Chris McGreal, Africa
correspondent
The Guardian, Wednesday 17 December 2008
Opponents of
Robert Mugabe say the president is preparing a new, bloody,
crackdown after
the Zimbabwe government blamed the Movement for Democratic
Change for a
failed "assassination attempt" against the head of the air
force, Perence
Shiri, and accused it of "preparing for war".
The home affairs minister,
Kembo Mohadi, told state media the attack on
Shiri, who was shot in the arm
at the weekend, was part of a wider plot to
bring down Mugabe. "The attack
... appears to be a build-up of terror
attacks targeting high-profile
persons, government officials, government
establishments and public
transportation systems," Mohadi said.
The MDC denied responsibility for
shooting Shiri, who reportedly has a
number of enemies stemming from his
time as head of the military unit
responsible for the massacres of more than
20,000 people in Matabeleland in
the 1980s.
The opposition says the
accusations against it are the latest pretext to
justify a crackdown that
will be aimed at forcing the MDC into legitimising
Mugabe's rule by
accepting a junior role in a coalition government.
The MDC accuses the
regime of recently abducting 17 activists and torturing
some of them to
obtain false confessions claiming they have been raising an
armed
group.
On Monday the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said there was
"compelling evidence" that Botswana - where the MDC leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, has spent time of late - was training MDC "bandits" to overthrow
Mugabe; the country had backed the Zimbabwe opposition in the military
training of youths for "destabilisation ... with a view to effecting illegal
regime change".
Reports in the state-run Herald newspaper claimed the
opposition had
recruited former military personnel for a plot to "instigate
instability
that would give the west a pretext to get the United Nations
security
council leeway to authorise a military invasion of
Zimbabwe".
Botswana's president, Seretse Ian Khama, has been highly
critical of Mugabe,
his administration saying it was prepared to host an MDC
government in
exile, though it does rule out armed
resistance.
Chinamasa said: "It has become evident that MDC is
negotiating in bad faith
and has engaged in dialogue as a ploy to string us
along. They lack
sincerity. We now have evidence that while they were
talking peace they have
been preparing for war and insurgency."
The
MDC secretary general, Tendai Biti, said: "We have no doubt they are
going
to declare a state of emergency." He said MDC activists had been
forced to
make false admissions of a plot to violently overthrow the
government. "They
are using this as an entry point to declare a state of
emergency ... Zanu-PF
are cornered and will unleash violence and suspend the
constitution."
http://www.iht.com
By Celia W. Dugger Published:
December 17, 2008
JOHANNESBURG: A Zimbabwean military
commander in President Robert Mugabe's
inner circle who is widely regarded
as a main organizer of the brutal
crackdown on the political opposition this
year was shot in the hand on
Saturday during a nighttime ambush, the
state-controlled news media reported
Tuesday.
Mugabe's government
said the shooting was an assassination attempt and part
of a broader effort
to destabilize the country, while a senior opposition
official said in an
interview that he believed that it had grown out of a
battle within ZANU-PF,
the governing party, over who will succeed Mugabe,
84, who has been in power
for 28 years.
In the feverish atmosphere of Harare, the capital, the
shooting added yet
another ominous and opaque episode to Zimbabwe's
unfolding political drama,
sent a jolt of fear through opposition and civic
circles and produced a
fresh round of rumors that a state of emergency or
military coup could be
possible.
A cholera epidemic is raging across
the country, hyperinflation has rendered
the local currency virtually
worthless, and abductions of opposition and
civic figures have spiked. About
100 soldiers rioted this month in Harare to
protest their inability to
withdraw even their meager salaries from banks
short of cash.
An
article about the shooting, published on Tuesday in The Herald, a
state-run
newspaper, did not offer evidence that the attack by "unidentified
gunmen"
on the air force commander, Air Marshal Perence Shiri, had been
politically
motivated, nor did it explain why the Saturday shooting had not
been
reported earlier.
Home Minister Kembo Mohadi was quoted as saying in
a statement that the
shooting was part of "a buildup of terror attacks
targeting high-profile
persons, government officials, government
establishments and public
transportation systems."
His statement
cited bombings in August of the Harare Central Police Station,
a road and
railroad bridges, as well as November bombings of the criminal
investigation
department's headquarters in Harare and, again, the police
station. It
alleged that after investigations of the attacks, plastic
explosives were
recovered from a senior opposition official.
Officials in the opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic Change,
dismissed the idea that the party
was involved in any of the bombings,
saying it remained committed to
nonviolence.
Tendai Biti, the party's secretary general, said in an
interview that he was
worried that Mugabe intended to use the shooting of
Air Marshal Shiri and
the general environment of conflict and fear to go
after the opposition, as
well as the faction in his own party that was out
of favor. Biti said he
believed that Air Marshal Shiri's shooting was a
result of internal battles
within the governing party.
"Mugabe can
kill two birds with one stone," Biti said. "He can use it as a
way of
attacking us, and then attacking whatever faction of ZANU-PF he wants
to
decimate."
For weeks, officials in Mugabe's government have been trying
to make the
case that Botswana, his most outspoken critic in the region, is
letting the
opposition train people on its soil to topple him - a charge
Botswana has
vociferously denied.
Biti said he believed that state
security agents had tortured recently
abducted members of the opposition to
extract false, videotaped confessions
as part of Mugabe's attempt to make a
case against Botswana and the
opposition with the Southern African
Development Community, a 15-nation bloc
that is mediating the Zimbabwe
crisis.
The Movement for Democratic Change's candidate for president,
Morgan
Tsvangirai, won more votes than Mugabe in March elections, but
dropped out
of a runoff in June after thousands of his supporters were
beaten and more
than 100 were killed.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a
power-sharing deal three months ago, but
remain deadlocked over the division
of ministries. The opposition insists on
oversight of the police because
Mugabe has retained control of all branches
of the military. Both the police
and the military have long been crucial to
Mugabe's repression of his rivals
for power.
Air Marshal Shiri himself has played a pivotal role in that
story. In the
1980s, he was commander of the notorious North Korean-trained
Fifth Brigade,
which historians say waged a campaign of terror and murder
aimed at
civilians in Matabeleland, the stronghold of Joshua Nkomo, a
nationalist
leader Mugabe saw as a rival. At least 10,000 people are thought
to have
been murdered.
Officials close to Mugabe said in interviews
in October that Air Marshal
Shiri was among the military commanders who
feared that the power-sharing
deal with the opposition failed to protect
them for prosecution for their
roles in the country's political
violence.
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com
Local News
December 16, 2008
The plot
has thickened in the 'attempted assassination' plot on Air Force of
Zimbabwe
commander Air Marshal Perence Shiri as multiple sources in ZANU PF
and the
army have disclosed that the powerful army supremo actually wanted
to commit
suicide.
According to a source Shiri likely got out of his car and
attempted to shoot
himself in the chest but missed and shot himself on the
shoulder blade. He
was later found by workers on his farm bleeding profusely
still holding on
to his pistol,and they drove him to the farm house where he
was later
ferried to Gweru. Shiri like most senior military officers never
travels
alone.
It is still unclear why Shiri attempted suicide,but
there is speculation
that there is growing disgruntlement in the powerful
Joint Operations
Command and most senior officers in Army and police force
and most want to
quit but are afraid of prosecution.
Shiri a cousin
of President Robert Mugabe was appointed as the commander of
the Air Force
in 1992 taking over from Chief Marshal Josiah Tungamirai.
From 1983 to
1984,he commandeered the Fifth Brigade,which was responsible
for a reign of
terror in Matabeleland. During the massacre more than 20 000
mostly PF ZAPU
supporters were killed and thousands more were tortured.
This is a
developing story and will be updated as more details become
available.
http://www.independent.co.uk
Daniel
Howden
Wednesday, 17
December 2008
Perence Shiri is a name that will permanently be
connected to the worst
crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe.
While
much of the world was still feting Robert Mugabe and the new
independence
government in 1982, Colonel Shiri, as he then was, was leading
a battalion
of North Korean-trained soldiers in a massacre of political
opponents in
Matabeleland.
As commander of the notorious 5 Brigade, Colonel Shiri gave
a speech at
their passing-out parade, attended by the new President Mugabe.
He told his
soldiers: "From today onwards, I want you to start dealing with
dissidents."
The final death toll from the massacres is still not known
but researchers
believe as many as 20,000 were murdered and dumped in
unmarked graves.
That atrocity cemented Colonel Shiri's place in the
Mugabe regime and
catapulted him up the military ranks. Ever since, he has
been at the fore
during each of the worst periods of oppression. He
commanded forces deployed
during the violent land invasions in 2000 and
again in 2005 during the
"Murambatsvina" slum clearances across
Zimbabwe.
He was promoted to the rank of air marshal and rewarded with a
selection of
farms seized from white owners, along with a share of the
commercial spoils
from Zimbabwe's involvement in the wars in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
Rumoured to have adopted the nickname Black Jesus for
himself because of his
power over the life and death of others, Marshal
Shiri is also a leading
member of the Joint Operations Command, the inner
cell of Mugabe cronies who
planned the terror campaign unleashed on the
population after the March
election defeat for the ruling
party.
Marshal Shiri, 54, is among the handful of figures in Zimbabwe
with the most
to fear from any future war crimes investigations.
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Moses Mudzwiti Published:Dec 17,
2008
Soldiers
blamed for attack on Shiri
ZIMBABWE'S army chiefs were yesterday
reviewing their personal security, a
day after air force supremo Perence
Shiri was shot, allegedly by disgruntled
soldiers.
a.. Shiri, a close
confidante of president Robert Mugabe, was ambushed on
Monday while
travelling on his farm in the Shamva area, about 80km north of
Harare.
"It appears soldiers were behind the shooting. They waited
for Shiri in the
hills and opened fire as he drove past," said a police
source privy to
investigations into the shooting.
The air force chief
survived the shooting and was in hospital yesterday. It
appears he was shot
in an arm.
"He lost a lot of blood and his car was riddled with holes,"
said a reliable
police insider. "It is clear the attackers wanted him
dead."
Shiri is part of Mugabe's security high command, which includes
strongmen
police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri, and defence force
commander-
general Constantine Chiwenga.
Earlier reports suggested
the shooting was part of a plot to assassinate
Mugabe.
However,
initial police investigations showed that the 84-year-old president
was
nowhere near the ambush.
All top security officials, except for Shiri,
held emergency meetings
yesterday to discuss, among other things, their own
security and the
breakdown of discipline in the army.
At least 16
soldiers a face court martial for their part in disturbances in
Harare last
month when angry unpaid soldiers rioted in the capital. Mugabe,
who is
commander- in-chief of all the country's security forces, has not
made
public comment on Shiri's shooting.
The air force chief was one of the
commanders of the notorious 5th Brigade,
the crack military unit that was
unleashed by Mugabe on his local and
external enemies in the early
1980s.
Shiri's men killed thousands of Ndebele- speaking Zimbabweans in a
determined quest to put down a rebellion.
The unit was also used to
counter Renamo rebels in neighbouring Mozambique
more than two decades
ago.
"He is a hot-tempered chap. He once shot a police vehicle at a
roadblock,"
recalled a policeman. "Shiri is a cruel guy, everyone hates
him."
The feared military chief was reportedly in intensive care
yesterday, but
security forces refused to disclose the name of the
hospital.
Tomorrow, Mugabe is expected to address his Zanu-PF congress is
Bindura, a
small town near the area where Shiri was shot.
The
congress has already been postponed once owing to the death of Elliot
Manyika, a Zanu-PF heavyweight and minister without portfolio.
He
died in a road accident.
At Manyika's funeral last week, the late
politician's brother said the car
crash was a culmination of several death
threats.
Manyika was in charge of the infamous Zanu-PF youth militia that
terrorised
opposition members during elections earlier this
year.
Yesterday, Harare remained tense after outbreaks of violence
involving
police and soldiers in the downtown area. There were unconfirmed
reports of
looting.
http://www.hararetribune.com
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 22:47 Tawanda
Takavarasha
Joseph Chinotimba, who entered folklore after leading ZANU-PF
militia units
that left hundreds displaced and many dead in Manicaland
Province, is
recovering from a car accident that happend last
week.
Chinotimba, who is currently sequestered at an exclusive
private clinic in
central Harare, told the Herald he was doing
well.
He is said to have been involved in a freak accident along Herbert
Chitepo
Ave. while he was driving his car.
However, Chinotimba
claims he does not remember how the accident happened
amid speculation that
he was driving whilst drunk. For days the grapevine in
Harare had been awash
with the news of Chinotimba's death.
Ordinary people who spoke to the
Tribune on Tuesday had said if were true
that he was dead, it was reason for
celebration.
"I heard that some people are happy, spreading lies that my
legs were
amputated," Chinotimba said angrily. His visitors has he recoveres
in
hospitals included high ranking ZANU-PF officials, the Herald
said.
Chinotimba's accident came barely a week after Elliot Manyika, his
other
partner in the crimes against humanity, died in a car accident on his
way to
Gwanda. The death of Manyika was celebrated far and wide across
Zimbabwe.
"If Chinotimba was dead, it would have been icing on the cake,"
a
disappointed Harare resident, Chipo Mazvipesa, told the Tribune. She said
she had no qualms celebrating the death of these "villains" as they had
brought much suffering on the people of Zimbabwe.
Chinotimba is much
reviled across the country not only for his role in the
killings of many
people this year, but also for the deaths he caused when he
led the
invasions of white owned farms when he was Chenjerai Hunzvi's second
in
command.
On the other hand, Chinotimba is treated like royalty in ZANU-PF
since his
activities are widely understood by ZANU-PF cronies to have kept
them in
power.
Meanwhile, the ZANU-PF annual conference kicked off in
Harare after being
delayed last week following the death of
Manyika.
The ZANU-PF leaders are expected to discuss the cholera
outbreak, the GNU
among other issues at the conference.
http://www.hararetribune.com
Tuesday, 16
December 2008 23:18 Thomas Shumba
The Zimbabwe National Army, beset by
low moral, has apologized to the
citizens of Zimbabwe for the hurt and loss
and dispair caused by rogue
soldiers in downtown Harare.
The
army's apology comes as reports from other parts of the country like
Gutu
indicate that the soldiers are still running riot.
"Some of you or your
relatives and friends might have been affected by the
behaviour of some of
my men and women who went on the rampage and destroyed
property and beat up
people in the streets some two weeks ago," ZNA
Commander Lieutenant-General
Phillip Valerio Sibanda said at an event in
Harare.
"Please pass on
the message to others who are not here that this is not the
way we operate
as ZNA. My sincere apologies once again."
The soldiers, tired of standing
in lines waiting for withdraw their money,
went on the rampage in Harare,
looting several stores and causing damage
estimated at millions of dollars.
The soldiers only stopped their looting
spree after a gun battle with riot
police units.
"In any family, there are always one or two rebels. I feel
that was one of
the ugliest moments in the history of Zimbabwe and we are
taking corrective
action. If there are any of those affected here, I am
really sorry for what
happened. You should not stop supporting us in the
charity fund-raising
programmes because of the behaviour of these elements,"
said Lt-Gen Sibanda.
In Gutu, like in other towns, soldiers were
receiving preferential treatment
and were receiving more than the gazetted
cash withdrawal limits of more
than Zd 200 million per week but this changed
when bank officials said they
did not have the required cash reserves to
sustain the gesture.
"Most banks in the growth point had little cash and
said they could not give
us unlimited cash as they had to cater for
everyone. But, like people who
were used to getting favours, ...this was
viewed as a rebellion by the bank
officials.
"They started beating
everyone at around five in the evening, up to late in
the night after they
were riled by their bankruptcy. They, however, did not
break into shops.
Several people, including innocent civilians and illegal
forex dealers lost
substantial amounts of cash and sustained serious
injuries," the source
added Witnesses said the soldiers accused them of
failing to revolt against
President Mugabe's rule, as they (uniformed
forces) are not allowed to
revolt.
"One soldier grabbed me and floored me, and as I was on the
ground, he
accused civilians of being cowards who fail to revolt against
Mugabe as they
were ready to join us, not disperse us. He said we tolerated
the crisis in
the country, hence we had to suffer," a victim who requested
anonymity
said.No arrests were made in the incidents.
The rogue
soldiers in Harare, suffering from poor wages in the country's
acidic
economy, have since been court marshaled. Among the security
services,
soldiers are the highest paid, a calculation by the ZANU-PF
government to
buy their loyalty.
There is fear with ZANU-PF that is the soldiers are
not pacified, things
would get ugly. The government has indicated that the
soldiers will get pay
hikes at the beginning of the coming year.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by
Cuthbert Nzou Wednesday 17 December 2008
HARARE - Riot police
had to use teargas and water cannons yesterday to quell
violence at the
ruling ZANU PF party headquarters in Harare as rival camps
clashed before an
internal election to choose an executive for the party's
Harare
province.
The violent clashes that once again highlighted internal
conflict in
President Robert Mugabe's once formidable ruling party pitted
the supporters
of mines minister Amos Midzi and those of transport deputy
minister Hubert
Nyanhongo.
The two were running for the provincial
chairmanship eventually won by
Nyanhongo, who is also the only Member of
Parliament from ZANU PF from
Harare province.
Eye witnesses said
fighting between Nyanhongo and Midzi's supporters broke
out in the early
hours of Tuesday and got so violent that the police had to
fire teargas and
use water cannons - normally reserved for use against
opposition MDC
supporters - to stop the fighting that they feared could have
resulted in
lose of life.
Both Midzi and Nyanhongo had bused in hordes of supporters
to the party
headquarters for the elections that wee held during the night,
according
witnesses.
"The election was held over the night," said a
witness who is a ZANU PF
member and did not want his name published. "Around
4am there were running
battles between the two camps' supporters. Riot
police was summoned and
fired teargas and water cannons to end the
clash."
According to the ZANU PF member, the two camps had initially
quarrelled
without engaging in much physical fighting.
"But hell
break lose around 4am when supporters from the Midzi camp were
told that
their leader intend to pull out of the race citing
irregularities," said
our source. "Midzi's supporters went haywire and
started assaulting people
from Nyanhongo's camp and this spilled into a big
fight."
Violence
had forced postponement of the ZANU PF elections in Harare but
party bosses
were determined to ensure they happened on Tuesday ahead of the
party's
annual conference on Friday.
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena
confirmed the violence and said a
"number of people" had been arrested over
the clashes.
ZANU PF deputy spokesperson Ephraim Masawi condemned the
violence and said
the party would take appropriate action.
"We don't
condone violence of any nature and we are going to deal firmly and
decisively with those who were on the forefront of the disturbances at the
headquarters," Masawi said.
Midzi yesterday declined to comment on
the violence, but said he would
appeal against his defeat to the party's
national commissariat, while
Nyanhongo was not reachable on his mobile
phone.
ZANU PF, whose power is on the wane after it was defeated by the
MDC in
elections last March, is riven by factionalism much of it linked to
the
unresolved issue of Mugabe's succession.
Two camps, one led by
former army commander Solomon Mujuru and the other by
former parliamentary
speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, are fighting for control of
the party when and
if Mugabe retires. - ZimOnline
The stage-managed 'shooting' of Perrence Shiri by
supposed unknown
assailants is the clearest sign yet that the government is
desperately
creating conditions conducive for a state of emergency.
Everybody knows and
fears Perrence Shiri. Who among ordinary Zimbabweans or
budding 'terrorists'
for that matter would dare to go anywhere near Shiri,
let alone a few yards
away from his residence?
From the way
the whole things was carried out it would show that if these
are real
strangers with a murderous motive, then they should either be very
bad at
their new found hobby or they must have been so afraid of their
target as to
miss. But why would they aim at such a prime target on their
first outing?
These are some of the very many questions that Zimbabweans
will be asking
the government in the coming days and weeks unless real and
convincing
answers are forthcoming. But ZANU PF is not a party of giving
full answers
as we all know. They do not account for anything but all that
oozes out of
them is arrogance and sheer contempt of the highest
order.
Whatever happened in Mash West, the whole episode has all
the hallmarks of a
staged incident that would be very difficult to
distinguish from ZANU PF's
long history of dirty tactics in the past. It
should be interesting to note
that the target is one of those few people
within ZANU PF who would want to
see that project afloat at any cost. It
should not come as a surprise then
that Shiri would want to 'sacrifice' his
life in this act of 'courage' so as
to give the desperately needed lifeline
to a sinking ZANU PF ship. With the
imminent failure of the doomed and
ill-thought out government of national
unity, the enterprising lot in ZANU
PF had to quickly spring up to action
and come up with possible ways to keep
their heads above the waters of shame
that keep rising around
them.
Residences of ZANU PF officials especially those that rank
as the most
important ones to the regime are fiercely guarded and no go
areas to average
members of the public. Not even harmless children can be
allowed to play
anywhere near their homesteads let alone gun totting
assailants. In these
days of heightened tensions both within and outside
ZANU PF there is an even
increased security arrangement around the ZANU PF
chefs. This is why it
would definitely boggle the mind of any reasonable and
untwistable person
that anyone would go anywhere near Shiri's house and
attempt on his life.
Why then did they shoot him on the hand? Why not in the
head? Was this a
genuine miss? Why was his car not sprayed with
bullets?
Shiri is a top military marksman himself with very
distinguished
credentials. Remember he had attachments to such highly
regarded
institutions of military learning as Sandhurst in Surrey, England.
His
career may not be that distinguished but his training and qualifications
definitely are. Shiri's background would make him an ideal director for this
little movie -style shooting incident because he knows where the gunman
should shoot and how so as to cause as little harm and as much 'panic' among
members of the ruling ZANU PF as possible. This would give them a very
welcome incident with which to whip up the country's emotions by claiming
that terrorism was setting in Zimbabwe.
The only terror
Zimbabweans know to date is that which has been unleashed by
ZANU PF onto
harmless and peace loving civilians who dared complain about
the hardship
that they are enduring under the watch of the ruling party.
Mugabe made it
public a long time ago that they (ZNU PF) have degrees in
terror. It is
laughable therefore, that the likes of Chinamasa and his ilk
would jump on
the cheap prep talk about the MDC training militias outside
Zimbabwe in some
imaginary base in Botswana while real militias who have
been trained by ZANU
PF are already at work terrorising the streets. ZANU PF
is a party that is
extremely good at crying foul while taking no cognisance
whatsoever for
their own foul acts.
Mugabe can now see that his time is
realistically running out together with
any options available to him. Only
one option is left and it is the most
dangerous one, and one that he has
shown to like in the past, that is
emergency rule. He did it in the 1980's
and now he would definitely want to
revisit the idea once again because back
then t worked wonders for him.
There will be more of such stage-managed
incidents until the ultimate
decision is made. The idea is to have the right
psychological impact on the
state of the nation and then
pounce.
Silence Chihuri is a Zimbabwean who writes from Scotland.
He can be
contacted on silencechihuri@googlemail.com or
07706376705
BILL WATCH
49/2008
[16th December
2008]
Both
Houses of Parliament sat today, Tuesday 16th
December
They will both sit again
on Wednesday
Statutory Instruments –
including a regulation that cheques must be accepted – see end of
bulletin
MDC Reaction to
Gazetting of Constitution Bill
The MDC-T Secretary General
Responding to Mr Mugabe’s threat of
fresh elections if the inclusive government is not formed,
Biti said his party welcomed suggestions of a re-run of Zimbabwe's Presidential
election as a way of breaking Zimbabwe's protracted political impasse. He said
that the MDC was ready to face ZANU-PF in a new election, but it would have to
be held in line with SADC and international guidelines and under international
supervision.
Once again the parties are not
talking the same language – MDC say “If there has to be another election in
Zimbabwe, it can only be a presidential election to finish the unfinished
business of June 27,” but ZANU-PF are talking about fresh harmonised elections
– Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government and no doubt they intend them
to be run by the State and the existing Zimbabwe Election
Commission.
President
Motlanthe’s Statement
South African
President Motlanthe [also chair of SADC] welcomed the gazetting of the Bill on
behalf of the South African Government and SADC. He urged that
positions, such as the Prime Minister and Vice-Prime Minister
[Note
the title used in the Agreement is Deputy Prime
Minister], be
filled with immediate effect and an inclusive government be established. He
also congratulated the Facilitator, Former President Thabo Mbeki, and said that
the Facilitation team will still be available to facilitate the resolution of
any outstanding matter. [Electronic
version of full text available]
Comment: This statement is
noteworthy for its omissions – it does not mention that the decision to gazette
before major outstanding issues are settled was not agreed by all three parties,
it ignores the fact that MDC-T have formally asked for a different Facilitator.
Also absent are the concerns about the escalating violence and forced
disappearances which MDC reported raising at the last meeting with the
Facilitation team. In urging the immediate appointments of office holders in an
inclusive government, the outstanding issues, which MDC have repeatedly brought
to the table as needing to be settled first, are being glossed over.
UN Security Council
discuss
In a closed-door
meeting on Monday the UN Security Council received a report described as
“devastating” on the situation in
ZAPU
Conference
The two-day meeting to revive ZAPU
went ahead in
ZANU-PF
Conference
Following the death of Minister
without Portfolio Elliot Manyika, who was also the party’s National Political
Commissar, the ZANU-PF Conference that was to be held last week has been
postponed to this week, commencing Wednesday 17th December with registration of
delegates.
ACP-EU
Joint Parliamentary Assembly
The
Assembly met in
Pan
African Parliament
The
Pan African Parliament [PAP] met in
SADC
Parliamentary Observer Report
This is ready and will
be made available by SADC shortly.
Deadline
for ZEC Election Reports
The Zimbabwe Election
Committee Report on Parliamentary and Local Government Elections were legally
due early October and their Report on Presidential Elections at the latest 29th
December.
Update
on Statutory Instruments
SI
172/2008 – new cash withdrawal limits for individuals - $500 million per week [up from the
previous week's $100 million]. For corporate bodies the limit remains at $50
million, as fixed by SI 170/2008.
SI
173 /2008 – new minimum paid-up
equity capital requirements for commercial banks, accepting houses, building
societies, discount houses, finance houses and asset managers. The amounts are
stated in US dollars.
SI
174/2008 – issue of new $500
million banknote.
SI
175/2008 –regulations obliging
traders, health practitioners, parastatals, educational institutions and health
institutions to accept payment by cheque, and also payments by bank card, point
of sale transaction, real time gross settlement, inter-account transfers, etc.
A cheque may only be refused in certain circumstances [e.g. evidence of prior
fraudulent transactions, etc.]. Failure to comply is a criminal offence
attracting a fine or imprisonment or both. Commencement: 12th December 2008
[the SI was gazetted in the Government Gazette Extraordinary dated 12th
December]. [Electronic version
available]
Veritas makes
every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied.
http://www.hararetribune.com/
Tuesday, 16 December
2008 19:22 MacVivo, Trymore
The recent reports of abductions, of both
state supporters and MDC
activists, coupled with the attempt on the lives of
both ZANU-PF and MDC
leaders is an sure indication that the chickens are
coming home to roost for
Robert Mugabe and his cronies.
Of
course, it is easy for one to die in Zimbabwe these days, what with
cholera
out of control, AIDS/HIV and other unknown factors killing thousands
each
week.
But the rise in banditry shows that the ZANU-PF government has
completely
lost control of the country and the laws of the jungle are now
reining
supreme.
Recent events appear to indicate that a large
section of Zimbabweans, tired
of a trillion percent inflation, a deadlocked
GNU, ZANU-PF promises of
deliverance, Gono's pledges of a 'turn-around of
the economy,' police
brutality, hunger, inability to feed their families,
Mugabe's intransigence,
MDC's ambivalence, Tsvangirai's absence from the
country, Mugabe's continued
taunting of the people, ZESA blackouts and power
cuts, ZINWA incompetence,
food shortages, cash shortages, seed shortages,
fuel shortages, cholera
epidemic, AIDS/HIV pandemic, closed hospitals,
inefficient government
departments like the Registrar-General's (where
people spend a lifetime in
lines waiting to apply for passports, ID cards,
etc), World inaction, Brown
double standards, the Chinese taking over the
economy of the country,
Mbeki's promises, George Charamba, Herald lies, ZBC
propaganda, drought?,
continued farm invastions, biased ZRP, SADC's inaction
and the general death
of their country have opted to take the law into their
own hands.
These valiant and desperate and angry Zimbabweans, who
have refused to
escape to the diaspora, have decided to follow the example
set forth by the
CIO, the ZRP and the ZNA over the years by working outside
the laws of the
Zimbabwean constitution.
Wasn't it the CIO who
abducted and killed the people over the past decade?
Wasn't it the air force
that flew helicopters in downtown Harare as people
tried to march peacefully
in 2003? Wasn't it the ZRP that threw people in
prison without committing
any crimes? Hence it is only fair and morally ok
for these vigilantes to
fight fire with fire.
Contrary to the claims of the ZANU-PF
government, the people who are
attacking the ZANU-PF leadership are not
being sponsored by the MDC, rather
these people are working on their own
volition.
What should Zimbabweans do? Should they support these
vigilantes?
Noting that the international community has set on the
sidelines with arms
folded as ZANU-PF went on the rampage killing our people
in the run-up to
the June 27 election;
Angry that the GNU has
failed, died, collapsed, stalled;
Disturbed that more than a 1000 of
our people have died of cholera in recent
weeks; and
Concerned
that more people will die in weeks ahead, i think it is the duty
of every
peace loving Zimbabwean to support these vigilantes.
What is the
eventual aim of these people? Who are these people?
Evidence on the
ground suggests that these people are drawn from the
Zimbabwe security
services, hence the ease with which they have disregarded
the laws of the
country in their endeavor to rid Zimbabwe of her captors.
Review
:-
Who tried to kill Perence Shiri on Saturday? Evidence that has
come to light
indicate it is people with connections to the army who tried
to kill Shiri.
This provides us with evidence that the aim of the
various vigilante
entities in Zimbabwe is to kill the ZANU-PF leadership one
by one, just as
ZANU-PF tried to do to the MDC leadership in the run-up to
the June 27
election.
Was Elliot Manyika's death truly an
accident or was he setup as others have
suggested? Given that the leaders in
ZANU-PF have offered contradicting
accounts of how Manyika died, or who
brought him to hospital after the
accident, it is safe to conclude that
Manyika was a victim of some unknown
entity.
I won't hasten to give
credit to the vigilantes for Manyika's death, suffice
to say that this
unknown entity is Zimbabwean, is a son of the soil as the
elders
say.
What is the aim of these vigilantes in killing these people? It
might be
that with the likes of Chiwenga, Shiri, Mugabe, Chihuri, and others
gone,
the vigilantes believe change will come to Zimbabwe.
Docile
people :-
Far and wide, i have read reports claiming Zimbabweans are
docile. If it
weren't true, why then would they let Mugabe get away with
murder?
Suppression? I think in the days ahead, people who have called
Zimbabweans
docile will have to eat their words.
Just as
everything in this world has failed to change Zimbabwe, the solution
to the
crisis in Zimbabwe will come from within. No, the solution to the
crisis is
nneither the GNU, nor an expeditionary force led by Britain.
Rather, the
solution to the crisis will come from the hands of Zimbabweans
within the
country, from the said vigilantes/bandits/rebels???.
Had Zimbabweans
not placed their faith in the GNU, in Mbeki, in the UN, in
the AU, in the
World, but instead chose to be vigilantes, change would have
come to
Zimbabwe years ago.
In some ways, we have come full circle? Didn't
Mugabe claim at one point
that if you are an MDC supporter, "be afraid of
your life, be very afraid" ?
It seems the same now applies to him and his
cronies.
Conclusion :- The days of the dictator are numbered. The
promised land is
just over the mountains. Keep
faith.
--------------------
Views expressed herein are those of
the author and do not reflect the
position of the Harare Tribune or its
subsidiaries.
http://africa.reuters.com
Wed 17 Dec 2008, 6:05 GMT
CANBERRA
(Reuters) - Australia strengthened its targeted sanctions against
Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday, but also announced more aid
for the
victims of the country's cholera outbreak.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith
said Australia would impose financial and
visa restrictions on four extra
companies and 75 more people who are known
supporters of Mugabe's
government.
The move means 258 close Mugabe supporters now face bans on
travel to or
through Australia, and restrictions on financial transactions
involving
Australia.
"The strengthened sanctions are a clear
signal that the Australian
government holds the brutal Mugabe regime and its
closest supporters
accountable for the tragedy occurring in Zimbabwe," Smith
said on Wednesday.
Mugabe, 84, has steadfastly refused calls to step down
after losing
elections and overseeing economic collapse in Zimbabwe, which
is now gripped
by a cholera epidemic that has killed almost 1,000
people.
"The best solution for Zimbabwe would be for Mr Mugabe and his
regime's
close supporters to stand down to allow Zimbabwe to rebuild its
economy,
society, and democracy," Smith said.
He said Australia would
provide an extra A$1 million in emergency relief to
help those affected by
the cholera epidemic, with the money to go to
non-government agencies.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Cuthbert Nzou
Wednesday 17 December 2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe will require
close to a billion American dollars to revive
its comatose manufacturing
sector once a new power-sharing government is
established in Harare,
according to an economic recovery blueprint for the
southern African
nation.
The economic plan, crafted by a team of government technocrats
led by the
chief secretary to President Robert Mugabe and the Cabinet,
Misheck Sibanda,
says US$900 million is required to step up capacity
utilisation in the
dormant manufacturing sector to 80 percent over a
12-month period.
The envisaged unity government between Mugabe's ruling
ZANU PF party and the
two opposition MDC formations could only be able to
turnaround Zimbabwe's
battered economy if the manufacturing sector was
resuscitated to boost
exports and hard cash earnings, the plan
says.
Current manufacturing sector capacity utilisation is estimated at
below 10
percent with several manufacturers expected to either sharply
downsize
operations or not to re-open altogether next year.
"The
economic recovery has to be spurred by the resuscitation of the
manufacturing sector. In the first 12 months, capacity utilisation should be
increased to 80 percent and to reach that peak, government has to mobilise
US$900 million.
"Without increased exports and increase in foreign
currency generation,
economic recovery in the short term would be difficult
to achieve," the
economic blueprint reads in part.
Mugabe, MDC
leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara on September 15
signed a
power-sharing agreement, but have so far failed to form a unity
government
because of differences over a variety of issues including
equitable sharing
of key government posts.
Tsvangirai said he would not be part to the
inclusive government if
outstanding issues of the deal, among them,
allocation of ministerial
portfolios, appointment of governors and the
composition of the National
Security Council, were not resolved.
A
constitutional amendment to give legal affect to the deal was gazetted
last
Saturday, but the main formation of the MDC led by Tsvangirai
threatened to
block its passage in Parliament if the sticking points are not
resolved.
The government has since said that if the amendment is
thwarted in
Parliament, it would call a new round of elections for
president, parliament
and local councils.
According to the economic
blueprint, the inclusive government if formed
should introduce an
"implicitly managed" floating exchange rate that is
underpinned by fiscal
and monetary austerity.
Currently the country's foreign exchange control
regulations are governed by
the interbank rate that has been widely
criticised by exporters and tobacco
farmers.
The government,
according to the document, should widen revenue collection
by expanding the
tax base to include the thriving informal sector,
understood to be making
huge profits but pays little or no tax at all.
The recovery package
underscored the crucial need to re-engage external
financiers to help
bankroll the government.
If adopted by the new government, the economic
recovery plan would require a
nod from the World Bank, which promised to
extend lines of credit once
Harare clears arrears now close to US$500
million.
Meanwhile the World Bank administered Multi Donor Trust Fund
(MDTF) said the
group has raised close to US$5 million dollars to help
mitigate the impact
of Zimbabwe's deepening economic and humanitarian
crisis.
According to the MDTF December newsletter, the Brettonwoods
institution
together with a group of countries committed in alleviating the
country's
worsening humanitarian crisis raised US$4 964 000 out of the US$5
764 000
pledged.
Zimbabwe, which once had one of the most vibrant
economies in Africa, is in
the grip of an unprecedented economic and
humanitarian crisis marked by
acute shortages of food and basic commodities,
amid a cholera epidemic that
has killed close to 800 people since August. -
ZimOnline
http://www.hararetribune.com
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 22:25
Thomas Shumba
On December 9, the ZANU-PF government complained that the
price increases by
retailers across the country were
unjustified.
The National Incomes and Pricing Commission, charged by the
government in
determining prices, ordered the retailers to row back their
prices to those
that prevailed on December 3rd.
A week later, the
NIPC, believing that the retailers have refused to follow
its rules since
the prices of goods have actually increased instead of
declining, had
launched a war on the retailers.
NIPC director of compliance in charge of
the Inspectorate Department, Miss
Charity Maunga, confirmed the new blitz
against business people in a
telephone interview from Harare yesterday with
the Chronicle. "I can confirm
that there have been a number of arrests but I
cannot give you figures at
the moment. Phone me first thing tomorrow morning
and I will be ready with
that information," Maunga said.
"There have
been several arrests in urban centres throughout the country
since Friday
last week. If you phone me tomorrow, I will be able to give you
the names of
the affected companies."
As their justification for increasing prices,
retailers pointed to the
hyperinflation that has brought the country to its
as they main reason they
increased their prices. "We have no option but to
do something to cushion
ourselves from the rampant inflation," a Mr. Raja
Chawndry, a businessman
with a shop selling everything from sugar to
clothes, told the Tribune in
Harare.
"Instead of attacking us, the
government should start with the producers
since our prices are determined
by the cost we incur buying our good from
producers and manufacturers," he
added.
Over the years, the government has launched several operations to
rein in
the retailers, but all those attempts failed. Instead, those
operations have
been blamed for the shortages of basic goods like sugar,
cooking and bread.
The ZANU-PF government has said time and again the
prices increases were not
in response to the inflation but were designed to
cause dissatisfaction with
their rule and spar the people too rise
up.
Economists have put the current inflation in the country at over a
billion
percent. The government has temporarily halted calculating the
inflation
rate.
Unless the political climate in Zimbabwe changes, the
economy of Zimbabwe is
not likely to recover anytime soon.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
|
Both Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai should step aside to end the deadlock, a respected think tank argues. This could allow a transitional administration to implement political and economic reforms, the report by the UK's International Crisis Group says. The international think tank's proposal would also give the president and his generals immunity from prosecution. A BBC correspondent says it is unlikely either side would take up such an idea. The ICG's suggested plan - entitled Ending Zimbabwe's Nightmare: A Possible Way Forward - describes ongoing mediations as "hopelessly deadlocked". It proposes that Zimbabwe's parliament - "the country's only legally elected national institution" - should draft a constitutional amendment to establish an interim administration that would pave the way for new presidential elections in 18 months. Vortex of despair Francois Grignon, director of ICG's African programme, said Zimbabwe urgently needed a "credible and competent government" to address the disastrous humanitarian and economic conditions now facing the country", including:
"A non-partisan transitional administration directed by a neutral chief administrator could achieve this," said Mr Grignon. With Zimbabwe descending into a vortex of despair, the ICG's suggestion is for an alternative way forward, says the BBC's Africa analyst Martin Plaut. But while it may be an elegant solution, passions in Zimbabwe are so inflamed it is hard to see how either side would be prepared to take up such an idea, our correspondent adds. After disputed presidential elections in March, Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party and Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change agreed to form a power-sharing government. But implementation of that agreement, reached in September, has been dogged by disagreements over whose supporters would get key ministries. Months of negotiations brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki on behalf of the Southern African Development Community have failed to break the deadlock. |
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by
Patricia Mpofu Wednesday 17 December 2008
HARARE - The United
States (US) has urged Americans travelling to Zimbabwe
to have contingency
plans ready for their own "personal health, safety and
security", citing a
tense political climate and a worsening humanitarian
crisis in the southern
African country.
In a travel warning released Tuesday the US government
said Americans should
carefully consider their need to travel to Zimbabwe, a
country that was one
of the most popular African destinations for American
and other Western
tourists before its economic and political
crisis.
The travel warning issued by the US Department of State said
political and
economic instability in Zimbabwe have resulted in small-scale
civil
demonstrations and riots by military personnel, and a general
deterioration
of government services and infrastructure, including the near
collapse of
the country's public health system.
Americans falling
sick in Zimbabwe could find it difficult to get treatment,
the warning
said.
"The Department of State therefore urges US citizens visiting
Zimbabwe to
closely monitor the situation, keep travel documents up to date,
and have
contingency plans ready for their own personal health, safety and
security,"
it said.
The US also urged its citizens travelling to
Zimbabwe to avoid taking part
in public protests and demonstrations which
the Harare government has in the
past crushed with force.
However
Zimbabwe Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu dismissed the travel
warning, saying anyone visiting Zimbabwe without any ulterior motives was
safe.
Ndlovu said: "There is no risk. The cholera is being attended
to. Those
without any sinister motives against the government and have
nothing to hide
have no problem visiting our peace-loving country,
especially during the
festive season."
Once prosperous Zimbabwe is in
the grip of a severe economic and
humanitarian crisis that critics blame on
mismanagement by President Robert
Mugabe and is seen in a cholera outbreak
that has killed close to 1 000
people since August, amid acute shortages of
medicines, food and every basic
commodity. - ZimOnline
Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
16 December 2008
Maputo - In the
strongest statement from the church yet, Africa's largest
grouping of
churches says the crisis in Zimbabwe is deadlocked because of
the
intransigence of President Robert Mugabe, and Christians should pray for
an
end to the "illegitimate" regime.
The 9th general assembly of the All
Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) in
Maputo, Mozambique, set aside
January 25, 2009 as a special 'Africa Day of
Prayer and Fasting for Justice
in Zimbabwe'.
The AACC assembly said the Mugabe regime was contrary to
the will of
Zimbabweans, as expressed in the presidential election of March
29, 2008.
The association also criticised southern African leaders,
international
mediators and the churches for failure to bring about an
amicable solution
to Zimbabwe's political crisis.
President Mugabe is
using power-sharing negotiations as a strategy for
wasting time and
exercising continued control over Zimbabwe. Meanwhile,
violence continues to
be committed against those who do not support Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party, AACC
said.
AACC urged the African Union and its member states to "state
clearly that
the current Zimbabwean regime is illegitimate and to withdraw
recognition of
the Zimbabwean government."
The AU should also
intensify pressure on President Mugabe to relinquish
power, and facilitate
genuine negotiations between all political parties and
civil society
organisations to chart a new political dispensation.
It also acknowledged
that member churches have been slow to respond to the
crisis in Zimbabwe and
the suffering of the people, "in part because of our
lack of
unity".
The association said it will work with Zimbabweans towards a
common vision
for peace, justice and reconciliation in their nation and
"pray for an end
to illegitimate rule".
Advocacy initiatives to be
spearheaded by AACC include visits to leaders of
nations, regional
structures and the African Union, marches and
demonstrations, particularly
outside of Zimbabwean embassies and consulates,
and collecting funds and
material to provide humanitarian aid and address
the cholera crisis.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
By Torby
Chimhashu
Posted to the web: 16/12/2008 22:48:31
ZIMBABWE'S opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai has
suspended its national elections director after he
allegedly failed to
account for US$15 000.
Dennis Murira has since fled the country following a
raid at his rural and
Harare homes, respectively, by suspected state
security agents two weeks
ago.
Party insiders told New Zimbabwe.com
that Murira was sent on suspension
after he failed to account for the money
meant for accommodation and food
for the party's MPs and other activists who
fled their constituencies in the
violence that rocked Zimbabwe in the run-up
to June 27 presidential election
run-off.
"It is true that he has
been suspended. It is true that he failed to account
for the money. We don't
condone such kind of behaviour by a senior member of
the party," a senior
party official told New Zimbabwe.com, declining to be
named.
Murira
told senior party officials that he used the US$15 000 to book the
MPs into
a luxurious Harare lodge but when pressed further, he reportedly
changed his
story to say he paid Meikles Hotel the whole amount for the
duration of the
MPs' stay.
However, said the senior party official, Meikles Hotel
furnished the MDC
with a US$3,000 bill which it said was the amount paid for
the
accommodation, food and beverages for the MPs.
"Dennis could not
account for the remaining amount. If Meikles Hotel could
charge US$3,000
then no other hotel could charge any amount above that. We
had no option but
to suspend him pending further hearings and the return of
Tsvangirai," the
official said.
Murira is described by some party officials as
Tsvangirai's blue-eyed-boy
closely linked to Tsvangirai's former financier
and friend, Ian Makone.
Another senior MDC official told this website
Murira had been caught-up in
factional fighting in the party.
"The
allegations against him are not true," said the MDC executive member,
also
declining to go on the record. "There are factions within the party and
this
other faction wants to build a case against Dennis."
Murira's fate could
be decided when Tsvangira returns from Botswana where he
is a guest of
President Ian Khama.
"Tsvangirai is disappointed by Murira's conduct but
is reluctant to fire
him. He rates him highly for the job he did as a foot
soldier in mobilising
support from university student movements especially
during the formative
years of the MDC. Everything now rests with
Tsvangirai," said a source.
We were unable to obtain a comment from
Murira, whose whereabouts are
unknown.
FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL
Press Release – 15th December 2008
Zimbabwean exiles are to stage a demonstration outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London on Saturday 20th December to demand action to oust Mugabe.
The demonstration will feature Father Cholera handing out presents labelled cholera, anthrax, starvation, violence, murder, rape, torture, greed etc, etc.
Dressed in the traditional Santa Claus suit and wearing a Mugabe mask he will deliver his Christmas message: ‘There is no cholera in Zimbabwe!’
Passers-by will be invited to light candles in front of a Cross in the doorway of the Embassy.
Demonstrators will sing traditional Christmas carols in English, Shona and Ndebele.
The demonstration is organised by the Zimbabwe Vigil which has been protesting outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, London, every Saturday for more than six years against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe.
Event: Mugabe’s Cholera Christmas
Venue: Outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London WC2
Timings: 4 pm – arrival of Father Cholera
4.30 pm – distribution of presents and carol singing
Photo Opportunities: Father Cholera dressed in Santa Claus outfit and Mugabe mask
Zimbabwean singing, dancing and drumming
Interview Opportunities: Political activists, torture and rape victims
Further information: Rose Benton (07970 996 003, 07932 193 467), Dumi Tutani (07960 039 775), Ephraim Tapa (07940 793 090), Fungayi Mabhunu (07743 662 046)
Vigil Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
A bishop has called for Robert Mugabe to
be deposed 'by all means
necessary'. But is tyrannicide morally
justifiable?
Comments (29)
Peter Tatchell
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday
16 December 2008 20.30 GMT
More and more black Zimbabweans now believe
that killing President Robert
Mugabe is morally justified, in order to halt
his tyrannical, murderous
misrule. They have lost all hope for peaceful,
democratic change; having
witnessed rigged elections, a sham power-sharing
agreement and the regime's
ongoing terror tactics of kidnappings, beatings,
rapes and murders.
South Africa and the African Union have left us to
suffer and die, they say.
The African Charter of People's and Human Rights,
which was intended to
protect the people of Africa against Mugabe-style
abuses, is now dismissed
as a worthless joke.
"We must kill the top
man - and a few of his henchmen - to save the lives of
millions," one black
Zimbabwean activist recently told me. He cited a top
Mugabe official,
Didymus Mutasa, who callously boasted that it doesn't
matter if half the
population of Zimbabwe dies of hunger because most of the
victims will be
supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
and they
deserve to die: "We would be better off with only six million
people, with
our own (Zanu-PF) people who support the liberation struggle,"
he allegedly
said. This tacit sanctioning of a policy of
genocide-by-starvation is
unprecedented since the mass hunger inflicted on
Cambodia by Pol Pot and the
Khmer Rouge.
The threat of a violent solution to the Zimbabwe crisis has
increased with
an alleged assassination attempt on one of President Mugabe's
closest allies
and military enforcers, air force chief Perence
Shiri.
Not before time, according to some Zimbabweans. Shiri led Muagbe's
crackdown
on political dissidents (real and imagined) in the Matabeleland
region
during the 1980s, which resulted in the slaughter of more than 20,000
civilians - the equivalent of a Sharpeville-style massacre every day for
over nine months. More recently, he orchestrated the campaign of terror to
intimidate voters into supporting Mugabe during June's presidential
election.
Growing support for the violent overthrow of Mugabe and his
ruling Zanu-PF
party has been given a boost by South African Anglican Bishop
Joe Seoka. He
has called for Mugabe to be "removed by all means necessary."
Although he
would prefer Mugabe to be put on trial by the International
Court of Justice
in The Hague, his appeal for Mugabe's overthrow "by all
means necessary"
also appears to imply approval, in the last resort, of
assassination.
Other calls for Mugabe to be overthrown, if not killed,
have come from
retired South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and
from the
Ugandan-born Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. Kenya's prime
minister,
Raila Odinga, has proposed that African countries should use force
to remove
Mugabe from power.
These appeals for the measured, limited
use of violence to stop the
unlimited and far greater violence of the Mugabe
dictatorship are
understandable. They are in the tradition of the "just war"
- such as the
1970s war of liberation to overthrow the Rhodesian white
minority regime of
Ian Smith, and the anti-Nazi resistance in occupied
Europe during the second
world war.
But as we all know from the
disastrous experience in Iraq, attempts to
impose a solution on other
countries, especially by the west, are morally
dubious and seldom work. Any
western intervention would smack of
neo-colonialism; enabling Mugabe to pose
as a nationalist leader and hero,
and to rally Zimbabweans and other
Africans to fight the "new colonisers".
The African Union has neither the
will nor the capacity to intervene
militarily or in any other effective
way.
Some Zimbabweans, like my activist colleague, argue that foreign
intervention is wrong, impractical and unnecessary. Killing Mugabe and his
top enforcers would, they say, be enough to topple and implode the whole
Zanu-PF regime and its military and police support.
So, is it time to
kill Mugabe? Would it be ethically justified?
My political inspirations
are people like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther
King. I have modelled my
human rights campaigns on their methods of
non-violent direct action and
civil disobedience. Essentially, I am a
pacifist. I find it very difficult
to ever justify violence. The
circumstances have to be exceptional and
extreme. Assassinating Adolf Hitler
in 1933 probably would have been morally
justified to prevent a greater
evil - the Holocaust and second world war.
But even then, I would see the
act of killing Hitler as wrong - albeit the
lesser of two evils.
What of Mugabe? Like Bishop Joe Seoka, I would much
prefer to see him put on
trial in The Hague, like Slobodan Milosevic.
Subject the tyrant who has
trampled on human rights, justice and the rule of
law, to a due and fair
legal process, where he is tried on verified evidence
and witness testimony
in an open court - unlike his victims, who are often
tortured and summarily
executed, based on trumped-up charges.
Show
Mugabe that we - the international humanitarian community - are better
than
him, that we do not stoop to his brutal methods. Let former veterans of
the
Zimbabwe freedom struggle come to court to shame Mugabe by testifying
how he
betrayed Zanu's ideals of democracy, social justice and human rights.
Expose
Mugabe as a liberation hero turned bloodthirsty tyrant. Allow the
whole
world to hear about this crimes and see what a monster he has become -
Ian
Smith with a black face, only many times worse.
There is more than enough
prima facie evidence to indict him and issue an
international arrest warrant
on charges of torture and other crimes against
humanity, either under the UN
Convention Against Torture or the statutes of
the International Criminal
Court. There must now be no delay. An indictment
and arrest warrant are long
overdue and can be drawn up within a week. Why
the hesitation? How many more
Zimbabweans have to die before the
international community stops wringing
its hands and takes serious action to
end Mugabe's regime of murder,
torture, starvation and disease?
When, in regard to Robert Mugabe, Gordon Brown says "enough is enough", and
George Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy say "he must go", as do the rest of the European
Union's leaders, there is a sub-text lurking beneath their words. It is: "Here
we have yet another bungling African despot making a grand stuff-up of the
nation he is meant to uplift." The idea of the inept and cruel tyrant has become an archetype in the West's
narrative of Africa. As such, it is prejudice; and one of the many things wrong
with prejudice, even when it seems to produce an accurate picture of reality, is
that it is lazy thinking. It relies on ready-baked concepts than can be slapped
onto any more-or-less suitable reality. And that's just the trouble here. The convenience of seeing Mugabe as a
stock-standard incompetent may be blinding the world to something far more
sinister. For Mugabe may be, and perhaps should be, held criminally liable for
his misdeeds. The difference between an incompetent whose actions harm others and an
outright criminal is a problematic one. This is because an incompetent does not
necessarily intend harm to come from his actions. The bungler might even mean
well. He might even have been in pursuit of some goal that is, if not actually
praiseworthy, understandable. By contrast, a criminal is thought of as someone who is aware of, or is
capable of being aware of, the wrongness of his actions. The difference matters a lot because society tends to shrug off incompetents
in politics as part of the sorry story of human folly, about which little can be
done. Criminals, however, awaken very different emotions in us. We want revenge,
even if we call it justice. The question is: which charge fits Mugabe? For, unquestionably, great harm
has come to Zimbabwe under his rule. Is he to be held accountable for mere
incompetence ... or for criminal liability? It's important to get it right, because to get it wrong may mean justice
denied. That would be justice denied on a grand scale, something for which the
world has a rapidly-decreasing tolerance. The answer - a good answer - is
not easy to come by. It involves recognition that this is a difficulty that does
not begin with Mugabe; it has bedevilled human history. And it involves
proof. The problem was first dealt with by Plato, when he caused Socrates to ask:
when a good man kills an evil-doer, of what crime is the good man culpable, and
in what measure? Twenty-four centuries later, the problem pulls the
historiography of Hitler in different directions: Ron Rosenbaum contrasts, in
Explaining Hitler, the differing views of historian Hugh Trevor-Roper,
among the first to penetrate Hitler's bunker and the mind of its occupant, and
the philosopher and holocaust scholar Berel Lang. Trevor-Roper avers that Hitler
was "convinced of his own rectitude". He did evil while believing he was doing
good. Lang, on the other hand, insists that the Nazi leader was "deeply aware of
his own criminality". Hitler's magisterial biographer, Ian Kershaw, is another
who grapples with the issue. While Mugabe may not be Hitler, and while contributing circumstances and
factors may differ in case to case, at the heart lies the question of the
awareness of wrong-doing. And it is just there that the difficulty of proof
comes in. In recent days, however, in the case of Mugabe, there has been an interesting
development. To my mind, it is of singular help in the bid for an answer. At a breakfast for journalists in Durban, the secretary general of the ANC,
Gwede Mantashe, disclosed that the ANC's National Executive Committee had
discussed "Mugabe's fears if he were to relinquish power", according to reports
by the journalists present. Mantashe went on to make two profoundly interesting revelations about that
discussion. He said the NEC's view was: Let us now make some deductions from these disclosures. The first is that the ANC leadership, more than anyone beyond Mugabe's
immediate circle, is in a position to know his thoughts. The contacts between
the two have been frequent, and direct. So Mantashe's revelations may be taken
as reliable indicators to the dictator's state of mind. The second is that if Mugabe is likening himself to Charles Taylor ... and is
quailing in fear of international justice ... he must be fully aware of the
wrong he has been doing. He must know that others know. He must know that his
rule has outraged the civilised norms embedded in international institutions of
justice. The prosecution may not be able quite yet to rest its case. But it seems that
there are good reasons to conclude that Mugabe is guilty - in the mind of Mugabe
himself. In which case, should the world be far behind? Why, however, would Mantashe have made these startling revelations? Could he
be so dull-witted as to not appreciate their import? No, he is not. The answer
is right there in what he said - or, rather, in the way he is reported to have
said it. The Sapa wire service recorded
his words like this: "The Hague has taken a number of African people. Mugabe
can't be given any guarantees for his safety in retirement." These sentences reveal a great gulf of perception between what one might call
a Western view and Mantashe's presumably African one. The first of the two
sentences reveals Africans' sense of victimhood at the machinations of the West
- and, more worryingly, a deep-seated difference in perception of good and evil.
After all, the Africans "taken" by The Hague have not been snatched on some
whim. (Since its inception in 2002 the International Criminal Court has indicted
12 persons, all of them African. Four are currently in custody. Karadzic is
charged before a tribunal specific to Yugoslavia.) In respect of Zimbabwe, too,
there is considerable track in a deep difference of perception between the West
and Africa. The second sentence in the statement attributed to Mantashe suggests,
especially when read in conjunction with the first, that Mugabe would otherwise
deserve guarantees of his "safety" (meaning immunity from prosecution) in
retirement. The overriding implication, then, is that Mugabe is clinging to power not
from some lofty, though perverted, sense of mission, nor from a perverse love of
power, so much as a means of ducking the law. In the process of holding on, he has to subvert the political process,
persecute and eliminate opponents, and ride roughshod over the needs of his
people. The problem is, of course, the longer he hangs on, the more serious his
misdeeds become - of necessity. It must be said that if the prosecution were to rely on only Mantashe's
unguarded remarks, a conviction would not be assured. What Mantashe said
provides an insight into thinking. It doesn't fully constitute proof. Once one follows the line offered by Mantashe's revelations, however, the
circumstantial evidence starts to accumulate. Some of Mugabe's more outrageous
and inane claims take on a perverse kind of logic. His frequent, and risible, accusations that Britain and other Western states
are intent on invading Zimbabwe take a new shape. They become the anxious
utterings of the bad guy who fears that the posse is being rounded up to come
and get him. His overt haste to deny the extent of cholera, even to claim it has been
quelled, becomes a ploy to keep the West off his patch at all costs. Something similar may even have informed his moves against Western NGOs up to
now. All of these instances and bodies wear the badges of his nemesis - the
Western value-set that he fears may call him to book. Knit these factors together, along with Mugabe's known, overweening desire
for acceptance in the West - in Savile Row and in Buckingham Palace - and one
has a tapestry of psychological plausibility explaining his actions... even if
they don't' make sense, nor are excusable, in the political real world. There is one, final, strand of inference that might guide thinking in the
right direction in apprehending Mugabe's wrongdoing. It may be spurious, but it
does tantalise. Of all the world figures who have recently called for Mugabe to
go, the two who have expressly said that the Zimbabwean should face
international justice, are African themselves: Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the
Ugandan-born Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. They appear to be under no
illusions about the charge that Mugabe deserves to face. Nor
why.
http://arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=117290&d=17&m=12&y=2008
Editorial:
17 December 2008
The latest news from Zimbabwe
suggests that the situation there is going to
become even nastier. First,
there was the astounding statement last week
from Robert Mugabe that the
country's cholera epidemic was under control - a
statement clearly untrue
given all the aid agency reports to the contrary.
The UN has since confirmed
that over 18,000 people are now infected and that
nearly 1,000 have died.
Then came the astounding allegation from the country's
information minister,
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, that the outbreak was a calculated
"genocidal onslaught"
by the country's former colonial power, the UK. The
British government
intended to use the epidemic as an excuse to invade, he
said. The claims
pouring out of the regime in the past week were that not
only the UK but
France, indeed the whole EU, as well as the US, were
involved in an invasion
plot - with the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera in it as
well. These are beyond
far-fetched. The EU has never invaded anyone; it does
not have any military
policies. It is not going to start with Zimbabwe. As
for the idea that Al
Jazeera is in a political plot with London and
Washington, it is
laughable.
But this is not the last stage of paranoia. There is a much
more sinister
game being played. That can be seen in the reports coming out
of Zimbabwe
during the last couple of days. First, there was the accusation
that
Botswana was plotting to overthrow it. Then came the charge that the
opposition was training for a coup. Now there is the report that the air
force chief was hurt in an assassination attempt. It all fits a pattern.
Having created the myth of an impending invasion aided by a fifth column,
the bankrupt regime (bankrupt in all senses) intends to accuse the
opposition of treason and arrest its members.
Given the lies that
have flowed from the regime, even the report about
attack on the air force
chief, Perence Shiri, cannot be taken at face value.
While there are
probably many with a grudge against him - he is accused of
having organized
attacks on the opposition earlier this year and of
masterminding the
slaughter of 20,000 people in the country's Matabeleland
region in the 1980s
- the attack on him, if it happened at all, could
equally have been an
attempted robbery. What is clear is that the regime is
using the story to
the full to prop up the claim that there is a military
threat.
Dr.
Johnson never heard of Zimbabwe or Robert Mugabe. But he would have
immediately recognized present events there as a classic case of his often
inaccurately used observation that patriotism is the last refuge of a
scoundrel: Mugabe is trying to use patriotism to save himself. It will not
work. Nothing lasts forever. A state of emergency may well come in the next
few days, with opposition member arrested. But, nasty though events may
turn, the regime will go - and sooner than people think. Mugabe's manic
desperation indicates the end is near. But if this next stage is brutal, the
final act may well prove bloody for Mugabe and his associates.
They
would do well to remember what happened to Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu.
http://www.businessday.co.za
17
December 2008
The Zimbabwe Chimurenga ancestors must
be turning in their graves as
Zimbabwean s have lost their will to fight for
their country.
On a radio show recently a caller asked how different it
might be if Robert
Mugabe was white, and the host failed to appreciate that
question.
Remember, Ian Smith was made a pariah, sanctions were applied
and sporting
relations stopped. Most decidedly Rhodesia was very
deliberately cut off
from the world since it was a white
regime.
However, it was the people of Zimbabwe who rose up and fought
for their
country with the assistance of everyone. So what has happened now
to the
will of the Zimbabwe people and the world's nations coming from such
a
courageous generation? In particular, Zimbabweans seem to be prepared to
rather die than fight their oppressor.
Unfortunately, unlike before
when a white man ruled, the world and Africa
has shown that in today's world
only the Zimbabwean people can really fight
for their country.
That
is ironic and that radio host should think a little
deeper.
Andy Clay
Sandton
http://www.businessday.co.za/
17
December 2008
Nikolaus Eberl
AT
THE final media briefing of the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC)
held
last week, its CE, Danny Jordaan, told the international press that
"uncertainty over Zimbabwe will have no impact on the 2010 Fifa World Cup",
adding that "no one presented the war in Kosovo as a threat to the World Cup
in Germany, and no one presented Afghanistan as any major threat to any
major event in Europe".
Aside from the fact that the Kosovo war ended
in 1999, a whole seven years
before the World Cup kicked off in Germany, and
that Afghanistan is located
on a continent other than Europe (a full 4564km
away from Vienna, the hosts
of the last major event hosted in Europe, the
2008 Euro), it is hard to see
how we can invite visitors to "celebrate
Africa's humanity", the 2010 brand
promise chosen by the LOC, when thousands
are dying on our doorstep and a
ruthless dictator is allowed to starve an
entire nation .
Beyond threatening to invalidate the 2010 brand promise,
does the Zimbabwe
crisis affect SA's brand image, and could it deter
potential visitors from
attending the 2010 World Cup?
Possibly the
greatest threats to the regional brand image are the pictures
of the
Zimbabwean ordeal being transmitted to international audiences. CNN
has been
broadcasting an update on the crisis titled Desperation Up Close in
Zimbabwe
, showing citizens rummaging through garbage bins and burying
relatives who
have died of cholera.
Said the CNN reporter: "A child cries from hunger,
but no tears come from
her swollen eyes. Malnutrition has left this baby
fighting for her life. She
is the face of an unfolding crisis in a country
once known as Africa's
breadbasket.. Others huddle for warmth around a fire
burning inside the
shell of a broken-down van.. All these images were
captured on video
recently and smuggled out of Zimbabwe by Solidarity Peace
Trust, a South
African human rights group" - pictures so disturbing that CNN
issued a
viewer warning before opening the video report.
Jordaan
concluded his Zimbabwe statements by saying: "Those people barely
have the
energy to walk, how they can be a threat to us? I can't
understand."
Does this mean the only relevance of the Zimbabwe crisis
to 2010 is the
potential threat of Zimbabweans crossing the border to SA in
an effort to
partake in the world's biggest soccer event? Do we really want
to close our
eyes and pretend that "celebrating Africa's humanity" has
nothing to do with
political oppression and disregard for basic human
rights?
From a branding point of view, possibly the greatest threat to
SA's brand
image is what political analyst Chalmers Johnson calls
"blowback": the
unintended consequences of an unsympathetic or cynical
foreign policy. What
consumer backlash is to a brand, blowback is to a
nation: when the
disconnect between the brand message and corporate
behaviour becomes too
great, then public protest tends to be intense in
proportion to the strength
of the brand. This is because, according to the
author of the quarterly
nation brand index, Simon Anholt, "a brand, as the
clear, highly visible
manifestation of a country or a corporation, is as
much an invitation to
complain - indeed, a target for grudges - as it is a
guarantee of quality .
the higher you raise people's expectations with a
brand, and the more you
invest in making big public promises, the greater
the disappointment when
you fail to keep them."
As far as the 2010
brand promise to "celebrate Africa's humanity" is
concerned, we are standing
at the crossroads between either paying lip
service to transforming the
continental brand image or starting to live the
brand. Are we going to look
beyond 2010 and help resolve the Zimbabwe crisis
in an effort to create a
legacy that will be meaningful for the people of SA
and the entire region?
Or will we close our eyes and hope that the world
will stop taking an
interest in the fortunes of our neighbour, and all 2010
will be about is a
number of soccer games, stadiums and merchandising?
Dr Eberl is
engaged in internal branding for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and
is the
author of BrandOvation: How Germany won the World Cup of Nation
Branding.