph Musakwa granted bail of $100
000 each to the seven activists
but did not free nine other MDC members
because after the state it was not
yet ready to oppose the granting of bail
to the opposition activists.
Those accused of masterminding the bombing
campaign and denied bail include
Ian Makone, a former executive of insurance
giant First Mutual Limited but
now a member of the MDC national executive,
journalist Luke Tamborinyoka who
now works for the opposition party and
legislator Paul Madzore.
MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama accused state
prosecutors of behaving in a
"deplorable" manner when they refused to have
the bail application of the
opposition activists heard claiming they were
not ready although they had
been fully notified the matter would be argued
in court.
"The attitude of the state is so deplorable," said Muchadehama.
"We made it
clear on Tuesday after the magistrate referred the matter to the
High Court
that we would apply for bail but today we being told a new story
(that the
state is not ready)."
Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele,
in charge of prosecution, however
defended his department saying: "There is
nothing sinister about the whole
issue. We argued over one matter and the
one we were not prepared is
different. This one involves the brains behind
the bombing. Those who
trained the bombers of police stations and
trains."
The state charges Makone and his co-accused led the MDC's
military wing
called the Democratic Resistance Committee which was
responsible for
training saboteurs to petrol bomb ruling ZANU PF party
offices and police
stations.
Makone and his colleagues are denying
the charges while the MDC has
vehemently denied it or its members were
behind the bombing incidents, which
it says were orchestrated by government
agents in a bid to justify a
crackdown on the resurgent party that has seen
dozens of its activist
arrested and tortured by the police. - ZimOnline
· State department
tells of regime change strategy
· Washington funded opposition
activities
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Friday April 6, 2007
The
Guardian
The US admitted openly for the first time yesterday that it
was actively
working to undermine Robert Mugabe, the president of
Zimbabwe.
Although officially Washington does not support regime change, a US
state
department report published yesterday acknowledged that it was
supporting
opposition politicians in the country and others critical of Mr
Mugabe.
The state department also admitted sponsoring events aimed at
"discrediting"
statements made by Mr Mugabe's government.
The report
will be seized on by Mr Mugabe, who has repeatedly claimed that
the US and
Britain are seeking regime change.
The comments are contained in the
state department's fifth annual Supporting
Human Rights and Democracy
report. It sets out in detail actions the US
government is taking worldwide
to promote human rights.
The report has had a troubled history. Three years
ago publication had to be
hastily delayed when details emerged about US
human rights abuses at Abu
Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
The US,
compared with the UK, was initially slow to criticise Mr Mugabe, but
has
since adopted an increasingly critical stance, most recently at the
Human
Rights Council in Geneva last month.
In an unusual piece of candour, the
state department report says: "To
encourage greater public debate on
restoring good governance in [Zimbabwe],
the United States sponsored public
events that presented economic and social
analyses discrediting the
government's excuses for its failed policies.
"To further strengthen
pro-democracy elements, the US government continued
to support the efforts
of the political opposition, the media and civil
society to create and
defend democratic space and to support persons who
criticised the
government."
While the US and British governments still insist their aim
in Zimbabwe is
not regime change, they have been encouraging the main
opposition leader,
Morgan Tsvangarai, who was beaten up last
month.
The report says that while Zimbabwe is nominally democratic, the
government
of Mr Mugabe is "now authoritarian".
At a press conference
to launch the document, the assistant secretary of
state, Barry Lowenkren,
said the US goal was not necessarily regime change
but to create a level
playing field for all parties. He added that where
there was a country with
record levels of inflation, denial of basic human
rights and other abuses,
the US had a duty to speak out so that people in
Zimbabwe knew they had
support.
Asked whether US efforts to promote human rights worldwide were
being
undermined by the hundreds of of people being held at Guantánamo, Mr
Lowenkren insisted the issue was not raised by non-governmental groups at
conferences he attended and participants were more interested in what the US
could do to help them in their own countries.
He also denied the
report was softer on authoritarian governments allied to
the US, such as
Belarus, than to Zimbabwe.
Mr Lowenkren said $66m was being spent on
promotion of democracy and human
rights in Iran, about half of which was
devoted to broadcasts from outside
the country and the rest spent on support
for non-governmental exchanges,
cultural exchanges such as the visit by the
US wrestling team and a Persian
internet service.
The report is
critical of Russia, noting the killing of the journalist Anna
Politkovskaya.
It says: "Political pressure on the judiciary,
corruption and selectivity in
enforcement of the law, continuing media
restrictions and self-censorship,
and government pressure on opposition
political parties eroded the public
accountability of government
leaders.
"Security forces were involved in additional significant human
rights
problems."
5 April
2007
ZIMBABWE
Freelance cameraman found dead two days
after being kidnapped outside home
Reporters Without Borders called
today for an independent investigation into
the death of freelance cameraman
Edward Chikomba, a former employee of the
state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings (ZBH), who was found dead on 31
March, two days after being
kidnapped in Harare by men suspected of being
members of the intelligence
services.
"We are utterly dismayed by this murder, which comes at a
critical time for
independent journalists because, after years of
harassment, they are now
being subjected to extreme violence," Reporters
Without Borders said.
"This appalling crime must not go unpunished,"
the press freedom
organisation continued. "As the police do not have the
required credibility
to conduct a serious investigation, we call on those
presidents who still
maintain a dialogue with President Robert Mugabe to
make him realise that it
would be inexplicable and dangerous if those who
are responsible for
Chikomba's death are not clearly identified and
punished. Only an
independent third party is capable of establishing the
facts in Zimbabwe
today."
Chikomba, who also ran a stall outside
his home in the working-class suburb
of Glen View, was kidnapped by four
men, who stopped and initially asked if
they could buy some beverages.
Forced at gunpoint to get into their white
4WD vehicle, he was found dead at
Darwendale (60 km west of Harare) on 31
March. Since then, his body has been
at the morgue in Chinhoyi, 115 km west
of the capital.
The
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (the leading organisation of its kind in
Zimbabwe) quoted one of his relatives as saying he tried to pull Chikomba
back as he was being bundled into the vehicle, but the abductors hit him
with the butts of their guns. The relative said the vehicle was found at
Mapinga, near Banket (80 km west of Harare).
One of Chikomba's
former colleagues said Chikomba was accused of providing
the international
media with video footage showing opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai with
his face badly swollen after being beaten while in custody.
The same source
said Chikomba was a supporter of the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC).
A Harare-based journalist told Reporters Without
Borders: "He was
undoubtedly targeted because he was known as a cameraman."
After leaving the
production team of "Vision 30," a programme broadcast by
ZBH until 2001,
Chikomba continued to work as a freelance cameraman for
individuals or news
organisations.
Footage of Tsvangirai with his
battered face as he left a courthouse to go
to hospital was shot by several
news media including Mighty Movies Zimbabwe
(Pvt) Ltd, a leading Zimbabwean
production company that provided its footage
to foreign TV stations and news
agencies.
Many opposition members, human rights activists and
journalists have been
arrested by the intelligence services in similar
circumstances in recent
weeks. Gift Phiri, a contributor to the London-based
weekly The Zimbabwean,
has been held since 1 April on a charge of practising
journalism illegally.
Luke Tamborinyoka, the former editor of the
now-defunct Daily News, was
hospitalised on the orders of a Harare court on
30 March after losing
consciousness during his trial. He had been badly
injured as a result of
mistreatment while in police custody following his
arrest along with 34
activists during a police raid on MDC headquarters on
28 March.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu, Patience Rusere & Jonga
Kandemiiri
Washington
05 April 2007
A
lawyer representing nine detained officials and members of the Movement
for
Democratic Change said Thursday that he fears for their lives because
authorities have defied a court order instructing that they receive medical
attention.
The nine activists were removed last week from the Avenues
Clinic in Harare
by police without the consent of their doctors and taken to
the Harare
remand jail. Among the nine still being detained at the lockup
was
parliamentarian Paul Madzore, who represents the Harare district of
Glenview, an opposition stronghold.
Authorities say the men organized
a recent string of firebomb attacks. The
men have denied the charges and
opposition sources said they have been
beaten by police.
The Harare
magistrate's court has denied them bail on three separate
occasions. The
Harare high court today ruled that their cases should be set
down for April
11 so that the office of the attorney general can conduct its
own
investigation.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama, representing the accused, told
reporter Blessing
Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that police disregard
of court orders is
disturbing.
Elsewhere, the widow of slain
opposition activist Gift Tandare said she has
gone into hiding after being
harassed by police who she said demanded the
names of National
Constitutional Assembly members who attended a memorial
service for her
husband held in a Harare suburb on March 27. Gift Tandare
was shot dead by
police March 11 in a confrontation in Highfield after the
authorities
blocked a prayer meeting.
Tandare's body later was taken from a funeral
home in Harare by suspected
agents of the central intelligence organization
and buried in secrecy in his
rural home town.
His widow, Spiwe
Tandare, told reporter Patience Rusere that she decided to
go into hiding
this week after at least five police cars surrounded her
Glenview
home.
In a separate incident, suspected state security agents tried to
abduct the
head of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe in Harare on
Wednesday,
the final day of a two-day general strike called by the Zimbabwe
Congress of
Trade Unions. As head of the teachers union, Majongwe is a
member of the
ZCTU general council.
In recent weeks, suspected
operatives of the feared Central Intelligence
Organization have been
kidnapping opposition members, brutally beating them
and dumping them in
remote locations scores of kilometers from the capital.
Majongwe told
reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that he fears for his life as
another group of
suspected CIO operatives visited his home yesterday
afternoon.
The
opposition has maintained for weeks that the state has organized what
Movement for Democratic Change founder Morgan Tsvangirai called "hit squads"
to brutalize and terrorize opponents of the government of President Robert
Mugabe. But nerves have been put on edge by a document now in circulation
which purports to indicate that army intelligence has marked some opposition
members for death.
The document, a copy of which was obtained by VOA,
purports to be a
communication from a Central Intelligence Organization
official in the
office of President Mugabe to a "Comrade Colonel Chaminyuka"
in the Zimbabwe
Intelligence Corps, an army unit.
Listed in the
purported army communication by name or under a simple
alphabetical code are
Tsvangirai, Majongwe, rival faction chief Arthur
Mutambara, human rights
lawyer Arnold Tsunga, National Constitutional
Assembly Chairman Lovemore
Madhuku, Tsvangirai faction treasurer Roy
Bennett, and others.
The
phone number listed on the document for "Colonel Chaminyuka" was
answered by
a Colonel Muhambi at army headquarters who said Chaminyuka was
not
available. He said army intelligence was aware that copies of such a
letter
were circulating, but that there was no such list of opposition
figures to
be targeted.
Madhuku expressed skepticism as to the authenticity of the
document, saying
that he found it difficult to believe that intelligence
officials would put
such a plan in writing.
But human rights lawyer
Arnold Tsunga, director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, who had
also seen a copy of the document, was taking it
seriously and told VOA that
Harare has embarked on a campaign to silence its
critics.
The Zimbabwean
(5-04-07)
By Violet Gonda
Gift Phiri, the journalist from The
Zimbabwean newspaper who was
abducted near his home in Harare last Sunday,
was finally released on bail
on
Thursday. His wife said that he was
severely beaten and has been
hospitalised. Lawyers confirmed that the
journalist had been tortured
while in police custody and is at the Avenues
Clinic.
Phiri is being charged with working without accreditation,
although he
had applied for this. Under the repressive Access to Information
and
Protection of Privacy Act, journalists are allowed to practise while
the
government-appointed Media and Information Commission considers
their
application. The journalist is also being accused of
abusing
journalistic privileges and selling out the country to the
west.
Human rights groups are concerned about the deteriorating situation
in
Zimbabwe where opposition activists and journalists are
increasingly
being brutalised by state security agents. In the last month 2
opposition
officials have been murdered and last week 65-year-old cameraman
Edward
Chikomba was bludgeoned to death after he was abducted from his home
by
unknown assailants.
It's reported that he was the father of 7
children
who are all tragically deceased and he was caring for his 11
grandchildren.
We had reports late Thursday that there was heavy police
presence at his
home in Glen View where his family were trying to hold a
wake, but we have
been unable to get further information. - SWRA
By
Violet Gonda
5 April 2007
The chairperson of the National
Constitutional Assembly Dr Lovemore Madhuku
has expressed concern that civic
society is not being consulted on
initiatives that are taking place to
resolve the Zimbabwe crisis. At the
disappointing SADC meeting in Tanzania
last week South African President
Thabo Mbeki was appointed to help
negotiations between the ruling party and
the opposition and on Wednesday
South African government representatives met
the Secretary Generals of the
two MDC factions. This is the second meeting
in less than three weeks. Vice
President Joyce Mujuru also held talks with
her South African counterpart
recently.
Dr Madhuku said all stakeholders need to be involved in this
consultation
initiative, as the Zimbabwe crisis is so deep and so complex.
Dr Madhuku is
also concerned that the opposition parties, as members of the
Save Zimbabwe
Campaign, are not talking to civic society about these latest
developments,
as the only way forward is if all players work
together.
He said: "First of all we need to be clear that we do not know
what is
happening in terms of the so called initiative where the Secretary
Generals
of the MDC are traveling to South Africa for talks to South African
authorities."
Mbeki was tasked to facilitate dialogue between the
Mugabe government and
opposition to agree on how to hold free and fair
elections next year. But
the civic leader believes that if there is to be
any sensible resolution to
the crisis, the democratisation process has to
involve the many players who
have been at the centre of the crisis. "So we
would not expect just the
political parties would be the only players in the
game and that is what we
have seen in the past few days."
All
pro-democracy groups, including the two MDCs, have been working under
the
Save Zimbabwe Campaign banner and it is this platform that people like
Madhuku say should be used to engage any outsiders who want to get involved
in resolving the crisis. The civic leader said the only information they are
getting is through the media, with the latest being that the Secretary
Generals Tendai Biti and Professor Welshman Ncube had been asked to prepare
a way forward document and had returned to South Africa with a written
document. "There has been no consultation whatsoever between the two MDC and
other players in the Save Zimbabwe Campaign. That is why I believe it is a
different initiative from the initiative that we have been working together
on."
He added: "This is one of the problems we continue to have in
Zimbabwe. I
would be very disappointed if there are opportunistic tendencies
by the
political parties in Zimbabwe. The crisis in Zimbabwe is just not
about
political powers. It is about creating a better future for all
Zimbabweans."
Furthermore, the outspoken civic leader criticised opposition
parties who
seem to get involved with pressure groups only when it involves
protest
actions. "But when it comes to them trying to get a way forward and
what to
do with next year's elections, the opposition always chooses to be
opportunistic and we condemn that kind of approach," he said.
The NCA
chairman said it would be 'foolish' for any politician to think they
can be
a spokesperson for all players in the broad movement, saying that the
suffering that people have gone through is something political parties
should not take advantage of.
Observers have also warned that just
because the regional leaders have
initiated this process it does not mean
that some of these African countries
have stopped backing Robert Mugabe's
hold on power.
Madhuku says perhaps the isolation of civic society could be
because the
SADC leaders are aware that once they involve all stakeholders
then the
issue would be resolved in a more comprehensive manner, which might
not be
agreeable to Mugabe.
He said: "Once you involve the civic players
certainly the central issues
will be a new people driven constitution,
fundamental reforms and this is
what the SADC leaders fear because once
these issues are raised Mugabe would
become difficult.
Some observers
believe SADC leaders are hoping that if they narrow the
issues and simply
talk to the opposition political parties, hopefully they
will come up with a
settlement which may not be satisfactory to the majority
of Zimbabweans, but
which may create the impression there has been a
resolution.
.................
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
05 April, March 2007
Riot police units that had been
patrolling the streets of the high-density
areas of Budiriro and Glen View
on Wednesday attacked local residents as the
second day of the strike
organized by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) came to an end.
The residents said police accused them of piling up
rocks and debris to
block minibuses from taking workers to their jobs. It is
not clear whether
any arrests were made or if residents were injured. Both
areas were reported
to be tense on Thursday.
Glen View has been the scene of several
shootings and was the home of Gift
Tandare, the opposition activist who was
shot and killed by police when they
blocked a prayer rally in Highfield last
month. Residents say the area has
not been safe since.
Our Harare
correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the opposition MPs that
represent Glen
View and Budiriro are both very young and energetic. The
police accuse them
of mobilising the youth in their constituencies to set up
illegal
roadblocks. This is why MP Madzore and MP Chisvuure are being
targeted.
Muchemwa also said there were skirmishes in many other areas
around the
country that are not being reported because residents are too
afraid to
speak out in the face of the brutal attacks that have been
happening.
Meanwhile on Thursday the government announced that it
would deal with
businesses that had closed during the stay-away, accusing
them of siding
with the ZCTU organizers and the opposition. Minister of
Industry Obert
Mpofu said a list of what he described as "mostly white-owned
companies that
chose to side with organisers of the stayaway" was being
compiled. He gave
all the companies that closed Tuesday and Wednesday just
24 hours to explain
why they had done so. The minister did not specify how
he planned to deal
with these companies. Muchemwa said this harassment of
white-owned
businesses will lead to more of them relocating to neighbouring
countries.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington
05
April 2007
Further confirmation that Southern African leaders
took Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe to task at last week's Southern
African Development Community
summit has emerged from Mozambican President
Armando Guebuza.
He told reporters in Maputo last week that Zimbabwe's
crisis quote "affects
us a lot," citing the illegal entry of people and
goods due to the breakdown
of border security, and Zimbabwe's delays in
paying for electricity supplied
by its neighbor.
Researcher Nicholas
Gaspar of the Higher Institute of International
Relations in Maputo told
reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe, that Mr.
Guebuza and other Southern African leaders recognize the
crisis in Zimbabwe,
but have preferred to take a more diplomatic approach.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
05 April
2007
A thinly veiled threat against a British diplomat
serving in Harare that was
published in a state-controlled Zimbabwean
newspaper has prompted British
authorities to demand an explanation from
Zimbabwe's diplomatic
representative in London.
An article published
in the state-controlled Herald newspaper under the
pseudonym of David
Samuriwo appeared to threaten British Embassy Second
Secretary Gillian Dare.
The article said that "it will be a pity for her
family to welcome her at
Heathrow Airport in a body bag, like some of her
colleagues from Iran and
Afghanistan."
Reports said Peter Rickets, the permanent under secretary
of state at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office summoned Machinga Wednesday
and told him
that the British government is taking such threats
seriously.
Rickets warned Machinga that Britain holds Zimbabwean
authorities
responsible for the protection of British diplomats, as Britain
provides
protection for the Zimbabwean mission in London.
The article
on the Herald's opinion page accused Dare of "blatant
interference in the
internal affairs of Zimbabwe" and of being the "purse
holder and financier"
of what the paper charged was a campaign of violence
by the Zimbabwean
opposition.
Political analyst John Makumbe, a senior lecturer in
political science at
the University of Zimbabwe, told reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio
7 for Zimbabwe that the British government is
justified in taking the threat
seriously given the escalation of abductions,
brutal beatings and murders by
alleged state security agents.
Catholic News Service
Apr-5-2007
By Bronwen Dachs
Catholic
News Service
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius
Ncube of
Bulawayo said he is not surprised political leaders haven't
pressured
Zimbabwe's government to stop the violence and reinstate the rule
of law.
The southern African political leaders "have backed one another
like this
before, but I hope they put pressure on (Zimbabwean President
Robert) Mugabe
in private," Archbishop Ncube told Catholic News Service
April 2 in a
telephone interview from Bulawayo.
The African bishops'
strong support for Zimbabweans and their appeal to
political leaders to stop
the violence is "unprecedented," he said.
The Symposium of Episcopal
Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, known by
its acronym SECAM, in March
urged political leaders to "immediately take
measures to stop the violence
and carnage that is engulfing" Zimbabwe.
SECAM members "have been
watching Zimbabwe and feel it is high time there
should be change," said the
archbishop.
But, he said, Mugabe "has shown no repentance" for his role
in the suffering
of Zimbabweans.
"Everyone is terribly concerned"
about the crisis in the country "as things
get worse and worse," he noted.
Zimbabwe's economy is in free-fall with an
inflation rate of more than 1,700
percent and an unemployment rate of 80
percent. The recent chaos has caused
public services for heath care, schools
and sewage to all but shut
down.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was appointed to mediate
between
Mugabe and opposition leaders, met in early April with leaders from
the
Movement for Democratic Change, the main opposition party, to discuss
resolving the conflict. Some Zimbabweans have been calling for
constitutional reform to reduce the power of the presidency.
The
Zimbabwean bishops and other religious leaders have encouraged Catholics
around the world to join in a day of prayer for the country April
14.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean Jesuits said in a newsletter that
Zimbabwe's
bishops "have clearly distanced themselves" from any intention of
reconciling the oppressed with their oppressors.
The Jesuits called
the bishops' March statement "truly liberating" for
Zimbabweans. The Jesuits
quoted the statement as saying that "oppression is
sin and cannot be
compromised with. It must be overcome."
The bishops "do not blame both
sides equally for violence, afraid to say who
is responsible for it," the
Jesuits said.
END
LONDON - 6 April 2007
The British Jesuits have responded to the appeal by the bishops
of Zimbabwe
for a Day of Prayer for the people of their country, by posting
a prayer on
one of their web sites and inviting people to visit it. The
appeal by the
bishops came at the end of their Pascal Message, when they
called for
Saturday, 14 April to be the day when people turned their
thoughts to
Zimbabwe and offered a prayer that its current crisis may be
resolved in a
non-violent way.
Zimbabwe (or Rhodesia, as it was then
called) was a part of the British
Province of the Society of Jesus until
becoming a Province in its right in
1978. Since then, the two countries have
maintained strong links, with
Jesuit Missions in London supporting a wide
variety of Jesuit initiatives in
Zimbabwe, including schools and colleges,
HIV-awareness and work among the
poorest of the population.
A Prayer
for Justice in Zimbabwe is now on the Jesuit Missions web site:
http://www.jesuitmissions.org.uk/zimbabweprayer/
©
Independent Catholic News 2007
zimbabwejournalists.com
6th Apr 2007 00:53 GMT
By a
Correspondent
LONDON - Efforts to bring to an end the political and
economic crisis in
Zimbabwe should not ignore the Diaspora and other
stakeholders that have
been fighting for change in the country, the militant
Free-Zim Youth has
said.
Responding to reports that the two
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) secretary generals, Tendai
Biti and Welshman Ncube had gone to South
Africa for talks with
representatives from the South Africa government on
the mediation process
seeking to bring political parties in Zimbabwe to the
drawing table, the
youths said pressure should be exerted on President Thabo
Mbeki to ensure
that all stakeholders have a say in the future Zimbabwe they
want.
They said the future of Zimbabwe should not be left to be
determined by the
two MDCs and Zanu PF political parties only.
"It
looks like the process has already started in the absence of proper
consultations," said Alois Phiri of Free-Zim Youth. "What we are saying as
the youths is that the process should be all-encompassing. The Diaspora
should not be left out because it has and will continue to play a role in
the development and stabilisation of Zimbabwe when all things have been said
and done. We want proper consultations to take place. We want to be able to
vote in the next election and that is one factor that must be looked
at."
He added: "We want a better future and all stakeholders should be
involved
in the process to bring back sanity, decency and the rule of law to
our
country."
South African President, Thabo Mbeki was recently
appointed by the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) to help
mediate in the Zimbabwean
political crisis.
Yesterday Mbeki disclosed
that one of his cabinet ministers, Sydney
Mufamadi, and the Director General
in the Presidency, Frank Chikane, had
held talks with Ncube and
Biti.
No details of the meeting were readily available from the meeting,
however.
In an earlier statement, the youths said: "We as young Africans
have no
confidence with the so-called Mbeki mediation. We feel Mbeki has for
a long
time been playing sustainable tactics, which were and are designed to
resuscitate and give more life to the Mugabe government."
"Young
Africans shall resist by all means any efforts to manufacture a fake
peace
settlement that will be tabled outside an independent platform which
can
accommodate an independent election."
The youths said they would support
any initiative that would lead to a new
Zimbabwe but only after a free and
fair election has been held.
"We stand united today saying No to another
Zanu-Zapu peace accord. We
demand that all stakeholders should be involved
in this process that should
bring lasting peace and stability to Zimbabwe
and not just for a few years,"
said Free-Zim Youth.
"Surely we shall
mobilise all the young Africans to resist any betrayal of
the aspirations of
our forefathers who have been victims of the fall of
black majority rule. We
say No to another smoke screen accord."