Sapa Published:Feb 20, 2008

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Some of the weapons prohibited include machetes, spears, daggers, axes, knobkerries, swords, knives and catapults

Police in Zimbabwe have banned the carrying or possession of dangerous weapons in public for the next two months as part of measures to ensure violence-free elections, the state-controlled Herald reported today.

The ban would apply to all police districts in Harare and Masvingo and would remain in force until at least three weeks after the March 29 elections.

The prohibition, effective from Thursday, is in accordance with Section 14 of the Public Order and Security Act Chapter 11:07, which empowers regulating authorities to ban certain weapons for security reasons, the newspaper reported.

Some of the weapons prohibited include machetes, spears, daggers, axes, knobkerries, swords, knives, catapults and any other traditional weapons.

"Police are empowered to search people and vehicles, confiscate and charge anyone found in possession of the specified dangerous weapons."

Officer Commanding Harare District Chief Superintendent Isaac Tayengwa announced the ban yesterday at a briefing attended by the five regulating authorities for Harare Suburban, Harare Central, Harare South, Mbare and Chitungwiza while Masvingo police announced their ban on Monday.

From past experience, he said, some unruly and misguided elements take advantage of election time to commit acts of violence, intimidation, harassment, vandalism and interfere with law-abiding citizens’ lives.

Although Chief Supt Tayengwa said walking sticks were excluded from the list of dangerous weapons, he warned the public to desist from using them in acts of violence.

Dying Silently In Zimbabwe

Washington Post

By Michael Gerson
Wednesday, February 20, 2008; Page A17

One of the most reckless and cruel acts of government is the destruction of
a currency.

During the hyperinflation of Germany's Weimar Republic, the number of marks
in circulation went from 29 billion in 1918 to 497 quintillion in 1923.
Workers were paid twice a day and given breaks to spend their money, carted
in wheelbarrows, before it became worthless. Most Germans lost their life
savings, leaving many prepared to blame others for their impoverishment. The
Nazis blamed the Jews.

This kind of hyperinflation is rare in history, but we are seeing it once
again, in Zimbabwe. Government officials claim an inflation rate of 66,212
percent (most months they refuse to release inflation figures at all). The
International Monetary Fund believes the rate is closer to 150,000
percent -- about the level reached by Weimar Germany. By some estimates,
about 50 percent of Zimbabwe's government revenue comes from the printing of
money. At independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than
one U.S. dollar. Recently, the state-controlled newspaper raised its cover
price to 3 million Zimbabwean dollars. Two pounds of chicken were recently
reported to cost about 15 million Zimbabwean dollars.

A Zimbabwean friend who runs a business recently told me, "If you don't get
a bill collected in 48 hours, it isn't worth collecting, because it is
worthless. Whenever we get money, we must immediately spend it, just go and
buy what we can. Our pension was destroyed ages ago. None of us have any
savings left." Zimbabwean nationals who work on the U.S. Embassy staff in
Harare have seen all their retirement funds wiped out. American government
officials in the country carry boxes of money to pay at restaurants and must
begin counting out currency at the beginning of the meal to finish by its
end.

The government of Robert Mugabe has responded with the normal economic
policy of tyrants: price controls. And these have naturally emptied the
shelves in grocery stores and caused shortages of most basic goods. My
friend's wife travels to Botswana to buy flour and sugar.

Mugabe manages to pay off his military leaders and political cronies with
hard currency that comes from mining gold and platinum. He also sells
farmland to Chinese and Libyan speculators -- land expropriated from white
farmers, supposedly in the cause of Zimbabwean nationalism. Mugabe is
literally putting his country on the block to maintain his power.

So why don't the impoverished people of Zimbabwe revolt? "The tragedy is
that nobody is in the streets," says my Zimbabwean friend. "People are dying
silently."

Zimbabwe's odd stability has several causes. More than 3 million
discontented people have fled the country -- often the talented and
educated -- leaving Mugabe with less internal opposition. Many of the
Zimbabweans who remain avoid starvation with the help of international aid
and remittances from relatives in prosperous neighboring countries. Mugabe's
political opponents have generally been weak and divided -- when not being
jailed and tortured by the government. And some residual support for Mugabe
remains, particularly in rural areas, because he is an anti-colonial hero;
it is hard for many to accept the idea that their founding father is also a
corrupt, brutal incompetent.

There are, however, signs of resistance. My friend reports that lower-level
members of the military and police seem increasingly alienated and
disillusioned. At a demonstration last year, he says, "they were
unenthusiastic and malnourished, with ragged uniforms. They pleaded with us
to go away, because they didn't want to hurt us. And then I was saluted for
the first time by the police."

And Mugabe's ZANU-PF party is beginning to fracture. The former finance
minister -- who opposed the policy of printing money and price controls -- 
is running as an independent against Mugabe in the March 29 election. Simba
Makoni is viewed by U.S. officials as a smart, honest technocrat. He clearly
possesses bravery, though not much grass-roots support.

The March 29 vote, as usual, will be a fraud. Mugabe -- despite pressure
from surrounding nations -- will conduct a police-state election, with tight
control of the media, corrupt voter rolls and massive intimidation,
including the use of food as a tool of political control. But the opposition
has little choice but to participate. It may gain some support in local
councils and the parliament. And if opponents abandon the electoral route,
says my friend, the only alternative would be "street action, which is
fraught with problems."

And so Mugabe remains on his bayonet throne as his country becomes the
Weimar Republic and totalitarian, all in one.

michaelgerson@cfr.org

Free Banking for Zimbabwe

Since March 2007, Zimbabwe has been in the midst of a hyperinflation (a rate of inflation per month that exceeds 50%). This phenomenon is rather rare. Indeed, prior to Zimbabwe, there had only been 29 hyperinflations.

No Sign of Promised Media Relaxation

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Revised law allows media free rein to cover March elections, but it seem
policies will remain as restrictive as ever.

By Yamikani Mwando in Bulawayo (AR No. 157, 19-Feb-08)

Recent legislative changes easing the stringent restrictions on the media in
Zimbabwe have yet to make any real impact as the country heads for next
month’s crucial elections.

In mid-January, amendments to the controversial Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, known as AIPPA, came into effect, in what was
seen as a major concession achieved in the ongoing talks with the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, MDC.

Together with changes to other restrictive laws - the Public Order and
Security Act and the Broadcasting Services Act - and amendments to electoral
legislation, the bill was approved by President Robert Mugabe after having
been rushed through parliament in December with the assent of both the MDC
and the ruling ZANU-PF.

The legal changes came out of the negotiations between the two parties which
are being mediated by President Mugabe on behalf of the Southern African
Development Community.

AIPPA was introduced in 2001, as the Zimbabwean media were becoming sharply
polarised between state-controlled public outlets on the one hand, and the
small but vibrant privately-owned newspapers on the other. The authorities
accused the private media of demonising the regime and of working as an
extension of opposition political parties.

Under the amended AIPPA, foreign journalists will be allowed into the
country and will have the right to accreditation for up to 60 days. Local
journalists, meanwhile, will be able to work without first registering with
the official Media and Information Commission, MIC - soon to be
reconstituted as the Zimbabwe Media Commission as part of the changes to the
law.

If the authorities stick to the spirit and letter of these legislative
changes, foreign media will be able to cover the March presidential,
parliamentary and local elections to an extent unprecedented in recent
years. This would be a significant change, coming at a time when concern has
been expressed that the crucial vote could take place far from international
scrutiny as President Mugabe seeks to extend his hold on power.

However, it is already looking doubtful that the authorities will abide by
their own rules.

Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu recently confounded the hopes of
Bulawayo journalists by telling them that those media organisations deemed
“hostile” would still not be allowed to cover the polls.

The BBC, in particular, has been singled out for exclusion from Zimbabwe on
the grounds that its longstanding mission is to “peddle falsehoods” about
the Mugabe regime.

Ndlovu’s remarks came after BBC journalist John Simpson entered the country
covertly last month to file reports on the Zimbabwean crisis, inviting
acerbic reactions from the Information and Publicity Ministry.

No information has been forthcoming on the number, identity or countries of
origin of foreign journalists who might be allowed in as part of the
legislative change, but for now it is looking highly unlikely that the
regime will permit western reporters to cover the March ballot.

Zimbabwean journalists have told IWPR that a media blackout will merely feed
accusations that the elections lack all credibility, and that the
authorities pre-empting the possibility of critical reporting in the event
of the kind of political violence and electoral irregularities that have
marred past ballots.

The restructuring of the regulatory authority MIC into the Zimbabwe Media
Commission has been hailed as part of a possible plan to grant licences to
banned media outlets, and perhaps to some new players as well.

Yet a number of newspapers remain outlawed as the poll nears.

The Daily News, once the country’s biggest selling daily, has been closed
since September 2003, following its allegations that ZANU-PF supporters
committed human rights abuses during the run-up to elections in 2000 and
2002. This naturally riled the regime, which accused the paper of being an
opposition mouthpiece.

At the height of the campaign against it, the paper’s printing press was
bombed. The newspaper bounced back, but was finally banned when it refused
to register with the MIC.

The Daily News and its Sunday sister-paper have now been asked to apply for
a licence, and their publisher, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, submitted
a formal application to the MIC on February 14.

MIC official Godfrey Chinondidyachii Mararike has said the outcome of the
application will only come in 30 days’ time – which would mean The Daily
News could at best acquire the right to publish just two weeks before the
March 29 vote.

At the same time, the Commission reportedly met on February 17 to hold
preliminary discussions on the application, suggesting that it might be
prepared to fast-track this as a special case.

Media industry insiders are deeply sceptical about whether the government is
sincere about granting the paper a licence in time for it to make any
difference.

Former Daily News editor Geoff Nyarota recently wrote on his news website
that “those who believe that Mugabe will allow the resurrection of The Daily
News in time to play a meaningful role ahead of the March elections simply
do not understand the dynamics of dictatorship.”

He concluded, “At this rate, by the time The Daily News is restored back to
its original status, Mugabe will be ready to retire voluntarily after
winning the forthcoming landmark elections by hook or by crook.”

A representative of the Media Monitoring Project, an independent watchdog
group in Zimbabwe, said the credibility of any election depended not only on
the existence of “a level playing field” for all political parties, but
also - and even more importantly - on voters and election observers being
allowed unfettered access to the media.

“It is crucial that we have enough media coverage in the run-up to the
 poll,” said the representative, who asked not to be named, “but it is still
very unlikely the authorities will accept any applications from local
private papers for registration and [allow in] foreign correspondents before
the election.”

Yamikani Mwando is an IWPR contributor in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe: House of Commons Debate

From Harare: A tale of survival

 

Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 08:18 GMT

Esther (not her real name), 28, a professional living and working in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, is writing a regular diary on the challenges of leading a normal life. Zimbabwe is suffering from an acute economic crisis. The country has the world's highest rate of annual inflation - and just one in five has an official job. Queuing has become a fact of life in Harare My sister, who is working abroad, called me after she read my second diary. She sounded like she wanted me to take the next flight out. But life goes on here - it's just a question of adapting. If you can't afford a bus ride to work, at least you can cycle. If you don't own a bicycle, then you have to walk. I've heard of factory workers here who are doing just that, walking for three hours to get to work, and then walking the same distance back in the evening. If you cannot fill up your car with petrol, there are numerous fuel traders who sell the commodity in five litre containers. That keeps your car on the road, one day at a time. And if you have power failures, you can stock up on firewood and candles. After all even South Africa has electricity blackouts. People learn to improvise. That's the beauty of the human spirit - it hardly ever breaks in hard times. Changing money can be confusing with the new $750,000 note And anyway, there's always fun to be had laughing at the bus conductors as they try to work out how much their 750,000 Zimbabwe dollar notes add up to, and how much change they owe the passengers. The Z$750,000 note was introduced in December and it is an arithmetic nightmare. Amazingly there are still lavish weddings held here, that can match any wedding reception anywhere in the world. Those with a bit of foreign currency to sell on the parallel market need to raise billions to fund these occasions. The fact that salaries do not meet your monthly expenses, let alone set aside any savings for a rainy day, can really get those creative juices flowing. Whatever you cannot find on the official market, you will find in abundance on the parallel market. People sell everything here - vegetables, cooking oil packed in 50ml (yes 50ml) plastic tubes, sugar by the tablespoon - anything really. And that is the small stuff. Young people are getting into business in a big way - mostly in commodity broking. So we are alive and well in Zimbabwe, getting ready for the change that HAS to come, for the sake of those who don't have foreign currency stowed away for a rainy day. Esther's second diary Esther's first diary Esther has answered some readers' question sent in following the second instalment of her diary. Question from Eric Hauptman, Colorado, US It would be interesting if you could graph something like the bus fare over the last year or the pair of shoes. Also, how exactly are such large sums of money distributed? Is there a one million Zimbabwean dollar bill? I assume also there is a large black market in other currencies, such as the euro or US dollar. Esther: Our highest denomination is a 10 million Zimbabwean dollar note, and getting change for it is no big deal. On Monday 11 February a loaf of bread cost me 5.4 million Zimbabwean dollars. We were buying it for 5m Zimbabwean dollars on Friday 8 February, after it had gone up from 3m on Tuesday 5 February. Before that a loaf was 2m. So the price of a loaf has nearly tripled in one week. The black market for foreign currency is alive and well, in fact unless you are extremely well connected (know someone in the government) it is the only source of foreign currency. Question from Chernor Jalloh, West Africa Why don't you just bail out? If your account is credible, then it is crazy to stay in Harare. Esther: I do not want to leave my home, why should I? Why should any of us. All this chaos can be resolved. What we Zimbabweans want is restoration of the economy, we want to be able to buy homes, upgrade our vehicles, have savings that are not eroded in value by the day. We cannot all go to join the diaspora! Question from Brian Tucker, Melbourne, Australia Would you prefer to live the life you have now or the life you had while Ian Smith was president? Esther: I was not alive then. But I do know no human being wants to be oppressed, and the black man was oppressed then. My issue is that we are once more oppressed, only now it's by a fellow black man. Question from Ray Mwareya, Mutare, Zimbabwe Esther, why don't you comment about Western-led sanctions on the Zimbabwean economy that are behind your sorry economic misery? Esther: I do not want to get political, as I am not a politician. I am just a young woman who is old enough to remember life in the 90s and who cannot accept the way things keep going downhill. As for the sanctions, I know that there are so called 'smart sanctions' targeting certain individuals, who then hide behind them to justify their own shortcomings as leaders. The fact that someone can no longer travel to Europe has no bearing on the fuel supply situation or the availability of drugs in our hospitals.

 

 

Zim youth group to march for diaspora vote at SA embassy and Beitbridge Post

By Tererai Karimakwenda
20 February, 2008

The Zimbabwean Revolutionary Youth Movement (ZRYM) in South Africa has
organised 2 demonstrations this week aimed at highlighting the need for
Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote in the March 29th elections. The group
delivered a petition for the Zimbabwean High Commissioner, Simon Khaya Moyo,
at the Embassy in Pretoria earlier this month threatening to take action to
shut down the Embassy unless their demands were met.

ZRYM President Simon Mudekwa said they are returning to the Embassy on
Thursday because the Zimbabwe authorities had failed lto address the people’s
needs. He added that the Thursday demonstration is intended to keep the
issue of the diaspora vote in the spotlight, and to remind Khaya Moyo that
they are serious about closing down the Embassy.

Mudekwa said the group will also be conducting a demonstration at Beitbridge
Border Post on Saturday. They have organised at least 6 buses that will be
collecting ZRYM members and supporters from Johannesburg, Pretoria and
Musina. Mudekwa said there would be a police escort leading the buses.

The Border demo is also to demand that Zimbabweans outside the country be
allowed to vote. Mudekwa criticised the Mugabe regime for denying millions
of people their Constitutional right to take part in the polls on March
29th.

In addition to the diaspora vote, the group is calling for free and fair
elections next month. Mudekwa said a message should be passed to Harare that
ZRYM members will engage in certain unspecified activities if the demands
are not met.

Details about the schedule for the demonstrations can be found at their
website at www.zimrevyouths.blogspot.com.

SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Britain Calls for Effective Monitoring of Elections

SW Radio Africa (London)

20 February 2008
Posted to the web 20 February 2008

Tichaona Sibanda

British foreign secretary David Miliband has called for effective
international monitoring of next month's harmonised elections, amid serious
concerns they will not be free and fair.

Miliband told the British Parliament on Tuesday that Zimbabwe was suffering
from an economic, humanitarian and political crisis for which Robert Mugabe
was directly responsible.

'The conditions for elections are far from free and fair. We are pressing
for effective international monitoring and for states in the region to
require the election to meet international standards,' said the foreign
secretary.

Zanu PF has said it will only invite friendly nations to observe and monitor
the crucial elections set for the 29th March. One such country is South
Africa,whose foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the chance of a
free and fair election was good if all the agreements reached as part of the
political facilitation process are implemented.

'If they implement the laws that parliament passed around security,
information and media then the prospects should be good,' Dlamini-Zuma said.
Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC have been engaged in talks mediated by
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa since April last year.

The MDC chief representative in London Hebson Makuvise disagreed with
Dlamini-Zuma's assessment of the elections and labeled her statement as very
mild.

'The statement lacks clarity because she knows the elections will never be
free and fair. Zanu-PF has done nothing to implement laws agreed to during
the talks, but have instead through the police banned political rallies in
Masvingo. We all know Zanu-PF will defy this order, but the moment the MDC
tries it there would be mayhem from the police,' Makuvise said.

But Makuvise welcomed Miliband's statement on an international monitoring
force, saying it was encouraging, despite objections from the regime.

'We need genuine monitors and not people who are invited from the so-called
friendly nations to come and enjoy the country's scenic views and good food
and rubber stamp a discredited exercise,' Makuvise said.

Mugabe, facing his biggest challenge to his 28-year old hold on power, has
been accused of rigging the last three major elections and of using security
forces to quell dissent.

2 charges dropped, 2 more upheld against Hoogstraten

New Zimbabwe

By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 02/21/2008 00:43:33
A ZIMBABWEAN court on Tuesday cleared British businessman Nicholas van
Hoogstraten on charges of money laundering and possessing fake South African
rands, but put him on his defence on exchange control and pornography
charges.

Van Hoogstraten was arrested at his Harare home in January after one of his
tenants told the police that he had been demanding rentals in foreign
currency.

After his house was raided, police stumbled on pornographic material, a
small amount of fake South African rands, Z$20 billion, US$37 586, R92 880,
£190 and 180 pula.

The Harare Magistrates Court dismissed money-laundering charges and
concurred with the businessman’s defence team that the South African rands
were not legal tender in Zimbabwe, and as such no law was violated.

“It looks apparent to this court that the alleged fake South African rands,
which are the subject matter of count four, are not and have not at any time
been legal tender in Zimbabwe,” the court said.

“It is difficult to fathom or see how the prosecution intends to prove the
contravention of the RBZ Act when the legal tender involved is the South
African rand.

“The gigantic emphasis placed in the functions of the RBZ by the state
appears misdirected. This count will accordingly be quashed.”

Hoogstraten, 63, is a multi-millionaire who once arranged a hand grenade
attack on a business rival and has built himself a palace in the Sussex
countryside.

A frequent visitor to Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, Hoogstraten has
invested in property, mining, farming and banking concerns and has spoken
openly of his support and financial dealings with President Robert Mugabe's
ruling Zanu PF party, which favoured him in more than two decades of
investment in the southern African nation.

In 2006, a British newspaper, The Sunday Times, quoted van Hoogstaten as
having said he had given President Robert Mugabe a £10 million pound loan.
But Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba said the claim was "cheap
propaganda and a vain attempt to besmirch" the President.

Charamba said the president was "neither a borrower nor lender", adding:
"Robert Mugabe has no relationship with any tycoon, let alone of British
stock."

van Hoogstaten later called a press conference in Harare to deny having
given money to Mugabe.

The Makoni Factor: A Zimbabwean in the Diaspora gives his views

zimbabwejournalists.com

20th Feb 2008 00:52 GMT

By Chuck Daru

I just want to contribute my own take on recent developments surrounding
Simba Makoni which are still unfolding.

What is emerging on the Zimbabwe’s political landscape is an unravelling of
the MDC split saga that began on 12th October 2005. Firstly, the Welshman
Ncube led splinter group claimed to have no confidence in Morgan Tsvangirai’s
leadership when he refused to sanction the participation of the MDC in the
elections for a newly established senate in Zimbabwe.

Oddly, while presenting themselves as the authentic MDC and claiming
ownership of its assets they did not have confidence that any one of the
dissenting group was capable to take over from Morgan Tsvangirai as MDC
leader. They then looked around for a leader and settled for Arthur
Mutambara who had not even been a member of the MDC before. The standing of
this new MDC Mutambara faction with the people of Zimbabwe was tested in a
by-election for the Budiriro constituency in which they polled 504 votes
against about 8,000 votes for the Tsvangirai faction.

A few months later, they were back pushing for reunification and demanding
the vice presidency of the MDC for their leader Arthur Mutambara and almost
half the MDC parliamentary seats to be reserved for the faction’s members in
the next parliamentary elections. The unity talks failed but as the 2008
general elections approached, in an effort to save face and avoid a
humiliating performance in those elections they pushed for a ‘united front’
which was to adopt a ‘one-candidate principle’ in which Tsvangirai was to be
the sole ‘coalition’ presidential candidate and Mutambara his running mate
for the Vice President’s job.

The rejection of the Mutambara faction’s demands by the Tsvangirai faction
brought to naught that group’s hopes for a place in Zimbabwe’s future
politics after the 2008 elections as their strategy appeared to rely on
being VIP passengers on Tsvangirai’s bus.  Thus, the grim prospect of a
humiliating performance in the March 2008 elections continued to stare them
in the face.

Not surprisingly, when Simba Makoni appeared on the political horizons to
challenge Mugabe for presidency, before even working out any modus operandi
with Makoni, the Mutambara faction grabbed the opportunity to avoid that
humiliation by stepping aside for Makoni despite the fact that Makoni had
made it clear that he was still a member of Zanu-PF who was only challenging
Mugabe for Presidency.

The Mutambara group was therefore now sponsoring an alternative Zanu-PF
candidate to become the next president of Zimbabwe.

A number of issues arise from this whole episode in Zimbabwe’s opposition
politics.

Firstly, there is the question of the political standing of the Mutambara
faction as an opposition political body from a viewpoint of ethos.  Are they
clear about what they stand for and how they differ from anyone else whether
MDC or Zanu-PF?  Or are they a leader-less group largely motivated by the
financial reward of being in government and therefore desperate to find a
leader who will provide the necessary political face to give them a bit of
credibility to present themselves for election into parliament?

Secondly, those who want to give Mutambara the benefit of the doubt may be
baffled by his rushed decision to step aside for a man who has stuck with
Mugabe until when he lost his bid to represent Zanu-PF in one of the Makoni
district parliamentary constituencies.  Furthermore, Simba Makoni is a man
who has been looking on silently while Zimbabwe was burning and, as Zanu-PF’s
deputy secretary for economic affairs in the party’s Politburo he must share
with Mugabe the responsibility for presiding over the country’s economic
meltdown.  People who have been in positions of power should be judged by
the past, not what they are saying today.

Their ‘substance’ is found in their past, not in their promises for the
future. In the USA Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are in the race because
they can demonstrate that they were opposed to, and can distance themselves
from the Iraq war and other government blunders responsible for America’s
present problems. Can Makoni tell the nation that at politburo meetings he
spoke against the destruction of agriculture in Zimbabwe? Can Makoni tell
the nation that at politburo meetings he spoke against Murambatsvina? Can
Makoni tell the nation that he spoke against the torture and murder of
opposition party activists, or the rigging of elections?

It is common knowledge that until Zanu-PF big wigs blocked his bid to stand
for election on a Zanu-PF ticket, Makoni was an ardent supporter of
everything that the Mugabe government did – except its refusal to devalue
the Zimbabwe currency which is nothing to put forward as evidence of his
leadership qualities. Apart from that inconsequential part of his CV, Makoni
has absolutely nothing to show for his 30 years of roaming the corridors of
power and would be a bad gamble for Zimbabweans.

That the Mutambara group took no time to decide that such a man was a better
candidate to put in state house than Mutambara himself, or Morgan Tsvangirai
who had been in the trenches with them only portrays that group as a fickle
lot who are undecided about what they are in politics for, and whose
political goal is not greater than their desire to launch themselves into
parliament or senate – or more bluntly, onto the gravy train.

Thus, the events of the past week have served to cast an ominous behavioural
trend of Mutambara and his group; after having been installed as leader of a
faction which he had previously had no association with, followed by failed
attempts to gain leadership legitimacy by deputising Morgan Tsvangirai, he
is now at the head of his faction to sponsor an alternative Zanu-PF
candidate of substantial standing in the party’s politburo to become the
next president of Zimbabwe – the expected reward being deputy presidency for
Arthur Mutambara.

In hindsight it therefore seems just as well that the Tsvangirai faction
found no compelling reason to grant Mutambara and his group the status they
were demanding in the unity talks between the two factions.

But after all that has been said, Zimbabweans must welcome the emergence of
the Mutambara/Makoni group for the simple reason that the country needs to
move away from the two-party race politics because it has a high risk of
perpetuating authoritarianism.  So while the 2005 MDC split may have been a
setback for the MDC as a party, it was also a positive development for
democracy in Zimbabwe.  The preoccupation by commentators with unity of all
opposition groups is an unnecessary hindrance of the process of
democratising Zimbabwe.

The obsession with unity around opposition to Mugabe between people with no
shared vision or values is totally counterproductive as it confuses
priorities and keeps the nation moving round a revolving door.

As Joram Nyathi put it recently, “The people of Zimbabwe are better off
without marriages of convenience which are short-lived and end up in
embarrassing acrimony and take the nation many steps backwards. We have
already seen what happened to Kenya’s Rainbow Coalition soon after Mwai
Kibaki got into power. There were no principles or ideology binding the
coalition together and the people of Kenya were taken for a rough ride by
people who were only driven by a craving for power. Today they are paying a
heavy price for their short-sightedness. Getting rid of evil Daniel Arap Moi
didn’t cost as much blood as is being shed to remove ‘democratic’ Kibaki.”

Zimbabwens may very well relate to the above as more or less the same thing
happened in 1987/88 when the iniquitous Zanu-PF and Zapu unity agreement
turned this country into a one-party state. We are still paying heavily for
that mistake.. Tsvangirai’s refusal to be media-forced into a hollow
political alliance with what appears to be a confused lot demonstrates far
sightedness rather than short-sightedness on his part as a leader.

With regards to calls for Tsvangirai to step aside for Makoni, I think
nothing can be more ridiculous than that. No disrespect to Makoni himself
but there is not a shred of evidence that he is a better leader than
Tsvangirai.  As already pointed out above, he has a lot of loot in his
backyard. True, he has higher academic credentials and is more eloquent in
his command of the English language, but if this is what leadership is about
then our presidential candidates should not be Tsvangirai, Mutambara and
Makoni but Robert Mugabe, Robert Mugabe and Robert Mugabe - because Mugabe
will beat all these men hands down on that score.

If Zimbabweans are desperate to replace Tsvangirai as pall-bearer in their
struggle for change, they are better off choosing someone from Tsvangirai’s
group which has a number of people who have successful leadership track
records in both the public and private sectors rather than settling for
another Zanu-PF old hand who has been, and continues to be deeply embedded
in its structures.

Tsvangirai does have some leadership issues to deal with (least of all the
very unfortunate Lucia Matibenga debacle), but what people are failing to
recognise is that people like Simba Makoni and Arthur Mutambara now have the
opportunity to throw their hats into the leadership ring because of what
Tsvangirai has done in 5 years of relentless efforts to challenge the
monster that Mugabe is. These aspirants to power have the right to start
their own crusades and stand up and be counted, not to jump into the front
of someone who has done all the donkey work under the most difficult
circumstances. If they have better plans and better offerings for
Zimbabweans, they must stand in their own stature and let the nation judge
them at the polls.

Also, if they claim to be standing on higher moral ground, it is them who
should have the modesty to support Tsvangirai to fill the areas where he has
weaknesses and seek a viable working relationship under him, not the other
way round. Tsvangirai has proved himself as a committed change agent; Simba
Makoni has not. So if Makoni really wants to do himself and the nation
proud, he should get cracking organising any followers he claims to have in
Zanu-PF to vote for Tsvangirai who already has a huge following in the
country. He can’t seriously just come from the dark side 52 days before the
election and say, ‘ . . . . move over’ to a man who has braved the streets
and suffered brutal treatment for so long while Makoni was propping up the
very system that has brought misery and suffering to millions of Zimbabweans
which he suddenly thinks has been horrendous.

Finally, Simba Makoni has not even had the civility to apologise to the
people of Zimbabwe for his part as one of the henchmen who helped validate
Mugabe’s wicked acts when he was destroying people’s lives and property. It
is therefore Simba Makoni, not Morgan Tsvangirai who needs to stoop below
his rival before he can lay claim to being a viable candidate for president
of this country.

Good luck to Zimbabwe.

Chuck2 writing from Sheffield, UK

Zimbabwe: Anti-inflation measures in Zimbabwe since 2007

africasia

PARIS, Feb 20 (AFP)

A chronology of Zimbabwean hyper-inflation since June 2007:

--2007--

- June 26: Zimbabwean authorities order traders, manufacturers and
wholesalers to halve prices on certain basic goods in a bid to fight
inflation. Zimbabwe had introduced a price control regime five years earlier
in a bid to curb black market sales of certain basic products.

- June 27: President Robert Mugabe threatens to nationalise foreign
companies, notably those in the mining sector.

- July 17: The United States criticises the price control measures as unwise
and counter productive in announcing the dispatch of food aid.

- July 21: The government says it has created a 30-billion Zimbabwe-dollar
(214,000-dollar) fund to revive companies that closed because of the price
control regime.

- Aug 13: Mugabe calls for price controls to be respected. More than 7,500
traders are arrested for contravening the measure. More and more companies
stop production, causing major shortages.

- Aug 15: Two people, including a 15-year-old boy, die in a stampede by
people wanting to buy sugar in Zimbabwe's second capital Bulawayo -- the
first casualties of the shortage of basic goods.

- Aug 22: Operation Dzikisa Mutengo (Reduce Prices) is effectively abandoned
after it resulted in widespread shortages in stores and boosted the black
market. Traders are allowed to increase the price of certain basic goods.

- Aug 31: Mugabe bans salary increases without state authorisation. The main
government daily, the Herald, reports that rent, school fees and the price
of public services are also frozen.

- Sept 6: The government devalues the currency by more than 100 times its
value against the American dollar.

- Oct 12: The government authorises new price increases to deal with
shortages. The national price commission announces an increase from 50 to
200 percent on the price of basic goods.

- Oct 23: The head of the central bank says the price-control measures have
led to anarchy.

--2008--

- Jan 16: New banknotes worth up to ten million dollars will be put into
circulation in a bid to stem the cash shortage, the central bank says.

- Jan 30: Mining authorities say gold production fell by more than a third
in 2007.

- Feb 20: Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate soars to over 100,000 percent,
the central statistical office announces.

MDC / Makoni factor - A breath of fresh air

www.mdczim.com

Written by Abraham N. Mdlongwa - UK chairman

Tuesday, 19 February 2008

Following Rochdale branch chair Njabulo Ngwenya’s wake-up call for which I sincerely thank him, many of our members have raised legitimate concerns about the wisdom of our party’s decision to back Simba Makoni in next month’s presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. Some senior colleagues in the UK district have responded to many of these concerns with inspiring contributions which I recognise and applaud. These are the defenders of our party brand, the drivers of our strong faith and belief in democracy underpinned by open discourse. I am convinced more than ever before that there is no poverty of leadership in our UK structures. Well done to all of you!   This statement seeks to explain the rationale for the MDC/Makoni alliance. The views are my own. If you disagree with them, it is because politics is not a zero-sum game. It is healthy to disagree. The MDC national council, the supreme decision making body of the party in-between congresses, met two times in the last two weeks and mandated the party’s management committee to engage the Makoni camp in a possible strategic alliance based on the “one opposition candidate” philosophy.  The national council comprises members of the national executive committee, management committee, provincial chairpersons, secretaries and treasurers all of whom are elected officials of the party representing their respective constituencies within Zimbabwe. At its last meeting held in Manchester on 26 January 2008, our UK District Assembly unanimously embraced the concept of a united front of all democratic forces provided such coalition was based on the founding values of our party. The devil is always in the detail which in this instance, was left to our elected officials in the management committee. Precise details as to who, how, when, whom and why we enter into an alliance cannot therefore be prescribed at policy-making national councils or at a district assembly. They are rightly left to the party’s management committee comprising seven men and women leaders elected by congress in 2006. Our MDC formation did everything possible to reach a coalition agreement with our competitors in the Tsangirai formation. Instead of engaging us as equals, they chose to treat us like step children. We rightly rejected their patronising attitude. Significantly, Tsangirai is reported describing Makoni as old wine in old glasses. Suffice to say; those living in glass houses must not throw stones. History will judge harshly those among us who in the pursuit of self-aggrandisement, disregard the enormous suffering of the people of Zimbabwe by refusing to join ranks with others of like mind in order to achieve qualitative change that will benefit ordinary people of Zimbabwe and permanently consign Robert Mugabe and his cabal of gangsters to the dustbin. Many of those in leadership roles within the opposition movement today, are former members of Zanu. Periodic leadership renewal is desirable in all democratic movements including opposition political parties As early as April 2006 when president Arthur Mutambara, secretary general Welshman Ncube and deputy SG Priscilla Misihairambwi Mushonga visited England, our party president made it clear he would not be contesting the presidential election in 2008. He stated then as he does now, that his time would come in 2012. He stated he was 39 years old then (41 now) and had plenty of runway ahead of him compared to MT and Mugabe. Those that attended the Manchester meeting in April 2006 will recall some of these pronouncements made during an outstanding delivery by the man himself. The man has therefore remained consistent, a hallmark of credible leadership.   ·    History records well the faltering performances of opposition parties in several African countries Kenya, Zambia, Malawi to mention but a few. In the case of Kenya, Zambia and Malawi, it took an inside rebellion within the ruling mandarins for power to change hands. In fact, in each of these cases, a former senior cabinet minister or vice president in the case of Kenya’s Kibaki, broke ranks and formed a rival opposition party which went on to win a landslide. Who says this prescription is not a value proposition for Zimbabwe?   For what it is worth, let me mention that I have personally met Makoni in the past. We met at a happy occasion where he had been invited to speak at a strategic planning conference of a blue chip clothing retailer in Zimbabwe held in Victoria Falls in 2005. Over two days, my management colleagues and I had the opportunity to engage the man intensely on his personal values, why given those seemingly democratic values which he said included servant leadership, he had remained in Zanu instead of joining the MDC and whether he harboured presidential ambitions. He disarmed our misgivings with a royal command performance. This allied with his performance as executive secretary of SADC and his courage of conviction which cost him his job when he was minister of finance in Zimbabwe, leaves me reasonably confident that Simba Makoni is a leader. He may be a damaged brand but one potentially easier to rebrand than some of our competitors. At 57, Makoni is 16 years older than Mutambara.  Ordinarily the latter would be the best presidential candidate because he has no known skeletons in his closet. He has however rightly calculated that he is more likely to remain relevant in future by giving deference to his older rivals. In our operating environment, Makoni is fit for purpose.     Yes, in going into this alliance, our party has taken an enormous risk. The cost of not doing so can never be higher than the price paid by the people of Zimbabwe who wallow in abject poverty, suffering and despair only comparable to countries at war. Our party’s action represents the triumph of humility. Shrewd tactical superiority in the face of competitive elements does make a difference between winners and losers!! Independent news agencies reported brisk voter registration queues in Zimbabwe soon after Makoni announced his intention to run for president. Not exactly the Obama factor, but remember, voter apathy in Zimbabwe has been growing at a rate faster than Mugabe’s ability to rig elections. With the unprecedented internal revolt now unfolding within Zanu which will become even more apparent as we approach the elections, the prospects of a Makoni victory look well within reach.  Our MDC formation has therefore rightly positioned itself with a potential winner and has done so without eroding its values, party symbols and identity. It is useless to enter a presidential race you know you cannot win although it will take a life-time for this to sink among some of our competitors. We have taken a risk. It is a risk worth taking. Somehow I feel good about all this. Change is in the air. The wishes of the people can only be delayed but not denied! I rest my case. Thank you. Abraham Mdlongwa.   "It must be understood within the opposition that there is absolutely no alternative to working together. Self-serving bickering and infighting among the democratic forces must be shunned. All political leaders must put national interest before self interest. The two MDC formations have neither monopoly of political wisdom, nor the immutable right to represent the people of Zimbabwe... Even if reunification of the two MDC formations is achieved, it is not enough, to dislodge Zanu PF. We have to grow the democratic forces beyond the traditional MDC support base. This should be done by attracting reform minded people from within Zanu PF, other political parties, and those who are not currently in active party politics. Furthermore there should be enhanced cooperation with Zimbabwe civic society organizations, thus unlocking synergies amongst all democratic forces. Organizations such as NCA, Crisis Coalition, ZCTU, ZINASU, WOZA, MOZA, Women Coalition, and the Churches have shown spectacular courage under vicious attacks." Arthur Mutambara, January 2007

MDC-UK and Ireland congress set for Saturday

By Tichaona Sibanda
20 February 2008

Popular MDC activist Elliot Pfebve has emerged as the leading candidate to
win the chairmanship of the MDC-UK and Ireland executive during Saturday’s
extraordinary congress in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

Pfebve, the MDC parliamentary candidate for Bindura central in 2000, was
left for dead after he was severely tortured for contesting against the
Zanu-PF candidate, the late Border Gezi.

Pfebve faces a strong challenge from another candidate, Jonathan Chawora, a
former Assistant Commissioner with the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Both are
formidable candidates who enjoy immense support from MDC activists in the
UK.

Kester Mutambanengwe, the MDC spokesperson for the interim organising
committee led by John Nyamande, said the main purpose of Saturday’s
extraordinary congress was to elect new office bearers’ for the UK
provincial executive.

The last elected executive led by former trade unionist Ephraim Tapa was
dissolved in October last year, after 33 of 37 UK branches passed a vote of
no confidence in them. The MDC national chairman Lovemore Moyo oversaw that
process. Moyo will be back Saturday leading a team comprising the new
national women’s assembly leader Theresa Makone, who is the Harare North MDC
parliamentary candidate. Also in the delegation to oversee the election here
is national youth chairman Thamsanqa Mahlangu who is challenging Gibson
Sibanda for the Bulawayo parliamentary seat in Nkulumane.

Mutambanengwe said 26 branches will each send 10 delegates to the congress
to elect new members by secret ballot. This is the first time that voting
has been carried out by secret ballot at any of the UK congresses since
2000.

‘This is a mammoth task, but we have put everything in place to ensure a
smooth electoral process. We have many aspiring contestants vying for
various posts. The posts include that of a secretary, organising secretary,
treasurer, information and publicity secretary and a women’s wing
chairperson,’ Mutambanengwe said.

SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Voting for Mugabe is cruelty to our elders

zimbabwejournalists.com

20th Feb 2008 00:10 GMT

By Innocent Madawo

PRIOR to last Friday, the day when all aspirants of various elected
political offices in Zimbabwe filed their papers, I did everything possible;
pray, wish, will and hope that President Robert Mugabe will give himself (to
our immense benefit) an early 84th birthday present.

I told myself that there is no way an old man could still want to play this
dirty game called politics with men young enough to be his children. Surely,
he would want to leave it all and go to Zvimba to tend to his pigs and
chickens while he can still totter after them.

But then, he registered to be elected and since Friday I have been asking
myself why uKhulu is putting himself in this situation. Surely, it can’t be
power he still covets? There has to be something that causes a man in the
twilight of his life to quicken his journey yonder by continuously carrying
the burden of a hungry, poor, jobless and cowed nation.

Then it dawned on me. You see, the problem is not old Bob. Gushungo is only
responding to those of us who keep pushing him to stand for election and
then go on to elect him (genuinely or otherwise).

The shame is on the men and women who fill up an arena and endorse him as
their candidate when there are younger people who can carry the yoke.  A
bigger shame on the men and women who coo in his aged ears that “you are the
only one to do this job, Chef,” when in effect they mean “you are the only
one who can ensure our butts are covered beyond March 29.”

But what would be immoral, heartless or even diabolic would be to go into a
polling booth and putting an “X” on the name of an 84-year-old man.

That would be total disrespect for our elders, a total lack of compassion
for a man who, for a whole 28 years, has been shouldering all our problems
as a nation. He needs to be relieved of this heavy burden.

I know, of course, that like most elderly people, Mugabe can and will be
stubborn. He will campaign vigorously, lifting and shaking that once potent
but now withered fist in the air and admonishing anyone who dares challenge
him or threatening to floor anyone who votes him out.

But old and senile people do that sometimes, right. They angrily insist that
they, and only they, can protect us from the evil men of the West who want
to colonize our land and enslave us again. They let their senility cloud
their judgement and believe they can conquer everything and everyone even if
the weight of their own fist can send them sprawling onto the ground as they
try to strike imagined enemies.

“Ndinombonzi aniko ini? Vaudze  kuti ndairova mikono ini (What is my name?
Tell them I used to beat up stronger men),” they will sputter rhetorically.

The point is, there is simply nothing new 84-year-old Mugabe can offer
Zimbabweans, no matter how his oratory and eloquent self may try to argue.

Voters should not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by the same old tricks:
whites will come back to take over and war veterans will go back to the bush
if you vote me out, etc.

In fact, for him to raise these issues would be to assume that Zimbabweans
cannot prevent any “re-colonization” or whatever he calls it, without him as
leader.

As for the war veterans, it would be amusing to see people in their late 40s
to 80s going back to take arms just because old Bob has not been voted back
into power.

In fact, how about putting a cap on the age at which one can stand for the
presidency. Something like 60 years should be reasonable.

Lies, damned lies and statistics!

New Zimbabwe

By Trudy Stevenson
Last updated: 02/20/2008 20:56:15
IT IS amazing how the mention of a number or percentage will cause belief in
the most ridiculous statements. This is probably because a lot of us are not
very good with numbers, so are in awe of those who sprinkle their
conversation with them.

The numbers convince us that this person is educated and has all the facts
at his/her fingertips. Since this is so, we suspend our own powers of
reason, believe what we are told, and even proceed to pass the information
on to others.

A current frightening example of this is the "fact" doing the rounds that
the more candidates that stand against Zanu PF, the better, because Mugabe
needs 51% to win the election. The reasoning is that one opponent might only
get 40% of the vote, but if you have 3 or 4 opposition candidates in every
constituency, their aggregate is likely to be more than 51%.

The problem is that this is indeed true of the presidential election, where
Mugabe does need to win 51% of the vote, and three credible opposition
candidates might deprive him of that. BUT this is only part of the truth.

For parliament and council elections, it is the candidate who wins most
votes, whether 51% or lower, who will win that seat. So if you have three
opposition candidates against one Zanu PF candidate, it is indisputable that
the three opposition candidates will split the opposition vote between them,
while Zanu PF will almost certainly laugh all the way back into power.

This is precisely why we in the MDC Mutambara group have been trying so
desperately to get ALL the opposition parties and groups together so that we
have one opposition candidate against one Zanu PF candidate in every
constituency and ward.

Ordinary people understand this clearly. That is why they were pleading for
two years with the two MDC formations to come together to avoid splitting
the vote, and that is why they are now so angry with MDC, especially with
the Tsvangirai group who rejected the second attempt at reuniting recently.
It should be recognised that the Mutambara group adopted the agreement, the
second time it has done so, but been rejected by the other side. Surely this
shows commitment to the one-candidate philosophy?

On the issue of splitting the vote, again there is a strange "fact" going
around that Simba Makoni has been put by Zanu PF to split the opposition
vote. The real fact is that it is Morgan Tsvangirai who is splitting the
opposition vote, because his group has refused to make an electoral pact
with either Mutambara or Makoni. He claims his group can oust Mugabe on
their own, whereas all they will succeed in doing is to ensure that Mugabe
wins this election because of a divided opposition.

Another "fact" is that Simba Makoni was Zanu PF during Gukurahundi, so he is
responsible, because he did nothing to stop it. It is also an indisputable
fact that Morgan Tsvangirai was a member of Zanu PF during Gukurahundi, and
we have no record of any attempt on his part to stop it.

So was Roy Bennett -- who remained a member of Zanu PF until May 2000, when
he attended a fund-raising function for MDC as an aspiring Zanu PF candidate
for Chimanimani.

I suggest that anyone who is spreading these false "facts" as gospel truth
should be looked at afresh, in view of this exposure. Such a person can only
have some hidden agenda, to mislead the general population with spun
misinformation to this extent. The big question is - what is this hidden
agenda?

This will be the greatest disservice to the people of this country that I
can possibly imagine. No one (apart from the small political elite
benefiting from the regime) can bear the thought of another five years under
Robert Mugabe's misrule. So I urge every loyal Zimbabwean of whatever
political persuasion who wants positive change for this country to do their
own bit to persuade the Tsvangirai group of the necessity of having only ONE
opposition candidate against ONE Zanu PF candidate in every constituency and
ward in the forthcoming election.

It is still not too late. Candidates can still be persuaded to step down.
The entire framework for such a solution was worked out in detail and nearly
agreed upon two weeks ago. It could still work.

South African mega-drug haul was mandrax, not heroin

AFP

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 20, 2008 (AFP) — Forty-seven bags of drugs seized in South
Africa on Tuesday turned out to be mandrax and not the more rare and
expensive narcotic heroin, police said Wednesday.

"Preliminary tests suggested that the bags contained heroin, but additional
forensic tests showed it was actually mandrax," police spokesman Devon
Naicker told AFP, correcting earlier claims of one of the world's largest
heroin busts.

The drugs, which originated in Zambia, had a street value of about 1.5
million rands (190,000 dollars, 132,000 euros), he said.

Mandrax is a synthetic drug, very popular in Africa because of its relative
affordability.

On Tuesday, police said they had seized a massive consignment of heroin
worth some 100 million dollars, after discovering 1,363 kilogrammes of drugs
on the Beit Bridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The driver and passenger of the lorry in which the drugs were found, both
South Africans, were arrested.

NETONE Recharge System Down

The Herald (Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe

20 February 2008
Posted to the web 20 February 2008

Harare

NETONE subscribers using pre-paid services have since last week gone without
airtime credits, as the recharge system is down.

Telecel has also failed to supply the market with prepaid airtime cards
leaving hundreds of subscribers stranded. These failures come hardly a week
after all the mobile phone operators raised tariffs by as much as 260
percent. In a statement last week, NetOne announced that: "We would like to
advise our valued Easycall customers that our recharging system is currently
down due to a technical fault.

"Please be advised that this is purely a technical fault and that there is
no need to return recharge cards to dealers as they will be functional as
soon as the fault is rectified." No comment could immediately be established
from Telecel at Press time yesterday. NetOne customers who were interviewed
by this paper have expressed deep concern over the prevailing situation
saying their phones had been reduced to mere receivers. "The events taking
place are now hard to bear as one can no longer make a call unless someone
else calls you.

"My business has been largely affected as it is now difficult to get
connected with my clients. "As an indigenous business person with no offices
to meet my clients, my phone virtually becomes my office," said one of the
subscribers who refused to be named. The recharge failure has also seen the
companies losing substantial amounts in potential earnings.

NetOne operations had been severely affected by acts of vandalism on some of
its base stations, which has seen the company incurring losses running into
billions of dollars.

Zimbabwe government looks to buy more of pipeline

Feb. 20, 2008, 9:57AM

Bloomberg News

The Zimbabwe government may acquire a bigger stake in the Beira-Feruka oil
pipeline in an effort to reduce rent paid to Mozambique, Justin Mupamhanga,
Zimbabwe's energy and power secretary, said.

The Zimbabwe government last year bought 13 miles of the pipeline for an
undisclosed amount. The pipeline runs from the Mozambican port city of Beira
to Feruka, a defunct oil refinery outside Zimbabwe's eastern city of Mutare.

Zimbabwe has been short of motor fuels since 2001, the year after Mugabe
began seizing white-owned farms for distribution to blacks deprived of land
during white-minority rule.

"We are considering buying a further section of the pipeline or buying
shares in Companhiado Pipeline Mozambique Zimbabwe, Mupamhanga said in a
telephone interview from the capital, Harare, today. CPMZ is owned by the
Mozambican government.

Iran's ambassador to Zimbabwe, Rasoul Momeni, said Oct. 9 that his
government would assess the feasibility of renovating Zimbabwe's Feruka Oil
Refinery.

www.bloomberg.com

Man's cruelty to Mann

The Guardian

The former SAS officer Simon Mann is finally to stand trial in Equatorial
Guinea for allegedly plotting to overthrow the regime

February 20, 2008 6:30 PM

Adam Roberts

I wouldn't trade places with Simon Mann for all the oil revenues in
Equatorial Guinea. The hired gun has finally been dragged to the west
African country where he is accused of plotting a remarkable coup attempt in
March 2004. The Wonga coup - a failed effort by nearly 100 foreign
mercenaries to topple the dictatorship and to grab a share of the country's
oil wealth - came unstuck in dramatic fashion.
Mann and over 60 accomplices were snatched in Zimbabwe, at Harare airport,
alongside a specially-converted American Boeing 727. He and the others were
and jailed after trying to buy automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades,
mortars, pistols, smoke bombs, flares and a host of other military gear,
while on their way to Equatorial Guinea. An advance party of other plotters,
in west Africa, en route to Equatorial Guinea in a private plane, turned
tail and fled to the Canary Isles. A third group, mostly South Africans, on
the ground in the target country, were rounded up, subjected to a show trial
and jailed for as long as 34 years.

Mann himself has spent the past four years in Chikurubi maximum security
prison, in Zimbabwe, first doing time for breaking a firearms law, then
awaiting extradition to Equatorial Guinea. However grim conditions were in
Zimbabwe - at least for ordinary prisoners, life can be terrifying, brutal
and short inside Chikurubi; for Mann they were reportedly more comfortable -
Mann feared ending up in Equatorial Guinea's notorious Black Beach prison.
Apparently a special new wing has been built for him. Given international
attention he is unlikely to suffer the sort of torture and ill-treatment
that local political prisoners have endured. A German alleged plotter died
in Black Beach prison shortly after his arrest-of a sudden attack of malaria
said the authorities; beaten until a heart attack killed him, said his
colleagues. Unless Mann can offer enough juicy details about the funding of
the plot - presumably incriminating others - Mann can expect to spend a
decade or more behind bars for his part in the Wonga coup. (The plot got its
name after Mann boasted in 2004, wrongly, that a "large splodge of wonga"
would soon spring him from behind bars.)

Some sympathy for Mann's plight may be justified. His lawyers say that he
was kidnapped from Zimbabwe and dragged to Equatorial Guinea against his
will and without regard for the law. He may have been kept in hiding in
Gabon on the way. He can expect a show trial and heavy pressure to name who
financed and backed his plot (look, not least, to Spain's government and to
Anglo-American complicity).

But don't overdo the pity. Mercenaries are one of many blights in Africa.
Responsible for colourful daring and adventure they may be, but plotters and
schemers, hired guns, outsiders and African mercenaries alike, have
generally spread misery and instability on the continent. Remember "Mad"
Mike Hoare and his armies in Congo and his farcical effort to overthrow the
government of the Seychelles? Or Bob Denard, the French soldier of fortune
who regularly toppled the government of the Comores? Foreign fighters
flocked to brutal wars in Biafra (Nigeria), Angola, Sierra Leone, Ivory
Coast, Congo and elsewhere, fighting and killing for money, exploiting
others' misery for their own private gain. Some dared to claim they helped
to bring order to wretched bits of Africa. In fact hired guns-especially
those who plot coups-have been a curse on the continent and beyond.

Some of them claimed to be bringing order to the continent. One firm of
hired guns - Executive Outcomes - used to claim that mercenaries could be a
force for stability. When Angola's government hired foreign fighters to help
push back rebel forces, in the 1990s, mercenaries could claim to be
supporting the state. Similarly in Sierra Leone by the end of that decade,
with Sandline and other mercenaries supporting the government against brutal
rebels, some sort of argument could be made that foreign hired guns filled a
gap where feeble governments and unwilling peacekeepers were unable to act.
But the lesson of the Wonga Coup - and elsewhere when mercenaries have
plotted regime change - is that hired guns are interested in money and
adventure, not improving the lives of Africans or bringing order where there
had been chaos.