Zim Online
Thursday 09 August 2007
By
Farisai Gonye
HARARE - Cracks are emerging within Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU
PF party over how
to handle defiant white farmers who ignored a government
directive to vacate
their properties by the end of last month.
Land
Reform and Resettlement Minister Didymus Mutasa confirmed to ZimOnline
yesterday that some of his ZANU PF colleagues were against the wholesale
removal of the few remaining white farmers.
Mutasa, regarded as one
of the hawks in President Robert Mugabe's
government, said he would
disregard the advice of his colleagues, insisting
that virtually all white
farmers would be evicted by year-end "to complete
the land revolution and
begin a revolution of mass agricultural production".
"Several of my
colleagues think we need the remaining white farmers for our
agriculture. I
say no, we need more black farmers. The era of white farmers
is coming to a
final close this year," he said in an interview with
ZimOnline.
Mutasa's ministry has sent circulars instructing the
police to arrest white
farmers who have defied its earlier
directive.
About 600 white farmers are still involved in commercial
farming activities
in Zimbabwe out of the 4 500 who used to produce food for
the country until
Mugabe launched his chaotic land reform programme in
2000.
The remaining farmers had been given until last month to leave
their farms
and make way for new black owners.
Mutasa spoke as
ZimOnline gathered that senior officials from ZANU PF and
law enforcement
agencies were scrambling for farms still in the hands of
whites.
A
senior police officer in the eastern border city of Mutare told ZimOnline
that those involved in the scramble included some senior ZANU PF officials
who had already been allocated farms.
"Everyone knows there won't be
any farms after these evictions. Mutasa just
wants us to identify land, and
he signs the offer letter as long as you are
well connected," the police
officer said.
But Mutasa, who doubles up as State Security Minister,
dismissed the claims
by the police officer, insisting that provincial land
committees were the
ones identifying farms for acquisition.
"The idea
is by the end of the year all these white farmers would have left.
We should
be done with evictions so that we focus on equipping and training
our own
farmers," Mutasa said.
Zimbabwe has fought seven years of hunger
following its often-violent land
reform programme.
The newly
resettled farmers have dismally failed to feed the country, once
regarded as
southern Africa's breadbasket.
From a net exporter, Zimbabwe will this
year import the staple maize from
countries like Malawi, Tanzania and
Zambia, which a few years ago used to
depend on Harare for their food
requirements. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 09 August
2007
By Sebastian Nyamhangambiri
HARARE - A Harare
magistrate is expected to make a ruling today on whether
the trial of six
men accused of plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe
should be open to
members of the public.
Magistrate Archie Wochiunga is today expected to
deliver judgment on the
defence application for the trial to be moved to an
open court as opposed to
the current situation where proceedings are taking
place in camera, with no
family members or media allowed in the
courtroom.
An application for refusal of remand lodged by the six men
failed to take
place yesterday after the defence lawyers Charles Warara and
Jonathan
Samkange refused to have the case heard in camera.
Samkange
yesterday told ZimOnline that the defence was of the view that
there was
nothing sensitive about the trial and that the prosecution was
afraid that
having an open court trial would expose the frivolous nature of
the charges
being levelled against his clients.
"The only reason why the state would
want the case in camera is because
there is no evidence to prove that the
accused planned a coup," said
Samkange.
The six men - Albert Matapo,
40, a former senior army officer; Shingirai
Mutemachani, 20, a private in
the army; Nyasha Zivuku; Oncemore Mudzurahowa,
41; Emmanuel Marara, 40; and
Patson Mapfure, 46 - are accused of recruiting
members of the armed forces
to stage a coup against Mugabe.
They have been in remand prison since
June over an alleged attempt to topple
Mugabe and replace him with Rural
Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa heads a faction of ZANU PF
that is tussling against another led by
former army commander Solomon Mujuru
for the control of the ruling ZANU PF
party and the country in a post-Mugabe
era.
Their lawyers say the suspects were discussing the formation of a
new
political party when they were arrested during a
meeting.
Political analysts have dismissed the alleged coup as either a
diversionary
tactic by the government to sway public attention from
deepening economic
hardships or part of the vicious power struggle in the
ruling ZANU PF party
over Mugabe's succession.
None of the men
accused of plotting to overthrow the government has any
meaningful influence
in the military with only one of them, Mutemachani, an
active junior member
of the army.
The alleged ringleader Matapo left the army in 1992 and
stayed in Britain
for years.
He was the subject of investigations by
British authorities after being
accused of helping ZANU PF members claim
asylum.
BBC investigations revealed that Matapo, then chairman of the
Birmingham-based Zimbabwean Community UK, supplied fake documents to ZANU PF
members and coached them on how to falsely claim asylum.
Matapo, who
denied the allegations, left the UK and returned to Harare where
he runs a
travel agency. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 09 August
2007
By Patricia Mpofu
HARARE - A Zimbabwe High
Court judge on Wednesday set free the last two
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) officials who were arrested
last March for allegedly
petrol bombing state institutions.
Justice Lawrence Kamocha said the
state case against Morgan Komichi and
Denis Murira was "full of loopholes
and contradictions" as he freed the two
opposition officials on Z$10 million
bail each after spending over to 90
days in remand prison.
The police
had insisted that Komichi and Murira were the brains behind the
MDC campaign
to bomb police stations and other state institutions in an
attempt to topple
the government.
The police said Komichi was the director of a shadowy MDC
Democratic
Resistance Committee (DRC) while Murira was the secretary of the
group that
was formed to engage in acts of sabotage around the
country.
The two, who denied the charge, were arrested last March
together with 39
other party officials and supporters in a government
crackdown against the
resurgent opposition party.
The state had until
yesterday opposed the granting of bail to the two MDC
officials arguing that
they would abscond or commit similar acts of
terrorism against the
state.
Yesterday, Kamocha refused to entertain the state case ordering
the two to
be released on bail.
Part of Kamocha's judgment read:
"When they (MDC accused) appeared before
Patel J (a High Court judge), they
challenged the state to produce evidence
in court and the matter was
postponed for five days for the state to do so
but it failed. Needless to
say the state has not done so up to this date."
In the four-page
judgment, Kamocha said the state had dismally failed to
strengthen its case
after months of police investigations.
Last month, a Zimbabwe High Court
judge in granting bail to 13 opposition
activists, accused the police of
fabricating the story of a non-existent
South African farm where the MDC
activists were alleged to have been trained
to commit acts of
banditry.
Alec Muchadehama, a lawyer representing the MDC activists,
confirmed the
release of the two opposition officials.
The MDC, which
has posed the biggest challenge to President Robert Mugabe's
27-year grip on
power, last week said it will soon file a Z$500 billion
lawsuit against the
police over the unlawful arrest and detention of its
party supporters and
officials. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 09 August 2007
By
Nqobizitha Khumalo
BULAWAYO - The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) says it is forging
ahead with plans to call mass protests by workers
this month to force the
government to address worsening economic hardships
in the country.
ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe told ZimOnline
that the mass
protests would be called before the end of August after the
union had
briefed its members on the form and nature of the
protests.
The move will likely deepen tensions in Zimbabwe which is in
the grip of an
unprecedented economic crisis that has manifested itself in
rampant
inflation of over 4 500 percent last May, widespread unemployment
and
poverty.
"The industrial action is on course. Everything has been
planned and what is
left now is to finalise the form and nature that the
industrial action will
take.
"We have learnt from previous encounters
with the government that we have to
be careful and keep all strategies to
ourselves," said Chibebe who was among
scores of ZCTU leaders who were
savagely beaten up by state security agents
last September for attempting to
organise similar protests in Harare.
Chibebe said the labour federation
wants the Harare authorities to pay
workers salaries above the poverty datum
line that currently stands at
around Z$7 million a month for a family of
five.
"We also want to express our disdain with high taxation and want it
to be
reduced from 47 percent to 30 percent," said Chibebe.
Mass
protests called by the ZCTU last April fizzled out after workers
succumbed
to intimidation from state security agents with some political
analysts
criticising the labour union for failing to organize effective
protests.
Earlier in April, the ZCTU said it would call mass protests
every three
months to force the government to address workers'
grievances.
The planned protests however failed to materialize at the end
of the three
months last July with the labour union saying it was still
consulting its
members around the country.
Chibebe said the labour
union was this time ready to take on the government
on the
streets.
"Workers are faced with different problems compared with
problems of the
past. They now know what government they are dealing with
and they will
seize this opportunity when it comes," said
Chibhebhe.
Labour Minister Nicholas Goche could not be reached for
comment on the
latest threat by the ZCTU.
Zimbabwe is battling its
worst economic crisis that has left more than 80
percent of workers without
jobs and those still lucky to hold a formal job
unable to feed their
families because of ever-rising prices.
The economic crisis took a turn
for the worst last June after President
Robert Mugabe ordered shops to roll
back prices to mid-June levels and slash
prices by 50 percent in a
controversial operation that has resulted in empty
shelves in most shops in
Harare and Bulawayo. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 09 August 2007
By
Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - At least 100 villagers from the southern parts
of Zimbabwe have
invaded Monyoroka ranch in Chiredzi in a clear sign of the
ongoing chaos and
lawlessness on former white-owned properties.
The
invasion comes as the Zimbabwe government on Tuesday threatened to
arrest
white farmers resisting orders to vacate their properties that have
been
earmarked for redistribution to black farmers.
The villagers, mainly from
Rutenga district, moved onto the ranch owned by
one of the country's biggest
sugar milling companies, Triangle Limited, and
started parceling out the
property amongst themselves.
At least 21 families, led by a self-styled
headman only identified as
Mahoya, have settled on the
property.
Chiredzi district administrator Nicholas Shumba confirmed the
development
but insisted that the government would soon remove the villagers
from the
property.
"There are about 100 people from villages around
Rutenga who invaded the
property this week," said Shumba.
"We have
since agreed with Triangle Limited that the illegal settlers should
be
evicted. We are going to persuade them to leave the area peacefully,"
said
Shumba.
Thousands of villagers, with tacit approval from President Robert
Mugabe,
invaded white farms about seven years ago in a programme the
government
defended as necessary to correct colonial imbalances in land
allocation.
In a related development, at least 500 people whose homes
were torched by
the police at South Hall Farm, 25km east of Masvingo town,
in 2003 have
re-invaded the property arguing that they have nowhere to
farm.
The Zimbabwean government seized part of the property owned by one
Mr Khan
and parceled out the rest of the property to some war veterans who
spearheaded the government's violent land reforms.
The chairperson of
the Masvingo provincial war veterans association Isaiah
Muzenda condemned
this week's fresh farm invasion of Khan's property.
"When we took over
the farm we resettled people on one part of the property
while the other
portion was left in the hands of Mr Khan. Now these people
have invaded Mr
Khan's property and that is not acceptable," said Muzenda.
Zimbabwe has
battled severe food shortages over the past seven years because
of
disruptions on the white farms that produced the bulk of the country's
food
needs.
The southern African country has relied on food handouts from
international
food relief agencies over the past seven years because the new
black farmers
resettled on former white properties have failed to maintain
production on
the farms. - ZimOnline
Nyasa Times, Malawi
Thom Chiumia
on 08 August, 2007 14:05:00
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika is
expected to grant a political
concession to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
to barter sugar with maize to
cover the deficit of grain crop supply, much
needed in hunger crisis
country.
Government insiders say Mutharika was
"deeply concerned" that Zimbabwe is in
great need of maize supply from
Malawi but could not afford to pay due to
foreign currency shortages that
has hit the country reeling from political
and economic
crisis.
Zimbabwe last week issued the largest note circulating on earth
of $200 000
to ease pressure relieve shoppers from carrying a bulk of
valueless notes.
Inflation is set to hit over 100 000 per cent by end of
year.
"Malawi through National Food Reserve Agency has been exporting
maize to
Zimbabwe, the export consignment will continue following orders
from
President Mutharika who is comfortable with a deal of barter," said a
top
government official.
Malawi's Finance Minister, Goodall Gondwe
said the governments of Zimbabwe
and Malawi signed an agreement where cash
strapped Mugabe government would
have to pay cash for the 400 000 metric
tonnes and that the issue of barter
arrangement does not arise since, he
said Malawi has sugar in abundance.
"We are aware about that (shortage of
foreign currency). But we've had
negotiations and we've reached an agreement
and we are sure that they will
pay us," said Gondwe.
However,
ministry of finance sources attached weight to allegation made
recently by
opposition politician, Kamlepo Kalua that President Mutharika
directed the
Reserve Bank of Malawi to pay for the Zimbabwe maize.
"There is objective
evidence that Malawi government paid US$6 million from
the Reserve Bank to
pay the National Food Reserve Authority for the maize
exported to Zimbabwe,"
said our source in the Ministry of Finance.
Gondwe rebuts the report as
"untrue" and claimed Zimbabwe paid the money.
But sources say, Zimbabwe have
not been paying forcing Malawi official to
freeze the exporting of
maize.
Zimbabwe media have reported that the country has failed to pay
for the
maize and that the country was negotiating with other neighbouring
countries
to supply the grain.
"We signed for a 400 000 tonnage
supply of maize from Malawi but we are also
targeting other countries within
the region, especially those that are
closer to us for a smooth delivery,"
Zimbabwe Grain Marketing Board acting
chief executive officer, Samuel Muvuti
was quoted in the Herald newspaper of
Zimbabwe.
President Mutharika
and Mugabe are political buddies; the former's deceased
wife was Zimbabwean
and he has a farm in Kadoma, Zimbabwe called Bineth.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
08 August
2007
The approximately 600 farms in Zimbabwe that remain
in the hands of white
farmers have come under siege again as black farmers
armed with letters from
the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement demand that
their occupants vacate
the premises.
State Security Minister Didymus
Mutasa, who is also in charge of the
eight-year-old land reform program,
heightened longstanding tensions
recently by ordering the remaining white
farmers to clear off their land or
be arrested.
His order came
despite long negotiations between farmers, Agriculture
Minister Rugare
Gumbo, Economic Development Minister Sylvester Nguni and
Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono - who financed winter wheat crops for many
farmers.
But Mutasa, President Robert Mugabe's land reform point man,
has maintained
a hard line on the nationalization of all farmland,
regardless of its
productivity at a time when the country faces massive
shortfalls in staple
maize and wheat crops.
But standing winter wheat
crops are seen as a takeover incentive - land
invasions often take place
when valuable crops are close to being ready to
harvest.
Minister
Mutasa told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that there
is no going back on land reform and that there is legislation to
back his
move.
Spokeswoman Emily Crookes of the Commercial Farmers Union said the
majority
of the white farmers still do not have official clearance to engage
in
farming.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu & Brenda Moyo
Washington
08 August 2007
Zimbabwe's national road
transport system has ground to a halt as the
National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe, commonly known as NOCZIM, which was
recently given a monopoly in
the fuel sector, has shown itself unable to
supply the nation.
Trade
Minister Obert Mpofu two weeks ago declared that NOCZIM alone had the
right
to import gasoline and diesel fuel. But Reserve Bank Governor Gideon
Gono
and the business community have appealed to Harare to repeal the decree
banning private-sector purchases in hard currency, warning this could finish
off the economy.
But official sources said Mpofu remained adamant
NOCZIM must retain a fuel
import monopoly. Sources in the sector said that
when the government
assigned NOCZIM a monopoly it had 3 million liters in
stock compared with 10
million in the private sector, reflecting the
relative capacity of the state
monopoly and the free market.
Before
their exclusion, private sector operators were able to tap hard
currency
from the large Zimbabwean diaspora through various Internet-based
coupon
schemes whereas NOCZIM's own efforts to establish such a system
failed.
Zimbabwe has known fuel shortages before, but with its poor
record of
payment few offshore suppliers will do business with the state
except on a
cash-up-front basis.
Appeals by President Robert Mugabe
to to friendly energy-producing countries
such as Libya and Equatorial
Guinea have yielded little in the way of energy
supplies.
Harare
economist John Robertson told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio
7 for
Zimbabwe that the current fuel crisis could last quite a long time.
Among
many other Zimbabweans stranded by the transport crisis was VOA
reporter
Safari Njema, who described his three-day effort to get from Gweru
to
Harare.
Committee to Protect Journalists
New York, August 8, 2007-A sweeping surveillance law
ratified Friday in
Zimbabwe will target "imperialist-sponsored journalists
with hidden agendas"
the country's information minister told CPJ. Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu described the
law as intending "to protect the president, a minister,
or any citizen from
harm."
The Interception of Communications Act will
allow authorities to intercept
all phone, Internet, and mail communications,
and will establish a state
monitoring center and require telecommunications
providers to install
systems "supporting lawful interceptions at all times,"
according to the
Media Institute of Southern Africa.
Independent
journalists say the law is intended to close a loophole in an
already
oppressive reporting environment. As Zimbabwe has become more
restrictive of
the media, a greater number of Zimbabwean journalists send
their reports to
international media outlets and online publications based
outside the
country. The lawful interception of communications could expose
investigative reporters and create a climate of fear, said Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists President Matthew Takaona.
"This surveillance law
further cuts Zimbabwe off from the world and
creates an even more oppressive
environment than ever for the press," said
CPJ Executive Director Joel
Simon. "The international community needs to be
aware that Zimbabwe is
attempting to suppress any remaining press freedom in
its country. Urgent
action is required."
While the law troubles reporters at SW Radio
Africa, a UK-based
independent broadcaster founded in December 2001 by
uprooted Zimbabwean
journalists, it would not deter the station, manager
Gerry Jackson told CPJ.
The broadcaster offers news headlines via SMS to a
growing audience of about
5,000 mobile phone users in Zimbabwe, she said.
The station also circulates
transcripts of interviews via e-mail to the
Zimbabwean diaspora.
In June 2006, the station reported that its
medium-wave broadcasts into
Zimbabwe had been jammed. There had been a
similar scrambling of its
short-wave broadcasts in 2005. The government
denied that it had interfered,
but in February it admitted to jamming
Washington-based Studio 7, produced
by Voice of America and staffed by
uprooted Zimbabwean journalists. "We
cannot allow foreigners to invade our
airwaves without our authority," the
Media Institute of Southern Africa
quoted Deputy Minister of Information and
Publicity Bright Matonga as
saying.
The law also threatens to undermine local journalists who
clandestinely
report for independent Internet-based publications, Takaona
said. Several
Internet news sites have flourished in recent years as
alternative sources
of information in response to the government's strict
accreditation regime.
Under the 2002 Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act,
journalists can already be sentenced for up to two years in
prison for
practicing journalism without a license.
A journalist of
South Africa-based Zimbabwean news Web site ZimOnline told
CPJ the measures
have been designed to create fear. ZimOnline reporters in
Zimbabwe use
e-mail pseudonyms to file stories and conceal their identities
when calling
government officials for comments, he said.
Local rights group Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights is considering
challenging the legislation in
court, acting director Irene Petras told CPJ.
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court had
previously ruled unconstitutional similar
legislation granting the
government sweeping powers to monitor
communications that threaten national
security when it struck down in 2004
the Posts and Telecommunications Act,
according to news reports.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
08
August 2007
The faction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic Change headed
by MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai said authorities
enforcing price cuts have
been targeting businesses in rural areas owned by
opposition members.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai faction
told the Internet news
agency ZimOnline that faction supporters in
Manicaland, Mashonaland East and
Masvingo provinces had been obliged to
close their businesses after they
were forced to sell their goods at prices
far beneath those recently imposed
by the government.
Authorities
have arrested more than 7,000 people nationwide for overcharging
and failing
to display prices. On Tuesday, 22 stores were slapped with fines
of Z$3
million each for the same breaches of regulations issued by the
government
in July.
Last week a magistrate sentenced six businessmen to 105 hours of
community
service cleaning government buildings after finding them guilty of
violations.
Manicaland provincial spokesman Pishayi Muchauraya of the
Tsvangirai faction
told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that ZANU-PF
militias in his province have been moving around with
officers from a police
unit enforcing state-imposed prices, pointing out
businesses owned by
opposition members.
The Zimbabwean
BY
JOHN MAKUMBE
Save Zimbabwe Campaign (SZC) celebrates its first anniversary
this week amid
more rather than less problems for the nation. What with
increased regime
brutality against civic and opposition leaders, empty
shelves in the shops,
increased power and water cuts and the general
impoverishment of the people,
the Campaign has its work cut out to dethrone
the dictator.
The SZC is now even more relevant to the Zimbabwe crisis than
it was when it
was formed. Frankly, it is the only show in town, and has to
be urged to
continue its work in spite of some of its component members
feeling
fatigued. Then there are those that view the SZC as a convenient
tool that
they can use for their own sectional purposes. The Campaign must
strenuously
resist such elements and stay the course.
In the next 12
months is hoped that progressive forces will continue to
apply pressure on
the regime until it capitulates and accepts the will of
the people of
Zimbabwe. The Campaign needs to engage in more rather than
less incidents of
confrontation with the dictator. A situation such as the
one obtaining now
is not healthy at all.
The dictator is currently under the illusion that he
has managed to quell
the trouble that his regime faced in March 2007. The
dictator feels
triumphant, well, almost. This false self-confidence must be
wiped off the
dictator's face as quickly as possible if the hope of the
people of this
country is to be sustained. The dictator must find the SZC
activists
operating in all the areas that he decides to employ to fool the
people of
this bankrupt nation.
For example, the SZC should produce
appropriate propaganda material that can
be distributed to the people at the
numerous food queues throughout the
country. The people of this country are
hungry for information, and they
will gladly welcome informative material on
carefully selected topics of
national interest.
There are those who will
argue that the persons that will be found
distributing such materials will
obviously be arrested and tortured by the
running dogs of dictatorship -the
ZRP and the CIO. True, but that may be the
price we have to pay for our
freedom. There is nothing that the SZC can ever
do to promote its core
business that does not have some cost to it.
It is common knowledge that the
fuel shortage has all but grounded this
nation. The hardest hit are people
trying to travel between urban and rural
areas. Very few rural buses are
still operating; there just isn't enough
fuel to risk travelling into some
remote rural area unless one has more than
just a full tank of
diesel.
Sadly, the rural people are some of the most marginalized people in
this
country. That is one of the reasons why the criminal Zanu (PF) always
takes
advantage of them for its political ends. The SZC should be
instrumental in
providing the rural folk with as much information as
possible to enable them
to know how to vote come 2008.
The Mugabe party
claims that it has massive support in the rural areas. This
myth can be
exposed for what it is if the SZC carries out programmes aimed
at informing
and energising the rural people to demand that their rights be
observed by
the man-eating regime. The SZC has the duty to raise the cost of
running
this country for the dictator. That can only be done if more action
is
undertaken throughout the country.
The Zimbabwean
DEFECTIONS in
muddied opposition waters continue to be one-way traffic. Last
Thursday,
Silas Mangono, a former opposition legislator for Masvingo,
defected from
the Mutambara MDC to rejoin the party led by founding
President Morgan
Tsvangirai.
He becomes one of dozens who have jumped ship in the past 22
months. Mangono
was the secretary for education in the Mutambara camp. Also
defecting was
Shaky Matake, the chairman of the party's Masvingo Province,
who took 20
executive committee members with him.
Mangono said the
collapse of unity talks between the two sides forced him to
quit the
Mutambara MDC.
"I strongly subscribe to the view that only a united front
will be able to
unseat Zanu (PF) in the next general elections. The people
speak every day
of the need for unity," he said.
Mangono said many party
members took a dim view of the decision to leave the
Save Zimbabwe Campaign
and go it alone in the 2008 elections, and warned
that many more were set to
follow him.
He said, because of logistical problems, they could not bring
everyone who
defected to the Harare reunion but that they would hold a rally
in Masvingo
to give a chance to the many others who want to pledge their
support for the
party.
Speaking for the Mutambara MDC, Priscilla
Misihairambwi Mushonga, the deputy
secretary general, said they would not
lose sleep over those who had
defected. Acrimony over whether to participate
in Senate elections in
October 2005 led to the party splitting into two
groups.
Former party deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire, ANZ chairman
Sam
Sipepa Nkomo, Kwekwe legislator Blessing Chebundo, the late party
chairman
Isaac Matongo, and dozens other party officials have jumped ship. -
SW Radio
Africa
The Zimbabwean
Standfirst: In the
wake of the failure of the MDC to re-unite, ITAI DZAMARA,
has investigated
the unsaid feelings and events that led to the 2005 split
of the opposition
party, the formation of the Mutambara faction and recent
events. This is the
first of his three-part series.
Nobody wants to speak on the record about the
unsaid events and deeper
issues within the opposition party since way back
in 2002.
On one side is the involvement of President Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa in a
plan to wrestle power from Morgan Tsvangirai and put the MDC
under the
control of Welshman Ncube.
Another plot was allegedly aimed at
helping the southern region, or the
Ndebeles, to take over the party,
culminating in a political deal involving
the Zanu (PF) faction of Rural
Housing minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and,
interestingly, former Information
minister, Jonathan Moyo of the famous
Tsholotsho saga.
But that was after
a plan had failed based on the widely-held expectation
that Tsvangirai would
be convicted on treason charges, which crumbled when
he was
acquitted.
The other side is dominated by accusations against Tsvangirai for
allegedly
subverting the MDC constitution and the leadership to run the
party with a
group of handpicked officials, referred by his critics as "the
kitchen
cabinet".
The split of October 2005 was attributed to the
differences over
participation in senate elections but investigations have
shown that the
young opposition party developed deep cracks and embarked on
the path to a
schism way back in 2003.
Two individuals, party president,
Tsvangirai and then secretary general,
Welshman Ncube, were at the centre of
the differences and power struggles
that precipitated the split.
Mbeki is
believed to be uncomfortable with a trade-union backed opposition
party
unseating Zanu (PF) in a similar fashion to what became of Zambia when
Fredrick Chiluba ousted Kenneth Kaunda. Mbeki finds a serious threat to his
ANC political survival as well as relationship with the trade union body,
COSATU. "He fears that if this happens in Zimbabwe, it is likely to inspire
a same revolution in his country and threaten his party, hence he is opposed
to Tsvangirai," a source said. "He has been preferring Ncube, an academic,
to lead the MDC."
Sources say Ncube entered deliberations with Mbeki
after Tsvangirai lost to
Mugabe in the 2002 presidential elections out of
which emerged the portrayal
of Tsvangirai as an "obstacle".
"Tsvangirai
had resisted plans to negotiate with Zanu (PF) and insisted on
his boycotts
as well as protests against the regime whilst on the other hand
Welshman
tried to understand each other with Patrick Chinamasa (Justice
minister) and
cooperate with Mbeki in his quiet diplomacy strategy," a
source said.
"Welshman and his colleagues started plans to denounce
Tsvangirai in the
party especially aimed at portraying him as an incapable
leader and these
included the circulation of documents asking people to
compare Morgan and
Welshman's CVs."
It is reported that contacts between Mbeki and the Ncube
camp of the MDC
intensified whilst the South African leader and Tsvangirai
became more and
more unpopular with each other. A source close to Tsvangirai
says he has not
met Mbeki face-to-face for about three years.
Then came
the treason trial in which Tsvangirai faced execution if
convicted. "There
was a general expectation that there wouldn't be any way
Tsvangirai could
escape conviction in the Zanu (PF) controlled courts and on
that basis,
Welshman and company were making steps towards taking over the
party," a
source said. "They had enough opportunities to push their agenda
because
Tsvangirai spent about two years without his passport and not
travelling,
making them meet the whole international community and in the
process
becoming the face of the MDC."
It is said the acquittal of Tsvangirai sent
the aspiring leaders of the
party back to the drawing board. "At that point,
Ncube embarked on plans to
create a parallel party and established an office
he called the MDC's
Regional Office in Bulawayo. He refused an order by the
National Council to
close it and it is currently the de facto headquarters
of his faction," a
source said.
The MDC was led by what was referred to
as the "Top Six", comprising
Tsvangirai, Vice President Gibson Sibanda,
Secretary General Welshman Ncube,
Deputy Secretary General Gift Chimanikire,
Treasurer Flether Dulini Ncube
and National Chairman, the late Isaac
Matongo. The top echelon is said to
have been divided between Tsvangirai and
Ncube, who reportedly clashed on
political strategy based on whether to use
boycotts and protests against the
Zanu (PF) regime or go by Mbeki's quiet
diplomacy or engagement with the
regime. "Ncube had firmly on his side
Sibanda and Dulini Ncube whilst
Matongo stood by Tsvangirai. Chimanikire was
known for going along with what
suited his personal ambitions most (more
shall be revealed later)," a source
said.
In the face of increased
friction in the "Top Six", allegations emerged that
Tsvangirai had
established a "kitchen cabinet" comprising his advisors such
as Ian Makone
and Elphas Mukonoweshuro, with whom he was increasingly
consulting.
Propaganda machinery for both Tsvangirai and Ncube went into
full swing.
Tsvangirai came under a barrage of criticism from within some
sections of
the party. "He had demonstrated that he was incapable of
leading a
democratic party and weaknesses were too costly," a source said.
"He in fact
was a liability to the party and we desperately needed to
address that issue
but he worsened the situation by creating his kitchen
cabinet."
On the other hand, Ncube was also subjected to a lot of allegations
that
included sexual scandals as well as suspected allegiances to Zanu (PF),
which investigations by this paper have shown were mostly untrue. For
example, Ncube has ignored sustained allegations that he received a farm
from government but our investigations showed that he has in fact been a
victim of the land reform programme, having lost his farm in Silobela under
the programme and had to find somewhere to put his cattle. He later got
another farm, with some sources saying he bought it using his own funds
whilst others say it was allocated to him by government.
*Don't miss
part 2 next week, touching on the story behind the MDC's link
to the
Tsholotsho saga of Jonathan Moyo and the Mnangagwa faction as well as
how
Mutambara became to be leader of the MDC splinter faction, all in which
Mbeki's name continues to crop up
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
Zimbabwe's Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) are insisting that they cannot
monitor all their
customers' e-mails because the requirement is too cost
intensive and lack
the institutional capacity to undertake such a process.
The new spying law,
the Interception of Communications Bill, described as
"unjustifiable
invasion of privacy" by critics, empowers the police and
departments of
national security, defence, intelligence and revenue
authorities to give
directives to intercept certain communications.
ISPs would be required to
ensure that their "systems are technically capable
of supporting lawful
interception at all times" by setting up a monitoring
centre.
Chairman of
the Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers Association (ZISPA)
Shadreck Nkala
declined comment. But sources said the Act changes the
existing franchise
agreement between Tel*One and ZISPA members
An ISP representative confirmed
receiving an order asking them to monitor
all e-mails and take measures to
block any "illegal material which was
harmful to the country".
"They have
said we have to install a new system, which will store all the
e-mails that
go through our system, and then we will have to sift through
them," he said.
"This is an extremely difficult thing to do," said the
representative.
None of ZISPA's members have complied at the moment and
"there is no
monitoring of any sort of any e-mails at the moment".
The
government of President Mugabe has been accused by local and
international
human rights groups of suppressing perceived opposition.
Law Society of
Zimbabwe president Beatrice Mtetwa said the law was open to
challenge in the
Supreme Court.
Legal Affairs secretary in the Mutambara-led MDC said the law
was a shocking
breach of fundamental rights of people's freedom of
expression.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa described the law as an unwarranted
intrusion
into privacy. - Chief reporter
The Zimbabwean
Standfirst: BRENDAN
SEARY was one of the first journalists to break the
silence on Gukurahundi.
He remembers the horror and appeals to South
Africans to show sympathy and
dignity to those fleeing Mugabe's latest
abuses.
'I had found the bodies
by smell'
It's amazing how time smooths over the unpleasant cracks in your
memory.
Until I opened the musty yellowing clipping files of my work from
1983, I
had forgotten how the pungent, sweet smell of death sticks in the
back of
your throat, how it settles in the membranes of your nose. And how,
no
matter how many beers you drink or how many showers you have, it still
lingers.
I had found the bodies by smell. Six young men, piled together,
probably in
indescribable terror in their last seconds as AK-47 bullets
ripped into them
from close range. I had been told I would find them just
off the main
Bulawayo-Plumtree road in the Zimbabwean province of
Matabeleland. I had
rough directions, starting from a kilometre marker on
the road. But still it
took some time - time I didn't have, because my car
was parked in full view
on the side of the road.
Not a desirable position
if the soldiers returned. Not difficult to find a
young white man in jeans
and T-shirt in the scrubby bush. Not difficult to
put a bullet in his brain
and get rid of a witness. With the battered office
Pentax camera, I squeezed
off a few frames. Then I vomited. Half-digested
cheese omelette, bacon and
toast meet reality. Later - the same day, the
same week, I can't remember -
I found another execution site.
How many died there was difficult to tell,
because the bodies had been piled
up, set alight and burnt to ashes. But
bones require immense heat to
destroy, so one ghostly white femur lay, half
sticking up. For weeks in the
early months of 1983 I traversed Matabeleland,
recording ever more
horrifying tales of the destruction wrought by Robert
Mugabe's North
Korean-trained Five Brigade. Mugabe had unleashed the troops
on the
province - stronghold of his political enemy, Joshua Nkomo - late in
the
previous year.
The unit was known by its Shona name, Gukhurahundi,
which means "the wind
which blows away the chaff before the rains". Clearly,
Mugabe regarded the
Ndebele people as just such chaff. Five Brigade was not
a conventional
military force, but more of a political killing machine.
Reports of the
numbers of people who died go as high as 20 000. Apart from
the bodies, I
saw burnt huts, and people with stab, hack and bullet
wounds.
I spoke to women who had seen their husbands bayoneted in front of
them; to
old men who hid under beds when they heard the noise of our cars
because
they thought it was the soldiers returning; to shy, bruised girls
who spoke
in a quiet, roundabout way through gentle translators, about being
gang-raped by drunken soldiers. I didn't speak to many young men; most were
either dead or had fled to Botswana or South Africa.
Re-reading the
files, I was amazed by what I had forgotten - or buried away.
(After my
sister reminded me, I relived my brief detention at the police
station in
Gwanda, for allegedly illegally interviewing Joshua Nkomo on one
of his
farms which had been seized by the government.) I was put briefly in
a cage
for captured "dissidents" (before the friendly station commander
invited me
to share some strong Tanganda tea with him prior to letting me
go) but had
other things on my mind in 1983, as an intense four-year
relationship with a
woman ended badly.
I'm a bit ashamed now that that is clearer to me than
genocide. I've long
since healed, but Matabeleland still grieves. What was
launched upon the
province's unfortunate people has since been replicated in
various ways on
the rest of the people of that long-suffering country. And
now, as I see
stories of people flooding across the border, I share the pain
of these
people, my people (I was born in Zimbabwe and will always be, at
heart, a
Zimbabwean). Please, please, please, South Africans, show these
poor people
some sympathy and dignity if you come across them. - From the
Saturday Star,
with permission
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
Zimbabwe's biggest
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change,
will mark Heroes Day
with a "Roll of Honour" comprising men and women who
have made an invaluable
contribution to Zimbabwe across all sectors.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa
said the opposition party believed one did not
necessarily need to be dead
to be a hero for one's country. "The MDC takes
the occasion of this year's
Heroes Day to remember and honour the true
heroes - the men and women who
have made an enormous contribution to this
country," said Chamisa. "They
could be in business, in politics, in sport,
in music and arts or any other
area of endeavour. Our heroes also include
some of the hundreds of thousands
of people who have been massacred by the
regime's merchants of death for the
simple reason that they were fighting
for change."
The MDC's Roll of
Honour does not list President Mugabe, but singles out his
late wife Sally
for her immense contribution to social and community
development. Mugabe's
second wife Grace, is also absent from the roll. The
list does include
senior ruling party officials such as former army
commander Solomon Mujuru
and Speaker of Parliament John Nkomo among others.
Chamisa said the Mugabe
regime had, over the years, negated the spirit of
the liberation war and
added its own surrogates and henchmen, some of whom
have actually terrorized
Zimbabweans, onto the noble list of the country's
heroes. "The MDC believes
in a neutral panel comprising various
stakeholders to deliberate on who
should become a national hero," said
Chamisa. "Such a decision cannot be the
exclusive prerogative of the Zanu
(PF) Politburo."
"Our heroes include
almost every Zimbabwean who is struggling to fend for
their family in the
wake of starvation and an uncaring government, the
ordinary men and women
who have lost their dignity as they engage in
humiliating enterprises both
within and outside the country in order to put
bread on the table for their
families."
Chamisa said listed below were heroes of a new
Zimbabwe.
POLITICS
1.Josiah Magama Tongogara
2.Joshua
Nkomo
3.Morgan Tsvangirai
4.Herbert Chitepo
5.Dumiso
Dabengwa
6.Eddison Zvobgo
7.Alfred Nikita Mangena
8.Solomon
Mujuru
9.Learmore Jongwe
10.Tichaona Chiminya
11.Talent
Mabika
12.Edgar Tekere
13.Lookout Msuku
14.Gift
Tandare
15.Ndabaningi Sithole
16.Simon Muzenda
17.Patrick
Kombayi
BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
1.Nigel Chanakira
2.Strive
Masiyiwa
3.Shingi Mutasa
4.Kenneth Musanhi
5.Mutumwa Mawere
6.Farai
Rwodzi
7.Herbert Nkala
8.Delma Lupepe
MUSIC &ARTS
1.Oliver
Mutukudzi
2.Thomas Mapfumo
3.Alick Macheso
4.Ambuya Stella
Chiweshe
5.Leonard Dembo
6.Dominic Benhura
7.Leonard
Zhakata
SPORTS
1.George Shaya
2.Peter Ndlovu
3.Kirsty
Coventry
4.Zvenyika Alfonso
5.Proud Chinembiri (Kilimanjaro)
6.Moses
Chunga
7.Sunday Marimo
8.Nick Price
9.The Black Family (Byron, Wayne
and Cara)
SOCIAL & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
1.Dr Solomon
Guramatunhu
2.Jairos Jiri
3.Sally Mugabe
The Zimbabwean
BERLIN
For Democracy and Media
Freedom in Zimbabwe in June, the Peter Weiss
Foundation for Art and Politics
started an appeal for a worldwide reading,
to be held on September 9 against
the regime of Robert Mugabe and the
silence surrounding the crimes committed
in Zimbabwe.
So far, 170 authors from 56 countries have signed the appeal.
Among the
latest signatories are well-known writers such as Margaret Atwood,
Alessandro Baricco, John M. Coetzee, Don DeLillo, Jon Fosse, Nadine
Gordimer, Günter Grass, Nick Hornby, Ko Un and John Updike.
The reading,
to take place in Berlin during the 7th international literature
festival,
aims to draw attention to the plight of Zimbabwe which, the
organisers say,
has been "concealed long enough unfortunately also by
members of the
political class in South Africa, which shoulders a special
responsibility in
this matter".
They say they want to attack the silence, the result of which
is a false
sense of solidarity and one of the bases of Mugabe's
power:
"Only a decade ago Zimbabwe had been one of the richest and most
developed
countries in Africa, with the highest educational standards on the
continent
and a literacy rate of almost 85%. Over recent years Mugabe has
led his
country to economic collapse and his people into bitter poverty.
Officially,
Zimbabwe's inflation rate is 3700%, the highest in the world.
The
unemployment rate is 80%. With an average life expectancy of 34 years
for
women and 37 years for men, Zimbabwe has become the country with the
lowest
life expectancy in the world."
The organisers have appealed to
radio stations, schools, universities,
theatres and other cultural
institutions in Africa and all over the world to
attack the silence by
reading poems by Chenjerai Hove, Chirikuré Chirikuré
and Dumbudzo Marechara,
as well as Elinor Sisulu's foreword written for the
book "Gukurahundi in
Zimbabwe: A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland
and the Midlands
1980-1988" (Johannesburg 2007).
Everybody is authorised to use the texts and
poems in readings and
performances as all the rights lay open on September
9, 2007. They are
available on www.peter-weiss-stiftung.de. - For
more info contact:
worldwidereading@literaturfestival.com
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
As desperate
Zimbabweans run out of money to buy scarce basic foodstuffs at
exorbitant
prices on the black market, President Mugabe has said the
government will
seize the remaining 600 white-owned farms to resettle them
with landless
blacks before the rainy season begins and farmers resisting
eviction would
be jailed.
White farmers returning to revive the agriculture sector from
neighbouring
countries have been told by Lands minister Didymus Mutsa that
Zimbabwe only
has land for black farmers. That leaves the few remaining
commercial
farmers, who work the little remaining productive land, unsure
how much to
plant or whether to plant at all.
The occupations have
already disrupted wheat crops, which are harvested
later this year. Reports
here have said the smaller plantings will leave
Zimbabwe in need of 250,000
tons of flour to meet its consumption needs. And
some cattle ranchers have
started slaughtering their breeding stock, which
means smaller supplies of
beef over the next year as well. - Chief reporter
The Zimbabwean
Court showdown opens way
for more claims
BY OWN CORRESPONDENT
PARIS - The government has admitted
it has to compensate 11 white Zimbabwean
farmers of Dutch nationality whose
farms were seized in the land grab that
destroyed the agricultural
sector.
Zimbabwe has offered to return the land to the farmers.
The
farmers, under the umbrella of the Dutch Farmers Association (DFA) and
in
conjunction with Agric-Africa, challenged the government in the
International Centre for Settlement and Investment Disputes (ICSID), in
Paris.
The admission of Zimbabwe's liability came last week, said
London-based
lawyer Matthew Colman of Washington-based arbitration and
dispute resolution
group Steptoe and Johnson.
The final claim for
compensation will now be heard in Paris on October 29.
The farmers were
protected from seizure of assets by a bilateral treaty
between Zimbabwe and
the Netherlands.
After the DFA filed a case in March this year with ICSID, an
arm of the
World Bank, the government missed a June deadline to reply to the
claim for
compensation, and asked for an extension until 7 July.
"The
news that it has admitted liability is good; however, they put us to
strict
proof to establish that claimants are Dutch and therefore entitled to
claim
under the Zimbabwe Netherlands Treaty", said Colman.
Zimbabwe denies the
expropriations were discriminatory or not for a public
purpose and maintains
they were lawful. "Therefore, for them, the only live
issue on expropriation
is that compensation has not been paid, which they
admit in any event is
due, he added.
"They deny breach of fair and equitable treatment and full
protection and
security. They basically say the police were over stretched.
They deny the
state instigated the land invasions but say they were a
'spontaneous
reaction of the landless people'.
"They say that the
applicable law is Zimbabwean law, supplemented by
international law when
there is no applicable Zim law".
The turn of events will create a precedent
for Zimbabwean farmers of German,
Danish and Swiss nationality, who have
been given protection under similar
treaties.
This week, Movement for
Democratic Change president, Morgan Tsvangirai, told
SA's Institute of
Directors that in the event of his party coming to power,
it would ensure
that land tenure was respected and that productivity was
restored in the
agricultural sector.
The Zimbabwean
BY CHIEF
REPORTER
HARARE
Instead of challenging President Robert Mugabe on his
ruinous handling of
Zimbabwe's economic crisis, business leaders who met the
octogenarian leader
two weeks ago heaped fawning praises on him, flattering
his "resolute
leadership" and shouldering the blame for the deepening
crisis.
According to minutes of the confidential business briefing availed to
The
Zimbabwean this week, business leaders told the aged leader that they
had
let him down. They allowed him to run away with his rhetoric that
sanctions
were responsible for the economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
"When we
look at how we as a nation have performed against the goal that you
set for
us, that is the goal to create a prosperous nation where the lives
of all
our people are uplifted, we can all clearly see that we have all let
you
down, this country, business and government, have let you down," the
business leaders were told Mugabe during the confidential meeting held at
State House, President Mugabe's official residence.
The meeting was
attended by Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president
Callisto Jokonya,
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Marah
Hativagone, Employers
Confederation of Zimbabwe head Johnson Manyakara,
Delta Corporation CEO Joe
Mtizwa, former CZI boss and Ariston Holdings CEO
Kumbirai Katsande and
Pindie Nyandoro, chairperson of the Bankers
Association of Zimbabwe.
The
business leaders told the geriatric leader that his "contribution to
Zimbabwe was without equal" and that he was a "decisive leader" who had
created a "prosperous society for all."
The business leaders spoke amid
grinding poverty, massive shortages of
basics, unemployment and
hyperinflation.
They told Mugabe that his disastrous "price war" that has
resulted in empty
shelves in supermarkets "had very good
reasons."
Nothing was said about the arrest of up to 4,000 businessmen
defying the
insane directive to slash prices by 50 percent, nor the closure
of hundreds
of businesses weighed down by unviable pricing structures
imposed by Mugabe.
Nothing was said about the mounting job losses. Instead,
business leaders
proposed a package of reforms which they claimed could
breathe new life into
the comatose economy.
In a tone that smacked of
bootlicking, the business leaders said: "We do not
want to prescribe any
solutions to you Your Excellency but we do have some
suggestions on areas of
priority," say the minutes.
The Zimbabwean
BY CHIEF
REPORTER
HARARE
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has
suspended Mirirai
Chiremba, the head of the Financial Intelligence
Inspectorate, Evaluation
and Security (FIIES) division over a financial
scandal that has exposed the
RBZ as the star player on the foreign currency
black market.
Gono suspended Chiremba last week for two weeks without pay,
after the
eruption of a damaging scandal believed to have prejudiced the
central bank
of billions through under invoicing.
As divisional chief for
Financial Intelligence, Chiremba - an ex-Central
Intelligence Organisation
operative - was responsible for raising forex on
the black market for the
central bank to bankroll key imports. But he
allegedly abused his position
by inflating the rate at which he purchased
the forex, pocketing huge sums
for himself with each transaction.
Highly-placed sources alleged that
Chiremba would authorize the withdrawal
of large sums of Zimdollars from the
Retail Banking Division on Level -1 of
the glass and mortar tower along
Samora Machel Avenue and then allocate his
various agents outside the bank
to source forex from the black market.
After mopping all the foreign currency
from the black market, Chiremba would
then misrepresent the rates at which
he bought the forex, alleged the
source. "It was easy to fleece the central
bank governor this way because no
receipts were given from the black
market," he said.
"But the governor became suspicious when at one point
Chiremba claimed the
rates were at Z$250,000 to the US dollar when in actual
fact the greenback
was fetching Z$180,000 on the day in question."
Gono
then engaged his own investigators, resulting in the scam being
exposed.
Repeated efforts to obtain comment from Gono or his spokesman
Fortune Chasi
were futile right up to the time of going to print. Questions
in writing
were requested by RBZ head of public relations Tonderai Mukeredzi
and sent
to him.
The Zimbabwean understands that the forex purchased from
the black market
would be repatriated to South Africa through Stanbic Bank
to a "NOSTRO
Account", which is an RBZ forex account domiciled in
Johannesburg.
This is the account that the RBZ uses to wire cash for various
payments for
supplies such as fuel, food and electricity imported from South
Africa and
other foreign countries.
The RBZ allegedly started using
Stanbic Bank for repatriating cash to South
Africa after Dr Munyaradzi
Kereke joined the central bank as Gono's policy
advisor. Kereke was a
director at Stanbic before joining the RBZ.
According to the source, Gono
also took great exception when it emerged that
Chiremba was allegedly lying
about the amount he paid panners for gold
deliveries. Up until the review of
the gold support price from Z$350,000 to
Z$3 million last month, Chiremba
allegedly claimed he had bought gold from
panners at Z$3 million when he
bought it for Z$500,000, thus prejudicing the
central bank of up to Z$2,5
million with each transaction. Again, no
receipts were produced.
Chiremba
was reportedly using one Scot to go out and purchase gold from the
panners.
Scot would then engage his own "foot soldiers" to go out to the
panning
sites to purchase gold. One of the persons involved in this racket,
Elvis
Tsunda, was convicted last Thursday at the Rotten Row Magistrates
Court
after being found in possession of 500 grams of gold intended for
onward
transmission to Chiremba. He was due to be sentenced on Tuesday for
contravening the Precious Stones and Minerals Act.
The Zimbabwean heard
that Gono was under pressure to fire Chiremba, but has
been strongly advised
against doing that amid reports the move could open a
Pandora's box of
corruption in the central bank by the his own trusted
lieutenants.
The Zimbabwean
BY ITAI DZAMARA
Lovemore
Madhuku and his colleagues in the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA)
recently poured onto the streets of Harare to demonstrate against
Robert
Mugabe's Amendment Number 18 as well as make the usual demand for a
new
constitution.
The NCA people, together with WOZA, have kept the spirit of
revolution alive
with their resolute confrontation of the Mugabe regime.
This is glaringly
missing from the opposition parties - who appear to have
been caught napping
as Mugabe marches towards another election. They are
more or less aiding
Mugabe's bid to stay in power. Mugabe desperately wants
opportunities for
buying time and he is enjoying the dithering as well as
chicanery playing
around the Sadc dialogue initiative.
MDC's Tendai Biti
says they are giving the dialogue initiative a chance
through cooperating
with the regime as well as avoiding confrontation, but
the tragedy is that
Zanu (PF) is not approaching the issue with the same
sincerity and
commitment.
Mugabe is forging ahead not only with his constitutional changes
aimed at
safeguarding his personal and party hegemony, but also violent
repression as
demonstrated recently against the NCA demonstrators. He is
likely to get the
better of his Sadc colleagues at the Lusaka summit -
convincing them things
are in order. He will take advantage of the
"cooperation" he is getting from
the opposition. In the end, another rigged
election! More agony and
suffering.
And that is because as a nation we
are allowing the old Zanu (PF) leader to
implement his plot aimed at staying
in power.
The opposition and civil society should be closing ranks (not
necessarily
uniting into one entity) to demonstrate an unequivocal stance
against
Mugabe's refusal to adopt a new constitution, change the electoral
system
and negotiate a political settlement.
This country has appearances
that are far removed from the reality, and the
major one is the distortion,
or enormous understating of the crisis. It is
imperative for the forces
fighting for democratic change to make the real
situation in the country
come out, through withdrawing from Mugabe's system
where they have been used
as pawns for a long time. They should openly defy
the regime, taking every
opportunity to protest to show the gravity of our
political
crisis.
Mugabe is desperate for legitimacy as well as painting a picture to
the
whole world of peace and normalcy in the country. He cannot get away
with
crashing hundreds of people merely because they demand their rights! In
fact, he is most likely to capitulate to a determined and sustained roll-out
of defiance and protests, and thereby come kicking and screaming to the
negotiating table. - hararestreets@yahoo.com
The Zimbabwean
HARARE -
Zimbabwe's fawning business leaders have tabled an ambitious
economic
recovery and rescue plan, to deal with the country's eight-year-old
economic
slump in 90 days, Moneyweb reported.
The confidential 14-page rescue plan was
presented to President Robert
Mugabe when he met with business executives.
It proposes to reverse the
country's economic slide within three months of
implementation. The plan
suggests foreign currency be used to stabilise the
country's skidding
exchange rate and all pricing misalignments currently
prevalent on the
market be removed.
The document, a copy of which was
seen by Moneyweb, also suggests "a primary
budget surplus", be
created.
It was reported that Mugabe was likely to give assent to the
proposal by the
business leaders because he was evidently feeling the heat
in the run-up
to next year's presidential, local government and parliamentary
polls.
"He has no other option except to give the entrepreneurs the nod,
Mugabe and
his officials within government know that in the past they have
tried to
go it alone and this has not worked," said Pattisani Mkandla, a
local
political analyst. He added that Mugabe now realises that the solution
to
Zimbabwe's economic downturn lies in the economy, not his "self imposed
but
ill conceived and badly implemented policies of expediency".
The
entrepreneurs who met Mugabe stressed the importance of the need for the
implementation of extraordinary measures and unconventional
methods.
"Your Excellency, we. seek your advice and guidance so that we deal
with the
grave situation out there within the next 90 days. We propose that
you
consider setting up a small team of people drawn from government and
business to put together and implement a comprehensive emergency package
of
measures designed to rescue, stabilise and eventually turn around our
economy," the presentation to Mugabe reads.
The business executives are
positive that the implementation of the economic
rescue package would
significantly reduce the country's runaway inflation,
which at over 5,000
percent is the highest in the world.
They also hope that the plan will help
increase capacity utilisation and
increase confidence in the
economy.
Presented during a four-hour long meeting with the president, the
plan
proposes the implementation of "a credible, transparent pricing
mechanism
that ensures both business viability and affordability for
consumers for
controlled and monitored products through the framework from
the social
contract".
The business captains suggested restructuring of
the country's
under-performing and undercapitalised public
enterprises.
Delta Corporation CEO Joel Mutizwa, Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce
president
Marah Hativagone, and the Zimbabwe Confederation of Industries
leader
Callisto Jokonya are among some of the delegates who were hosted by
Mugabe,
Moneyweb reported.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
The
government media last week censored news of the acquittal of all but two
of
the 31 MDC activists accused of petrol-bombing various premises around
the
country, including police stations.
"As a result, the vast majority of the
public remain unaware that the
impression given by the government media at
the time the activists were
arrested and detained nearly five months ago is
entirely false. The massive
publicity given by these media at the time
strongly suggested that the MDC
and its members were guilty of mindless
violence against innocent people.
The failure by the government media to
report the acquittal of the MDC
activists not only constitutes a gross
dereliction of professional
journalistic standards, it is also a serious
offence against natural justice
for those wrongly detained and to all those
who remain misinformed," says
the latest report by the Media Monitoring
Project of Zimbabwe.
The wilful suppression of this news demonstrates the
severely biased nature
of these media and is compounded by the fact that the
judge's comments
describing key elements of the prosecution's evidence as
"fictitious", was
also suppressed.
Only the private media reported the
High Court judgment exposing this.
The government media's suppression of this
important ruling contrasted
starkly to their hysterical coverage of the
activists' arrests, which sought
to reinforce the official view of the
opposition party as a terrorist
organization.
During the week only the
private media recorded the countrywide arrests and
beatings in police
custody of hundreds of National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) members and
the raids on the organisation's offices and the homes of
its
officials.
NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku confirmed the incident, alleging
that 170 of
the arrested activists were "receiving treatment" at the Avenues
Clinic "for
injuries sustained whilst in police custody".
According to
Madhuku, "most of the (activists) could not walk for more than
a few metres
from the police station" upon their release and "just
collapsed" outside the
station.
This refusal by the government media to report such important events
affirms
their status as unreliable sources of information and reinforces
calls for
the repeal of the country's suffocating media laws to facilitate
the
establishment of more credible media outlets. - MMPZ