http://www.zimonline.co.za
by
Wayne Mafaro Friday 05 December 2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe human
rights lawyers filed an urgent application to the
High Court on Thursday
seeking an order compelling the police to release
human rights activist
Jestina Mukoko abducted on Wednesday by people who
allegedly identified
themselves as the police.
Harare based lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, who is
handling the application on
behalf of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights,
said in the event that the
police denied arresting Mukoko she would ask the
court to order the law
enforcement agency to probe the human rights
activist's disappearance.
"We have filed an application that she be
produced because the people who
took her said that they were police," said
Mtetwa, herself a prominent human
rights defender who has been arrested and
severely assaulted by the police
before because of her work defending
President Robert Mugabe's opponents.
She added: "If the police say they
are not the ones who took her, as we know
they will say, we are asking that
they be compelled to investigate her
disappearance as they ought to because
this is a law and order issue. It's
their job to investigate something like
this."
The court application, which by yesterday had not been sat down
for hearing,
comes as a host of key international rights bodies in Zimbabwe,
Africa and
beyond united in condemning Mugabe's police and security agents
for Mukoko's
disappearance.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW)
said it was concerned that Mukoko's
abduction appeared part of a "broader
pattern of persecution of human rights
defenders by the Zimbabwe
police."
Africa director at Human Rights Watch, Georgette Gagnon, said:
"The Zimbabwe
authorities have a duty to locate her promptly and arrest
those responsible,
or be held to account."??
Six other groups
including the Centre for the Study of Violence and
Reconciliation, Institute
for Justice and Reconciliation, Institute for
Democracy in Southern Africa,
Freedom House Southern Africa, Heinreich Boll
Foundation Southern Africa and
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition called on
regional leaders to pressure Harare
to release Mukoko.
"We call on the South African government and other
regional leaders to act
decisively in the matter by demanding the immediate
release of Jestina
Mukoko and to further put pressure on the Zimbabwean
government to abandon
the use of terror and intimidation," the groups said
in a joint statement.
United States ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee as
well as Amnesty
International on Wednesday also called for the immediate
release of Mukoko.
Mukoko, a former staffer at the state-owned Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation and now head of human rights organisation Zimbabwe
Peace Project
(ZPP), was abducted in the early morning hours on Wednesday
from her home in
Norton town, 50km west of Harare.
She has not been
seen or heard from since then and one of the lawyers
working on her case,
Alec Muchedahama, told ZimOnline that they visited
police stations in Harare
and Norton in search of Mukoko to no avail.
Muchadehama said: "We have
been to all police stations but we have not found
her. The police are saying
they did not arrest her, I think she may have
been taken by other security
agents but we do not know were they took her
to."
Mukoko's ZPP has
played a crucial role in monitoring and documenting
politically motivated
violence in Zimbabwe, building an archive of crimes
that could be crucial in
prosecuting perpetrators of human rights abuses in
the
future.
Political analysts and human rights groups say Mugabe's
government has
increasingly resorted to repression and terror tactics to
keep public
discontent in check in the face of an unprecedented economic
crisis, marked
by the world's highest inflation of 231 million percent, and
shortages of
foreign currency, food and fuel.
Mugabe's government
routinely targets supporters of the opposition MDC party
for abuse but has
in recent months stepped up repression against human
rights defenders and
other representatives of civil society in Zimbabwe to
try to intimidate them
from recording or publicising cases of rights
violations.
Police and
secret agents have on numerous occasions in the past been accused
of holding
arrested human rights activists, political activists, and other
government
critics incommunicado for long periods during which they
sometimes beat or
torture their captives in a bid to break them.
Mukoko was abducted the
same day police beat up protesting workers and
arrested more than 70
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions leaders in a fresh
wave of repression in
the country.
About 20 union leaders, mostly from Harare, were released
yesterday without
charge but others were still locked up in police cells by
close of business
on Thursday according to ZCTU information officer,
Khumbulani Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said: "The police are still holding the other
members who were
arrested in other parts of the country but have not charged
them yet." -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by
Nokuthula Sibanda Friday 05 December 2008
HARARE - South
Africa said on Thursday it will put pressure on Zimbabwe's
squabbling
political parties to quicken steps to form a government of
national unity,
adding it was concerned with escalating humanitarian crisis
in its northern
neighbour.
Government spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters that
Pretoria will lean on
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, opposition MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a rebel MDC
faction, to sign a
constitutional amendment within days and that would pave
way for the
formation of a unity government.
Maseko said: "We will
put pressure on the political principals to sign as
soon as possible. We
expect the amendment should be signed within a matter
of
days."
Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU PF party and the two MDC formations last
week agreed
on the details of the amendment but the parties' principals are
yet to sign
the document.
The proposed amendment will create the post
of prime minister and deputy
prime minister for Tsvangirai and Mutambara
respectively.
But the Tsvangirai-led MDC formation, which holds the most
seats in
Parliament and could very easily block passage of Amendment 19,
wants
further discussions on various uses including equitable sharing of key
ministerial posts before it can agree to join the unity
government.
Analysts say a unity government would be best placed to
tackle a severe
humanitarian crisis that is marked by severe shortages of
food and basic
commodities and in recent weeks by an outbreak of cholera
that has killed
more than 500 people and has spilt into neighbouring
countries including
South Africa.
Maseko said South African President
Kgalema Motlanthe will soon convene a
meeting of key ministers to consider
ways in which Africa's biggest economy
could intervene to ease the
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
He said: "President Kgalema Motlanthe
will convene a meeting of key
ministers to consider ways in which South
Africa could work with other
countries in the region, donor organisations
and NGOs to address the urgent
need for food and other humanitarian
needs.
"We believe people are dying of starvation and we cannot fold our
arms."
South Africa health officials have mainly focused on providing
relief to
hundreds of Zimbabweans who have streamed across the border to
seek
treatment for cholera but Maseko said Pretora would work with NGOs and
other
regional governments to intervene in the health crisis in
Zimbabwe.
However Maseko said South Africa would stick by its decision to
keep on hold
a R300 million farm aid package to Zimbabwe until a unity
government is
established in Harare.
"Even if that money was released
tomorrow it still would not be able to put
food on the table immediately,"
he said. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own
Correspondent Friday 05 December 2008
JOHANNESBURG
- Zimbabwe's devastating cholera outbreak that has killed
nearly 600 people
and affected about 13 000 others will not be easy to
contain, the WHO said
on Thursday, citing the country's broken down health
infrastructure as a
major obstacle.
"We are in front of a disaster. We won't be able to
stop the outbreak
like that, it is escalating," World Health Organisation
(WHO) global cholera
coordinator Claire-Lise Chaignat told
reporters.
"With such a deterioration in the health care system,
difficult
communication, shortages of food and staff, it will be a huge
challenge to
avert further deaths and cases," she added.
An
intestinal infection that spreads through contaminated food or
water,
cholera has so far killed 565 people in crisis-torn Zimbabwe with at
least
12 546 cases recorded in the country since August.
The disease has
since spilt into neighbouring countries with South
Africa reporting six
deaths from 438 cholera cases, while nine people have
died in Mozambique
from 278 recorded cases. Botswana has reported two cases.
President
Robert Mugabe's government, which until recently has been
down playing the
seriousness of the preventable and treatable epidemic, on
Thursday declared
cholera and the malfunctioning of central hospitals
national emergencies,
paving the way for the donor community to assist to
alleviate the
situation.
Cholera causes vomiting and acute diarrhoea, and can
rapidly lead to
death from dehydration.
The disease spreads
fastest in situations with poor sanitation such as
those found in Zimbabwe's
cities where sewers have broken down while garbage
piles up in the streets
and a shortage of clean water means residents have
to rely on unprotected
shallow wells for water.
"Many health care facilities are not
functioning because of a lack of
supplies and staff. This is an acute
disease where action is required
rapidly," Chaignat said.
The
Swiss expert lamented the country's lack of clean water that has
led people
to depend on whatever surface water they can find, adding: "In
these
conditions it is very difficult to control the spread of an
epidemic."
The Geneva-based WHO said it was sending six cholera
experts to Harare
after the health ministry asked for help. It has also
provided cholera kits
with rehydration salts, intravenous fluids and
chlorination tablets, and
more are on the way, she said.
The
WHO says simple steps such as cooking food thoroughly could help
stem the
outbreak even when care is lacking.
Zimbabwe's last major cholera
outbreak was in 2002 when 3 125 people
were infected and 192 died, Chaignat
said.
The southern African country is struggling under the effects
of a
10-year economic meltdown that has left the country's once model health
system totally collapsed while health professionals are grossly underpaid
because the government does not have money. - ZimOnline
http://africa.reuters.com
Thu 4 Dec 2008, 22:23
GMT
AMSTERDAM, Dec 4 (Reuters) - South African Archbishop Desmond
Tutu said on
Thursday that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe must step down
or be
removed by force. "I think now that the world must say: 'You have been
responsible with your cohorts for gross violations, and you are going to
face indictment in The Hague unless you step down'," Tutu, a Nobel peace
prize winner, told Dutch current affairs TV programme Nova.
Asked if
Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in
1980,
should be removed by force, Tutu said: "Yes, by force -- if they say
to him:
step down, and he refuses, they must do so militarily."
Tutu, who was one
of the continent's leading voices against the former
apartheid regime in
South Africa, said the African Union or the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC) would have the capacity to remove
Mugabe, 84.
"He
has destroyed a wonderful country. A country that used to be a bread
basket
-- it has now become a basket case," Tutu said.
Tutu's comments came on
the day Zimbabwe declared a national emergency to
halt a cholera outbreak
that has killed more than 560 people.
Economic meltdown, which many blame
on Mugabe, has left the health service
ill-prepared to cope with an epidemic
that it once would have prevented or
treated easily.
Once hailed as a
model African democrat, Mugabe has become increasingly
criticised,
particularly in the West over a worsening political and economic
crisis that
critics blame on his policies.
International help for Zimbabwe's
collapsed economy is on hold while Mugabe
and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai remain deadlocked over implementing
a power-sharing
arrangement.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party won
parliamentary
elections while Mugabe was re-elected as president after
Tsvangirai pulled
out of a two way run-off, citing intimidation by Mugabe
supporters.
(Reporting by Niclas Mika; Editing by Matthew Jones)
United Nations News Service
Date: 04 Dec 2008
The United Nations
and its relief partners must respond quickly to address
the humanitarian
needs of Zimbabweans and prevent the cholera epidemic from
spreading,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in a telephone
conversation with
South African President Kgalama Motlanthe.
During this morning's
conversation, they also discussed the political
situation in Zimbabwe and
the mediation by the South African Development
Community (SADC) in the
power-sharing talks between President Robert Mugabe
and Morgan Tsvangirai,
who heads the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
A
power-sharing deal on the formation of a new government was reached on 15
September with the help of regional leaders, but outstanding issues remain,
jeopardizing the deal's implementation.
Meanwhile, the UN World
Health Organization (WHO) today pledged its
continued support to
Zimbabweans, with the number of suspected cholera cases
in Zimbabwe having
grown to nearly 13,000 and 570 deaths reported since
August.
The
agency heads the group of heath providers who are responding to the
outbreak
as well as the country's wider health challenges.
Zimbabwe has appealed
for $1.5 million each month to address the cholera
problem, get health
workers to return to their posts and provide medical
supplies. Over $4
million worth of chemicals are also needed to ensure the
safety of the
country's water supply.
Kits capable of treating 800 severe and more than
3,000 moderate cases of
diarrhoea have arrived in Zimbabwe, where 9 out of
its 10 provinces have
been affected by the cholera outbreak, which has also
spilled over into
neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and
Mozambique.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) yesterday announced that it
is stepping up
its help for Zimbabwe's swelling population of children in
need, outlining a
four-month response plan to deal with the Southern African
country's
multiple crises, including a deadly cholera outbreak, the closure
of many
hospitals and the collapse of the education sector.
The
120-day plan yesterday in the capital Harare, and the agency warned that
women and children are bearing the brunt of the humanitarian suffering
engulfing Zimbabwe, where the economy is largely shattered and severe food
shortages have become standard.
"Schools and hospitals are closing,
while teachers, nurses and doctors are
not reporting for duty," UNICEF
acting country representative Roeland
Monasch said. "It is UNICEF's top
priority to ensure that Zimbabwe's
children get vital life-saving
interventions at this critical time."
http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/2008/12/05/zimbabwe-collapse-south-africa-prepares-to-move-in/
5 December 2008, 00:01 GMT +
2
ZIMBABWE faces total collapse. Its currency, its infrastructure such as
water and electricity, and its security forces are disintegrating.
When a
tyrant can no longer assure his military of their pay cheques, things
must
be pretty dire.
Speaking off the record, one South African official has gone
so far as to
say: "Mugabe has lost complete control. He has lost power, its
just a matter
of time before the country implodes.
"He cannot support his
own people and that is a danger for the region.
The South African government,
once the agent of denial on the severity of
the crisis across the border,
has finally grasped the nettle.
Former President Thabo Mbeki, who helped drag
out Mugabe's rule for a decade
has thankfully receded as a political
force.
In his place, Kgalema Motlanthe, with a full mandate from the ruling
ANC,
has begun to deal with the reality of human suffering.
Yesterday key
government departments were meeting to develop a response to
the massive
health and food crises which is costing hundreds of lives.
South Africa is
planning to move into Zimbabwe to prop up key institutions.
They payoff will
be the retirement of Mugabe from his position as
despot-in-chief.
Already
South Africa is dealing with a massive health crisis as Zimbabweans
stream
across the border to seek help with cholera.
The epidemic has claimed 565
lives, a shocking enough statistic, but one
which vastly underestimates the
true toll of the disease which has wracked
the capital city,
Harare.
After the shocking experience of xenophobic violence last year,
Zimbabwe's
collapse is an opportunity for South Africans to show they are
good
neighbours.
We should embrace the health refugees, give them the
best treatment we can
offer and, in giving of ourselves, we should find our
humanity once more.
http://www.africasia.com
LONDON,
Dec 4 (AFP)
Oxfam warned
Thursday that Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic posed a "grave
danger" to 300,000
people already weakened by food shortages, as the
government declared a
national emergency over the crisis.
Government and UN figures show more
than 560 deaths and 12,500 recorded
cases of cholera, but the international
aid agency warned the situation was
set to get much worse unless
international donors stepped in.
"More then 300,000 people already
seriously weakened by lack of food are in
grave danger from the cholera
epidemic," it said in a statement.
Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial
ruler, announced a 10-million-pound
(14.7-million-dollar, 11.5-million-euro)
emergency aid package Thursday to
provide life-saving assistance and respond
to the escalation of cholera.
Peter Mutoredzanwa, country director for
Oxfam in Zimbabwe, said such aid
pledges would "make a real difference" but
more was needed to avert
disaster.
"Unless the international
community steps up to provide money for food and
medical assistance
immediately, the already dire situation will get much
worse," he
said.
"With close to half the population weakened by serious food
shortages,
cholera when it hits is even more likely to be
lethal.
"Indications are that more than five million people will urgently
need food
aid by January."
In unusually frank remarks from Zimbabwe's
government, the state-run Herald
newspaper said Tursday the cholera outbreak
and the breakdown of the health
system were national emergencies and
appealed for international aid.
http://www.iol.co.za
December 05 2008 at
06:34AM
By Allison Coady
The power-sharing
negotiations between the political leaders in
Zimbabwe have stalled once
again just as outbreaks of cholera and claim
hundreds of lives. At first
glance the combined economic, humanitarian and
political crises would
severely shock any outside observer.
But for those who have been
following the developments in Zimbabwe
closely, the recent events come as no
surprise. No significant measures have
been taken by Zanu-PF or the two MDC
factions to alleviate the plight of
ordinary Zimbabweans.
President Robert Mugabe appears indifferent, while the Movement for
Democratic Change seems to believe that a worsening situation on the home
front will only strengthen its cause.
Instead of clear and decisive action that the leadership should be
implementing, Zanu-PF, MDC-T, and MDC-M, continue to delay the formation of
a workable government and must be held accountable for the rising number of
preventable deaths within the failing country.
Over the past
two weeks, the leading politicians have selfishly
generated major setbacks
to the power-sharing deal and ultimately to the
lives of Zimbabweans. To
begin, representatives of the group of Elders, -
including former United
Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, human rights
activist Graça Machel and
former US president Jimmy Carter - were denied
visas for a planned mission
to Zimbabwe to assess the deteriorating economic
situation and its impact on
the country's population.
Annan announced that the group was given
no official reason for the
denied visas. However, according to the Sunday
Mail, known as a mouthpiece
for the Zimbabwean government, Foreign Minister
Samuel Mumbengegwi
criticised the Elders for launching such a mission and
stated: "We take
strong exception to any suggestions that there are those
out there who care
more about the welfare of our people than we
do."
The minister saw no need in such a mission as he alleged that
his
government had already conducted their own humanitarian audit in
conjunction
with UN agencies within the country. Needless to say no UN
agencies were
named and no details from this audit have yet been released,
marking the
snubbing of the Elders as setback number one.
There
continues to be serious contention over the Home Affairs
ministerial post,
which oversees the police and the way elections are run,
having overall
charge of the voters' roll.
The recent SADC ruling presented a
solution that would see the
ministry run by two Home Affairs ministers
serving in rotation. Although
Zanu-PF and MDC-Mutambara agreed to move
forward on this suggestion, MDC-T
refused to accept such a solution and
expressed, through a letter written by
MDC-T Secretary-General Tendai Biti
to facilitator Thabo Mbeki, that the
SADC ruling was a nullity.
In Mbeki's lengthy response, addressed to Morgan Tsvangirai, the
former
South African president harps on issues of African solidarity and
warns
Tsvangirai against taking the opinions of Western Europe and North
America
over the "serious decisions of our region." Since the release of
this
correspondence, the negotiators have tentatively agreed on
constitutional
amendment 19, which provides for the post of prime minister
and deputy
ministers.
Tsvangirai has stated in the past that once this
amendment has been
passed and effected into law, the MDC would participate
in the new
government; however, he is currently waiting for his list of
grievances on
this bill to be addressed.
This petty
correspondence has made the MDC-T formation appear to be
unprofessional and
all too dependent on Mbeki for guidance, while it has
also sparked further
controversy over Mbeki's patronising tone and apparent
favouritism to
Mugabe. In no way is this bickering helpful to solving the
Zimbabwe crisis,
making these latest communications setback number two.
While the
world hangs on for yet another stall in the power-sharing
talks, what
remains even more worrying is Tsvangirai's statement this week
that he
doubted the deal would ever leading to anything substantial.
Although he
promised not to turn away from the negotiations, he has stated
that he now
does not believe a unity government is the solution to the
crisis in his
country.
This third setback may lead to severe consequences,
including a loss
of confidence in Tsvangirai's leadership abilities by his
own supporters.
After committing himself and his party to 18 months of
negotiations and
publicly assuring his dedication to the deal, not only is
it extremely
unprofitable to make such a statement at this point in time,
but publicly
announcing this sentiment without providing an alternative plan
has left
Tsvangirai in a clearly less advantageous negotiating
position.
After the initial signing of the deal in September of
this year, the
Ministry of Finance was a highly contentious
topic.
Since then, Zanu-PF has agreed to concede the Finance
Ministry to the
MDC - an arrangement that pacified the opposition
formations, who could then
foresee an eventual resolution to Zimbabwe's
economic collapse. On Monday,
however, Mugabe defiantly reappointed Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono to
another five-year term.
This
development is a clear indication that Mugabe's Zanu-PF has no
intention of
implementing any necessary economic reforms. It was under
Gono's leadership
that Zimbabwe witnessed a complete collapse in Zimbabwean
currency and a
world-record high in inflation, measured last in July at 231
million
percent. This reappointment of Gono marks the fourth major setback
in the
current crisis in Zimbabwe as the MDC is now concerned, and rightly
so, that
Mugabe will not deter from his existing economic policies and that
any
changes in policy that the Finance Minister attempts to introduce will
immediately be dashed.
As we have seen, these past weeks have
presented major setbacks in
finding a solution to the Zimbabwe
crisis.
Briefly some light was shed by the current South African
government
when an amount of R300 million in agricultural aid to Zimbabwe
was withheld.
South African spokesperson, Themba Maseko, stated
that the money will
only be disbursed once a representative government was
in place in Zimbabwe.
The decision initially sparked debate as to
whether the South African
government was shifting from its quiet diplomacy
policy to a bolder and more
constructive stance. But it is clear that there
is no shift and that the
withholding the R300-million is no threat to
Mugabe.
Perhaps all this amounted to was a momentary appeasement of
South
African voters that the "new" ANC was prepared to make some changes in
policy toward Zimbabwe. Unfortunately this is not the change that is
needed.
We need a South African government that does not shy away
from making
strong and informed statements that condemn the petty
personality war
between leaders, and provides concrete solutions to the
problem, which will
directly assist ordinary Zimbabweans.
*Allison Coady is a research associate at the Centre for International
Political Studies (CiPS), University of Pretoria. The views expressed in
this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views
of CiPS or the University of Pretoria.
This article
was originally published on page 19 of Pretoria News on
December 05,
2008
VOA
By Irwin Chifera, Taurai Shava & Chris Gande
Harare, Gweru & Washington
04 December 2008
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in consultations Thursday with the nation's
largest
union said that by mid-January it would abolish limits on how much
cash
depositors can withdraw from their banks, with stepped increases in
weekly
withdrawal limits in the meantime.
Harare banks were thronged meanwhile
as a new cash regimen allowing
individuals to take out up to Z$100 million a
week took effect on Thursday.
The central bank also introduced a new bank
note in the amount of Z$100
million - but by the end of the day its value
expressed in U.S. dollars had
plunged from US$50 to about US$10 as
hyperinflation kicked in.
Correspondent Irwin Chifera of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe reported from
Harare that some retailers boosted prices nearly
sixfold in anticipation of
a flood of new cash.
In the Midlands
province capital of Gweru, the increased withdrawal limit
didn't relieve
cash shortages - banksran out of cash by midday, as Taurai
Shava
reported.
Economist Eddie Cross, an advisor to the Movement for
Democratic Change
formation of prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai,
told reporter Chris
Gande of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that printing
higher denomination bank
notes like the new Z$100 million note merely fuels
hyperinflation and
further debases the currency.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
04
December 2008
Lawyers and human rights activists were unable
Thursday to determine the
whereabouts of Jestina Mukoko, the Zimbabwe Peace
Project director abducted
Wednesday by suspected state security agents,
generating an international
outcry.
Zimbabwean human rights lawyers
said they intended to seek a court order
compelling the police to provide
information or help locate Mukoko, believed
to have been seized at her home
in Norton, some 30 kilometers from Harare,
by Central Intelligence
Organization agents.
From London, Amnesty International called the
abduction or arrest of Mukoko
"an attempt by the authorities to discourage
human rights defenders" from
documenting rights violations.
Her
organization compiled extensive information on the political violence
earlier this year and was continuing to document human rights abuses by
authorities and others.
Attorney Otto Saki of the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights told reporter
Jonga Kandemiiri that police have not been
cooperating in the search.
Washington-based Freedom House called for
international intervention and
Deputy Executive Director Thomas Melia said
her seizure is part of a
disturbing new escalation in
abuses.
Zimbabwean civil society leaders Thursday deplored Mukoko's
abduction as
police elsewhere used teargas to disperse members of the
National
Constitutional Assembly who demonstrated in Harare, as Thomas
Chiripasi
reported from the capital.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8338
December 4, 2008
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairperson
Lovemore Madhuku
has urged Zimbabwean journalists to start employing more
aggressive methods
of compelling government to respect media freedom.
Madhuku argues the
so-called orthodox methods of getting the state to cede
more media space
have yielded nothing as government continues to maintain
its octopus grip on
the operations of the press.
The firebrand
activist was presenting a keynote address during a media
stakeholders'
conference organized by the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe
Thursday.
The
two-day conference seeks to provide a platform on which interest groups
can
brainstorm on the type of media environment that is conducive to the
good
practice of journalism in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean journalists bear the brunt
of unmitigated state repression by
President Robert Mugabe's government that
has maintained tight controls over
media operations through unpopular
laws.
Madhuku feels government needs a hard push to loosen its
stranglehold on the
operations of the media.
"The greatest threat to
media freedom is state power," said Madhuku.
"It is not possible to win
the struggle for media freedom without
confronting the state. We must
confront those who are in the state machinery
or those who would want to
wield state power.
"Our biggest problem is the state. Most rights
interferences are from the
state. We need to engage into a political
programme than ensures the state
is under control.
"The struggle for
the media to be free is a political struggle. There is no
such struggle such
as the struggle for media reform. When you engage in that
you are engaged in
a political struggle."
Madhuku says the repeated trust that is being
invested in the courts to
press for more media space has yielded
nothing.
"The problem with most Zimbabweans is that they have tended to
put the law
too much in front forgetting they are dealing with a state which
does not
respect its own laws," Madhuku said.
"We expect lawyers to
achieve what they cannot do. Yes they can win court
cases but the State will
always ignore them. What is needed is political
action."
Madhuku
spoke as Zimbabwean journalists continued to seek clues to the
abduction of
veteran broadcaster and human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko.
Mukoko
was seized from her Norton home early on Wednesday morning by about
15
suspected state security agents who were armed with rifles.
The former
broadcaster is now the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, an
organisation engaged in the monitoring and documenting of human rights
abuses in Zimbabwe.
Mukoko's whereabouts remain
unknown.
Madhuku spoke hours before Zimbabwe's civic society groups were
to issue a
joint statement asking African leaders to exert their influence
on the
Zimbabwean government in efforts to secure the release of
Mukoko.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says it has since filed a
High Court
order to compel the state to reveal the whereabouts of Mukoko as
well as
release her unharmed.
But Madhuku says such actions are not
enough if not complemented with
physical action by stakeholders.
"We
can make a big statement if journalists organize themselves and go to
Police
Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri's office to demand that he
explain
her whereabouts.
"We must employ some political force of sorts," he said,
"It must not be the
issuing of statements. It's completely useless."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
December
4, 2008
Catherine
Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent
Zimbabwe's plea for international help to
halt a cholera epidemic is the
most serious official admission yet of how
grave the crisis has become.
The Health Minister, David Parirenyatwa, has
called on foreign donors to
send millions in emergency aid funds, with the
unprecedented instruction to
send the money through United Nations channels,
denying government officials
their chance to profit.
Most of
Zimbabwe's foreign aid is channeled through the state-controlled
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe which the governor has systematically looted on
behalf of
Robert Mugabe and his cronies.
The concession from Mr Parirenyatwa, a
senior member of Mr Mugabe's inner
circle, is a sign that the Government is
"desperate and broke," one
international donor official said. But those who
hope that the cry for
international help will open a chink in the regime's
political armour is
being optimistic, the official added.
Robert
Mugabe has long maintained the fiction that his country's dire
situation is
the fault of foreign sanctions - so successfully, in fact, that
many abroad
are unaware of the extent of international aid operations
already
there.
Mr Mugabe has been more than happy to take Western aid dollars for
years,
not least because of the millions he and his cronies have made
looting aid
funds from the Reserve Bank. But the economic and political
environment that
has seen Zimbabwe's infrastructure crumble has compromised
the impact of
foreign aid on the lives of the Zimbabwean people.
The
greatest assault on the work of aid organisations was the months-long
ban on
field work during this year's election crisis, which halted
programmes
across the country and almost certainly contributed to the
breakdown in
health systems that have made the cholera outbreak so hard to
handle.
When the government took over food distribution, there was
widespread
testimony of supplies being denied to opposition supporters and
channeled to
the army and ruling Zanu PF party militias instead.
The
danger is that Mr Mugabe finds a way to politicise the cholera crisis
too,
by taking credit for solving it, particularly with Morgan Tsvangirai,
out of
the country. The oppositon leader is seen by many as the key to
reversing
Zimbabwe's decline with foreign governments lining up to plough in
millions
in investment and development into a Tsvangirai government.
Mr Mugabe's
concern is not so much for his own population as it is for
surrounding
African countries who, tired of the messy overspill of Zimbabwe's
multiple
crises, may be moved to stronger action to force him to go. Proving
he can
work with foreign donors to contain the cholera crisis, which even
now is
spilling over the border into South Africa, will ease pressure on his
neighbours to act.
What Mr Mugabe cannot now reverse, diplomats and
analysts all agree, is
Zimbabwe's catastrophic economic slide. It is that
crisis which is now
leading to the first and most dangerous signs of
disorder, with soldiers
rioting in the streets of Harare after they were
unable to draw their wages
because banks had run out of money.
Harare
residents were shocked by the sight, not merely because of the rarity
of
public disorder, but because the rioters were soldiers, part of the state
machinery that Mr Mugabe has long relied on to put down dissent.
Half
of Zimbabwe's army is on semi-permanent leave, with the Government
unable
even to feed them, and finding the funds to pay the remainder is
growing
ever harder. Relying on their loyalty is no longer a given. "People
are
beginning to talk about the c-word again," the official said, referring
to a
military coup.
http://africa.reuters.com
Thu 4 Dec 2008, 13:29 GMT
By
Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's decimated health care
system will struggle to
halt a cholera epidemic that has so far killed 565
people, a World Health
Organisation (WHO) official said on
Thursday.
At least 12,546 people have been infected with cholera in
Zimbabwe since
August and the country has declared a national
emergency.
"We are in front of a disaster. We won't be able to stop the
outbreak like
that, it is escalating," the WHO's global cholera coordinator
Claire-Lise
Chaignat told Reuters.
"With such a deterioration in the
health care system, difficult
communication, shortages of food and staff, it
will be a huge challenge to
avert further deaths and cases," she
said.
Cholera, an intestinal infection that spreads through contaminated
food or
water, can lead to severe dehydration and death without prompt
treatment. It
is preventable and treatable under normal circumstances, but
Zimbabwe's
health sector is near collapse because of the country's economic
crisis.
"Many health care facilities are not functioning because of a
lack of
supplies and staff. This is an acute disease where action is
required
rapidly," Chaignat said.
LACK OF WATER
Zimbabwe's
lack of clean water is a huge obstacle to ending the outbreak,
according to
the Swiss expert. "So people depend on whatever surface water
they can find.
In these conditions it is very difficult to control the
spread of an
epidemic."
The U.N. humanitarian aid office said in a statement released
on Thursday:
"Lack of adequate water supply and lack of capacity to dispose
of solid
waste and repair sewage blockages in most areas will continue to
contribute
to the escalation and spread of the outbreak."
The WHO
estimates that 4.5 percent of those contracting cholera in Zimbabwe
have
died. The normal case fatality rate is below 1 percent when the
infection is
managed properly with oral rehydration salts and medicines.
"We know
there are pockets where the case fatality rate is up to 50 percent
in rural
areas," Chaignat said.
The Geneva-based WHO is sending six cholera
experts to Harare after the
health ministry asked for help. It has also
provided cholera kits with
rehydration salts, intravenous fluids and
chlorination tablets, and more are
on the way, she said.
Simple steps
such as cooking food thoroughly can help stem the outbreak even
when care is
lacking, according to the WHO.
"If someone is sick, they have to
rehydrate him at home, using oral
rehydration salts. If they don't have any
they can use carrot soup or rice
with sugar and salt so patients retain
water," Chaignat said. "People die
because they are
dehydrated."
Zimbabweans are also crossing into neighbouring countries to
seek medical
care, Chaignat said.
South Africa has reported 438
cholera cases, including six deaths, as of
Tuesday, while Mozambique had 278
cases including nine deaths as of a week
ago, she said. Botswana has
reported two cases.
Zimbabwe's last major cholera outbreak was in 2002
when 3,125 people were
infected and 192 died, Chaignat said.
http://news.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States said
Thursday it was looking at how to
help Zimbabwe hit by a cholera outbreak,
and renewed calls on President
Robert Mugabe's government to settle a
month-long political crisis.
Zimbabwe's government pleaded for
international help Thursday after
declaring a national emergency over the
epidemic in which 560 people have
died.
"We're obviously very
concerned about the health situation in Zimbabwe, as
well as the economic
and political situation," State Department deputy
spokesman Robert Wood said
when asked about the US response to the
emergency.
"And so it's
incumbent on the Zimbabwean government to cooperate with the
international
community in trying to deal with some of these issues," Wood
said.
Asked if there would be a specific US response to the health
crisis, Wood
replied the "USAID (Agency for International Development) is
certainly
taking a strong interest in seeing what we can do.
"But
again, it's really going to be incumbent on the Mugabe regime to first
and
foremost .. sit down with the opposition and work out some kind of
political
arrangement that represents the rule of Zimbabwean people, and
then allow
the international community to provide the type of assistance
that's
necessary," he added.
"But it's a very difficult situation in Zimbabwe.
We're obviously very, very
concerned about the reports of these cholera
deaths," he said.
The health crisis comes as Mugabe's government has been
mired in turmoil
since he lost a first-round election in
March.
Mugabe later claimed victory in a one-sided runoff after
opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out amid a wave of deadly
political violence.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal
more than two months ago,
but have so far failed to agree on how to form a
unity government.
Their feud has been overshadowed by the crippling
cholera epidemic, which
comes as the United Nations says nearly half the
population needs emergency
food aid.
http://voanews.com
By Patience
Rusere & Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye
Washington
04 December
2008
Nearly three months after Zimbabwe's main political
parties agreed to share
power few expect to see a unity government formed
any time soon by President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and prime
minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic
Change.
But the burgeoning humanitarian crisis in the country could
change that.
Tsvangirai recently dismissed pressure from the Southern
African Development
Community to compromise on control of the Home Affairs
Ministry and other
issues and take part in the unity government, saying only
an equitable deal
could yield a legitimate government.
But some
political analysts are now saying that with Zimbabwe moving beyond
the brink
of disaster into a complex humanitarian emergency, he should set
aside such
objections for the moment and enter into government with Mr.
Mugabe to
prevent a national tragedy.
For perspective reporter Patience Rusere
turned to political analysts
Rejoice Ngwenya of Harare and Brilliant Mhlanga
of the University of
Botswana in Gaborone. Ngwenya said the MDC has become
invisible at a time
when the country is desperate for
leadership.
Gweru resident Muzi Mhlanga said the country is without a
real government
and that the MDC needs to swallow its pride to bring change.
Happimore
Nyakabawo of Mpumalanga, South Africa, said only a national unity
government
can solve Zimbabwe's problems. Morgan Ncube of Beitbridge said
ZANU-PF and
the MDC must start working together.
http://www.iwpr.net
Party dismisses suggestions of leadership change at
upcoming annual
conference, as succession battle heats up.
By Jabu
Shoko in Harare (ZCR No. 170, 4-Dec-08)
ZANU-PF has sought to weaken a
party faction opposed to President Robert
Mugabe and his heir apparent in
the run up to its annual conference.
But ruling party officials have told
IWPR that the succession issue will not
be on the agenda of next week's
event.
In six of the country's ten provinces, the party leadership has
been
completely overhauled, with those opposed to 84-year-old Mugabe's
continued
rule or the faction headed by his chosen successor facing
expulsion or being
sidelined.
Emmerson Mnangagwagwa, minister of
housing and amenities as well as the
party's secretary for legal affairs, is
touted as Mugabe's heir apparent in
the event that the ageing Zimbabwean
leader decides to call it quits.
The conference is an "annual talk shop
that will be characterised by wining
and dining while the rest of the
country is facing a severe humanitarian
crisis coupled by the cholera
epidemic", said Useni Sibanda, coordinator of
the Christian Alliance of
Zimbabwe.
"We don't expect much except the usual praise singing in which
leaders
declare their loyalty to Mugabe so that he rules them forever until
amen."
The conference, from December 10 to 13, will be held in Bindura, a
district
in which a number of opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
MDC,
supporters were killed in the run-up to the controversial March
presidential
election and presidential run-off in June.
Ernest
Mudzengi, a Harare-based political analyst, described the event as a
yearly
ZANU-PF routine for party fanatics to endorse the continued misrule
of the
country and party by geriatrics. "I don't expect anyone to stand up
and say
Mugabe must go. They are happy to continue the misery of the
country. It
will be the usual gigantic feast that has come to be associated
with
ZANU-PF," said Mudzengi.
ZANU-PF is not known to spare costs in feeding
its party faithful, he added.
Several million US dollars has allegedly
been budgeted for the conference,
while recipients of farms doled out by
Mugabe under his controversial land
reform programme have donated livestock,
grain and cash to feed about 10,000
people drawn from the country's 10
provinces. About 200 cattle are set for
slaughter.
Previous ZANU-PF
gatherings have in the past been dogged by allegations of
delegates stealing
food. Relief agencies estimate that more than 5.1 million
Zimbabweans out of
a population of 12 million people are in urgent need of
food
handouts.
The situation has been compounded by a cholera epidemic which
independent
health officials say has killed at least 3, 000. There are also
fears of a
grim harvest next year due to the country's ill preparedness for
the 2008/09
planting season, owing to shortages of fertiliser, seeds and
farming inputs.
Party insiders said the leadership was not worried about
the humanitarian
crisis as it had its eyes firmly on the conference. They
said the
restructuring of the party's provincial leadership in elections
prior to the
conference was critical.
There has been an ongoing fight
for political turf in ZANU-PF as the
Mnangagwa faction and those backing
retired army general Solomon Mujuru,
husband of Vice-President Joice Mujuru,
battle to succeed Mugabe.
For instance, in Masvingo provincial elections
held last week, office
bearers suspected to be linked to the Mujuru camp
were routed in what
insiders claim was a bid to strategically position
politicians with
connections to Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa is credited with
master-minding Mugabe's violent re-election in
June this year in a one-man
presidential run-off after opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai opted out,
citing the horrendous violence which killed
more than 100 MDC
supporters.
ZANU-PF has also completed restructuring in the Midlands,
Mashonaland
Central, Mashonaland East and Manicaland provinces, where
pro-Mnangagwa
people have been elevated to powerful and influential
positions.
However, in Mashonaland East, Ray Kaukonde, a wealthy ZANU-PF
politician
perceived to be aligned to the Mujuru camp and suspected to be
behind moves
to oust Mugabe, has retained his party chairmanship, despite
spirited
efforts by the Mnangagwa camp to oust him.
In Manicaland,
Mike Madiro has made a dramatic comeback after nearly four
years in the
political wilderness, clinching the chairmanship in the
province, which was
won by the MDC in the March 2008 elections.
Madiro was suspended in 2004
over what has come to be known as the
Tsholotsho Debacle, when politicians,
including Madiro and then-information
minister (now independent member of
parliament) Jonathan Moyo called a
meeting to change the party's rules, by
having provincial chairpersons elect
the party leader who would become the
country's president.
In Mashonaland Central, former government minister
Chen Chimutengwende, seen
as pro-Mujuru, has made way for politician Dick
Mafios, believed to be
pro-Mnangagwa, as provincial
chairperson.
Elections in the faction-riddled Bulawayo province have been
complicated by
an attempt by most of the provincial executive to revive PF
ZAPU, a
liberation movement swallowed by ZANU-PF in the 1980s. Current
chairperson
McCloud Tshawe will not be seeking re-election. Politicians in
Bulawayo
heavily linked to war veteran leader Jabulani Sibanda, who is also
thought
to be close to Mngangwa, are expected to sweep to victory.
In
Matabeleland South, elections are expected at the weekend after being
cancelled last week because of the deadly cholera outbreak sweeping the
country.
There is wild speculation of a change of leadership at the
conference in
Bindura, but Ephraim Masawi, the ZANU-PF deputy secretary for
information,
who confirmed the agenda for the annual gathering has been set,
dismissed
the reports, alleging mere media speculation.
Masawi said
the election of new leaders was the preserve of the party's
National
People's Congress, which is only held every five years; the next
one is due
in 2010.
"The ZANU-PF annual national conference is not going to tackle a
change of
leadership in the party. The issue of the succession is not on the
agenda,"
he said. The conference will run under the theme "Let us stand
united in
defence of the party and our revolution".
Jabu Shoko is the
pseudonym of an IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe.
03 December
2008
Harare residents and Zimbabweans in general continue to slink deeper into the abyss of dire poverty as the country’s economic and socio-political entanglement rages on. The city of Harare has witnessed a very eventful week (from Wednesday the 26th of November) which saw the soldiers rebelliously taking into the streets, looting shops, beating and taking away money from forex dealers and clashing with the police in the process.
Today (03 December 2008), the police armed with baton sticks and shields dispersed demonstrators, mainly ZCTU and other civic activists who were marching towards the central bank in Harare's central business district, calling for (among other things) the removal of cash withdrawal limits at the banks. The police also dispersed a group of about 100 health workers, including doctors and nurses, who had converged at the head offices of the health ministry to demand better working conditions, salary increases and protesting against the collapse of the health sector in the country.
The chaos in the capital city is abundant
evidence of a failed state with Cholera death toll also on the rise, the are
more deaths still being recorded in Budiriro, Glenview, Glen Norah, Highfields
and isolated cases in other parts of the city. More than 300 people have died of
Cholera in Harare which houses Budiriro, arguably the epicentre of the current
Cholera outbreak in
Poverty is at its best in the city, with the Christmas approaching and most in the low density (where most shops have licenses to sell in forex and have a high income clientele) are out to spend, most low income families can hardly put a decent meal together. The prices are just forbidding and those who do not have access to foreign currency (mainly US$ and South African Rand) are at the mercy of hunger. The central bank’s decision to increase the bank withdrawal limits are only but temporary measures which will yield massive diminishing returns as the decision itself to start with, is a stark indicator of the country’s runaway inflation and will further fuel the run-away prices again, as the economy sinks further down.
CHRA realizes the need for a basis for a long term solution to the country’s myriad of economic and socio-political crises and an end to the populace’s untold suffering and will continue to mobilize and urge Zimbabweans to speak out on the crisis to play a part in the solution of the country’s crisis. The Association stands in solidarity with those Zimbabweans who have continuously stood against the de facto government’s unsustainable policies and use of law enforcement agents to suppress the people. Residents demand a responsible, respectful, transparent, accountable and democratic government now!
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
145 Robert Mugabe Way
Exploration House, Third Floor
Harare
Landline: 00263- 4-
705114
Contacts: Mobile: 0912 653 074, 0913
042 981, 011862012 or email info@chra.co.zw, and admin@chra.co.zw
http://www.iol.co.za/
December 04 2008 at
10:44AM
Cabinet is extremely concerned about recent developments in
Zimbabwe,
especially the shortage of food, government spokesperson Themba
Maseko said
on Thursday.
It had called an urgent ministerial
meeting to discuss ways of aiding
South Africa's crisis-stricken northern
neighbour, he told a media briefing
in Pretoria, following Cabinet's
fortnightly meeting on Wednesday.
"President [Kgalema] Motlanthe
will convene a meeting of key ministers
to consider ways in which South
Africa could work with other countries in
the region, donor organisations
and NGOs to address the urgent need for food
and other humanitarian needs,"
he said. - Sapa
From: Senator Gutu
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 11:28 PM
On Thursday November 27, 2008, the negotiators from the three negotiating
parties initialled their signatures to the draft of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 19). The agreed draft is now in the public domain.
It is inevitable that the majority of Zimbabweans both within the country
and in the Diaspora, would like to gain an insight into how exactly the
power-sharing agreement that was solemnized on September 15, 2008 in Harare;
dovetails with the provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.
19) agreed draft.
I take my hat off to all the negotiating parties;
for the arduous task
which they undertook over a period of almost eighteen
months! More
particularly, I would like to acknowledge the sterling and
brilliant
intellectual effort that was displayed by the two negotiators from
my own
party; Honourable Tendai Biti and Honourable Elton Mangoma. The
Constitution
of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 19) draft agreed to by the
negotiating parties in
South Africa on November 27, 2008 makes very
interesting reading. A close
analysis of the draft will show that the powers
of the imperial presidency
that are presently held by Robert Mugabe are
going to be severely curtailed,
once the draft amendment is promulgated into
law. The powers of the
President, in terms of the agreed draft of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No. 19), will be briefly as follows:
nstitution of
a) to chair cabinet;
b) to exercise executive
authority;
c) to exercise his/her powers subject to the provisions of the
Constitution;
d) subject to the Constitution, to declare war and make
peace;
e) subject to the Constitution, to proclaim and terminate martial
law;
f)to grant pardons, respites, substitute less severe punishment
and
suspend or remit sentences, on the advice of cabinet;
g) to chair
the National Security Council;
h) to appoint service/executive
commissions in terms of the Constitution
and in consultation with the Prime
Minister;
i)in consultation with the Prime Minister, to make key
appointments
the President is required to make under and in terms of the
Constitution or
any act of Parliament;
j)may, acting in
consultation with the Prime Minister, dissolve
Parliament.
The
afore-mentioned functions of the President are, inter alia, the main
duties
and powers of the President after the promulgation of the agreed
draft of
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 19). A striking feature of
the
new-look presidential powers is the fact that the new President will not
have virtual carte blanche to do whatever he pleases as is the current
position. The current powers of the President are so overwhelming and
all-embracing so much so that they make the President a de facto monarch.
Naturally, the overwhelming and unchequered powers of the current President
have inevitably led to the mutation of the President into some form of
tyrant; who is literally a power unto himself. The introduction of the
office of the Prime Minister, as envisaged by the Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No. 19) agreed draft, has the net effect of diluting and
mitigating the hitherto imperial powers of the President. Briefly, the main
duties and functions of the Prime Minister are as follows:
a) to
chair the Council of Ministers and in this respect, the Prime
Minister is
the deputy chairperson of cabinet;
b) to exercise executive
authority;
c) to oversee the formulation of government policies by the
cabinet;
d) to ensure that the policies formulated by cabinet are
implemented by
the entirety of government;
e) to ensure that the
Ministers develop appropriate implementation plans
to give effect to the
policies decided by cabinet; in this regard, the
Ministers will report to
the Prime Minister on all issues relating to the
implementation of
government policies and plans;
f)to chair a Council of Ministers
consisting of all the cabinet
ministers. The Council of Ministers shall
assess the implementation all
cabinet ministers decisions, assist the Prime
Minister to attend to matter
of co-ordination in the government, enable the
Prime Minister to receive
briefings from the cabinet committees and
generally to make progress reports
to cabinet on matters related to the
periodic review mechanism;
g) the Prime Minister shall be a member of the
National Security Council
and he shall report to the President and
Parliament regularly.
The powers of the Prime Minister, as envisaged by
the Constitution of
Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 19) agreed draft, are quite
substantial. It is my
respectful submission that should the agreed draft be
promulgated as it is,
Zimbabwe will have virtually two centres of power
inasfaras the executive
arm of the State is concerned. These centres of
power will be vested in the
office of the President as well as in the office
of the Prime Minister.
Whether or not it will be practicable and workable to
have two centres of
power in the all- inclusive government remains to be
seen .Only time will
tell.
An analysis of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 19) agreed draft
also shows that a new Section is to
be inserted, after Section 114, to the
present Constitution of Zimbabwe. The
new Section 115 to the Constitution of
Zimbabwe will basically deal with the
transitional provisions; arising from
the power-sharing agreement signed on
15 September, 2008 by the principals
of the three political parties
represented in Parliament. For the avoidance
of doubt, Schedule 8 to the
Constitution will now clearly define the term
"after consultation". This
means that the person required to consult before
arriving at a decision
makes the consultation but is not bound by the advice
or opinion given by
the person so consulted. On the other hand, the term "in
consultation" means
that the person required to consult before arriving at a
decision arrives at
the decision after securing the agreement or consent of
the person so
consulted. Put simply, Schedule 8 will clearly provide that
the executive
authority of the inclusive government shall vest in, and be
shared among the
President, the Prime Minister and the cabinet. Gone will be
the days where
the President will wield overwhelming and overriding powers
on his own;
literally without any serious checks and balances. It is a
truism that power
corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!
Another very significant
aspect of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment
(No. 19) agreed draft is
the new look section 57 of the Constitution. This
will create a committee to
be known as the Committee on Standing Rules and
Orders consisting
of:
a) the Speaker
b) the President of the Senate;
c)
the Deputy Speaker;
d) the Deputy President of the Senate;
e)
members appointed by the Speaker and the President of the Senate from
their
respective houses of Parliament which shall include the leader of
government business, the leader of the opposition and the chief whips;
and
f)members elected by each House of Parliament.
The Speaker
is the chairperson of the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders
and the
President of the Senate is to be its deputy chairperson. The
Committee on
Standing Rules and Orders is a very powerful organ. For
instance, the
chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) shall
be appointed by
the President after consultation with the Judicial Service
Commission and
the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. The Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption
Commission, consisting of at least four and not more than
nine members,
shall be appointed by the President in consultation with the
Committee on
Standing Rules and Orders. The Committee on Standing Rules and
Orders shall
play a very far-reaching and significant role in the
appointment of all
major service and constitutional commissions. This
effectively curtails the
hitherto all- embracing powers of the President
when it comes to the
appointment of organs such as the Public Service
Commission, the Judicial
Service Commission, the Police Service Commission
and the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission. Indeed, the Committee on
Standing Rules and
Orders, as envisaged by the Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No. 19)
agreed draft, will also play a very significant role in
the appointment of
senior diplomats and senior civil servants.
In a previous article that I
recently wrote, I submitted that power- sharing
is never an easy thing to
do. More particularly, it will be very difficult
to have two centres of
executive power in the same country. I have no
apology in submitting that a
power-sharing government is never the most
ideal set-up to run an effective
government. Be that as it may, it appears
that at this juncture in the
political history of Zimbabwe, a power-sharing
government is perhaps the
best option to pursue. However, this arrangement
should be short-lived
because in essence, it is a negation of the will of
the people of Zimbabwe
as expressed in the March 29, 2008 harmonised
elections. Morgan Tsvangirai,
as the clear winner of the credible
Presidential election race that was
conducted on March 29, 2008, in all
fairness, should be given an opportunity
to run Zimbabwe unhindered by the
shackles and serious shortcomings and
ambiguities contained in the
power-sharing agreement solemnised on September
15, 2008 in Harare.
It is without doubt that Zimbabwe needs a new
people-driven and
people-centred Constitution. The power-sharing set up
should indeed be a
temporary arrangement that should not last for too long a
time. Electoral
losers should not be granted political power through the
back door. Going
forward, a new look Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
should consist of
men and women of absolute integrity who should be able to
administer fair,
credible and impartial elections. Surely, an electoral
commission that takes
five weeks to announce the results of an election is
an insult to the
intelligence of all right-thinking people! The entire
Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) ought to have resigned as a result of
this shocking and
unprecedented manifestation of bias, ineptitude and gross
incompetence.
Senator Obert Gutu is the MDC Senator for Chisipite. He
is a member of the
MDC National Legal Committee as well as the MDC National
Information
Committee.
http://news.iafrica.com
Article By:
Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:05
South Africa has
called an urgent ministerial meeting on the food and health
crisis in
neighbouring Zimbabwe, a government spokesperson said Thursday,
saying
people were beginning to "die of starvation."
"There are very clear signs
... people are beginning to die of starvation,"
said government spokesperson
Themba Maseko.
South Africa and the the Southern African Development
Community (Sadc) could
not just stand by and do nothing, he
added.
President Kgalema Motlanthe will meet with ministers to look at
how South
Africa could work with neighbouring countries, donors and aid
agencies to
address "the urgent need for food and other humanitarian needs,"
Maseko
said.
Zimbabwe is appealing for international aid after
declaring a cholera
epidemic a national emergency, the country's state-run
Herald newspaper said
Thursday. The outbreak has so far claimed 565 lives,
according to UN
figures.
Although South Africa was closely monitoring
the situation, Maseko said the
government would stand by a decision to
withhold nearly $30-million
earmarked for agricultural aid until a unity
government was formed.
South Africa in October approved R300-million
($30-million / €23-million) in
agricultural aid to Zimbabwe, subject to
conditions, to help short-term food
needs.
Maseko said South Africa
would pressure Zimbabwe's political leaders to sign
a crucial constitutional
amendment within the next few days.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) have
agreed a draft, which sets out the powers
of the new prime minister, but the
amendment has yet to be finalised.
"We will continue to put pressure on
the principals to sign the agreement as
soon as possible," said
Maseko.
A deal signed on 15 September that provided for the formation of
a unity
government has stalled as parties failed to reach a consensus on the
allocation of key cabinet posts.
Opposition leader and prime minister
designate Morgan Tsvangirai has called
for former president Thabo Mbeki to
step down as mediator.
But Maseko said the Sadc and the South African
government still had full
confidence in him.
"There is no basis for
us to begin to doubt the facilitation process of
Thabo Mbeki," he
said.
AFP
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Ntando Ncube Friday
05 December 2008
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's powerful
labour union and the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on
Thursday condemned arrests of protesting
Zimbabwean worker union members and
the abduction of prominent human rights
activist Jestina Mukoko.
"The
COSATU strongly condemns the arrest of dozens of trade union leaders in
Zimbabwe and the abduction of Jestina Mukoko on December 3, 2008 and demands
their immediate and unconditional release," Congress of South African Trade
Unions (COSATU) spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a
statement.
Mukoko, a former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation staffer and
now head of
human rights organisation Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), was
abducted in the
early morning hours on Wednesday from her home in Norton
town, 50km west of
Harare.
It is not known who abducted Mukoko but
the humna rights community in Harare
suspect the state spy Central
Intelligence Organisation that has targeted
humna rights defenders before
may be behind the kidnapping.
Craven said President Robert Mugabe's
government had no "democratic mandate"
to order arrests of citizens
peacefully exercising their democratic right
and reaffirmed COSATU's full
support and solidarity for Zimbabwean workers.
"COSATU, and the rest of
the international trade union movement,
congratulates the courageous
resistance of the ZCTU leaders and members and
will not rest until every
trade unionist has been released and will respond
promptly to any call from
the ZCTU for solidarity action."
The ITUC - an international labour
unions body - also called on Harare to
immediately release Mukoko and all
the others arrested and drop all charges
against them.
ITUC secretary
general Guy Ryder said the matter of trade union repression
would be brought
to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). He said
ITUC was going to
report the arrests to the ILO Committee on Freedom of
Association.
"The violent police force behaviour in Zimbabwe is
unacceptable. The
physical integrity of those arrested must be respected and
all must be
released with no delay," said Ryder.
Zimbabwe police on
Wednesday arrested Chibebe and about 70 labour union
members as they
ruthlessly crushed nationwide worker protests to force the
country's central
bank to scrap limits on the amount of cash people can
withdraw from
banks.
The ZCTU secretary general was arrested while addressing workers
soon after
holding a meeting with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon
Gono and
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga but was later released
to allow
him to attend a meeting on the cash crisis with Gono on
Friday.
Craven said: "These arrests illustrate the deep crisis within
Zimbabwe. They
were carried out by police with no democratic mandate, acting
under the
orders of a 'president' who was defeated in the March 29 elections
and who
is clinging on to power only because SADC leaders have failed to
broker a
solution to the political crisis which reflects the results of
March 29."
Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party lost to opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai and his MDC in this year's harmonised presidential and
parliamentary elections although Tsvangirai fell short of the margin
required to avoid a second round presidential run-off vote.
Violence
against his supporters forced the opposition leader to withdraw
from the
run-off, leaving Mugabe to claim victory in a single-candidate
election
widely condemned as undemocratic.
The United States, Amnesty
International and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party
have also condemned the arbitrary arrests of
human rights activists in
Zimbabwe and called for the immediate release of
Mukoko. - ZimOnline
http://en.afrik.com/article14981.html
Situation could spin out of
control
Monday rampaging soldiers in Harare may have been an inside job
by the
Robert Mugabe regime to use it as an excuse to declare a state of
emergency.
Soldiers - including members of the Presidential Guard - have
been looted
shops and robbed informal foreign currency dealers saying they
are failing
to withdraw their wages.
Thursday 4 December 2008, by
Alice CHIMORA
Former Home Affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa says the wave
of street
demonstrations and clashes with the police should not be taken at
face
value, as it could be a government "project" to conjure up the
conditions
for a crackdown on opposition parties, civil society and the
general
population.
He says "I do hope the demonstrations by the
soldiers are genuine, and that
it is not a ruse to come up with an excuse to
crack down against the people,
or even worse,"
"You can't rule out
what they [ZANU-PF] might do. They have so many problems
... such as cholera
and money shortages. They want to rule a country where
they have total
control over the people. Anything is possible - they face so
many problems
that I don't rule out any move to contain the situation,"
Dabengwa
said.
The plan
Colonel Simon Tsatsi told the media the looting by
mobs of soldiers was an
act of indiscipline. "Whatever is happening is not
the official position of
the army. It's probably just a small number of
undisciplined soldiers."
However, ordinary Zimbabweans say no soldier
goes to loot shops and then
returns to the barracks as if nothing happened.
Suspicions are that "these
events are being managed for a specific purpose,
which is likely to involve
allegations of trying to wage a war against the
government."
Zimbabwe's government has made repeated accusations against
Botswana,
southern Africa's most vocal critic of Mugabe's rule, that it was
providing
training bases for militia aligned to Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC).
Botswana has repeatedly denied the
accusation.
"Already, there are 15 MDC activists who have been held
incommunicado since
October 30. When you link that to the charges made
against Botswana, then
you can soon expect to have soldiers who will 'own
up' to having been
somehow involved in training 'MDC bandits', and trying to
recruit some
serving soldiers to stage a mutiny," the retired army officer
said.
Not all the soldiers may be aware of the kind of trap they are
being led
into. Only a few soldiers would be privy to the plan and would
mislead other
soldiers.
The retired officer said "If the process is a
managed one, then it should
fizzle out quickly - before the end of the week
- because there is a danger
that it can spin out of control.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Juma Donke Friday
05 December 2008
OPINION: There is universal
consensus that media are indispensable
actors in the promotion and
protection of democracy and human rights.
Since 17th century French
jurist Charles de Baron Montesquieu railed
against a cabal of Palace rumour
mongers and recommended publicity as a
potent remedy for political
corruption, the media have been recognised as
public spheres for discussion
and debate.
More importantly, media are vaunted as the watchdogs
against abuse of
governmental power: the link between the state and the
governed; and the
voice of the voiceless.
In other words, media
shape public opinion; enhance democracy by
protecting human rights,
educating citizens on their rights as voters,
fostering tolerance and
ensuring that governments are accountable and
transparent.
However, the media are managed by fallible human beings who
occasionally
succumb to the temptation to peddle sleaze, sensationalism,
fear and even
propagate division and violence.
The 1994 genocide which claimed
some 800 000 people in Rwanda is a
solemn testament to how media can be used
to fan information that is harmful
to democracy.
Indeed, the
media are sometimes unintentionally influenced and
manipulated by disparity
interest factions in society and used as surrogates
in wars of attrition.
Although at times journalists just get things horribly
wrong.
Since The Post (Zambia) was launched in 1991, it has contributed
immensely
to the development of a robust and vibrant democratic order in
Zambia.
The paper's crusading exposes and publicity of official
corruption,
suppression of the political space and abuse of Zambians'
personal rights
has been admirable.
In emerging democracies
like Zambia where civil society and opposition
political parties that should
provide the critical checks and balances are
still maturing, fearless
investigative reporting engenders a culture of open
government and
accountability.
The Post diligently performed this watchdog
function thus boosting its
credibility among the public.
The
editorial in the 2 December 2008 online edition of The Post was a
conspicuous example of how even vaunted opinion leaders of note like your
newspaper can get their knickers in a knot.
Admittedly, Morgan
Tsvangirai is no saint and I believe he has never
attempted to project
himself as such. Over the years, he has displayed an
uncanny propensity to
plant his big foot in cow dung even where a toddler
can easily sidestep the
foul smelling manure.
In a blatant show of naivety and a dearth of
political savvy,
Tsvangirai in 1999, jumped into bed with some bigoted
commercial farmers in
a putative bid to execute an electoral putsch against
ZANU PF.
This was to spell doom for this quixotic union as the
cement that held
it together started coming apart when Robert Mugabe roped
in war veterans:
his reserve rag-tag army to pummel and chase white farmers
off the land.
Clearly, Tsvangirai had not bargained on Mugabe
cranking to life his
long forgotten fifth column to wreck havoc with
impunity just to satisfy his
hegemonic desires.
Since his rise
to international prominence at the formation of the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party in September 1999, Tsvangirai has
staggered from one
embarrassing blunder to another.
He is that slovenly. But he is
brave, principled and undeserving of
the innuendos The Post cast in his
direction.
Mugabe and his avaricious army generals are the ones
holding Zimbabwe
to ransom. They are the charlatans that are delaying the
quick resolution of
the Zimbabwean imbroglio; not Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai legitimately won the March 29 election and the right to be
domiciled at No 1 Borrowdale Road. That is fact.
But Mugabe,
the army generals and like-minded leaders in southern
Africa including
former South African President Thabo Mbeki would not
countenance a
non-liberation political group taking power in Harare - more
so one
ostensibly aligned to our former colonisers.
Thus to subvert the
will of the people, Mugabe and his desperate
cohorts grabbed the ballot
boxes in the dead of the night and took off into
the arcane hills of
Chishawasha.
For five weeks, Zimbabweans wondered what had happened
to their
ballots. By any standard, this was a precedent setting
case.
One does not need to be a robotics professor to conclude that
Mugabe's
henchmen worked furiously around the clock to stuff the boxes
during the
five-week hiatus.
That is political larceny which
credible opinion leaders like The Post
should be condemning.
Cunningly, Mugabe manufactured a political and humanitarian labyrinth
in
Zimbabwe and swallowed the only clue to the conundrum. This way, he made
himself central to any possible solution to the maze.
In his
eagerness to save his political mentor's floundering fortunes,
Mbeki
pussyfooted around the festering crisis for eight years legitimising
Mugabe's disputed poll victories in 2000 and 2002.
It is hardly
surprising therefore that the mediator (the facilitation;
as Mbeki calls
himself) who, ideally, should remain neutral even in the face
of severe
provocation, has descended into the arena to pin Tsvangirai's arms
while
Mugabe whacks him.
It is trite that Tsvangirai enjoys genuine
support in Africa, from no
less luminaries like Nelson Mandela, Bishop
Desmond Tutu, Presidents Ian
Khama of Botswana, Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia,
Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal,
Umaru Yar'adua of Nigeria, Ernest bai Koroma of
Sierra Leone, Kenyan Premier
Raila Odinga and the recently deceased former
Zambian president Levy
Mwanawasa.
It is also interesting to
note that the Extraordinary SADC meeting
resolution The Post threw at
Tsvangirai was attended by only five heads of
state out of a possible 15:
Sadc chairman Kgalema Mothlante of South Africa,
Joseph Kabila, Lesotho
Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili (who claims to have
questioned Mugabe's
legitimacy to his face), Mozambique's President Armando
Emilio Guebuza and
Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Why did the rest stay away
and instead dispatched emissaries to such
an important
gathering?
Botswana has vociferously protested Mugabe's antics and
refuses to
recognise him as president. Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania is not a
huge fan
either.
Naturally, Kabila will side with Mugabe
because he is clamouring for
the fading SADC strongman's support to put down
an insurrection against his
disastrous rule in the eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo.
Crucially, Tsvangirai enjoys the support of the
majority of
Zimbabweans unlike his nemesis who draws his authority from the
vastly
depleted coercive apparatus of the state - the police and the
army.
In addition, the so-called African solutions that Mbeki so
meticulously propagates are merely disguised coups of the people's
will.
The Kenyan situation is a fitting precedent. Now this is
being
replicated in Zimbabwe with The Post's unflinching
endorsement.
Surprisingly, Mbeki did not lock himself in the bunker
at Mahlamba
Ndlopfu, and demand to share power with Jacob Zuma's stand-in
president when
the ANC terminated his employment contract. He graciously
left power.
More poignantly, in a short space of four months,
Zambia lost a
president, appointed an acting president and elected a new
one. All this
happened peacefully barring some muted murmurs of discontent
in opposition
quarters.
That is how it should be; and this is
what Zimbabweans desire: a
self-perpetuating democratic order that allows
them to regain control of
their lives.
If they want to form
alliances with the Chinese, the British or the
Americans; so be it. That is
their prerogative.
After all the Zambian economy is firing today
because it is stoked by
Anglo-American largesse. Also, the majority of the
transnational
corporations driving the South African economy are of similar
extraction.
It is neither demeaning nor embarrassing to fraternise
with white
people because of historical factors, like The Post
insinuates.
By chastising Tsvangirai for refusing to sip from the
poisoned chalice
SADC is offering him, The Post endorsed ZANU PF's attempt
to overthrow
Zimbabweans' right to decide who superintends over their
affairs.
Mugabe has grabbed the Defence and State Security
portfolios;
Information, Foreign Affairs, Minerals and Mining, Lands and
Agriculture;
and Tourism.
Logically, he should cede Home
Affairs to his new partner in
government to whom he has allocated Finance;
but still wants to retain a
presence there by ensconcing his personal banker
Gideon Gono at the Reserve
Bank.
But no; he wants a
"sweepstake" of all the powerful ministries.
Tsvangirai has made
enough concessions. Foremost, by agreeing to share
power with a man he
trounced at the hustings, and secondly; by agreeing to
Mugabe retaining the
presidency with most of his powers intact.
Additionally, Tsvangirai
has promised to bestow the "Father of
Zimbabwe" epithet on Mugabe, pay him a
handsome pension for life; grant
amnesty to perpetrators of politically
motivated violence and not to
drastically change the current land ownership
pattern in the country. Only
multiple farm owners will lose some
properties.
Evidently this is not enough for the ZANU PF leaders
who are preparing
to sprint off into the hills again with the underserved
biscuit, as Mugabe
has taken only a few doddering steps towards fulfilment
of the September 15
Agreement.
The Post, like the cowed
Zimbabwean state media, went to sleep at the
wheel this time. The
internationally respected newspaper abused its power to
impel ideas when it
uncharacteristically spewed ZANU PF propaganda.
As 18th Century
British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin noted: "What
the proprietorship of
these papers is aiming at is power and power without
responsibility - the
prerogative of the harlot through the ages".
The Post should have
been more circumspect before backing tyranny. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
Friday 05 December
2008
FULL TEXT: Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC are pushing their
luck too far. In
politics, one must not be too stiff-necked, too harsh and
unyielding. It is
sometimes necessary to yield to those moving towards
us.
And yielding is legitimate and essential when the yielder is
convinced that
those who are striving to make him yield are in the right -
in which case,
honest political leaders frankly and openly admit the mistake
- or when an
irrational and harmful demand is yielded to in order to avert a
greater
evil.
It is also commonplace wisdom that little annoyances
should not be allowed
to stand in the way of a big pleasure.
And
Tsvangirai should realise and accept the fact that concessions are
inherent
in negotiations.
When you enter negotiations, you must be prepared to
compromise and accept
the integrity of another man.
If one is not
prepared to compromise, then they must never enter into or
think about the
process of negotiation at all.
It is sad that Tsvangirai and MDC could
dismiss the decision taken by the
Southern African Development Community
Extraordinary Summit of November 9 as
a "nullity".
In the first
place, it was Tsvangirai himself who asked for this meeting,
who asked for
Sadc's intervention.
And the solution that was given by Sadc over the
sharing of ministerial
portfolios in the (inclusive) government was not
unreasonable.
It should have been easily accepted by both parties to
break the standoff,
but this was rejected by Tsvangirai in total contempt of
Sadc.
It's been very clear from the very beginning that Tsvangirai
doesn't believe
much in Africa and African solutions to
problems.
From the very beginning, Tsvangirai had relied on American,
British,
Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and other European
support.
Africa had never been an option for him.
For a long time,
Tsvangirai and MDC had no meaningful contact with African
countries,
governments or political parties.
In saying this, we are not in any way
trying to choose friends for them.
But we are merely wondering why
countries that have never supported
liberation or progressive movements in
this region are today the allies and
ardent supporters of Tsvangirai and
MDC.
The British and Americans never supported any of our liberation
struggles in
this region. These are the same countries that classified our
liberation
movements as terrorist organisations.
The United States
had even put Nelson Mandela on the list of terrorists and
after his release
from prison he could only visit that country on the basis
of a special
arrangement.
What is it that they have found more interesting, more
favourable, more
acceptable in Tsvangirai and MDC that they did not find in
Mandela and ANC,
in Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo and Zanu and
Zapu?
What is it that they see in Tsvangirai and MDC that they did not
see in Sam
Nujoma and Swapo, in Samora Machel and Frelimo, in Dr Agostinho
Neto and
MPLA and so on and so forth?
Today, Tsvangirai is going
round raising concern about the worsening
humanitarian condition in Zimbabwe
when he was the one who campaigned
vigorously for sanctions against his own
country, his own people.
Did he think the sanctions he was seeking, the
isolation of Zimbabwe he was
championing would have no effect on that
country's economy and the welfare
of its people?
There is no doubt
that Tsvangirai sought to take over power in Zimbabwe at
the back of
national failure.
And he must be very frustrated today that the national
failure he sought has
come to his country but not with the appropriate share
of power he wanted.
But despite his lack of respect for Africa and fellow
Africans, over the
last 12 months, the political fortunes for Tsvangirai on
the continent
increased beyond belief.
But the way he is going about
things will make him lose all that support in
a very vast way.
The
support that he got from Africa made it possible for him to have the
status
that he has in his country and the world today.
If he wants to lose all
this, he should ignore what Thabo Mbeki is saying.
Mbeki has raised very
serious matters concerning Tsvangirai and MDC's
behaviour and
attitude.
"Today, I received the letter dated 19 November 2008, which was
correctly
communicated through the South African Embassy in Harare, written
to me by
your secretary-general, the Honourable Tendai Biti, MP, concerning
Constitutional Amendment No. 19.
"I must confess that the contents of
this letter came to me as a complete
surprise, causing me grave
concern.
"As you know, Mr Biti's letter describes the decisions on
Zimbabwe, taken by
the November 9 Sadc Extraordinary Summit meeting held in
South Africa, as 'a
nullity'."
The letter goes further to say: It is
then difficult for any of the parties
to move in any direction for fear of
legitimising the Sadc summit 'ruling'.
The first point I would like to
make with regard to the foregoing is that,
as you know, we were appointed as
facilitator of the Zimbabwe dialogue by
Sadc.
"This position was
later endorsed by both the African Union and the United
Nations, both of
which expressly rely on Sadc to facilitate the Zimbabwe
dialogue, and thus
contribute to the resolution of the Zimbabwe problem.
"You will,
therefore, understand that it is absolutely impossible for us as
the
Sadc-appointed facilitator contemptuously to dismiss solemn decisions of
a
Sadc summit meeting as 'a nullity'.
"Indeed, and necessarily, all such
decisions serve as a binding mandate on
the facilitator. What Zimbabweans,
the region and Africa now need is the
sense of patriotism among the leaders
of Zimbabwe.
"You know this, too, that the rest of Southern Africa, your
neighbouring
countries, has also had the unavoidable obligation to carry
much of the
weight of the burden of the Zimbabwe crisis, in many
ways.
"You know that, among other things, various countries of our region
host
large numbers of economic migrants from Zimbabwe, who impose particular
burdens on our countries.
"Loyal to the concept and practice of
African solidarity, none of our
countries and governments has spoken
publicly of this burden, fearful that
we might incite the xenophobia to
which all of us are opposed.
"Nevertheless, the leaders of the people of
Zimbabwe, including you, dear
brother,
need to bear in mind that the
pain your country bears is a pain that is
transferred to the masses of our
people, who face their own challenges of
poverty, unemployment and
underdevelopment.
"This particular burden is not carried by the countries
of Western Europe
and North America, which have benefited especially from
the migration of
skilled and professional Zimbabweans to the
North.
"In the end when all is said and done, Zimbabwe would have to
exist in peace
and productive collaboration with its neighbours in Southern
and the rest of
Africa.
"Realistically, Zimbabwe will never share the
same neighbourhood with the
countries of Western Europe and North America
and therefore, secure its
success on the basis of friendship with these, and
contempt for the
decisions of its immediate African neighbours.
"I
say this humbly to advise that it does not help Zimbabwe, nor will it
help
you as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, that the MDC-T contemptuously
repudiates
very serious decisions of our region and, therefore, our
continent,
describing them as 'a nullity'.
"It may be that, for whatever reason, you
consider our region and continent
as being of little consequence to the
future of Zimbabwe, believing that
others further away, in Western Europe
and North America, are of greater
importance.
"In this context, I
have been told that because leaders in our region did
not agree with you on
some matters that served on the agenda of the Sadc
Extraordinary Summit
meeting, you have denounced them publicly as 'cowards'.
"Such manner of
proceeding might earn you prominent media headlines.
However, I assure you
that it will do nothing to solve the problems of
Zimbabwe. As you secure
applause because of the insult against us that we
are 'cowards', you will
have to consider the reality that our peoples have
accepted into their
countries very large numbers of Zimbabwean brothers and
sisters in a spirit
of human solidarity, prepared to sustain the resultant
obligations.
"None of our countries displayed characteristics of
cowardice when they did
this. All of us will find it strange and insulting
that because we do not
agree with you on a small matter, you choose to
describe us in a manner that
is most offensive in terms of African culture,
and, therefore, offend our
sense of dignity as Africans, across our
borders."
This is how Mbeki reacted to Tsvangirai and MDC's attitude,
arrogance, lack
of humility, lack of respect for others, and lack of
gratitude to their
African neighbours. Tsvangirai's excessive dependency on
Western Europe and
North America for political and financial support will
backfire.
What Tsvangirai should not forget is that for all that life has
dealt them,
one thing that Africans have not abandoned is hatred for
colonialism,
neo-colonialism and imperialism in general.
The
Zimbabwean campaign is the biggest Western Europe and North America have
ever mounted in an independent African country.
We have had problems
in Kenya, Uganda, Congo, but we have never seen Western
Europe and North
America do what they are doing in Zimbabwe. Why?
Tsvangirai shouldn't
mistake the African people's commitment and desire for
democracy as an
acceptance of Western European and North American political
domination.
If he is not careful, the tide of African public opinion
may soon shift
against him, and with it a decline of his political
fortunes.
There is no sensible alternative for Tsvangirai and MDC outside
negotiated
political settlement as expressed in (an inclusive)
government.
This may not be the ideal political arrangement, but for now
it seems to be
the most sensible option.
Moreover, the ways in which
we achieve our goals are bound by context,
changing with circumstances even
while maintaining steadfast in our
commitment to our vision.
In
conclusion, we can only say that intervention only works when people
concerned seem to be keen to come together and work together in
unity.
If they want to be sweepstake winners where there can only be a
collective
winner, then there is a problem.
We hope Tsvangirai and
MDC will see sense in what Mbeki is saying and make
amends. (Editorial from
the Post newspaper, Zambia) - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8294
December 4, 2008
SOME sections of
the Zimbabwe Internet community are agog with accusations
that The Zimbabwe
Times plagiarized an article which was posted on the
website late on
Wednesday night.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
To
plagiarise is to deliberately present the words or writings of another as
one's own. We, as The Zimbabwe Times, did not plagiarize the article,
Mugabe's
strategy for State of Emergency, which is the main article in our
opinion
section today.
Here is what happened.
On Tuesday we
received the article in question by email from one John
Huruva, to whom the
article is now attributed. Late that night I sent a
message to him, in the
assumption that it was his article, requesting
permission to publish the
article on this website. The name of Denford
Magora, who now turns out to be
the author of this article, did not appear
anywhere on the copy that we
received.
The following is the exchange between John Huruva and
myself:
Dear John,
Can we please publish your article on the
Zimbabwe Times website?
Kind regards,
Geoffrey Nyarota
In
response, John Huruva wrote;
Hi Geoff
Please do cascade. It might
help foil the Mugabe plans.
John Huruva
The fight for freedom and
justice in Zimbabwe is not going to end with
Mugabe's
departure.
Having received this authority from the person we assumed to
be the author
we proceeded to publish.
Please, note that John Huruva
did not say that this was not his own article.
Neither did he draw our
attention to this fact after we published it under
his name. My assumption
is that John Huruva may have assumed I was aware
that this was Denford
Madenga's article. It is possible that even now, as
controversy rages around
his name, he may be blissfully unaware of the fact.
Denford Magora has
submitted articles to the Zimbabwe Times for publication
in the past. This
was until about the time early this year when he joined
the Simba Makoni
presidential campaign team as a media advisor.
Until we saw the initial
communication from John Huruva we were totally
unaware of the existence of
this article elsewhere. We do not have the
capacity to visit every website
or blog on the Internet regularly.
Incidentally, The Zimbabwe Times would
stand to benefit more from publishing
an article under the name of Denford
Magora, a recognised commentator, than
under the name of John
Huruva.
"I have just lost all respect for this editor, who has won awards
for his
reporting!" Magora now says.
He writes this without
contacting The Zimbabwe Times or otherwise bothering
to check what might
have been the cause of this unusual occurrence, as one
would expect of an
experienced media advisor such as him.
Writers, never mind how wicked,
don't normally plagiarize through borrowing
an entire article of 2 446 words
- word for word. This is quite clearly a
case of crossed lines in
communication, from which the aggrieved party now
stands to benefit by
default.
We have now replaced John Huruva's name with that of Denford
Magora, with
apologies to him. Meanwhile, we wish to congratulate him for
his excellent
speculative piece.
Geoffrey Nyarota
Editor
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8324
December 4, 2008
By Tendai
Dumbutshena
AS THE year 2008 draws to a close Zimbabweans must face up to
two realities.
The first is that Zimbabwe is now a failed state. The
second is that no
solution will come from foreigners. If Zimbabweans watch
helplessly,
paralysed by fear, as Zanu-PF drives the country into a ditch,
the country
will, as one UN official warned, end up like Somalia.
A
country is built on a social contract between citizens and the state.
Citizens pay taxes for the state to provide various services for the common
good. These include the provision of safety and security, infrastructure,
health and education facilities. In Zimbabwe today the state is unable to
provide these services. It is even the biggest perpetrator of violence
against people it is constitutionally obligated to protect. The formal
economy barely exists with black marketers and fraudsters now captains of
what passes for commerce and industry.
With the productive sector
decimated and employment levels at about 20
percent the tax base yields
peanuts to the fiscus. Government expenditure is
funded by an incessant
printing of money and the mortgaging of the country's
minerals to shady
characters.
The country has effectively had no government for nine
months. Yet with all
collapsing around him Robert Mugabe still seizes every
available opportunity
to travel abroad. His only concern is to prove to the
world that he is still
President of Zimbabwe. His latest trip to Qatar came
at a time of great
national crisis. A cholera epidemic was spreading like
wildfire throughout
the country and claiming hundreds of lives. It was
largely left to donor
organizations to lead the fight against the
epidemic.
Government was a helpless spectator ridiculously blaming
international
sanctions for its inability to provide a basic service. Money
that could
have been spent on clean water and medicines to save lives was
needlessly
squandered on a junket. On the political front there is no
urgency to move
things forward. After securing legitimacy as President
through the back door
of the 15 September agreement Mugabe lost interest in
the proposed inclusive
government.
A desperate people clutch at
straws. The straw Zimbabweans are clutching at
is that of the so-called
power-sharing agreement. The reason why nothing has
been done since its
signing nearly three months ago is that Mugabe does not
support it. With the
presidency in the bag he is creating conditions for its
collapse.
Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC belatedly awoke from a deep slumber
to see the
agreement for what it is - a big con crafted by Thabo Mbeki to
prolong
Mugabe's rule. They are also not keen on the deal and would gladly
see it
unravel. But no one wants to take the blame for its collapse and so
the
charade continues. Only Arthur Mutambara's MDC is enthusiastic about a
deal
which offers its leaders a free ride to ministerial positions they lost
hope
of ever attaining around the elections in March.
With the
economy in its death throes and the political process in deadlock
the future
looks bleak. It will remain so until Zimbabweans stop believing
that
foreigners will come to their rescue. Pressure on Mugabe should come
mainly
from the people of Zimbabwe. It will not come from the AU or SADC.
African
leaders have demonstrated an unwillingness to apply meaningful
pressure on a
man many of them revere as a liberation icon.
Tsvangirai is currently on
a tour of Africa drumming up support for his
cause. While it is important
to remain engaged with African leaders
Tsvangirai must be under no illusion
about what can be achieved. What can
Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade do
or say to influence events in
Zimbabwe? The truth of the matter is that SADC
is the best placed to deal
with Zimbabwe but it is unwilling to do so. Its
leaders with the exception
of Botswana's lack the will or courage to get
Mugabe to do the right thing.
There ends the matter as far as Africa is
concerned. Appeals to the AU are a
waste of time.
Little can be
achieved at the UN as demonstrated by the failure of Britain
and the United
States to get a sanctions resolution on Zimbabwe passed by
the Security
Council. China and Russia who see nothing wrong with the Mugabe
regime can
be relied on to use their veto power again to block punitive
resolutions on
Zimbabwe. Western countries will not go beyond limited
sanctions now in
place.
Zimbabwe is of no strategic importance to them. Mugabe has learnt
to live
with EU and American sanctions which he has factored into his
calculations
as he plots the way forward. All he needs to survive is a
frightened and
subdued population and the support of African leaders which
gives him
legitimacy and diplomatic protection.
The epicenter of the
fight for democracy should be in Zimbabwe. Fear is key
to the survival of
Mugabe's regime. This explains why the violence and
abductions continue at a
time when parties are supposed to be reconciling.
Sadly, there is no outcry
against this silent war being waged against
defenceless people. Alarm bells
are only rung if a victim enjoys some
prominence like Jestina Mukoko who was
abducted last Monday from her home in
Norton in front of her children. Many
people are still missing some presumed
dead.
Mugabe knows that he no
longer governs with the consent of the people. As he
stated during the last
election campaign Zanu-PF does not need the consent
of the people to govern.
Their right to rule was won on the battlefield and
cannot be annulled by an
election. They, therefore, have no compunction
about using violence to
uphold that right. Africa is unwilling to stop
Mugabe from pursuing this
path. No amount of shuttle lobbying by Tsvangirai
across the continent will
change that.
The answer therefore lies in Zimbabwe itself. The principle
that people must
freely elect a government must be made to prevail.
Opposition forces must
somehow manage to get people to conquer the fear that
makes them meekly
submit to tyranny. They have to devise peaceful strategies
of turning to
decisive advantage the majority support they enjoy among the
people. The
balance of forces must be made to tilt in favour of those
seeking democratic
change. Africa will not come to the aid of Zimbabwe's
people.
The West will not go beyond symbolic gestures that pass for
sanctions. Only
pressure applied internally on the regime will clear the
path to a free and
democratic Zimbabwe.
http://www.charleston.net
Friday, December 5, 2008
Despairing
health care workers took to the streets this week in Zimbabwe's
capital of
Harare to protest the failure by the regime of strongman Robert
Mugabe to
react to a health-care crisis, which includes mounting deaths from
cholera.
Mr. Mugabe's response was to send baton-wielding riot police and
attack dogs
to break up the demonstration. The once-prosperous southern
African nation
now teeters ever closer to anarchy.
The cholera epidemic is the worst of
recent developments, which also have
seen unpaid soldiers rampaging through
banks because there wasn't money to
pay their wages.
This week, the
United Nations estimated that 565 people had died of cholera,
with 12,546
people infected. The outbreak is mainly blamed on failed
sewerage and water
systems. For example, the capital's water treatment plant
was shut down for
three days this week when it ran out of chemicals to
purify
water.
Teachers, civil rights organizations and unions have joined the
protests
against Mr. Mugabe's rule. Under pressure from neighboring
countries,
including South Africa, he has been negotiating a power-sharing
agreement
with his political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, to whom he lost the
March
presidential election. But the 84-year-old Mugabe, who has held power
since
1980, has shown no signs of ceding any authority.
Defense
Minister Sydney Sekeramayi said this week that unlawful protests
would not
be allowed. So far, the police and army remain loyal to the
regime.
The government's broadening campaign against teachers,
doctors, nurses and
members of the political opposition raises the question:
Are there enough
jails to hold Zimbabwe's expanding ranks of "criminals"? At
this point, the
nation might be reasonably viewed as a prison, or perhaps a
madhouse, with
Mr. Mugabe holding the keys.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT
05/12/2008
Political repression, a wrecked economy with
stratospheric inflation,
the collapse of public services: these have been
the descending circles of
Zimbabwe's hell.
Now, the failure of
sewerage and water supply systems has caused a
cholera epidemic that,
according to the United Nations, has killed 565
people and infected nearly
13,000. The unofficial death toll is thought to
be much higher.
Robert Mugabe's reaction to Zimbabwe's woes has been to blame
sanctions
imposed by "neo-colonialists" in America and the European Union,
and to
insist that the country can manage without outside help. Cholera has
forced
a change of attitude.
Following a declaration of a state of
emergency, the heath minister,
David Parirenyatwa, admitted that the
hospitals were not functioning and
appealed for foreign aid. There was no
mention of these being the result of
sanctions.
Mr Parirenyatwa
said that the onset of summer rains would only make
matters worse. He warned
that faeces lying in the bush could be washed into
shallow
wells.
There is a temptation to let Mr Mugabe's government shoulder
alone the
consequences of its lunacy, in the hope that the epidemic will
precipitate
its fall. But that would be to abandon ordinary Zimbabweans to
even greater
suffering than before.
The outside world must
help, and it is good to see Britain, the arch
neo-colonialist in Harare's
eyes, to the fore: the Government has promised
£3 million, and is setting
aside a further £7 million, for medicine and the
provision of basic health
services.
It would be nice to think that the latest manifestation
of Mr Mugabe's
hideous misrule, in which international agencies have taken
over the
functions of the national water authority, heralds a cathartic
moment. But
it can't be counted on.
http://www.businessday.co.za
05
December 2008
Aubrey
Matshiqi
In September, I said that two tests determine the success of
any mediation
effort. First, has the mediator succeeded in persuading the
protagonists to
sign a compromise settlement? Second, does the settlement
constitute a
lasting solution?
I have no doubt that Mbeki and
SADC are committed to a lasting solution. But
I suspect - and my suspicions
in this regard are very strong - that the
solution Mbeki and his comrades in
SADC have in mind has no room for a
Zimbabwe governed on the basis of the
consent of the majority of Zimbabweans
if this means the country must be
governed by the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) and Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Furthermore, I still maintain that a careful analysis of
the balance of
forces in Zimbabwe, and how it might change in ways that
include factors
that are currently not knowable, is one of the best
analytical tools
available to us. Analysis based only on anger and hope does
a disservice to
a party that is still in opposition despite the fact that it
won an
election.
A balance-of-forces analysis facilitates a
better understanding of what is
possible and helps us understand the
possible responses of each of the
internal and external parties that
constitute the Zimbabwean crisis.
Fundamentally, the balance of forces in
Zimbabwe is characterised by an
imbalance between the repressive capacity of
the state, internal dynamics
within Zanu (PF) and the security
establishment, the levels of popular
resistance and electoral support for
Zanu (PF) and the MDC. Since Zanu (PF)
has rendered electoral outcomes
irrelevant and popular resistance is still
very low in relation to the
enormity of the challenges facing Zimbabwe, a
shift in the Zanu (PF)
internal balance and a change in dynamics within the
security establishment
seem to be the only hope for the people of Zimbabwe.
IS THE sight of
soldiers rioting in Harare an indication of a change in the
balance within
the security establishment? We must be careful not to either
overstate or
under estimate the significance of these riots. Rioting foot
soldiers are
not necessarily a sign of rifts within the securocratic class
but are, at
the same time, indicative of the possible emergence of a crisis
of
legitimacy that might cause serious divisions within Zanu (PF) and the
securocrats. But we must not rule out the possibility that Robert Mugabe and
the Joint Operational Command will simply respond instinctively in an
attempt to further impose the repressive capacity of the state on a
worsening economic and political crisis. A collapsing state can have as
pernicious an effect as a military dictatorship that is at the height of its
power. We must, therefore, not rule out the possibility of gun battles
between soldiers and the police, a generalised mutiny or battles between
different groups of soldiers.
In the current situation two
things are certain. First, SADC will be riven
by divisions that will
paralyse it even further. Second, Zimbabwe has
crossed the point of no
return beyond which things are going to get much
worse before they get
better.
Since I am very far from the scene of Mugabe's crimes, I am
leaving room for
the possibility that I am either being presumptuous or
naive in suggesting
that it is still not too late for Zimbabweans to realise
that neither Mbeki,
SADC nor the African Union will save them. It is
ordinary Zimbabweans who
must stand up and make the sacrifices that need to
be made for a new
Zimbabwe to be born.
As for the so-called
leaders of this continent, they are the solid waste
that is floating in the
cholera-infested waters that are killing
Zimbabweans.
Matshiqi is a senior associate political analyst at the Centre for
Policy
Studies.