Jestina Mukoko and other abductees are detained in Harare

http://www.swradioafrica.com

Violet Gonda
23 December 2008

Human rights lawyers made a breakthrough on Tuesday, after battling for
weeks to get the police to investigate the disappearance of several MDC and
civic activists. Lawyer Charles Kwaramba said despite denials by the police
it has now emerged that at least 12 of the scores of people abducted are
being held in various police stations around Harare.

After spending the day combing police stations the lawyers established that
Jestina Mukoko, the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was at one point
held at Highlands police station, then moved to Matapi in Mbare, Morgan
Tsvangirai's former aide Ghandi Mudzingwa is being held at Highlands.

Kwaramba also said Concillia Chinanzvavana, the MDC Mashonaland West
provincial Chairperson of the Women's Assembly, and her husband, Emmanuel
Chinanzvana, who is a councillor for Ward 25 in Zvimba South, are being held
in Marlborough police station. The two were part of the group of 15 who have
been missing for nearly two months.

The news will come as a relief to the victims' family and friends, as many
of the abductees were kidnapped from their homes and have been missing for
several weeks.

The welfare of the victims is not yet known as lawyers are still being
denied access to their clients. It is reported that the abducted activist
are being charged under the Criminal Act which talks about training of
banditry.

"But we feel as legal practitioners that there is really no point taking
these persons to court. We are actually quite surprised that they are in
police cells when the police have been coming to court saying 'we don't know
anything about these people', but all of a sudden they pitch up in police
cells."

Last Friday MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai warned he will suspend all
negotiations and contact with Zanu PF if all the abductees are not released
or charged in a court of law by New Year.

Is there nothing that can be done to free Zimbabwe of Robert Mugabe?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Venture inside a government ministry in Zimbabwe and you will probably
encounter a cavernous, echoing shell.

By David Blair
Last Updated: 7:05PM GMT 23 Dec 2008

If his fellow African leaders were willing to punish Robert Mugabe, the
humiliation would rankle deeply
One diplomat recently visited a cabinet minister in Harare, only to find him
completely alone, save for his secretary, in an empty building stripped of
furniture.

Leave aside Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic and mass starvation, now the state
itself is falling victim to President Robert Mugabe. Hyperinflation has
ensured that anyone paid in Zimbabwe dollars in effect earns nothing at all.
Entirely understandably, civil servants have given up working and the
government is steadily shutting down.

On the face of it, this resembles the "death throes" of Mugabe's regime,
which Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister responsible for
Africa, referred to this week. Yet how might the old dictator actually
depart? Is his demise really imminent?

Mr Mugabe, who turns 85 in February, might be removed from the scene by
nature, an event that would bring indescribable relief to Zimbabwe. But
aside from dying in office, there are remarkably few ways in which an
African despot might lose power.

Some can be discounted immediately. Mugabe will obviously not resign or
depart after an election defeat. Nor is it likely that Zimbabwe's weakened,
impoverished people will ever be able to overthrow him. The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change is too divided and inept to mobilise an
uprising of any kind. Morgan Tsvangirai, its leader, shuttles around the
conference halls of Africa and Europe, spending much of his time anywhere
but in Zimbabwe.

The only other possibilities are a coup - either a military takeover or an
internal putsch within Zanu-PF party - or massive external pressure. No one
knows whether Zimbabwe's generals are considering a move against Mugabe.
They have done supremely well out of his rule, taking their pick of formerly
white-owned farms and treating the state's reserves as their own piggybank.

The hardline securocrats who sit on the Joint Operations Command, notably
General Constantine Chiwenga, the overall military chief, do not care about
Zimbabwe's collapse and they are utterly indifferent to outside criticism.
Self-interest is all that matters - and at the moment, that seems best
served by keeping Mr Mugabe in power. His presence allows this venal clique
of generals to continue looting their country.

This calculation might change. The generals might one day judge that Mr
Mugabe has outlived his usefulness and their privileges would be safeguarded
by a new leader. This choice could be forced on them by, for example, an
organised mutiny among the army's lower ranks, whose wages are now
worthless.

But Mugabe is fully aware of this danger and he will do whatever is
necessary to continue buying the loyalty of his generals. As for the chances
of a party coup, Mugabe has plenty of enemies inside Zanu-PF, which is
probably more divided than ever before. Yet he has always been skilled at
playing factions against one another. It seems unlikely - although not
wholly impossible - that this knack will suddenly desert him.

This leaves external pressure as the only means of forcing Mugabe's
departure. For the first time, he is finding it increasingly difficult to
claim the support of his brother African leaders. In the past three years,
every one of Zimbabwe's four neighbours has acquired a new president,
leaving Mugabe more isolated than ever.

Old allies have fallen by the wayside, symbolised by the downfall of Thabo
Mbeki in South Africa. Today, Mr Mugabe is not on speaking terms with the
governments of two of his neighbours - Botswana and Zambia - and his
relations with South Africa are increasingly strained.

Elsehwere, Raila Odinga, Kenya's prime minister, has openly called for
Mugabe to be overthrown, by force if necessary, and Desmond Tutu, the
retired Archbishop of Cape Town, has gone so far as to urge the invasion of
Zimbabwe.

This remains an almost inconceivable option. No African army would intervene
in Zimbabwe - and the country is simply not important enough for any Western
government to contemplate this option.

But suppose Zimbabwe's neighbours decided to ban Mugabe and his allies,
notably the generals, from travelling to their countries. Suppose they also
froze any assets and investments they might hold elsewhere in Africa.
Suppose, in short, that southern Africa replicated the measures taken
against Zimbabwe's regime by America and every member of the European Union.

This remains highly unlikely - but no longer impossible. Already, it seems
inconceivable that Mugabe could pay private visits to Botswana or Zambia. If
his fellow African leaders were willing to punish him in this way, the
humiliation would rankle deeply. Mugabe would be robbed of much of his
prestige and his self-image as a revered African freedom fighter would be
tarnished.

If so, Zimbabwe's generals might start wondering whether their ageing
figurehead was worth retaining. In this way, external pressure might provoke
the internal convulsion that remains the biggest threat to Mr Mugabe.

Britain should urge African leaders to follow the EU's counter-measures
against Mugabe. The biggest danger faced by the old dictator is humiliation.

'Fresh elections won't end Zimbabwe crisis'

http://www.sabcnews.com

December 21 2008, 5:30:00

Thulasizwe Simelane

Zimbabwean independent editor Vincent Kahiya says fresh elections will
not necessarily end Zimbabwe's crisis. President Robert Mugabe has told
members of his Zanu-PF party that they should start preparing for early
elections because as he puts it, he doesn't want a repeat of his party's
March loss. He was speaking at the close of Zanu-PF party's two-day
conference in Bindura.

Mugabe told about 5 000 party loyalists that new elections would be
held if a power-sharing plan collapsed. He has again refused to heed
international calls for him to step down. Mugabe says he doesn't have to
follow outgoing United States President George Bush, a strong critic of
Mugabe, to his political death.

The Zimbabwe president also told the conference that he will not allow
any unity government in the country to reverse his land reform programme.
Critics say the programme has been a key contributor to the country's
economic ruin.

Pretoria confirms 30-million-dollar aid injection for Zimbabwe

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Africa News
Dec 23, 2008, 15:41 GMT

Pretoria - South Africa on Tuesday confirmed it had provided its ailing
neighbour Zimbabwe with humanitarian aid to the tune of 300 million rands
(30 million dollars).

The move amounted to an about-turn on the part of Pretoria that had
initially made the formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe the condition
for such assistance.

Thabo Masebe, a spokesman for South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, had
reiterated on Sunday in an interview with the public broadcaster that
Pretoria would provide such assistance only once a new government was
formed.

But a day later, Zimbabwe's state media quoted Agriculture Minister Rugare
Gumbo as saying Pretoria had sent, among other goods, maize and sorghum
seed, fertilizer and fuel.

On Tuesday, Masebe, confirming that assistance was already being provided,
said: 'The aim is to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to circumvent a
dire food security situation.'

Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe and opposition Movement for
Democratic (MDC) party leader Morgan Tsvangirai have failed to implement a
power-sharing agreement signed in September.

Months of negotiations involving South African officials, have failed to
break the deadlock, with Mugabe refusing to bow to international pressure to
step down.

Zim cholera rises to 1174

http://news.iafrica.com

Article By: AFP
Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:54
The toll from Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic rose again on Tuesday, with 1174
people now known to have died from the disease since August, the United
Nations children's fund, Unicef, said.

"The disease is still popping up in the country which means it is still not
under control," Unicef representative in Zimbabwe Roeland Monasch told a
press conference in Geneva by telephone.

Almost 3000 new cases have been diagnosed since the last UN figures were
published five days ago, Monasch said, taking the total number of confirmed
infections to 23 712.

The previous toll had been 1123 - meaning that 51 new cholera deaths had
been confirmed since Thursday.

Earlier this month, Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe appeared to deny
cholera's existence in the country, proclaiming in a radio address that
"there is no cholera".

His spokesperson later said his comments were meant as "sarcasm" after they
drew international outcry.

Mugabe then accused former colonial power Britain of deliberately
introducing the disease as "a genocidal onslaught on the people of
Zimbabwe."

The epidemic adds to the economic and political crisis roiling the
impoverished southern African country, with inflation spinning to
stratospheric proportions and a political stalemate reigning between Mugabe
and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over disagreements on a
power-sharing government.

Washington had hoped the United Nations Security Council would adopt a
non-binding resolution condemning Mugabe for failing to protect his people
from the cholera outbreak, but a Western diplomat said the plan had run into
opposition from neighbouring South Africa.

Mugabe: U.S. and West are 'stupid and foolish'

http://edition.cnn.com

December 23, 2008 -- Updated 1401 GMT (2201 HKT)

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe described the
U.S. government and Western nations as "quite stupid and foolish" Tuesday
for trying to be involved in the African country's affairs.

Mugabe made the comments at the funeral for a former senior soldier, just
days after a top U.S. diplomat said the United States no longer supports a
power-sharing deal between Mugabe and his political rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai, that might pave the way for economic, health and other reforms.

Jendayi Frazer, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said
Sunday that the U.S. felt a viable unity government was not possible with
Mugabe in power.

At the funeral, Mugabe reacted: "The inclusive government ... does not
include Mr. Bush and his administration. It does not even know him. It has
no relationship with him.

"So let him keep his comments to himself. They are undeserved, irrelevant
and quite stupid and foolish. Who are they to decide who should be included
or should not in an inclusive government?"

Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, signed the unity deal September 15, but Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and
the MDC have failed to implement it because they cannot agree on who should
control key ministries.

Under the power-sharing proposal brokered by former South African leader
Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe would remain president while Tsvangirai would become
prime minister.

U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders have urged Mugabe to step
down amid a cholera epidemic that the United Nations says has killed more
than 1,000 people since August.

Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe's worst economic and
humanitarian crisis since independence from Great Britain 28 years ago. The
nation is facing acute shortages of fuel, electricity and medical drugs. The
inflation rate -- the highest in the world -- is 231 million percent.

Mugabe, referring to Bush's call for him to leave office, said: "We realize
that these are [the] last kicks of a dying horse. We obviously [are] not
going to pay attention to a sunset administration. Zimbabwe's fate lies in
the fate of Zimbabweans. They are the ones who make and unmake the leaders
of the country. Their decision alone is what we go by."

Bush leaves office January 20.

Tsvangirai announced Friday that his party will withdraw from efforts to
form a unity government unless 42 kidnapped party members are released or
brought to court to face formal charges by New Year's Day.

Zimbabwe exposes 4 "bogus" health workers from the West

http://www.apanews.net

APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe said on Tuesday it has exposed a Western
espionage ring which was using "bogus" relief workers to infiltrate the
country's institutions under the guise of assisting the government to
contain a cholera outbreak, APA learnt here.

State radio said the espionage ring came to light after four "bogus"
physicians from the United States and Britain were caught pretending to be
on a mission to assess humanitarian needs following a cholera outbreak.

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) quoted police sources as saying
the four had been holding secret meetings with opposition politicians "with
a view to sponsoring the revival of PF ZAPU and weaken the ruling ZANU PF so
as to pave way for the MDC-T to assume power".

A group of ruling party rebels recently revived PF ZAPU, a party which has
been defunct since it merged with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF in
December 1987.

The four physicians - Christopher Beryres, Donnane John Richard, Professor
David Sanders and Frank Monaghue - allegedly arrived in Zimbabwe on December
13 as part of a team of physicians invited by the Zimbabwe Association of
Doctors for Human Rights to help out in containing the cholera outbreak.

ZBC said the four breached their visa requirements by meetings diplomats,
opposition political leaders, civic organizations and student
representatives during which Zimbabwe's security situation was discussed.

The arrests are the latest episode of the hostile relations between Zimbabwe
and Western countries amid calls by Britain, the US and European Union
leaders for Mugabe to step down in the wake of the cholera outbreak that has
claimed more than 1,100 lives since August.

Harare accuses the West of causing the disease through what it terms illegal
sanctions slapped on senior Zimbabwean officials by Britain and her allies.

  JN/tjm/APA 2008-12-23

ACDP calls for Mugabe to be arrested and tried at the international court

ATTENTION NEWS EDITOR
MEDIA RELEASE

Rev Kenneth Meshoe, MP and President of the ACDP

African Christian Democratic Party.

23rd December 2008

ACDP CALLS FOR MUGABE TO BE ARRESTED AND TRIED AT THEINTERNATIONAL COURT

- WELCOMES THE END OF SA's TENURE IN UN SECURITY COUNCIL

-----------------------

Rev Kenneth Meshoe, MP and President of the ACDP spoke on Zimbabwe today:

"The ACDP calls for Robert Mugabe to be pressured to step down and a unity
government to be put in place without him. For the sake of the people of
Zimbabwe, South Africa must stop shielding Robert Mugabe.

The ACDP agrees with commentators that South Africa has the economic,
political and military leverage to rescue Zimbabweans from their leader; yet
President Motlanthe not only refuses to act but actively blocks intervention
by other countries. Those in South Africa who support this unquestionable
policy have become accessories to a grave humanitarian crime.

The ACDP is disappointed to see South Africa renege on its statement that
the R300m agricultural aid package to Zimbabwe would not be released until a
unity government was in place. It is reported that SA is now permitting its
release now under the SADC aid arrangement.

The fact that South Africa will be vacating the United Nations Security seat
in two weeks time, will be a blessing for the ordinary people of Zimbabwe as
they will no longer see South Africa block UN Security Council resolutions
that might help rid them of this paranoid tyrant..

The ACDP is hopeful that with the French taking over the UNSC seat, they
will apply severe sanctions against Mugabe and his cronies.

While Mugabe plays for time by pretending to consider a unity government,
his supporters continue to abduct and murder opposition MDC leaders. The
fact that he is talking about new elections while pursuing his reign of
terror is clearly his attempt to cripple the opposition in any such
election.

He should be arrested and tried in the International Court of Justice in the
Hague. If he leaves Zim for another country, the ACDP calls on that country
to hand him over."

SA based church minister forms Zimbabwe political party

By Lance Guma
23 December 2008

A Zimbabwean pastor based in South Africa is to form a new political party
called Christians for Peace, Justice and Democracy. The new party will
officially launch on 26th of December at the Central Methodist Church in
Johannesburg. It's founder, Reverend Timothy Chiguvare, said he has been
moved by the number of people who have been victimized under Mugabe's
regime. In an interview with South Africa's Sowetan newspaper, Chiguvare
said; 'Negotiations to bring ZANU PF and MDC into a government of national
unity have failed, while starvation and cholera kill our people every day.'

Rev Chiguvare criticized Mugabe for the crisis in the country and called for
his impeachment for 'serious crimes against humanity and fraud,' he also
suggested a referendum to decide on passing a vote of no confidence against
Mugabe. A third key objective of the party will be the setting up of an
independent transitional government to run the country. Several key
activists in South Africa told Newsreel they did not know who Chiguvare was
and remained skeptical about his intentions. One of them Sox Chikohwore said
the pastor was avoiding all contact with other diaspora groups in the
country and this made them suspicious.

Meanwhile Bishop Paul Veryn moved to dispel any links between his Central
Methodist Church and the new political party. In an interview with Newsreel
he said the church was centrally located in Johannesburg and has been used
by different political parties, including the MDC and South Africa's ANC and
PAC parties. Asked if he knew Rev Chiguvare, Bishop Veryn said all he knew
was that he was a gentleman from George in the Eastern Cape and was a
minister in one of the independent churches. Efforts to get comment from Rev
Chiguvare proved fruitless on Tuesday.

Meanwhile there was more pressure on Mugabe this week after ANC President
Jacob Zuma said he could no longer call ZANU PF and Robert Mugabe 'comrades',
and that pressure should be brought on them to effect change in Zimbabwe. He
also added that the people of South Africa and those in Zimbabwe did not
deserve the suffering that was being created by the 'political deadlock.'
Zuma spoke out against military intervention, but admitted their liberation
ties with ZANU PF were being strained by the actions of Mugabe's regime.

SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Mugabe attacks leaders of revived Zapu

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9070

December 23, 2008

By Raymond Maingire

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has launched a scathing attack on leaders
of a break away faction from his party which claims to have revived the
hitherto defunct PF-Zapu.

Former politburo member and Home Affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa last month
teamed up with fellow politicians mostly from the western Matabeleland
provinces to revive PF-Zapu.

The group claimed, among other reasons, Mugabe was an unrepentant dictator,
who had frustrated all efforts by party reformists to seek leadership
renewal within Zanu-PF.

Until the unity accord signed in December 1987, PF-Zapu, then led by Mugabe's
arch rival Joshua Nkomo, was Zimbabwe's major opposition political party.
Nkomo, who became Vice President following the uniting of the two parties,
died in 1999 through illness. Some of his supporters accused the veteran
politician of having allowed their party to be swallowed by Zanu-PF.

Mugabe, who was addressing mourners at the burial of little-known Retired
Major Gordon Sibanda at the national heroes' acre Tuesday, described the
rebels as "willing tools of the west".

Sibanda, a former member of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army ZIPRA)
High command, died last week through illness.

"The emergence of dissident voices claiming to revive Zapu must be
castigated and dismissed with the contempt they deserve," he said.

"The likes of all those who have become counter revolutionaries and
opportunists seeking to fulfill selfish personal ambitions at the expense of
the nation must be condemned.

"They are becoming willing tools of the West being used to undermine the
country's sovereignty and independence through the creation of bogus
political parties meant to weaken the constituency base of the ruling party,
Zanu PF and engineering political demise and indeed also distort the
political history for which the man, the hero we are burying today stands.

"We must not allow them to divide us."

Welshman Mabhena, an outspoken former provincial governor for Matabeleland
North and Cyril Ndebele, a former Speaker of Parliament, are among those who
engineered the revival of Zapu.

Other senior Zanu-PF politicians behind the revival are former war veterans'
leader Andrew Ndlovu, former government minister Thenjiwe Lesabe, Effort
Nkomo and Tryphine Nhliziyo.

As has become the norm during his public speeches, Mugabe lashed at Britain
and America, which he accuses of trying to remove him from power.

"Lately we have heard increasing voices from the west particularly from
Britain and America advocating for the removal of the government of Zimbabwe
by unconstitutional means," he said.

"They who pride themselves on legality and constitutionality are now guilty
of illegality and unconstitutionality including the use of military force."

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said the
US government had lost confidence in the stalled September 15 power-sharing
deal between the opposition MDC and Zanu PF.

Frazer was in South Africa last week to consult with regional leaders about
the deteriorating political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Said Mugabe, "Two days ago the American administration declared it was no
longer supporting the process of an inclusive government announcing that
they will not go along with it for as long as President Mugabe remained part
of it.

"Were they ever part of it? The inclusive government does not include Mr
Bush and his administration.

"It doesn't even know him. It has no relationship with him. So he can keep
his comments to himself. They are undeserved, irrelevant and quite stupid
and foolish.

"Who are they to decide who should or should not be included in an inclusive
government, our government. We realize these are the last kicks of a dying
horse.

"We obviously are not going to pay much attention to a sunset
administration. Zimbabwe's fate lies in the hands of Zimbabweans. It is the
Zimbabweans who founded this struggle."

Bush paves way for President elect Barrack Obama next month after completing
his second term of office as US President.

British diplomacy on Mugabe is loud and clear

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

December 24, 2008

The FCO have spoken up for the people of Zimbabwe, who have voted clearly
for change
From the Foreign Secretary

Sir, Your news coverage has over many years chronicled the death and
destruction wrought on Zimbabwe by Robert Mugabe and his cohort. Any sane
person realises that Mugabe's misrule is only spurring Zimbabwe's descent
into chaos. But your leading article ("The failure of quiet diplomacy", Dec
22) channelled frustration at his continued abuse of power into an attack on
the FCO without logic, fact or justification.

You rightly say that "words do little to halt cholera". But you are wrong to
protest that the British Government has engaged in "quiet diplomacy". On the
contrary, our words have been consistent, clear and loud. The Prime Minister
and I have spoken up for the people of Zimbabwe, who have voted clearly for
change.

And Lord Malloch-Brown \ could not have been franker when asked about
Zimbabwe on the Today programme this week: Mugabe is an absolutely
impossible obstacle. If Zimbabwe is to haul itself - with the help it needs
and deserves - out of its current meltdown, Mugabe has to go.

You cite the issue of British companies that do business in Zimbabwe. Of the
21 companies you say have been placed on the US Treasury blacklist, the vast
majority are owned by one man. EU-wide action is most effective, and we will
press for this in the new year. We have not argued for a total ban on
business engagement with Zimbabwe, nor for a "fuel blockade". I do not
dismiss this argument but have so far concluded that further direct damage
to the employment and livelihoods of ordinary Zimbabweans would not be
right. The last to feel the effects of such blockades would be Mugabe and
his entourage. Nor has the democratic opposition in Zimbabwe called for such
measures. But we strongly encourage UK companies to ensure that they invest
ethically in Zimbabwe and avoid those investments that prop up the elite
responsible for repressive action and the subversion of the democratic
process.

You also argue for greater action in the UN Security Council. We agree. Last
July the UK called and voted for a sanctions resolution. But this was vetoed
by Russia and China. They must now answer for their approach. Nevertheless
we have persisted in keeping Zimbabwe on the Security Council's agenda, most
recently at the ministerial meeting I attended in New York last week. It is
our strong view that this international crisis requires international
attention, and we will continue to make that case. It is obvious to everyone
that neighbouring states, especially South Africa, have most to lose from
instability in Zimbabwe and most to gain from change. That is why we
continue to emphasise their role and responsibilities and to urge them to
take action.

As long as Mugabe rules Zimbabwe he remains a stain on that country. I
acknowledge that he is also a stain on the international community, which
has not been able to deliver the will of the Zimbabwean people. If attacking
the FCO would help a single Zimbabwean I would understand that might be a
price worth paying. But it does not.

David Miliband

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

Sir, Zimbabwe will remain the shambles it is so long as the talking shop
continues.

Lindsay J. Keith

Hurstpierpoint, W Sussex

Australian Government - Zimbabwe Annex - list of names

This attachment provides details of the changes to the Zimbabwe Annex, as per RBA Media Release 2008-30 (23 December 2008) – 75 persons and 4 entities have been added, 4 persons have been removed, and amendments have been made to 16 entries on the previous list.

ABU BASUTU, Titus M. J., Air Vice Marshal

BONYONGWE, Willa or Willia, Chair Securities Commission

BVUTE, Ozias, CEO / Managing Director of Zimbabwe Cricket

CHAIRUKA, Annie Flora Imagine

CHAPFIKA, Abina, DOB 23/07/1961

CHARAMBA, Rudo Grace, DOB 20/06/1964

CHAWE, McLoud

CHIDARIKIRE, Faber, Governor of Mashonaland West

CHIHURI, Isobel or Isabel Halima, DOB 14/04/74

CHIMEDZA, Paul, Dr

CHINAMASA, Monica, DOB 1950

CHINGOKA, Peter, Head of Zimbabwe Cricket

CHIPWERE, Augustine, Colonial

CHIREMBA, Mirirai, RBZ Financial Intelligence Unit Chief

CHIVAMBA, Kizito, ZANU-PF Provincial Chair, Midlands

CHIWENGA, Jocelyn Mauchaza, DOB 19/5/1955

CHOMBO, Ever, DOB 20/9/1956

CHOMBO, Marian, DOB 11/9/1960

CHURU, Zvinechimwe, CEO, NOCZIM

DINHA, Advocate Martin, Governor of Mashonaland Central

GONO, Hellin Mushanyuri, DOB 6/5/1962

GOWO, Alois, A/g CEO, ZISCO

GURIRA, Cephas T., Colonel

GWEKWERERE, Stephen, Colonel

HUNI, Munyaradzi, “Zimbabwe Herald” journalist

JANGARA, Thomsen Toddie, ZRP Chief Superintendent for Harare South

KACHEPA, Newton, MP elect for Mudzi North

KARAKADZI, Mike Tichafa, Air Vice Marshal

KEREKE, Munyaradzi, Principal Advisor to RBZ Governor Gideon Gono

KHUMALO, Sibangumuzi M. (Sixton), Brigadier General

KWAINONA, Martin, Assistant Commissioner, Zimbabwe Police

KWENDA, R., Major

MABUNDA, Musarahana, Assistant Police Commissioner, Officer Commanding Law and Order division

MADE, Patricia A

MANDIZHA, Albert, General Manager, Grain Marketing Board

MASANGO, Clemence, Chief Immigration Officer

MASHAVA, G., Colonel

MHANDU, Cairo (or Kairo), Major, Zimbabwe National Army

MHONDA, Fidellis, Colonel

MOMBESHORA, Millicent, Division Chief, Head of strategic planning and special projects, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)

MOYO, Gilbert

MOYO, Sibusio Bussie, Brigadier General, Zimbabwe National Army

MPABANGA, S., Lt. Col.

MSIPA, Sharlottie, DOB 6/5/1936

MUCHENA, Henry, Air Vice Marshal

MUCHONO, C., Lt. Col

MUDONHI, Columbus, Assistant Inspector, Zimbabwe Police

MUDZVOVA, Paul, Sergeant

MUGARIRI, Bothwell, Senior Assistant Police commissioner, Officer Commanding Harare Province

MUMBA, Isaac, Superintendent Zimbabwe Police

MUTASA, Gertrude, Colonel

MUTSVUNGUMA, S., Colonel

MZILIKAZI, Morgan, Colonel

NDLOVU, Lindela, Professor

NDLOVU, Rose Jaele, DOB 27/9/1939

NKOMO, Georgina Ngwenya, DOB 4/8/1966

NKOMO, Louise S (a.k.a. NHEMA, Louise Sehulle), DOB 25/8/1964

NYAWANI, Misheck

NYONI, Peter Baka, DOB 10/1/1950

PARIRENYATWA, Choice

PATEL, Bharat, Acting Attorney-General

RANGWANI, Dani, Detective Inspector

RAUTENBACH, Conrad Muller (aka Billy)

RUGEJE, Engelbert Abel, Major General

RUNGANI, Victor T.C., Colonel

RUWODO, Richard, Brigadier General (retired), former acting Permanent Under Secretary at Ministry of Defence

SEKERAMAYI, Tsitsi Chirhuri, DOB 1944

SIBANDA, Chris, Colonel

SIGAUKE, David, Brigadier

SHUNGU, Etherton Shungu, Brigadier

TAKAVARASHA, Tobias, Dr, CEO, Agriculture and Rural Development Authority

TARUMBWA, Nathaniel Charles, Brigadier

VETERAI, Edmore, Senior Assistant Police Commissioner, Officer Commanding Harare

ZHUWAO, Beauty Lily, DOB 10/1/1965

ZVAYI, Caesar, Political and Features Editor, Herald

Total: 75

..................................................................................................................................

Cold Comfort Farm Trust Co-Operative, 7 Cowie Road, Tynald, Harare

Jongwe Printing and Publishing Company, 14 Austin Coventry Rd, Workington, Harare, PO Box 5988, ZANU-PF's publishing arm

ZIDCO Holdings (a.k.a. Zidco Holdings (PVT) Ltd, PO Box 1275, Harare

Zimbabwe Defence Industries (PVT) Ltd, 10th floor, Trustee House, 55 Samora Machel Ave, Harare, PO Box 6597, Harare

Total: 4

..................................................................................................................................

DABENGWA, Dumiso, Former ZANU-PF Politburo Committee Member, DOB 06/12/1939

MAKONI, Simbarashe, Former ZANU-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary-General for Economic Affairs

MANYIKA, Elliott Tapfumanei, Minister without Portfolio and Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for Commissariat

MUTYAMBIZI, Charles, Chair, Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA)

Total: 4

..................................................................................................................................

CHIGUDU, Tinaye Elisha, DOB 13/08/1942, former Provincial Governor, Manicaland

CHIGWEDERE, Aeneas Soko, DOB 25/11/1939, Provincial Governor, Mashonaland East, Former Minister of Education, Sports and Culture

CHIHURI, Augustine, DOB 10/03/1953, Police Commissioner-General

CHIKAURA, Charles, DOB 08/08/1955, CEO, Zimbabwe Development Bank, Chairman, Grain Marketing Board

CHIWEWE, Willard, DOB 19/03/1949, former Provincial Governor, Masvingo

GULA-NDEBELE, Sobuza, DOB 12/08/1954, former Attorney-General

KAUKONDE, Ray Joseph, DOB 04/03/1963, former Provincial Governor of Mashonaland East

MACHAYA, Jaison Max Kokerai, DOB 13/6/1952, Provincial Governor, Midlands, former Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development

MAKWAVARARA, Sekesai, former Mayor of Harare (Zanu-PF)

MALULEKE, Titus Hatlani, Provincial Governor, Masvingo, former Deputy Minister of Education, Sport and Culture

MASAWI, Ephraim Sango, former Provincial Governor,Mashonaland Central, ZANU-PF Politburo Deputy Secretary for Information and Publicity

MSIPA, Cephas George, DOB 07/07/1931, former Provincial Governor, Midlands

MUSHOHWE, Christopher Chindoti, DOB 06/02/1954, Provincial Governor, Manicaland, former Minister of Transport and Communication

NDLOVU, Sikhanyiso Duke, DOB 04/05/1937, former Minister for Information and Publicity, Zanu-PF Politburo Secretary for Education (former Deputy Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education)

NKOMO, John Landa, DOB 22/08/1934, former Speaker of Parliament, Chairman of ZANU-PF

SAMKANGE, Nelson Tapera Crispin, former Provincial Governor, Mashonaland West

Total: 16 

China blasts media reporting of Zimbabwe arms scandal

From Reuters, 23 December

Beijing - China on Tuesday denounced unspecified western media for
misinterpreting a UN report that implicated China in a Zimbabwe-Congo arms
scandal. The report by a UN group of experts on arms trade restrictions on
the Democratic Republic of the Congo said that country re-exported more than
50 tons of ammunition to Zimbabwe earlier this year. The group also said
that arms it believed originated in China had been flown into Congo, where
factional violence has raged in the East for years, from Sudan. "Some
western media distorted related contents in the report of an UN experts
group and framed China for selling weapons to Zimbabwe through Congo,"
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on the ministry website.
"It's a complete fabrication with ulterior intentions," he said. "Once you
read the report seriously, you can find that the criticism is totally
baseless." The five-person UN group said that the ammunition sent to
Zimbabwe must have first been imported into Congo but did not specifically
say it had come from China. A controversy erupted in April over a shipment
of Chinese arms for landlocked Zimbabwe that South African port workers
refused to unload. There were conflicting reports over where the arms ended
up. Zimbabwe is not under UN sanctions.

Bill Watch 50 of 21st December 2008 [Parliament wraps up for the year]

Free MDC activists or I quit - Tsvangirai

From Business Day (SA), 23 December

Harare Correspondent

Zimbabwe's security chiefs are under pressure to release more than 40
abducted and detained opposition activists after an ultimatum issued by main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
that he would pull out of power-sharing talks if they were not released.
Security sources said yesterday that the government of President Robert
Mugabe was likely to take the MDC activists to court soon. The activists
were reportedly abducted by suspected state security agents in recent weeks
after allegations that the opposition, with the backing of Botswana's
government, was training insurgents to overthrow the Mugabe regime. The
police have denied responsibility.

Tsvangirai said: "This situation can no longer continue. The MDC can no
longer sit at the same negotiating table with a party that is abducting our
members, and other innocent civilians, and refusing to produce any of them
before a court of law. Therefore, if these abductions do not cease
immediately, and if all the abductees are not released or charged in a court
of law by January 1 2009, I will be asking the MDC's national council to
pass a resolution to suspend all negotiations and contact with Zanu PF.
There can be no meaningful talks while a campaign of terror is being waged
against our people," he warned. An intelligence source said: "After
Tsvangirai's statement, Mugabe and his security advisers have been
scrambling to find a solution to the abductions crisis. They have agreed the
abducted people would appear in court this week." But Mugabe and his
security advisers did not know how to handle the issue as these people had
been held illegally for weeks and months.

Meanwhile, the stalled power-sharing agreement came under renewed strain
yesterday after western powers said it was unacceptable for Mugabe to remain
president. Although the MDC is committed to a deal allowing Mugabe to stay
on as president with Tsvangirai as prime minister, the US and Britain said
Mugabe had to leave office. Britain's Africa minister, Mark Malloch-Brown
said: "Power sharing isn't dead, but Mugabe has become an absolute
impossible obstacle to achieving it. He's so distrusted by all sides that I
think the Americans are absolutely right, he's going to have to step aside,"
Malloch-Brown told the BBC. "Either his people around him, or political
allies, or people he's in contact with in neighbouring countries, really
have to go to him in one of those famous political delegations and say, 'You've
got to go'".

Malloch-Brown's comments came a day after US Assistant Secretary of State
for Africa Jendayi Frazer said Washington would not restore aid to the
cholera-wracked country unless Mugabe stood down. "We were prepared to use
the American influence to negotiate with the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund to clear the $1,2bn Zimbabwe debt, but now we
are no longer prepared to do that," Frazer told reporters on a visit to SA.
We have lost confidence in a legitimate power-sharing being viable with
Mugabe as president," Frazer said. Malloch-Brown said: "He has lost touch
with reality." Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed the power-sharing agreement in
September, but the deal has not got off the ground because of fierce
disagreements over who will have control of key institutions, such as the
home affairs department and the central bank. United Nations experts warned
yesterday that about 5,5-million, or about half the population of Zimbabwe,
could be in need of food aid, and they called for international help to be
stepped up.

In search of hope in Zimbabwe politics

http://www.iol.co.za

    December 23 2008 at 12:47PM

By Brian Raftopoulos

Writing about Zimbabwe at the end of 2008 largely induces dystopic
imagery. State violence, hunger, Aids, a devastated economy, cholera, an
opposition under siege and a battered population characterised by a
debilitating deracination, make it difficult to imagine a hopeful future.

The brief glimmer of expectation that was palpable at the September 15
signing of the Global Political Agreement, by Zanu-PF and the two Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) factions, to form a unity government, is barely
alive, struggling to maintain its relevance.

Caught between an authoritarian state, a regional mediation strategy
desperate to maintain some self-respect, an increasingly bellicose
international voice and an opposition almost frozen by diminishing options,
the space for a positive political outcome is shrinking.

It is not surprising that the SADC mediation has been blocked over
disagreement about the security sector.

The Mugabe regime long ago lost its capacity to provide basic health,
social and educational services for Zimbabweans, and the cataclysmic decline
in the economy has led to the destruction of livelihoods and massive
displacement of people that has threatened the survival of many.

Violence

Since the 1980s, Mugabe's government has engaged in systematic state
violence against the population.

This reliance on coercion for survival is a central fact that is
largely absent from prominent African scholar Mahmood Mamdani's
ill-conceived attempt to defend the Mugabe regime in a recent issue of the
London Review of Books.

The regime's preoccupation with holding on to the security apparatus
in the negotiations with the MDC is tied to its real fear that the opening
up of political spaces will threaten its future.

Because of the continuing crisis in Zimbabwe, the growth of economic
refugees from the country has also placed an enormous strain on other
southern African countries, and the cholera epidemic has added to Zimbabwe's
growing threat to the region.

Characteristically, Mugabe's spokesman has blamed the cholera crisis
on the West. In the twisted logic of Zanu-PF's authoritarian nationalism,
this health crisis represents an attempt by Western countries to inflict a
bio-political genocide on the country.

Zanu-PF is once again refusing any accountability for its negligence
and culpability for the health and economic crisis.

Moreover Zanu-PF has combined this strategy with a renewed attempt to
paint the MDC as a terrorist organisation, supported by neighbouring
Botswana.

The biological warfare and the insurrection scenarios are presented as
extensions of a regime-change strategy by the West.

Thus even as the West has called for the UN to become more involved in
dealing with the Zimbabwean crisis, on the basis of the widespread
humanitarian disaster and the Zimbabwean state's incapacity to protect its
citizens, the Mugabe regime has responded by seeking to re-energise regional
solidarity against the purported threat of a Western-inspired regime change
strategy.

And Zanu-PF has once again unleashed a campaign of violence against
members of Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC and the civic movement.

The Zimbabwean state is thus both manifestly visible in the heightened
rhetoric against its enemies and clandestine in its murderous assaults on
the opposition.

To force Zanu-PF to cede more ground in the political negotiations,
the MDC is relying on two strategies.

First an attempt to marginalise the SADC mediation because of its
distrust of Thabo Mbeki and, second, a concerted effort to push for stronger
UN involvement in the Zimbabwean problem.

This pits the MDC against the present efforts of the SADC to save the
Mbeki mediation. The challenge of such a strategy is that the MDC must still
face the prospect that any agreement on Zimbabwe will have to be secured and
guaranteed through the SADC, and that its long-term survival as a party in
southern Africa will also depend on developing a sustainable relationship
with the region.

It is unlikely at this point that the SADC will cede its authority
over the mediation process, especially since it believes that the Global
Political Agreement and Amendment 19 provide a sufficient basis for moving
the situation forward in Zimbabwe.

There is also a longer term problem in moving away from the SADC
mediation in the present context.

The recent discontent displayed by the lower ranks of the military in
the streets of Harare points to the growing disparity of income and
accumulation within the army.

As the lower ranks have experienced the impoverishment of the
populace, the army elite has continued to establish its own networks of
accumulation and, with this, the will to deploy any force to protect such
networks. The violence on the diamond mines in Marange in the east of the
country is evidence of this.

Threat

The stage is thus set in Zimbabwe for the army elite to control such
enclaves of wealth, through war if necessary, to protect these sites of
wealth accumulation.

Calls for an armed intervention in Zimbabwe will exacerbate this
threat of violence, and as we learn from other such struggles in Africa,
peace and democratisation do not follow such violence.

With all its problems, the SADC mediation remains the best point of
entry to prevent a further deterioration in Zimbabwe.

The regional body should certainly be pressurised to look again at the
balance of power arrangements in the Global Political Agreement.

Mbeki's position needs to be complemented with other mediation forces
considered less biased towards the Mugabe regime.

However, any strategy that does not have the buy-in of the regional
states, and fails to deal with the reality of the balance of coercive power
in Zimbabwe, is likely to set the stage for more instability within the
country.

The likely alternative to a failed mediation is that the Mugabe regime
will call another election in 2009, intensify its violence against the
opposition and civil society, and preside over the further devastation of
the country.

* Brian Raftopoulos is director of research and advocacy in the
Solidarity Peace Trust.

This article was originally published on page 9 of Daily News on
December 23, 2008

'There is still hope for Zimbabwe'

SCENARIOS - What next in Zimbabwe's political crisis?

http://www.politicsweb.co.za

MacDonald Dzirutwe
23 December 2008

Here are possible scenarios in Zimbabwe's political crisis.

HARARE, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe dismissed U.S.
President George W. Bush on Tuesday as a "dying horse" after the United
States said it could no longer support a Harare government that includes him
[nLN410883].

Here are possible scenarios in Zimbabwe's political crisis.

WHAT IS MUGABE LIKELY TO DO? Mugabe says he has invited Tsvangirai to be
sworn-in as prime minister and is expected to name his 15 ministers
allocated under a stalled September power-sharing deal. By pressuring a
reluctant Tsvangirai to join a government, Mugabe may be trying to portray
his old foe as a spoiler.

WHAT CAN WEST DO IF DEADLOCK CONTINUES?

The United States has said it will no longer support a government that
includes Mugabe and Britain has said Mugabe will have to step down if any
power-sharing government is to succeed. Washington had been poised to help
rescue Zimbabwe's collapsing economy as soon as the deal was implemented,
including possible relief on $1.2 billion in debt to international
institutions and the easing of sanctions. But Mugabe remains defiant and the
West has little leverage over Zimbabwe.

His Western foes can continue to withhold desperately needed aid critical to
ending an economic and humanitarian catastrophe worsened by a cholera
epidemic. Western countries will likely apply more targeted sanctions
against those propping up Mugabe, but such measures have failed to weaken
the 84-year-old leader in power since independence from Britain in 1980.

WHAT CAN REGIONAL COUNTRIES DO?

The 15-countries in regional bloc SADC are better placed to apply pressure
on Mugabe but critics say they lack the resolve to take strong action.

South Africa, the continent's biggest economy, has the most influence. It is
Zimbabwe's main economic partner. Most of Zimbabwe's fuel comes through
South Africa. South Africa is also a key source of electricity. Botswana and
Zambia have taken a tough line against Mugabe. But other SADC countries are
still awed by Mugabe's history as a liberation fighter and he has
capitalised on this.

Mugabe says they lack the courage to use military force against his
government.

WHAT IF MUGABE FORMS A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT THE OPPOSITION?

The power-sharing deal would almost collapse and Mugabe is seen calling for
fresh elections as it would be difficult to run a government without a
parliamentary majority. Analysts say Mugabe would form a government without
the MDC to force the opposition to pull out and blame it for the collapse of
the deal. Tsvangirai's MDC has said it would quit the talks if what it said
were abductions and attacks on its members continued.

WHAT HAPPENS IF A DEAL IS STRUCK SOON?

If Mugabe and Tsvangirai agree on a unity government regional countries are
expected to mobilise an economic rescue package. Many impoverished
Zimbabweans hope a unity government would start an economic recovery. Many
investors hope a government with Tsvangirai as prime minister would wrest
enough control from Mugabe to reverse policies they blame for the country's
economic meltdown. A government without donor support would be doomed.

LIVING CONDITIONS

Zimbabweans were hoping for a new leadership that can rescue the economy.
Instead, hardships are deepening. Food, fuel and foreign currency are
scarce. Hyper-inflation means prices double every day and the United Nations
says a cholera epidemic has killed more than 1,100 people. Unemployment is
80 percent. Millions have fled to South Africa and neighbouring countries in
search of work and food, straining regional economies.

Bleak Christmas for Zimbabweans as Child Malnutrition Soars

http://www.voanews.com

By Peta Thornycroft
23 December 2008

A key Western charity in Zimbabwe says the level of child malnutrition is
rising, while the United Nations says half the country's population needs
emergency food aid and its stocks of food will last only a few more weeks,
and at the same time Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic may worsen.

According to Save the Children U.K., child malnutrition in Zimbabwe is
increasing as the emergency food aid pipeline falters.

Acute child malnutrition in parts of Zimbabwe has increased by almost
two-thirds compared with last year, according to Save the Children.

Many areas of Zimbabwe are not well monitored, but Save the Children has
long been involved in the Binga district on the edge of Lake Kariba in
northwest Zimbabwe.

Chronic, long-term malnutrition in Binga district has increased to 50
percent from a year ago, and about one-third of the children under age five
are underweight due to acute malnutrition.

Save the Children said the new statistics reinforce growing concern that
emergency supplies into Zimbabwe are faltering, because not enough food is
being donated by the international community.

Save the Children is supplying emergency food aid in Binga using supplies
brought into the country by the World Food Program.  But the U.N. agency
says it is 18,000 tons short of the food needed for January, leaving it with
only half the amount it needs for the month. Supplies for February and March
are even less certain.

Save the Children in Zimbabwe Program Director Lynn Walker said in areas the
group serves some children are wasting away from lack of food. She says
compared with last year indications are that things are significantly worse.

Walker said Save the Children has cut rations to families and this will get
worse early next year unless the West donates urgently and the World Food
Program gets food moving into Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, several Western doctors, including at least one American, who
went into Zimbabwe last week to assist with the cholera epidemic say they
had to flee after being harassed by Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence
Organization.

More than 1,100 people have died and at least 20,000 have been infected with
easily preventable cholera. The United Nations says 60,000 could be infected
during the current summer rains because Zimbabwe's health system has
collapsed.

Rains, travel could spread Zimbabwe cholera

http://africa.reuters.com

Tue 23 Dec 2008, 14:51 GMT

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The onset of Zimbabwe's rainy season and an
increase in the number of travellers over Christmas could spread a cholera
epidemic that has already killed nearly 1,200 people, the Red Cross said on
Tuesday.

The outbreak of cholera has worsened the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and
brought renewed calls from Western leaders for veteran President Robert
Mugabe to step down.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies -- the
world's largest disaster relief network -- appealed for over 10 million
Swiss francs ($9.2 million) to boost its operations in Zimbabwe.

Health care and water sanitation systems have collapsed.

"We are just entering the rainy season, that's one additional factor which
could really make the epidemic worse. Then at the end of the year, the
populations are moving and staff is less at work, this is another factor,"
said Dominique Praplan, who heads the Federation's health department.

The organisation estimated that hundreds of thousands of people could be
travelling over the holiday.

Cholera is highly contagious but treatable. Boiling water and frequent hand
washing can help stop it spreading. Patients require oral rehydration salts.
The worst cases, with severe diarrhoea and vomiting, need intravenous
fluids.

Cholera has now spread to all 10 provinces, infecting 23,712 people and
killing 1,174 of them since August, according to the latest figures from the
U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).

"The cholera is spreading. We have an extremely high case mortality rate,
exceptionally high," said Peter Rees, head of the Federation's operations
support department.

"We anticipate it could get worse which is why we are deploying these very,
very large resources to try and get the epidemic under control," he told a
news briefing in Geneva.

Roeland Monasch, acting head of UNICEF in Zimbabwe, said that only 60
percent of the water carried by Harare's distribution system is reaching
households because of leaks and broken pipes.

Garbage had not been removed for months in many areas, drawing flies which
are a major risk factor for contamination, he said by telephone from Harare.

"Children play run around in the garbage, that's part of the reason why we
are cleaning up the garbage. Children run around mountains of garbage," he
said. (Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

Cholera deaths near Johannesburg as cholera continues to spread

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
23 December 2008

As the cholera outbreak continues to rage out of control in Zimbabwe, the
spread of the disease is becoming more pronounced, with new deaths being
reported in the South African province surrounding Johannesburg.

The disease has already left its mark in Zimbabwe's neighbouring country,
but until recently the disease had been fairly limited to the Limpopo
province, with the border town Musina being worst affected. Hundreds of sick
and desperate Zimbabweans have crossed the border in an attempt to receive
the critical treatment lacking in Zimbabwe and at least eight deaths have
been reported at the border's treatment facility so far.

But the disease is now spreading further into South Africa, with the third
reported death in the Gauteng province over the weekend. Gauteng, home to
both the economic centre of Johannesburg and the national capital of
Pretoria, now has 21 positively identified cases of cholera, with the
heaviest concentration reported to be in the Johannesburg area. The city is
the favoured destination for Zimbabwean migrants, and the new cholera deaths
have prompted fears of a serious outbreak there.

Meanwhile new cholera cases have been reported in other parts of the Limpopo
province, including Botlokwa, Madimbo, Dilokong and Knobel. Musina recorded
15 new cases since Sunday, bringing the total number of suspected cases
treated in the area to 909, with five patients still in hospital. Botlokwa
meanwhile has reported 18 new cases while 11 were recorded in Madimbo. A
total of 23 cases were also reported in Dilokong, with 42 people being
treated in hospital. The town of Knobel had three new cases, which brings
the number of suspected cases in the area to 49.

As the year end approaches, there are now concerns that there could be
further outbreaks over the Christmas holidays, when Zimbabweans who live in
South Africa return home to visit relatives, perhaps risking infection and
the further spread of the disease. At the same time, there are reports that
Musina is at 'breaking point' because of the high number of Zimbabweans
still fleeing their homes. It's believed an estimated 1000 Zimbabweans are
living on the streets of Musina in deplorable conditions, while at least 300
applications for asylum are being made each day.

More pressure builds on Mugabe to step down

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
23 December 2008

Former staunch supporters of Robert Mugabe have joined a chorus of world and
church leaders calling on him to step down, as the country sinks deeper into
the grips of a humanitarian crisis.

Both the Americans and the British have said Mugabe needs to step down for
any power-sharing government deal to succeed, and now one of Mugabe's former
supporters in the Mbeki government in South Africa has urged SADC states to
halt supplies of commodities to Zimbabwe, to force political change.

Mosiuoa Lekota is the former ANC chairman and defence minister. He is now
the leader of the new Congress of the People (COPE), a party formed by
dissident members of the ruling ANC.

His statement will come as a surprise to many observers, especially from a
man who is close to Mbeki, the SADC mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis.

Political analyst Isaac Dziya said Mugabe has lost all sense of reality but
because of his arrogance and intransigence he will still refuse to step
down.

'Mugabe has in effect become the very worst enemy of Zimbabwe and not the
British or the United States. He's arrogant and intransigent and lives
chronically in denial. He's never even made an effort to visit cholera
victims,' Dziya said.

British Minister for Africa, Mark Malloch Brown, explained that while the
power-sharing deal wasn't dead, Mugabe had become an absolute impossible
obstacle to achieving it.  Referring to a call this week by United States
Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer for Mugabe to step down to clear
a path for the deal to go ahead, Malloch Brown added: 'The Americans are
absolutely right -- he is going to have to step aside.'
Malloch Brown offered a grim picture of the never-ending crisis by saying he
doubted Mugabe would go willingly, and that offering him immunity from
prosecution could be difficult.

The deadlock between Mugabe and Tsvangirai has held up any chance of ending
the spiraling crisis in the country, where the spreading cholera epidemic
has killed more than 1000 people and food, cash and fuel are in short
supply. Analysts describe the situation in the country as being in the
'final death throes.'
A United Nations human rights expert added her voice to the growing calls
for Mugabe to go by describing him as 'a mad dictator' who has 'lost all
sense of reality'.
Jean Ziegler, an adviser to the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, told a Swiss
radio station that the only way Mugabe can be removed from power is for
Europe to convince his 'great protector South Africa' to withdraw all
support for him.
In Australia, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, has said the state of
affairs in Zimbabwe has gone from catastrophic to perilous, but stopped
short of endorsing a call by the former premier Malcolm Fraser to cut off
the country's electricity in an attempt to force Mugabe to step down.

Fraser had said the situation was so desperate, the country's neighbours
must use all means, short of declaring war, to force change - and this was
just a day after ANC President Jacob Zuma said he could no longer call
Mugabe a comrade.

The churches have also been increasingly vocal in their criticism and this
week the Catholic Church in the region called on South President Kgalema
Motlanthe to cut off electricity and fuel supplies to Zimbabwe
In a statement issued by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, the Southern African
Catholic Bishops' Conference said Motlanthe should force Mugabe to leave
office because talks aimed at forming a Zimbabwean unity government have
failed.
Napier also said the government should immediately freeze any assets held by
Mugabe and "his cronies" in South Africa.
This call by the church came just a week after an Anglican bishop called
Mugabe a 21st century Adolf Hitler and demanded that he be removed from
power.
With the power-sharing process on hold, imminent change is unlikely unless
the regional power house South Africa decides to toughen its stance on
Mugabe. Analysts have said that cutting off electricity and blocking fuel
supplies to Zimbabwe would mean that Mugabe would be gone in a week.

Why invasion of Zimbabwe is a very real option

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/grantwalliser/2008/12/22/why-invasion-of-zimbabwe-is-a-very-real-option/

Grant Walliser

Here is the thing with Mbeki's fabled "quiet diplomacy": it has not, does
not and will not work.

While Mbeki and his simpering entourage of struggle buddies have been
donning their Armani suits and hopping north on their private jets for the
last few years, Zimbabwe has steadily accelerated into anarchy under their
entrusted watch. As a result of their cronyism and morally corrupt
incompetence, we are now getting a small taste of what a failed state on our
border is all about.

We have already been subjected to massive illegal immigration from Zimbabwe
during the reign of the laughable, Hitleresque buffoon in Harare. It has
placed massive strain on our already strained facilities from hospitals to
police stations, schools to roads and jobs. While a manageable number of
immigrants work hard and add to the economy, an unmanageable number of such
immigrants form a desperate human tsunami, swamping the possible good that
controlled immigration could offer, leaving destruction in its wake.

It is happening right now on our northern borders. Thousands of people are
daily trying to join the millions already here. Massive illegal immigration
is creating a refugee crisis that we South Africans can not hope to cope
with on our own.

In addition, we now have to deal with a cholera epidemic that is almost
certainly going to cross the Limpopo and start infecting and killing South
African citizens. We have to deal with refugees that have no option but to
turn to crime in order to feed themselves. We have to deal with an
international perception that regionally groups us together with Zimbabwe
and judges us by their actions. Those that know better have noted our
inability to provoke change up north and lump us together anyway. Frankly,
we deserve it.

Why are we in this position? We are here because nobody in charge of our
country bothered to take the threat seriously when it was obvious what was
coming. The media and opposition parties have been hammering on about this
fairly obvious outcome for years now. So endless were the warnings and the
horror stories that they have faded out into background noise. The ANC
government's response has been to respect the sovereignty of Zimbabwe,
respect the leadership of Zimbabwe and respect the rights of those leaders
to travel and visit our country and be greeted on the tarmac.

By mutual exclusion, their response has also been to disrespect the wishes
of the people of Zimbabwe who did not vote these thugs into power, to
disrespect the rules of law and democracy when the sham elections were
hammered into shape by Zanu-PF militia and to disrespect the human rights of
farmers, farm workers and millions of hungry Zimbabweans. People were beaten
and murdered and had their generations of work, their jobs and lives
destroyed and were doomed to starvation. We stood by and watched and then we
sickeningly prevented the world from taking any kind of action in the UN and
ratified their elections.

Seven hundred thousand people were bulldozed out of their homes. That makes
Sophiatown and District Six look like a joke, yet how raw are those wounds?
We stood by and did nothing and said nothing. Intimidation, beatings and
killings are commonplace in Zimbabwe today. There is no free press. There is
barely an economy. There is almost no food being produced. There are no
viable hospitals. There is no free trade. Our leaders chose to ignore this
whilst maintaining the respect for those who are in charge of this
diabolical mess.

It is now obvious that without intervention, nothing concrete is going to
change in Zimbabwe. Since quiet diplomacy has now thankfully died and gone
to bunnyland where it belonged all along, what are the options?

There is, to be blunt, only one option: Zimbabwe needs to have the results
of the last contested election enforced. The MDC needs to take power as per
the election mandate given by Zimbabwe's long-suffering people. The MDC will
then have to get foreign support; an embarrassing necessity for yet another
African disaster imposed on Africans by Africans.

Blaming the West's actions a hundred years ago and hiding behind some
colonial, racial excuse is simply bull. The country was more than viable
when Mugabe took over. He had the hopes of the world with him. He killed
those hopes along with his own people. It is his fault. It is Zanu-PF's
fault. It is not Tony Blair's fault. It is not Britain's fault. A Zimbabwean
born, Zimbabwean bred, Zimbabwean megalomaniac has destroyed Zimbabwe. That
is the hard, cold truth.

The stability of the region and the upholding of democratic principles and
human rights demand change there in a voice so loud that it can now not be
ignored.

It is also obvious that this will not happen without some kind of real
pressure being imposed on the Mugabe regime to step down. It is also clear
that any kind of power sharing deal is simply a joke and will be dominated
by Mugabe. This will have dire consequences for Zimbabwe and for its
neighbours. There would be no credibility; nothing would really change and
quite frankly, Zimbabwe has spoken and they don't want him any more.

So, since Zimbabweans and the vast majority of SADC's people all want the
same thing, why not implement the following:

One month from now, with the blessing of SADC and the UN, a repentant and
suitably humbled South Africa should lead a coalition comprising a
significant peace keeping force into Zimbabwe to stabilise the situation
there. It should constitute representative troops from every SADC country
and any AU country that can spare them. Negotiations should ensure as much
prior compliance with the security apparatus and the military of Zimbabwe as
possible to prevent open fighting. It is quite likely that under the current
climate in Zimbabwe, the military leaders would be happy to make a deal to
save their own complicit skins and abandon Mugabe completely at the threat
of large-scale, unified military action from multiple states.

The peace keeping force should initially centre in Harare and Bulawayo, and
offer protection to the MDC with a mandate to allow the party to take full
governmental control of Zimbabwe, starting with those two cities. If Mugabe
does not stand down, he should be captured, arrested and tried. If he does
stand down, he should be arrested and tried. Why should he be afforded any
kind of leniency? People with far shorter rap sheets are waiting in line at
the International Criminal Court. He would fit in perfectly. His "struggle
credentials" are now a joke. His motives for "struggling" were quite clearly
for self-enrichment and the pursuit of absolute personal power. He is an
embarrassment to actual struggle heroes and should be exposed as such.

Why has it become necessary to take such radical action? Should we not keep
talking? Is military intervention ethically justified? Is this simply an
emotional reaction that upon closer scrutiny will prove to be a bad
decision?

Contrary to popular belief, governments of countries do not invade other
countries for humanitarian reasons. It is often sugarcoated in this way to
appeal to the electorate, a fundamentally emotionally charged mass of voters
with no real interest in the gritty details of rule or national strategy.
There need to be some very real benefits to the invading countries to
necessitate such action. The NATO bombing of Serbia, the US-led coalition
invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the US backed invasion of South Ossetia
are all recent examples of action taken purely for overwhelmingly strategic
reasons. They were all coated in humanitarian sugar and in some cases there
may have even been beneficial humanitarian spin-offs after the fighting and
bombing stopped. Strategic gain, however, dominated the decision to invade
in all cases.

Going to war is a huge decision and should not be taken lightly, but
sometimes the options just run dry. As safe as talking is, it is has proven
totally ineffective. SADC have a number of important strategic reasons to
validate this action in addition to the compelling humanitarian necessity:

. Invasion for peace keeping reasons would almost certainly have
overwhelming international and UN support should South Africa and SADC back
the plan. The world is horrified by what is going on in Zimbabwe. The world
is further horrified by the South African reaction and lack of condemnation.
We are seen as complicit at best. We need to redeem our image in the eyes of
the world with concrete action and earn back our respect.

. The regional stability of SADC is threatened. The worse things get in
Zimbabwe, the worse things get for SADC countries. The quality of life of
all SADC citizens is directly affected by the decline of Zimbabwe. Foreign
investment in these lean times will be harder to come by as a result of
Zimbabwean catalysed regional instability and the resulting poor image
projected abroad. Refugees place enormous strain on the countries receiving
them. Zimbabwe's leadership is dragging us all down during difficult times.
We need to stop the rot now.

. The physical well-being, safety and security of the citizens of South
Africa is under direct threat from Zimbabwean refugees who are exporting
cholera and crime into our country as a result of the collapse of their
country. This poses a threat to our own domestic stability. Recent riots and
killings are the tip of the potential xenophobic iceberg that will only
become visible when the real tsunami hits. It is the mandate of government
to protect our citizens from external and internal threat. Zimbabwe is now
both. Action needs to be taken. Talking has clearly not worked.

. South Africa is funding the crisis in Zimbabwe directly with taxpayers'
money. We are paying for food aid for starving Zimbabweans. We are
supporting millions of Zimbabwean refugees. We are exporting desperately
needed electricity, providing urgent and expensive healthcare and we are
allocating our resources to prop up an impotent mediation process. We have
allowed Mugabe to destroy the economic benefits of a flourishing trading
partner on our border. Zimbabwe's ruin is costing us big money that we need
for our own people. There is therefore a huge economic imperative for
instituting regime change in Zimbabwe.

. Mugabe has begun to dismantle the working structure of the MDC, kidnapping
activists and party figures. If he is successful, there will soon be no
viable party to replace Zanu-PF. Removal of Mugabe under those conditions
will either be impossible or create a power vacuum and almost certainly a
civil war. Mugabe knows that invasion will be forced down the list of
options if there is no viable replacement for his government. It is
therefore critical to act quickly before he has more time to achieve this
objective. The MDC is intact, has been voted into power, is ready to rule
and can hardly do any worse than ZANU-PF. It is imperative that they get the
chance before they are structurally incapable of doing so.

. It is in South Africa's local and international interest to project our
regional power in a globally acceptable and benevolent but firm way. If we
do not do this and somebody else does, Nigeria for example, that country
will become the conduit for international negotiation and the gateway to
Africa. The benefits of being the portal country to a massive region cannot
be underestimated in the context of our foreign policy strategy. We are in a
unique position to project an image of a country that upholds universal
human rights and democracy - good power. That image landed us 2010. We have
not done much in recent years to improve this image, choosing rather to drag
it through the filth and dump it in the trash. This is our chance to put
things right and gain friends in high places.

. The timing of military action in Zimbabwe could not be better. The
Zimbabwean military is unpaid and morale is therefore low. The crisis is
getting major international media and condemnation of Mugabe and Zanu-PF is
universal. Mbeki has been replaced in South Africa and would provide the
ideal scapegoat for our previous indiscretions. Zuma needs a huge boost to
his popularity and image both locally and internationally. It is a risk but
should it pay off, he will instantly be known as the saviour of Zimbabwe and
much less as the corruption king of South Africa.

. Regime change in Zimbabwe is as inevitable as the fall of apartheid was.
The sooner it happens, the sooner the rebuilding will begin and the decline
will end. The longer we wait, the longer it will take to rebuild Zimbabwe
and the greater the problems that we will have to deal with here in South
Africa. We have wasted enough time already.

The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the security of our country and
the well being of our citizens are increasingly coming under threat from the
north. As well as having serious humanitarian reasons for catalysing regime
change in Zimbabwe, there are some very compelling strategic reasons to do
so as well. Those compelling strategic reasons should result in concrete
action.

The time for talking is over. The time to act is now.

Mugabe does not negotiate. He manipulates, murders, tortures, lies and
steals. We have put up with him for long enough. We do not need any more
proof. We need a new neighbour. We need a new neighbour now.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm

Bras for Zimbabwe

http://www.westender.com.au/

Australia Lingerie Company Supplies Much Needed Underwear for African Women
HOTmilk Lingerie, international maternity and nursing lingerie label, is
sending a very special gift of underwear to help lower the rate of sexual
abuse amongst young women living in villages in Zimbabwe.

HOTmilk is assisting former Zimbabwean Morag Roy, who returned to her home
in Australia from a recent trip determined to help the local communities in
Zimbabwe in a very unusual way.

Roy discovered that sexual abuse of young girls was rampant in that country
and asked a priest what the girls needed most to prevent this happening.
"He told me that underwear gives a woman prestige, shows that they have
money and means men are less likely to assault them," said Roy.  "I was
amazed but when I flew back six months later with suitcases stuffed with
bras I saw first hand what a difference it made."

During the trip, Roy also found that most of the young girls and mothers
there only had one ragged pair of knickers each, so often wore none.  "They
also desperately need knickers, but I guess a Catholic priest wouldn't have
thought about mentioning that!" said Roy.

HOTmilk learnt of the cause and were determined to lend a hand.  "Sometimes
we can take a lot for granted, from the roofs over heads right down to the
fact we own underwear," says HOTmilk co-owner and co-designer Ange Crosbie.
"When we heard that something as simple as undergarments had the possibility
of giving young women in Zimbabwe a better chance to live a life free of
sexual abuse, we knew that we wanted to help."

"Morag had done such a great job in gathering thousands of bras for her
cause and we were delighted to donate 6,500 brand new pairs of underwear for
her project," said Crosbie.  The company's freight forwarder, Express
Logistics, were also happy to come to the party by sponsoring the transport
of the knickers from New Zealand to Zimbabwe.

"Express Logistics is a New Zealand based international freight forwarding
company.  Because we deal with the rest of the world on a daily basis we are
pleased to offer our assistance in this worthy venture," says Account
Manager Kim Herewini.

"It is so wonderful to hear that HOTmilk and Express Logistics wanted to get
involved," said Roy.  "It just proves that there are companies out there who
care about others and are willing to do what they can to make a small
difference."

Crosbie is anxiously waiting to receive a positive response from Zimbabwe
through Roy.