Solomon (L) and Joice (R) Mujuru both fought in
Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence
Zimbabwe's Vice-President Joice Mujuru has called for an
investigation into the death of her husband Solomon last week in a fire on their
farm.
An ex-military
chief, Gen Mujuru was a highly influential figure in President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party.
A BBC reporter
says his death has fuelled speculation that he may have been killed, causing a
party rift and turmoil over Mr Mugabe's succession.
Mrs Mujuru said
the farmhouse's many exits meant it was easy to escape
fire.
Distraught
Mrs Mujuru was not
at the farm in Beatrice, about 80km (50 miles) south of the capital, Harare,
when the fire broke out in the early hours of last Tuesday
morning.
In the immediate
aftermath of the discovery of her husband's charred remains, she had urged the
public to exercise great caution in commenting on the death.
But the BBC's
Brian Hungwe in Harare says Mrs Mujuru laid bare her feelings for the first time
on national state television on Tuesday evening.
Gen Solomon Mujuru, died aged 62
Nom de guerre:
Rex Nhongo
Known as
Zimbabwe's "king-maker"
From the same
Zezuru branch of Zimbabwe's majority Shona group as President
Mugabe
Member of
Zanu-PF's politburo
Retired as head
of the army in 1992 to concentrate on his business interests
Married in 1977
Joice Mujuru who now serves as one of two vice-presidents
Accused of taking
over more than one farm seized from white farmers in recent
years
Addressing the national women's football team which had
gone to pay their condolences, she looked distraught, he
says.
She said she had
not been told what happened to her husband between 20:00 when he got home on
Monday 15 August until the time the fire allegedly broke out around midnight.
Mrs Mujuru
indicated that a military man of her husband's stature could have easily escaped
the fire through the many exits, especially those in the
bedroom.
"There are two
long windows, from my side and from his side, that if you want to go out for an
emergency - you don't have to jump out, you just lift your leg," she
said.
"Our little
grandchildren, we used to joke with them - that instead of coming through the
normal door they would jump into our bedroom using those
windows."
Under his nom de
guerre, Rex Nhongo, Gen Mujuru was the director of Mr Mugabe's forces during the
1970s war of independence.
Our reporter says
at the time of his death, he was believed to have been pushing for leadership
renewal within Zanu-PF.
There has been
fierce rivalry between the Mujurus and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa for
control of the party.
He was the only
person believed to have had the stature to challenge the 87-year-old Zanu-PF
leader during crucial party meetings, our correspondent says.
His wife's remarks
come amidst talk of widening rifts within Zanu-PF, which is facing crucial
elections next year, he says.
His death has
thrown wide open the succession debate, putting President Mugabe in a difficult
situation, he adds.
Soldiers carry the coffin of former Zimbabwean army
general Solomon Mujuru during his funeral at Heroes Acre in Harare, Zimbabwe,
August 20, 2011
Joice Mujuru, vice
president of Zimbabwe, said she is suspicious about how her husband, Solomon
Mujuru, died. Mujuru, former commander of the Zimbabwe security services, was
burned to ashes at his farmhouse last week even though he could have easily
escaped the fire.
Shortly after her husband’s remains were found at the
farmhouse front door, Joice Mujuru spoke out and said people should not
speculate about his death.
President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman, George
Charamba, also made a statement, saying that speculation about Mujuru’s death
was out of line.
Probe into death's
circumstances
Since then, police and Mujuru family members have
been investigating, and so far, 23 people have been questioned about the fire at
the farmhouse about 55 kilometers south of Harare.
In an interview
Tuesday, broadcast on the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Joice
Mujuru said she “will not rest” until she finds out how her husband, who she
described as a “military man,” had burned to death. She said he could easily
have escaped from his bedroom as the unbarred windows were large and low enough
to climb through.
She said her young children regularly climbed through
those windows when they stayed at the farm.
Mujuru said her husband's
death had “raised many eyebrows.”
Solomon Mujuru seized the farm from a
prosperous white farmer in 2002 at the height of Mugabe’s so-called land reform
program. Solomon was in the farmhouse alone when a fire broke out in the early
morning hours of August 15.
Police reports say they removed his remains,
which were reduced to ashes, from near the front door. Mujuru's
political actions
Solomon Mujuru was a member
of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. But political analysts, including former members of
ZANU-PF’s supreme decision-making body, the Politburo, say he regularly stood up
to Mugabe.
Within the Politburo, he opposed colleagues who said
repeatedly they wanted fresh elections this year. After disputed elections in
2008, Mugabe was forced to accept a unity government with the longtime
opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
The Southern African
Development Community, or SADC, which has mediated Zimbabwe's long-running
political crisis, has said Zimbabwe is not ready for fresh elections this year.
Joice Mujuru is one of two vice presidents of Zimbabwe. The other vice
president, John Nkomo, is ill and frail. Solomon Mujuru was seen by many
political analysts as a possible power broker in Zimbabwe as Mugabe, who is 87,
grows frail as well.
Several top ZANU-PF leaders have died in mysterious
circumstances over the years, both before and after the country's 1980
independence.
The second most senior liberation war army commander, after Solomon
Mujuru, has called for a commission of enquiry into his suspicious death in
a farm house fire last week Tuesday. Wilfred Mhanda, known in the war as
Dzinashe Machingura, told SW Radio Africa he was ‘quite shocked and touched
by his death and actually surprised that President Mugabe didn’t come out
openly to say it is suspicious.”
“Any person who has listened to the
story, who has read the papers, clearly can come to no other conclusion
except that there was naked foul play and why the President could not come
out clearly about that and announce the establishment of a commission of
enquiry baffles the mind,” Mhanda told our Question Time programme on
Wednesday.
Mhanda said that it was a very ‘painful coincidence’ that
General Mujuru died on the very night that he (Mhanda) launched his book
“Dzino, Memories of a Freedom Fighter”. In the book he talks about how he
felt betrayed by both the late Mujuru and Robert Mugabe, following a
crackdown in the late 70s when several guerrilla commanders were arrested
for questioning Mugabe’s suitability as leader.
“We might have had
our problems in the past (with Mujuru) but we were quite close and got along
very well and understood each other,” Mhanda told us. Asked what Mujuru’s
death means for ZANU PF and Zimbabwe, Mhanda said Mujuru was the second most
powerful person within ZANU PF and its decision making Politburo. The death
he said ‘creates a vacuum within ZANU PF’.
Just as SW Radio Africa
reported on Tuesday, Mhanda also believes Mujuru’s death benefits Mugabe
more than anyone else. Mujuru “as many people have testified including
Dumiso Dabengwa was the only one in the current politburo who could speak
out to Mugabe. No one now is prepared to do this,” Mhanda
added.
During the Question Time interview Mhanda also described Mugabe as
intolerant and not willing to accept other people’s views during and after
the liberation war. Meanwhile Vice President Joice Mujuru on Tuesday
publicly spoke out about the suspicious nature of her husband’s death.
Speaking to members of a women’s football team Mrs Mujuru said she believed
her husband could have escaped the fire:
“The problem is we just hear
its fire. But what happened from 8.30pm to when the fire was seen? That’s
where the story is. I was called just after 2am and told that the house is
on fire. The roof had collapsed, but that doesn’t happen instantly. It means
the fire had started around that time when he got home on Monday night. That
should be the time when people should start, you know, whatever they want to
look at because we can’t just start when the roof has
collapsed.”
Mrs. Mujuru also questioned why her husband opted to run for
the door of the 14-roomed house, when he could have used the bedroom window
instead. “The (bedroom) set up had two western big windows, so if you want
to come out you just jump. Our little kids used to jump and we used to laugh
about it. It was closer to come out through the window than the door,” she
said. “I suppose if they were to give us something satisfying it would make
my heart rest. We are anxiously waiting for the police to finish their
investigations. They have invited all the experts they could find to look at
what could have happened,” Mrs Mujuru added.
Harare -
Libya's ambassador to Zimbabwe led his compatriots on Wednesday in burning
portraits of embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi and replacing the official
flag with that of the anti-Gaddafi rebellion.
"From today, August 24, we
follow the Libyan majority, the Libyan people, through our National
Transitional Authority," Ambassador Taher Elmagrahi told journalists outside
the embassy in down town Harare, referring to the anti-Gaddafi rebel
council.
"We are here representing the Libyan people and not Gaddafi. I
am not Gaddafi's ambassador. I represent the Libyan people."
Embassy
staff and Libyan nationals chanted freedom songs while others hooted from
cars as they burned the green flag synonymous with Gaddafi's regime, cheered
on by local well-wishers.
The flag flying over the embassy was switched
to the red, black and green banner from independence in 1951.
The
celebration came a day after rebels overran Gaddafi's Tripoli compound,
raising their flag and ripping the head off his statue.
Similar flag
changes have taken place at embassies in Algeria, Mexico, Morocco and other
countries.
A secret plan to steal the next election has been
uncovered by a leading NGO who claims the work is so advanced, “it would
guarantee a win for Zanu (PF) even if the vote was held
today.”
by OWN
CORRESPONDENT
Zimbabwe Democracy
Now has spent the past nine months interviewing police, CIO and more than 200
youth militia, piecing together a strategy approved by the Politburo and in
place across all provinces
“We were amazed
when one witness after the other came out with the same story,” ZDN spokeswoman,
Ethel Moyo, told The Zimbabwean. “We spoke to state agents inside
Zimbabwe and others who were only willing to talk once they had crossed the
border to meet with our teams in Zambia and Botswana,” she
said.
The strategy
includes
• Secret lists of
voters and their families
• Forced political
rallies
• Hundreds of road
blocks that can shut down the country in hours
• A youth movement
so violent even the police are scared of them
• Informer
networks in schools, government departments, beer halls and even soccer
teams
• A new drive to
recruit thousands of militia
At the heart of
the plan has been a two-year project by Green Bombers — no longer in uniform —
to visit every hut in every village and take down names, ID numbers and
cellphone details for each occupant. They also ask for a list of family members
who now live in the city or abroad.
One of the CIO
members whose interview has been seen by this newspaper said: “The youth were
ordered to be courteous and non-threatening. This was a long exercise that
started in March 2009. It was planned at the very top, and carried out in all
rural areas.”
Once this was
complete, the militia came back to the huts and warned residents that, while
their families from elsewhere were welcome to visit, at election time nobody
except those named should be home. Children and relatives coming from town to
vote in their rural electorate would be abducted, and the family home
burned.
“This is so
simple,” said Moyo. “Most of the young people support MDC and a majority of them
live in the cities or out of Zimbabwe. Under current laws, you can only cast
your ballot in your home area, so all those not resident in the rural areas will
effectively be denied a vote.”
She said urban
youths could change their registration and vote in Harare or Bulawayo where MDC
was already guaranteed victory.
The list of names
drawn up by the militia was also being used to ensure attendance at Zanu (PF)
rallies, which, in some areas, are conducted by soldiers in uniform, especially
in Masvingo province and Chiredzi.
Gridlock
Road blocks and
so-called “toll gates” that now operate on most rural roads will be used at
election time to shut down the countryside, making sure city folk would not be
able to reach their home areas.
“Everyone knows
these barriers,” Moyo said. “Even when I take my kids to see their grandparents
we pass through four or five. Some are manned by Bombers now as junior
constables. At other places they raise money for the road, but you know it goes
into their pockets.”
She said the
interviews had revealed that the majority of roadblocks had been set up on
routes into those electoral areas where Zanu (PF) believed it may be
challenged.
“We found that in
districts like Muzarabani where Zanu feels secure, the blocks are few. But in
Bureha or Mat South, they are many. In the days ahead of voting, no one will be
able to move in or out of these areas - though we were told that election
monitors and diplomatic vehicles would be let through.”
Other work
underway by Zanu (PF) includes the setting up of informer networks at every
social level, including churches, schools, shops, beer halls, offices, cattle
dips and sporting groups.
And a major drive
to bring thousands more youth into the militia is under way.
Militia vital
The NGO tabled a
number of standard questions at every interview, including the role of state
agencies in securing a Zanu (PF) victory.
“We were amazed
that 66 per cent of respondents put the National Youth Service first,” Moyo
said. “It was clear that this organisation and Zanu (PF)’s own youth wing have
become inseparable so we have listed them as one group.
Villagers
complained that when harassed by the youth service, even the police seemed
afraid to intervene.
Answers to the
question: Looking at the list of departments, which would you rate as most
useful to Zanu (PF) and most important in securing victory for the
party?
Moyo said that
while there was overwhelming support for MDC among both urban and rural
electorates, many of those interviewed believed a Zanu (PF) victory was
inevitable because of the party’s work was so advanced.
Funding
The one issue that
ZDN was unable to clarify is how the party funds its programmes. There has been
speculation that it comes from the Marange diamond fields.
Moyo said there
was a need for a public audit of the National Youth Service to gauge where funds
were coming from and to investigate allegations of money
laundering.
Today, Zimbabwe
Democracy New has launched an advertising campaign based on its research, to
discourage young people from joining the militia.
“It is essential
that parents, teachers, the clergy, even older siblings explain to teenagers
that this organisation has nothing positive to give,” she said. “The most common
reason for joining is that youngsters believe a certificate from the Bombers can
get them a job in government.”
However, it has
emerged that no legal requirement exists for those entering the public sector to
produce a release document from the National Youth Service. – The full research
can be viewed at: http://www.zimbabwedemocracynow.com/
The following are extracts from the
interview transcripts. Locations and other identifiers have been removed for
the safety of the interviewees. 23.08.1107:54am by The Zimbabwean
Harare
Central Intelligence Organisation member No 2
ZDN: What is
the most important factor in the election?
2: Militia
ZDN: Why the
youth militia?
2: You know they are no longer in uniform, but they are
still ours. So they are in shops, in the beer halls, at the school, in the
(soccer) teams. There is no work outside town so if Zanu is not your boss,
there is no way to get a salary. Away from the city, anyone who has money in
his pocket is with the Party.
ZDN: That still doesn’t explain why
they are so important?
2: Army come and they go back to base. Police can
patrol and go back to station. In all forces, staff go on leave or can be
deployed (elsewhere) or get another job.
Militia live in the village.
They sleep there, even in your hut if they are from your family. They are
with you every day and they know all secrets. But they don’t belong to the
village, they belong to ZANU and even the chief cannot command
them.
ZDN: How are the militia being paid?
2: It can be with cash
from Zanu, it can be with food or they can take goods when the house of a
sell-out is taken (attacked).
ZDN: But that doesn’t explain why you think
the militia is Zanu’s most important weapon.
2: They will do
anything. They can be told to beat people or to be nice. They can burn your
house or take your cattle and there is nothing you can do. And they are not
on the (state) payroll.
If army is deployed to Mutoko there must be
paperwork and vehicles and supplies and must be written down. ‘Bombers are
not like that. They are private to ZANU, and not even parliament can find
evidence because there is no paperwork. So (Prime Minister Morgan)
Tsvangirai can say they are doing this or that and (President Robert) Mugabe
can deny and it ends there.
CIO interview No 5
ZDN: What is the
most important factor in the election?
5: People can support anyone in
rural areas, but they will vote for Zanu.
ZDN: How can you be so
sure?
5: MDC visit outside Harare but Zanu live there. We have the police
and army and the militia and sources (informers). The structures of state
report to Zanu, not MDC, so it is not so difficult to control.
ZDN:
Is fear the main factor in how people will vote?
5: Not fear as such.
Zanu has spent more than two years making sure they don’t have another 08
(election loss of 2008) but MDC is yet to start.
This thing Zanu has done
is not a campaign as such, but a change in how life goes in rural areas. The
militia are there, Zanu have road blocks, they control food and they use the
police and army when they like. MDC has none of these.
Youth Militia
No 51
[Conducted in a mix of English and Shona]
The witness
explained how ’Bombers’ broke up meetings and then took the MDC youth
leaders back to camp.
ZDN: What happened when you arrived with them at
your camp?
51: Our first order was to take them to the commander. He
would interview them for intelligence. Most were very scared and they took
part (co-operated).
ZDN: Did anyone not “take part”?
51: It
happened. There were cages at the camp. One type is tall but thin so you can
only stand, no sitting down. The other is terrible because it is like a
square and you can’t stand and you can’t sit. You are just half
way.
Those who refused were put in the cages. The minimum is four days.
Even after one day if you cry to join the Bombers you will be refused. You
must do four days and if you are still not ready then another four
days.
Every time someone passes the cage he must bang on it. Even at
night those who are on (guard) duty bang on the cage with a piece of steel
when they walk past.
Also the prisoners are thrown with cold water
all the time. Sometimes a man will shit in a bucket and mix with water like
soup and then throw it on the prisoner. Any person who spends (time) in the
small cage would join Zanu.
ZDN: Did anyone make it past four
days?
51: Yes, one woman did eleven.
ZDN: But you said it was only
in multiples of four.
51: She died in the cage.
ZDN: And these
people who came out, did they become Bombers?
51: Some of those who we
caught from MDC ended as the most cruel. They were more than us in hating
their friends. I think maybe that cage makes you mad because some ended as
the worst for torture and fighting against MDC.
Youth Militia No
37
[approximate translation from Shona]
ZDN: You are a junior
commander so do you keep notes on what you are doing?
37: There are
notes. We have everything. Who is a Bomber. Where he or she comes from. ID
number. Discipline. And the books of people in the village. We know who
lives in every hut.
ZDN: Where do these papers go to?
37: They are
kept by the Zanu structure in our area. Others go to commanders.
ZDN:
Do any of these notes end up at a central depot in Harare?
37: I don’t
think so.
ZDN: Why is that?
37: I think they don’t want a place
where spies can find out.
ZDN: Spies from where?
37: Spies from
MDC.
ZDN: But things like food, payments, items taken from an MDC house
raided by the militia? Are these written down?
37: No.
ZDN:
What happens when people don’t want Zanu or the militia?
37: We will ask
them what is the problem. Or we can have a meeting with that village and the
army.
ZDN: Does any violence take place?
37: If we can’t win by
other means.
ZDN: What sort of violence?
37: Mostly beatings. Or
we can burn somebody with charcoal or burn down his hut. We can do
anything.
ZDN: Does this make the person join you?
37: Many times
they just run away from the village
ZDN: So what is the point?
37:
It is important for others to see the punishment, so they know it can be
their turn if they leave Zanu.
ZDN: Does it work?
37: Of
course.
ZDN: Who would you like to win the next election?
37: Zanu
will win.
ZDN: But who would you like to see win?
37: I don’t
care. I am not in this work for politics.
ZDN: Then why do you
stay?
37: If you give me a job I will go with you now.
Youth
Militia No 8
[Conducted in a mix of English and Ndebele]
The
subject explained that he had been out of the militia for some time and
working in Bulawayo. Then he came home to a rural area in central Zimbabwe
because of a family illness and had to stay to look after his sick mother.
The only work was with the militia. His insight shows how little the average
member knows about overall strategy, and how surprise is used as a
weapon.
ZDN: What did the Militia want you to do?
8: They did not
tell us. We must just be ready.
ZDN: And how long did it take before the
work was ready?
8: More than two weeks.
ZDN: Then what did they
say?
8: We had to go to another area many kilometres away and sort those
from MDC. We had to walk.
ZDN: Did you know the village?
8:
Until we were on the way, the commanders did not tell us (where it
was.)
ZDN: Did that surprise you?
8: No. They can say we are going
somewhere and after one hour on the road they change and we are going
another.
ZDN: Why do you think it’s like that?
8: Zanu is fearful
all the time of spies. I think they know how bad is MDC for losing (leaking)
information and Zanu could be the same. So they are careful.
ZDN:
What happened when you reached the village?
8: We left our place by late
afternoon and we arrived when the kids were already sleeping and only some
of the men were talking by the fire. We told them to bring everybody from
the huts.
ZDN: And then?
8: We left around 4am. All night they had
to cook for us and sing (Zanu songs).
ZDN: Why did they choose this
village? CONT. ON P.10
8: We knew MDC was ready to start a
branch.
ZDN: Was there violence?
8: Nothing. But they know that if
we come again it will be a problem. People brought some MDC shirts and put
them on the fire. Also some posters that MDC had left for the start (launch
of the new branch).
ZDN: Do you think it scared people just to be made to
burn some posters and T-shirts?
8: It scares them that we knew in
what hut the shirts and posters are staying. That we know names of people.
We can come from the night anytime. And police will do nothing and MDC will
do nothing.
ZDN: How does this affect elections?
8: They know that
if MDC wins we will come. We are not going anywhere.
ZDN: Who would you
like to win the next election?
8: MDC would be better but for now my
family is safe with Zanu.
Militia No 39
The subject had left the
Militia in February 2011 and now works in Francistown, Botswana, but has
friends still within the system. He was with the Youth Service from shortly
after the 2008 election.
ZDN: What was your task over that
time?
39: We were taking names house to house.
ZDN: What will Zanu
do with this information?
39: At elections they must be the (only) people
in our area. They don’t want those from town … they support MDC. Our job is
to deliver (our district) to Zanu.
ZDN: And if people from town do
come home to vote?
39: MDC youth in town have courage and they are
willing, but their parents are the ones to tell them (not to come home to
vote). And those kids know if we see them at election time, the mother or
the father or the granny will pay. So they will not come.
ZDN: Who
would you like to win the next election?
39: If MDC can win I will be so
happy. Maybe things can come better. In Botswana we all support MDC. But at
my home area it is difficult.
Police interview No 3
The subject is
an inspector and, although now based in Harare, she was until recently at a
rural station.
ZDN: What is the most important factor in the next
election?
3: Zanu are ready.
ZDN: Did you see evidence of this in
the rural areas?
3: It is why you hear every week someone from Zanu
saying we must have elections this year. They are ready and they don’t want
MDC to get time to strategise.
ZDN: What is the position of Zanu in
the police? Surely every constable can’t be loyal to the party.
3: We
don’t discuss politics at work unless it is for Zanu because there is always
somebody listening. If you want your job, you must not be accused of
supporting MDC.
ZDN: What effect does this have?
3: I support
MDC, but it is hard to build support for MDC in the police because we are
scared to talk. Even the friend you had since depot (basic training) maybe
10 years ago can be a spy for Zanu.
ZDN: How do you rate the
militia?
3: I feel sorry for them. I knew many and they don’t want to be
there. But there is no work outside town. The ones who are home are usually
with few years of schooling. Maybe the father died and there were no fees,
but always a story.
ZDN: If MDC tried to recruit the rural youth,
could they do it?
3: I think it may be late, but the problem is MDC leave
Harare for a day (to visit a rural electorate) and they come home that
night. To break from Zanu you need to be sure your new party will stay with
you all the time.
ZDN: It sounds like you blame MDC for how well Zanu has
prepared itself.
3: No. Zanu has the services (police, army militia), and
MDC is just a party. If someone beats a Zanu member they go to jail. But
other way round, you can beat MDC and nothing happens.
ZDN: Do you
have advice for MDC?
3: They don’t want to stay where there is no ZESA
(electricity) and to sleep on the floor. So they visit somewhere far in the
bush and they rush to (be back in) town that night.
ZDN: Could MDC
set up their own militia?
3: The police would arrest them, so it is
hard.
ZDN: What do you know about the hundreds of roadblocks in rural
areas?
3: That is no secret. It is how Zanu will control the
election.
ZDN: But when you pass through them the roadblocks don’t seem
to have a political message?
3: (laughs) Try to raise the MDC flag at
one.
ZDN: What will happen at election time?
3: How I understand
it is that even Zanu is not sure, but they want the option of closing areas.
And they will only need to do it for two or three days.
ZDN: And
then?
3: All Zanu wants is to win. If that means road blocks, army,
militia and police, they will do it. They know what happened in 2008 and the
party has been planning. They also know it will be hard to beat up people in
the city, but there is no one to see what they are doing away from
town.
ZDN: And MDC?
3: When the president calls the election they
will go back to opposition.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
has reacted furiously to claims by President Robert Mugabe that SADC
officials will not be welcome to assist JOMIC in monitoring compliance with
the Global Political Agreement. 24.08.1101:50pm by John
Chimunhu
Tsvangirai's spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka, told The
Zimbabwean that the disputed deployment of officials was imminent despite
wild claims to the contrary in the state-run media.
The Herald and
ZBC quoted Mugabe as saying the visit violated Zimbabwe's sovereignty and
SADC had agreed to halt the deployment.
"There is no timeline but they
are definitely coming," Tamborinyoka said.
"What SADC basically did was
to urge the troika and the facilitator to send the officials without further
delay.”
He said Mugabe had no option but to allow them in as their
deployment had been captured in the official SADC summit documents at their
annual summit in Luanda last week.
A retired senior army officer has threatened
unspecified action against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and others
calling for a reform of Zimbabwe’s partisan security
sector. 24.08.1111:56am by Vusimusi Bhebhe
Threatening to
“inflict doom” on anyone pushing for the realignment of the security sector,
retired Brigadier General Benjamin Mabenge said at the weekend that the
“retired officers’ corps” would meet this month to decide the course of
action against those demanding security sector reform.
“The retired
officers’ corps will be meeting within the next 14 days to consider the
options,” Mabenge told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation during the live
broadcast of the hero’s burial of former army commander Solomon
Mujuru.
Tsvangirai and other leaders of the two MDC formations are
pushing for reforms of the security sector to ensure that members of the
army do not meddle in political issues.
President Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu (PF) is resisting the proposed reforms, describing them as a Western
move to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
“I want to warn whoever is
making such careless suggestions that this is the time to inflict doom on
the enemy. It is not for us to tell them what we will do but for them to
guess,” Mabenge said.
The retired army officer has a history of violence
and causing mayhem in the Midlands. Between 2000 and 2007, under the
protection of Zanu (PF) strongman and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa,
Mabenge left a trail of broken bones among MDC-T activists.
He
allegedly killed MDC-T activist Clemence Takaendesa in Kwekwe four years ago
following a shooting incident while the activist was fishing near the
retired officer’s farm.
He also reportedly burned down the MDC-T
offices in Kwekwe and other houses belonging to leading party activists in
2007.
In 2000, Mabenge allegedly led a group of youths that doused Kwekwe
Member of Parliament Blessing Chebundo with petrol, but he escaped death by
a whisker when he grabbed one of his attackers.
This prevented him
from being set on fire because the attacker would have been burned in the
process.
“If Zimbabwe was liberated by heroes like
the late ‘Rex Nhongo’ Solomon Mujuru, why are Boers like the local Member of
Parliament (Iain Kay) being elected into political office?” Commander of the
Defence Forces General Constantine Chiwenga asked mourners at a farewell
rally held here on Friday in honour of Mujuru. 22.08.1104:51pm by Jane
Makoni
Chiwenga shocked thousands of mourners from across the
political divide, who rose above party politics and converged at Rudhaka
Stadium to give a befitting send-off to the hero of the liberation
struggle.
“We want true liberation. We fought against the British, so
what is this Boer (Kay) doing in this constituency if the armed liberation
struggle was a success? This time around everybody should put on a lion or
crocodile skin and fight tooth and nail to regain the four constituencies
won by MDC in Mashonaland East in March 2008. You did not work hard enough
during previous political campaigns,” said Chiwenga.
A disappointed
mourner, Stanely Katsande from Mudzi said Chiwenga’s speech could have sent
a wrong signal to the restless Zanu (PF) supporters among the
mourners.
“Chiwenga displayed unbelievably high levels of racism and
political intolerance at a wrong forum. He would have done his soiled
reputation a favour by keeping his mouth shut. Imagine what the blood
thirsty Zanu (PF) youth would have done to Kay if he had attended the
event,” said Katsande.
In an apparent reprimand, Zanu (PF) Mashonaland
East Provincial Chairperson, Ray Kaukonde said: “Speakers are reminded to
say only what was expected at the occasion lest their speeches misfire.
Everybody in Zanu (PF) should also stop gossiping and back-biting each other
and direct all the energy towards party building if ever the four
constituencies were to be wrestled from MDC. You Chiwenga (playing the blame
game), Perence Shiri and others here’ present hail from the province. Where
were you when the constituencies fell to MDC?”
The event which was
expected to be apolitical was turned into a Zanu (PF) rally as speaker after
speaker chanted the Zanu (PF) clenched fist slogan. Mourners were bussed
from across Mashonaland and Manicaland Provinces to pay their last respects
to Mujuru. The remains of his torched body arrived at the stadium by
helicopter.
The majority of the mourners were MDC who voluntarily graced
the occasion as they genuinely appreciated the role played by Mujuru in the
struggle.
The trial of former Highfield MP Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others
accused of plotting to overthrow the Mugabe regime was on Wednesday deferred
for a third time after regional magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi did not show
up in court.
Gwisai who leads the International Socialist
Organisation, plus five other activists Antoneta Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara,
Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo and Welcome Zimuto, were part of over 50
activists arrested in February this year.
Police disrupted a meeting
where video footage of protests in Egypt and Tunisia was watched and
discussed. Although treason charges were initially slapped on them, these
were later altered to “conspiracy to commit public violence or alternatively
inciting public violence.” One of those charged, Hopewell Gumbo, told SW
Radio Africa on Wednesday that the no-show by the magistrate was just an
attempt by the regime to buy time and frustrate them.
The future of Air
Zimbabwe is uncertain as government has failed to bail out the national
airline, Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Wednesday.
Airzim pilots
embarked on a strike three weeks ago, demanding outstanding allowances and
wages, which stretch back to June this year.
In an interview this week,
Airzim board chairman Jonathan Kadzura said his team was working “flat out”
to source funding.
“Government has been reluctant to come in and the
airline will have to find its way. We have been trying all along and we
continue to look for the money elsewhere,” he said. - Sapa
Speculation is rife about the details of a multi million dollar deal
for new airplanes for Air Zimbabwe, with suspicions being raised that the
deal is a sanctions-busting measure involving ZANU PF allies.
Air
Zimbabwe has bought two new passenger planes, reportedly from a French
aeronautical group called EADS. Close to a dozen Air Zimbabwe pilots agreed
to undergo training on using the new aircraft in Spain two weeks ago. Other
training sessions have apparently also been conducted in Germany and
France.
But the deal has already been criticised for bypassing the
national treasury, which critics say is clear attempt to undermine the MDC-T
led Finance Ministry. The deal also appears to bypass the European Union
(EU) targeted sanctions in place against Robert Mugabe and his
cronies.
The deal, said to be worth an estimated US$500 million, has been
bankrolled by the Mbada Diamonds mining firm, based at controversial
Chiadzwa alluvial diamond fields. The firm is a joint venture with the state
owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), and is chaired by a
known Robert Mugabe ally, Robert Mhlanga. Both Mhlanga and the ZMDC are on
the EU’s targeted sanctions list, and a direct consumer relationship with
French companies is meant to be strictly prohibited under these
measures.
SW Radio Africa is yet to receive any response from EADS about
its involvement in the deal. But sources quoted by some news groups suggest
that a third party, said to be an Asian country, has been involved in
securing the deal on Zimbabwe’s behalf. This would indicate a clear
‘sanctions-busting’ plan.
Political analyst Professor John Makumbe
told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that Mbada’s involvement in the deal
already shows that “there is political interference and they are acting on
behalf of ZANU PF.” He also agreed that either China or Malaysia, as known
Mugabe allies, are likely to be the third party alluded to by other
sources.
“This is clear sanctions busting,” Makumbe said, adding: “If
China, for example, is involved then they are putting their EU relations at
risk by contravening the sanctions.”
He also explained that the
supplier of the airplanes now needs to clearly state their involvement, and
the details of the deal, to ensure they are not contravening the targeted
sanctions.
“Lots of questions need to be answered now. We need to find
out if the planes are being leased, for example, and then it needs to be
explained if leasing is not included in the restrictions,” Makumbe
said.
He added: “If China is facilitating this deal, they will likely
argue that it is business as usual because they don’t have sanctions on
Mugabe. But they will be jeopardising their relations with the EU if they
have bypassed those sanctions in this way.”
The Zimbabwe government has finally agreed to help
root out a wanted Rwandan genocide suspect, said to be in hiding in
Harare.
The government has faced increased pressure to honour an arrest
warrant for Protais Mpiranya and hand him over to the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda, (ICTR). Mpiranya who commanded the notorious
Presidential Guard during the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi, has a
US$5 million bounty on his head, set by the US government.
But
Zimbabwe has until now made no commitments in tracking Mpiranya down, and it
has previously been suggested that he has been enjoying the protection of
some officials within ZANU PF.
But addressing the media this week,
Zimbabwean police officer Innocent Chinembiri, said that a special CID
taskforce was now spearheading the chase.
“Anyone with information on
Mpiranya should immediately contact the Criminal Investigations Department's
homicide section or their nearest police station,” Chinembiri
announced.
Mpiranya is accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and
conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide or alternatively, complicity in
genocide. He is also accused of distributing weapons to the militia with the
intent to exterminate the Tutsi population.
The Prosecutor General
for the ICTR, Martin Ngoga, has meanwhile reportedly welcomed Zimbabwe’s
decision to help find Mpiranya. He is quoted by the Rwandan daily newspaper
The New Times, as saying that it is a sign of good cooperation between
Rwanda, Zimbabwe and the ICTR.
“The ICTR and Rwanda share the view that
fugitive Mpiranya could be in Zimbabwe. It is therefore a welcome
development that authorities are tracking him,” Ngoga said.
He added:
“What is most important however is for him to be arrested. We hope the
search will lead to that.”
By Pindai Dube and Jeffrey
Muvundisi Wednesday, 24 August 2011 16:11
BULAWAYO - The United
States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray said some Zanu PF officials want
to use the Indigenisation and Empowerment law to loot the country’s
economy.
This week Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister
Saviour Kasukuwere, who is also the Zanu PF deputy youth affairs secretary
gave foreign-owned firms especially Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered
banks, six mining companies and five other firms a two-week ultimatum to
submit acceptable indigenisation plans or risk losing their
licences.
Under the indigenisation programme that President Robert Mugabe
and his Zanu PF party say is necessary to ensure blacks benefit from the
country’s lucrative mineral resources, foreign companies in Zimbabwe are
required to give at least 51 percent shareholding to indigenous
Zimbabweans.
However, addressing a policy dialogue meeting on the
US-Zimbabwe relations organised by Bulawayo Agenda on Monday evening in the
city, Ray said his government is not opposed to black empowerment but
remains worried that few individuals want to use the law to enrich
themselves at the expense of the poor.
“There is no objection to
black empowerment, there is no objection to indigenisation in Zimbabwe, what
worries investors is the atmosphere of uncertainty that is created through
actions of a small number of people who don’t represent the poor but
represent themselves.
“Zimbabweans should enjoy fruits of their resources
but that has to be done in way that will see the poor also enjoying,” said
Ray.
Ray also said the United States would like to see free and fair
elections being held in Zimbabwe and the will of people being
respected.
“The US wants to see nonviolent and credible electoral contest
and for the people’s will to be honoured. We also recognise the value of the
coalition government arrangement in bringing diverse views together and we
respect the government officials who have engaged across party lines to
foster Zimbabwe current economic recovery,” he said.
The US envoy
added that his government will continue to press for human rights and
accountability for those who abuse them while acknowledging progress where
it is made.
In addition, he said the United States will not sit back and
relax while the rule of law and human rights continue to be violated in the
country.
He said his government values human rights and will continue to
monitor as well as advocate for the restoration of the rule of law in
Zimbabwe.
“We will continue to advocate for the respect of protection of
human rights, worker’s rights and equal protection for women and
children."
“We will continue to monitor and bring to light all such abuse
of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. And let me be clear,” said Ray.
Officials from a youth group in Masvingo
province, who had organized a protest march against the violent ZANU PF thug
Jabulani Sibanda, were seized by police on Wednesday and illegally detained
for hours. The march was scheduled for Thursday and the youths vowed to go
ahead with it.
ZANU PF's ultra violent thug Jabulani Sibanda
The
youth leaders from Community Tolerance for Reconciliation and Development
(Cotrad), said they were severely intimidated by the police, who warned them
not to hold the Thursday march against Sibanda.
The self proclaimed war
vet leader has been forcing villagers in Masvingo rural areas to attend
rallies, where he threatens to victimize anyone who does not vote for Robert
Mugabe in elections. Sibanda also caused a row within ZANU PF when he defied
provincial executive’s call for his dismissal. They had criticized his
methods, saying he was doing more harm than good.
The detained youth were
Cotrad director Gamuchirai Mukura, programmes manager Brighton Ramusi,
Muchaneta Chimbo, and Talent Maposa. They were illegally held without charge
for six hours.
Mukura said the Thursday march was intended to demand that
Sibanda leave the province and put an end to his terror campaign. But the
police pounced a day early in an attempt to scare them.
“We will not
be threatened by those who abuse freedom of assembly, our freedom of speech
and our democratic right to stand up on important issues. We are against
political intolerance,” said Cotrad director Gamuchirai Mukura after he was
released from Masvingo Central Police Station.
A statement from Cotrad
said: “Jabulani Sibanda’s proclamations are indeed a recipe for disaster in
nation building. We really honour the contributions made by each and
everyone who made the political independence of Zimbabwe a reality, but we
are strongly against the culture of political violence and
intimidation.”
The group called upon “every peace-loving youth” in
Masvingo province to join them in the march. The group said they are not
against Sibanda as a person, but do not support the “disruption of peace,
political intimidation, and violence”.
Jefferson Chitando, MP for
Masvingo Central, told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that Sibanda is still
conducting rallies but they have recently suffered low attendance due to
schools being closed.
Speaking in Shona, Chitando said Sibanda usually
forces students, teachers and parents to attend the rallies but school is
out right now and very few people are going. “Zvino viringa kudzidza kwevana
vedu,” the MP said, meaning “It disrupts the education of our
children”.
Chitando said the message that Sibanda always brings is that
war vets will go back to war and murder anyone who does not support Robert
Mugabe during elections. He also reminds villagers that reporting to the
police is pointless because he will not be arrested.
According to the
MP, Sibanda instills fear in the hearts of villagers and discourages them
from openly participating in MDC activities. But he says it does not change
the final outcome, which is that people will vote anyway they like during
elections.
A
political row is reported to have developed at the weekend between the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Chairman, Gideon Gono, and the Indigenization
Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, over the Mugabe regime’s disastrous and
controversial empowerment policies. According to reports, the row started
when Gono criticized Kasukuwere’s ongoing threats to the banking
sector, saying the ZANU PF empowerment czar was not qualified to decide who
gets banking licenses.
Foreign owned firms are now required to give
up 51% of their shares to black Zimbabweans, as part of ZANU PF’s so-called
indigenization programme. Detailed plans of how the firms will comply are
being reviewed by Kasukuwere and his ministry.
Over the weekend he
issued an ultimatum to them to submit the required indigenization plans or
risk losing their licences. Gono then stepped in and dismissed the threats
as “irrational” that “can only have come from someone who does not
understand banking”.
Businessman Luke Zunga from the Global Zim Forum
dismissed both Gono and Kasukuwere as “brothers who destroyed the country’s
business” and are now fighting to loot some more. He said they should have
discussed their differences behind closed doors because they are not
important. Asked if the row was being used as a diversion Zunga said: “It
could be they don’t want the nation to talk about what really happened to
the late General Solomon Mujuru. They want us swayed to other topics. Mujuru
died in a suspicious farmhouse fire last week and there has since been
speculation he was murdered.
Several ZANU PF ministers are reportedly
now campaigning to have Gono removed as the head of Zimbabwe’s Central Bank.
According to the Daily News, Kasukuwere said Gono must resign or “we will
kick him out”.
By Chengetai Zvauya, Senior
Writer Wednesday, 24 August 2011 16:05
HARARE - The battle for
control of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) yesterday took a new
twist with some affiliates disregarding the election of the new executive
led by George Nkiwane and pledging their allegiance to ousted president
Lovemore Matombo.
Matombo, who did not attend the weekend congress
which was held in Bulawayo, lost the election to Nkiwane.
Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe
together with 10 leaders of ZCTU affiliate members described the weekend
elections as “bogus and sham.”
“The purported and alleged election
congress in Bulawayo by other members of the ZCTU was done in direct
contravention of the ZCTU constitution and therefore whatever resolutions,
changes and outcomes at the congress were a nullity.
“We still
recognise the ZCTU president as Lovemore Matombo and Japhet Moyo as the
acting secretary general and that no structures whatsoever have been
changed,’’ said Majongwe.
He said the affiliate members will soon
approach the courts to challenge the leadership of Nkiwane and are in the
process of planning a fresh election.
“As the true custodians of the ZCTU
constitution and true representatives of the workers, we are proceeding with
our challenge against the alleged congress in court.
“A proper ZCTU
congress is going to be held this year by bona fide ZCTU members
acknowledging and in proper compliance with the constitution,’’ said
Majongwe.
ZCTU under the leadership of the outgoing secretary general
Wellington Chibebe last week held the elections in Bulawayo, which put in
Nkiwane as the new president of the labour body.
Nkiwane will be
deputised by Lucia Matibenga, Thokozile Siwela and Rwatinyanya Chigwagwa
while Japhet Moyo was elected the secretary general.
The new executive
will be holding office for the next five years.
Majongwe and other ZCTU
affiliates last made attempts to block the ZCTU congress through an urgent
chamber application which was dismissed by High Court Judge Susan Mavangira
last week.
Controversial teacher incentives look set to stay
with Minister of Education David Coltart highlighting the role parents
should play in their children’s education. 22.08.1106:23pm by Paul
Ndlovu
Coltart admitted the incentives were controversial, but said
the government could not presently afford to pay teachers a respectable
salary.
“It’s about management and commitment to institutions and
safeguarding the future of the children,” he said. “What affects the
Government, affects the parents. Right now the government can’t afford to
pay teachers a reasonable salary that is when the parents have to come in
and help.”
He said that by continuing to pay levies and incentives
parents were investing in their children’s future.
Sometimes
incentives involved more than paying money, and urged parents to be involved
in the running of schools, he added.
“Parents can have a much greater
role and involvement in the education of their children. If only government
schools could take a leaf from mission and private schools. I recently
visited Gutu United primary and I was impressed. The garden was well kept,
the walls were freshly painted, the windows were sparkling clean. When I
asked who did the job I was told the parents mobilise each other and carry
out duties. If we love our children we should be willing to do such
activities, reduce the burden on schools, especially rural schools. These
chores such as making sure toilets are in good order are part of the
aesthetic value of education.
Together as parents and government, we can
make our schools more vibrant, this is where our children spend most of
their days,” he said.
Coltart added that his desire was to see education
prioritised in order for the sector to receive adequate funding which would
alleviate educational problems.
HARARE – Prison officials are continuing to defy a court order
to provide medical attention to seven MDC activists who have been
languishing in prison since May.
Deputy Justice and Legal Affairs
minister, Obert Gutu, visited them last week and said he was appalled at the
state they were in.
They told Gutu that they believed failure to brief
their legal team prior to their court appearance had resulted in them
failing to secure bail in the magistrate’s court and more recently in the
High Court.
"We are rotting here," they said. Harare Magistrate, Shane
Kubonera, last week ordered prison officers to let private doctors examine
the five male MDC activists at the remand prison and the two women detained
at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.
For more than two months prison
officials have been denying those incarcerated access to doctors despite a
court ruling ordering that they be treated. The seven activists are among 24
MDC members who were arrested and severely tortured while in police custody
on charges of murdering a police officer in Glen View in May. The other 17
were granted bail last month.
Among those in urgent need of medical
attention are Tungamirai Madzokera,Yvonne Musarurwa and Rebecca Mafukeni.
Madzokera’s left hand is in plaster after it was fractured in police custody
while Musarurwa and Mafukeni have visible wounds from police
torture.
Their defence lawyers have accused the Attorney General’s Office
and the police of using “guerrilla tactics” in arresting and prosecuting the
activists, who were at one time denied access to legal
representation.
The prisoners begged Gutu to consider that they were
facing serious charges even though "trumped-up" and needed access to their
defence team. They are being represented by top rights lawyers, the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights.
“There has been lack of communication with
the lawyers," Madzokera told the minister.
“Maengahama came back from
Botswana where he used to work since his work permit expired but the lawyer
did not know that because we never spoke to him. So he told the court he was
still working in Botswana - and that caused him to be denied bail because
they said he was a flight risk. We need an advocate to work with our strong
defence team at Supreme Court for us to win bail. We lost at the High Court
due to communication breakdown,” he said.
Gut said he noted their
concerts and the MDC would ensure that the defence team would “properly
handle the case”. He also promised that the party would assist the families
who have been left without breadwinners.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have blasted
the Human Rights Commission Bill Number 2 of 2011 for its lack of
clarity. 22.08.1105:05pm by Ngoni Chanakira Harare
It is not
clear what action the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission can take to prevent
future human rights violations, including bringing to book those who
conducted the notorious "Operation Murambatsvina" and
"Gukurahundi".
Clause 9 of the new bill says the ZHRC can investigate
“only if the aggrieved person was a citizen, resident or visitor of Zimbabwe
at the time the complaint occurred".
"The current Constitution of
Zimbabwe provides for the enjoyment of rights to everyone in Zimbabwe with
no limitation on the grounds of citizenship or residence status," the ZLHR
said in their newsletter.
"It is progressive for the ZHRC to be able to
receive complaints involving violations of the rights of visitors for human
rights violations that occur while they are in Zimbabwe. However, the gap
still remains with foreigners who are not necessarily visitors. To make
matters worse, those who cannot be regarded as visitors (not having entered
through the normal immigration procedures because of reasons beyond their
control such as victims of trafficking) cannot approach the ZHRC for
redress.
"This violates the fundamental right to non-discrimination on
the basis of origin and other status as highlighted in the Constitution as
well as key human rights instruments that Zimbabwe has
ratified."
Clause 15, which relates to the State Liabilities would also
apply to actions against State actors.
"The temporal jurisdiction is
unduly restrictive and is probably the most controversial segment of this
Bill," the ZLHR said.
"Effectively it stops the ZHRC from investigating
or taking any other action in relation to violations (actions or omissions)
which would have occurred prior to February 13, 2009.
"The temporal
jurisdiction limitations seek to shield perpetrators of grave human rights
violations and international crimes from investigation and prosecution as
long as they perpetrated their evil deeds before February 13,
2009."
ZLHR says the atrocities of Operation Murambatsvina, the
heinous crimes committed in the 1980s in Matabeleland and the Midlands
during Gukurahundi, and even those crimes against humanity committed by the
colonial regime prior to Independence in April 1980, would not be able to be
considered by the ZHRC.
"This is further covering up a situation
where violations which are clearly contrary to customary international law
have been committed, have never been investigated or acted upon in any way,
and now cannot even be discussed or considered in any manner by a national
human rights institution," said the lawyers.
“The main issue for many women
in Zimbabwe is politically motivated violence. And it is not just rape that
we are talking about. We are talking about beating and violent sexual
assault of women, just because they vote for a party of their choice,” says
Zimbabwean women’s rights activist and filmmaker Kudakwashe Chitsike from
the Research and Advocacy Unit. 22.08.1110:32am by Peter
Kenworthy
Chitsike is speaking of the thousands of women who were
systematically and deliberately raped and tortured in the run-up to the 2008
elections in Zimbabwe by men loyal to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF).
The rapes are an attempt to break the back of Mugabe’s political opponents
by intimidating them and their husbands and families into not participating
in the political process.
Things have not improved in Zimbabwe since
2008. According to a newly published report by RAU titled ‘Women and
Political Violence: An Update,’ “the situation on the ground [in Zimbabwe]
has not changed in any material detail from that on 2008 … [in fact] the
political terrain is even more explosive and tense.”
Crime against
humanity
“52% of women who participated in a survey in Zimbabwe stated
that they were victims of political violence,” says Chitsike, “meaning that
they had encountered some form of violence as a result of their political
affiliation. This is unacceptable considering that Zimbabwe has signed
regional and international instruments protecting and promoting women's
rights."
Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as other similar
regional treaties such as the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, and
discrimination against women is forbidden by Zimbabwe’s
constitution.
Additionally, rape as part of a systematic attack against a
civilian population has been regarded as a crime against humanity since 1998
by the international community, as well as a war crime.
But the
present level of intervention by the UN and the international community is
vastly insufficient, she says, and is not felt in the villages of Zimbabwe.
“Without looking at the situation on the ground, the UN resolutions will not
do the women any good. It is not being applied within the
country.”
Women who are affiliated to the MDC receive little actual
protection, as the recurring examples of the use of rape as a political
weapon in Zimbabwe show. “It has been reported during the liberation war in
the seventies and since 2000 there has been increasing reports of political
motivated violence against women,” Chitsike says.
But even though
rape as a political weapon has been used in Zimbabwe for many years, the
systematic raping of an estimated 2-3000 MDC-supporters by Mugabe’s Zanu
(PF) youth militia, Central Intelligence Organisation agents, soldiers,
police and so-called “war veterans” affiliated with Zanu (PF) in the run-up
to the 2008 presidential elections, stand out in scope and
brutality. Stigmatised
Many of the women who were systematically
raped in 2008 were also severely beaten prior to the actual rape and then
gang-raped until they lost consciousness. Many have had their property
destroyed, lost their livelihood and have been intimidated by the
perpetrators or police officers since being raped.
And many have been
stigmatised and ostracised by their husbands and communities, and have
subsequently had to flee their houses and communities, many across the
border to neighbouring South Africa.
Most of the victims subsequently
have not reported the rape to the authorities, nor have they received trauma
care for the sleeplessness, flashbacks, nightmares and feelings of
hopelessness they experienced, according to a report on politically
motivated rape in Zimbabwe from 2010 made by RAU and the Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors.
And since politically motivated violence against
women is severely under-reported, the problem is probably bigger in scope
than such reports can anticipate, says Chitsike. “We know that women do not
report rapes, we know the numbers are much higher because women and men know
that perpetrators act with impunity.”
Victims of politically
motivated rape receive little protection or help from Zimbabwe’s legal and
medical care system either. Many of the victims from 2008 were refused
treatment by the state medical facilities or found it difficult to even pay
the administration fees that are required to acquire a protection order
against the perpetrators.
This is the case, even though the victims of
politically motivated rape are often severely traumatised by the
psychological and physical consequences, which include fear of HIV infection
and pregnancy, of the act of rape itself. Orders from above
The
reason for the lack of support from Zimbabwe’s state institutions for the
victims becomes evident when one understands that the orders to
systematically rape and torture MDC-supporters comes from the very top.
Speeches by Mugabe himself and presidential pardons for those found guilty
of political violence send the clear message that there is impunity for the
perpetrators.
There is no need for expensive weaponry and no shortage
of penniless young men who are willing to contribute for a small fee in a
sexist and politically oppressive society such as Zimbabwe.
As for
those who have already been raped in order for Mugabe to stay in power, they
have seemingly lost faith in Zimbabwe’s justice system, the potency of the
MDC or the intervention of the international community on their
behalf.
Indeed, most of the victims interviewed by RAU in 2010 said that
they were more concerned with rebuilding their lives through “immediate
medical, social and psychological support” than in “justice” being
served. Solutions?
Politically motivated violence against women is
clearly both vast and multifaceted problem that will not go away by itself.
Reporting and analysing the problem is one thing, but actually finding a
solution is much harder.
According to Chitsike, any durable solution
must include a coordinated effort that also involves people in Zimbabwe
mobilising and revealing the crimes that go on in their neighbourhoods and
their country as a whole to the world.
“We are failing to mobilise
people living within Zimbabwe,” she says. “In 2008, people just stayed in
their houses. Instead, the community needs to act together. Civil society in
Zimbabwe needs to let people know their rights. The government is also
failing. We are forgetting to engage men as well, to make the issue of
violence against women a national issue. And we need to do a lot more around
advocacy to involve people abroad.” Action
Africa Contact and
Zimbabwean partner organisation, the National Constitutional Assembly, have
started a campaign in Denmark, Zimbabwe and the EU to focus on documenting
and combating political violence against women, giving women a political
voice in Zimbabwe and contributing to the development of a vibrant civil
society, where also the concerns of women will be raised. - Read more about
the campaign ‘ACT NOW AGAINST POLITICAL VIOLENCE – Targeting Women in
Zimbabwe’: http://akcampaign.wordpress.com/
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party forced civil
servants, businessmen and farmers here to contribute money towards hosting
recent Heroes Day commemorations.
by Tony
Saxon
Angry civil
servants told The Zimbabwean last week that they were forced to fork
our varying amounts according to seniority.
“We were forced to
pay between $2 and $20 - depending on one’s position,” said a member of the
Zimbabwe National Army based at the All Arms Battle School.
“I was forced to
pay $2. Failure to pay meant one would be victimised and labelled an MDC
supporter. We are earning peanuts yet they are coming to take away our hard
earned cash,” said a nurse at Nyanga district hospital.
“They said P
Mugabe increased our salaries, so it was time to pay back by supporting Zanu
(PF) to host the Heroes’ Day celebrations,” said another civil
servant.
Business people
were also forced to pay cash and supply commodities to be used at the
commemorations.
“They demanded
$300 and some of my farm produce. I had no option but to give them. If I refused
it was going to backfire for me as I would be labelled an enemy of Zanu (PF) and
this would jeopardise my business,” said a local farmer.
“I saw some Zanu
(PF) officials accompanied by youths visiting all shops here demanding cash and
goodies. They demanded $200 from me and I gave them some drinks and beers. They
also forced some butcheries to give meat. It is unfortunate that business people
are always victims of Zanu (PF) abuse when there is a function. We do not have
any option but we pay that through the nose we are also struggling to make some
profits,” said a businessman at Nyamhuka business centre.
Residents from
Nyamhuka high density suburb and Rochdale were forced to attend the function
where the Zanu (PF) leadership took control of the programme to denounce Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC
party.
The people in Chivi Central
are angry and they are punishing the Zanu (PF) leadership in their area by
boycotting the party’s functions in protest at the orgy of violence that
engulfed the election period in 2008. 24.08.1112:45pm by Chief
Reporter
The protest action has sent alarm bells ringing in Zanu
(PF). Across the country, simmering resentment against Zanu (PF) has seen
the embattled party struggling for relevance amid sliding popularity
ratings. It seems to have read the mood and is beginning to regroup and
reorganize amid firm indications that the party faces certain defeat in
polls scheduled for 2012 or 2013.
Emboldened by the presence of MDC
in the government of national unity, more and more people are taking steps
to indicate that they will not give Zanu (PF) another mandate to govern
given the violence that it planned and executed in 2008.
Zanu (PF)’s
Chivi Central MP, Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, has been given a taste of this
medicine. His recent attempts to hold “star rallies” in his constituency
have been snubbed by local villagers who are accusing him of leading and
funding political violence in 2008.
Sources in Chivi said that Mangwana
had scheduled four rallies at Gwitima business centre, ward 18 Chivi
Central, but villagers in the area boycotted them all.
Analysts say
this was a reflection of the electorate's lack of trust in the
party.
Mangwana tried to mobilise and hold another rally - but again
his efforts came to nought as villagers remained defiant.
“Mangwana
is singing the blues,” said a source in Chivi. “He has failed to attract
villagers to his rallies for the eighth consecutive time. People are
accusing him of inciting violence during the run-up to the presidential
election run-off, and intimidating them into voting for
Mugabe.”
Mangwana dismissed the reports.
"Our campaign is on
course and the people are walking with us," he said.
This is Makesure Muchenje’s story: They came for me in
the middle of the night, this was some time in 2008 and political violence was
at its height. They marched me to the bush and started questioning me about my
political affiliation. Unfortunately for me, they were not satisfied with the
answers I gave.
Makesure
Muchenje with his wife and son and the researcher of the story.
They called to the
eight men waiting in the shadows with logs, sjamboks and other weapons. The
instruction was simple – “finish him” they were told – and then the
interrogators walked off into the night, leaving me at the mercy of these hired
thugs.
I knew them of
course, these men who had been instructed to finish me. Ours is not that big a
village after all. Everyone knew them, they were all unemployed, and generally
hung around the shopping centre drinking beer and picking fights. And for a
small fee, they could be encouraged to do what they were about to do to
me.
I cried out
They covered my
face with a wet sack – to stop me seeing who did what. Then they took off my
shoes. The intention was firstly to beat me under my feet as I had heard happens
to others.
As they beat me, I
started to wonder why I had even begun preaching the gospel in this village. In
my heart the word said ‘no, you did right to preach, Jesus is your saviour,
Jesus is their saviour’. At that point I started crying out to Jesus, repenting
of momentarily regretting his call on my life, telling him I love him, and I
love these people.
I asked Him to
forgive me, and to forgive them. Suddenly I realised it was completely quiet –
no one was beating me, they had all run away. I do not know what made them run -
but that was not only the last beating I received, but I was the last person to
suffer any political violence in that area.
It had all started
in 1995. I was a gold panner when I met Boet Pretorius who was to later lead me
to the Lord. Then in 1999 I was allocated land in a government resettlement
scheme and I moved to Makonde district in the Chinhoyi area.
Way of life
Boet introduced me
to what was then known as Farming God’s Way, now known as Foundations for
Farming. It is about more than farming, it’s a way of life, teaching us to obey
and do what the word of God tells us. For two years Boet trained and discipled
my wife and me. I went to Zambia for another two years with Brian Oldrieve who
was implementing this method there.
I came back to my
area in 2006, and started to demonstrate this method. This is a new area, and we
are all resettled farmers. The soil is not very good, but I persevered, doing
everything to the highest standard I could. And year by year my crop got better
– but as my crop improved, so jealousy increased.
My hope had been
that people would be drawn to this abundance, and wish to be trained. I was
looking forward to sharing this good news. I grew up in this area, I know the
situation in which people Iive - if you want to see poverty you will see it
here. There is also a lot of witchcraft here, and political confusion –and I
believed God had put a light in my heart to tell people that they must just
trust in him.
Elephants
Sadly though,
no-one approached me for training. In fact we were ostracised by the community.
There are a lot of elephants in this area, and one time some people from the
village used dogs and fire to drive a herd of elephants into my maize field. I
found out three days later when the same people asked me why the elephants
didn’t destroy my crop.
I asked them how
they knew it was elephants, and they said they were there, they saw them, and
the elephants just walked straight through the field without doing anything to
it. They asked me what muti I had, I told them my muti was called Jesus, and is
freely available to anyone. I told them that my Father in heaven is also the
father of the elephants; he must have told them ‘this is my son’s field – you
can go and destroy the fields of the other father’s
sons….
Makesure’s
home, on the far left is the shed where he trains people. Farmers trained in
Foundations for Farming principles are raising their yield from the national
average of 0.3tones per ha to a maximum of 8tons/ha.
In 2008 my crops
did so well I won the Mashonaland West small-scale farmer of the year. At the
field day a well-meaning government official offered me a 50hectare farm in
Mhangura as my winnings. He explained that the soils are better there, and I
would achieve even more.
I turned this
offer down and explained to him that for me this is not about making money or
getting land, this is about leading people to Christ. I was still the only one
farming this way – and I kept praying to the Lord that people would come and
drink of the living waters and be free from the yoke of poverty. I remember
thinking then that Jesus said if you will lift me up, I will draw men unto me.
So I kept lifting that banner higher, improving the standards and living a life
open to all.
10 headmen
In August 2010 I
again invited the community to a compost-making demonstration. At first only
about eight people trickled in, then the floodgates opened. Four days later I
had trained 160 people. And from then on they just kept coming. First 10 village
headmen came asking me to show them how to farm. They were soon followed by
another 10 from different villages.
Between the two of
us, my wife and I now train an average of 50 people a day. We tell them all the
same thing, we tell them man is body soul and spirit – these three things were
created to be in relationship with God. But sin destroyed that relationship, and
everyone needs renewal, regeneration, so that they can work in harmony with
their creator again. We need to ask for Christ’s forgiveness of our sin, so we
can live an abundant life.
I tell them my
story – they all know me, they know what my life has been these past few years.
I ask them how long have your children been cursing me right here in this
village, how long have I and my family been ostracised. I ask them whether they
have ever seen me refuse to help any of the people who have done me wrong. They
all agree that my life tells a story that is different to any they
know.
I have trained
close to 2,000 people now. No one pays for the training, these are our
neighbours, and they are all poor. The dependency syndrome is one of the biggest
causes of poverty.
I get a steady
stream of visitors now. Some government officers came and asked me how I do it.
I ask them what is their motive - because this is the most important thing. I do
what I do in obedience to what God tells me. A couple of weeks back I had a
gentleman from Australia and another one from Germany – they offered me
money.
I thanked them,
and told them that if they want to support small-scale farmers then they are
welcome, but they need to first seek the Lord and ask him to show them how they
can participate with us.
This is not to say
we do not need anything, there is a lot of work and the needs are plenty. But
this is God’s work and we cannot just mix it with those who have a different
heart.
Foundations for
Farming founder, Brian Oldrieve will be in Leeds this Saturday. Many will gather
to celebrate the goodness of God in lives such as Makesure. All are welcome to
join us –
info@theglobalnative.org.uk
Alan Jack flew his dairy cows from South Africa to
Nigeria
Seven years ago a small group of Zimbabweans were
invited to lead Nigeria's green revolution. Forced off their farms by Robert
Mugabe's land reforms, this was their chance to start again.
The offer from the
west Nigerian state of Kwara was an attractive one. Fertile land, generous loans
and political backing in return for their expertise.
The Zimbabweans
needed work and the Nigerians wanted to show that Africa's economic giant could
move from importing almost all of its food to feeding itself. On paper at least
it appeared a good match.
"People said
you're crazy to go up there," Pete du Toit, one of the farmers says with a smile
as he remembers the first discussions in 2004. "The impression we had of Nigeria
at that stage was very bad. Crime, drugs, corruption."
Mr du Toit is now
one of the Shonga Farm's success stories.
Each of the 13 men who travelled north were given 1,000
hectares near the Niger River to run as a separate business entity. Mr du Toit
chose what has so far proved to be one of the more successful ventures -
chickens.
Four hundred
hectares of his land has been turned into fields of soya. It is then processed
and used to fatten up chicks in two specially cooled henhouses. Nigeria's top
supermarkets now buy his birds.
"By applying the
right techniques and the right fertilizers I've got a very good farm, a very
fertile farm," Mr du Toit says.
Not everyone has
been so fortunate. As I catch up with Alan Jack he is deep in conversation with
a representative from Shonga Farm.
Farmer John Sawyer is facing bankruptcy in
Nigeria
For the past two
weeks a flood in Lagos has stopped the company that buys all of Mr Jack's milk
sending a tanker. The discussion is about the mounting interest rates which the
banks now insists Mr Jack pay if he wants more funds.
"It's been very,
very tough," Mr Jack says. "But if we didn't think we'd be successful, and that
the rewards would come later on, then we wouldn't do it."
Importing a dairy
farm into Nigeria has been hugely expensive.
Each of the cows
which Mr Jack shares with his son-in-law have been flown in from South Africa at
a cost $4,000 (£2,400) each. That, coupled with higher running costs, means a
pint of milk from this herd costs twice as much as it would in Zimbabwe.
"Nigeria's never
really had agriculture in the last 40-odd years, so no-one really understands
agriculture," he says. "Once we get up and started everything else will fall
into place."
Mr Jack has not
given up hope of making money, but says to do so he needs to double the amount
of milk he produces.
The third group of
farmers have tried to grow crops.
“They are all Africans and we feel that it
doesn't matter where they're coming
from”
Abdulfatah
AhmedKwara State governor
I find the grey-bearded John Sawyer carrying out
maintenance on the water pump that will transport water from the Niger River to
his new pivot irrigation system. Having a pivot system means that as long as
there is water in the river, crops can be grown all year
round.
During the past
few years Mr Sawyer has experimented with various different crops and has now
decided that rice is the way forward.
As with the dairy
farmers, finance is a huge problem. Having loaned him the money to buy and
install two pivots he says the banks do not want to give the funds for
seeds.
"We're still in
the development stage so there's no profits to speak of," he says with a wry
shake of the head. "But rice grows fantastically here. There's good yield
potential and the price is very good."
Mr Sawyer said the
farms' financing partners just had not understood the way agriculture worked,
and that bankruptcy was now a possibility.
'No
hairdressers, no shops'
The driving force
behind the Shonga Farm project from the Nigerian side was former Kwara State
governor Bukola Saraki.
For him the
Zimbabwean farmers became a personal project, and he helped to ensure that they
received electricity, roads and - crucially in Nigeria - a shortcut through the
bureaucracy.
Having served his
two terms as governor, Mr Saraki is now a senator.
His successor
Abdulfatah Ahmed brushes aside the farmers' concerns over funding and says he is
convinced Shonga Farms is already a success story and a model for the rest of
Nigeria.
"They are all
Africans and we feel that it doesn't matter where they're coming from," he says.
"We could have
brought in Koreans or Chinese. What matters is that they're bringing in
expertise to transform our economy."
Mr Ahmed says
Nigeria's central bank has recently changed lending terms to favour agriculture,
and confidently predicts that over the next five years the country will take
large steps to start feeding itself.
Back at Shonga
Farms, while the men struggle to make a profit their wives are adjusting slowly
to their new lives in rural Nigeria.
"Once a week we
play four hours of bridge, have a bit of tea and a chinwag. And that really is
the highlight of our social life here," Chrissy Crouch tells me during a break
in the cards.
"The men work
extremely hard so we haven't got any entertainment. No hairdressers, no shops to
go to. Nothing like that."
By Diana Chisvo, Business Writer Wednesday, 24 August 2011
08:01
HARARE - Pan-African financial group Imara has given
international investors and fund managers “the go ahead” on prospects in
Zimbabwe.
The company, which gives major international financiers
regular updates on economic conditions in sub-Saharan markets, issued a
report with a positive outlook on the country through its Imara Zimbabwe
Fund.
Grant Flanagan, a manager with the company said real gross domestic
product is on target to grow by 9,3 percent and in view of this conservative
number or estimate, Zimbabwe is still one of the highest growth points or
markets in Africa.
“Following a good agricultural season, the country
should be at least 80 percent self-sufficient in food... The (country’s)
mining sector also continues to steam ahead with gold production up 37, 5
percent year on year. Platinum production was 61 percent of total 2010
production at the halfway stage,” he said.
“Various reforms are
targeted, with a focus on health and education but without any change to
previous policy,” Flanagan said, adding they also believed that “this
consistency in the country’s policies may contribute towards ensuring the
country qualifies for debt relief”.
According to the research firm,
the country’s mid-year corporate reporting season was also
positive.
A first-quarter update by Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed Delta
Corporation showed a 47 percent growth in profit out of a 43 percent rise in
revenue, with demand continuing to outweigh supply.
Fellow listed
farm equipment-maker, Zimplow, reported a 43 percent rise in first-half
revenues, while domestic market accounted for 84 percent of
sales.
“Local demand was driven by strong agricultural commodity
prices, in particular cotton,” he said, adding that all these improvements
would combine to provide a positive outlook and reinforcement of growth in
domestic demand.
On the other hand, first-quarter updates from food
retailer, OK Zimbabwe, showed year-on-year revenue growth of nearly 60
percent.
The Imara Group, whose Zimbabwean office is led by Sean Gammon,
is an independent and mid-sized banking group listed in Botswana.
It
has offices in Angola, Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, the United Kingdom
and Zambia.
Imara is an active participant in African financial markets
and maintains extensive research on regional equities. The company has in
excess of $450 million worth of funds under its management and assets of
$1,7 billion-plus under administration.
The group provides a range of
specialised, products and services, which can be categorised as asset
management, administration and advisory services, corporate finance, and
securities trust services that are governed by a number of jurisdictions and
laws across the world.
It is very distressing to note the conspiracy of silence by the
international community on Zimbabwe’s company grabs supposedly for black
economic empowerment.
There is no difference between robbing a bank
at gun point and threatening companies with the withdrawal of licences. Some
firms have been trading under difficult circumstances to provide jobs and
tax revenue when unemployment is about 85%.
Since 2000, Zimbabwe
dramatically turned into an importer of staple foods like maize and wheat
when it used to be the breadbasket of Africa before the looting frenzy took
over as the new ideology of the post-independence era.
Companies whose
collapse has been attributed to indigenisation are many, however prominent
ones are said to be David Whitehead Textiles, Lobels Bakery, Jaggers
Wholesalers, Zimalloys’s Great Dyke and Inyala underground mines and many
others.
Looking at a snapshot of headlines since 2001, one gets a sense
that there is a fundamental problem in Zimbabwe that cannot be solved
overnight by lines of credit, as long as it is unresolved.
That
fundamental is arguably good political governance or having a stable and
constitutionally elected government elected through free and fair, non
violent elections, which upholds the rule of law and respects human rights
and property laws.
At the height of the land grab similar to what has
resumed in 2011, in one year alone 400 companies folded up in 2000, of these
141 were in the motor trade industry, 92 in steel manufacture and 45 in
clothing and textile industry (CZI study, Zimbabwe Independent
16/04/01).
A $Z1bn Loan Facility for Distressed Companies which was
described by the State-owned Herald as a ‘’noble initiative’ was reportedly
misused leading to more firms folding up (The Herald,
05/08/03).
There is a great possibility of capital flight as a result of
the indigenisation regulations. Already, the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) is said to be battling to rescue firms as 70 companies have
closed operations in Bulawayo, while Mutare, Gweru and other towns have
suffered the same fate (ZBC, 21/06/11).
However, there are some
important characteristics of the 21st century revolutions which Zimbabwe
should not ignore. One is their unpredictability, another is the classless
nature of the uprisings in being waged by an angry cross section of the
society including disaffected and unemployed youths, bankers, office
workers, peasants, doctors, nurses, engineers, dentists, teachers,
housewives, school children and so on. Nobody foresaw events now unfolding
in Libya despite its high Gross Domestic Product.
A third aspect is the
‘30 years plus’ characteristic meaning the revolutions are occurring in
dictatorships which are 30 years old plus; where there is no respect for
constitutional means of regime change through free and fair elections;
freedom of expression, freedom of the press, human rights and the rule of
law and so on.
Another significant characteristic relevant to Zimbabwe is
the communication aspect. According to the UK’s Evening Standard, the
Libyan revolution has relied on word of mouth and mosques for communication
unlike the jasmine revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt which were fuelled by
the internet and mobile phones.
That aspect is very interesting because
press reports say that one of Gaddafi’s sons owned all the mobile networks
in Libya although that was not easy to verify.
In the case of
Zimbabwe, despite state censorship of video footage of the Libyan uprising,
the people already know that there is a possibility that Gaddafi may soon
join Mengistu as the guest of Robert Mugabe.
The conspiracy of silence
risks driving the country further back to pre-GPA days of hyperinflation,
food shortages, cholera epidemic, violence and a mass exodus of skilled
people.
Among diplomatic measures that can be used to register disquiet
against Zimbabwe include the issuing of high level policy statements,
sending of special envoys, recalling of ambassadors, sacking of the regime’s
ambassadors before closing embassies completely.
No jobs are
guaranteed by indigenisation as presently formulated. Foreign intervention
should not always be preceded by civil unrest and bloodshed. The conspiracy
of silence on company grabs must end.
The school bell announcing the
start of detention has a mournful ring to it.
The bespectacled and neatly
coiffured man who has been studying an isiZulu dictionary jumps at the
noise, blinks twice and turns to his neighbour: a guy sporting a Soviet-era
peaked hat and red socks.
"So, what are you in for?" Jean-Bertrand
Aristide asks brightly, his English tinged with a Haitian
accent.
Mengistu Haile Mariam barely looks up from sharpening his
blood-speckled cleaver on the metal legs of his desk. He knows Aristide's
type: damn intellectuals. He was right to kill as many of them as possible
while he still could. Ah, the glory days of Ethiopia! Screw the capitalists
with their lies about one million starving to death in so-called
famines.
He runs his finger along the edge of his cleaver. It looks
pretty sharp. He stands, pushes past Aristide and strides over to the desk
in the front row. Bam! Marc Ravalomanana winces as the cleaver slices into
the book he was reading. Voting and gloating: A guide for the businessman
president. The former Madagascan president glares at Mengistu. "Is this what
the Butcher of Addis has been reduced to?" he snaps. "How sad. No wonder you
led your people to ruin."
Mengistu sneers at him. "And you think you
did so well? Mr Self-Made Tycoon couldn't even lead his country out of
poverty and gets deposed by a DJ. It took the fall of the Soviet Union to
get rid of me!"
Ravalomanana jumps to his feet. "That's it! You
murdering, Marxist has-been, I'll show you ..."
"Bring it! But make
sure you don't get your Italian suit dirty, you scum
..."
"SILENCE!"
The two men spin around. Mengistu squints.
He's getting on in years, despite the luxury treatment he gets in Zimbabwe.
"Is that ..."
"Oh my God!" whispers Ravalomanana, at which Aristide
winces. And crosses himself.
They knew he was coming. Naturally there
was the bluster from his son about how he was still in Tripoli. Sure he was.
They'd all tried those tricks in their time. But the paperwork had been
signed and everyone was already taking bets whether the school principal
would allow a Bedouin tent on the soccer field. It's just that they thought
he would be with the ...
"Arab spring kids?" Muammar Gaddafi asks,
casually perching himself on a desk and popping a date into his mouth. A
female bodyguard fans him with a palm leaf.
The men look up sharply
as yelps emanate from the room next door. That's where they keep the new
kids: Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. What's
Gaddafi doing here with them? Men who had earned their deposed presidential
status, and other governments' money, over time?
"Oh please!" said
Gaddafi, flicking a speck of dirt off the embroidered face of South African
President Jacob Zuma, one of many on his kaftan. "You didn't think I was
going to trust myself to the Arabs did you? Getting wheeled into a court in
a cage? No thank you."
He props his legs up on Aristide's desk, cutting
off the Haitian just before he started what was inevitably going to be a
long-winded lecture.
"I know you three got the presidential treatment in
Southern Africa. Spending money, hotel stays, security ... VIP welcomes. You
didn't think I was going to let you keep it all to yourself, did
you?"
Aristide nervously clears his throat. "I think you'll find, my dear
sir, that these are privileges we have worked for. For instance, everyone
knows how much value my wife and I brought to Unisa ...
"Shut up
Jean-Bertrand!" The others chorus in unison.
Mengistu thinks for a moment
and looks at Ravalomanana. They glance at Aristide, who struggles briefly
and then nods.
"OK fine," says Mengistu, lowering his cleaver. It's made
of plastic, after all. "You can stay. But Ravalomanana gets first dibs on
rides in the presidential jet and Robert Mugabe is my BFF and Thabo Mbeki is
Aristide's, so don't try any funny business there. You got that?"
The
bell sounds. Detention is over.
"Sure thing, fellows," says Gaddafi,
leaping to his feet and straightening his fez. "Now who wants to join me for
lunch? I know a little place called the Michelangelo in Sandton. Let's just
say ... it's like home."
Solomon (L) and Joice (R) Mujuru both fought in
Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence 
