• Farm worker shot and killed on MP's farm
• Mugabe retains combative ministers in reshuffle
• Black workers fight Mugabe land thugs
• England hit another Zimbabwe road block
• Asian Bird Flu Gives Zimbabwe Tourism a Cold
• Makamba arrested over forex deals
• Mugabe rewards loyalists in new Cabinet
• ANZ journalists will not be accredited: Mahoso
• 37 more school heads suspended
• CHRA Press Statement - Harare Budget
• Just a taste of what’s to come!
• Harare Parliamentary Constituency Information Centres
• JAG Open Letter Forum No 230

Zimbabwe's farm seizures have met their first resistance at a firm supplying
British supermarkets, writes Peta Thornycroft in Odzi

Thousands of Zimbabweans who grow vegetables for British supermarkets are
fighting attempts by a cabinet minister to confiscate the land they work on.

The rebellion by 6,000 black workers is the first in nearly four years of
state-sponsored terror on the country's white-owned farms.

Kondozi's 1,500 profitable acres provide huge quantities of runner beans,
mange tout and red peppers for stores including Safeway, Sainsbury's and
Tesco.

But the minister for agriculture, Joseph Made, wants the business for
himself. A few weeks ago, he arrived at the farm with colleagues and ordered
out the workers and the white owners.

A fortnight later, scores of ruling Zanu-PF party loyalists were sent in but
around 200 women workers fought back with broken tiles, stones and broken
bricks. Shots were fired, apparently by pro-government thugs, but they were
forced to flee. Mr Made was not available for comment.

Many of the workers are themselves farm invaders who have arrived during the
past four years. The owners, the de Klerk family, reached an accommodation
and taught them to cultivate crops as registered "outgrowers".

With the de Klerks running the export business, Kondozi has since prospered
and expanded while murderous raids on Zimbabwe's largely white commercial
farming sector continued elsewhere.

One worker, who led the first squatters on to white farms four years ago and
was a teenage guerrilla during the Rhodesian war, pointed to the horizon
where the government's Agricultural Rural Development Authority, ARDA, owns
more than 50,000 acres.

"Look there, nothing is growing on ARDA land. They couldn't even pay their
workers at Christmas."

For his own safety, he cannot be named. "We needed land reform. OK? OK, you
hear? But now it is gone too far by politicians. We don't want Joseph Made
or the local MP to come here."

Chris Mushowe, the local MP and deputy transport minister, has seized one of
the homesteads on the estate, after Jacobus de Klerk and his family were
beaten up, barricaded for four days inside their house and finally violently
evicted. Nothing of value grows on his land.

The workers are now travelling widely in buses and trucks telling people to
warn their chief that President Robert Mugabe and his cronies should "go
away and let us work".

Patricia Macharaga, 38, a mother of four, was part of a bean-picking
team."We are going to see the chief," she said as they prepared to leave.

"If the government takes this place, they will keep only 400 workers. We
will have nothing. I have a job, a house, school for the children, food. I
can't lose it."

The de Klerk family share common ancestors with South Africa's last white
president, F W de Klerk. The eldest son, Piet, whom Mr Mugabe has publicly
threatened, has fled to Harare.

The major shareholder in the de Klerks' vegetable export business for the
past eight years is a black entrepreneur, Edwin Moyo, who has been labelled
a "sell-out" by Mr Mugabe's clique.

"They are just greedy, bloody greedy," Mr Moyo said of those seeking the
remainder of Kondozi, which includes acres of pack sheds, store rooms,
equipment and more than 120 tractors, refrigerated trucks and buses.

Britain's major supermarkets made clear yesterday they would not buy produce
from any farm that had been illegally seized in Zimbabwe, or anywhere else.

Neither Safeway, Sainsbury's nor Tesco had been told of attempts to seize
Kondozi but their spokesmen said they would not take its produce if there
was an illegal change of ownership.

Sainsbury's said it never bought goods from illegally seized farms. A
spokesman for Tesco said: "If such a seizure were to happen we would switch
sourcing to other places either in Zimbabwe or elsewhere."

Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)

February 8, 2004
Posted to the web February 9, 2004

Kumbirai Mafunda

THE outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus in Asia could once again deal
another deadly blow to any chances of recovery to Zimbabwe"s struggling
tourism industry that has been eyeing the Asian market.

Tourism promoters said the outburst of the deadly bird flu virus could
impact on international travel. They said arrivals from the emerging Asian
markets, which dropped last year, would continue declining on the back of
the fresh flu epidemic.

"It will have some significant impact on our tourism as there will be some
restrictions and reluctance to travel,"said Norman Moyo, Cresta
Hospitality"s Group Sales and Marketing Manager.

Bird flu, health experts further warn, may prove to be a far greater threat
to Asia"s health system than the SARS virus that was detected last year,
raising fears and prospects of more travel warnings and restrictions.

Following the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in China, global tourism
suffered a knock. It is also estimated that growth in global tourism slowed
down.

Leading Zimbabwean hospitality giant Zimsun Leisure group last year
conceded, in its September interims, that the SARS epidemic coupled with the
conflict in Iraq had impacted on its trading.

Zimsun chairman Eben Makonese said although turnover for the group increased
by 343% to $12 694 billion, occupancies dropped 6% on the back of the SARS
outbreak and the Iraqi War which saw arrivals from emerging markets"
segments stowing down.

Givemore Chidzidzi, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority"s Marketing and
Communications Director, said although there were no restrictions on people
coming from the affected Asian countries yet, the outbreak would definitely
affect Zimbabwean tourism.

"It will indirectly or directly have some effects on tourism worldwide and
Zimbabwe is not an exception,"said Chidzidzi.

Asia is Zimbabwe"s most important emerging source of tourists and local
tourism promoters have been directing their energy to tap this lucrative
market.

Last year, ZTA dispatched tourism attachŽs to China and several destinations
in Asia and Europe to promote Zimbabwe".

This culminated in China granting its highly esteemed Approved Destination
Status (ADS) to Zimbabwe late last year, a move that was seen to most likely
open floodgates in Chinese tourism traffic to Africa. But industry officials
now fear the outbreak could scuttle local spirited efforts to tap the Asian
market.

"We were excited by the response from the Asian market but that excitement
will disappear for a while,"said Moyo.

China has over a billion people and because of its current economic boom,
many Chinese are getting richer and likely to become more adventurous.

According to the World Tourism Organisation, the number of tourists leaving
China has risen by a million since 1998. By 2001 more than 12 million
Chinese were taking holiday abroad.

Zimbabwean tourism has during the last six years lost its glitter with
earnings shrinking from US$770 million in 1999 to US$77 million last year.

By Staff Reporter
10/02/04
ZIMBABWE’S on-going political storm over a financial sector clean-up
targeting top politicians and businessmen thickened Monday as Telecel
chairman and top Zanu PF official James Makamba was arrested, charged with
“externalising foreign currency”.

Makamba, a former Member of Parliament, becomes the second high-profile
business and political figure to be arrested following a policy decision by
new Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono to rid the financial sector of
corruption and stem the decline of the dollar.

Showy Chinhoyi legislator and businessman Phillip Chiyangwa was sucked into
the vortex of a US$66 million ENG Capital Asset Management scandal - the
biggest in Zimbabwe’s history - after allegedly attempting to obstruct the
course of justice by withholding police evidence.

He is also charged with perjury for allegedly misleading a court and
contempt of court for threatening a policeman in court and refusing to
withdraw the offending statements when instructed to do so by the
magistrate.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Makamba was "picked up for
questioning in connection with externalisation of foreign currency,” a
reference to illegal foreign currency dealings on the once-thriving black
market.

From early Monday morning, the country was buzzing with rumours about the
hunt for Makamba after police issued an appeal for his whereabouts through
state radio and television before Makamba surrendered himself later in the
afternoon.

Makamba is a former Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation disc jockey and was
in charge of the consortium that ran Zimbabwe’s short-lived private
television station, Joy TV which folded in 2002 after the government refused
to renew its licence.

He has long entertained ambitions to be Harare mayor. Despite winning Zanu
PF primaries, he pulled out in the last elections citing business
commitments. Previously, he failed to produce his O’ Level certificate, and
was twice prevented from standing in 1996 and 1999 by Zanu PF’s decision
making organ – the politburo.

President Robert Mugabe issued a warning to Makamba two weeks ago after he
built a supermarket on an occupied farm in the Mazowe area without a council
permit, or any approval for his business plan.

"We have people just building shops without authority. You should have the
correct licence and proper registration. If you fall short of that then that
business is illegal," Mugabe thundered.

Mugabe vowed to rid his party of corrupt officials, and in a Cabinet
announced Monday, he appointed his long-time ally Didymus Mutasa to a newly
created ministry that deals specifically with corruption.

"We will deal with them," said Mugabe. "We will not allow lawbreakers and
corrupt characters to get away with their illegal activities. People should
be honest and trustworthy. That is the issue we are trying to solve. No one
is supposed to act unlawfully. We have to respect each other and respect the
law so that we become a disciplined nation."

He added: "Right now there are companies which handle people’s money, but
they sell the people’s money when it’s supposed to be used in a good way.
These companies are using the money to buy US dollars, pounds and rands
which they sell at high prices. This is what caused the shortage of money
and prices to go up. It was the work of thieves."

Before Chiyangwa was arrested, similar warnings were issued by Vice
President Joseph Msika who chastised the Chinhoyi MP for threatening a
policeman.

PRESS RELEASE 7 FEBRUARY 2004

CHRA has engaged in an extensive consultative process with regard to the
Harare City budget for 2004.  As the representatives of the interests of all
the residents of Harare, we are responsible for ensuring transparent and
accountable local government that provides efficient and cost-effective
service delivery to residents.

After receiving input from residents in all areas of the city, CHRA rejects
the budget on the following grounds:

  a.. The budget is the result of an unacceptable process that did not seek
comprehensive input from the residents.
  b.. It fails to take into account the economic constraints upon all
residents.
  c.. It is the product of technocrats within the municipality with minimal
or no input from councilors who rubberstamped the budget.
  d.. The consideration of the numerous objections (2 500) to the budget was
unacceptable and cursory.  Objections were summarized by the Acting City
Treasurer not Councilors.
  e.. It has been implemented without the approval of the Minister of Local
Government
  f.. Increases in the motor vehicle licensing fees must be promulgated by
the Ministry of Transport and Communication under the Vehicle Registration
and Licensing Act. Therefore the increases are illegal. (Statutory
instrument 333 of 2002)
  g.. The punitive increases will force both residents and business out of
the city leading to a further decline in the revenue base.
  h.. The increases in the water charges will lead to non-payment by poorer
residents, cut-offs and illegal connections.  Water is a right not a
privilege.
  i.. Chitungwiza is charged at commercial rates for water yet is home to
tens of thousands of working class residents who pay three or four times for
water as Harare's residents.

CHRA therefore demands that

  a.. Council immediately suspends the proposed budget prior to a review of
the budgetary process, the implementation of extensive consultations with
residents at ward level and the implementation of a people-driven budget.
  b.. Council put its house in order, including sound financial management
that ensures all residents and businesses contribute to the running of the
city.
  c.. Parliament amends the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15) in line with
recommendations from CHRA and others stakeholders to create a
people-oriented Local Government Act that institutionalizes participatory
democracy and accountability.
  d.. The regime reinstates the Executive Mayor of Harare and the fired
councilors and desists from interfering with the operations of the City.
CHRA reject attempt by the regime to impose the Town Clerk as de facto
Mayor.

CHRA calls upon all residents of Harare to demand accountability from
Council at city and ward level, and to affirm their ownership of the city by
rejecting the punitive budget until such time as Council accedes to our
demands, we call upon residents to consider their options which include a
refusal to pay the iniquitous increases and to pay only those rates and
charges prevailing in December 2003.

Should Council fail to accede to our legitimate demands, CHRA will call for
their resignation en bloc and the holding of new elections that will
hopefully result in the election of councilors who are genuinely interested
in the welfare of the city and its residents.

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Combined Harare Residents Association
11 Armagh Avenue
Eastlea
P.O.Box HR7870
Harare
Tel: 746019
Cell: 011612860
e-mail: info@chra.co.zw
Website: www.chra.co.zw

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition

PO Box CY434

Causeway

Harare

email;  info@crisis.co.zw

Statement

Just a taste of what’s to come!

THIS week has seen further disturbing events unfolding all pointing out to the fact that Zimbabwe is far from being a democracy that we all wish to see. The situation has further slumped to new levels on gross human rights violations, police brutality and court judgments, which are difficult to accept in a sound democracy. There is no longer any recourse for aggrieved parties because the judiciary has been severely politicised and the independent press silenced.

  Legislator Mpala latest victim of organised violence

The Movement for Democratic Change Member of Parliament for Lupane, David Mpala died on Tuesday after a long illness.

Mpala’s health started deteriorating after being tortured and stabbed by Zanu PF supporters in April 2000 while he was campaigning for the Lupane parliamentary seat. The late MP was again abducted in January 2002 by a group of Zanu PF supporters at Lupane Business Centre and severely beaten, tortured and stabbed on his chest, stomach and back.

We once again call for the immediate cessation of all forms of torture and state-sponsored violence against members of the opposition and civil society.

NCA members beaten up, Madhuku left for dead

HEAVILY armed anti-riot police on Wednesday descended on National Constitutional Assembly demonstrators outside the Parliament building and set dogs on them in a bid to thwart the demonstration for a new constitution and the call for an end to human rights abuses in the country.

Dr Lovemore Madhuku, the NCA Chairman and Bopoto Nyandoro, the organisation’s chairman for Mashonaland East province and other demonstrators were bundled into a police truck and severely beaten and dumped in a bush on the outskirts of Harare.

Four women were mauled by police dogs and are reportedly battling for life at a private clinic in Harare and more than 130 protestors who were arrested during Wednesday’s demonstration were asked to pay Z$10 000.00 each as admission of guilty fine.

Death knell for Press freedom

As Crisis Coalition we have always held that we no longer have any confidence in the judiciary, has been severely politicised. Yesterday’s Supreme Court judgment endorsing the constitutionality of Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act as constitutional despite a contrary view expressed by some legal analysts is cause for concern to all of us who cherish freedom of expression and media pluralism.

The judgment by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku against the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe indicates that freedom of the press, which is one of the basic tenets of a sound democracy are a mirage in Zimbabwe. As rightly pointed out by Justice Wilson Sandura, the idea of compulsory accreditation for the journalists is ultra vires the constitution.

As Crisis Coalition our problem with AIPPA is not only its unconstitutionality but also its selective application. AIPPA has created two media worlds in Zimbabwe. One world is that of the independent press that is continuously arraigned before the courts on trumped up charges for failing to uphold AIPPA and the other world of the public media that is yet to feel the bite of the same law since its promulgation in 2001.

There have been numerous instances where reporters employed by the government-controlled Herald and the Sunday Mail have fallen foul of the provisions of AIPPA, which prohibit the deliberate publication of false information, but much to our surprise nothing has been done.

Issued on 6^th February 2004

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is a grouping of more than 350 civil society organisations fighting for democracy and good governance in Zimbabwe.