Posted by
EurosportAustralia the 04/08/2012 at 04:37, updated the 04/08/2012 at
06:02
American Missy Franklin's new world record time won gold in the
women's 200m backstroke while Britain's Lizzie Simmonds missed out
on
The 17-year-old from Colorado led the four-lap race from start to
finish to win in a time of two minutes 04.06 seconds, slashing
three-quarters of a second off Kirsty Coventry's world record, which was set
in a now banned polyurethane bodysuit.
Russia's Anastasia Zueva won
the silver medal and America's Elizabeth Beisel the bronze but neither could
keep up with the bubbly Franklin, who opened up a body's length over the
field after just 75 metres.
Franklin, who won the 200 backstroke world
title last year, became the first woman in 12 years to complete the
backstroke double at the Olympics and the first American since Melissa
Belote in 1972.
Franklin also won gold medals in the 100 backstroke and
4x200 freestyle relay and a bronze in the 4x100 freestyle relay in London
and is not finished yet.
She still has the medley relay to come on
Saturday where the U.S. are overwhelming favourites to win
gold.
Zimbabwe's Coventry had won the gold at the last two Olympics and
was bidding to become just the third woman to win the same individual event
at three Olympics but could only manage sixth place.
Simmonds was
unable to maintain the pace which kept her in the bronze medal position
heading into the final 50m and finished in fourth.
The European Union
(EU) has been urged to keep restrictive measures in place against some
members of the Robert Mugabe regime, until there is clear evidence of
security sector reform in Zimbabwe.
South African based political
think-tank IDASA, said this week that targeted sanctions must remain on
“those individuals who have demonstrated they have the means and willingness
to circumvent a democratic process and obstruct the will of the
people.”
The EU announced last month that it was resuming direct
government aid to Zimbabwe and would be suspending ‘most’ of the restrictive
measures still in place against the Mugabe regime. The leadership bloc said
this move, in acknowledgement of ‘progress’ by the Zim unity government, was
conditional on a credible referendum of the proposed new
constitution.
IDASA analyst Sydney Masamvu said this week that this
position by the EU should be “cautiously welcomed,” as a step to maintain
positive momentum towards free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. He said the
release of the new draft constitution is an “encouraging step” towards this
end.
“Local, regional and international stakeholders must now work
together to ensure benchmarks are established that will ensure a credible
constitutional referendum as well as benchmarks that will pave a path toward
free and fair elections and ensure a peaceful transition of power should
Zimbabweans decide they want one,” Masamvu said.
But he warned that
without security sector reform, any hope of a credible election would be
dashed.
“The security sector, led by the military, remains the most
potentially destabilising threat to a credible constitutional referendum,
election, and peaceful and democratic transfer of power,” Masamvu
said.
He added: “The EU and the international community must continue to
seek security sector reform in Zimbabwe before they make any more revisions
to their policy of engagement.”
IDASA’s warnings come as criticism
has been levelled at the new constitution, for failing to rein in the ZANU
PF aligned security sector. According to political analyst Derek Matyszak,
the new constitution “gives unfettered discretion to the president to
appoint individuals to head those institutions which have the brawn to
subvert the will of the electorate if he does not win the election — or to
ensure that he does.”
Matyszak refers to Section 11 in the new draft,
which states that: “Every commander of the defence forces, and every
commander of a service of the defence forces, is appointed by the President
after consultation with the Minister responsible for the Defence
Forces.”
“The democratic way of attending to this problem is to limit the
discretion of the person making the appointments, to make the process
transparent and to put some distance between the locus of political power
and the appointing authority,” Matyszak said.
Zimbabweans under the new constitution will be
entitled to demand information from the state for the purpose of
accountability, the MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said on
Friday.
Briefing journalists on the position of their party regarding the
draft that was completed two weeks ago, Biti said journalists and ordinary
people can approach the government and ask how much money the state is
getting from diamonds.
Critics of the new constitution did point out
that no matter what was written in it, you would have little chance of
getting any information out of a ZANU PF government if it got back into
power, particularly on diamonds.
The legislation is contained in Article
4.19 on Access to Information under Chapter 4 of the Declaration of Rights
in the new constitution.
It says every citizen or resident of Zimbabwe,
including the Zimbabwean press and other media has the right of access to
any information held by all the state and institutions and agencies of
government at every level.
‘You will also have the right to get
information on how many ghost workers the Ministry of Defence has employed.
If you have a case before the courts and you want to use information for
your defence, you are entitled to demand information from the state, Biti
added.
The new charter is at variance with the current repressive Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which was enacted in
2002 by a ZANU PF dominated parliament that sought to control how the print
and electronic media operated in the country.
AIPPA was passed into
law by Robert Mugabe on 15 March 2002. It has been described as the leading
weapon of the former ruling ZANU PF party in their campaign to stifle
independent media reporting in Zimbabwe.
After it was enacted, dozens of
journalists were arrested, foreign news organizations banned from reporting
in the country and some newspapers were shut down. The law was however
relaxed at the formation of the inclusive government to allow foreign media
organizations to operate in Zimbabwe, while more independent newspapers have
been registered to publish.
At the press conference Biti also explained
why there was upheaval in ZANU PF because of provisions dealing with the
Executive in the draft. Presidential powers have been curtailed to some
extent in the new charter, in that the Head of State can declare war, but
must seek parliamentary approval.
‘The real power to declare war
rests with Parliament. I’m told this is what ZANU PF doesn’t want. But if
the president decides to go to war, he needs two-thirds consent of
parliament, which will be difficult,’ according to the Finance
Minister.
But it would appear that the new constitution still gives the
president the power to deploy the army in Zimbabwe.
The ZANU PF
politburo has met three times in 7 days but has failed to reach consensus on
the new constitution. Some in the party are reportedly not happy with
sections of the draft constitution and are demanding that the draft be
re-opened for amendments.
Already the two MDC factions have approved the
draft constitution and analysts believe ZANU PF will follow suit, but only
after exhaustive deliberations within the politburo.
SANCTIONS slapped on Zimbabwe by the West were aimed at
stopping the country’s land reforms President Robert Mugabe has said,
insisting the measures had failed and should be lifted.
Mugabe is on
a three-day visit to Zambia where he will also officially open the country’s
annual agricultural and commercial show on Saturday.
Speaking during a
state banquet held in his honour, Mugabe said the sanctions, imposed more
than a decade ago, were meant to stop the seizures of land from white
farmers for redistribution to landless blacks.
"The sanctions are a
deliberate ploy to make us fail as Zimbabwe, but I can tell you that these
sanctions have failed and they are not justified and should be removed," he
said. "We refused to stop the land acquisition. The land in Zimbabwe is
ours."
Last month the European Union (EU) promised to ease most of the
sanctions only if the country holds a "credible" vote on a new constitution,
a key reform before new elections.
EU ministers said sanctions would
be lifted against most of the 112 Zimbabweans still listed on a decade-old
EU asset freeze and travel ban. But veteran leader Mugabe would remain on an
EU blacklist.
"We will continue to fight for these sanctions to be
removed. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans and we will not surrender," said
Mugabe. He said despite the sanctions the "economy has grown, the mines are
growing, inflation has gone down".
Mugabe who is accompanied by his
wife Grace, and senior government officials also commended the cooperation
between the two neighbouring countries which dates back to the
1950s.
“The past is what has made the present, where we are today. And
now in our present circumstances, we should cooperate even more so that the
beneficiaries can understand our history,” he said.
Mugabe was
expected to meet the country’s first President, Kenneth Kaunda on Friday
before opening the agricultural show on Saturday.
THE Zanu PF politburo will meet for a third time over the
draft constitution after the party failed to reach consensus at two marathon
meetings last week Friday and this Wednesday.
Some Zanu PF officials
are not happy with sections of the draft constitution and are demanding that
the draft be re-opened for amendments. The party faces opposition from the
two MDC factions which have already approved the draft
constitution.
Wednesday’s meeting, which lasted into the small hours of
Thursday, was meant to come up with a common position with Justice Mainister
Patrick Chinamasa claiming Zanu PF was happy with 97 percent of the
draft.
But failure to strike consensus only served to confirm growing
divisions in President Robert Mugabe’s party, with a hardline group led by
Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo appearing to hold sway.
Party
spokesman Rugare Gumbo said Zanu PF was looking at the draft constitution
“chapter-by-chapter, sentence-by-sentence and word-by-word”.
But he was
keen to downplay the differences, insisting: “There is no controversy at
all. It’s a question of debate. Everyone is in agreement in the Politburo
except for some few issues we want addressed.”
The draft constitution, if
approved by all three parties in the coalition government, will go to an
all-stakeholders’ conference before being put to a referendum. It should
then pass through parliament by a two thirds majority to become the law of
the land.
MDC leader Welshman Ncube said this week that his party would
not lend support to any process that seeks to re-open the draft to
renegotiation.
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, after a meeting with
Mugabe on Monday, is said to have told aides he would be amenable to limited
amendments to the document – despite his own party’s national executive
approving the draft.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe appear united in trying to
block a clause which would require them to name a presidential election
running mate, who will go on to be on the ballot box. In the event of the
leader’s death or incapacitation, the running mate will finish their
term.
Ncube said: “As a party, we have adopted the document as an only
possible compromise. It is not the best document as it was crafted under
give-and-take conditions in the inclusive government.
Advertisement
“With this background, it should be accepted that when
people signed the draft, they were doing it on a representative capacity on
behalf of their leaders. “It is therefore impossible to seek
renegotiating of any section under whatever forum.”
Chinamasa,
representing Zanu PF, Tendai Biti, representing MDC-T, and Priscilla
Misihairabwi, representing MDC, were involved in the final compromise
negotiations over contested elements of the draft.
“We are happy with the
compromise, we regard it as an incremental gain to democracy,” Ncube said.
“We will not participate in any discussion to delay the process. There will
be options to relook at some of the clauses after the next
elections.”
It remains to be seen how Zanu PF would react if its
amendment proposals are rejected by its coalition partners, with hardliners
privately briefing that they were prepared to sink the draft so that the
country goes into the next general elections due by June next year with the
Lancaster House constitution.
Zanu PF dissenters claim the draft
constitution strips the presidency of powers, downplays the significance of
the liberation war for independence and is thin on national objectives and
foundations. The hardliners are also critical of attempts to strip the
Attorney General of certain powers, the establishment of a constitutional
court and elements of devolution – chiefly a provision requiring provincial
governors to be voted, not appointed.
“The draft constitution is not
deserving of an independent country. It is a serious attack on our
sovereignty,” Moyo said at an IDASA lecture in South Africa earlier this
week.
He added: “The draft constitution is a body without a brain and
without a heart. If that is life, good luck.”
Written by Lloyd Mbiba, Staff
Writer Friday, 03 August 2012 16:38
HARARE - Political parties
outside the inclusive government are jittery on the stance to take regarding
the draft constitution, adoptions a cautious approach towards the
document.
Zapu has come out and said they will push for a NO vote because
the draft constitution is a compromised document that failed to capture
accurately the views of the people.
Former Zanu PF politburo member
Simba Makoni’s Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn party and Job Sikhala’s MDC 99 told the
Daily News that they are yet to take a stance towards the
document.
Sikhala said he is meeting his party’s National Executive
Council this week to look at the draft paper and make a decision whether to
support it or not.
“We will look at whether the proposed constitution
advances the democratic agenda or not. We will also check whether it
balances the common interests of the people and their aspirations. What is
important is that we avoid the 2000 blunder we made as MDC when we voted No
for the Chidyausiku draft,” Sikhala said.
While some radical elements
within his party were calling for the outright opposition of the document,
Sikhala said the issue had to be debated at length because the 2000
referendum mistake should not be repeated.
Zimbabwe’s last draft
constitution referendum was held in 2000 and it was soundly defeated.
Analysts and political commentators, however, believe the NO vote was a
blunder as there were serious repercussion for the nation.
Joel Mapaura,
the communications officer of Mavambo said his party’s legal team is set to
scrutinise the document and as soon as they finish the public will be
notified.
Mark Mbayiwa, the Zapu’s Southern region coordinator sang a
totally different tune from the two parties and said Zapu will push for a
“NO” vote because the document undermines the people.
“We go along
with the 40 Matabeleland civic societies that said they will push for a No
vote. The most contentious issue that we feel aggrieved with is devolution,”
Mbayiwa said.
“We don’t want a diluted devolution; we want power to the
provinces and not half devolution. As Zapu we will definitely campaign for a
No Vote,” he added.
The mainstream MDC and the smaller MDC which are
in the inclusive government have endorsed and adopted the
document.
Welshman Ncube leader of the smaller MDC, however, warned that
he will not accept any changes to be incorporated into the document because
politicians have spoken and it is time for the people to air their views.
By Professor Matodzi
Masvingo, August 03, 2012 - Magistrate Jabulani Zinyati has quashed a police
ban on a national healing theatre play aimed at exhorting peace and
reconciliation after years of conflict in Zimbabwe.
The interdict came
after Collin Maboke, a member lawyer of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR), instituted urgent proceedings challenging the police ban of the
play.
The police through Chief Superintendent Nyapfuri, the Officer
Commanding Zimbabwe Republic Police Masvingo Central District, had banned
the public performance of “No Voice No Choice”, a production by two
community theatre groups, Edzai Isu Theatre Arts Project and Zvido Zvevanhu
Arts Ensemble.
The play, which was nominated for the Outstanding
Theatrical Production at the National Arts Merits Award held in February
2012, was scheduled to be staged in Masvingo Province during the on-going
Youth Cultural Arts Festival. The venues were Mucheke bus terminus and at
Charles Austin Theatre Hall on Thursday while the last performance in the
province was scheduled for Friday at Rujeko Hall at 1pm.
In a letter
dated Thursday 1 August 2012 and addressed to versatile theatre practitioner
Tafadzwa Muzondo, the organiser of the event and the producer of the play,
Nyapfuri stated that the police could not sanction the performance of the
play “due to security reasons” which he did not disclose.
But Maboke
filed an application seeking to declare as unlawful the prohibition of the
theatre performance and to set aside the police order prohibiting the public
show of the play.
Magistrate Zinyati granted the application which also
sanctioned the two theatre groups to proceed with the staging of the drama
performance as scheduled so as to promote the organisation’s right to
freedom of association, assembly and expression as set in the
Constitution.
The police were interdicted from disturbing or interfering
in any way with the drama performance to be held on Thursday and Friday and
ordered to allow the play to run uninterrupted.
This is the third
time in less than two years that ZLHR has had to intervene in defence of
theatre practitioners and artists’ expression in Zimbabwe.
In February
last year, ZLHR fought on behalf of Rooftop Promotions and obtained an
interdict from Bulawayo Magistrate Rose Dube barring the police from
prohibiting the theatre production group from staging a theatre performance
entitled “Rituals”.
This was after the police through Chief
Superintendent, R. N Masina of Bulawayo Central Police Station, had banned
the public performance of Rituals on the basis that they could not sanction
the performance of the play because the government was already attending to
issues of national healing through the Organ for National Healing,
Reconciliation and Integration.
In September last year, ZLHR also
successfully challenged the police ban of the Gwanda-based Jahunda Community
Theatre play entitled “1983, the years before and after, a play on the past
disturbances seeking to establish true National Healing, true peace and true
reconciliation.”
Harare,
August 03, 2012 - The tourism permanent secretary Sylvester Mawunganidze,
who recently said Zimbabwe had resorted to lying about its capacity to host
the world tourism indaba together with Zambia next year, has been
re-assigned to the Public Service Commission.
Zimbabwe will co-host the
United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO) next
August.
Mawunganidze, who was actively involved in the preparation
stages, revealed to a parliamentary committee under oath that the country’s
infrastructure such as Victoria Falls airport and medical facilities were
not up to scratch and could not meet UNTWO expectations. He insisted the
government was ill-prepared for the world tourism showcase.
Both
government officials and tourism sector bodies have since gone on a public
relations overdrive to downplay his remarks.
Tourism Minister Walter
Mzembi had no kind words for senior civil servants in apparent reference to
Mawunganidze for dabbling in “policy” matters at a recent hospitality
event.
Mawunganidze is further accused of having said that Zambia's
preparations for the global event were also not up to
scratch.
Mawunganidze's remarks sent panic waves in government, which is
seeking to use the event as a public relations platform to redeem the
country's battered international image.
He was previously the
principal director in the Ministry of Information and Publicity.
ZIMBABWEAN Minister of Tourism Walter Mzembi says Zambia and
Zimbabwe are ready to co-host the United Nations World Tourism Organisation
(UNWTO) general assembly next year.
The conference is scheduled to be
held in Victoria Falls and Livingstone towns from August 24 to 29 next
year.
Mr Mzembi said the two countries are on course and devising ways to
effectively fund preparations which will gobble US$6 million.
He said
during a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday at State House that the two
countries need to focus on preparations and talk less.
Mr Mzembi said
reports that the two countries will not afford to host the event are
misleading, adding that with the current infrastructure in the two host
towns, the event can even be hosted in March next year.
Mr Mzembi said
the two countries will work tirelessly to ensure that they host a memorable
and unique general assembly.
“I am here to engage the newly appointed
Minister of Tourism Sylvia Masebo on preparations for the general
assembly.
“She (Ms Masebo) is new, so we quickly have to give her a soft
landing on where we are with the preparations,” Mr Mzembi said.
Mr
Mzembi said UNWTO recently assessed the preparedness of the two countries to
host the event and are satisfied with the coordination and work done so
far.
“Although there might be statements which may not be in consent
with what me and minister (Masebo) are seeking to achieve for both Zambia
and Zimbabwe and establishing legacies through our Presidents Sata and
Mugabe, the UNWTO is the only endorsement on the state of our preparedness,”
Mr Mzembi said.
He said the last assessment of UNWTO in June this year
indicated that the two countries are on course.
Mr Mzembi said the
next inspection by UNWTO will be conducted this month and there is need for
the two countries to work extremely hard.
“So for now, we have been rated
to be in an excellent state of preparedness which should not be dismissed by
anyone else but the UNWTO,” Mr Mzembi said. And Ms Masebo said the two
countries are on course and confident of hosting the event successfully. -
Zambia Daily Mail
An official has revealed
that Zimbabwe made promises it cannot keep to win a UN World Tourism
Organisation conference bid. Ray Ndlovu reports.
Zimbabwe's bid to
host the United Nations World Tourism Organisation's general assembly in
Victoria Falls next year is uncertain after a senior tourism official last
week made startling revelations that the country had lied in order to win
the bid.
Zimbabwe beat contenders Russia, Turkey, Jordan and Qatar to
co-host the event with Zambia.
Sylvester Maunganidze, the tourism and
hospitality permanent secretary, made the revelations before a parliamentary
portfolio committee. "We were competing with big nations, so we went with
pictorial evidence which was exaggerated and we won, but now it is a reality
and we have to meet the standard presented," he said.
UN officials
are expected to visit Zimbabwe this month for a progress report because the
general assembly will take place in a year's time. Close to 5 000
international guests from the 155 countries affiliated to the World Tourism
Organisation are expected at Victoria Falls.
Walter Mzembi, the Zanu-PF-
linked tourism minister, initially indicated his ministry's intention to
build a state-of-the-art international convention centre with hotels, golf
courses, shopping malls and a conference centre at a cost of $1-billion. No
work has started thus far and the Victoria Falls town council has pointed
out that it also needs $9-million to rehabilitate worn-out roads in the
town.
Standstill The refurbishment of the Victoria Falls Airport is
also at a standstill, and the completion of the Joshua Mqabuko International
Airport in Bulawayo continues to drag on 10 years after the project
started.
The cash-strapped unity government, which has been affected by a
slowing economy underpinned by Finance Minister Tendai Biti's recent
revision of economic growth targets from 9.4% down to 5.6%, is unlikely to
channel adequate funds towards financing the construction of the convention
centre. Biti has allocated $1-million for the construction of the new
venue.
"Most of the money promised is still on paper, making it difficult
to develop Victoria Falls to the levels we were aiming at. Until such funds
are made available, I will be selling an imaginary Victoria Falls,"
Maunganidze said.
An angry Mzembi this week hit back at Maunganidze,
saying Zimbabwe's bid to host the general assembly had been undertaken in a
"fair and transparent way".
Tourism ambassador "The team around
the preparation of this event must desist from issuing statements of a
policy nature that undermines the credibility and authenticity of this
important international event."
Political observers said the problems
affecting Zimbabwe's bid to host the assembly would dent Zanu-PF's image.
The party had scored significant political mileage from announcing President
Robert Mugabe as the World Tourism Organisation's "tourism ambassador" after
it signed a memorandum of understanding with Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Organisation officials later denied that they had appointed the 88-year-old
Mugabe as a representative of their organisation in any
capacity.
Political analyst Dumisani Nkomo said: "It's election season
and Zanu-PF will be wary of how these blunders make it appear. It doesn't
want to preside over anything that will be less than successful, so we will
see it trying to chip in to make the general assembly a
success."
Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said: "I'm sure all the minor
challenges will be sorted out quickly and the country will be able to hold a
successful summit."
Fresh Air to offer
Joburg-Victoria Falls flights to prove its capability, before applying for
second route, in a deal that is both a gamble and a necessity for battered
South African low-cost carrier NICKY SMITH Published: 2012/08/03 01:01:14
PM
JSE-listed low cost carrier 1time Holdings has joined forces with
Harare-based Nu-Aero to launch Zimbabwe’s first low-cost carrier, Fresh
Air.
The launch took place on Friday. 1time Airline commercial director
Mike Bond said Fresh Air would start offering flights from next month
between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls.
Mr Bond said this flight
would replace the service 1time currently offers between Livingstone and
Johannesburg.
The two companies hope to supply the demand for low-cost
flights in the region as connectivity is expensive.
The launch of the
airline is both a calculated gamble and a necessity for 1time, which has
been battered in the low-cost market in South Africa.
Weak economic
conditions have caused travel demand to fall, which has exaggerated the
effect of excess of capacity in the market. At the same time airport charges
and fuel prices have seen large spikes.
The new airline hoped to take
advantage of the opportunity to provide low-cost services within the region,
1time CEO Black Komani said.
In its partnership with Nu-Aero, he said,
1time would share "our experience and infrastructure in the aviation
industry while Fresh Air launches Zimbabwe’s first low-cost carrier, with
licences to operate the underserviced domestic market and various regional
routes to be announced in the near future".
It was hoped the
successful development of the international route between Victoria Falls and
Johannesburg would demonstrate the new low-cost carrier’s ability to operate
and open the way for Fresh Air to apply for new routes, the first being a
connection between Harare and Victoria Falls, Mr Bond said.
"This
will allow us to offer low-cost flights to the Zimbabwean domestic market.
It would be a first step," Mr Bond said, adding it would take at least three
months before Fresh Air would be in a position to apply for this
route.
"This is for the development of Zimbabwean aviation — this
isn’t about 1time coming and taking all the value, this about creating a
business in Zimbabwe that develops their aviation industry," Mr Bond
said.
The introduction of a low-cost carrier in Zimbabwe, which has been
crippled by policies that have laid waste to the country’s economy, comes
ahead of the country’s controversial selection as host nation for the United
Nations World Tourism Organisation’s 20th general assembly next
year.
The introduction of a low-cost carrier in Zimbabwe would stimulate
domestic and regional air travel, Chakanyuka Karase, CEO of Fresh Air,
said.
"The entry of a low-cost carrier in Zimbabwe has great potential.
We have absolutely no doubt this business model will succeed as it is
exactly what our emerging economy needs to maintain sustainability," Mr
Karase said.
Aviation experts and
economic commentators say the resumption of flights by foreign airlines in
Zimbabwe will further cripple the financially-troubled Air Zimbabwe which
stopped operating some months ago due to viability
complications.
Royal Dutch Airlines KLM announced recently it will
restart flights between Harare and Amsterdam in October, more than a decade
after it stopped servicing the route following serious economic and
political challenges in the country.
The United Emirates Airlines is
also back on the Harare route.
Regional airlines including the South
African Airways, Kenyan Airways and Ethiopian Airlines stayed the course
even as Zimbabwe reeled from its worst economic turmoil - and continue to
operate in the country.
Guy Leitch, managing director of South Africa’s
Sky Magazine told VOA the international airlines are exploiting the gap left
by Air Zimbabwe currently struggling to settle huge debts.
“I don’t
think Air Zimbabwe will be able to recover from this unless it receives yet
another major government bailout,” Leitch said.
He also said advanced
nations have developed a strong fascination with African routes and markets
because it’s one of the very few areas where there has been significant and
consistent GDP growth over the last five years.
Economic commentator
Masimba Kuchera of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development said the
latest developments show that Harare is no longer interested in protecting
the debt-ridden national airline against competitive foreign
airlines.
He added: “What it means is that the government has now
accepted that it will not be strategic for them to continue trying to
protect Air Zimbabwe by barring other airlines from entering the local air
space.
The national airline's debts now stand at more than $140 million.
Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Malawian President Joyce Banda took a swipe at members of
Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization Thursday for allegedly engaging
in “primitive politics” by forging a letter inviting the Malawian leader to
Harare.
This emerged on Wednesday in South Africa when the two met on the
sidelines of the launch of a book, Africa’s Third Liberation, authored by
Geoff Herbst and Greg Mills in South Africa.
The Minister of State in
the Prime Minister’s Office Jameson Timba is said to have briefed Mr.
Tsvangirai and Mrs. Banda about the forged invitation letter sent to the
Malawi president purportedly from the prime minister’s office.
Mr.
Tsvangirai said the plot explains why the people of Zimbabwe have “engaged
in a democratic struggle in the past 13 years to change such primitive
politics.”
State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramai refused to
comment.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Tsvangirai also said some African
liberation icons have betrayed values of the liberation struggle saying they
went into office without tangible economic plans forcing the new crop of
African leaders to deal with serious economic problems.
Political
analyst Joy Mabenge of the Institute for Democratic Alternatives for
Zimbabwe told the VOA he suspects rogue elements in the securocrats are
behind the forged letter.
Meanwhile, the prime minister will Saturday
lead a memorial service for the late Zanu founder Ndabaningi Sithole. Mr.
Tsvangirai's MDC, Zanu Ndonga and the Sithole family are expected to deliver
speeches to honor Sithole.
MDC-T organizing secretary Nelson Chamisa said
Zimbabweans from all walks of life are expected to throng the Sithole
homestead in Chipinge for the service.
The Zimbabwe Business Network (ZBN) will be hosting the
Honourable Minister of Education, Sports and Culture Senator David Coltart
in London on the 8th of August, 2012. This key networking event themed,
“What role can the Diaspora play in improving the quality of education in
Zimbabwe”. 03.08.1207:49am by The Zimbabwean Harare
This a
major networking event and is perhaps, a rare opportunity for the Zimbabwean
Community to engage with a high profile cabinet minister and one of the key
policy decision makers in the Transitional government (GNU). The event will
be held between 6pm and 9.30pm at the Royal Overseas League, Overseas House,
Park Place, St James Street, Mayfair, London, SW1A 1LR. Admission for this
event is £10 which includes snacks and refreshments. The tickets can be
purchased in advance on the following link: http://www.fatsoma.com/tickets/david-coltart-diaspora-engagement-event/royal-overseas-house/london/e69017.
Senator
David Coltart, an elected Senator in the inclusive government of national
unity (GNU), has been a human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe since his return to
the country in 1983. He was first elected to represent the Bulawayo South
House of Assembly constituency in June 2000, and was re-elected in March
2005. In March 2008, he was elected as a Senator to represent the Khumalo
Senatorial constituency in Bulawayo. Senator and was sworn in as Minister of
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in February 2009.
Since 2000, Zimbabwe
experienced the worst mass exodus of its most highly qualified, experienced
and educated work force due to the deterioration of the economy and upsurge
in political violence leading to the 2002 Presidential Elections. The 2009
elections ushered in the GNU which has been the key turning point in the
revival of Zimbabwe’s economy, bartered by the effects of economic sanctions
as well political and fiscal profligacy. Zimbabwe’s economic woes have since
steadily improved mainly due to reforms ushering in political tolerance, the
discovery of huge mineral deposits and the recent EU decision to lift curbs
on EU aid directly to the Zimbabwe government. In July last month, Senator
David Coltart successfully launched the new CAMFED (Campaign for Female
Education) project in Guruve which has received US$19 million from the
British Government.
Senator David Coltart is spearheading efforts to
resuscitate Zimbabwe’s educational fabric which was adversely affected and
has left a generation crippled due to lack of investment in quality
education to match advances in global technology and prudent business
processes. The networking event is an opportunity for innovative and
progressive Zimbabweans to engage in business initiatives and linkages as an
economic empowerment imperative driven by optimizing on the strength and
opportunities of being in the Diaspora. It is an opportunity to engage in
dialogue on effective strategies and areas to leverage as well as synergise
on the emerging business opportunities. Take this opportunity to fast trek
and lobby for business friendly laws that will facilitate economic
empowerment of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. The education sector is one such
market with potential of business growth linked the recent policy decision
to expand an integrated ICT technology thrust and investment opportunities
emerging from investment fibre optic internet technology.
ZBN takes
this opportunity to wish Team Zimbabwe the best of success in the on-going
London 2012 Olympics. Your mere presence has already made us proud and hopes
you will surpass your personal best and hopefully earn medals in the
process.
Nigerian church leader Temitope Balogun (TB)
Joshua’s plans to construct a multi-million dollar project to cater for over
2,000 orphans in Ruwa is reportedly being blocked by
government.
Newsday reported this on Wednesday, quoting Ruwa Town Council
chairperson Pinias Mushayavanhu confirming the delay by the Ministry of
Local Government to approve the project.
The project involves TB
Joshua building a community for orphans with houses, clinics, schools and a
church, to also benefit all residents in Ruwa.
Mushayavanhu indicated
that the TB Joshua’s church wanted to sponsor the children until university
education, something that has never happened in
Zimbabwe.
Commentators told SW Radio Africa that government’s lack of
interest in the Nigerian prophet’s project could be linked to his prophecies
that many believe may have been directed towards Robert Mugabe.
Two
months ago he made a prophecy that an old African President would fall
critically ill and be hospitalised. This prophecy did not go down well with
ZANU PF, given Mugabe’s health and the surrounding speculation.
In
February this year TB Joshua made his famous prophecy that an African leader
would die within 60 days. Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika died of a
heart attack not long after the prophecy.
In May pro-ZANU PF church
leaders were invited onto state television to claim that TB Joshua was not
welcome in the country and that his teachings were ‘judgmental, partisan and
unorthodox.’
Vice President Joice Mujuru later joined in, indirectly
attacking TB Joshua by warning Zimbabweans during a National Day of Prayer
that they should be wary of fake prophets who are turning churches into
money-making ventures. She said local religious groups should not allow
foreign pastors and political leaders to dictate the way they should
worship.
Harare council workers are
reported to have clashed this week with a gang of ZANU PF youth who blocked
them from demolishing car sale plots identified as “illegal” by city
officials.
The youths, led by ZANU PF’s provincial youth chairman Jim
Kunaka and Tongai Nheta, claimed the city was targeting car dealerships
owned by ZANU PF members only and this was against their policy of
indigenisation.
According to the ZANU PF mouthpiece the Herald newspaper,
the car dealers also slammed the demolitions, accusing the City Council of
being against black empowerment.
But Harare City spokesman Leslie
Gwindi insisted the demolitions were non-partisan and part of Vision 2025, a
programme seeking to make Harare “a world class city”. Gwindi also alleged
that Kunaka and Nheta physically abused council officials carrying out the
demolitions.
Gwindi is quoted as saying: “Our guys were removing illegal
sales along Fereday Road when Jim Kunaka and Tongai Nheta disrupted the
exercise. We are upset by their thuggish behaviour.”
The Herald did
not mention that Kunaka is also known to be one of the leaders of the
violent Chipangano gang from the Mbare high-density suburb, who have turned
the area into a no-go zone for MDC-T members.
Chipangano is known to
illegally control most bus ranks, flea markets and properties that fall
under the mandate of the Harare City Council. Revenue that should be
collected by the Council now supports the gang members, with a share
believed to be going to party seniors who protect them from
prosecution.
Precious Shumba from the Harare Residents Trust said the
real issue in this case is the rampant corruption within Council in the
licensing and issuing of permits for the car dealerships. He explained that
many of these car dealers are asked to pay bribes and it is believed that
some are now refusing.
“While these individuals may belong to one
party or another, the real problem here is that someone is using Council to
get back at those people who have refused to pay the bribes,” Shumba
explained.
He said there are councillors running networks that authorize
people to put up these illegal structures and open car dealerships. They
bypass the Council by using Committees to run the
operations.
According to Shumba, Kunaka and other ZANU PF thugs take
advantage of this lack of accountability in Council and pocket a lot of
money from businesses in the capital.
Some Zimbabweans have expressed anger that schools across the
country were forced to close early this week, to accommodate the national
census.
The census is meant to get underway in two weeks time and the
door-to-door process has been scheduled to run over two days. The listing
process will then take another ten days, but the full census results are
only expected to be released early next year.
Preparations have been
in full swing and this has included a government order for schools to close
on Wednesday, a week ahead of the holiday schedule. According to the
Zimbabwe Statistics Agency, this was to give teachers time to train as
enumerators.
The move has prompted criticism, with some Zimbabweans
saying the whole process has been badly planned and poorly managed. Harare
teacher Abbiot Moyo was quoted by Voice of America as calling for the
government to ‘plan better in the future’ so students do not have to disrupt
their studies unnecessarily.
“The government knew it would conduct a
census in 2012 and should have factored this in the school calendar last
year,” Moyo was quoted as saying, adding: “Most schools in the country were
in the process of preparing for mid-term exams with some students laying the
groundwork for Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations in
November.”
There has also been concern raised that not enough people have
been informed about the census plans, which could potentially lead to many
people being too afraid to hand over their full details ahead of fresh
elections, because of the widespread fear that a fresh poll will be hijacked
by ZANU PF to ensure a Robert Mugabe victory.
According to Finance
Minister Tendai Biti the census data will be used by the government ‘to
serve the people effectively’ and will not be used for political means. Biti
told Parliament last month that the census, which will cost $37 million,
will also try and verify the number of Zimbabweans living in
exile.
There has been no explanation as to how the government plans to do
that.
Commentators have also told SW Radio Africa that the results will
be used by the political parties in Zimbabwe to “redraw the country’s
political boundaries” ahead of fresh elections.
Published on : 3 August 2012 - 3:12pm | By RNW Africa Desk
Friends and colleagues of Zimbabwean
human rights campaigner Paul Chizuze are losing hope of finding him alive. Some
fear the prominent figure was abducted by the country’s central government
agents. One source says Chizuze became a target for state security because of
his investigations into other disappeared activists and his wealth of
information on the Matabeleland massacres.
By Thabo Kunene, Bulawayo
Last month Zimbabwean media reported finding
Chizuze’s car in Beitbridge, a border town in southern Matabeleland. Inside were
his old shoes, but no one to fill them. Local police confirmed finding the
vehicle, though refused to give further details. One source described the issue
as “too sensitive” for the police to handle.
Chizuze left his home in Bulawayo just after 8
pm on 8 February. The 58 year old was seen driving his official car, a Nissan
Hardbody with registration number ACJ 3446.
Activist Paul Chizuze has been missing since 8 February
2012.
Some family
members who spoke to RNW say they fear Chizuze may have been abducted, hijacked
or murdered on the night he disappeared. A relative who declined to be named
said the family was despairing. “I now suspect he was murdered and we should all
accept that we will never find him alive,” he told RNW.
Zimbabwe education and culture minister David
Coltart, a close friend and former colleague of the disappeared activist, said a
search by several organizations and police has failed to locate him. He told a
private radio station that his main worry was the lack of any leads, despite so
much time spent searching for him.
“Too much
information” Coltart and Chizuze worked together on a number of
human rights issues at the Bulawayo Legal Projects Centre. The minister said
Chizuze had been working on issues that could have embarrassed authorities in
the government, especially hardliners.
According to Coltart, the activist had too much
information on Gukurahundi. The notorious Zimbabwean army unit massacred an
estimated 20,000 people from the Ndebele-speaking minority of Matabeleland and
Midlands provinces soon after the country’s independence in 1980.
Chizuze’s current colleagues say the missing
man’s work involved tracking activists in jail and offering them support. He
also investigated the disappearance of Patrick Nabanyama, Minister Colart’s
election agent in 2000 and someone who worked closely with Coltart during the
1980s to help victims of the Matabeleland massacres. To this day, Nabanyama has
not been found.
Insight from a colleague The
director of Masakhane Projects Trust, the human rights organization Chizuze
worked for when he went missing, was almost in tears as he described efforts to
locate their colleague.“We have searched everywhere, including hospitals and
morgues, but we have come up with nothing,” Dumisani Mpofu told RNW. “We are
losing hope of finding him alive because of what happened in the past when other
disappeared human rights activists turned up dead.”
When asked whether Chizuze might have skipped
the border for self-exile, he said: “We doubt very much that he might have fled
the country because there was no reason for him to do that. He was a person who
never gave up the fight even when the going got tough.” He added that if Chizuze
had fled, he would have contacted family or workmates.
Mpofu says the disappearance of one of their own
will not scare them away from exposing human rights abuses by the government,
especially in Matabeleland, where people are still waiting for perpetrators of
the 1980s killings to be brought to justice.
The search for Chizuze has taken other activists
to the remote villages of Matabeleland. Reportedly no trace of him has turned up
at police stations or morgues.
Exiles show optimism While
some Zimbabwe-based human activists may doubt they will find Chizuze, their
exiled counterparts show optimism.
The Zimbabwe Solidarity Campaign (ZSC), based in
Northern Ireland, recently staged protests in Belfast calling for global
attention to the Chizuze case and to demand an end to other disappearances in
Zimbabwe.
“We feel that we have to publicize the
disappearance of Paul so that the world will know the plight of Zimbabweans,”
said ZSC participant Memory Chatambudza. “He is still missing and we want him
found, dead or alive, so that his family can get answers on what
happened.”
Chatambudza says the international community
appears to have forgotten the violence in Zimbabwe, yet abuses persist. With
elections now around the corner, she expects violence to escalate.
Written by Pindai Dube Friday, 03 August
2012 11:39
BULAWAYO - Gold panners digging along railway lines in
search of the precious mineral have made railway lines across the country a
big risk to passengers and goods trains.
Struggling state owned
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) Public Relations manager Fanuel Masikati
said the railway company is “very worried” at the rate at which gold panners
are destroying the country’s railway lines.
“We have observed with
concern dangerous attempts and practices by some gold panners who have
resorted to digging gold ore along railway lines as well as under, which is
highly dangerous and risky to the movement of both passengers and goods
trains in the country,” said Masikati.
He added that some people have
been caught stealing some steel structures at rail flyover bridges as well
as ballast stones which support the rail track.
“These acts of sabotage
are strongly discouraged since they pose a danger to the movement of trains
and travelling public in the country. Stealing steel from rail structures is
dangerous and catastrophic,” said Masikati.
NRZ operates more than 3
000km of rail across the country providing passenger and freight
services.
It also has an important transit function in southern Africa,
as it is well linked with neighbouring countries.
NRZ, like other
state parastatals is facing numerous problems, stemming from lack of funds
to import spare parts and improve services.
Most of NRZ diesel and
electrical locomotives are out of service while passenger and freight
services are constantly cancelled.
Further, the company is seriously
indebted, making it impossible to solve this situation without external
help.
Other challenges facing the company include vandalised
communication equipment and dilapidated yard facilities.
The revived Zimbabwe
Africa People’s Union (Zapu) says it has avoided eviction from its offices
for rental delinquency after trading its donated livestock to settle arrears
amounting to $15,000.
The Dumiso Dabengwa-led party was about to be
booted out of its Bulawayo headquarters after a High Court judge last week
granted the landlord a writ of execution to attach the party’s movable
property.
Zapu regional coordinator Mark Mubaiwa told VOA his party can
now breathe after selling 14 head of cattle a few days ago.
The party
has been struggling to raise funds for rentals, pay staff and conducting
national campaigns since its relaunch by the former Zimbabwe People’s
Revolutionary Army intelligence supremo two years ago.
Once led by the
late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, Zapu was forced to sign a unity agreement
in 1987 by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF following years of political
strife in Matabeleland and the Midlands Provinces where more than 20,000
people are believed to have been killed by the North Korean trained Five
Brigade.
Dabengwa pulled out of the unity accord a few year ago citing
Zanu PF’s insincerity and marginalization of Nkomo’s former strongholds.
Zimbabwe has recorded its best tobacco sales figures since the
accelerated land reform programme began a decade
ago. 03.08.1201:15pm by The Zimbabwean Harare
New figures
from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board show Zimbabwe sold 140.8
million kilograms of tobacco at an average price of $3.67, resulting in
sales totalling $517m.
The figure is well above last year’s total of
$349m, and average price per kilo of $2.71. Three more tobacco auction
floors have also opened over the last year, bringing the total to four
floors.
Zimbabwe, once the world’s biggest tobacco exporter with 30% of
global exports, saw sales fall from a peak of 236 million kilos in 2000 to a
low of 55.6 million kilos in 2006 as the economic effects of farm
disruptions took hold.
The disruptions were part of President
Mugabe’s “fast-track” land reform program, during which white owned
commercial farms were seized, ostensibly for distribution to blacks, but
which caused world-record hyper inflation as the economy
collapsed.
The inflation made it impossible for farmers to purchase
inputs such as fertilizer and seeds, and tobacco production went into
freefall.
The introduction of the US dollar as official currency
following 2008 elections stabilized the economy and tobacco production has
been rising since 2009, although mining is now the country’s principal
foreign currency earner.
Zimbabwe has licensed two more private
newspapers, keeping alive the agenda of opening up the media space that has
largely been preserved for state publications loyal to President Robert
Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.
The Zimbabwean, which will publish weekly
and owned by UK-based veteran journalist Wilf Mbanga, and The Observer, a
daily, were granted licenses this week by the Zimbabwe Media
Commission.
Chairman of The Zimbabwean publishers John Makumbe told VOA
on Tuesday that they no longer feared victimization by the state as they are
now operating legally.
Mbanga currently publishes two weeklies - The
Zimbabwean and The Zimbabwean on Sunday that are shipped into the
country.
In 2008, a truck delivering The Zimbabwean newspapers was
hijacked and burnt by unknown assailants, who are still on the
loose.
The government also hiked duty on foreign newspapers circulating
in Zimbabwe, a move that was seen as the state’s attempt to muzzle the
press.
Zimbabwe Media Commission chairperson Godfrey Majonga said his
commission is happy to play a part in liberalizing the
press.
Barnabas Thodlana, editor of The Observer said the newspaper will
hit the streets early next month, first as a weekly and then later as a
daily.
A couple of publications have been registered since the formation
of the unity government in 2009 though the electronic media remains in the
hands of Mugabe and his allies.
A video has emerged showing what appears to be
evidence of intimidation on the part of members of President Robert Mugabe’s
ZANU-PF party. With an election expected in the coming year, this video - along
with reports of similar incidents - has stoked fears that the party is returning
to the same intimidation tactics used in the run-up to the 2008 election.
A speaker in the video tells a crowd of
people, “If MDC [the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party] comes here
and you, as a ZANU-PF member, participate [in their meetings], I promise I will
beat you.” Another speaker asks people gathered around him to each divulge a
name of an opposition supporter they know. [Our Observer, below, explains that
people who don’t necessarily agree with the party’s politics are sometimes
pressured to attend these meetings].
The video, which was procured by a human
rights organisation that FRANCE 24 has decided to keep anonymous for security
reasons, includes footage of two separate political meetings, which were
reportedly held in the central district of Chirumhanzu on May 17 and in the
northern district of Chinhanga on May 23. We have shown this video to several of
our Observers in Zimbabwe, who were able to confirm that the dialects spoken
match those used in these areas.
FRANCE 24 has asked ZANU-PF for comment on
this video, but we have not yet received a reply.
During the last election, opposition candidate
Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew a week before the second round, claiming that a
campaign of violence by Mugabe’s supporters had turned the process into “a
sham.” However, under pressure from the international community, the two ended
up at the head of a coalition government, with Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as prime
minister. In 2013, both men will once again compete to become
president.
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron first
since 1987. Zimbabwe is currently ranked 154 out of 182 countries on
Transparency International’s corruption index.
“This sort of intimidation is quite typical of
what’s happening all over the country”
Mugove (not his real name) is a Zimbabwean
human rights activist. FRANCE 24 has decided to keep him anonymous for security
reasons. [Activists are frequently the targets of harassment in Zimbabwe].
“I am convinced this video is authentic, not
only because meetings were indeed scheduled in these places on these dates, but
because I recognized the dialects being spoken as belonging to these
regions.
This sort of intimidation is quite typical of
what’s happening all over the country these days; I have received many reports
of similar incidents, both in cities and in rural areas. The threats of beating
heard in the video are not mere talk – on May 26, an opposition supporter was lynched by ZANU-PF supporters. [Witnesses reported that the
police on the scene did not intervene]. I believe this was a clear result of
these types of intimidation tactics.
Intimidation can take multiple forms. The most
common are direct threats to people who sympathise with the opposition or their
family members, which includes threats of beatings and destruction of property.
Many people are also forced to attend political meetings and buy party
membership cards. Another common threat in rural areas is banishment – village
leaders have the power to expel people from their communities. People who rent
stores or stands in markets are also often required to pledge allegiance to a
party in order to keep their spots.
“People who are
threatened cannot count on the help of the police”
In Zimbabwe, people cannot count on the police
if they are threatened by supporters of political parties. Police chiefs have
openly expressed their
support for ZANU-PF, so that makes it
difficult for rank-and-file police officers to go against this party’s
interests. Moreover, there is an atmosphere of impunity. Vigilante groups
have been roaming the streets of cities causing violence; the police clearly
have the capacity to deal with them, but it seems that they have decided to
ignore it when it’s in the interest of the politicians they support. The
policing system needs a major overhaul. Currently, too many people who took part
in or allowed the 2008 violence remain in positions of power.
As we approach the elections, more and more
political meetings are taking place, and tension is increasing. I think it’s
quite likely that intimidation will once again give way to
bloodshed.”
Zimbabweans make me laugh! These are some top
tweets for the hash tag #ifzimhostedtheolympics. If you are Zimbabwean, you’ll know exactly what they
mean and you’ll understand that as amusing as they are, the humour is a damning
indictment of our government.
#ifzimhostedtheolympics In honour of our national
leadership, members of the Zim relay team would refuse to pass the
baton
#IfZimHostedTheOlympics after counting the votes twice,
we have decided that the winner of the 50 metre sprint is…. Zimbabwe
#IfZimHostedTheOlympics They would be a tollgate on the
500km & bike races, charges will be as follows Zims $1, other africans $5
whites $50
#IfZimHostedTheOlympics The ZRP would set up roadblocks on the track during the
races.
#ifzimhostedtheolympics the moto would be “if at first
you don’t succeed we have a guy that can orgAnise a medal for you at 50
bucks”
#ifzimhostedtheolympics there would be ma orange nemvura
pa halftime
#IfZimHostedTheOlympics The cycling event would have to
go up and down borrowdale road like 50 times cos its the only road with no
potholes
#ifzimhostedtheolympics we’d have newsreaders 25 years
from now with names like Olympicsmore, Sprintmore, Swimmore Moyo
#ifzimhostedtheolympics They would introduce the Pothole
Challenge
#ifzimhostedtheolympics 51% of all medals won would be
redistributed to the “indigenous “
#IfZimHostedTheOlympics “…Every country to bring their
own generator. We are all in this together…” -ZESA’s official
statement
#ifzimhostedtheolympics the olympic torch would burn out
b4 reaching the grounds, blame that on the never ending ridiculous toll gates
and pot holes along the way
#ifzimhostedtheolympics all marathon events will have war vets chasing after the
athletes to make it more interesting
#ifzimhostedtheolympics money counting would be an event
$10000000000000000 sprint
#ifzimhostedtheolympics sky news and CNN would still be reporting news from the
border.
#IfZimHostedTheOlympics the world would have to watch it
delayed on zbc
#IfZimHostedTheOlympics There would be no Olympic
torch.Just a giant generator.
This entry was
posted by Hope on Friday, August 3rd, 2012 at 4:29
pm
By Dale Doré, a discussion paper in the
Zimbabwe Land Series
Executive Summary
Part II recounts the Government of Zimbabwe’s
unrelenting seizure of white owned farms, the nationalisation of their land, and
how, at the stroke of a pen and without compensation, white farmers were made
trespassers on their own farms. It shows how the Government of Zimbabwe attacked
the legitimacy of the SADC Tribunal1, refused to obey the Tribunal’s
rulings based on international law, and cajoled the region’s leaders into
suspending the Tribunal. And how, finally, Zimbabwe’s land laws – that are
conspicuously at variance with international law and offend natural justice –
found their way into the country’s draft constitution. Zimbabweans need to stand
united in defence of universally accepted human rights for all its citizens, and
ensure that the principles of international law are enshrined in their
constitution. I argue that justice must become the cornerstone of our peaceful
transition to democracy and woven into the legal fabric of a future land policy.
Therein lies a shared vision of Zimbabwe: democratic, inclusive, and at peace
with itself.
The
Third Chimurenga
By 2003, most white commercial farmers had been
displaced and over 200,000 farm workers and their families – an estimated one
million people – had lost their jobs and homes, as well as their access to farm
schools and other social amenities.2 While the government’s own land
audit showed that 2.8 million hectares of farmland lay idle,3 it
continued its relentless prosecution of its chimurenga against white
farmers. The Land Acquisition Amendment Act of 2004 allowed the government to
compulsorily acquire their last and only farm. It allowed the state to acquire
plantations, agriculturally based industries, export processing zones and
wildlife conservancies. And it declared that the state could acquire as much
land as it wanted. The Acquisition of Farm Equipment and Materials Act of 2004
allowed the government to compulsorily acquire displaced farmers’ farm equipment
and materials. And, to protect those who had earlier seized equipment
unlawfully, the law was back-dated to December 2003.
Constitutional Amendment No.
17
In its final push to sweep the remaining white
farming citizens from the land, the government nationalised most commercial
farms by passing Constitutional Amendment No. 17 in 2005. It reiterated that no
compensation would be paid for this land, only improvements. Section 3 of the
Amendment specifically rescinded farmers’ constitutional rights to the
protection of the law (Section 18.1), and to a fair hearing in an independent
and impartial court of law (Section 18.9).
In May 2006, Mike Campbell and other farmers
mounted a challenge in the Supreme Court against Constitutional Amendment No.
17. They argued, first, that Parliament was not empowered to exclude the
constitutional right of citizens to be heard in a court of law to settle
disputes with the state. They also claimed that the amendment discriminated
against them on the grounds of race. But before their case could be heard, the
Amendment’s enabling Act, the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act, came
into force in December 2006. Its passage meant that gazetted commercial farms
had become state land, and that farmers had become trespassers on their own
farms. Unless farmers had a government ‘offer letter’ or lease agreement, they
had to vacate their farmland within 45 days and their homes within 90 days, or
face eviction. Although 800 commercial farmers subsequently applied for
government authority to remain on their farms, none was
granted.4
In October 2007, 11 white commercial farmers
appeared before the Chegutu magistrate’s court accused of having failed to leave
their gazetted farms. One of them was Mike Campbell. The Supreme Court had heard
his constitutional challenge to Amendment 17, but had reserved judgement for 6
months. As the Supreme Court had not responded to inquiries about the case, it
was assumed that it had declined to exercise its jurisdiction. Thus, when the
Chegutu magistrate rejected the farmers’ appeal against eviction, Campbell
sought relief from the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia. Campbell, in his
application to the Tribunal, contended that the land acquisition process was
unlawful under international customary law, the SADC Treaty, and the African
Charter on Human and People’s Rights. As such, he sought an order from the
Tribunal declaring, first, that Constitutional Amendment No. 17 violated his
fundamental rights protected under Article 6 of the SADC Treaty and, second,
requesting an interdict to stop the Zimbabwean government from acquiring his
farm. In reserving judgement in December 2007, the Tribunal granted interim
relief to Campbell. It ordered the Zimbabwe government not to evict Campbell or
interfere with his farming operations until the Tribunal had reached its final
verdict.
Suddenly, the Tribunal’s ruling galvanised the
Supreme Court into action. In a belated attempt to pre-empt and nullify the
Tribunal’s order, the Supreme Court dismissed Campbell’s application in January
2008.5 Unsurprisingly, but contrary to the accepted norms of natural
justice and international law, it ruled that Parliament had the right to oust
the jurisdiction of the courts to prevent judicial arbitration between citizens
and the state. The Court also refused to countenance the charge that Amendment
17 discriminated against the applicants on the basis of race or
colour.
Then, in June 2008, Mike Campbell, his wife, and
his son-in-law, Ben Freeth, were abducted and grievously beaten in a bid to
terrify them into dropping their case with the Tribunal; but to no avail.
Although the assailants were known, the police chose not to investigate the
crime, and no charges were laid against them.
The
SADC Tribunal Rulings
Having confirmed that it had jurisdiction to
consider Campbell’s application,6 the Tribunal considered, first,
whether Campbell and others had been denied access to the courts. It held that
“the rule of law embraces at least two fundamental rights, namely, the right of
access to the courts, and the right to a fair hearing before an individual is
deprived of a right, interest or legitimate expectation.” Thus any clause that
allows an executive decision to prohibit the court from examining this right
offends against natural justice and is therefore null and void. Having found
that Campbell and others had been deprived of their agricultural lands without
these rights, the Tribunal ruled that the Zimbabwe government and Constitutional
Amendment No. 17 were in violation of Article 4(c) of the SADC Treaty, which
requires member states to respect the principles of “human rights, democracy and
the rule of law”.
Second, the Tribunal considered whether the
applicants had been discriminated against on the basis of race. Campbell and
others had argued that Constitutional Amendment No. 17 targeted land owned by
white farmers based on the colour of their skin – regardless of any other
factors, such as the proper use of their lands or their citizenship. The
Tribunal agreed. The Tribunal found that such discrimination was neither
reasonable nor objective and based primarily on considerations of race. It found
that the Zimbabwe government and Constitutional Amendment No.17 violated
Zimbabwe’s obligation under Article 6(2) of the SADC Treaty that declares that
member states “shall not discriminate against any person on grounds of gender,
religion, political views, race,” etc.
Third, the Tribunal considered whether or not
compensation was payable for the lands compulsorily acquired. In its submission,
the government had claimed that the “independence agreement in 1978 [sic] in
London provided that payment of compensation for expropriated land for
resettlement purposes would be paid by the former colonial power, Britain.”
However, the Tribunal was unequivocal in it judgment:
“It is difficult for us to understand the
rationale behind excluding compensation for such land, given the clear legal
position in international law. It is the right of the Applicants [Campbell,
et al.] under international law to be paid, and the correlative duty of
the Respondent [Zimbabwe Government] to pay, fair compensation. Moreover, the
Respondent cannot rely on its national law, its Constitution, to avoid an
international law obligation to pay compensation.Similarly, in the
present case, the Respondent cannot rely on Amendment 17 to avoid payment of
compensation to the Applicants for their expropriated farms. This is regardless
of how the farms were acquired in the first place, provided that the Applicants
have a clear legal title to them.We hold, therefore, that fair
compensation is due and payable to the Applicants by the Respondent in respect
of their expropriated lands.”7
The implications were clear. There was no basis
in international law that requires Britain to assume responsibility to
compensate displaced white farmers for their land: Constitutional Amendment No.
16 passed in 2000 is null and void. Note specifically, however, that the
Zimbabwe Government cannot rely on its national law, its Constitution, to
avoid an international obligation to pay compensation. This principle is
contained in Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which
states that:
“A party may not invoke provisions of its own
internal law as justification for failure to carry out an international
agreement.”
Instead of meeting its obligations under
international law, the Zimbabwe government set about discrediting and
emasculating the Tribunal. President Mugabe contemptuously dismissed the
Tribunal and the rule of international law: “Some farmers went to the SADC… but
that’s nonsense, absolute nonsense, no-one will follow that. Our land issues are
not subject to the SADC Tribunal.” He then added that, “The few remaining white
farmers should quickly vacate their farms as they have no place
there.”8
The
Demise of the Tribunal
In defiance of the Tribunal’s ruling, Campbell’s
farm was invaded. When the invaders ignored a High Court ruling in May 2009
ordering them to leave, Campbell again appealed to the Tribunal. Without
hesitation, the Tribunal found Zimbabwe in contempt of its decision and in June
referred the matter to the SADC Summit to take appropriate action. But when SADC
leaders met in September 2009, the matter was not acted upon, let alone
considered. By then Freeth’s homestead had been burnt down and Campbell’s farm
had fallen into the hands of invaders.
Before the Summit, in August 2009, the
government had issued a specious legal opinion challenging the legality of the
Tribunal, and its jurisdiction, mandate and powers to enforce decisions. Its
aim, to discredit the Tribunal to avoid compliance with international law,
slowly gained acceptance amongst SADC leaders.
Undeterred, Zimbabwe’s commercial farmers sought
a High Court order to register the Tribunal’s decision in Zimbabwe in November
2009.9 Contrary to the government’s attempts to repudiate the
Tribunal’s jurisdiction, the High Court found that the Protocol of the Tribunal
undeniably constituted an integral part of the SADC Treaty and, hence, the
Tribunal’s decisions were binding on Zimbabwe. Yet, the High Court refused to
confirm and register the decision. To obfuscate Zimbabwe’s indisputable treaty
obligations to enforce the Tribunal’s ruling, the Court instead – based on South
African legal opinion on foreign judgments10 – determined whether the
recognition and enforcement of the Tribunal’s decision would be contrary to
‘public policy’. It then used the same legal reasoning as the Supreme Court to
dismiss Campbell’s application. It argued that the Judiciary had a duty to
uphold Parliament’s enactments, even if they infringed fundamental human rights
and contradicted natural justice and international law. In effect, the Court
invoked provisions of Zimbabwe’s Constitution and policies as a justification
for its failure to carry out its international agreement, thus contravening the
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
Just as hopes were raised in February 2010, when
South Africa’s High Court in Pretoria recognised the Tribunal’s ruling as
enforceable, faith in the international justice system quickly faded. At the
SADC Summit in August 2010, the region’s leaders decided to bar the Tribunal
from considering any new cases for 6 months while the Tribunal’s role and
functions were being reviewed. But when the erudite legal recommendations for a
more robust Tribunal were presented to SADC leaders in May 2011,11
they were pushed aside. Instead the Summit suspended the Tribunal until a
revised SADC Protocol on the Tribunal has been approved at a Summit scheduled
for August 2012. The Summit’s presumed intent was to prevent SADC citizens from
seeking international redress for injustices suffered at the hands of their own
governments.12
Sadly, Mike Campbell died in April 2011. But his
fight for justice continues. In March 2012, the African Commission on Human and
People’s Rights made a preliminary ruling to formally register an application
brought by Ben Freeth and another dispossessed Zimbabwean farmer, Luke Tembani,
to be heard by the African Court on Human and People’s Rights.13 They
are seeking an order from the Court that will require the SADC Summit –
consisting of all 14 Heads of State, including President Robert Mugabe – to
reinstate the Tribunal so that it continues to function and protect the human
rights of SADC citizens in accordance with Article 16 of the SADC
Treaty.
The
Draft Constitution
The Inclusive Government has specifically
constructed clauses in its draft constitution (Chapter 16 on Agricultural Land)
to counter the rulings of the SADC Tribunal. If the Zimbabwean people accept the
draft constitution in a referendum they will have condoned laws that deny
Zimbabwean citizens natural justice and international law – as enshrined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights.
______________________________________
Every child is taught that “two wrongs do not
make a right”. Zimbabwe must correct the historical wrongs regarding land
distribution, but in a manner that is just and inclusive. Only then can we truly
bring closure to the land question and begin a process of healing and
reconciliation, not just between Zimbabweans, but with the world at
large.
1 Protocol of the Tribunal
established in terms of Section 16 of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) Treaty was signed on 7 August 2000 by the Summit, which comprises the
heads of all 14 member states, including Zimbabwe.
2 Sachikonye, L. (2003) The
Situation of Commercial Farm-workers after Land Reform. Report:
Harare.
3 Zimbabwe (2003) Presidential
Land Review Committee, Table 3, p.42
4Zimbabwe Independent, 29
October 2009: Reporting on CFU statement.
5]Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd
& Another v Minister of National Security Responsible for Land, Land Reform
and Resettlement & Another SC 49/07
6Campbell and Others vs Republic
of Zimbabwe SADC (T) Case No. 2/2007. Campbell had been joined by 77 other
commercial farmers in the application to the SADC Tribunal.
7Ibid. (p.56).
8 SW Radio Africa, 2 March
2009.
9Gramara (Pvt.) Ltd and Other vs
Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Others. HC33/09. 26 January
2010.
10 Joubert (ed.) (1993) The Law
of South Africa. Vol. 2.
11 Report prepared by Lorand Bartels
of Cambridge University and advisor to the World Trade Institute.
12 Derek Matyszak, (2011) The
Dissolution of the SADC Tribunal. Research and Advocacy Unit.
(August)
