The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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SABC
 

  
Zimbabwe train crash toll rises to 46
February 02, 2003, 19:45
  
The passenger train was carrying 1 100 people in 13 coaches

The passenger train was carrying 1 100 people in 13 coaches

The death toll in yesterday's Zimbabwe rail crash rose to 46, police said today, while the government blamed human error for the collision between a goods train and passenger train.

However, the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said President Robert Mugabe's government should take responsibility for neglecting to make crucial repairs to Zimbabwe's rail network. Andrew Phiri, a police spokesperson, said at least 68 people were injured when the trains slammed into each other and caught fire. The passenger train, travelling from the country's second city of Bulawayo, was carrying 1 100 people in 13 coaches.

"Four more bodies have been discovered and the death toll has risen to 46. Investigations are still continuing," he said. State radio quoted Witness Mangwende, the Transport Minister, as blaming human error for the collision, but did not elaborate. Phiri could not confirm a report in the state-owned Sunday Mail that a signalman allegedly allowed both trains to simultaneously enter the stretch where the accident occurred.

The collision took place early yesterday, about 150km southeast of Victoria Falls, home to one of the world's most spectacular waterfalls and the prime tourist destination in northwestern Zimbabwe. Phiri could not confirm another report in the Sunday Mail that tourists were on one train but escaped injury. More bodies appeared to be still trapped under the wreckage, the paper said.

Opposition anger
The state-owned National Railways of Zimbabwe has in the past blamed most train accidents on theft and vandalism of its signals and communications equipment.

However, today, the main opposition MDC said Mugabe's government had failed to upgrade the run-down rail network despite four accidents in four months. "There are no programmes in place to enhance the safety of our transport systems despite the constant carnage," Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader said.

"In addition, experienced technical staff, that includes engineers, have left the country in large numbers due to the mismanagement of the economy. The nation holds (Mugabe) and his regime responsible for this tragedy," he added in a statement. Zimbabwe has had several major transport accidents recently. This month, five people were killed and more than 100 injured when a train and a bus collided at a rail crossing in Harare. In November, 16 died in a collision between a bus and a truck in the city of Kwekwe.

Mugabe denies responsibility for the country's worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, which is demonstrated by an acute foreign currency, fuel shortages and half the country's 14 million people facing starvation. He says the economy has been sabotaged by his local and foreign opponents in retaliation for his land seizure policy.

South Africa's state-run Transnet utility said today it had sent technical experts to neighbouring Zimbabwe to help in the investigation and work to restore rail services in the area. - Reuters

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BBC
 
Sunday, 2 February, 2003, 12:44 GMT
Mbeki highlights differences with UK
Thabo Mbeki and Tony Blair
Differences on Iraq and Zimbabwe
South African President Thabo Mbeki has highlighted big differences with the UK over Iraq and Zimbabwe.

Mr Mbeki, speaking after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his Chequers country retreat, said war with Iraq would create a crisis in the Middle East.

US Army in Kuwait
Action could be in 'weeks not months'
He also said that sanctions against Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe were not working.

After the talks on Saturday Downing Street refused to give details other than to say they were "cordial".

Speaking ahead of the talks, Mr Mbeki's predecessor Nelson Mandela accused Mr Blair of arrogance and short-sightedness and labelled him "the foreign minister of the United States".

Enormous crisis

Mr Mbeki told Sky News' Sunday with Adam Boulton that Mr Mandela's comments reflected South Africa's concern that regime change was one of the goals of the US and UK in Iraq "suggesting whatever happens there will be war".

South Africa had been speaking to Iraq, said Mr Mbeki: "They have been saying to us that they are indeed very keen and very willing to co-operate fully with the inspectors."

This is a great opportunity for the government to show it can be strong on Zimbabwe

Michael Ancram
Shadow foreign secretary
Of war with Iraq, Mr Mbeki said: "It would create an enormous crisis in the Middle East. I don't think there is any way in which you could quarantine that with Iraq."

Rising oil prices sparked by the crisis would hit the African economy, he added.

Mr Mbeki conceded, on Zimbabwe, that "clearly something went wrong" with the often violent land seizures.

Disarmed by force

On Commonwealth sanctions when they come up for renewal he said it would be a matter for discussion.

"But they have not produced any change and the European Union-imposed sanctions have not produced any change," he said.

On Friday in a joint press conference with Mr Bush, Mr Blair warned that if Iraq did not disarm through the UN route they would have to be "disarmed by force."

In contrast South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) is adopting an anti-war stance.

It has signed up to a Stop The War campaign saying war would be a disaster - escalating the price of oil and condemning the African continent to a deep economic crisis.

Nelson Mandela

The South African leader's predecessor, Nelson Mandela has accused the prime minister of arrogance and short-sightedness.

He said Mr Blair was "no longer prime minister of Britain" but instead "the foreign minister of the United States".

Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said he hoped Mr Blair would use the meeting to persuade Mr Mbeki to "stand up" to the Zimbabwean dictator.

"This is a great opportunity for the government to show it can be strong on Zimbabwe," he said.

Mr Mbeki flew from London to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for a meeting of the African Union.

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IOL

'Police commanders openly support Mugabe'

      February 02 2003 at 10:42AM

Zimbabweans face a deepening crisis that has left their nation gripped by
violence, torture, corruption, police bias and acute food and fuel
shortages, a human rights group says.

The report from the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum came amid an ongoing dispute
over Zimbabwe's role in the Cricket World Cup.

Zimbabwe is to host six of the matches, but the British and Australian
governments have criticised that decision, saying it legitimises the
dictatorial rule of President Robert Mugabe, and have asked their players to
boycott their matches there.

Some cricketers have expressed fears for their safety in Zimbabwe, though
the International Cricket Council has said it was satisfied the country was
safe.

The forum's report painted a picture of a nation beset by unchecked violence
committed by ruling party militants and state agents who have little fear of
retribution from biased police and ineffective prosecutors.

Police commanders openly declared their support for Mugabe's ruling party
and had shown "tolerance" to crimes committed by government supporters, said
the forum, a coalition of 12 independent human rights and church groups.

The government also used stringent new security and media laws to silence
criticism of its "abandonment of the rule of law", the forum said.

Zimbabwe has promised World Cup organisers there will be only "low-profile
policing" of planned demonstrations at the matches. But police commissioner
Augustine Chihuri later said demonstrators would be dealt with firmly and
prevented from approaching sports venues.

An incident earlier this week, when police fired live ammunition and tear
gas to disperse a meeting called by the opposition mayor of Harare, fuelled
fears of what the 450 police patrolling the cricket grounds in Harare and
Bulawayo would do to demonstrators.

Brian Kagoro, an official of Crisis in Zimbabwe, a reform group, sees no end
to the food shortages threatening more than half the 12,5 million
population, despite emergency imports by the government and the World Food
Programme.

Hard currency and gasoline shortages also have worsened.

Official inflation is estimated at 199 percent, a fraction of unofficial
estimates. - Sapa-AP
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Ananova

      Hussain drops World Cup hint

Nasser Hussain has hinted England's players are ready to boycott their
controversial World Cup match in Zimbabwe.

The 15-man squad re-issued their plea for the February 13 fixture against
the co-hosts in Harare to be moved to South Africa after the International
Cricket Council's insistence the strife-strewn African country is safe.

On Thursday the adjourned ICC executive board meeting deemed that the safety
of players, officials and supporters alike could be guaranteed for all six
matches in Zimbabwe following a second security directorate visit.

However, the delegation did report some deterioration in civil unrest since
the first check took place last November.

The Kroll report, which has been withheld from the Professional Cricketers'
Association, allegedly mentions 'extensive disruptions of the matches are
planned by elements in the opposition MDC party'.

England's players' original statement, made while they were in Australia six
days ago, expressed concerns of innocent Zimbabweans being hurt or killed by
authorities' for the sake of a cricket match.

Now, with the responsibility for security at matches and potential
re-routing switching from the International Cricket Council to the
tournament organisers after today there are likely to be increased
discussions this week.

England players will continue dialogue with PCA managing director Richard
Bevan, who will also engage with the ICC, England and Wales Cricket Board
and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

"Let's wait for the procedure to take its place and if at the end of that
no-one has made a decision for us we will have to make the decision," said
Hussain, after England's first practice session in South Africa.

"We will make a decision. We are hoping the ICC make a decision and our
board help us with our decision.

"We have issued our statement about an urgent review and we are hoping that
things are going on behind the scenes back in England and around the world."

Public opinion back home appears to be fully behind Hussain and his team's
stance that the game should be moved.

"We want to know what people think about us, there is no point going to play
a game of cricket for England in Zimbabwe if people don't want us to," added
Hussain.

"We are just getting people's opinion on that and our representatives and
the board are chatting daily about that and about security reasons."


Story filed: 14:39 Sunday 2nd February 2003
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VOA

African Leaders Prepare for AU Summit
VOA News
02 Feb 2003, 19:09 UTC


African leaders are arriving in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss Ivory
Coast and other conflicts during a two-day summit of the new African Union
starting Monday.

Leaders from Libya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Sudan were among the first to
arrive Sunday in the Ethiopian capital. Other conflicts which will be
reviewed include those in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The
possibility of war in Iraq will also be discussed, amid concerns about a
possible effect on oil prices.

Leaders are also expected to discuss bolstering the role of the African
Union. Heads of state and representatives from more than 35 countries of the
53-member grouping are expected to attend.

The African Union was established last year in Durban, South Africa,
replacing the 39-year-old Organization of African Unity (OAU). That
organization was widely viewed as ineffective in mediating civil wars or
promoting good governance.

Saturday, foreign ministers held a one-day conference in Addis Ababa to
prepare the agenda for the summit.

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who chaired the
meeting, warned that a war over Iraq will cause serious problems for African
economies. She urged African countries to support the U.N. Security Council
in its efforts to disarm Iraq of any weapons of mass destruction. She said
if the price of oil goes up as a result of any war, it would be the African
countries that would be hit the hardest.
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Sky Sports

      HIGH LEVEL ZIMBABWE MEETING SET FOR FRIDAY

      Representatives of England's World Cup players will be able to view
the organiser's report on security in Zimbabwe, but only under supervision.

      The Professional Cricketers' Association and the England and Wales
Cricket Board will meet World Cup security consultants on Friday.

      The International Cricket Council having decided to go ahead with
England's match in Harare on February 13 despite concerns expressed by the
England team about the political and security situation in the country.

      "We've said, and arrangements are in place for this to happen, that on
Friday of this week consultants will sit down with the England and Wales
Cricket Board, their player representatives and whoever else they want to
have there and work through the (security) plan with them," said ICC chief
executive Malcolm Speed.

      "We don't want copies of these reports widely disseminated because all
that does is reduce the security that's been put in place if all the details
of the security plan is out and about.

      "But certainly we are prepared to make those reports available in a
confidential setting where the experts work these people through it. We've
said that all along."

      England and Australia are worried about the deteriorating political
situation in Zimbabwe but neither country has requested that their matches
be shifted. India, Pakistan, Namibia and the Netherlands are also due to
play in Zimbabwe.

      "England has not asked to move the match, though they may do that,
they may come to the event technical committee and ask them to move it,"
Speed added on BBC radio.

      "We'll respond to it when that happens. At the moment it's
speculative.

      "The ICC has said all along that safety was the only criterion for
these matches."

      New Zealand have pulled out of their match against Kenya in Nairobi
after the ICC rejected a request to get the game switched to South Africa.

      The World Cup starts on February 9 when South Africa and West Indies
meet in Cape Town.
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Time Magazine
 
Laughing Matters
Not much food or rain, maybe no cricket — but this place still has its sense of humor

By JEFF CHU/HARARE
YOAV LEMMER/AFP
Under pressure: Robert Mugabe
printsendsubscribe

Archive: Zimbabwe in TIME

If England's cricketers do play in a World Cup match here on Feb. 13, some mischievous opponents of President Robert Mugabe have an idea for a practical joke. They know most Zimbabweans, unlike South Africans, have never cared for the sport. And in these tough times, people are too busy playing other games — Spot the Shortest Petrol Queue, Pretend You're a Ruling Party Member to Get Food — to pay attention to this one. But there may be a way to get everyone out to the cricket ground. "We might spread a rumor that there's going to be free food," says one local wag. "Then we'll have the whole town there."

Six World Cup matches are slated for Zimbabwe, but the British government (unlike its cricket officials) has led calls for a boycott of its imploding ex-colony. Zimbabwe has already lost its reputation as southern Africa's breadbasket, its once-vaunted economic potential, its veneer of democracy. For years, the rains haven't been good; neither has the government. But Zimbabweans haven't lost their humor or common sense. Ask about cricket and you'll get an answer, but they'll also remind you that when you're busy waiting in a food line or trying to will your paycheck into keeping pace with galloping inflation, you don't have time or energy to dicker about cricket. "Sport isn't exactly uppermost in our minds," says Godfrey (names have been changed to protect the speakers), an office administrator. "We're worried about our day-to-day existence."

So is Mugabe, which might explain why Zimbabwe's status as a World Cup host — and the credibility it might bring him — matters so much. The President turns 79 on Feb. 21, and he looks tired. Some of his colleagues seem to be tiring of him. Last month, while he was vacationing, the papers were full of reports of an exit-and- exile plan allegedly hatched within his zanu-pf party. On his return, Mugabe scotched the rumors, cracked down on opponents and cranked up his propaganda machine, as if to show that he still can pull the levers of power at will. Six trouble-free Cup matches would be a nice birthday gift for himself.

Britain's attempt to use sport to seize the moral high ground is annoying enough to the Zimbabweans who even noticed it. But the laughable part of the England players' call for a venue change was the worry about "safety issues." "You get the impression that people are running after whites with machetes," sighs Chenjerai, a taxi driver. "Johannesburg is bad. Harare is quite safe." And probably never safer than during the Cup. "Mugabe will sanitize the area," says political commentator Diana Mitchell of the wide, treelined avenues around the cricket ground. "There will be a corridor of protection. The cricketers won't see a thing."

Which is too bad, because if they had the chance to break bread with the locals (assuming bread's available that day), the cricketers would learn a lot. At every meal you hear about other meals missed — a day spent in line or a dinner skipped for lack of maize meal, the local staple. You hear of the shortages brought on by government price controls and farm seizures. You hear frustration over seasons of drought and see angry eyes raised at the clear blue sky. Talk invariably turns to exit strategies. Whites opt for Perth or Cape Town or, worse, chilly London — always "for the children." Among blacks, there's wishful thinking of a job earning foreign currency in Botswana, Namibia, England.

At each meal, people also serve up cracks about their misery. Recently I heard a half-mocking piece of advice for Harare drivers: don't ever stop. Others may think you're in a petrol queue and rush to get behind you. Humor seems to be group therapy, one sign of a resilient people. In her travelogue/memoir African Laughter, Doris Lessing, who grew up in Zimbabwe, recalls a meeting where a story is told "of cruelty, of official stupidity. The whole room was laughing ... I said to the man next to me, 'Why are you laughing? That's a terrible story.' 'That is why we are laughing,' he said."

"Oh, the people are suffering," says Namatai, a young widow with a two-year-old daughter. She counts herself blessed; she has a job — as a guard at a government building — when 70% of the work force doesn't. But she earns just $20 a month. "How can I afford bus fare, the rent of my house, mealie meal ... " Her voice trails off, her eyes wander. For a second, she looks as if she's going to cry. Instead, she throws her head back and — maybe because of her troubles, maybe because of her government's cruelty and stupidity — she laughs. Sometimes you just have to.

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Book Review
 
Birth of a nation: a vivid portrait of war-torn Zimbabwe


By Eric Grunwald, 2/2/2003

t's almost better if you don't know the modern history of Zimbabwe (nee
Rhodesia) before reading Yvonne Vera's new novel, ''The Stone Virgins.''
This short, powerful book, which won the inaugural Macmillan Writer's Prize
for Africa and should be read again and again, is a vivid introduction to
that clearly beautiful but violence- (and now hunger-) torn nation. Writing
no more and no less than necessary, Vera demonstrates what fiction does
best: showing us how it felt to be there.

The novel's first half spans the period 1950-80 and the struggle for
independence from white rule, the second the six shocking years following.
We begin in Bulawayo, the second-largest city, which Vera describes in an
economic but elegant and provocative mix of hard nouns and verbs and
abstract ideas, of rambling sentences and staccato fragments that connect
civilization, nature, and us: ''The city revolves in sharp edges; roads cut
at right angles.... Streets are wide. Widest at intersections.... The edge
of a building is a profile, a corner ... ekoneni. The word is pronounced
with pursed lips and lyrical minds, with arms pulsing, with a memory begging
for time. Ekoneni, they say, begging for ease, for understanding.'' The
fragments can seem affected and overdone, yet once accepted they create a
rhythm suggestive of the country's lurching history.

For it is the best of times - lovers rendezvous at these ekoneni and in
hotel basements, sipping beer, listening to jazz, talking about the time
Satchmo played there - and the worst: These are the only places blacks are
allowed; they must drink from glasses cut from empty beer bottles; war rages
in the bush.

From there to Kezi, 200 kilometers southeast, a village that fits how we are
used to imagining Africa: thatched huts, trees bearing aromatic fruit, a
crowded, barely running bus. Off of which comes a Bulawayo man whom
Thenjiwe, one of two Kezi sisters, meets and takes home. ''She has a lot to
forget, so this is all right. She has no idea now, or ever, that some of the
harm she has to forget is in the future, not in the past.'' Such masterful
bits of foreshadowing are frequent. The intense ensuing love affair falters
due to, like so many other things in the novel - and Zimbabwe itself, Vera
implies - a lack of words.

Following a beautiful chapter describing the quiet, stunned joy of
independence, one of the sisters is brutally murdered, the other raped and
maimed. The remainder of the novel movingly interweaves the survivor's
excruciating recovery with an exploration of the killer's mind. In both
threads, but particularly the latter, we are witness to one of Vera's great
strengths: her fantastic ability to conceive and get inside her distinct and
complicated characters down to the last thought and detail: ''I am a man who
is set free, Sibaso, one who remembers harm. They remember nothing. ...
These scarred hands, the flesh missing, are scented hands. An inch burned
from every finger. The smallest of my fingers no longer bends. Something
went quiet inside my head. I heard it stop like a small wind. ... I bit my
thumb and felt nothing. I bit hard and reached the bone. This is how I lost
the flesh there. I wanted to reach something, to restore feeling. A nerve
had vanished.'' Rather than condemn Sibaso, Vera seeks to understand him.

And although he's one of the dissidents who took up arms against Mugabe's
then-new government, there is plenty of blame to go around, and Vera
elsewhere describes ''soldiers'' committing atrocities, thus implying
government forces. Imply is all she can do, however, for Zimbabwe is now a
one-party dictatorship, and Mugabe is burnishing his image for the history
books. Over the past few years his militant supporters have killed numerous
opposition party members and harassed and jailed journalists, writers, and
artists who have criticized his government.

''There has been an absolute fear of even talking about [this period],''
Vera told The New York Times in October. ''For two years I did not write it.
But it was not possible for me to have that self-censorship. I wanted to
say, This is how it was. Just that. ... We weren't past this violence; we
have remained in that.''

Vera's goal is not to assign guilt but to break the silence, to end the lack
of words, and thus her answers are indefinite and speculative. ''The Stone
Virgins'' is, I believe, her way of asking why.

We must thus keep an eye on Yvonne Vera, who, unlike a number of her
colleagues, has not fled Zimbabwe, and runs the National Art Gallery in
Bulawayo. Not only because after this book we will hunger for more, but also
because she dares speak unpleasant truths inside her own country.

Eric Grunwald is managing editor of Agni magazine and is currently writing a
novel.

The Stone Virgins

By Yvonne Vera

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 185 pp., $18

This story ran on page D8 of the Boston Globe on 2/2/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Zimbabwe Mirror

Govt should put promises in writing - CFU

THE Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) has expressed the reluctance of its
members to surrender their title deeds as they were using them as collateral
and were yet to be paid full compensation for farm improvements.

While expressing optimism over recent talks held with Agriculture and Rural
Development Minister, Dr. Joseph Made, CFU president, Collin Cloete told The
Sunday Mirror that the government should put whatever promises it makes in
writing in order to make the talks more meaningful.

He however said the reluctance to surrender the title deeds did not mean
that the white farmers were against land reform, adding that dialogue was
the best way forward.

"We are optimistic that we will achieve something positive out of these
talks. The talks are really a good sign," said Cloete.

Cloete late last year resigned from the CFU as the organisation became
embroiled in quarrels over what stance to assume towards the government. He
was subsequently recalled.

The government in 2000 embarked on the fast track land reform programme
following widespread disgruntlement with the slow pace at which it was
redistributing land to the landless majority.

The fast track exercise saw around 11 million hectares of prime commercial
farmland being acquired for resettlement, with more than 380 000 families
being given plots under both the A1 and A2 schemes.

Some hard-liners were calling for a confrontational approach, expressing
their bitterness over the controversial acquisition of their farms, while
the likes of Cloete favoured dialogue.

Cloete said the CFU had scored a major success in that it had managed to
break the ice given that for "the last two years or so our efforts to engage
the government in talks have hit a brick wall".

Over recent weeks the government and the farmers have met twice, during
which the two parties agreed on the existence of certain problems such as
the lack of production on A2 farms, and the need to ameliorate food
shortages.

During the talks, the government indicated its intention to give landless
white farmers plots on which to continue farming operations. The move was
hailed by many people as a positive development that would normalise
agricultural activity.

"The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Joseph Made) told us
that if we wanted land, we would have to apply just like other aspiring new
farmers," said Cloete.

He added that Made had told the CFU that the white farmers would not get the
land from the 11 million hectares that was acquired under the fast track
exercise.

It is not clear yet where the extra farmland would come from and how it is
going to be acquired.

Asked to comment on why the government would not release some of the already
acquired land, particularly that under the A2 commercial scheme where the
uptake rate has been pathetic, Cloete said the government might have future
plans for the land.

He said the government had the impression that there was little production
on the A2 plots because of lack of equipment, most of which the farmers were
still holding on to.

Because of this latest development in which the government has ostensibly
given the white farmers a new chance, the farmers are becoming increasingly
unwilling to sell their equipment, following government's offer to buy or
hire the equipment.

Even though he expressed optimism over the talks, Cloete was quick to sound
some disappointments with the manner in which the government was proceeding.

"It is disappointing that despite talk about the one-man-one-farm policy,
the government continues to take farms from the white farmers and even those
who a single farm were removed under the fast track exercise," said Cloete.
An agriculture ministry official agreed with the CFU on the importance of
talks, adding that both sides stood to gain from dialogue.

"The reason why there was a stalemate before is that the CFU had an
externally driven agenda and thought it could have its cake and eat it too.
It is encouraging that they have seen the light and want to move forward,"
said the official.
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Zimbabwe opposition urged to lead mass action

afrol News / The Standard, 2 February - Zimbabwe's pro-democracy opposition is awaking to buds of internal democratic dialogue. Loud voices are heard, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is too weak to lead Zimbabweans into the anti-Mugabe mass action everybody is waiting for. Mr Tsvangirai answers he is "not the commander of an army," and masses must organise themselves.

Editor Bornwell Chakaodza of Zimbabwe's independent weekly 'The Standard' last week broke the pro-opposition silence on personal capacities of Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In an editorial headlined: 'MDC leadership cowardly and aloof ... Time to look south for lessons in liberation,' the influential editor sparked a debate around the question more and more Zimbabweans ask themselves: "When are we finally going to overthrow President Mugabe's dictatorship?"

- Zimbabweans need focused leadership and they need heroes, Mr Chakaodza pointed out in his editorial. Looking for lessons on how to win the popular fight against the regime of President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, the editor pointed at South Africa. There, the ANC "learnt fast that the struggle needed to be kept in the townships where it had overwhelming support," Mr Chakaodza brought to the attention of the MDC leadership. 

In today's edition of 'The Standard', opposition leader Tsvangirai answers the critique. Admitting that he was under tremendous pressure to organise some form of mass action, Mr Tsvangirai said criticism levelled against him mainly in the independent press, had not been justified.

- The calls for mass action are a sign of desperation but it is not like going for a picnic, Mr Tsvangirai told 'The Standard'. "We are leading at the front but we do not want something which is uncoordinated and unstructured. I am not the commander of an army, I am only a leader of an opposition party. The Zimbabwean crisis is not a Tsvangirai issue but the concern of all Zimbabweans. People must organise themselves to reclaim their power. When the people are ready to act, they will do so and we will back them up," the MDC leader added.

He added: "What people must understand is that we are in a struggle which must be long and which cannot be accomplished 10 months after the disputed elections. People do not learn from their history. How long did it take us to execute the liberation struggle against the Ian Smith regime? You can't just say mass action now, mass action now. It won't work."

Police interupts Harare meeting

Mass action hindered by Harare police this week

Photo by Zvakwana-Sokwanele

Many oppositional Zimbabweans - who followed the swift mass action organised in Madagascar by now-President Marc Ravalomanana with great interest - do not agree with Mr Tsvangirai. Although the MDC is the undisputed democratic government alternative in the country, many new groups and organisations are emerging to fill the gap between popular impatience and MDC restraint.

For example, the new group Zvakwana Sokwanele ("Enough is enough") is following the Argentinean example, organising its "Make a noise for freedom" campaign. Every night at 8 pm supporters in parts of Harare come out onto the streets to whistle and bang their pots protesting against the hunger they are suffering as a result of the Mugabe regime. "By doing this at 8 pm it also means that they are boycotting the ZBC's Propaganda News Hour," Zvakwana Sokwanele says.

Civil society has organised in the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), grouping human rights organisations, churches, trade unions, women's groups, professionals and individuals. The Assembly, which mainly demands a new and "popular constitution", is trying to organise mass action, such as strikes, stayaways and demonstrations. With their call for a new constitution, the NCA however seems to have failed to address the principal needs of Zimbabweans. 

Zimbabweans at large still hope the MDC and Mr Tsvangirai will lead them in mass action, as the party leader had indicated before the elections. Having given their majority vote to the MDC, people are increasingly disappointed about the many forceful words but lack of action from the party leader.

Meanwhile, Harare's MDC mayor Eng. Elias Mudzuri is heading towards increased fame and popularity for his efforts to resist government attacks against him. Mr Mudzuri continues to speak out and organise Harare residents' meetings, defying police action and arrest. "All I wait for now is for the MDC to make moves to replace Tsvangirai with Mudzuri, who seems infinitely more energetic and inspiring," Denford Magora writes in a letter to the editor of 'The Standard'.

Editor Chakaodza's call for a debate on how to continue the struggle against the Mugabe regime generally met positive response among his readership. "Keep up the good fight, Mr Editor," said Mr Magora from Harare, adding that one should not be made to believe that "criticism of [the MDC's] leadership is a betrayal of ourselves and therefore of the country." Mr Tsvangirai had no automatic right to head the MDC, he pointed out. 

Also R.E.S. Cook from Harare applauded the editor's "timely wake up call" to the MDC: "There is still a large residue of public goodwill for Morgan Tsvangirai, but that will soon disappear if he is not seen to be leading from the front. Mudzuri and other MDC mayors are under attack - physically as well as politically - as are Sikhala and other MDC MPs. If Tsvangirai is perceived as hiding behind these and other MDC stalwarts, then he will render himself irrelevant to the people's struggle for a better Zimbabwe," R. Cook's letter to 'The Standard' reads.

Meanwhile, the MDC national executive council met yesterday in Harare to discuss, amongst many other issues, mass action. Paul Themba Nyathi, the MDC spokesman, told 'The Standard' a number of the executive members felt that the party should be prepared to engage in mass action. Added Mr Nyathi: "The economic situation gripping the nation is such that Zimbabweans should brace themselves for a strategy of national survival which will involve mass stayaways. The MDC will mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to take action against the illegitimate government. It will in due course announce the new course of action."

Mr Tsvangirai himself will have to go to court tomorrow to face treason charges, together with Welshman Ncube, the MDC Secretary-General, and other senior MDC officials. 

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Zimbabwe protests not ICC's responsibility

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Demonstrators who are injured, or worse, during
protests at Zimbabwean World Cup matches are not the responsibility of the
International Cricket Council (ICC), the organisation's chief executive
Malcolm Speed has said.

"What we are doing in Zimbabwe -- running cricket matches -- is perfectly
legal, and we will do that to the highest possible standard in terms of
safety and security," Speed told reporters on Sunday at a function to honour
the South African national team.

"Zimbabwe is going through a difficult political and economical time, no-one
disputes that. People are not demonstrating against us holding cricket
matches, let's be clear about that.

"But demonstrators are taking advantage of your presence, the international
media, as an opportunity to get their message through," Speed said.

The ICC decided to go ahead with six World Cup matches in Zimbabwe last
Thursday despite concerns expressed by England and Australia about the
political and security situation in the country.

Australia's Cricket Board is also concerned about reports that protesters
would picket their match with Zimbabwe.

"If we have people in Zimbabwe, who know the law in their country
(concerning illegal protests) taking advantage of the presence of World Cup
matches, then that is a matter for local authorities," said Speed.

"It is coincidental that they are using cricket to do that. If the cricket
were not there the demonstrations would go on -- they would find some other
way of making their point.

SOFT TARGET

"Governments have had the opportunity to impose sporting sanctions on
Zimbabwe and they have chosen not to do that. What's happened here is that
cricket has been identified by governments as a soft target," Speed said.

"We have some 300 British companies operating out of Zimbabwe at the moment
and nobody is saying to them 'get out, you can't continue your business in
Zimbabwe,' but that's what is being said to cricket," he said.

Responding to a question concerning the England Professional Players
Association's (PCA) request to see a copy of the World Cup security plan,
Speed said: "An organisation doesn't write a security plan and then make it
public. If there is someone out there seeking to cause trouble then they
would like to see the security plan so we need to keep it as a confidential
document.

"But we have offered to meet with any team, along with the directors of the
Security Directorate, to go through the plan. We are scheduled to meet the
England team on Friday," Speed said.

New Zealand is the only country so far to pull out of a World Cup match
after their refusal to play in Kenya because of safety fears. The ICC
rejected their request to have the game moved to South Africa.

The World Cup starts next Sunday, February 9, with a match in Cape Town
between South Africa and the West Indies. England are scheduled to play
Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13.

India, Pakistan, Namibia and the Netherlands are also due to play in
Zimbabwe.
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