Radio Netherlands
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by our Internet desk, 2 December
2003 | |
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In the same league?
Nigeria´s
President
Olusegun Obasanjo and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert
Mugabe | |
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| | As Nigeria prepares to
host this week's Commonwealth Summit, human rights groups are questioning its
right to preside over a democratic meeting.
Human Rights Watch accuses the Abuja government of torture and murder, and
says any opposition faces the threat of violent intimidation.
The US-based group finds it hypocritical that the Commonwealth has remained
virtually silent about election violence in Nigeria, while excluding Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe for a second year running for similar abuses.
So
is Nigeria equally reprehensible? The two countries have different patterns of
abuse, says political analyst Akin Sawyer in this interview with Radio
Netherlands:
"In my view, the Zimbabwean government has obviously been involved in a
degree of what I wouldn't call ethnic cleansing, but certainly the uprooting of
white farmers in Zimbabwe and violently so. That represents in itself a level of
human rights abuse that goes beyond standard violations. [...] The policy of the
Zimbabwean government has been precisely that."
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Starting
on Friday, the two-day summit of Commonwealth heads of government looks set to
be dominated by the punitive suspension of Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe has been barred from the grouping since 2002 following
allegations that he rigged his own re-election. The issue has split the
Commonwealth into two camps, with Britain and Australia leading the anti-Mugabe
front and South Africa and Nigeria seeking a softer line.
For his part, the Zimbabwean president has threatened to quit the
Commonwealth
altogether. | | | "However, the abuses
that have come to light in Nigeria cannot necessarily be put down to government
policy, and indeed the government in Abuja should take a view at investigating
some of the specific allegations and bringing the perpetrators to book."
"In reference to political violence, we see the same difference emerge, with
the political violence perpetrated by the ruling party in Zimbabwe being quite
different from the violence perpetuated by all sides in Nigeria. So, again we
have the government on the one hand and individuals or multi-party violence on
the other."
RN: "Do you think Nigeria can host the Commonwealth conference with a
clear conscience?"
"I guess if we were to look at most of the Commonwealth countries, how
many could we single out and say there is absolutely no human rights violations
taking place or any other abuses that governments should take accountability
for? I guess if we are looking for a whiter-than-white squeaky clean countries
to host the Commonwealth conference, we might struggle to find that many with an
absolutely clear conscience."
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While
European Union and US observers reported serious fraud and violence in Nigeria's
elections in April, the Commonwealth's own team of election watchers gave them a
clean bill of health.
On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch released a damning report detailing a series
of killings, arrests, detentions and torture allegedly carried out by or with
the tacit consent of President Olusegun Obasanjo's supporters in the security
services.
In addition, the report cites evidence of a renewed spate of attacks on
journalists, in what it sees as a coordinated attempt to muzzle the
media. | | | RN: "Is Nigeria at
fault for not inviting President Robert Mugabe and what will the result be of
deciding to bar him?"
"Well, as you know, the Commonwealth is a club of nations and the fact
that Nigeria happens to be hosting this particular conference doesn't
necessarily mean that Nigeria has absolute right over who is able to attend.
Yes, Nigeria may very well like to invite Robert Mugabe, but as host of the
club, I guess they would have to take into account the views of the other
countries. That is what may well be reason why the Zimbabwean president has not
been invited to this year's Commonwealth
conference."
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VOA
Mugabe Speech Offers Little Hope for Political Change in
Zimbabwe
Peta Thornycroft
Harare
02 Dec 2003, 16:40
UTCZimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe has delivered a
low-key
state-of-the-country speech to parliament, lamenting the poor state
of the
economy, but giving no indication of political changes in the near
future.
Mr. Mugabe announced no successor to Simon Muzenda, a former vice
president
who died recently. Political analysts say Mr. Mugabe has decided to
continue
with only one vice president for the time being because the ruling
party is
torn by an internal struggle.
Nor did Mr. Mugabe, who will be
80 in February, give any indication that he
plans to leave the political
stage. Opposition political leaders said
Tuesday they expect Mr. Mugabe to
continue in power until the next general
election in 2005.
Mr. Mugabe
announced several economic recovery measures aimed at mending
Zimbabwe's
disastrous economy. He said new laws would be introduced soon to
stop people
from selling gold and foreign currency illegally. He said the
loss of gold
and foreign currency were major contributors to Zimbabwe's
financial
problem.
He also said the government plans to beef up Zimbabwe's domestic
electricity
generation capacity to reduce the country's dependence on imports
of power.
Also on his economic agenda is an upgrade of the state's railway
system and
road network.
Private sector economists were highly
critical of Mr. Mugabe's economic
package, saying it would do little to
address the country's mounting
economic problems. They said the president did
not appear to recognize the
depth of Zimbabwe's crisis.
Although Mr.
Mugabe has made it clear to the state-run press that he is
angry at not being
invited to the Commonwealth summit in Nigeria at the end
of the week, he made
no reference to his exclusion in his speech. However,
he accused the
predominantly white member countries, mainly Britain,
Australia and New
Zealand, of ganging up on Zimbabwe.
Reuters
Cholera Kills 12 in Zimbabwe Tourist District
Tue December 2,
2003 06:08 AM ET
HARARE (Reuters) - A cholera outbreak in one of
Zimbabwe's prime tourist
districts has killed 12 people but the government
said the disease was under
control, state media reported Tuesday.
The
official Herald newspaper quoted Health Minister David Parirenyatwa as
saying
the government had set up temporary health centers following a
cholera
outbreak that had affected hundreds of people in the northern
Kariba
district.
"The 12 deaths that were recorded are those people
who did not receive
treatment but the 413 cholera cases have been contained
as they are
receiving treatment," Parirenyatwa was quoted as saying. He was
not
available for further comment on Tuesday.
Officials said the
victims were all Zimbabweans.
The Kariba district is a top tourist
destination with a huge lake and a
number of wildlife
parks.
Zimbabwe's tourism industry has shrunk by more than 60 percent in
the past
three years as the southern African country grapples with a
serious
political and economic crisis blamed by President Robert Mugabe's
critics on
his government.
The crisis, and especially Mugabe's
controversial seizure of white-owned
farms for distribution among landless
blacks, has tarnished Zimbabwe's image
in the West and raised some visitors'
concerns about security.
MSNBC
Mugabe attacks ''unholy alliance'' in Commonwealth
By Cris
Chinaka
HARARE, Dec. 2 — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe accused
Britain, Australia
and New Zealand on Tuesday of forging an ''unholy
alliance'' against him and
said Zimbabwe's future in the Commonwealth would
depend on respect for its
independence.
In a state of the nation
address, Mugabe told parliament that his
embattled government was working to
build an ''alternative global power
point'' -- including China -- because a
unipolar political order led by the
United States was unjust.
His
remarks ahead of an annual Commonwealth summit in Nigeria follow
remarks made
last Friday suggesting that Zimbabwe may quit the group it had
been suspended
from altogether if the price of being readmitted was to give
up
sovereignty.
''Our membership of the Commonwealth, itself a mere club,
is
dependent on this fundamental consideration, currently being vitiated
by
Britain, Australia and New Zealand, the Anglo-Saxon unholy alliance
against
Zimbabwe,'' he said, sparking a round of applause in a parliament
dominated
by his ruling ZANU-PF party.
Zimbabwe was suspended from
the 54-nation Commonwealth last year
after Mugabe was accused of rigging his
own re-election.
He has not been invited to the Commonwealth Heads of
Government
Meeting in Abuja in Nigeria from December 5-8. But Zimbabwe has
dominated
preparations for the summit and threatened to split the group along
racial
lines.
Britain said on Monday it will urge fellow
Commonwealth members to
keep up pressure on its former colony by maintaining
a punitive suspension
of Mugabe's government at the summit, International
Development Secretary
Hilary Benn told Reuters.
Australia also
urged the international community on Monday not to be
intimidated by Mugabe's
threats to leave the Commonwealth.
Facing international isolation over
his controversial re-election
last year and seizures of white-owned farms,
Mugabe said Zimbabwe was ready
to defend its independence.
''We
abhor high global high-handedness of the strong and powerful; we
abhor
unilateral interference in the internal political affairs of other
countries,
especially smaller states,'' he said. ''We accordingly jealously
guard our
sovereignty against such interference.''
In his 30-minute address,
Mugabe promised to implement policies in
the coming year to reverse a
deepening economic crisis which his critics
blame on mismanagement by Mugabe,
in power since independence from Britain
in 1980.
Mugabe accuses a
''white'' section of the Commonwealth led by
Australia and Britain of
pursuing a vendetta over the seizure of white-owned
farms for black
settlement, and says opponents abroad and at home are
sabotaging the
economy.
Mugabe told parliament his controversial land seizures
enjoyed
international support among Third World countries.
As
Mugabe made his speech, calling for national unity, opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai was in a court two streets away facing treason
charges of plotting
to kill Mugabe. He could face the death penalty if
convicted.
Zimbabwe Pres Promises Crackdown On High Level Corruption
Copyright © 2003, Dow Jones Newswires
HARARE, Zimbabwe
(AP)--President Robert Mugabe pledged Tuesday to
crack down on high-level
corruption that has plagued Zimbabwe's crumbling
economy, but didn't specify
how he would do this.
"Corruption and dishonesty will not be
tolerated," Mugabe said in his
annual state of the nation address to
Parliament.
Police "will enforce the law without fear or favor,
without regard for
persons of stature," he said.
Ruling party
leaders are believed to have secured for themselves many
of the 5,000
white-owned farms confiscated by the government for
redistribution to
impoverished blacks.
Some have even taken several farms, despite
Mugabe's stated policy of
"one man one farm." So far, police haven't acted
against them.
Zimbabwe faces its worst economic and political
crisis since
independence from the U.K. in 1980.
The
land-seizure program has crippled the agriculture-based economy,
and
political violence and intimidation are widespread.
Mugabe
described these as "challenges that can be overcome."
"We need to
work for genuine unity, so our family house is not
divided," he
said.
He promised to crack down on black-market deals he said
were
aggravating acute shortages of hard currency by keeping money
offshore.
He also promised to fight record inflation - officially
running at
526% - with what he called "rational management" of prices of
basic goods.
Fixed prices for corn meal and other commodities have
so far only
worsened shortages and spurred black market trading.
Mugabe claimed the government was improving the country's
ailing
transportation, energy and telecommunications sectors. But he made
no
mention of crippling strikes by doctors, nurses, postal workers
and
telephone technicians.
Efforts to overcome a severe housing
backlog were also a priority, he
said. But many building projects have come
to a standstill in recent months
because of shortages of cash and
materials.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 02, 2003
10:45 ET (15:45 GMT)
Daily News
Mugabe admits nation in crisis
Date:2-Dec,
2003
THE HIV/AIDS pandemic, externalisation of foreign
currency, inflation
and high interest rates are among the major challenges
facing the Zimbabwean
government, President Robert Mugabe has
said.
In an uncharacteristically brief state-of-the-nation address
in
Parliament, Mugabe also conceded that there was urgent need for
the
government, labour and industry to rally together in a bid to resolve
the
southern African nation's crisis.
He told Parliament: "The
coming year should see a clear turn-around
programme which involves inviting
all sectors of the economy."
"The smart partnership between labour,
business and government should
be reinvented and there should be little
finger pointing between us," Mugabe
said in his first major admission of the
need for a united approach to
Zimbabwe's worst economic crisis since
independence in 1980.
He said the government would introduce new
measures to tighten price
monitoring. The Zimbabwean government imposed price
controls in 2001, but
the populist measure has failed to curb price increases
and inflation.
Controls were removed on most basic commodities
earlier this year,
with the government saying it would monitor prices to
prevent profiteering.
The removal of the controls has resulted in
goods that had become
scarce since 2001 reappearing on shop shelves, but
their prices are
escalating beyond the reach of most
Zimbabweans.
Analysts on Tuesday said while cataloguing the
problems facing the
country, Mugabe failed to advance sustainable solutions
to resolve the
crisis.
Nelson Chamisa, an opposition MP,
described Mugabe's state-of-the
nation address as "hollow".
The
legislator said: "He knows the problems, but he does not have the
solutions.
Like his government's budget, his speech lacks the specifics on
how he hopes
to resolve this serious economic and political crisis."
In a rare
show of appreciation for the work of international
humanitarian organisations
in Zimbabwe, Mugabe expressed his government's
thanks for the US$212 million
mobilised through the World Food Programme to
avert starvation this
year.
He added that a further US$64.8 million had been mobilised
for the
2003-4 year.
Mugabe told Parliament that the government
would continue to
recapitalise the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company and the
National Railways
of Zimbabwe to improve the availability of public
transport.
BBC
Nigeria slated for rights abuses
A leading US
human rights organisation has accused the Nigerian
Government of using
violence and intimidation to silence its critics.
The report by Human
Rights Watch was released as Nigeria prepares to
host a meeting of 52
Commonwealth heads of government which begins on
Friday.
The
report accuses Commonwealth leaders of double standards and says
they should
not turn a blind eye to abuses.
Nigerian officials rejected the
accusations as an "exaggeration".
Queen Elizabeth II will open
the meeting in the capital, Abuja.
Hypocritical
The
40-page report accuses the Nigerian Government of being
responsible for
killings, torture and harassment of its critics over the
last two
years.
The report, entitled 'Renewed Crackdown on Freedom of
Expression',
says that opposition leaders, political protestors and
journalists have all
fallen foul of the security forces.
"Even
though military rule has ended, Nigerians still cannot express
themselves
freely without fear of grave consequences," said Peter
Takirambudde,
executive director of the group's Africa division.
He also accuses
police of recently beating up members of the Ogoni
ethnic group.
And he says the Commonwealth was hypocritical in excluding
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe from the meeting while ignoring violence
in Nigeria.
"Foreign governments remained virtually silent about
election violence
in Nigeria, yet abuses during the Zimbabwe elections
provoked widespread
condemnation," Mr Takirambudde said.
"Unless
the Commonwealth addresses abuses in all of its member
countries and
denounces them accordingly, it will stand accused of
maintaining double
standards and its credibility will be undermined."
Embarrassment
Responding to the accusations, Julius Ihonvbere - a
special adviser to
President Olusegun Obasanjo - told the Associated Press
news agency that
democracy in Nigeria needed support and encouragement, and
should not be
"kicked down".
"The human rights community in this
country has a mindset of
opposition at all costs," he said.
However, the BBC's Anna Borzello in Lagos says the criticism is of
particular
embarrassment to the government as the execution of Ogoni
activist Ken
Saro-Wiwa eight years ago led to Nigeria being suspended from
the
Commonwealth.
The country was only re-admitted in 1999 with the
return of civilian
rule and President Obasanjo has since fought hard to gain
acceptance on the
world stage.
The decision to hold the
Commonwealth heads of government meeting in
Nigeria has been taken as proof
that the country has finally fully returned
to the fold.
Scoop Media Ltd
Zimbabweans hope CHOGM increases Mugabe
pressure
Tuesday, 2 December 2003, 2:27 pm
Press Release:
Zimbabwe Support Group
Zimbabwe Support Group NEWS RELEASE
2
December 2003 Attention: NEWS EDITOR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Zimbabweans hope CHOGM increases pressure on Mugabe
Zimbabweans hope
CHOGM will be the focal point for increased pressure on
Robert Mugabe, the
chairman of New Zealand’s Zimbabwe Support Group says.
“Arrogant and
determined to hang on to power through violent means, Mugabe
should be denied
a place among the leaders of the Commonwealth. The message
should be clear
that those who do not abide by the basic principles and
tenets of the
Commonwealth, shall stay away from it,” Foreman Foto said.
Foreman Foto
came to New Zealand after working as the parliamentary
organiser for the MDC,
Zimbabwe’s main opposition group.
He says when CHOGM begins on 5
December should build pressure on Mugabe to
move fast towards the restoration
of the rule of law, an environment that
allows for economic rehabilitation,
political tolerance, human rights and
democracy.
“Three weeks before
the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in
Nigeria, the Zimbabwe
government still flounders on basic tenets of
democracy, good governance and
human rights. Harare has not moved an inch
towards a semblance of good
governance, human rights and democracy. In fact,
human rights groups observe
it has slid further and deeper into the dungeons
of being a pariah state,”
Foreman Foto said.
“Some 52 civic organisations' leaders were rounded
up by Harare’s police
(famous for arresting to investigate and later craft
charges) and bundled up
in cells. They spent two harsh nights in jail and
were later released. No
charges were laid.
“The press is still
heavily gagged. Divergence of political opinion is a
crime in Zimbabwe.
Perceived supporters and sympathisers of the Movement for
Democratic Change
are brutalised horrendously and denied food handouts. They
have no
rights.
“2004 is already a drought year. More than half Zimbabwe’s 14
million
people are in dire need of food aid. The primary industry
sector
(agriculture) is in limbo. The former bread-basket of Southern
African
Development Community is now a basket case. The ground situation
gives no
hope for a return to normal full-scale production on commercial farm
land.
The new farmers have no seed, fertiliser, technical expertise, capital
nor
fuel.
“There is unprecedented unemployment, inflation is more
than 500%, basics
are beyond reach of over 80% of the population and prices
change by the
hour. People cannot afford meat, bread, milk, sugar,
mealie-meal, transport,
electricity, telecommunication, housing etc. They
cannot even afford to bury
the dead.
“HIV/AIDS is taking its toll.
All the gains in primary health care,
education and human resources
development have been eroded. There are no
drugs in hospitals and clinics,
salaries and wages cannot match the ever-
growing rise in prices.”
Business Day
Mugabe's heavy hand gets
heavier
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
HARARE
- The Zimbabwe government plans to amend the country's controversial
land law
to allow it to take land more easily from white farmers, and more
of it,
according to details of an amending bill published by the state-run
Herald
yesterday.
A major change would be the scrapping of a requirement that a
preliminary
notice of acquisition by government should be served personally
on the farm
owner.
"This provision has proved difficult to implement
... because often the
owner no longer occupies the land and cannot otherwise
be located," reads
the preamble to the bill.
The bill proposes that a
preliminary acquisition notice be published only in
the Government Gazette,
which is a weekly publication sold by the government
printers.
It also
states that the total land that government initially said it wanted
to
compulsorily acquire from whites for blacks "is the minimum
hectarage
only".
The government had indicated that it wanted to
acquire 11 million hectares
or 30% of Zimbabwe's land, from some 4,500 white
farmers.
A recent audit by a government appointed team said the amount of
land owned
by white farmers was down to roughly 1.2 million hectares (on
1,377 farms)
after the controversial reforms launched in 2000.
Whites
used to own a third of the country's land -- 70% of prime farmland --
before
the government launched a "fast-track" land reform programme in 2000
for
redistributing it among new black farmers and landless blacks.
Early this
year the government said that it had concluded its land reforms,
but after
that it continued to publish lists of farms it intended to
acquire, then
announced that the scheme was an ongoing process.
Most of the
dispossessed white farmers have sought land in neighbouring
countries such as
Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana.
The country's land reforms have been
partly blamed for a massive slump in
the country's agricultural production in
the last two years.
AFP
New Zimbabwe
Moyo wants to be MP
By Mduduzi
Mathuthu/Loughty Dube
01/12/03
ZIMBABWE’S unelected junior information
minister Jonathan Moyo has admitted
for the first time that he is going to
contest the Tsholotsho parliamentary
seat for the ruling Zanu PF at the next
elections, ending weeks of
speculation.
Moyo, the Minister of State
for Information and Publicity in the Office of
the President let slip his
desire to be MP for his home area when testifying
before a parliamentary
committee investigating his alleged interference in
the running of football
in the country.
Asked by a member of the committee if his lack of a
constituency was
fuelling his perceived interference in the running of
football which has led
to public clashes with Education Minister Aenaes
Chigwedere, Moyo let his
ambitions be known.
“I come from Tsholotsho
and I want to be the MP for Tsholotsho and even the
current MP for that area
(Mtoliki Sibanda, MDC) knows we are contesting with
him,” he told the
committee. “I have never said I want to be MP for Zifa….I
don’t even know the
Zifa councillors.”
Moyo has previously been accused of fomenting chaos in
Tsholotsho - a
district in Matabeleland North and about 60km west of the
second largest
city of Bulawayo - in his bid to make inroads into the
constituency.
Tsholotsho MP Sibanda said Moyo's interest in the district
had brought with
it violence.
"Moyo's idea to create a constituency in
Tsholotsho is causing havoc in the
district as Zanu PF thugs masquerading as
war veterans are constantly
harassing people and forcing them to attend his
campaign rallies that come
in the guise of donations," said
Sibanda.
He said since Moyo - known for using financial inducements at
election time
during the Bulawayo mayoral elections which Zanu PF lost
heavily - started
showing an interest in Tsholotsho, the area had known no
peace.
"There has been a lot of violence in the district since Moyo
showed an
interest in the area and it is quite obvious from his actions that
he wants
to create a constituency for himself through the numerous donations
that he
is making throughout the district," said Sibanda.
Moyo is one
of the 30 non-constituency members of parliament appointed by
President
Mugabe after the ruling Zanu PF lost 57 seats to the opposition
MDC during
the hotly-contested 2000 parliamentary election.
"Soldiers who were
deployed to Tsholotsho before the presidential election
are still operating
in the area disguised as civilians and those are the
people that cause mayhem
when Moyo comes to the district with his
donations," Sibanda
said.
Since the presidential election in March, Moyo, Mugabe's propaganda
chief,
has been making trips to Tsholotsho fuelling speculation that he is
trying
to carve out a political base for himself in the area.
Sibanda
said Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo and President Mugabe were imposing
Moyo on
Tsholotsho.
Since March Moyo has donated and made pledges of over $180
million to the
constituency.
In July he personally initiated a $164
million irrigation programme in the
district and followed it up with a
personal donation of $1,5 million to
Mabale primary school.
Moyo has
also sourced and donated $1,5 millon for the Albino Association
in
Tsholotsho.
Testifying before the committee looking into the chaos
at Zifa, Moyo denied
there was “bad blood” between him and
Chigwedere.
"It is not about bad blood but it is the politics of
whispering — people
saying things that are unfounded. I have worked with him
in Wedza and I have
also worked with him in Tsholotsho because we have
schools there and he is
the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture and we
can do it again
tomorrow or whenever because we are the government," said
Moyo.
Although insisting that the fricticious relationship with
Chigwedere was
fuelled by people feeding him and Chigwedere with misleading
information,
Chigwedere told the same committee two weeks ago that Moyo was
responsible
for the chaos at Zifa.
“The chairman of this Warriors
Trust fund (Moyo) is also contributing to
this mess (at Zifa),” Chigwedere
said. He constantly referred to Moyo as
“patron” for the deposed Zifa
chairman Vincent Pamire, adding that the
latter should try “to follow the law
and not try to invent the law
The Star, Malaysia
Syed Hamid: Consult on Zimbabwe suspension
BY
MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia wants more consultation among
Commonwealth members
before deciding whether Zimbabwe should remain suspended
from the body,
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar
said.
Malaysia, he said, felt there was a lack of consultation on
Zimbabwe’s
suspension and was concerned that it would create dissension among
members.
“We do not want the Commonwealth to be divided between Western,
African and
Asian countries.
“We should try to build on consensus. If
there is anything that is
unsatisfactory, there should be more
consultation.
“Any decision must be on the basis that there was enough
consultation. We
should not conclude that there is consultation when a few
countries are
consulted and many others feel they were not,” he told
reporters at Wisma
Putra’s Hari Raya open house attended by Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi and foreign diplomats.
Syed Hamid was
commenting on the question of Zimbabwe’s suspension from the
body that
threatened to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM)
this week in Nigeria.
The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe from the
54-nation body in March last
year over its poor human rights record and
Mugabe’s re-election in a vote
widely condemned as rigged.
When the
initial 12-month period ended, the Commonwealth announced that
Zimbabwe’s
suspension would continue until December.
South Africa and Nigeria are in
a troika, chaired by Australia, tasked with
overseeing the body’s response to
alleged human rights violations in
Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe
last week said that Zimbabwe was ready to “say
goodbye to the Commonwealth”,
claiming it was being victimised by white
countries in the body, particularly
Britain and Australia.
Australia, in response, told the international
community not to be
intimidated by Zimbabwe’s threat.
Asked on
Malaysia’s stand, Syed Hamid, who is heading the Malaysian
delegation to
CHOGM, said Zimbabwe “should not be pushed to the wall”.
“We should
listen to their concerns and worries,” he added.
On his meeting with
European Union (EU) ambassadors here, Syed Hamid said he
brought up the issue
of the Commonwealth focussing on relations with the EU
and not with members
of the Commonwealth.
The Herald
Zim’s land reform an internal issue: envoy
Herald
Reporter
Zimbabwe's land reform programme is an internal issue and no other
country
has a right to dictate how the country runs its affairs, Romanian
ambassador
to Zimbabwe, Mr Luminita Florescu, has said.
Mr Florescu
was speaking to The Herald during celebrations to mark his
country's national
day last week. He said all Zimbabweans must be satisfied
by the land reform
programme and work hard to produce enough food and drive
the country's
economy forward.
"Land is the best resource the majority of Zimbabweans
who rely on it can
have but we feel the misunderstandings going on between
the Government and
white commercial farmers can be resolved amicably," said
Mr Florescu.
The country's image, which had been tarnished by the
negative publicity in
the international Press, needed to be improved by
telling the outside world
what exactly was happening on the
ground.
"Zimbabwe needs an aggressive campaign to correct its image which
has been
tarnished in order to attract foreign investment," said Mr
Florescu.
He said relations between the two countries were good although
much needs to
be done in the area of trade which was still in Zimbabwe's
favour.
Romania imports tobacco worth about US$3 million while Zimbabwe
imports
mostly spare parts of agricultural equipment worth about US$100 000 a
year.
He said the co-operation between the friendly countries could
greatly
improve if Zimbabwe opens an embassy in Bucharest.
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1: Food and Health
Dear Jag,
The health or medical system in
Australia is known as Medicare. About forty
years ago one of the states found
that the majority of prison inmates were
people who had failed to pay
doctor's bills. The result was something
called Medibank which later became
Medicare - a national medical aid.
The "old school", or older generation
of Zimbabwe, most of whom we have
buried, told us that the first step to good
health was to eat well. That
was long before aids or HIV. Once a good diet is
accomplished, one can move
on to look at a health system.
Attempting
to look at the big picture, Zimbabwe will have to look for a
simple but
effective means of becoming self sufficient in food as THE
primary objective
again.
The basic skills of the gardener, or farmer, are those that need
to be
developed. Ironically, Zimbabwe has retained one of its most skilled
and
passionate gardeners who wants to share his skills with those who want
to
learn. Who is Zimbabwe's most talented gardener ? - BRIAN
OLDRIEVE.
The question, and ultimately the answer will depend on whether
people are
prepared to listen to Brian - regardless of the colour of his, or
their
skin.
Public expenditure on health cannot fix the primary
problem - I am sure it
did not fix it in Biafra either. Biafra and Zimbabwe
could always be put on
the agenda at CHOGM for a bit of lateral thinking, or
light relief -
depending on your political position.
Can Jag listen to
Oldrieve?
Garden Boy.
JAG is already "all ears to Brian" and very
aware, not only that this needs
to be fixed at the very grass roots level
(read maize roots level) but also
that Brian has most of what is required in
his God given talents tool box
and vocational calling to help Zimbabwe and
sort out this
mess.
Editor
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2:
Dear fellow Zimbabweans
On Friday morning at Art Farm I watched
my friend Murray take a photo of
the Member in Charge Borrowdale Police
Station as he told us that we were
unable to hold our closed, members only,
meeting of Jag members. With
surprise Murray found that the Policeman needed
to be paid for the photo.
My friend was then asked to appear at the
Borrowdale police station and
with interest I watched him get into his own
truck with his faithful Great
Dane beside him and two police escorts sitting
on the back as Murray drove
himself to the police station.
It brought
to mind a group of Raffingora farmers who drove themselves to
Banket Police
Station in March 2002 and who were then incarcerated, a group
of Chinhoyi
farmers who drove themselves to the Chinhoyi Police station in
late 2001 and
were then incarcerated, my own abduction under the eyes of
police from
Raffingora police station in May 2000, David Stevens and his
fellow farmers
who drove themselves to their local police station in April
2000.and so the
list goes on. Many of our farmers can testify that they
too, have driven
themselves to their local police station and been arrested
and put into
jail.
Now the questions that pass through my mind are these:
· Does a
guilty man drive himself to the police station?
· Do we, purely because we
are not black ethnic Zimbabweans, not have human
rights?
· Do we, despite
having paid, on a willing buyer, willing seller basis for
our farms, mostly
with Certificates of no Interest from our present
Government, have no
property rights?
· Do "war veterans" and government supporters have the right
to loot our
assets from us purely along ethnic lines?
· Do our staff that
have in many cases worked on the farms for
generations, not have the right to
security of jobs, education, medical
care and homes?
· Do we, as
Zimbabweans, many of whom have been here for many generations
and as Southern
Africans, some going as far back as 1652, have no right to
call Zimbabwe our
home, expect the protection of the police force, the law
courts and our
government?
And I wonder if the time has not come for us to lift our
heads and proudly
state that WE ARE ZIMBABWEAN with all the human rights that
pertain to that
designation. Has the time not come for us to stop running and
state that we
too, are entitled to the protection of the state,
re-instatement of law and
order and recovery of our property rights.
I
wonder too, if the time has not come for the police to look at their
Charter
and decide whether they are in fact carrying out the oath that they
made at
their passing out parade from training.
And all the members of our armed
forces, as you watch your families starve,
and the time for planting your
crops pass without access to seed and
fertilizer, has the time not come for
you too, to look at whom you serve.
Should we, as a nation, black, white
and brown, be looking at a way forward
where we can have human rights, full
tummies and peace of mind?
Regards
Jean
Simon
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3:
In response to the article on Mr Mudenge about not adhering to the
natural
law; we must bear in mind that...
"we cannot break the law, we
only break ourselves upon the law"
Stuart
Beverley
Botswana
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4: Re Open Letters Forum No. 194 dated 26 November 2003
With reference to
Mr.Pratt's well intentioned letter 'Who stole the land'.
Regrettably, many
appear to have missed the point. Anyone taking time out
to investigate,
study and understand what has happened beneath the surface
over the last few
decades (particularly from the Lancaster House talks in
1979) will quickly
discover that the present crisis has far more to do with
much more recent
history than the Victorian era. This, despite all the
simplistic
misinformation we've all been repeatedly served from both local
and foreign
media.
Mugabe's propaganda works like this: keep it simple. Appeal to the
lower
emotions, e.g. envy, anger, hatred. The international media also keeps
it
simple (and sensational) to hold the attention of its audience just
long
enough so they don't get confused, turn the page or switch
channel.
Black-white, haves vs. have-nots issues always do nicely.
To
hold your attention I attempt to keep it simple: the present crisis
arises
from an intra-governmental dispute between two Governments, namely
Britain
and Zimbabwe. White farmers merely became pawns in this game. To
appreciate
the motivations of both Mugabe and the British Government, one
has to uncover
all the hidden nuances - i.e. the game behind the game.
I am no
journalist, farmer, politician or lawyer. Just Ordinary Joe
Zimbabwean with a
genuine desire to add some clarity and value amongst the
confusion and pull
the best out of a really bad situation, for our
country's future. It's pretty
obvious that commercial farming has no future
without capital to restart. So
I compiled an article entitled "White
Farmers in Zimbabwe - the case for
Compensation" in November 2002 after
several months of research. This
document was submitted to JAG in March
2003 in the sincere hope that it could
assist JAG to prepare a case for
extracting compensation for our farmers from
the British Government. I
attempted to explain the basis in a detailed,
logical way, by illustrating
the extent of Britain's historical and current
responsibility, with
detailed recommendations on the way forward. My ethos
was simple - "stick
to the facts".
I reattach this document again to
JAG with this letter. It's only 15 pages
(148kB), and I am sure they will be
prepared to email it to any interested
parties upon request. I welcome
comments and feedback.
Returning to Mr. Pratts letter, I make the
following points:
1. Claiming compensation from the British Government
has nothing whatsoever
to do with expediency, claiming they stole the land,
or buying into Mugabe
propaganda. This misconception arises from a
fundamental misunderstanding
of politics between Britain and Zimbabwe over
the last 25 years.
It does, however, have everything to do with one
Government finding
excuses not to honour promises it made to the other
Government, with all
the resulting offence, mistrust, emotion and ill-will on
the other side.
Combine this with one old Tyrant's determination to stay in
power by any
means, and the key elements of the game fall into place. The
land grab
is simply one consequence of these factors. But one should dig a
little
deeper to understand exactly why Mugabe repeatedly referred the
white
farmers to the British Government for compensation (despite the fact
that
they obviously weren't paying attention).
2. Yes, the crisis in
Zimbabwe is not primarily about land. It's nothing to
do with who was around
here first either. Lets clearly understand: the land
grab is the excuse, not
the reason. Now, if a genuine case for compensation
from any quarter, -either
moral/legal - can be made, it should be made.
Backed up well by carefully
researched facts. If compensation is found to
be justified it should be paid
(in proportion to a properly assessed degree
of responsibility) by a suitably
impartial body.
3. As Mr. Pratt says, white (commercial farming in
Zimbabwe) is a result of
British imperialism. True. Here's another fact: the
entity known as "the
British Government" expropriated that territory now
called Zimbabwe from
the few blacks that were living here at the time. The
current British
Government is apparently perfectly content to let a few
thousand white
farmers of Zimbabwe to pay the price for the historical
actions of the
entity known as "the British Government".
4. Let's be
in no doubt that the British Government is keenly aware of the
potential
'Pandora's box' that would open up if they were obliged to pay
compensation
in any case arising from their extensive (and not-so-pretty)
colonial
history. For them, Zimbabwe is a particularly risky ('sensitive'
in
politspeak) case. This is their precise motivation for
deliberately
distancing themselves from the land issue in Zimbabwe. I ask you
- why
should we give a damn about that? That goes double, considering
Britain's
history of underhanded 'diplomacy', particularly with respect to
the whites
in Zimbabwe (highlighted in detail in my article). It's just
plain sneaky,
and we all know cleverly politicians use "protecting our
national
interests" as cover for protecting their asses. Politics is indeed
the art
of the possible, but its equally the art of snivelling out
of
responsibility. The British Government (especially their Foreign
Office)
are really expert at this. They've been at it a long, long time.
(Lord
Carrington is my particular favourite, by the way)
5. One has to
understand how free western democratic systems works.
Democratically elected
western Governments have to respond to effective
lobbying. The more sensitive
and embarrassing the issue, the better. The
British Government can certainly
be obliged to act if the media take up an
embarrassing issue and run with it.
If a genuine, emotive, politically
sensitive compensation case can be
skillfully entered into the anti-Labour
Party media spotlight in Britain,
(even better - just ahead of a general
election) you can rest assured that
the Labour Party leaders (spin doctor
central) would be obliged to act
swiftly. Particularly if the resulting
'fallout' could be put to rest smartly
by throwing a (relatively tiny)
amount of money at the problem (compared to
their massive annual budget)
4. Let's be clear: if compensation is
justifiable, sought and won, where
the British Government get the money
shouldn't concern us a jot. They can
borrow it, sell their assets, or
increase tax on beer for all I care.
Their problems are not our problems. Our
problem is rebuilding our country,
sustainable agriculture and our lives
post-Tyrant. We need to focus all
our attention and energies on laying those
foundations now.
Let's not lose the plot, but rather boldly seize the
initiative with both
hands. No more beating about the bush.
Zambezi
Blonde
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
5: A Stolen Election
Dear Sir/Madam,
What does a stolen election
mean to citizens of a country?
Zimbabwe offers a graphic description of how
this is achieved by devious
means.
Best regards,
Steven
Tennett
========================================
The following has
come to light through the deported US journalist Andrew
Meldrum (who was a
permanent resident of Zimbabwe before he was flung out
on his ear). Meldrum
exposes the characteristic cunning and duplicity of
the Zimbabwean
government, and of Mugabe in particular. In any free country
the issue of
vote probably wouldn't matter too much, because any party
would implement
some flavour of the fundamental principles outlined within
a country's
constitutional documents. In Zimbabwe, however, the vote is of
paramount
importance in securing election victories that will secure the
power base of
the ruling party, and prevent it from being voted out of
office.
This
is how Meldrum discloses the abnormalities of Mugabe's electoral
victory in
the last Presidential election: -
A Zimbabwean army officer yesterday
described how, under orders, he forged
thousands of ballots for Robert Mugabe
in last year's disputed presidential
elections.
Lieutenant Herbert
Ndlovu, 43, said he had worked with five other army
personnel to falsify
thousands of army postal ballots so they were all for
Mr Mugabe. "I knew it
was wrong, but I was given orders," he said.
Speaking to a group of
reporters in Johannesburg, he said he had been
instructed to fill out the
ballots by a Captain Chauke at the headquarters
of the 4th Brigade in the
southern city of Masvingo in February, a month
before the
election.
This is the first public testimony of ballot stuffing and
should bolster
the considerable evidence of voting fraud being presented in
court to
challenge Mr Mugabe's re-election.
Lt Ndlovu said he had
later been accused by the army's security division of
sympathising with the
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
He told of prolonged
beatings and torture by electric shock by security
officers that have left
him, 20 months later, needing crutches.
The lieutenant and another army
officer who survived similar torture fled
Zimbabwe this week to make their
allegations.
"We do not even feel safe here in South Africa, but we want
the world to
know about the terrible things that are going on," Lt Ndlovu
said. "We both
fought to liberate our country from Rhodesian oppression, but
we never
expected to see this new oppression."
His testimony is
expected to be added to the evidence being presented in
the high court in
Harare by the Zimbabwe opposition leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, who is
challenging the legitimacy of Mr Mugabe's presidency on
the grounds of
widespread voting fraud and state violence.
Guardian Newspapers
Limited
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
6: Idea?
Dear Jag.
We thoroughly enjoy the service you are
providing, it is excellent! For my
own part, I do question some of the
rhetoric and bickering that goes back
and forth - but to each his
own.
I have a question/suggestion for you to consider. Each time I log on
I
notice I have 2,3 or even 4 emails to read. Excitement, perhaps there is
a
letter from my kids or other family that are scattered around this planet
-
but alas - no, after 2 or 3 minutes of the computer grinding away -
message
1, message 2 and finally message 3, then the inevitable 'checking to
clean
up' messages, oh dear, they are all from Jag.
To get to the
point, is it not possible to consolidate all your messages
and different
topics into 1 file? It would certainly make our downloading
time
considerably faster and help to save at least one more penny in
this
otherwise frightening economy that we are living in.
Thank you
again for all you do to keep us sane and informed.
Barry
Nicolle
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
7:
Letter 4 P.M.A ( Post Mugabe Agriculture )
I do not feel that we
will have the complete picture unless we try and
understand what the Western
World think of the third world
Firstly I think we must realise and accept
that the third world is a
product of the rich, greedy, ambitious and
adventurous first world
countries. They, in their view, discovered and
exploited the people and
natural resources of the new worlds that were being
opened up. In very
recent times we have seen what has happened in the Congo ,
which has almost
been destroyed by the greed and corruption of not only the
West, but also
by neighbouring so called friends .
We all know that the
Congo problems could easily have been sorted out,
very smartly by the West,
had they so desired, and the same now applies to
Zimbabwe,
America very
quickly pounced on Iraq. For two reasons, the first and most
important OIL.
Secondly, for the reason the rest of the world were most
likely to accept,
Iraq could become a danger to the West if they developed
the atom bomb,
weapons and chemicals for mass destruction .
Another point that was brought
home to me the other day was that most of
us thought of the dispensers of
food for the starving were a group of do
gooders . But not so. They are a
group of very crafty greedy business men .
Look at this idea carefully and
you will see what I mean and you can also
let your imagination run a little
bit and you can imagine what these
gentlemen can and do get up to. The first
world are full of gullible people
who very easily part with the odd penny to
help the starving masses .
post Mugabe era
There are certain
factors that must be recognised and examined before a
plan can be formulated
for the rebuilding of a sustainable agricultural and
land policy.
NO
1. It is necessary to examine the outlook of the Western World and
North
America to the possible need to assist the developing world by
allowing
them special concessions for their exportable product. Should it
be
agriculture then we must face the fact that the West and North
America
spend Billions of US $'s in subsidies to their own farmers and that
it is
far cheaper for them to provide food aid than to give the
developing
countries special concessions which allow them to export their
surplus, and
in so doing increase the subsidies to their own farmers.
Therefore the
economies of each developing country is examined closely to
decide whether
special concessions can be applied for agricultural crops , or
whether the
economy of that particular country can be sustained by some other
means
i.e. Oil, gold . Diamonds, fish etc. In the case of Zimbabwe there is
no
major income from any mineral and the foundation of the economy is
tobacco,
as well as the sophisticated system of large scale commercial
agriculture
and small scale farming with freehold title producing surplus
quantities of
crops such as Maize, cotton, beef, coffee, Tea, citrus, wheat
and many
horticultural crops, and coming close to exporting many of these
crops.
Furthermore Zimbabwe has a population explosion and the available land
for
subsistence farming is becoming over crowded and it is therefore to
the
advantage of the west to encourage the replacement of the mainly
white
commercial farmer with black subsistence farmers, and in so doing
have
somewhere to dump their surplus or sell them to donor countries and in
so
doing reduce subsidies to their own farmers
Next week my own ideas
of what may help Zimbabwe from becoming another
third world Winger ( Thank
you Anti Chair It? Man? Lady? person?, for
reminding me of a word I had not
herd for a long time, Because true Zimbo's
are not normally
wingers.
Good night and may God help , guide and Bless all you good
Zimbo's
Ben Norton (The winger)
All letters published on the open
Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the submitters, and do not
represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for Agriculture.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE CLASSIFIEDS - December 1,
2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email:
justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 01 December 2003
I am interested in purchasing a share in a
Zimbabwe Lowveld farm as a very
long-term investment.
I am based in Cape
Town. All offers will be considered.
Mark Dunbar Anderson
(27-21-5576438) email capehunt@iafrica.com
)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad
inserted 18 November 2003
Winter Cricket
The Spirit of Wedza
A
collection of biographies, articles, recollections and memories
(by and about
the people of Wedza)
compiled by
Sheila Macdonald
Contact
mjackson@zol.co.zw or
sheilaware@zol.co.zw
Price
guide
Hardbacks GBP20 / US$30 equivalent +/-Z$160
Softbacks GBP18 / US$25
equivalent +/-Z$150
plus postage and packaging
discount for Wedza
people
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ad
inserted 27 November 2003
I am looking for a tractor for launching and
pulling boats out of the water
in Marineland harbour. The tractor does not
need hydraulics or any of the
agricultural requirements, only traction power
for pulling. Please let
either myself, Bob Collett, on the above Email
adress, or cell, 091200519,
or Sean Collett on Email karibamarina@zol.co.zw or cell
011205390
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ad
inserted 27 November 2003
Looking for shared container space to Perth,
approx 2 cubic metres to leave
a.s.a.p. Failing that, we know of someone who
has got approximately 1/2 a
20 ft container waiting to be filled.
Contact:
Mike Barry
PH: Hre 666045 / 011219130
email: barry@zol.co.zw
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ad
inserted 21 November 2003
Wanted
Heavy duty:-
Thickneser
Planer
Planer
Band Saw
Spindle Moulder
Tel: 084-20264 - 011
203314 -
084-20251
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad
inserted 10 November 2003
DONATION OF FURNITURE SOUGHT
The Harare
SPCA needs a bed and other basic items to furnish the vets night
room at the
new Hatfield veterinary hospital. Please email details of
surplus furniture
to easthill-rw@laws.co.zw
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ad
inserted 21 November 2003
WANTED TO BUY: We have the Satellite Dish, but
we need the DSTV Decoder &
Smart Card and we need Installation of the
entire equipment. Can anybody
help?!
Please phone: 499119 or
091241855
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ad
inserted 10 November 2003
WANTED:
Does anyone have either
computers/scanners/printers for sale or loan?
Please contact the JAG office
for further
details.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad
inserted 05 November 2003
WANTED:
2 Labrador puppies preferably 1 dog
1 bitch or at least 1 puppy bitch,
please our wonderful Labrador bitch has
recently been killed. Large
property fenced & gated & security fenced
& gated.
Please contact L Searle.
on Hre 499451 0r mobile
011430896
or email msasas@zambezi.net
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ad
inserted 05 November 2003
Tractor with trailer and driver wanted for
hire. To move logs in Harare to
saw mill at Prices Rd. (off Golden Stairs
Rd). Please give a quote on a
daily basis
or per km.
Contact: Bruce
Low Tel. 04 302518 (after hours) or 091 363 899 or e-mail
brumarlow@mango.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad
inserted 31 October 2003
We are looking for a 5000l water tank,
preferably the heavy-duty plastic
kind.
Contact number 04 862466, 011
214 199, 011
208762
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad
inserted 30 October 2003
Going on Holiday - need a reliable animal lover
to check on pets and home.
Please phone Sue on:
cell: 091 400 759
landline: 882566
or email: sueburr@mwebco.zw
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ad
inserted 30 October 2003
Looking to share a container to Christchurch,
New Zealand.
Would like the container to arrive February/March 2004.
Phone
Pat Miller, 011 715 274, 335860(H)
746533(B)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad
inserted 30 October 2003
I am in need of a 10 h.p.{ 7:5 kva} 4 pole
electric motor with a 7" B
section double pulley. { 1440 r.p.m}.
If
you have any contact names/numbers I would appreciate your help.
Please
contact johnwinwood@zol.co.zw
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ad
inserted 30 October 2003
The following chemicals have been stolen in the
Nyamandhlovu area. If
anyone is offered these chemicals and suspects that
they have been stolen,
please contact us.
Bladbuff 1 x 5
litre
Buldock 3 x 1 litre
Round Up 3 x 1 litre
Chlorpyrifos 4 x 1
litre
A reward is offered depending on the amount recovered. Please
contact
Management at the Bulawayo Independent Market , tel:
70078
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ad
inserted 20 October 2003
Wanted: New or used tents of any
size.
Contact: 011-418389
e-mail: gonje@zol.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad
inserted 15 October 2003
We are looking for about 5000m of T tape (or
equivalent.
We also need 5000m of tape with 30 cm spacing and
1.6litres/hour
application.
Please reply to Mutare 61946, or e-mail trees@mutare.mweb.co.zw
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ad
inserted 13 October 2003
Wanted
Nyamandhlovu district are looking for
a Radio Mask.
Please contact 091 236
317.
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ad
inserted 13 October 2003
WANTED
Good rideable Farm/Ranch horses in
good condition.
Contact Tim Riley: 011-215829 or 091-260202 or send an
email to
260202@ecoweb.co.zw.
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ad
inserted 07 October 2003
Pensioner, Nel Beattie, wants to buy reasonably
priced television. Please
contact: Bonny Woodman 499701 or 011 745 523
sozim@africaonline.co.zw
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ad
inserted 07 October 2003
Wanted the following chemicals for
sale:
Orthene 250 kilos
N decanol 2500 l
Monochrotophos 750
l
Please contact: markhamr@ulafrica.co.zw
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Ad
inserted 01 December 2003
For Sale.
1. 1991 Bedford TL 13-16 7 ton
truck and Trinity 5 ton trailer with bulk
sides, 200 000 kms, Owner
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2. 1999 Mazda DX 2500 D/Cab 4x4, White, Car Guard Canopy, mag wheels,
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3. 1995 Toyota Hilux 2.4D Raider, Flintlock (Metallic Grey)
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4. 1999 Same Explorer 80, 4x4
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5. Piranha Fisherman MK II with Mariner 75hp
6.
Honda Generator, MG-4000F, 4KVa, Like new
Please contact Theunis Moolman
on (Cell) 091-2641020 / 091-635223 e-mail
moolman@zol.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 14 November 2003
FOR SALE
MILK SEPARATOR
Farm
Separator - 24 S driven by single-phase electric motor.
In very good
condition, complete with Instruction Book and spare Bottom O
Rings US $
250.00
Contact Dee ARKELL
04-862308 091-216619 or e-mail deejon@ecoweb.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 05 November 2003
FOR SALE
One imported tractor driven
genset (Test run up under two hours use).
Make: Zinadi ZG500/15, Rate:
40KVA.
Set on three-point linkage frame.
Included: Distribution box,
60KVA change over switch, 4-core cable and
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Contact: Paterson on Harare 883115, cell 011 219417 or
email:
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on Harare 754612 (Powermec).
To view: Powermec/Farmec
Harare
Price: $35 million (estimated new landed price with fittings $38
million).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 05 November 2003
For Sale:
1 Brand New Pirelli Tyre with
rim.
8.25 x16.5
$1,250,000.
Please contact Peta on: 091 247 197 or
email: Sue@ecoweb.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad
inserted 04 November 2003
FOR SALE: 5hp Yamaha outboard motor - only
testing time on clock - bought
in SA 1 1/5 years ago - now not needed - great
for sailors - excellent
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(ad inserted 14 October 2003)
As a Zimbabwean
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www.relocationafrica.com
From Business Day (SA), 2 December
Allies fail to rally around
Mugabe
Harare Correspondent
African, Asian and Caribbean
countries have not rallied around controversial
Zimbabwean leader Robert
Mugabe as he predicted ahead of this week's
Commonwealth meeting in Nigeria.
Mugabe's prediction of support from
developing states proved wrong when
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
decided after weeks of indecision to
exclude him from the four-day
Commonwealth heads of government meeting in
Abuja starting on Friday.
Obasanjo visited Harare recently, and was
exasperated by Mugabe's refusal to
address issues of Commonwealth concern.
Zimbabwe was suspended by the
Commonwealth in March last year for alleged
electoral fraud. The suspension
was extended to the end of this month. The
54-member club gave Zimbabwe an
ultimatum on improving democracy and
elections in Zimbabwe based on the
Commonwealth Harare declaration before it
would be allowed back into the
fold. But Mugabe rejected this, banking on
African and developing world
solidarity. Last Friday, when it was clear there
was no wholesale backing
for Mugabe, he said Zimbabwe would quit the
Commonwealth.
After being excluded from the Commonwealth talks he claimed
that he was
being victimised by the "white Commonwealth" for his
land-reform
programme.His continued attempts to put a racial spin on his
exclusion did
not find favour in the region. Southern African Development
Community
ministers meeting in Pretoria last week refused to protest at
Mugabe's ban.
They encouraged more dialogue between Zimbabwe and the
Commonwealth,
something Mugabe has persistently spurned. Mugabe's recent
efforts to
mobilise his Namibian counterpart and ally, Sam Nujoma, and his
dispatch of
Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge to the Far East to drum up
support
failed. Instead of thanking Obasanjo and President Thabo Mbeki for
having
supported him for so long, Mugabe attacked "apologetic African
leaders" for
abandoning him in his hour of need. He accused them of
apologising to whites
on the Zimbabwean issue. These leaders were "apologetic
about being
nationalists, fear to be Africans, hesitate to express solidarity
with us
and dread to play keeper to another African brother". Mugabe said
they
"allow the neocolonialists and neoimperialists to drive us to apologise
for
representing and pursuing our interests, for being ourselves".
Reuters
UK urges Commonwealth to keep Zimbabwe isolated
Tue 2
December, 2003 10:09
.
By Andrew Cawthorne
LONDON
(Reuters) - Britain will urge fellow Commonwealth members to keep up
pressure
on its former colony Zimbabwe by maintaining a punitive suspension
of Robert
Mugabe's government at a summit in Nigeria later this week.
"It is
important the Commonwealth maintains the position it has adopted
because it
is sending a very clear message about upholding values to which
we all
subscribe," International Development Secretary Hilary Benn told
Reuters late
on Monday.
The minister will travel with Prime Minister Tony Blair -- a
bete noire to
President Mugabe -- for the meeting of the 54-nation group of
mainly former
British colonies over the weekend.
Although trade, AIDS
and other global issues will figure, the Commonwealth
summit looks set to be
dominated by the controversial suspension of Zimbabwe
since 2002 when Mugabe
was accused by some observers of rigging his own
re-election.
The
issue has split the group along broadly racial grounds, with Britain
and
Australia leading the anti-Mugabe camp and South Africa and Nigeria
seeking
a softer line.
In classic brinkmanship fashion, a furious
Mugabe has threatened to quit the
Commonwealth altogether.
"We don't
want it to dominate the summit because there are lots of other
things we want
to talk about," said Benn.
But he added: "It's about upholding
(democratic) principles which the
Commonwealth holds very dear. The fact is
that Zimbabwe is in the position
that it finds itself in and will remain so
because the situation in the
country has actually got worse since that
decision (suspension) was taken."
Benn said Zimbabwe's crisis, including
mass hunger, was a damning indictment
of mismanagement in the one-time
southern African bread-basket, ruled by
Mugabe since the former Rhodesia won
independence from Britain in 1980.
"If 25 years ago you would have said
that Zimbabwe would need food aid and
the international community would be
responsible for two-thirds of it,
people would have said 'what are you
talking about?'"
"The Commonwealth has a great interest in trying to get
this resolved but in
the end the solution has to come from
Zimbabwe."
Mugabe says domestic and international "racist" foes have
sabotaged the
economy to punish him, mainly for a policy of seizing
white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless blacks.
Diplomats
think the Zimbabwe controversy is behind a surprise challenge to
Commonwealth
Secretary-General Don McKinnon's leadership from a Sri
Lankan
candidate.
McKinnon had been expected easily to secure a second
four-year term at the
Abuja meeting. But Sri Lanka has put forward former
Foreign Minister
Lakshman Kadirgamar as an alternative.
Benn would not
be drawn on speculation South Africa and others more
sympathetic to Zimbabwe
had helped manoeuvre the Sri Lankan candidacy as a
sop to Mugabe, who
dislikes McKinnon.
"It's a matter for the Commonwealth meeting to agree
but we've made our
position very clear in supporting the current
secretary-general," he added.
Benn, son of veteran radical Labour Party
politician Tony Benn, said the
Commonwealth meeting also planned to focus on
how to revive world trade
negotiations following the collapse of talks in
Cancun, Mexico, this year.
The Commonwealth covers roughly 1.8 billion
people, most living in poor
developing nations.
"Everybody knows the
potential benefit to a very large number of
Commonwealth countries that will
flow if we can get this right, not least in
opening up agricultural trade,"
he said. "We've got to maintain the pressure
on ourselves and on others to
say 'come on, we've got to get this moving.'"
ABC Australia
Howard warns against readmitting Zimbabwe to
C'wealth
Prime Minister John Howard has warned that readmitting Zimbabwe to
the
Commonwealth would set a dangerous precedent for other errant
states.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth in March
2002.
The issue will be considered by the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting
in Nigeria next month and some African countries have been
lobbying for
Zimbabwe to be readmitted.
Mr Howard has reiterated
Australia's strong opposition to the country's
readmission, arguing that
conditions under the Mugabe Government have
continued to
worsen.
"Readmitting Zimbabwe without concrete progress towards meeting
the
Commonwealth's benchmarks will not only undermine the
organisation's
credibility, it is also plainly unfair to those countries that
have taken
the necessary steps to live up to commonwealth values," he
said.
Mr Howard will attend the meeting in Nigeria and he says the issue
will be a
significant test of the Commonwealth's relevance and
credibility.
IOL
Tsvangirai's treason trial resumes in Harare
December 02
2003 at 03:24PM
Harare - The treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
accused of plotting to "eliminate" President Robert
Mugabe, resumed on
Tuesday after a four-month recess, with state lawyers
applying to tighten
the charges against him.
Tsvangirai is on trial
for allegedly plotting to assassinate Mugabe and
arrange a military coup
ahead of presidential elections in March 2002, which
the opposition leader
lost to Mugabe.
State lawyer Joseph Musakwa told Judge Paddington Garwe
on Tuesday that the
prosecution wanted to include "discussion on transitional
arrangements after
the assassination as well as seeking military support
after the elimination"
in the charges.
Musakwa insisted the state was
seeking only to make "minor corrections" to
the charges, and that they would
not prejudice Tsvangirai's defence.
But defence lawyers immediately
opposed the application, arguing that the
amendments were tantamount to
putting the leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) on trial on
different charges.
"It's a perfectly valid application, because we are
not coming up with any
new charges," insisted Musakwa.
Tsvangirai was
formally charged with treason just days after the
presidential elections in
March last year.
The opposition leader denies the charges, which carry
the death penalty on
conviction. He claims to have been set up by Ari Ben
Menashe, a
Canadian-based political lobbyist who Tsvangirai's lawyers say was
secretly
working for Mugabe's government.
Tsvangirai's counsel George
Bizos, a veteran South African anti-apartheid
lawyer, opposed the state
application to modify the charges, saying the
prosecution was not seeking an
amendment "but a substitution".
"This is putting Mr Tsvangirai on trial
for a different charge to the one he
came to face," said Bizos.
He
also dismissed the substance of the proposed amendment, saying: "There is
no
illegality in working towards a transitional government. It is
not
treason."
In a videotape of a meeting Tsvangirai held with Ben
Menashe in Montreal in
December 2001, which was secretly recorded by the
lobbyist, Tsvangirai is
heard to say he "would not be opposed to transitional
arrangements" in
Zimbabwe.
But Tsvangirai's lawyers on Tuesday argued
that there was no evidence the
MDC leader wanted to bring about a
transitional arrangement "through
unlawful means".
Unlike previous
court appearances Tsvangirai on Tuesday was not flanked by
MDC
Secretary-General Welshman Ncube, nor his shadow agriculture minister,
Renson
Gasela.
Charges against those two opposition officials, initially cited
as
co-conspirators with Tsvangirai, were dismissed in August due to lack
of
evidence.
The opposition leader had been expected to take the
witness stand for the
first time since the high-profile trial
began.
But he once again sat in the dock, with his wife Susan and dozens
of
supporters crammed onto courtroom benches behind him. - Sapa-AFP
The East African
Tanzania May Skip CHOGM in Solidarity With Mugabe
By
FAUSTINE RWAMBALI
THE EASTAFRICAN
TANZANIA IS adopting a wait-and-see
attitude before deciding whether to
attend the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting (CHOGM) that begins in
the Nigerian capital of Abuja this
Friday.
Some members of the 12-member regional body have reportedly
indicated that
they would skip the summit in solidarity with President
Mugabe, following
the announcement last week by summit host and CHOGM chair,
Nigeria's
President Olusegun Obasanjo, that the Zimbabwean leader would not
be invited
to the meeting.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and
International Co-operation, Jakaya
Kikwete, told The EastAfrican: "We are
studying the situation to see what
other fellow member states decide. After
that, we will be in a position to
decide how to handle the
matter."
Unconfirmed reports indicated that some member states had
dispatched their
ministers on special missions to other SADC countries to
persuade them to
boycott the CHOGM or send a low level delegations – vice
presidents or prime
ministers – as a sign of protest against the exclusion of
President Mugabe.
In the event that Tanzania does decide to attend, it
would be represented by
Mr Kikwete, by virtue of his holding the foreign
affairs portfolio, or Vice
President Ali Mohamed Shein, who is holding brief
for the president. Mr
Mkapa is undergoing treatment in Switzerland.
A
Dar-based SADC diplomat told The EastAfrican last week: "The
December
Commonwealth meeting might change the course of this grouping if
the
decision to exclude Mugabe remains."
But even as President Robert
Mugabe warned on Friday that Zimbabwe could
leave the Commonwealth if it was
not treated as an equal, he failed to win
the backing of a troika of Southern
African countries meeting in South
Africa.
A diplomatic source at the
meeting said foreign ministers from Mozambique,
South Africa and Lesotho who
met in South Africa on Friday to discuss
Zimbabwe's exclusion from the summit
only called for "constructive
engagement" between the government and the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) of Morgan
Tsvangirai.
"The bottom line is that Zimbabwe will not be going to Abuja.
The troika
endorses negotiations by the Zimbabwean government with the
opposition and
appropriate stakeholders," the source said.
Zimbabwean
Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge told the meeting that talks with
the opposition
were underway, but this statement that has been repeatedly
denied by the
MDC.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth's decision-making
councils
following allegations of vote rigging and intimidation in last
year's
presidential election, whose outcome is being contested by the
MDC.
But the polls were declared free and fair by African observers,
including
those from South Africa and Nigeria, whose leaders have resolutely
stood by
Mugabe even in the face of growing domestic and international
criticism
about the way he has handled land redistribution and his strong-arm
response
to growing internal dissent as the country sinks ever deeper into
economic
decline.
This latest "snub" from President Obasanjo is
therefore seen by some
observers as a position he was cornered into following
the threat of a
boycott by Queen Elizabeth and the leaders of Britain,
Canada, Australia,
New Zealand and some Pacific nations.
Tanzania too
has been a steadfast supporter of the Zimbabwean leader. At the
SADC summit
held in Dar es Salaam in August, President Benjamin Mkapa called
for the
lifting of the sanctions on Zimbabwe, saying: "The faster they are
lifted,
the faster more influence for positive growth and change
can
emerge."
He said SADC supported the land redistribution exercise
being carried out by
Zimbabwe, because Zimbabweans could not remain workers
while their land
continued to be owned by a handful of commercial white
farmers.
Mr Mkapa told foreign aid partners that although they were
greatly valued,
"they should recognise and respect the independence and
sovereignty of
states in SADC."
Critics of the "land grab" in which
scores of white farmers and hundreds of
their black workers were killed say
it was a populist move motivated by
Mugabe's desperation to cling on to power
and that it benefited the
president and a clique of his cronies, while the
landless poor remain
dispossessed.
Australian Prime Minister John
Howard insisted last week that Zimbabwe "must
improve its human-rights
record," before being readmitted to the
Commonwealth summits.
He said
one of the main items on the Abuja summit agenda will be to discuss
what the
54-nation grouping of Britain and its former colonies can do about
continuing
reports of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
Financial Times
Nigeria denies human rights abuses
By
Michael Peel in Lagos
Published: December 2 2003 18:23 | Last Updated:
December 2 2003 18:23
Nigeria’s government has reacted
furiously to a highly critical report
launched on Tuesday by a leading
international human rights group days
before the country hosts the
Commonwealth summit.
The report by Human Rights Watch says the
government has been
responsible for killings, torture and harassment of its
citizens and urges
leaders of the Commonwealth, a 54-nation grouping made up
mostly of former
British colonies, to raise concerns once the meeting starts
later this week.
The government’s strong reaction highlights
official sensitivity to
reports that describe how a culture of political
violence and corruption in
public life has endured in Nigeria despite limited
improvements since the
return of civilian rule in 1999.
"The
report is clearly and deliberately designed to precipitate
discord within the
august gathering and cast undeserved aspersion on the
integrity of the
Nigerian government and its people," said Remi Oyo,
spokesperson to President
Olusegun Obasanjo, in a written statement running
to more than three
pages.
"The federal government categorically rejects the report in
its
entirety and denies that there is a clamp on freedom of expression
and
individual liberties."
The statement says the credibility of
Human Rights Watch stands
challenged until it provides "incontrovertible
proof" of extra-judicial
killings and violations of the rights of people to
express themselves
freely.
The statement condemns "jaundiced and
misconceived" reporting that is
unhelpful to promoting democracy, stability
and development, especially in
Africa.
The Human Rights Watch
report documents a series of cases of official
targeting of protesters,
journalists and other civilians, including the
shootings by police of between
12 and 20 people during mass protests against
a fuel price rise in
July.
The report acknowledges that a relatively high level of
verbal
criticism of the government is tolerated but says the authorities
often
crack down on individuals whom they perceive as too persistent in
their
opposition or who touch on sensitive or controversial
areas.
Mr Obasanjo, a former military dictator, has overseen the
introduction
of some extra freedoms such as an expansion in the number of
political
parties, but corruption remains a huge problem throughout
government and
many Nigerians report cases of brutal behaviour by the
security forces.
The Human Rights Watch report is critical of the
moderate tone used by
countries such as the US in Britain in raising concerns
about Mr Obasanjo’s
re-election in April, which was undermined by reports of
serious fraud and
intimidation in large parts of the country.
Human Rights Watch contrasts the reaction of foreign governments with
their
severe public criticism of Zimbabwe, which has been suspended from
the
Commonwealth over violence and ballot-rigging during the re-election
of
President Robert Mugabe last year.
"Foreign governments
remained virtually silent about election violence
in Nigeria, yet abuses
during the Zimbabwe elections provoked widespread
condemnation," said Peter
Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa
division of Human Rights
Watch.
"Unless the Commonwealth addresses abuses in all of its
member
countries and denounces them accordingly, it will stand accused
of
maintaining double standards and its credibility will be
undermined.”
News24
Mugabe eyes the East
02/12/2003 18:55 - (SA)
Harare
- Zimbabwe will support China as an alternative world power,
President Robert
Mugabe declared on Tuesday as his country faced an
uncertain future within
the Commonwealth.
Mugabe, who was delivering a state-of-the-nation
address to parliament, said
China was increasingly becoming "an alternative
global power point"
indicating "a new alternative direction, which in fact
could be the
foundation of a new global paradigm".
"Zimbabwe must work
for this new paradigm, which is founded on principles of
sovereignty and
independence," he declared.
On Friday last week Mugabe indicated that
Zimbabwe was ready to quit the
Commonwealth after he was left out of this
week's Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Nigeria.
On
Tuesday he attacked the current "unipolar order".
"We abhor the global
high-handedness of the strong and powerful," he said.
"We abhor
unilateral interference in the internal political affairs of other
countries,
especially smaller states," said Mugabe, whose country was last
year
suspended from the Commonweath councils for alleged electoral fraud
and
rights abuses.
"Recent events in Iraq have clearly shown that a
unipolar order that
presently governs international relations is both unjust
and unsustainable.
It is a source of conflict, and even of war," he
warned.
"Our continued membership of the Commonwealth ... is dependent on
this
fundamental consideration, currently being vitiated by Britain,
Australia
and New Zealand -- the Anglo-Saxon unholy alliance against
Zimbabwe," he
said.
Mugabe gave the 30-minute address as the country
was struggling to cope with
deep economic crisis characterised by
hyperinflation, poverty, 70%
unemployment levels and shortages of most basic
goods and services.
News24
State tries to change charge
02/12/2003 15:40 - (SA)
Harare - Defence attorneys asked
the High Court on Tuesday to
acquit opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after
prosecutors tried to amend
the treason charges he faces
mid-trial.
Tsvangirai is accused of plotting the
assassination of longtime
ruler President Robert Mugabe. He denies the
charges.
Tsvangirai was initially accused with two senior
members of his
Movement for Democratic Change, Welshman Ncube and Renson
Gasela. But the
two were acquitted in September for lack of
evidence.
When Tsvangirai's trial resumed on Tuesday, state
attorney
Joseph Musakwa asked Judge Paddington Garwe to accept a reworded
indictment
deleting references to Ncube and Gasela.
Tsvangirai is now accused of plotting the assassination with
Canada-based
political consultant Ari Ben Menashe and staff at his Montreal
offices on
December 4, 2001.
Defence attorney George Bizos argued that
changing the identity
of the conspirators was tantamount to trying Tsvangirai
on a new charge,
which he said cannot be done mid-trial under court
rules.
"We are not coming up with any new charge" Musakwa
insisted. "It
is still treason."
Ben Menashe and his
assistant, Tara Thomas, testified earlier
this year that they secretly
videotaped the Montreal meeting for Zimbabwe
authorities who had paid them to
entrap Tsvangirai.
Authorities have refused to disclose the
amount paid on grounds
of protecting national security.
Tsvangirai was charged with treason two weeks before a March
2002
presidential polls in which Mugabe narrowly won re-election amid
charges of
vote rigging and intimidation.
The case - Zimbabwe's longest
trial to date - started in
February.
Ben Menashe, who
claims to be a former Israeli intelligence
agent, was acquitted by a US
federal jury in 1990 of illegally arranging a
$36 million deal to sell
US-made military cargo planes to Iran in exchange
for the release of four
American hostages.
Israel denies he did intelligence work for
the country, but says
he served briefly as a junior clerk in its civil
service.
New Zimbabwe
Zim crisis a defeat for US policy
By By Scott
Morgan
02/12/03
Filed 17:30
SINCE the end of the Cold War Africa has
been a main priority in American
Foreign Policy.
The Disaster on
Mogadishu when pictures of dead and mutilated American
Soldiers being dragged
through the streets were a somber sight for most
Americans and influenced
Foreign Policy for the rest of the decade. Remember
the silence from
Washington was loud.
So when the crisis in Zimbabwe emerged in 2000 the
United States was caught
of guard once again.
What is the United
States doing in this crisis? Well aside from the strong
statements that are
issued from the State Department and providing an
estimated 40% of the food
aid currently being distributed in that troubled
republic, what else are we
doing?
We are relying on South Africa to try and mediate in the crisis
and express
the concerns of the current administration about the crisis. How
are the
efforts going?
South Africa is a member of the Troika of the
Commonwealth ( along with
Australia and Nigeria) trying to see if that
country will or not be
isolated. However south Africa has not been successful
in achieving its
goals. President Mbeki has been advocating a policy of Quiet
Diplomacy.
How has this policy worked? According to various Activist
Groups this policy
has been a failure and in doing so has given the United
States a indirect
foreign Policy defeat. The Policy of Quiet Diplomacy has
only seemed to
shield Harare from International Criticism. And has led to
some states and
people that raise criticism as being accused of
neo-colonialism.
At this time President Mugabe is considering leaving the
Commonwealth. If
this threat is carried out those who are concerned about the
ongoing
deteriorating Human Rights climate and economy, may lose the only way
to
approach Harare address their concerns.
What role will America play
next? Well that is a very important question
with no easy answer. Zimbabwe is
not on the Radar screen of many due to the
War on Terror and concerns about
Israel.
This is a situation where the US can find itself being asked to
make
decisions similar to those made in Afganistan and Iraq.
Diplomacy
seems to be failing as the reports of abuses increase weekly.
The
Administration needs to pay attention.
New Zimbabwe
Tsvangirai defence slams prosecution 'conspiracy'
By
newzimbabwe.com staff
02/12/03
STATE lawyers in Zimbabwe who accuse the
main opposition leader of plotting
to kill President Robert Mugabe sought on
Tuesday to amend the allegations
against him as his treason trial resumed
after a two-month break.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), is
charged with planning Mugabe's assassination
ahead of 2002 polls that saw
the veteran leader re-elected amid allegations
of rigging. If convicted,
Tsvangirai could face the death penalty.
The
state's original case held that Tsvangirai took part in three
meetings
related to the plot, including one in Canada where he asked a
Montreal-based
political consultancy firm to arrange Mugabe's assassination
and effect a
military coup.
But State prosecutor Joseph Musakwa said
his team wished to amend the
alleged content of the meeting in December 2001
saying it focused on
''transitional arrangements after the assassination as
well as seeking
military support after the elimination.''
The request
drew an angry response from chief defence lawyer George Bizos,
who said the
amendment amounted to a ''new overt act charge'' against
Tsvangirai and that
the state had no evidence to support its case.
''This is putting Mr
Tsvangirai on trial on a difference charge than the one
he came to face My
Lord. A new set of conspirators is now introduced,''
Bizos said.
Musakwa
denied Tsvangirai's defence would be prejudiced.
The state's original
case rests mainly on a grainy, partly inaudible
videotape of a meeting in
Montreal between Tsvangirai and Canadian-based
political consultant Ari
Ben-Menashe in which the prosecution said Mugabe's
''elimination'' was
discussed.
Ben-Menashe has admitted he taped the meeting using
surveillance cameras
solely to get evidence for the government, with which he
consequently signed
a political lobbying contract, but he denies entrapping
Tsvangirai.
The defence argues the video was doctored to discredit the
MDC, the biggest
political threat to Mugabe's 23-year rule.
Tsvangirai
is awaiting trial for a second treason charge that he tried to
instigate the
overthrow of Mugabe's government through mass protests staged
by the MDC in
June.
The opposition leader has launched a legal challenge to Mugabe's
2002
re-election, which critics say was rigged.
Mugabe insists he won
fairly and dismisses the MDC as a stooge of Western
governments he says have
sabotaged Zimbabwe's economy in punishment for his
distribution of
white-owned commercial farmland among landless blacks.
