Kunonga terrorises fellow bishops

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Chengetai Zvauya
Saturday, 19 February 2011 18:36

HARARE - Anglican bishops in the Church of The Province of Central Africa
have appealed for police protection amid fears that they are being followed
and threatened by a rival group led by the controversial Zanu PF-aligned
Bishop Nolbert Kunonga.

Chad Gandiya, the Bishop of Harare said he feared for his life and that of
his other clergymen because they are perceived to be threats to the
excommunicated Kunonga as the power struggle in the Anglican Church deepens.

Addressing a press conference in Harare on Friday, Gandiya said he was
appealing for police protection as he and some of his colleagues were being
hunted and tracked down by unidentified people whom they believe are linked
to the Kunonga faction.

“Our church members should know we are now endangered species,” Gandiya
said.

“The bishops in Zimbabwe are constantly being hunted down and we are very
worried about it.  No one is safe anymore as we are engaged in war with
Kunonga.  We are receiving reports that one of our church members was killed
last week in Murehwa in matters related to the dispute we are having with
the  church group led by Kunonga.”

Gandiya appealed to the authorities for protection as these matters have
gone out hand.

“We are witnessing the police taking sides with the Kunonga camp and
preventing our church members to use church properties and facilities
despite having some High Court judgements that we should be co-existing.
One of our church members was murdered last week in Murehwa for reasons
believed to be infighting in the church,” Gandiya said.

Kunonga  broke away from the  main Anglican Church of the Province of
Central Africa  in 2007 after he claimed that the Anglican Church in
Zimbabwe was supporting the Anglican Church in United Kingdom’s move to
ordain homosexuals.

He was excommunicated and formed  his own church which is supported by Zanu
PF with the police and  politicians backing him in the illegal take over of
church properties.

Legal battles between Kunonga and Gandiya have been on-going for more than
two years, as he has taken control of all the church properties with his
faction shutting out members who do not support him.

Anglican Priest Found Dead As Bishops Seek State Protection

http://www.radiovop.com

19/02/2011 14:46:00

HARARE, February 19, 2011- The on-going fighting between rival factions of
the Anglican Church has claimed the life of an elderly female priest who was
found dead in her house by fellow parishioners last week.

This was revealed to other church members and the media by Bishop Chad
Gandiya who leads the Harare Diocese of the Church of the Province of
Central Africa (CPCA).Bishop Gandiya said there were strong suspicions that
the 89-year-old priest Jesca Mandeya was murdered by security operatives.

“ As a Bishop I am concerned that some of my people are going to be killed
for the simple reason that they belong to a certain denomination, ”said
Bishop Gandiya.

He added that both the church members and Bishops were living in fear of
being killed as some of them continued to be followed by suspected
operatives of the spy agency. Bishop Gandiya's Diocese is currently locked
in a fierce legal battle for the church's assets with self appointed and
Zanu (PF) backed Arch Bishop of the Church of Zimbabwe Nolbert Kunonga.

Since the dispute started, parishioners from the CPCA have been barred by
police from using buildings belonging to the church even after the courts
had ruled that the two factions should share the church premises. Bishop
Gandiya,s followers are being forced to worship in hired buildings, in the
open and in some churches. They also face regular threats from state agents.

Zuma to Mediate Zimbabwe MDC Factional Feud

http://www.voanews.com

The South African-led discussions are also likely to touch on allegations by
the MDC formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that its officials and
members are being persecuted by police and state security

Ntungamili Nkomo & Patience Rusere | Washington  18 February 2011

South African President Jacob Zuma, mediating in Zimbabwe’s perennial
political crisis, has been drawn into a fight for control of the smaller
wing of the Movement for Democratic Change and the position of deputy prime
minister currently held by former party president Arthur Mutambara,
displaced by Welshman Ncube.

Both factions of the Ncube-Mutambara MDC formation, which emerged in 2005
when the opposition party split over whether to participate in an election
for a new Senate as well as personal differences between Ncube and now-Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, sent mr. Zuma letters this week asking him to
intervene to resolve the dispute.

Mutambara asked Mr. Zuma to prevent his ouster from his unity government
post by the Ncube-led wing. The Ncube faction wants Mr. Zuma to call a
meeting among the parties in the two-year-old power-sharing government in
order to amend the 2008 Global Political Agreement underpinning the national
unity government.

President Robert Mugabe has refused to ask for Mutambara’s resignation so
that Ncube can be sworn in by virtue of his presidency of the MDC formation.
Mutambara signed the GPA in 2008 as president of the MDC formation and
subsequently became deputy prime minister, but argues the issues of party
leadership and his post are separate.

Zuma facilitation team member Lindiwe Zulu said she and her colleagues will
visit Harare next week to pick up mediation of a range of issues - including
the disputed post.

Ncube MDC Secretary General Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga told VOA Studio
7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that her party wants the despute settled so it
can move on and focus on more important nation-building issues.

The South African-led discussions are also likely to touch on allegations by
the MDC formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that its officials and
members are being persecuted by police and other branches of Zimbabwean
state security.

One of the latest to be caught up in the toils of justice is Nyanga North
legislator Douglas Mwonzora of the Tsvangirai MDC, arraigned before a Nyanga
magstrate on charges of public violence Friday after four days in police
custody.

Mwonzora, who is a co-chairman of the Parliamentary select committee in
charge of revising the constitution, and 24 other party activists arrested
last Sunday, have been accused of committing violence at a rally in Nyanga
on February 13.

Sources said Mwonzora was remanded in custody for a bail application hearing
Monday in Mutare, capital of Manicaland province, where he was moved late
Friday.

The MDC said army personnel took over Nyanga Police Station, where Mwonzora
was initially held, while youth militants of President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party blocked the road to the station to prevent anyone bringing
Mwonzora food.

MDC sources said Mwonzora was held in solitary confinement and that his
lawyers were denied access to their client.

Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Pishayi Mucharauya told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Patience Rusere that Mwonzora's arrest at Parliament this week was
politically motivated.

PM: I will confront Mugabe

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Written by Staff Reporter
Saturday, 19 February 2011 12:21

HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will confront President Robert
Mugabe tomorrow about political violence – if the aging leader returns from
Singapore today as expected.
Authoritative government sources said Tsvangirai would use the regular
Monday meeting between the two men to demand action on the issues affecting
the shaky coalition, as well as the 75,000 ghost workers allegedly milking
the cash-strapped fiscus.
Tsvangirai has in the past week accused Mugabe of being complicit in the
campaign of violence and intimidation being waged by soldiers and Zanu (PF)
militias against thousands of hapless civilians throughout Zimbabwe. He said
the veteran leader was aware of the security forces’ resistance to the unity
government, and the MDC holds Mugabe responsible for the forces’ relentless
effort to block democratic reform.
Tsvangirai said Mugabe, who is supreme commander of the armed forces and
appoints the country’s police, secret and prison service chiefs, was well
aware of the military’s role in the violence. Police and army commanders
deny that their men have either aided or committed violence and have instead
accused the MDC of fomenting the political disturbances.
The two leaders are also expected to find a solution to the issue of civil
Servants’ salaries after Mugabe promised to use proceeds from diamond sales
to award government workers salary increases.
The sources accused Mugabe of cheap public posturing about the issue when he
knows very well that there was no money to pay them. Zanu (PF) and the MDC-T
are embroiled in a bitter role over cash from diamond sales from Marange,
which Mugabe has said is available to pay civil servants but Finance
Minister Tendai Biti says the money is yet to reach treasury.
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai has threatened to boycott presidential and
parliamentary elections if Mugabe insists on setting a date unilaterally.
"If Mugabe proceeds to announce an election without my agreement, that will
be a unilateral action and we as MDC will not be party to that," Tsvangirai
said.
He told visiting German businessmen that he expected Zimbabweans to vote in
a referendum on a new constitution by September. "Once the
constitutional-making process is complete and a referendum is held, Mugabe
and I will sit down and decide on the election date," Tsvangirai said. An
MDC boycott would destroy the credibility of any election held. Most
governments around the world would find it difficult to recognize a leader
emerging from such an election, and a political impasse would undoubtedly
result.

Zimbabwe Passport Bottleneck Holding Up South African Documentation Process

http://www.voanews.com

South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said processing
275,000 applications for residency permits has been held up because
authorities in Harare have failed to provide new passports

Tatenda Gumbo & Chris Gande | Washington  18 February 2011

Zimbabwean and South African Home Affairs ministers are to meet next week to
discuss continued problems documenting Zimbabweans living south of the
Limpopo River that separates the two countries - in particular Harare's slow
production of passports.

South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said processing
275,000 applications for residency permits has been held up because
authorities in Harare have failed to provide new passports to many of those
applying for four-year passes.

Zimbabwe Documentation Project Manager Jacob Mamabolo said Pretoria will
engage Zimbabwe on expediting passport issuance, but told VOA Studio 7
reporter Tatenda Gumbo that the ministry cannot get involved in the
administrative process.

Thousands of Zimbabweans seeking to regularize their stay with a study, work
or business permit, but were not in possession of passports were given until
December 31 to submit applications even if they lacked passports or birth
certificates. Applications were to be completed once Zimbabwean expatriates
provided all documents.

Nqabutho Dube of the Stakeholders Forum set up to help Zimbabweans seeking
South African residency permits told reporter Chris Gande that his group is
pressuring Harare to step up passport production from the current pace of
500 a day.

South Africa has offered technical assistance but Harare has not accepted it
though this could step up the rate of passport production to thousands a
day.

Social activist Braam Hanekom, director of People Against Suffering,
Oppression and Poverty said the government in Harare has let down its
citizens, inviting protests.

Electricity Consumers Bewildered and Outraged as Rates Again Rise

http://www.voanews.com

The increase means consumers who were being charged 30 dollars month will
now be charged 40 - though many Zimbabweans have been hit with bills of
hundreds of dollars

Brenda Moyo & Sandra Nyaira | Washington  18 February 2011

There was mixed news for customers of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority this week as the utility clarified Friday that a reported 43
percent rate reduction applied only to customers who had prepaid their
accounts and did not get their money's worth. The state enterprise said
consumer rates elsewhere were to rise by 30 percent.

The higher rates will be retroactively applied as of the first day of
February. The increase means consumers who were being charged 30 dollars
month will now be charged 40 - though many Zimbabweans have been hit with
bills of hundreds of dollars.

ZESA spokesman Fullard Gwasira told VOA reporter Brenda Moyo the rate
reduction for pre-paid customers came about as a compensation for power
outages.

Economist Prosper Chitambara of the Labor and Economic Development Institute
of Zimbabwe said the tariff increases will hurt both business and consumers
with a knock-on effect on the broader cost of living, now rising at a 3.2
percent annual rate.

Cast of Zimbabwean political play arrested for second time in two months

http://www.apanews.net/

APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwean police have detained for the second time in
two months the cast of a play "Rituals" that seeks to promote political
tolerance, the production team, Rooftop Promotions, said on Saturday in a
statement.

Rooftop Promotions said members of the cast of “Rituals” were arrested on
Friday night in Centenary town, about 60km northwest of the capital Harare.

“The charges are still very sketchy,” the production company said in a
statement.

“Rituals” is a story on how community-initiated solutions to healing and
reconciliation meet serious resistance with political processes.

This is the second time the cast has been arrested.

The team was detained for four days in January after being accused of
disturbing peace following a performance in the east of the country.

JN/ad/APA
2011-02-19

Justice delayed

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by ZLHR Legal Monitor
Saturday, 19 February 2011 13:40

BULAWAYO - Two opposition politicians who have spent five years with assault
and indecency charges hanging over their heads have successfully applied to
have the matter referred to the Supreme Court.
Abednico Bhebhe and Alex Goosen want the Supreme Court, sitting as a
Constitutional Court, to declare that the failure to commence their trial
since their arrest in 2006 constitutes a violation of their right to a fair
hearing within a reasonable time as enshrined in the Constitution.
The pair’s case has been pending since October 2006 when they were charged
with contravening section 89(1) (a) (i) of the Criminal Law (Codification
and Reform)Act (assault) and section 67(1) (a) (i) of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act (indecent assault).
The State alleges that Bhebhe and Goosen, who jointly operate a butchery
business in Bulawayo, unlawfully pushed some people at their premises on 11
October 2006. Bhebhe is alleged to have pushed and fondled one of the female
complainants in the matter.
Since 2006, the State has failed to bring the matter to trial, a situation
that the politicians argue violates their constitutional rights.
“The State has unnecessarily delayed trial in this matter  thus almost five
years now will definitely put the applicants into an irreversible prejudice
that will lead into an unfair trial,” argued the pair’s legal practitioners
in the application for referral to the Supreme Court.
“The delay is very unreasonable taking into account the nature of the charge
against the applicants which charge is assault.
There are no complications in evidence, there is no documentation that is
outstanding or required, there are only a few witnesses for the State who
have been available ever since, but trial has not commenced to the detriment
of the applicants.
The applicants’ lives have been seriously disrupted and their sense of
security impaired.”Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is representing Bhebhe
and Goosen. Magistrate Sithembiso Ncube granted Bhebhe and Goosen’s
application to refer the matter to the Supreme Court in terms of Section 24
(2) of the Constitution which states that: “If in any proceedings in the
High Court or in any court subordinate to the High Court any question arises
as to the contravention of the Declaration of Rights, the person presiding
in that court may, and if so requested by any party to the proceedings
shall, refer the question to the Supreme Court unless, in his opinion, the
raising of the question is merely frivolous or vexatious.”

ADB unveils Hwange rehab project

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Own Correspondent     Saturday 19 February 2011

HARARE – The African Development Bank said it is funding an emergency power
infrastructure rehabilitation project at Hwange Power Station to improve the
provision of adequate and reliable electricity in Zimbabwe.

According to the bank, the project would consist of the rehabilitation of
the  Hwange Power Plant facilities, including the replacement and
refurbishment of  slurry pumps, booster pumps, turbine auxiliaries and
induced draft fans which  would lead to increased plant capacity and
reliability.

Other components to be refurbished include auxiliary facilities such as the
boiler plant, ash plant, coal plant, cooling water pump station at Deka and
generator transformers that would result in an overall improvement in plant
operations and allow capacity to increase from the current 450 megawatts
(MW) to  780 MW.

“The objective of the project is to improve the provision of adequate and
reliable power supply in an environmentally sound manner through the
rehabilitation of the Hwange Power Plant (HPP) and the power transmission
and  distribution facilities in the country,” the bank said.

It is hoped that the ADB project, which is expected to cost $3.62 million,
would  increase plant availability from around 65 to 90 percent.

The ADB-funded refurbishment is part of an overall government programme to
reduce rolling blackouts that have affected Zimbabwe since 2000.

Energy Minister Elton Mangoma revealed earlier this month that the
government  has also engaged a team of experts from India’s WAPCOS who are
assisting the  Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority improve production at
Hwange.

Harare floats mineral exploration tender

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Tobias Manyuchi     Saturday 19 February 2011

HARARE -- The Zimbabwe government has floated a US$32 million tender for an
aeromagnetic mineral exploration exercise in the industrial diamond rich
Eastern Highlands, a senior government official said on Friday.

Zimbabwe has not carried comprehensive exploration to determine the extent
of its mineral wealth over the past three decades, a situation that Harare
says has skeptical investors reluctant to sink money into a sector with
limited exploration data.

Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Gift Chimanikire said the
exploration that will be coordinated by the Minerals Marketing Corporation
of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation will kick off in
June.

“We have floated a tender estimated at about US$32 million to conduct
exploration in the eastern border area to determine the full mineral
strength in that area,” he said. “Currently we are experiencing a data
drought in the sector which is impeding growth. We do not have adequate
information to lure investors,” he added.

Chimanikire said the country last carried full-scale exploration prior to
independence in 1980 and officials of the Ian Smith-led government left took
away the data.

He said the exploration would identify other minerals in the Eastern
Highlands besides alluvial diamonds at the notorious Marange diamond field.

Exploration data is considered critical towards attracting investors and
determining the amount of resources to be committed towards exploiting a
mineral. -- ZimOnline

Chegutu slowly becoming a ghost town

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by Lovejoy Sakala
Saturday, 19 February 2011 14:13
...locals blame politicians for their predicament

CHEGUTU - This urban centre for one of the best farming communities in the
country is slowly turning into a ghost town. Most of its residents cannot
find employment and are deserting the town due to closure of agro-based
companies in the wake of Zanu (PF)’s chaotic and often violent land
invasions.
Thousands of workers have been left with no jobs after factories such as
Southern Africa`s weaving giants David Whitehead and Elvington Gold Mine,
owned by the  Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, closed down and
pushed thousands of workers onto the streets, where they are selling
anything from sweets to airtime.
“I was employed at David Whitehead for 24 years but I lost my job after the
company closed. That was after the land invasions because there were no raw
materials to manufacture fabric for export. There was also a lot of
interference in the management by politicians. I was not paid even a single
cent as a retrenchment package. I am now surviving on selling juice cards
and firewood,” said Thomas Dziripi of Pfupajena.
The MDC-T led council, elected in 2008, has been working hard to turn around
the fortunes of the town - but they inherited a `dead horse` from the
corrupt Zanu (PF) administration, which had bled the coffers dry. Chegutu
Investment and Promotion Council chairman, Peter Chikukwa had this to say
about the current state of affairs:
“Investors are still hesitant to come and invest in our despite our
concerted effort to market the town. The town has a plethora of
opportunities for those who want to invest in textile, mining and
construction. We are trying to hold an expo soon so that we invite
industrialists to visit our town and we discuss a number of business
 issues.”
Situated 103 km south of the capital Harare, along the Bulawayo highway,
Chegutu is home to some 90 000 people.
“The town is situated along the major highway, with an excellent railway
network and vast land and water from Mupfure river. But investors are still
not keen to come to our town. We are trying our best to put in place
attractive packages to lure investors. The council should also work hard to
improve infrastructure such as roads,” Chikukwa added.
Other agro-based companies such as Bain New Holland, lucrative farming
venture Big Orange, owned by former commercial farmer Thomas Beattie, and
Agrifoods which used to employ a hundreds of workers, have all been forced
to close down.
“The citrus industry used to employ a number of people from this town.
Former commercial farmers Beattie and Etheredge used to produce oranges for
export. But when their farms were invaded by the likes of former deputy
Information minister Bright Matonga and Senate President Edna Madzongwe
things just crumbled leaving locals with no source of livelihood,” said John
Saidi, a farm worker turned vegetable vendor.
A local agronomist, John Muparabasa, told The Zimbabwean that Chegutu has
potential to expand, but only if the inclusive government addressed the land
issue  urgently.
“A lot of people used to be employed in the agro-sector and after the farm
invasions by war veterans and Zanu (PF) militias there is no development to
talk about for this town. This town survived on agriculture and the issue of
farms must be addressed if the town is to reap full benefits and realise its
potential,” said Muparabasa, adding that most farms which used to provide
raw materials such as cotton and tomatoes for the local industry are lying
idle.
So worrying is the situation that there is no longer a revenue base for the
local authority and residents have been struggling to settle their water and
electricity bills.
“We are struggling to pay our workers because of the shrinking revenue base.
The revenue we are collecting is a drop in the ocean and we have decided
that residents should pay US$10 for both service charges and rates,” said a
council accountant who did not want his name published for professional
reasons.
The standards of living in the oldest suburbs such Pfupajena and Heroes have
plummeted to unprecedented levels. Uncollected heaps of rotting garbage and
sewerage meandering through the streets have become the order of the day.
Most residents have become self employed, either vending or gold panning.
Youths have resorted to peddling their flesh in night clubs to eke a decent
living as cost of living continues to rise by the day.
“Prostitution has become so rife in the town because of unemployment. Young
women are peddling their flesh for as little as US$2 to gold panners known
as “makorokoza”. They risk contracting sexual transmitted infections and HIV
and Aids,” said David Gatawa (40) a local resident.
A local health centre owned by Zimplats mine recorded over 80 cases of
sexually transmitted diseases at their clinics in Mhondoro in the month of
August 2010 alone. Prostitutes mainly between the ages of 16-25 from Chegutu
town have invaded Turf Residential Complex owned by the giant Platinum
mining company to offer sex services to mine workers for a fee.
“We have no choice but to sell our bodies for survival. There is no
employment to talk about in Chegutu. My father used to work at a local
commercial farm as a driver and he lost his job during farm invasions. He
can no longer fend for the family and I have decided to venture into
prostitution not by choice but by circumstances. I want to raise fees for my
little sisters. The former farm owner used to pay fees for our family,” said
Martha Banda (18) of Umvovo farm in Chegutu.

NAMED & SHAMED
Residents blamed Zanu (PF) politicians like Bright Matonga, Information
minister Webster Shamu, former executive Mayor Zimhani, Senate President
Edna Madzongwe, local District Administrator Michael Mariga for grabbing
productive farms that were the heartbeat of the town.
Matonga grabbed Thomas Beattie’s citrus farm while Mariga took over the
Meredith family’s productive Twyford farm.
Nathan Shamuyarira invaded Mount Camel farm owned by Mike Campbell and Ben
Freeth.

Zimbabwe - Urgent need for security sector reform to stem human rights abuses

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by ZLHR Legal Monitor
Saturday, 19 February 2011 13:37

On the second anniversary of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Amnesty
International is urging Zimbabwe’s coalition government to act on ongoing
human rights abuses and to institute reforms of the security sector and the
media.
Two years since the unity government was set up in Zimbabwe, Amnesty
International is concerned about lack of progress in implementing key
reforms to address the legacy of human  rights abuses.
“The hope for an end to a decade of human rights abuses that greeted the
unity government two years ago, is rapidly fading away and has been replaced
by fear and instability amid talk of another election in 2011,” said Erwin
van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Director  for Africa.
In recent weeks, supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party in
Harare have targeted perceived supporters of the MDC-T formation led by
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, with violence with the tacit approval of
the police.
On 21 January 2011, Amnesty International delegates witnessed one such
incident of violence where Zanu (PF) supporters protesting at Harare’s Town
House were beating members of the public in the presence of anti-riot
police. A high school student was beaten by the mob for taking a photograph,
while a young woman wearing an MDC-T t-shirt was beaten and stripped.
Anti-riot police monitoring the ’protest’ did not intervene to assist the
victims.
The two were seriously injured and needed medical treatment.“It is an open
secret that Zanu (PF)  supporters who use violence against members of the
public or their perceived political opponents are beyond the reach of the
law. Police have continued to selectively apply the law – turning a blind
eye to violations by Zanu (PF)  supporters while restricting the work of
human rights organisations and the activities of other political parties.”Amnesty
International has received reports from Harare’s high density suburb of
Mbare where MDC-T supporters were attacked and some forcibly evicted from
their homes by Zanu (PF)  supporters. Police failed to protect those
attacked and even arrested victims who came to report  the incidents.
“These events are just the tip of the iceberg; thousands of people in rural
areas live in fear of violence amid talk that the country might hold another
election in 2011.
Concrete reforms of the security sector are urgently needed before the next
elections are held. The security apparatus that instigated the 2008
political violence is still intact.” said van der Borght.
Amnesty International is concerned about continued arbitrary arrest and
unlawful detention of human rights activist who are going about their
legitimate work protected under international human rights law.
On Wednesday, the director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and two
members of staff were detained by the Law and Order Section at Harare
Central Police Station for conducting a survey on  transitional justice.
“Security sector reform is needed in Zimbabwe to end a legacy of partisan
policing and abuse of the law to achieve political goals,” said van  der
Borght. While some progress has been registered in stabilization of the
economy since the creation of the unity government, the continued violation
of civil and political rights is undermining the country’s ability to secure
those gains.
Amnesty International is also concerned that two years after the unity
government was formed no single broadcasting licence has been issued by the
authorities despite promises made to guarantee increased enjoyment of
freedom of expression. Media workers continue to be targeted with arrest and
violence. On 7 February alleged Zanu (PF)  supporters in Harare’s central
business district beat up vendors from the Newsday – an independent
newspaper.
Amnesty International urged the three principals in the unity government,
particularly President Robert Mugabe, whose Zanu (PF)  party effectively
controls the security forces – including police, to act against human rights
violations by security agents and begin reforms to address the legacy of
impunity, by putting in place an independent body to investigate human
rights violations by the security forces and holding perpetrators
accountable.

Chinamasa on corruption commission delays

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by Gift Phiri
Saturday, 19 February 2011 12:38
HARARE - Justice and Legal Affairs minister Patrick Chinamasa  has said the
establishment of a new anti corruption commission has been delayed because
of a contentious recruitment exercise that has been going on for more than
two years now.
Chinamasa was speaking in Parliament in response to a question by Kambuzuma
legislator Willias Madzimure who had asked the minister whether he knew that
Zimbabwe was breaching provisions of the United Nations Convention on
Corruption ratified by all member states dictating that every country must
have an effective board to deal with graft. "Can the Minister inform this
House what has delayed the process of putting together an Anti Corruption
Commission considering that we have prominent cases like the Asia Gate,"
Madzimure said.
The AsiaGate is a local soccer scandal that has shaken the football mother
body ZIFA. The scandal has caused the sacking of ZIFA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya
after a tribunal found her guilty of failing to account for a loan made to
ZIFA of US$103 000 and authorising a 2008 trip to Malaysia where local
premier soccer side Monomotapa masqueraded as the Zimbabwe national team.
The GNU has vowed to tackle graft, especially by top officials, but analysts
say the failure to establish an anti-corruption commission has exposed the
administration’s half-hearted commitment to fighting corruption. Chinamasa
told the House of Assembly that GNU principals were still grappling with the
issue of who to appoint to the anti-corruption body. He said. "It is correct
to say that there has been a delay which has been as a result of firstly;
the Anti-Corruption Commission's appointment is different in terms of
procedures from the other Commissions which came through this House. Also
the people to be appointed should be full time.
"Therefore this means that we are looking for people who will be objective
and will not use corruption as a political weapon. The consultations have
been wide ranging and deep and this has made the process more protracted.”

VP takes swipe at trophy farm owners

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Written by Lovejoy Sakala
Saturday, 19 February 2011 13:12

BINDURA – Vice President Joice Mujuru  has criticised some new black
landowners for turning former white-owned farms into trophy farms kept only
for show-off to relatives and friends with little or no production ever
taking place on the farms.
Mujuru, who was addressing a field day at Langana farm in Matepatepa
recently, said urban households engaging in peri-urban farming were in
several cases doing a lot better than the resettled farmers. “When we told
you to take up land from white commercial farmers we did not mean that land
should be for display,” she said.
Zimbabwe has battled food shortages since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe
began seizing white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks, an
exercise he said was necessary to correct a colonial land tenure system that
reserved the best land for whites and banished blacks to poor soils.
But critics blame the chaotic and often violent reforms for destroying food
security and destabilising Zimbabwe’s agriculture-based economy after Mugabe
failed to support the resettled black villagers with inputs to maintain
production.
A farmer in Matepatepa told The Zimbabwean On Sunday that it was unfair for
Mujuru to blame resettled villagers for failure to produce when the
government has not done anything to provide support to the poor peasants.
“Zanu (PF) only gave us land but did not capacitate us with resources and
finance so we cannot produce enough food to feed the nation,” the farmer
said.

ZAPU Threatens to Exhume Remains of its Liberation Heroes

http://www.voanews.com/

ZAPU leader Dumiso Dabengwa said nothing will prevent the party from
exhuming the remains of party heroes including the late vice presidents
Joshua Nkomo and Joseph Msika

Gibbs Dube | Washington  18 February 2011

Dabengwa made the threat at a memorial service in Bulawayo for the late
Thenjiwe Lesabe, a figure in the 1970s liberation struggle who died on
February 11

Zimbabwe African People's Union President Dumiso Dabengwa said Friday that
his party will exhume the remains of all ZAPU liberation figures buried at
National Heroes Acre in Harare if ZANU-PF keeps denying hero status to
members of his party.

Dabengwa made the threat at a memorial service in Bulawayo for the late
Thenjiwe Lesabe, a figure in the 1970s liberation struggle who died on
February 11.

He said ZANU-PF should remember that Heroes Acre is a national monument, not
the preserve of President Robert Mugabe’s long-ruling party.

He said nothing will prevent ZAPU from exhuming the remains of party heroes
including the late vice presidents Joshua Nkomo, ZAPU's founder, and Joseph
Msika.

ZANU-PF denied Lesabe heroine status saying that she abandoned the party in
shifting to ZAPU. Party colleagues and family members said that Lesabe
declared before her death that she did not want to be buried at National
Heroes Acre.

ZAPU spokesman Methuseli Moyo said ZANU-PF should take Dabengwa’s threats
seriously. “Make no mistake, this is not a joke but something that we will
do by all means necessary,” Moyo told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube.

The MDC Today Issue 151

Saturday, 19 February 2011

Nyanga North MP and Copac chairperson Douglas Mwonzora and 24 MDC activists were last night remanded in custody on trumped – up violence charges at the Nyanga Magistrates’ Courts.

Hon. Mwonzora was arrested on Tuesday in Harare outside the Parliament building while the other 24 were arrested in Nyanga on Sunday.

They have been in custody since then and were heavily interrogated by State security agents who included soldiers.

The State refused to grant Mwonzora and the MDC activists bail claiming they would interfer with witnesses or incite more violence.

They have been remanded in custody at Mutare Remand Prison and will appear in court for a further bail application on Monday.

For these and other stories visit; www.realchangetimes.com

Together, united, winning, ready for real change!!

Hope Deferred: Life Under Zimbabwe's Cruel Dictator

http://www.alternet.org/

Zenzele, a Zimbabwean refugee, recounts his personal experience with the
horrors of Mugabe's reign.
February 19, 2011  |

The following is an excerpt from Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean
Lives, edited by Annie Holmes and Peter Orner (McSweeny's, 2010).

OCCUPATION: Former police officer and teacher

INTERVIEWED IN: Vancouver, Canada

Zenzele lives in a cramped, government-subsidized studio apartment in a
high-rise overlooking downtown Vancouver. He says he doesn’t like living so
far above the ground, and that when he finishes school and is working again,
he will find his own place, street level, something with a porch, maybe even
a yard. A thin man, dressed in running pants and a T-shirt, Zenzele tells
his story calmly, lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He smiles often.
He closes his eyes and sings. But as he begins to talk about the events that
led him to flee Zimbabwe, he stands and paces the room. He riffles through a
dresser drawer, pulling out hospital records and other evidence, pointing at
the pages, reading names and dates and diagnoses. As a teenager and then as
a teacher in his native Matabeleland, Zenzele experienced the campaign
called Gukurahundi during the 1980s. Joining the police in the late 1980s
did not, as he had intended, prevent the government from harassing him.
Instead, it launched him on a collision course with the authorities, leading
to an appalling case of torture. He has been in Canada for a year and a
half, and spends his days in school, his nights studying. When asked about
the family he left behind in Zimbabwe, he became silent. He tapped his head
with the flat of his hand and stared out the window at the city far below. I
don’t like to talk about that, he said.

I’ve got a passport here. It’s called a refugee passport. It says, This guy
can travel to all the countries of the world except to Zimbabwe. This is my
first passport. I got it one week ago. On the first page it says, This
refugee travel document is valid for travel to all countries except to
Zimbabwe. I read the news from Zimbabwe every day. I just want to know
whether or not it is safe to go back home. As soon as Zimbabwe is free, I’ll
try to find an air ticket and then go, because I can’t die here. Of course,
I am grateful to Canada for giving me a home as a refugee. But how can you
make your life here by yourself? You need to go where there are people you
know, where you are free, where you are happy. Here you are always
depressed. You come into this room. You stay here the whole day. The food is
a strange type of food. This apartment is too high and it’s too lonely.

I miss the wide-open spaces, the bush, the forest. I miss the sounds of
barking dogs, and of crowing chickens. I grew up in Bulawayo, in what we
called the western suburbs, where only blacks lived. But my childhood was
okay – no shortages of food or jobs. When Mugabe came to power, in 1980,
things were pretty good. The Zimbabwean dollar was still strong. But he ran
down the country, bit by bit. I didn’t like him from the start. One thing is
that most people from Bulawayo don’t like Mugabe. I had been taught to be
anti-Mugabe. But the other thing is that he was just an impostor. During
those first days he said, Reconciliation, reconciliation. The people in
Zimbabwe must reconcile. And then he turned on the people. First he turned
on the Ndebele people, and then he turned on the white people.

You Must Sing Praises to Robert Mugabe

I finished high school in 1983, and then I started teaching in the rural
areas. Soldiers used to make us sing during the night. They called them
pungwes. It’s Shona for “an all-night party.” If you didn’t go, they would
find you and say, “You must sing praises to Robert Mugabe.” These parties
were out in the forest, in the bush, under the trees. There would be a big
fire and they’d be holding their rifles and dancing and jumping up and down.
And you were expected to dance too. Sometimes I danced because I knew that
if I didn’t, they would kill me, these guys.

Article by Ben Freeth

Media 24 article - January 2011

Ben Freeth

Last week I took a drive to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, from Harare.

At a police road block in our desperately dishevelled home town of Chegutu,
I asked whether Chief Inspector Manika had come back from his tour as a
peace keeper with the United Nations.  "He is coming soon" the Constable
said.  I winced but said nothing.  I knew how through the selective
application of repressive laws he had caused so much suffering; and also
ensured none of the perpetrators of the violence against us and our workers
and against the MDC members in the last election had ever been brought to
justice.

I went through the town, past the orange and mango vendors selling their
fruit from the farms we had been run off, and stopped at David Whiteheads,
the jewel of the once thriving cotton manufacturing industry.   There was no
electricity but through the twilight of the cavernous factory I could make
out the silent looms.  The place was deserted.  Our voices echoed eerily in
the emptiness where once 2000 workers made the place hum.

I got back in the car and drove on stopping again at Kadoma Spinners and
Weavers.  I spoke to one of the workers.  "We can just make nappies at the
moment," he said.  "That's all the generators can cope with.  Most of the
time we are just seated because there is no ZESA."

I borrowed some fuel off a white farmer, Doug Alexander, because none of the
fuel stations had any.  He had been booted off first one farm and then
eventually off the next and was now in town going out to try to farm odd
little patches on various black owned properties.  His beard had gone much
whiter since I last saw him.

The fuel got me to Gweru.  All along the sides of the roads, beyond the
broken fences, there were  patches of subsistence maize which I looked at
sadly.  I knew they were almost all being grown on properties that had never
been paid for.  I spoke to a few  white farmers in Gweru.   I could see they
were weary.   Sid Shaw had had Onverwacht until Welshman Ncube, now the new
leader of the smaller MDC faction, had torn it from him.  "They're no better
than ZANU PF" said another farmer.   One of the farmers present was Anne
Lourens, mother of a school friend of my wife's.  She said sadly: "I am
tired."  My heart went out to her.  "I know how you feel," I said, "we're
all tired."   I knew though, that for her it wasn't just the weathering as a
widow of the last 11 years of farm invasions that had made her tired.
Before that, during Gukuruhundi, her husband had been murdered and she had
had to bring up a young family all on her own.  It was a whole quarter of a
century of struggling to survive.

In Bulawayo, driving around the industrial area was a bit like driving
through a ghost town.  There were no cars on the road and the few people I
saw did not seem to have a purpose at all.  They were just loitering.  With
the national un-employment rate at 95 percent I suppose it wasn't
surprising.

The Wall Street Journal in conjunction with the Heritage Foundation has
just ranked Zimbabwe 178th out of 179 in their index of economic freedoms
which measures the freedoms to invest, work and produce.  The formation of
the Inclusive Government has done nothing fundamental to change our status:
none of the notoriously oppressive legislation has been repealed;  the
police, army and justice system remains malevolently partisan; the human
rights commission after 2 years is still dormant; the only public
broadcaster still remains entirely controlled by ZANU PF.  In fact there is
non compliance with the GPA on almost every issue relating to giving people
the freedoms that were guaranteed by SADC and the AU.  Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights [ZLHR] have charged that "SADC has encouraged ...impunity and
continued non compliance with its own dead lines and benchmarks."

Back in Harare though it is a different world - a completely different
country.  Everything seems to be humming.  The supermarkets are full.  The
roads are busy.  The MDC Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, is predicting a
9.3 percent GDP growth rate and even the IMF said it would be 4.5 percent
for 2011.  It seemed impossible coming from where we had come from as
refugees off the farms just beyond the city boarders.

I wondered what the optimism from Tendai Biti and the IMF was all about; but
I suppose economic growth is not too hard a thing to achieve in a time when
many of the world mineral prices are higher than they have ever been; and
after a decade where the economy was in virtual freefall it doesn't take too
much to bounce back some of the way.

Professor John Mukombe, a political analyst, has dubbed this year "the year
that the dictator will, in one way or other, have no choice but to go."
Most of us don't dare believe him because we have heard it all before and
had our hopes dashed so many times.

Everyone is nervous.  Even the people in the bubble of Harare I talk too are
worried about 2011. Mugabe is talking elections and all over the country
there are reports of ZANU PF gearing for them.  At the road blocks there are
now often military police as well as the usual police officers.  Soldiers
have been moving around in the towns.  Threats of violence are all over the
place.  The fear of what happened in the 2008 elections is still fresh.
According to ZLHR "there has been no progress on reform of laws that
directly or indirectly facilitate free and fair elections."

White and foreign businessmen are jittery.  The probability that the
indigenisation legislation is going to be used to reward the Party stalwarts
in the campaign seems strong.  Already they are testing the waters.  At lake
Chivero, the district chairman of the war veterans for Zvimba, Aaron Mazvi,
took over all the boating clubs and other tourist properties along the lake
shore last week.  Residents were locked in and visitors locked out.   I
spoke to one American diplomatic couple who had gone to Larvon Bird gardens
in their CD plated car for the weekend:  "They just turned us away at the
gate.  We pleaded with them but they didn't allow us in."   JOMIC to its
credit did eventually intervene, but nobody was arrested or charged with any
crimes.

But it's the diamonds that many think have sealed it.  Reported as the
biggest diamond field by far ever found anywhere in the world and out of
bounds, even to the parliamentary committee, they are surrounded by a web of
intrigue.  Where ever alluvial diamonds have been found in Africa they have
bought guns and caused blood shed.   Speculation abounds regarding Chinese
involvement.  Over the last couple of months a massive, brand new Chinese
military barracks has sprung up on the Mazowe road.  It's never been
discussed in parliament or the senate or cabinet; but someone must have
authorised it.  There must be substantial interests to warrant setting it
up.

For us though, we are the little people and we have to either be consummate
optimists, or perhaps, just people that have resigned ourselves to try to
somehow survive whatever the future brings.

Mugabe’s legacy

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by The Editor
Friday, 18 February 2011 15:53

Outside the small circle at the feeding trough - and these include his close
family, friends, top Zanu (PF) party officials and security chiefs - few are
celebrating that President Robert Mugabe  turns 87 years old tomorrow.
One does not need to be a rocket scientist, to use the tired cliché, to know
the attitude of Zimbabweans towards the idea of spending even one more day
under the rule of Mugabe. The jubilant rumour that spreads around Zimbabwe
like a wildfire each time Mugabe as much as takes a stumble at his doorstep
is evidence enough of the rather bizarre and macabre, although some would
say understandable, wish many Zimbabweans have for their leader.
But good old Ubuntu dictates that this is not the kind of issue to raise on
the occasion of a man’s birthday, especially a man in Mugabe’s position. The
issue to raise, we believe, is: why are today’s African leaders not inspired
by the idea of a legacy?
True, there are exceptions. The name of Nelson Mandela quickly springs to
mind. His legacy of brave sacrifice, tolerance, justice and fairness is one
that makes all South Africans proud. Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere or even
Mozambique’s Joachim Chissano are other names of leaders who certainly made
mistakes during their time in office but were mindful of the kind of the
legacy they were leaving behind and knew when to pass on the baton, even if
in some cases this was done only so history could judge them leniently.
How about the rest? Why do they find the way of oppression, murder, plunder,
vote stealing and corruption more appealing? True, he who destroys shall
always have an easier task than he who builds. But for a man to whom was
given the jewel of Africa in 1980, Mugabe had a far easier task than many of
Africa’s other independence leaders. And Mugabe started out like he was more
than equal to the task.
Just look at the impressive public education and health systems that his
government built in the early years of independence. They will forever
remain examples to all of what a developing country can achieve – given
enough commitment and hard work. But anyone writing an account of history
that begins with Mugabe the liberator and ends with Mugabe the educator will
be lying.
A true account of Mugabe’s rule must also include lengthy chapters on
Gukurahundi, Operation Murambatsvina, political violence and human rights
abuses, farm invasions, corruption and diamond smuggling. We wonder whether,
as he ponders over the long journey he has travelled and contemplates what
must surely be a shorter distance left to go, Mugabe feels proud of the
legacy he is leaving behind.