Zim Online
Thursday 23 August 2007
By
Thulani Munda
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government on Wednesday
postponed for the
second time the launch of a new economic blueprint that
was expected to
replace the National Economic Development Priority Programme
(NEDPP) that
was terminated last month.
The new economic blueprint -
the Zimbabwe Economic Development Strategy
(ZEDS) - was initially penciled
for launch by Economic Development Minister
Sylvester Nguni last
week.
The launch was postponed to yesterday when it was again deferred to
another
date under unclear circumstances.
A spokesman in Nguni's
ministry told an army of journalists who had been
invited to witness the
event in Harare yesterday that the government had
postponed the
programme.
He did not give reasons.
ZEDS is expected to spearhead
the country's economic revival after nearly a
decade of recession triggered
by the violent removal of former white farmers
from their properties which
led to foreign currency shortages and fuel and
power supply
bottlenecks.
The country's Gross Domestic Product is estimated to have
contracted by
between 30 percent and 40 percent since 2000 and the central
bank this week
said inflation hit over 7 600 percent in July, the highest in
the world.
"It (the launch) has been postponed until further notice," the
ministry
spokesman said.
Although it was not possible to establish
the reason behind the postponement
of the launch, sources say the Harare
authorities are studying the
recommendations of a Southern African
Development Community (SADC) team that
was tasked by the regional economic
bloc to look into Zimbabwe's deepening
economic crisis.
The team
presented its report at the SADC head of state summit in Zambia
last week,
but stressed that the country's economic problems were a direct
result of
economic sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and the US after
a
diplomatic standoff over Harare's controversial land reforms.
The SADC
team recommended that the region's finance minister should come up
with an
economic package to rescue the country's collapsing economy.
The Zimbabwe
government is looking into the recommendations and will only
come up with a
new economic blueprint after synchronising their programme
with that of
SADC, a government source said yesterday.
Nguni could not be reached for
comment yesterday.
Over the past 17 years Zimbabwe has come up with no
less than seven economic
blueprints.
These include the International
Monetary Fund-sanctioned Economic Structural
Adjustment Programme in 1990,
Vision 2020, Zimbabwe Programme For Economic
and Social Transformation in
1998, the Millennium Economic Recovery Plan in
2001, the National Economic
Recovery Plan of 2003 and the 10-Point Plan.
Launched with great
excitement in April 2006, the NEDPP was the latest
blueprint touted by
government as the panacea to the country's economic
crisis.
At the
time of the NEDPP launch the government claimed that there was
strong
private sector participation in the programme, then seen as the
answer to
the problems of hyperinflation, unstable currency and low foreign
currency
generation.
It promised to turn around the economy within six months by
increasing
productivity, removing price distortions and reducing government
expenditure.
The ZEDS is a medium-term economic blueprint modeled
along the defunct
Vision 2020. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 23 August
2007
HARARE - This is the second and final part of Luke
Tamborinyoka's
experiences in a Zimbabwean jail. Tamborinyoka, together with
40 other MDC
activists, were arrested last March for allegedly petrol
bombing state
institutions last March. He was finally released after
spending 71 days in
remand prison. This is his story.
HARARE - Faced
with the prospect of releasing us on the basis of the court
order, a
grim-faced officer called the seven of us into a room and read the
charges
against us.
We were being charged with carrying out a spate of
petrol-bombings in Harare
and other cities. We were charged under section 24
of the Criminal Law
(Reform) Codification Act and were specifically being
accused of "resisting
the government and seeking to remove the government
through acts of
sabotage, banditry and terrorism."
I was shocked. Me,
a terrorist bomber?
The real terrorists I knew were the State security
agents who had pumped six
bullets into the groin of opposition activist
Patrick Kombayi way back in
1990.
Even though the culprits, Kizito
Chivamba and Elias Kanengoni, were
convicted and sentenced to seven years in
prison, Mugabe had pardoned them.
The real terror bombers I knew were
those who had blown The Daily News'
printing press to smithereens in the
early hours of 27 January 2001. They
have never been arrested.
The
terror bombers I knew were those who had petrol-bombed The Daily News'
offices in Harare and Bulawayo in 2001.
The real terrorists were
those who in the 1980s directed and carried out the
killing of 20 000
innocent civilians in the Midlands and Matabeleland
provinces, all in the
name of quelling an armed insurrection in the two
provinces against the
government.
The real terrorists were those who had just murdered an MDC
activist, Gift
Tandare, in cold blood in Harare's Highfield suburb on 11
March 2007.
The real terrorists were ruling ZANU PF party activist Tom
Kainos
Kitsiyatota Zimunya and state agent Joseph Mwale, who petrol-bombed
and
killed MDC activists Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya in broad
daylight
on April 26, 2000 at Murambinda service centre in rural Buhera
district.
Some of these real terrorists have never been arrested while in
the case of
Mwale, he remains an employee of the state despite a High Court
order that
he be apprehended and prosecuted for the murder of Mabika and
Chiminya.
In any case, the real terrorism was the one that had just been
meted out on
us at the Law and Order section offices where these strange
charges had been
concocted.
It is the most misnamed office where
neither law nor order prevailed.
We were taken to court under heavy
security. This drama, of course, was
meant for the state media.
The
state-controlled Herald newspaper went on to gleefully report the arrest
of
the MDC terror-bombers, including the "journalist-cum-activist" Luke
Tamborinyoka.
(When the State case eventually collapsed like a deck
of cards three months
later, the same State media thought it was not a story
worth reporting - so
much for professional journalism).
There was no
magistrate when we arrived. We were almost collapsing due to
hunger and the
injuries sustained after three days of torture.
Someone must have
summoned ambulances to the Magistrates Court but the
police ordered that we
not be allowed access to medical attention.
One of my colleagues, Shame
Wakatama, collapsed and we all thought he had
died. It was then that the
police panicked and allowed the ambulance crew to
drive us to Harare's
Avenues clinic.
The court later convened at the clinic and magistrate
Gloria Takundwa
remanded us in hospital under prison guard until the
following Monday. We
were put on intravenous tubes by hospital staff eager
to nourish and boost
our wasted bodies.
But the worst was yet to
come!
I am not ordinarily given to fear. But when about 10 gun-totting
agents of
the state's spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) backed by
prison
officers burst into the clinic at around midnight and demanded to
take "our
people", I became jelly-kneed.
They scared the hell out of
an adamant sister-in-charge, violently plucked
out our intravenous tubes and
frog-marched us via the emergency exit to a
nearby van.
The sight of
AK rifles in the van was frightening but the thought of driving
in the
deathly quiet early morning hours with armed CIO agents to an unknown
destination was enough to almost paraylse one with fear.
The eight of
us were later dumped at Harare Remand prison at around 1:30hrs,
breaking the
prison's own record of "check-in" time in the process.
My colleagues,
Zebediah Juaba and Brighton Matimba who had come out worst
during the
torture, were immediately taken to the ill-equipped prison
hospital to await
the attention of a government doctor.
The "doctor" was to pitch up at the
prison complex after two months and
orally interviewed the 30 of us in about
20 minutes.
The oral interview took place long after my two colleagues
had been
discharged to the cells even though they were still in critical
condition.
Matibiri and I were allocated cell C6, where I carved out a
place for myself
near the corner.
That corner was later to be
referred to as the "MDC's Information Corner"
after it emerged it was in the
same corner where the late party spokesperson
Learnmore Jongwe met his
mysterious death in 2002.
Later, more MDC activists were to join us in
Remand Prison and more were to
be detained at the prison hospital where they
never saw a doctor.
These include Ian Makone, Paul Madzore, Morgan
Komichi, Phillip Katsande and
Dennis Murira.
Life in prison was an
ordeal on its own. Remand prison is supposed to be
temporary but some
inmates had stayed at the prison for years, seemingly
abandoned by the state
which brought them to the jailhouse and by relatives
who no longer come to
visit either because they have long died of HIV/AIDS
or they have simply
grown tired of the routine trips to the prison.
More than 95 percent of
the inmates have no relatives who bring them food
and they depend on the
prison meal of a morsel of sadza (thick porridge made
from maize) and
cabbage boiled in salted water.
Rations of soap and toilet paper were
last seen in the 1980s, we were told
and a colleague, Arthur Mhizha, learnt
the hard lesson that in a Zimbabwean
prison, you bathe with one hand while
with the other, you hang on to your
prized piece of soap.
The 'MDC
team', as we were known, became famous for donating some of its
food to
other inmates, including Fungai Murisa, one of the ZANU PF activists
who is
facing a murder charge after he and others allegedly murdered an MDC
activist in Makoni East in Manicaland province.
Food is acquired at a
premium in prison. It is a one-meal per day affair
served from an aluminium
bin. Yes! A bin! And it is only acquired after a
stampede that would leave
rugby players green with envy.
Only adventurous inmates such as Reason,
one of the most notorious prisoners
in D-class, could afford the rare taste
of meat. He was well known for what
became known as the "rat
barbecue."
He would "murder" the stray rats that patronized the dirty
toilet chamber in
cell C6 and roast them on the overhead globe during the
night when prison
officers are snoring the night away.
For the less
adventurous, it was one meal of sadza and cabbage, taken every
day at around
2pm before everyone was ordered to retire to bed at around
3pm.
The
cells are another overcrowded affair, with an average of between 45 and
70
prisoners sharing a single cell and battling the night away in the usual
pastime of fighting away the cold and killing lice.
One also learnt
to meet with suspects with fascinating and sometimes just
unbelievable
stories of how they ended up in jail. One such character was
Takawira
Mwanza, a former army officer who was arrested and served four
years for
stealing Mugabe's prized bull from his Norton farm.
The bull, which was
airlifted from China, turned up at Mwanza's rural home
in Sanyati. Mwanza
says that even though he served his sentence for stock
theft at Chikurubi
Maximum Prison, Mugabe was not happy that he should be
left to go
home.
He says he is currently languishing at Harare Remand prison,
waiting for the
day when Mugabe wakes up in a good mood and order the prison
officers to
allow him to go home and meet his family.
In the
meantime, he has to contend with his two blankets in his beloved
corner in
cell C6 at Harare remand prison.
The MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai,
left his own mark at Remand prison. On
Monday, 13 May 2007, he came to visit
us and when he proceeded to see Morgan
Komichi in the prison hospital, there
was chaos from other sections when
both inmates and prison officers went
into a frenzy, shouting "President" as
they stampeded to catch a glimpse of
the man who has given Mugabe a
nightmare.
The officer-in-charge of
Harare Remand Prison, known as Musonza, was
transferred to Prison
Headquarters after the incident.
Tsvangirai was also "banned" from
visiting Remand prison lest the officers
and the inmates got into another
frenzy!
Moreover, the chants of "President" directed at Tsvangirai in a
government
complex made a lot of people uncomfortable!
By mid-April,
there were 30 MDC activists in prison, some shot and abducted
from their
homes while others were arrested in the streets of Harare to face
the same
charges of terrorism.
What kept us going was the inspiring presence of
Ian Makone, the simplicity
of Zebedia Juaba, the comforting singing from
Paul Madzore and Shame
Wakatama and the gospel teachings of Kenneth
Nhemachena.
In June, the State case began to crumble after it emerged
that it had
created fictitious witnesses to incriminate us in acts of
terrorism.
For our charge, the State consented on 7 June 2007 that it had
no evidence
and we were eventually removed from remand.
But another
reality struck as I walked out of the prison complex, that in
fact the whole
country was just another big prison. Harare Remand was simply
a microcosm of
what the whole country has become.
There is no food on the shelves;
starvation is stalking the nation and
people can no longer afford to visit
each other because of prohibitive
transport costs. Zimbabwe has simply
become a big prison with Mugabe as the
chief warden.
Our unwarranted
arrest showed that the regime has developed sudden bouts of
panic. Mugabe
has every reason to panic. When he came to power after the
crucial election
of 1980, he was 56 years old.
Morgan Tsvangirai will be 56 on 10 March
next year - a trivial statistical
coincidence but maybe one that could still
scare an old tyrant in an
advanced state of panic.
* Luke
Tamborinyoka is the technical head of the MDC's information and
publicity
department. He was news editor of the banned Daily News and a
former
secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists. He is
currently
writing a book on his experiences and his stint in prison.
Zim Online
Thursday 23 August 2007
By
Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - Police in the southern town of Masvingo on
Tuesday fought running
battles with informal traders accusing the vendors of
returning to sites
they were evicted from under a controversial government
clean-up exercise
two years ago.
The police raided informal traders
in the poor working class suburbs of
Mucheke, Rujeko and Runyararo and
confiscated goods worth millions of
dollars during the
operation.
Residents who spoke to ZimOnline on Tuesday said the fresh
police crackdown
on vendors was reminiscent of Operation Murambatsvina
(Operation Clean-up
Rubbish), a controversial exercise carried out in 2005
that saw the
government demolish illegal shacks in urban areas.
The
exercise left at least 700 000 people homeless while another 2.4 million
people were directly affected by the clean-up exercise, according to a
United Nations (UN) report.
Although some informal traders had
operating licences issued by Masvingo
council allowing them to sell their
wares, the police ignored the licences
arguing that the "papers" were issued
in error.
At Mucheke long-distance bus terminus, where most of the
vendors sell their
wares, the situation was tense with some vendors vowing
to defy the police
ban on their operations.
"This is the only place
where we can eke a living. We were given licences by
the council allowing us
to sell our wares here but the police are
indiscriminately destroying and
confiscating our goods," said Naison Moyo,
one of the informal traders at
the bus terminus.
Officer commanding Masvingo district, Chief
Superintendent Lancelot Matange
said the operation was the second phase of
Operation Murambatsvina after
vendors had returned to their original vending
sites.
"It is true that we have launched the second phase of the
operation because
we had seen that these people are not respecting
government laws.
"We are not going to recognise some of the licences
issued by the council
because they are insignificant in that these people
are in the open. If the
council wants them to operate it should built proper
structures for the
traders," said Matange.
Masvingo executive mayor,
Engineer Alois Chaimiti, a senior member of the
main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party, yesterday
dissociated himself from the
operation saying his council had never
sanctioned the exercise.
"We
never sanctioned the operation and the police are just acting on
political
orders from elsewhere," said Chaimiti.
The eviction of the vendors comes
hardly a week after the Geneva-based
international relief group, the
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre,
warned of fresh evictions in
Zimbabwe.
In a report released last week, the IDMC said many victims of
Operation
Murambatsvina had returned to urban areas where they continued to
live in
"unauthorised" structures raising prospects for fresh
evictions.
The IDMC is an international body established by the Norwegian
Refugee
Council that monitors conflict-induced internal displacement around
the
world. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 23 August 2007
By Regerai
Marwezu
MASVINGO - More than 50 percent of Zimbabwean workers could lose
their jobs
before year-end as companies start counting losses from a
controversial
government blitz on prices.
A meeting held in Masvingo
on Tuesday attended by the government's Pricing
and Incomes Monitoring
Taskforce, the local business community and labour
representatives heard
that several companies had started retrenching workers
in response to the
unviable operating environment.
A senior Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) official told the meeting
that at least half of the country's
labour force will be out of a job by
December as a direct result of the
price crackdown.
"About half of the country's entire workforce will be on
the streets before
the end of the year," said Misheck Gapare, who chairs the
Masvingo chapter
of the ZCTU.
Gapare said more workers will find
themselves on the streets as companies
continue to scale down their
operations since the hurried introduction of
the price slash
exercise.
President Robert Mugabe last June ordered companies to slash
the prices of
goods and services by half to contain runaway prices, which
had trebled
within a space of one week.
The Masvingo Cattle Producers
Association said its members were laying off
workers in order to cut their
losses after the government set limits on the
wholesale and retail prices of
beef.
"We cannot continue to keep our staff when things are as bad as
they are,"
said association chairman, Vitus Hakutangwi.
The ZCTU has
warned that it was forging ahead with plans to call mass
protests by workers
this month to force the government to address worsening
economic hardships
in the country.
The mass protests would be called before the end of
August after the union
had briefed its members on the form and nature of the
protests.
The move will likely deepen tensions in Zimbabwe which is in
the grip of an
unprecedented economic crisis that has manifested itself in
rampant
inflation of over 7 200 percent last June, widespread unemployment
and
poverty.
Police officers who attended the meeting said the arrest
of business
executives for overcharging, which has so far seen more than 12
000 people
nabbed since June, was meant to prevent riots in a country
already sitting
on knife-edge due to political tensions.
"We fear
that people will revolt against the government if prices continue
rising,"
said a senior Masvingo police officer who refused to be named.
The price
blitz has triggered an acute shortage of goods after panicky
consumers
cleaned shop shelves of basic commodities.
Fearing a backlash from the
shortages, Mugabe this week partially lifted the
price freeze allowing
prices of some goods and services to go up. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 23 August 2007
By
Nqobizitha Khumalo
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's tax collector is broke and may
fail to pay workers
this month unless the parent Ministry of Finance bails
it out, ZimOnline
established yesterday.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
(ZIMRA) commissioner-general Gershem Pasi told
workers in a circular dated
August 20 to remain patient while negotiations
for funding continued with
the Ministry of Finance.
"Due to financial constraints, please be advised
that we will not be able to
meet the pay day of 24th of August 2007.
Negotiations are still going on
between the Ministry of Finance and
ourselves," the chief tax collector told
employees.
In the circular
referenced August Pay Day, Pasi said he was hoping that
workers would be
paid before the end of the month.
"I remain positive that funding will
eventually be made available and that
you will be paid by 31 August 2007. I
expect all employees to be patient and
continue to be productive," Pasi said
in the internal communication.
ZIMRA insiders yesterday blamed corruption
and lack of professionalism in
the manner the organisation was being run as
chief causes of the financial
problems.
They claimed that lack of
professionalism was costing the parastatal of
much-needed
revenue.
They cited the case of more than 50 managers who had been given
early
retirement packages but were recently rehired less than a year after
they
left.
"Most of the 50 senior managers that were given early
retirement packages
are back in their positions and that is contributing to
the huge wage bill
that is now becoming unsustainable," said a worker at the
parastatal
speaking on condition of anonymity.
Pasi could not be
contacted for a comment.
The news of ZIMRA's financial problems came as
tax experts warned that the
tax collector might be forced to refund value
added tax (VAT) payments made
by businesses affected the government's
directive on prices.
Tax experts said ZIMRA would have to refund millions
of dollars to companies
whose prices were slashed to be below
cost.
Companies pay VAT to their suppliers and they in turn charge VAT
when they
sell their products and are supposed to pay the revenue authority
the
difference between the VAT they paid and that which they
charged.
Normally the VAT that companies pay should be lower than that
which they
charge the end user, but this was reversed under the price blitz
because
most companies were forced to charge prices that were below
cost.
If a company charges less VAT than that which it paid, it should be
refunded, and this is likely to be the case with most companies whose prices
were slashed.
ZIMRA has been outperforming its revenue collection
targets, raking in
$406.7 billion last year instead of the targeted $317.6
billion. It earned
$61.5 billion from value added tax alone, more than a
quarter of its total
revenue. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 23 August 2007
By Thabani
Mlilo and Brendon Tutani
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
party on Wednesday called for the extension of the
voter registration
exercise describing the exercise that ended last week as
a "sham".
At a press conference at the party's Harvest House headquarters
in Harare
yesterday, the MDC's elections director, Ian Makone, said the
registration
exercise must be extended until a month before the 2008
elections.
Makone said the MDC had already written to the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission
(ZEC) to register their dissatisfaction with the
registration exercise that
only saw 80 000 new voters being
registered.
"The MDC is aware of the overt machinations by the regime to
steal the
people's vote through a biased and opaque mobile voter
registration that
sought to disenfranchise the young population and the
urban voters where the
opposition enjoys majority support," said
Makone.
Makone said the opposition party had discovered gross
irregularities and
inadequacies in the manner in which the whole exercise
was carried out by
the Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede.
"This was a
well calculated ploy not to only to disenfranchise millions of
potential MDC
voters but also to have more people registered in rural
Mashonaland
provinces so as to pave the way for the creation of new
constituencies in
areas ZANU PF considers politically safe," said Makone.
Makone said in
Mkoba in Gweru and in Hatfield in the capital Harare, there
was just one
mobile unit carrying out voter registration while in Zvimba,
Mugabe's rural
home, there were 95 voter registration centres.
The MDC elections chief
said the trend was widespread in the Mashonaland
provinces where Mugabe's
ruling ZANU PF party enjoys more support.
The MDC, which has posed the
greatest threat to Mugabe's 27-year grip on
power, also called for the
exercise to be extended to Zimbabweans living in
the diaspora.
At
least a quarter of Zimbabwe's 12 million population is living outside the
country after fleeing economic hardship and political persecution at
home.
The government has banned exiled Zimbabweans from voting in key
elections
only allowing the vote to those on foreign missions and special
assignments.
Mudede could not be reached for comment on the matter last
night. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 23 August 2007
By Brendon
Tulani
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum on Wednesday released
a dossier
of evidence it said was meant to disprove claims by the police
that
opposition parties and civic groups were conniving to violently
overthrow
President Mugabe's government.
The Forum said it planned to
present the 28-page dossier to South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who was
last March appointed by Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
leaders to mediate in Zimbabwe's political
crisis.
The Forum, which
is a coalition of 17 of the biggest human rights and
pro-democracy groups in
the country, claims the bulk of political events
listed in two recent police
reports as "criminal activities" were in fact
genuine political or civic
activities held by the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party
and non-governmental organisations.
Forum chairman Noel Kututa told
journalists in Harare that the police
reports were "internally
contradictory, inherently implausible and
manifestly false in many
instances."
The ZRP recently issued two reports "Opposition Forces in
Zimbabwe: A Trial
of Violence and Opposition Forces in Zimbabwe: The Naked
Truth which were
used by Mugabe to justify a crackdown against the MDC
claiming the
opposition party wanted to illegally topple his
government.
Police compiled the reports to justify the brutal assault of
main opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and many of his supporters on
March 11 when police
broke up a prayer rally in the Harare's Highfield
suburb. The assault
received worldwide condemnation.
The Forum says
in its dossier that the role of opposition parties in any
democracy was to
seek regime change but that the Zimbabwe government had
sought to wrongfully
criminalise this valid role of the opposition.
"In Zimbabwe, the
state-controlled media has repeatedly accused opposition
of regime change .
. . turning the phrase to imply something inherently
criminal," reads part
of the Forum's report.
Kututa said the reports by the police claiming the
opposition and civic
groups were colluding to overthrow the government had
naively revealed the
politicisation of the police and the use of state
resources for party
political purposes.
Politically motivated
violence and human rights abuses - mostly blamed on
state agents - have
become routine in Zimbabwe since the emergence in 1999
of the MDC as the
most potent electoral threat to Mugabe and ZANU PF's
stranglehold on power.
- ZimOnline
SW Radio Africa Transcript
Broadcast 21st August
2007
Violet Gonda: We continue the discussion from where we left
off last week
with two former freedom fighters Margaret Dongo and Wilfred
Mhanda. The main
reason of going to war was to reclaim the land, which was
in the hands of
the white minority. In this last segment I started by asking
Wilfred Mhanda
if land went to the majority of the war veterans who
spearheaded the farm
invasions?
Wilfred Mhanda: We all know
if land went to a few war veterans it is a few
war veterans but not the
majority of the war veterans. Land did not benefit
the war veterans. It did
not benefit the women. We all know where it went.
Margaret Dongo:
It went to the chosen few!
Wilfred Mhanda: It went to the
elite!
Margaret Dongo: It went to the chosen
few!
Wilfred Mhanda: Ya, the political elite. We all know about
that. We also
know it's on public record - even the President has said it -
a lot of
people have got more than one farm. So if really land had benefited
the war
veterans - they are in such a destitute condition. They live in
appalling
poverty - the war veterans. You go to the rural areas. If there
had been any
genuine land reform surely there would be evidence of
decongestion? There is
nothing like that. Land was merely used as a
political resource to enable
ZANU PF to hold on to power. We still need
genuine land reform that will
benefit the people, that would alleviate
poverty, that will also support the
development of our
economy.
Margaret Dongo: Violet have a look. The issue of land is
very crucial. I
tell you the majority of ex-combatants who have been used to
invade the
farms today are being harassed and I don't even think they are
comfortable
there. And I think they have become the poorest people. I don't
know if they
are doing any farming because the majority them - if you want
to ask on the
allocation of tractors, how many of them got those tractors?
How many of
them are getting enough support in terms of implements? How many
of them are
actually living comfortably. I am telling you the majority of
those comrades
who invaded the farms were used as guinea pigs. They were
just used as
frontiers. They were used just like in a slavery situation. To
be honest
enough lets do an accountability, let's do an inventory to see
what went to
real comrades.
And in fact I am not happy
because when the land invasions happened I was
outside the country and I
could see the majority of the people who were at
the forefront were less
than 15 years (old) and some of the people in those
farms are 18 years to 20
years (old). And you ask yourself; 'Oh my God at
what age did they join the
struggle?'
It's unfortunate that people abuse former freedom
fighters as well and they
use them as frontiers and I want to believe the
time will come when the true
liberators will take their place because it's
high time the comrades sit
back and take account of whether there are any
benefits they are deriving
from the roles that they are playing today. They
can't be made as frontiers.
So as the issue of the land is concerned - it's
a total failure and the
majority of the people that are in the farms - if
somebody is to be honest
enough and take an inventory - you will find that
the majority are non
ex-combatants. They are relatives of the so called
chefs and some of them
have more than three farms in different names. So as
far as I am concerned
comrades have not benefited enough from the land
redistribution.
Violet: I understand that even the man who led
the violent farm invasions,
Chenjerai Hunzvi, did not even get a farm
himself.
Margaret Dongo: Let me tell you, it's not a surprise.
Margaret Dongo did
apply for a farm before the invasions in 1990. But I
know I have committed
a crime which is not pardoned and I had more than 5/7
applications and I don't
even regret not getting the farm. I don't even
regret not getting a farm
myself. I am quite comfortable being in the rural.
Actually I feel as if I
am still in the Tribal Trust Lands as I talk today
because by virtue of
being a former freedom fighter I thought I could
benefit but I don't have to
kneel down. You know you don't want a situation
where you make an
application, you start asking for a farm, and the first
question is: 'When
are you coming back to ZANU PF?"; as if the land belongs
to Zanu PF. Isn't
it we were fighting for us all to
benefit?
So why should you have conditions for one to have a
farm? This is when you
say to yourself: 'These farms were not distributed
fairly.' So at the end of
the day it's an issue that needs to be looked
into, as far as I am
concerened the land issue was a trump card that the
current president used
to get into power. Just as what happened in America
where (President George)
Bush used the Iraq war as a trump card; and so has
Britain.
I have no respect for people who use people by using such
essential and
important tools that are supposed to benefit the majority of
the people.
Violet: And how would you answer those who ask: "How
do we get rid of this
despotic regime?" Mr. Mhanda?
Wilfred
Mhanda: We are dealing here with a dictatorship, just like the Smith
regime
- which was also a dictatorship. You don't fight dictatorship through
the
constitution or free and fair elections; it has never worked and I don't
believe it ever will.
We have to grasp reality: there is need
for a paradigm shift. What we need
is a national political resistance
movement. Resisting the suffering and
oppression of the people. We need to
articulate the actual suffering of the
people.
It's good to
talk about the rule of law, about the constitution and free and
fair
elections. But the people have no electricity, they have no fuel, they
have
no water and no food. Do they have to wait until the elections?! We
need to
address those issues affecting the people's livelihood and
exisitence. As
far as we keep focusing on abstract things I think we will
have a problem
there.
The other problem is - the Zanu PF regime is in government
but it is also in
the opposition because it seeks to be populist and address
maybe people's
concerns and capitalising on things like land and
privatisation hence
crowding out the opposition. So they are both the
opposition and the
government.
What we now need is to compete
with Zanu PF in addressing those issues that
concern the people. That is
what Mugabe is very good at: he always talks
about the suffering of the
people while we talk about the constitution -
which is good - but we must
begin with the people's suffering.
Margaret Dongo: Violet, it's
Zimbabweans themselves who want to be taken for
a ride. I tell you five
years of suffering and if you go back to 2000 and
what we have been going
through in terms of the economic hardships; you tell
me that the next six
months running up to the elections will bring economic
change here in
Zimbabwe? At the end of the day, it is the Zimbabweans
themselves who are
prepared to be taken for a ride.
I think it's high time to say
enough is enough. There is no where in Africa
where you can have free and
fair elections. If you look at Zambia and
Malawi, you will see the same cry;
but at the end of the day Zambia and
Malawi were able to change their
leadership. So has Kenya! Why can't we
Zimbabweans come together and say
enough is enough; that's what we are
looking at because if we wait for the
ground to be levelled, it will never
happen! These people will never quit,
don't you remember (the late Vice
President Simon) Muzenda saying:
'Tichatonga kusvika dhongi ramera nyanga'?
(We shall rule until a donkey
grows horns!") So don't forget his words. If
we remain as we are, we are
likely to have problems.
I will put it to the Zimbabweans
themselves to actually go back and digest
and say: 'What is it that we want?
What is the future Zimbabwe that we want
and what is the leadership that we
need to put in place?'
As far as the political field - forget
about it because Zanu PF is there to
maintain power and to protect it
ruthlessly. That we should know. Anyone who
has been in opposition politics
knows this is not a luxurious field for one
to enjoy themselves. It's an
uphill struggle so people have to accept that
one day the system has to be
changed. And it is up to the people.
If the people are still
reluctant to change the system as if they are happy,
what then can we do?
Because there is no way one person can lead without the
people. Everything
is up to the people. Government is composed of people not
leadership so if
people say they don't want it, they have to remove it.
You don't go into
the ballot booth with a stick behind you neither will
anyone know what you
put on the ballot paper. You can make threats outside
the booth, but once I
am in there I know what to do.
That's the slogan we should make
Violet!
Whatever threats they make, even if they don't give me
food but when I get
to that ballot box, I will teach them a
lesson!
Violet: But how do you mobilise the masses to say enough
is enough, Mai
Dongo?
Margaret Dongo: That's the problem.
There is no activity on the the ground
as we speak. Zanu PF is busy
registering people in the rural areas. I have
been round in the rural areas
and there are no NGOs that are talking about
voter education right now. Wait
until its six months before the elections
and you will find a lot of NGOs
mushrooming doing voter and civic education
and yet this should have started
when the last election ended. But nothing
has been happening. Everyone has
been sleeping in their beds only hoping to
wake up six months before the
election and then there will be traffic
congestion; NGOs here, political
parties there; and yet this is the time
when civic educators should be out
there. This is the time when NGOs are
raising political awareness; this is
the time when they should be
encouraging people to go and
register.
And now what is happening is that Zanu PF has
structures and they are simply
abuse those structures, even the traditional
structures to go and register
their own people. There is no one out there
Violet, I have been there in the
rurals and I haven't seen anyone from the
opposition coming to ask for
assistance to see how they can actually
communicate with the people. No
one! You see the four wheel drive vehicles
are here causing more potholes on
the roads in towns instead of people going
to the rural areas to raise
political awareness.
It is you
and I who should be responsible for raising voter awareness. Not
to wait for
the NGO alone again. I blame myself for that. I also have a role
and
Zimbabweans have a role.
Wait until Zimbabweans are able to sponsor their
own political parties and
they will choose the party to lead them. But
because right now those
(political parties) that have the advantage of the
international community's
financial favour, they are getting funding, so
they don't feel any pain at
all. But if it was the Zimbabweans themselves
taking up the challenge, they
would choose the right
leadership.
Violet: Mr. Mhanda, you've done this before as a
commander of the
liberation forces. How can the people be mobilised to fight
as one, what is
your advice and suggestions?
Wilfred Mhanda:
First of all we should understand, comprehend or appreciate
the nature of
the challenge that we face. Like I said, we are dealing with a
dictatorship
here, just like Ian Smith. Unfortunately, unlike the other
countries that
Margaret Dongo was talking about - Zambia, Malawi and
Kenya - they never
had liberation movements. They had nationalist
movements. They never fought
a war. So, the machinery to support the
establishment was not that partisan
whereas here in Zimbabwe it was totally
different. What we need is to
understand the nature of the challenge: people
have been optimistic thinking
every year they are going to win. But just
like Margaret Dongo said we need
to climb down from the ninth cloud to the
ground and understand that here is
a real challenge: Mugabe is not going to
give up power that easily. That is
point number one.
And you're not going to dislodge him through
conventional opposition
politics. What we then need after we have identified
and appreciated the
nature of the challenge that we face; is to map up a
strategy and a national
rallying point - a unifying agenda like fighting for
liberation, fighting
for emanicipation.
We talk a lot about
the Smith regime but hardly about the Rhodesian Front
which was Smith's
political party. We talk about the Smith regime; and even
if we captured
some of their fighters we conceded they were victims of
propaganda. So the
message we should be telling the people is that we are
all victims of this
dictatorship including members of Zanu PF!
But we are actually
reinforcing the polarisation because that is the way of
conventional
politics: them and us! We need to be united; then we mobilise
the people and
organise them, give them direction and then leadership. At
the moment
there's no mobilisation, there's no organisation , there's no
direction and
as for leadership, I leave that to the people to see if they
have the
leadership to lead them through this struggle.
Violet: (To
Mhanda) So where are people like you, what are you doing, why
can you not
participate in the mobilisation and the leadership - in the
things that you
are talking about?
Wilfred Mhanda: I am not a politician right
now. I have not formed a
political party, but like I
said...
Margaret Dongo: Mhanda!
Violet:
(Interjects) Do you have to be a politician though?
Wilfred
Mhanda: No, no, no, no. What you need is a national political
resistance
movement that unites people against the dictatorship. Not one
that
reinforces the polarisation putting the police here, the army there and
Zanu
PF there and we are here. You will not get anywhere! I don't know if
you get
my message!?
Violet: Amai Dongo, do you get his
message...
Margaret Dongo: (interjects) Mhanda can not give an
excuse that because he
is not a politician he can not play a role. This is
the problem that we
have: Mhanda was a commander in the liberation struggle.
Mhanda should use
the strategy that he used to mobilise people to join hands
during the
struggle. What strategy did they use during the struggle to
convince the
masses to join hands? How did they train the masses?
I
will not pardon him for that! I do not know his defination for politics.
It
doesn't mean you have to hold political office to be able to help develop
your country or develop the people in your country. You have a role to
play.
Mhanda knows the slogan we used to have in the struggle:
"Iwe neni tine
basa." (You and I have a duty to liberate Zimbabwe.) So what
is your role
Mhanda? Mhanda should play a role as well. Those strategies
we used then,
should be used again today in the rural areas to educate the
people.
If Mhanda were to go today to the rural areas; and I and the
former freedom
fighter were to go as well; and tell the people that this is
not what we
fought for, we are now living in abject poverty why don't we go
back and
redirect the new struggle? Then we will get
there!!
Violet: I am afraid Mr. Mhanda I must agree (with
Margaret Dongo) and put my
personal thoughts into this. Having heard what
people say on this forum,
many talk in the third person or as observers; but
what about you as a
person, what role can you play in this
struggle?
Wilfred Mhanda: I am a victim of oppression and the
dictatorship in
Zimbabwe. Single-handedly there's nothing I can do on my
own.
Violet: definately
Wilfred Mhanda: I will
have to work with other forces bent on change. But
then you'll need to agree
on certain things. If people are obssessed with
conventional opposition
politics, I'm sorry to say they will have to exhaust
that phase. Just like
the nationalists who hoped they would get independence
through the
constitution. Eventually they exhausted those platforms. Do you
understand
what I am saying?! Zanu and Zapu both wanted to go for the
elections
negotiating with Britain; it was only much later that they
realised that
this is not the route to take. Do you understand what I am
talking about
Violet?
Violet: Uh huh. Are you saying that conventional
opposition politics is not
the way to go but that Mugabe is going to need a
stick?
Wilfred Mhanda: I am saying conventional opposition
politics will not solve
this problem.
Violet: So what should
happen?
Wilfred Mhanda: If there's a critical mass of people who
share that point of
view that is fine. If people can not agree with me, what
can I do, I can't
force people?
Violet: Now Mr. Mhanda, some
have said ultimately change will come from the
army. Do you agree with
this?
Wilfred Mhanda: It will be wrong and I don't agree with
that. It is actually
escapism, just like Margaret Dongo here; thay are
shying away from their
responsibility to bring about change. Why do you look
up to the army? They
are constitutionally compromised to take party in
politics, play elective
role. Why do you wish to make them the torch-bearers
of the struggle? They
like everyone else are victims of this
dictatorship.
But our message is actually to say all the security forces,
the police, the
army are Mugabe's people, which is not bringing people
together. I was
telling you that during the war even when we captured
Smith's forces we said
they were victims being used; and tried to win them
over.
We are not trying to win anyone over, we are trying to
reinforce the
polarisation So it is wrong to expect the army to take the
lead. This is a
political struggle, it is the people who are suffering, yes
the army and the
security forces are also victims, but why should they
shoulder the
responsiblitiy of liberating the country. Because then we will
only bring
another dictatorship. And what will you do with that dictatorship
if it
comes from the military? It will not be liberation in the
end.
Violet: But you know we have heard so many reports in the
past few months
about coup plots and attempts. Is there a likelihood of a
coup in Zimbabwe?
Wilfred Mhanda: I'd say the chances are very
remote. The security forces
seem committed to a constitutional route.
There's been discontent and
disgruntlement within the military; but reports
of coup were actually
manufactured to scare any thoughts of a coup being
entertained within the
military. I wouldn't think that if there was a coup
it would fail if they
really wanted to do that. It would have actually
succeded. But I am not a
proponent or advocate for military coups because I
don't support that, I
don't support military governments, it is the people
who have to be
stakeholders in their struggle. We have to democratise the
struggle, not to
be by-standers and then expect to exercise our rights
afterwards, no! Don't
let the army participate. Actually forbid them. Say:
"We don't want you to
take the lead!"
Violet: What about you
Mai Dongo, what are your thoughts on the role of the
army? And also, how
strong a hold do you think Mugabe has on the security
forces?
Margaret Dongo: I don't even foresee a military rule
in this country.
Because the army have a separate role to play in defending
the country and
they are supposed to be in the baracks and out there
defending the country.
The idea of a coup was meant to further frighten the
people of Zimbabwe;
that there's war coming again up if you do not do a,b,
c, d; and e! I don't
think even the army commanders themselves would ever
dream of that because
the question is; do they have the capacity to rule?
That's the question,
because it doesn't mean when you held a gun or when you
hold a gun you can
be the best leader. Not at all. There are quite a number
of issues to
consider when you are talking about leadership and when you
talk about
running a country. So I rule out the issue of a coup. That is
mere
speculation and meant to frighten people and it does frighten the
people to
some extent and this is the motive. I rule that
out.
Violet: In your view, is Mugabe in charge of the security
forces or the
security forces are in charge of
Mugabe?
Margaret Dongo: It's very difficulty to tell because the
army is made up of
people like myself; and they are going through the
economic hardships just
like any other person in Zimbabwe. They also have
different feeling about
the governance today. So its very difficult to tell
who is in control. You
might be surprised that a former army commander might
be in control or
somebody else; a colonel or a major. It's possible it
depends on who has the
power to convince people but at the end of the day,
when it comes to
control, you can not guarantee control in an environment
which we have toady
where you even have soldiers who are not happy about
their salaries and are
struggling even though they are doing a steerling
effort to defend their
country and those in power. So it's not something to
talk about.
Violet: What can you say about this because its been
said that Mugabe has
support from the generals and commanders like Perence
Shiri and Constantine
Chiwenga? Does he actually have support of the rank
and file?
Wilf Mhanda: Of course it is the constitutional
responsibility of the army
to be loyal to the head of state, one would not
expect otherwise. It would
actually be foolhardy to imagine a situation
where you have security forces
sworn to the constitution to be openly
opposed to the head of state. I think
that one is a none starter. In terms
of the state itself, there's one key
decision-making institution responsible
for running this country; that is
The Joint Operations Command (JOC). It
comprises mostly of security forces
though its role is largely advisory.
They don't give instructions nor take
political decision. It could actually
be acceptable. What they advice or the
nature of their advice, we cannot
tell. We do not know. We are not privy to
the goings-on.
They
may be totally be opposed to what is happening but they have no other
avenues because of the nature of their duties; and they have sworn loyalty
to the constitution.
It however doesn't mean to say they are not
human beings, just like Margret
was saying. They are suffering like
everybody else but it would not be
proper for them to be the first to air
any discontent as it will be
tantamount to a mutiny.
They
would rather keep things close to themselves, play their cards closely
to
themselves because the moment that is known; surely the head of state
will
be justified and legalluy too, to take action against them! So they are
in a
very compromised position. I don't envy their position at all. And that
does
not mean that they are supportive of the current
situation.
Violet: But It has been reported that that JOC will
help Mugabe campaign in
the next election.
Wilf Mhanda: Have
the sources of that information been authenticated. They
could very well be
coming from Zanu PF or government itself; with the aim of
intimidating
people just like these coup stories which have not been
authenticated. Is it
possible!?
As far as I know they (JOC members) don't sit in the Zanu PF
politiburo. We
know Zanu PF takes decisions and gives instructions to
cabinet. But it is
not JOC that gives instructions to cabinet or the
politiburo as such.
Violet: Is it so difficult or to believe that
the army could do this for
Robert Mugabe because the security forces have
been accused of helping the
government to suppress dissent and to beat up
people and to brutalise the
masses?
Wilf Mhanda: What I can
openly say is that the police and the central
intelligence has been
compromised. We all know that. They brutalise the
people, they arrest people
on a daily basis. That is quite open. But we do
not have similar evidence
with regard to the army. There could be members of
the military who are are
also used but as for the police its an open record,
we know that. They and
the CIO are Zanu PF militants. But I can not say the
same about the
military.
Violet: So Amai Dongo, what accounts for Mugabe's
staying power?
Margaret Dongo: The way I see Mugabe is that he is
a strategist who knows
how to dance to the people's tune. Look at the recent
policies that they
have just put in place. Look at the price slash, it was
meant to woe the
majority of the people who are not happy with the economy.
And for him he
did it purposely to try and please whathe called the poor
people. His
mistake was that it wasn't the poor people who benefited. So, at
times when
he does his interventions and wakes up on the wrong side of the
bed, he just
makes up a decision and to him it doesn't matter who is
affected as long as
its for his political gains.
Mugabe is a person
who knows how to divide and rule and this is seen in the
Zanu PF structures
as well where he has caused divisions: there are the
wanted few and then
there are the ones regarded as rebels with the ZANU PF
structures.
By so doing, those who didn't take part in the
liberation struggle are taken
aboard his band wagon becoming the new
messiahs, the favoured few. These now
find themselves at the top positions
and kneel before Mugabe telling him:
'Mr. President, all is well, we want
you back'; merely because they want to
be protected. It;s now time for all
the former freddom fighters to come
together and ask themselves what they
have benefited under Zanu PF; as well
as the chimbwidos (war collaborators),
together with the masses in order to
find a strategy. What is required is
for people to join hands and speak with
one voice because we have had
enough.
Violet: And Mr. Mhanda, final word...
Wilf
Mhanda: I'd agree with Margret with regard to Mugabe's staying power.
He
understands power, he's a populist; and he knows how to manipulate
people.
He is good at grand-standing and at rhetoric. He is an opportunist
politically and he's also extraordinarily good at choosing his leuitanants
and subbordinants who are loyal to him. He invokes loyalty from his
supporters and also patronage is his key instrument. But partronage is not
that he gives you something in return to loyalty, it's actually based on
impunity. Its that: 'You can do anything and get away with it.' In other
words: 'enrich yourself, break the law, do whatever you like and I will turn
the other way as long as you are loyal.' That's the key strategy used by
Robert Mugabe. And it has been working well, but people need to know that.
The need is actually to isolate him and his inner circle! And get everyone
else to see that it's not good for the country including those in Zanu PF,
including those security forces. Not to say: 'Oh those people support
Mugabe, they are in Zanu PF, war veterans..." No, no, no, no. We will not
get anywhere like that.
Violet Gonda: Thank you very much Mr.
Mhanda and Amai Dongo
Dongo and Mhanda: Thank you
Violet!
Comments and feedback can be emailed to violet@swradioafrica.com
China Daily
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-23 04:52
HARARE --
Zimbabwe's Ministry of Defense signed an agreement with Pakistan
on
Wednesday that will see the Asian country seconding its armed forces to
Zimbabwe, local media reported.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the
permanent secretary for Defense Trust
Maphosa said the agreement reinforces
relations that exist between the two
countries in the field of defense
particularly in the air force.
"This agreement shall actively promote
defense cooperation between the
defense forces of our two countries, in
accordance with international law
and the respective national laws of our
two countries," Maposa was quoted by
New Ziana as saying.
Pakistani
Ambassador to Zimbabwe Riffat Iqbal said the agreement marked a
milestone in
cooperation between Zimbabwe and Pakistan.
"This event marks our desire
to continue the relationship we have with
Zimbabwe. We are hoping that we
shall also explore other areas of mutual
benefit to both our countries," he
said.
Under the agreement, Pakistan's forces would offer training,
guidance and
defense advice to Zimbabwe's armed forces.
The agreement
is for two years but has provisions for extension.