Zimbabwean president Mugabe marks 87th birthday

Associated Press

 

 

 

(AP) – 5 hours ago

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe's ruler of 30 years celebrated his 87th birthday Saturday, saying that even if his body "may get spent" he still has the political ideas of a young man.

President Robert Mugabe told supporters at his birthday party that the government also would take control of companies owned by Western interests in retaliation for the economic sanctions that target him and his associates.

Mugabe turned 87 on Monday but traditionally marks his birthday later with a mass meeting of the youth movement he founded. He returned home Sunday from undergoing medical treatment in Singapore.

"87 is only 8 plus 7. I want to remain with you. My body may get spent but I wish my mind will always be with you," he told more than 6,000 supporters in an animated 70-minute address.

Mugabe said his ideas were not those of an "aged person" but those of a young man that "will rejuvenate the country and impel us to be innovative and imaginative."

Mugabe, wearing the red neck scarf of his youth movement, told the gathering of party leaders, youth groups and children that he never capitulated to pressures from Western leaders over their allegations of human rights abuses by him and his ZANU-PF party.

"No, that will never happen. That is where I derive strength," he said. To him, he said, U.S. President Barack Obama "is just a nobody in America."

Mugabe was garlanded with flowers, and he listened to two hours of praise singing by choirs and music groups. Other supporters chanted slogans recalling the guerrilla war that swept Mugabe to power in 1980, ending British colonial rule.

Tables in the convention hall were laden with giant cakes he cut during the ceremony, one resembling a giant Zimbabwean flag and another depicting the Great Zimbabwe ruins of a stone city built by a tribal dynasty in southern Zimbabwe in the 14th century from which Zimbabwe derives its name.

After disputed, violence-plagued elections in 2008, Mugabe was forced by regional leaders to join a shaky coalition with the longtime opposition leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who did not attend Saturday's birthday bash.

Political violence and intimidation have surged since Mugabe called for elections later this year to bring the coalition to an end. Tsvangirai's party has opposed early elections before constitutional reforms are complete.

Mugabe accused coalition partners of delaying progress toward elections.

"There has to be a good excuse not to have elections this year. We want to get to elections as soon as possible" with or without a new constitution, he said.

Mugabe urges polls to end power-sharing

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

HARARE — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe repeated Saturday calls for
elections to end the power-sharing government and vowed to punish companies
from countries that imposed sanctions on him and his allies.

"The position of our party is we want to get to elections as soon as
possible," Mugabe told thousands of people at rally to celebrate his 87th
birthday.

"If the others are there to drag the process, we will get out of the
process. This year we must have a draft constitution, then a referendum and
after the referendum, we must have elections."

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party wants elections to choose a successor to the tense
power-sharing government formed nearly two years ago with Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Birthday celebrations for the man who has run Zimbabwe since 1980 were
attended by around 5,000 members of his party, schoolchildren and youth
representatives from Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia.

Bands and choirs sang his praises in a packed a conference hall at a hotel
in downtown Harare where he received various gifts including cattle,
furniture and five birthday cakes.

In his speech, Mugabe also again vowed to punish Western companies from
countries that have imposed sanctions on him and his allies over rights
violations.

"Sanctions that continue to be imposed on us ... must now be sanctions by us
against enterprises, companies in Zimbabwe that belong to those countries
that have imposed sanctions on us.

"We must look at companies that belong members of the EU, the British, the
Americans, the Dutch. The Germans are more or less wanting the sanctions to
go.

"We will do an inventory. That inventory must show which companies are
American, British, Dutch," he said.

Mugabe's calls came ahead of the launch of a campaign by his party against
the sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States.

Earlier this month, the EU removed some of Mugabe allies from the list of
people under sanctions.

Mugabe threatens to pull out of constitution talks

http://af.reuters.com/

Sat Feb 26, 2011 4:03pm GMT

* Mugabe says MDC delaying new constitution

* President pushing for elections this year

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe threatened on
Saturday to pull out of a process to draft a new constitution, accusing his
coalition partners of delays designed to avoid holding elections this year.

Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, forced into a unity government with Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after a
disputed election in 2008, is pushing for early presidential and
parliamentary elections this year.

The MDC has warned Mugabe to drop his party's plans for an early election,
saying it could lead to a bloodbath. Tsvangirai has threatened to boycott
the elections if they are called this year..

"We would want to get to elections as soon as possible within the process,
but if others are there to drag the process, we will get out of the
process," Mugabe told supporters at a party to celebrate his 87th birthday.

Many Zimbabweans hope the new constitution, replacing one drafted in 1979
before independence from Britain, will strengthen the role of parliament,
curtail the president's powers and guarantee civil, political and media
reforms.

The process has been slowed by funding problems and squabbles over the
composition of committees.

"We would have to have good reason to say those processes are not possible
this year and the explanation should be given. We must never accept that
money is the problem. Money is not the problem at all," Mugabe said.

Mugabe has been in power since independence in 1980 and while his election
plans have angered poor Zimbabweans, political analysts say he is unlikely
to be forced out by a popular uprising such as those in Egypt and Tunisia.

"My body may get spent but I wish my mind will always remain with you and
think not of old ideas of an aged person but ideas of a young person,"
Mugabe said in an hour-long speech at the event.

He repeated threats that the government would take action to seize foreign
companies from Western countries that had imposed sanctions on ZANU-PF,
adding that he would launch an anti-sanctions campaign next week.

He said Swiss food company Nestle, which terminated a milk contract with
Mugabe's dairy farm at the end of 2009, could be one of the first firms for
takeover.

UK blocked Mugabe US$60m arms bid

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by Irene Moyo
Friday, 25 February 2011 18:54

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe may have attempted to use Swaziland to bust
an international arms embargo by asking the small kingdom nation to
clandestinely buy weapons from a British firm in 2008, it has emerged.
The bid to evade an European Union arms embargo on Harare was thwarted by
British authorities who blocked the purchase of US$60 million worth of
military equipment by Swaziland because of strong suspicions that the small
kingdom was acting as an intermediary for sanctions-ridden Zimbabwe,
according to a diplomatic cable released last week by whistleblower website
WikiLeaks.
The cable, written by former British ambassador to Swaziland Maurice Parker,
said that in December 2008 the government of the Kingdom of Swaziland (GKOS)
sought to purchase approximately US$60 million worth of military equipment,
including helicopters, vehicles, weapons and ammunition from a British arms
manufacturer. “The British government denied the request over end-use
concerns,” Parker allegedly wrote.
In documents requesting permission to purchase the equipment, Swaziland's
Ministry of Defence stated that the equipment was for use by the country’s
defence forces on United Nations peacekeeping deployment in Africa. Parker
said permission was denied because it was unclear whether the weapons were
intended for UN peacekeeping purposes or whether
Swaziland was “possibly acting as an intermediary for a third party”.
“The GKOS may have been attempting to build up domestic capability to deal
with unrest, or was possibly acting as an intermediary for a third party
such as Zimbabwe or a Middle Eastern country that had cash, diamonds or
goods to trade,” the cable said.
The alleged purchase request came just months after southern African human
rights groups stopped a Chinese ship laden with arms destined for the
Zimbabwean army from docking at ports in the region. Swaziland’s King Mswati
III is one of Mugabe’s closest regional allies and was chairman of the
security troika of the Southern African Development Community.
Zimbabwe is subject to a Western arms embargo which is part of a raft of
punitive measures imposed on Mugabe and senior members of his ruling elite
by the European Union, United States, New Zealand and Australia for their
alleged role in human rights abuses.
The cable said the Swazi arms purchases were blocked after suspicions that
the array of weapons requested would not be needed for the first phases of
peacekeeping. The purchase application included requests for three Bell
Model UH-1H
helicopters, FN Herstal light machine guns, armoured personnel carriers,
command and control vehicles including one fitted with heavy machine gun,
military ambulances, armoured repair and recovery vehicles, military image
intensifier equipment and optical target surveillance equipment.

Euromoney to hold inaugural Zimbabwe investment conference in March

http://www.apanews.net/

APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Euromoney Conferences will hold its first Zimbabwe
Investment Conference in Harare on 8-9 March, bringing together
policymakers, businessmen, financiers and key international players, APA
learns here Saturday.

The organisers said the high-level conference would highlight Zimbabwe’s
attractions as a destination for fruitful foreign direct investment.

“This event is a must attend event for all those interested in Zimbabwe’s
investment opportunities,” Euromoney said in a statement.

The conference would be opened by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and seeks
to build on the success of last year’s Euromoney Zimbabwe Breakfast Briefing
held in Istanbul, Turkey, at the International Monetary Fund/World Bank
Annual Meeting 2009.

It is expected to be attended by senior Zimbabwean officials, including
President Robert Mugabe, Deputy President Joice Mujuru and cabinet
ministers.

Panellists lined up to speak at the conference include African Development
Bank president Donald Kaberuka and African Export-Import Bank president
Jean-Louis Ekra.

"The line-up of speakers from the Zimbabwean government, local and
international investors will set the scene for the economic direction of
Zimbabwe over the next crucial twelve months," Euromoney said.

Co-hosted by Zimbabwe’s ministries of Finance and Investment Promotion, the
conference would provide a major platform for policy and strategy debate.

Zimbabwe’s investment climate has been blighted by fears of a blanket
nationalisation of foreign-owned companies.

Euromoney is a leading international financial publishing and event
organisation.

JN/ad/APA
2011-02-26

Teachers Threat To Shut Down Schools

http://www.radiovop.com/

26/02/2011 20:05:00

MASVINGO, February 26, 2011- Teachers from all the seven districts in the
province have unanimously agreed to close schools any time from now if the
harassment of their members by Zanu (PF) militants escalate.

Teachers who spoke to Radio Vop said life was more important than work.Most
teachers in rural areas are being forced to buy Zanu (PF) membership cards
or face punishment by the unruly party youths who are already roaming from
one school to another checking if teachers are complying with their orders.

“ We shall not wait until some of us are murdered, life is more important
than anything else. We saw some of us being murdered in cold blood in 2008,
this time we will just close schools and go, ” said one of the teachers from
Mwenezi.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou
confirmed the development saying there is nothing worth dying for.He said
Zanu (PF) youths are pressing a wrong button through beating and vilifying
teachers.

“ They are getting it all wrong. Teachers will just close schools and go
home.Our members are worried all over the province, we receive reports of
our teachers being beaten every day. We shall not tolerate violence , ” said
Zhou.

Teachers from Gutu said the government must show seriousness in promoting
peace and development by arresting Jabulani Sibanda, the war veterans leader
who is accused of causing untold suffering of teachers in the district.
Masvingo Provincial Education Director (PED) Clara Dube said she was waiting
for a formal communication from teachers.

“ Their threat is not formal. We will wait and see if they really mean it
but I think some overzealous unionists are trying to incite teachers to stop
their work over unsubstantiated claims, ” she told Radio Vop.

Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Lovemore Mufamba said his union
was doing a survey to find out whether teachers were in real danger.

Magistrate In Trouble For Harbouring Criminal Hubby

http://www.radiovop.com

26/02/2011 10:44:00

Harare, February 26, 2011 – A Harare magistrate Patience Madondo has been
hauled before a Chitungwiza magistrate’s court for harbouring her criminal
husband and two other suspects who are being sought for armed robbery.

Madondo, who is based at the Harare civil court, found herself in the dock
at Chitungwiza court on Thursday to answer charges of attempting to defeat
the course of justice.

Police detectives from Marondera CID raided Madondo’s family house in
Chitungwiza’s Unit B suburb at 03.30am February 11 in search of Madondo's
husband Patrick Madondo, her brother Peter Ururu and one Dennis Nyakudya.

The gang is suspected to have committed armed robbery in Macheke February 9.

When they got to her family house seeking for the suspects, Madondo, who
attended to the detectives, professed ignorance about their whereabouts
saying she last saw them before Christmas last year.

The suspicious police detectives then summoned their dogs to search for the
culprits in the house and they were found hiding under mattresses in some of
the rooms.

“The conduct of the accused person to lie that the wanted persons were not
in the house and also that she had last saw (sic) them in the month of
December 2010 was meant to defeat or obstruct the course of justice during
officers’ course of investigations,” read part of the police statement
compiled by one Detective Seargent Ndhlovu.

Political Violence Spreads to Zimbabwe's Matabeleland South Province

http://www.voanews.com

ZANU-PF supporters forced residents of West Nicholson, Gwanda district,
Matabeleland South, to attend political meetings, while across the country,
villagers in Nyanga North, Manicaland, were fleeing to Mozambique

By Studio 7 Reporters  25 February 2011

In Mashonaland West province, residents and villagers said they are living
in fear of being beaten up or harassed by soldiers and ZANU-PF youth militia

Supporters of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF in Gwanda, a
district of Matabeleland South province, were said Friday to have gone on a
rampage and driven villagers from their homes. Across the country in Nyanga
North, Manicaland province, sources said political violence has led
villagers to flee to nearby Mozambique.

Sources said the violence in Gwanda was worst in the small town of West
Nicholson. A local businessman, Sihle Ngwenya, told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Chris Gande that ZANU-PF supporters were forcing villagers to attend
meetings.

Speaking from Manicaland province, Pishayi Muchauraya, spokesman for the
Tsvangirai formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, told VOA
reporter Sandra Nyaira that hundreds of villagers have fled Nyamaropa amid
violence by alleged ZANU-PF militants.

Muchauraya said seven MDC supporters were arrested Friday in Mutasa
district.

Zimbabwean civil society organizations condemned the alleged torture of 45
International Socialist Organization activists arrested on February 19 and
charged with treason for gathering to watch news videos and discuss
political upheaval in the Mideast.

Charges of police brutality emerged Thursday as socialist leader Munyaradzi
Gwisai, a former member of Parliament, testified in Harare magistrate’s
court that he and his members were severely beaten while in police custody.
The magistrate ordered the police to ensure that the accused received
necessary medical attention.

Restoration of Human Rights Director Tichanzii Gandanga said Zimbabwe has
breached provisions against torture in the African Charter on Human and
People's Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.

In Mashonaland West province, residents and villagers said they are living
in fear of being beaten up or harassed by soldiers and ZANU-PF youth
militia. Correspondent Arthur Chigoriwa toured the province and filed a
report on the climate of fear.

Mines Minister Dismisses Pending Kimberley Process Accord

http://www.voanews.com/

Obert Mpofu told VOA on Friday that the Harare government does not intend to
subscribe to the amended agreement approved by many other Kimberley Process
members, and will sell Marange diamonds regardless

Sandra Nyaira | Washington  25 February 2011

Zimbabwean Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said Friday that his ministry will not
endorse an amended agreement approved by many other members of the Kimberley
Process which would clear the way for Harare to sell Marange diamonds on
international markets.

Mpofu told VOA on Friday that the Harare government objected to language
pertaining to human rights in the document. The minister said Zimbabwe has
substantially complied with Kimberley Process guidelines and would continue
to sell diamonds regardless of whether the watchdog group had authorized
such sales or not.

The World Diamond Council issued a statement recently saying such exports
have not been given formal and final approval by the Kimberley Process,
countering reports that Zimbabwe had received a green light to bring Marange
diamonds to market.

The World Diamond Council said Harare must complete consultations with
Kimberley Process Chairman Mathieu Yamba of the Democratic Republic of
Congo.

Mpofu told reporter Sandra Nyaira that Harare is not interested in further
negotiations on the amended agreement hammered out in Jerusalem late last
year.

Harare's position is somewhat surprising as the agreement raised the bar for
launching a Kimberley Process investigation into alleged human rights
violations, requiring such a request to be endorsed by three Kimberly member
nations instead of two.

But Mpofu said issues of violence and human rights raised in the amendment
should not have been incorporated into the instrument.

Mpofu also rejected charges by Finance Minister Tendai Biti that millions of
dollars in revenues from Marange diamonds have not reached the Treasury.

Analyst Charles Mangongera said he believes the Zimbabwean clique which is
in control of the Marange field would in fact rather not see a Kimberley
agreement in place as this presents an obstacle to Kimberley oversight of
operations that will not bear scrutiny.

Critics of the Marange development policy say diamonds from the alluvial
field are being smuggled through Mozambique to unregulated markets with
proceeds going to military brass and top officials of President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

The Zimbabwe Defense Forces remain in control of the Marange field, where
grave human rights violations including extra-judicial killings have been
alleged.

Fears Of Cholera Outbreak In Masvingo

http://www.radiovop.com

26/02/2011 10:44:00

Masvingo, February 26, 2011 - Masvingo has gone for more than three days
without water, raising fears of a cholera outbreak.

The town has been dry since Wednesday, forcing residents to fetch water from
shallow wells, exposing them to danger of contracting water-borne diseases
such as cholera.

An official from the Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Association
blasted the city fathers for failing to notify residents to explain the
problem or at least provide water bowsers.

“That is taking the ratepayers for granted. Nobody knows what is going on
and when the problem will be rectified. That is pure arrogance,” she said.

She said if the problem persists for another day, they will mobilise
residents to demonstrate at council demanding an explanation.

“The city fathers should at least meet residents and explain to them, as
well as provide alternative water supplies," she said.

Masvingo city council, Alderman Femius Chakabuda said: “We are currently
upgrading our pumping station, replacing old pipes with new ones.”

Truck drivers arrested in Zim

http://www.iol.co.za/

February 26 2011 at 07:50am

Independent Newspapers

Four South African truck drivers have been arrested and denied bail in
Zimbabwe for alleged fraud. Photo: Independent Newspapers

Four South African truck drivers have been arrested and denied bail in
Zimbabwe for alleged fraud, the SABC reported on Friday.

The Zimbabwean government alleged that they defrauded a Zimbabwean woman out
of a million US dollars. The woman allegedly paid a South African
businessman a million dollars for trucks in 2008 but they were never
delivered.

The men were delivering trucks at Zimbabwean first lady Grace Mugabe's
orphange when they were arrested last week.

Henry Radebe, Samuel Baloyi, Sydney Masilo and Caswell Chibilayo were
employed by an independent trucker to deliver the truck.

They were due to appear in court on Monday, to appeal against the denial of
their bail. -

Sapa

Artists arrests condemned

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by Fungi Kwaramba
Saturday, 26 February 2011 13:37

HARARE - Artists for Human Rights (AHR) in Zimbabwe last week denounced the
continued arrest and intimidation of artists in the country by state
security forces.
Over the past months the increasingly paranoid state security apparatus has
been targeting artists. Among those who have been arrested are the whole set
of Rooftop Entertainment, who were picked up under the notorious Public and
Order Security Act. The police arrested them for holding “unsanctioned
public gatherings”, notwithstanding the fact that Rooftop has a Censorship
certificate, issued under the laws of the country, that entails them to
carry out public performances. AHR says the state security agents should be
cognisant of the dictates of the law.
“We urge the security agents to recognise the rights of artists to conduct
their work in peace and without hindrance as guaranteed by the existing
Zimbabwe constitution. “Artists have the right to freedom of expression and
association. They should therefore be afforded those rights to showcase
their talents and conduct civic education while contributing solutions to
many problems that face our country,” it said in a statement.
However, in Zimbabwe it is increasingly becoming difficult for artists to
showcase their talent and also educate the public on topical issues. The
Rooftop production, “Rituals”, highlights the national healing exercise that
has failed to take off at policy level. The play, challenges the society to
explore traditional ways of healing and reconciliation in settling family
disputes, especially when they are political.
Even though the country has an Organ on National Healing, which is supposed
to carry out national healing, it has failed to make any significant steps
towards this, and among the general populace there are many political wounds
still to heal.
In some parts of the country, such as Mbare, political temperatures have
been running extremely high in recent weeks, and observers say this is
evidence of the fact that there is no national healing.
The talented cast of Rooftop was among the nominees in the National Arts
Council of Zimbabwe awards presented last week. Critics say they did not win
the award, because “Rituals” is deemed to be politically incorrect. Afraid
of  repercussions from the state security agents, some artists have
withdrawn into their shells. But Rooftop, under the directorship of Daves
Guzha, has soldiered on an won recognition and respect far and wide.
When his crew was arrested in Manicaland last month Guzha said, “(The
arrest) has definitely increased our resolve as artists to tackle national
issues and propagate the messages on a broader scale. Thank you Cashel
Valley police.”

Amnesty calls for Zim security reforms

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Own Correspondent     Saturday 26 February 2011

HARARE – Charges that police and prison officials are denying lawyers access
to 46 human rights activists facing treason charges for plotting Egypt-style
protests further highlight the need for urgent reform of Zimbabwe’s security
sector, Amnesty International has said.

Zimbabwe’s top security commanders are hardline supporters of President
Robert Mugabe often accused of selective application of the law to punish
the veteran leader’s political opponents.

Amnesty said the denial of legal representation as well as reports that the
activists had been tortured amplified the need for security reforms to
“bring to an end a culture of impunity for human rights violations and
partisan enforcement of the law.”

“This restriction of the right of the activists to access their lawyer is
unnecessary and throws serious doubts on the likelihood the detainees will
receive a fair trial,” said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty’s deputy director for
Africa.

The activists, who were arrested on February 19, are facing treason charges
after the police accused them of plotting to overthrow Mugabe.

The activists allegedly viewed video footage of the North African protests
and made speeches urging other activists in attendance to mobilise a revolt
against the government in similar fashion to the protests which were
recently staged in Egypt and Tunisia.

Prosecutors said the police who raided and arrested the activists
confiscated a video projector, DVDs containing the Egyptian and Tunisian
revolt recordings and placards inciting an uprising against Mugabe.

Defence lawyers said they had been denied the opportunity to consult their
clients and they were only informed of the charges facing the activists
minutes before they were brought before the court last Wednesday.

Prison officers are said to have also joined in the harassment, denying the
lawyers access to their clients when they were brought to Harare Magistrates
Court.

The prison officers prevented the defence lawyers from taking instructions
from their clients before they were transferred to Harare Remand Prison and
Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison last Thursday.

Kagari said the arrest of the 46 activists was an attack on Zimbabweans'
freedom of expression.

“This is a clear over-reaction by the state to an event in which the
participants were exercising their legitimate right to freedom of expression
which the government of Zimbabwe must guarantee under national and
international law,” said Kagari.

She called on the Zimbabwean government to investigate allegations of
torture after seven of the activists, including former legislator Munyaradzi
Gwisai, told the court that they were beaten by security agents while in
custody

Mugabe empowerment plan … as witnessed in Mbare

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by Gift Phiri
Friday, 25 February 2011 19:18

HARARE - We are outside Machipisa Carpentry Shop in Mbare, a big shop where
several carpenters running their little enterprises are busy at work.
(Pictured: Morgan Femai)
It is just one of hundreds of creaky businesses along Lundi Road which has
been taken over by Zanu (PF) supporters. But what makes the case of
Machipisa Carpentry Shop interesting is that it has been expropriated from
MDC Harare provincial chairman Morgan Femai.
"We are the new owners here," a young man in a Zanu (PF) T-shirt tells us.
He is at the carpentry shop's gates with a boisterous bounce or monya in the
local parlance. We are unable to take a picture of them, because they tell
us they will turn their axes on us if we try it.
There is little that the people running the little carpentry ventures in
this big shop or Femai can do. The carpenters are under strict instruction
to continue working and report immediately if Femai pitches up.

A heavy price
In the meantime, they have been told to stop paying anything to Femai. In
fact, Zanu (PF) has said you pay nothing, according to one of the carpenters
we spoke to while planing a log. Femai has refused to sign over part of his
shop to Zanu (PF), but he has been told in uncertain terms that he will pay
a heavy price for defiance and to cease and desist from coming to the shop,
and that it was no longer his. These occupations of business are illegal,
but they have the backing of Zanu (PF)'s Harare Province.
Suddenly, a boisterous Zanu (PF) youth behind the business invasions in
Matapi arrives. He has links to the top dogs in Zanu PF, and talks directly
to the chairman and seems to operate above the law. He enters the carpentry
shop, amid shouting and chanting. Femai says he was given just 10 minutes to
leave the carpentry shop.
The invasions businesses belonging to anyone perceived to be MDC in Mbare,
comes hard in the wake of the Zanu (PF) conference where President Mugabe
threatened expropriation of enterprises linked to people who have imposed
sanctions on his party.  MDC supporters have been uprooted from the Siya So
retail market and the hardware side. Only party loyalists are now running
the show in Mbare.
As our news team asks about Femai's right at law to own property and that he
was in fact renting the shop from Kauffman Brothers, which is managed by
Knight Frank, immediately the youths appear angry and threatening. We
apologise and leave immediately. "I am very upset," Femai told The
Zimbabwean on Sunday. "They don’t want me to go there (to his shop), the
Zanu (PF) youths."

Thieves and witches
As the story of Femai reveals, some of the business invasions seem more
about the forthcoming election than empowerment. Femai has taken the case to
Parliament. He told the Senate last week during a debate on a motion
on escalating violence that Zanu (PF) was a party of "thieves and witches."
A furious Femai told the acting Senate president Naison Ndlovu: "I am happy
that today, maybe you might rule me out of order, but I think that you
deserve to be in that chair because you rule over all thieves, witches, et
cetera."
A distraught and defiant Femai was forced to withdraw his statement by the
acting president and he complied. He proceeded: "My workers are under siege,
the shop was taken over and I cannot even go there. Even the names on the
lease agreement have been changed by those who have taken over my shop," he
told the Senate last Thursday.
There is a real issue about poverty and empowerment here in Mbare. But many
believe that Zanu (PF), in a bid to stay in power, is playing the political
card, denying opportunities for ownership or trade to anyone suspected to
supporting the MDC.
It is a tightly knit strategy that has devastated many families. Many others
in resignation have simply signed up to Zanu (PF) to continue running their
market stalls. In Parliament, the MDC and Zanu (PF) accused each other of
fomenting the violence to force a cancellation of the elections.

Political violence
Zanu (PF) senators claimed they had uncovered a plot by the Movement for
Democratic Change to make the country ungovernable to foil the elections.
But the leader of the movement, Morgan Tsvangirai, said it was President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) which had hatched plans to foment violence as an
election strategy.
Clashes throughout Matapi between MDC and Zanu (PF) supporters in the last
two weeks, have left one person dead. Zanu PF claims the jambanja was
deliberately provoked by the MDC. There are fears should elections be called
this year before a new constitution Zimbabwe will be plunged back into
another orgy of violence and human rights abuses probably worse than
witnessed in 2008

Zim needs to rethink empowerment – German Ambassador

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by Fungi Kwaramba
Saturday, 26 February 2011 14:07
… political risk too high, threats deter investment

HARARE - Zimbabwe risks being further isolated and left behind the rest of
Africa if it continues with policies such as the indigenisation drive, says
the German Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Albrecht Conze.
While he was relieved at the end of the rapid contraction of the economy
caused by runaway inflation, itself a ripple effect of the Zanu (PF) regime’s
disastrous economic policies and the incessant printing of money by Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono, this could be reversed if the country proceeded
with its anti-west rhetoric and corrupt nationalisation of industries, said
Conze.
“The recent rattling of sabres against the ghost of “white supremacy” does
carry the risk of isolating the country once again from Africa’s dynamic
mainstream. The rhetoric used by certain ministers in this respect are not
only ill-founded, irritating and unconstitutional, but totally out of tune
with the rest of the continent, where race issues have long been set aside,
with no more impact on policy decisions,” said the ambassador.
Government ministers such as the Minister of Youth and Economic Empowerment,
Saviour Kasukuwere continue to make inflammatory public statements that
encourage Zanu (PF) thugs to take over businesses owned by foreigners.
Ironically, the Chinese, President Robert Mugabe’s bosom buddies, are not
being subjected to the same treatment as people from European countries,
despite being foreigners in Zimbabwe..
Over the past few weeks Zanu (PF) heavies have been whipping up emotions in
the party’s youths with their anti-“sanctions” propaganda. In reality the
targeted measures against certain Zanu (PF) individuals and companies for
their gross human rights abuses have nothing to do with the collapse of the
national economy whatsoever. Conze questioned the Zanu (PF) concept of
economic empowerment at a time when the country had yet to recover
economically from years of abuse.
“Why not seek venture capital from all over the world instead of giving
concessions away cheaply to some - rather than offering them at a market
price to all? Why are Chinese companies being granted waivers of the 51
percent rule while nobody heard of a European company receiving such
 favour?” asked Conze.
He proposed that in order for the country to achieve economic empowerment it
had to acquire new credit lines, including support from traditional friends
such as Germany and financing through a sovereign fund.
“Credit lines do not come without confidence. I keep encouraging German
investors to take a close look at opportunities in Zimbabwe. But the current
indigenisation drive and the threatening tone used by some of its high
profile advocates then deters them from investing. They mostly come to the
conclusion that the political risk is too high,” said Conze.

Zuma Facilitation Working On Free And Fair Elections

http://www.radiovop.com

26/02/2011 20:02:00

HARARE, February 26, 2011- South African facilitators of Zimbabwe’s Global
Political Agreement (GPA) which led to the formation of a unity government
in 2009 say they won’t let Zimbabwe go into an election which does not meet
the SADC specifications on free and fair elections.

The SADC appointed facilitator to the Zimbabwean crisis Jacob Zuma’ s
team has been in Harare the whole of this week meeting parties to the
GPA to finalise the framework for the elections.

“ We are working towards a free and fair election in election in
Zimbabwe, an election which will be free of violence and intimidation
or anything considered an impediment to holding credible elections by
the SADC guidelines on elections, ” Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma’s special
advisor told Radio VOP.

Zulu returned back to South Africa on Friday but left the other two
facilitators - former anti-apartheid activist Mac Maharaj and South
African cabinet Minister Charles Nqakula to have further meetings with
the political parties.

Zulu said the facilitation team is in Harare to consult the political
parties on how they see a draft of the election roadmap and collate
their views. She said Zuma was particularly concerned about the upsurge in
violence.

“ Elections can be broad, they happen in a particular environment and
we are trying to build towards a free and fair environment. The
facilitator himself is particularly concerned about the upsurge in
violence, ” said Zulu.

Asked if her party discussed the recent arrest of civic activists who
were arrested and charged with treason last week.
She said: “ Those issues are coming up in the discussions and we also
have concerns on such issues. ”

Zulu said they met with all the three party which are signatories to
the GPA and will continue doing so.She would not commit herself to saying
whether Zimbabwe will be ready to hold an election this year saying such
things will be subject to Zimbabwean laws but her team will work to ensure
that the country will only have a free and fair election.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe have in
the past indicated that they would both like to have an early election
to bring to an end the fragile coalition government.
But Tsvangirai and the country’s civic society are arguing that
certain reforms should be met before an election could be held. Some of
these reforms include the conclusion of the constitution making
process, electoral reforms and reform of the security sector among
others.

University Graduates Main Target Of CIO Recruitment

http://www.radiovop.com

26/02/2011 20:00:00

BULAWAYO, February 26, 2011- Government spy agency, the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) is reported to have embarked on a recruitment drive in
the Matabeleland and Midlands regions targeting graduates from state run
universities.

                                             Well placed sources at the CIO
regional headquarters in Matabeleland told Radio Vop that the recruitment
drive began two weeks ago.Sources said the spy agency is being assited by
Zanu (PF) aligned students in identifying recruitment candidates.

‘ The first batch of graduates was interviewed last week and the next lot
will be interviewed on Monday next week at Magnet House in Bulawayo. The
recruitment drive is meant to replace officers who have either retired or
left the organization, ’ said the source who is based at Magnet House.

Those who are aspiring to be state security agencies are required to be
vetted by police first and produce a recommendation letter from Zanu (PF)
provincial offices in addition to their academic qualifications.But security
agencies such as the army and intelligence have in the past struggled to
recruit young people from Matabeleland because of their record during the
massacres in the early 80s.

Young people in the province are reluctant to join the security
agencies.Sources say that’s the other region why Midlands State University
is turning out to be the best recruitment centre for the spy agency.

Million Citizen Protest

Zimbabwe expect cakewalk against Canada

http://ca.reuters.com/

Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:04am EST

By Amlan Chakraborty

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will seek to cash in on Canada's inexperience
in Monday's Group A battle featuring the whipping boys of the World Cup.

While both sides are smarting from comprehensive drubbing at the hands of
former champions, Canada provide Zimbabwe with one of their few realistic
victory opportunities in the tournament when they square off in Nagpur.

Zimbabwe's spinners did a decent job against Australia, restricting the
four-times champions to 262 for six. But their batting frailties, in the
face of Australia's strong pace attack, were evident as they collapsed to
171 all out in Ahmedabad.

Brendan Taylor and Charles Coventry could not provide a decent start and the
middle order also capitulated meekly against the pace of Brett Lee, Shaun
Tait and Mitchell Johnson.

The Zimbabweans, however, can look forward to a much easier outing against a
Canada side which has been pummeled by 210 runs by Sri Lanka at Hambantota,
providing ammunitions to those wondering what business associate teams have
being in the World Cup.

Canada's top order showed considerable vulnerability against Sri Lankan
attack and they would struggle to break loose against the stifling brand of
spin bowling produced by Ray Price and Prosper Utseya.

Zimbabwe will hardly have anything to complain about regarding their spin
attack, which was let down by a brittle batting order.

"I thought we restricted them to the score we wanted to chase but we have to
work on our batting," skipper Elton Chigumbura rued after the defeat by
Australia.

"The fifth bowler is something we have to work on as well."

Canada have their batting problems too.

Captain Ashish Bagai and their Pakistan-born batsman Rizwan Cheema, who has
a 100-plus strike rate, need to fire.

Coach Pubudu Dassanayake highlighted their problems succinctly after the
drubbing by Sri Lanka.

"We have the plans but we don't have the resources to execute them," he
said.

"We have got some talented players but they are not exposed to this level.
You can certainly coach them but it's all about going out and executing
that."

FIFA wants bans for Zimbabwean players involved in Asian match-fixing scam

http://www.apanews.net/

APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwean players caught up in a Far East
match-fixing scam should be banned from football, FIFA general secretary
Jerome Valcke said, APA monitored here on Saturday.

Several Zimbabwean players confessed during a probe into alleged
match-fixing that they were paid to lose matches during tours of Asia by the
senior national team in 2008 and 2009.

Speaking during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC), Valcke said "if someone has confessed then this person should not be
playing anymore."

All the players are, however, still playing for their respective clubs in
South Africa and in Zimbabwe.

The internationals had admitted that they were paid to lose matches against
Thailand, Malaysia and Syria.

The only notable casualty of the scam thus far is former Zimbabwe Football
Association chief executive Henriatta Rushwaya, who was sacked when the
scandal came to light in December 2009.

Valcke said the players who have admitted to match-fixing should not be
allowed to continue with their careers.

JN/ad/APA
2011-02-26

Libyan unrest shaking Mugabe’s tree

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

GEOFFREY YORK
JOHANNESBURG— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 6:06PM EST

Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster has pronounced its verdict on Libya: The
situation is “stable” except for some “incidents of violence” in the
“outlying towns.”

The website of the state newspaper has even less to say. It features a
lengthy report about roosters in Ecuador, but not a word about the hundreds
of deaths in Libya. No word about the mercenaries gunning down protesters.
No word about Moammar Gadhafi’s threat to go “house to house” to eliminate
the “cockroaches” who oppose him.

Like many African autocrats, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is doing his
best to silence the news from North Africa – and especially the news about
Col. Gadhafi, a long-time friend who has funnelled more than $500-million in
gifts, loans and oil subsidies to Zimbabwe over the past 15 years.

In a clear warning to any dissenters, the Zimbabwean police last weekend
arrested 45 activists who were discussing the North Africa street
revolutions and viewing videos of the uprisings. The 45 activists have now
been charged with treason – a charge punishable by death – and accused of
plotting a revolution. Several of them have testified that they were beaten
and tortured in police custody.

There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds of Zimbabwean soldiers and
police may have been sent to Libya as mercenaries to defend Col. Gadhafi’s
regime. When MPs asked about it in Zimbabwe’s parliament this week, Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa did not confirm or deny the reports.

Across Africa, authoritarian regimes are censoring the news and clamping
down on any protests inspired by North Africa. Street protests this month in
Cameroon and Gabon, aimed at regimes that have been in power for decades,
were quickly crushed by police.

In countries such as Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea,
authorities have tried to muzzle any reporting about the North Africa
people-power movements, according to monitoring by the Committee to Protect
Journalists, an independent New York-based organization.

Zimbabwe, ruled by Mr. Mugabe since 1980, could be ripe for street protests.
Its economy nearly collapsed after a wave of brutal violence by Mugabe
loyalists against opposition supporters in 2008. Since then, unemployment
and poverty have remained high, and frustrations are growing.

But Mr. Mugabe, who turned 87 this week, has vowed to stay in power. While
he shares power with the opposition in a coalition government, he has
retained control of all the key levers of power: the army, police, courts
and state media. And he has used those levers to crack down on any talk of
an Egypt-style uprising.

The Defence Minister, Mr. Mnangagwa, has vowed that any Zimbabweans who try
to emulate the North Africa uprisings “will regret it” because the
authorities “will not allow any chaos in this country.”

The bloodshed in Libya is particularly sensitive for many African regimes
because they received so much financial aid from Col. Gadhafi over the past
two decades. The African Union, which was headed by Col. Gadhafi from 2009
to 2010, was slow to respond to Col. Gadhafi’s violent crackdown on
protesters, finally issuing only a brief statement of concern and a promise
to “dispatch a mission” to the country.

“The response from African governments and the African Union took so long
and was so feeble that it emboldens Gadhafi in clinging on to power,” said
Ingrid Srinath, secretary-general of Civicus, a coalition of civil-society
groups.

There have been some rumours that Zimbabwe could offer refuge to Col.
Gadhafi if he flees into exile. But despite the hundreds of millions of
dollars that Libya has provided to Mr. Mugabe, the relationship between the
two autocrats has become strained by financial disputes and by Libya’s
recent rapprochement with the West. It’s unclear whether Mr. Mugabe is still
friendly enough with Col. Gadhafi to provide him a haven in exile – but in
the meantime he doesn’t want the Libya crisis to inspire any ideas among his
people.

People weary, army ruthless – Analysts

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

Written by JUMA DONKE
Sunday, 27 February 2011 07:00

Anti-government protests sweeping across the Arab world are unlikely to be
seen in Zimbabwe because of a weary opposition movement and the military’s
willingness to descend heavily on dissent, analysts have said.
“The army is the difference,” said Brian Raftopolous, a former Associate
Professor of Development Studies at the University of Zimbabwe. “In Zimbabwe
the army has been a huge blockage. We had our Egypt moment between the late
1990’s and 2008 when we had demonstrations, strikes, riots and electoral
wins over Zanu (PF). Many people died, many more were imprisoned, property
was destroyed - but we were blocked by the military.”
Raftopolous said while the Egyptian and Tunisian military had largely stayed
out of the conflict, the Zimbabwean military was likely to copy remnants of
the Libyan army, still loyal to besieged Colonel Muammar Gadhafi, waging war
on defenceless people. Since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in
1980, the military has been used to ruthlessly crush any opposition to
President Robert Mugabe’s grip on power.
Exiled political analyst and former newspaper editor, Chofamba Sithole, is
sceptical about Zimbabweans ability to rise up against the ruling elite.
Mass protests, he said, have not been used as a tool to remove sitting
governments anywhere in Sub Saharan Africa, and this was unlikely to change.
Sithole said sitting governments’ willingness to unleash violence on unarmed
civilians deterred mass protests.
“Zimbabwe is no different; any mass protest would have to withstand a
vicious deployment of crude violence by the regime before it can reach the
tipping point. Crucially, Mugabe's government established its capacity for
inhuman cruelty early in the 1980s through the Gukurahundi massacres. That
grim episode remains instructive on just what sort of measures the regime is
prepared to take to liquidate threats to its hold on power,” said Sithole,
who now lives in England.
Between 1983 and 1986, an elite unit of the army – the North Korean trained
5th Brigade – brutally put down an insurrection in the opposition stronghold
of Matabeleland, killing an estimated 20 000 civilians.
The army, which is under the command of a cabal of generals who fought in
the 1970s Rhodesian war for liberation, has intermittently been deployed in
the townships to intimidate and terrorise citizens ahead of crucial national
elections, and to forestall public dissent.
Human Rights lawyer Daniel Molokele said Zanu (PF)’s use of brute force to
head off competition for power and ideas had forced millions of Zimbabweans
out of the country, disabling the militant wing that could spearhead any
attack on its stranglehold on Harare.
“The young people who are most likely to start popular uprisings have left
the country in their millions. The opposition and civil society is in
disarray and those still inside the country are repressed by use of the
military which has shown a proclivity to crush dissent,” he said.
Molokele, who now lives in Cape Town, dampened any talk of Arabian-style
demonstrations in Zimbabwe. “Unless something dramatic like the death of
(Prime Minister Morgan) Tsvangirai happens (in suspicious circumstances).
Even then I doubt that Zimbabweans will react. There is no catalyst, nothing
to spark demonstrations.” He said the country had no history of internal
civil disobedience as people had remained apathetic even during the life of
Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence
(UDI) between 1965 and 1980.
“Even in 2008, when the ingredients for such an uprising were there, nothing
happened and is unlikely to happen now because of a diaspora linkage,” he
said. Other analysts, however, believe Zimbabweans missed the opportunity to
press home advantages gained over the ruling Zanu (PF) party following
spontaneous food riots that rocked the country in 1997.
Since the Arabian riots began, Zimbabweans have been criticised in South
Africa for failing to rise up against the Mugabe regime.
But Raftopolous argues: “It is not for lack of effort as many of our people
died and property has been destroyed in this fight over the last 10 years.
But eventually the dictatorship will fall - everything changes.”

Why uprisings may not cross the Sahara

http://www.nation.co.ke/

By John Harbeson Posted Saturday, February 26 2011 at 20:29

In Summary

    * Regular elections, whether free and fair or flawed, may help forestall
revolutions

It is risky for columnists to make predictions in print, for obvious
reasons. But whenever sub-Saharan Africa has entered my conversations
recently, the question that has arisen is whether uprisings similar to those
that have convulsed Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and the Middle East could occur
in the region.

Indeed, it appears this question has also entered the minds of at least some
African political leaders as well, for Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe
reportedly ordered the arrest of participants in a seminar simply because
they considered the question!

Of course, I may be proven wrong, but my estimate would be that the
revolutions in North Africa will not prove contagious for at least most of
the countries south of the Sahara.

Every country’s situation is different, but one important factor common to
most of sub-Saharan Africa and missing in North Africa has been the
increasing regularity of national elections.

However, compromised elections may still provoke serious, even violent,
protests as Kenyans well know. But even in those cases, the focus has seemed
to be on making democracy work, not just on ensuring that the real victor
takes office.

Afrobarometer polling in 20 countries where surveys have been conducted have
shown that healthy majorities in almost all the countries continue to
believe that democracy is “the only game in town.”

Even in countries where ruling regimes have used elections to manufacture
large, perhaps artificial, majorities for themselves, they cannot be accused
of being out of touch with citizens, albeit in an undemocratic way, unlike
the situations in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

Elections, whether free and fair or flawed, may help to forestall violent
revolutions but they are still no guarantee against them.

The causes of violent social revolutions are well known. The time comes when
those causes are sufficiently profound and long-standing that any spark may
unleash their revolutionary potential, like the self-immolation of the
trader who ignited the revolution that deposed Tunisia’s long-time dictator.

The underlying socioeconomic causes of revolution in North Africa are
certainly present to varying degrees throughout the continent.

The Millennium Development Goals notwithstanding, too many people in most
African countries live on one or two dollars a day or even less.

The expansion of education systems throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa in
recent years has been most welcome, but the resources to support that
expansion have been critically lacking in many countries, as have been the
employment prospects for many of the graduates.

Large numbers of degree-holding but poorly educated, unemployed, and not
very employable youth can be a combustible element in any country.

Cell phones and social media websites both work to the advantage of those in
desperate socioeconomic circumstances and, except in a few places like
Libya, make it more difficult for ruling regimes to come down hard on
protesters, because the destitute increasingly tend to have access to these
media, and the world watches and judges.

At the same time, the starkness of the revolutions in North Africa — angry,
determined, crowds on the streets, on the one hand, and stubborn,
intransigent, and out of touch regimes, on the other hand — carry important
messages both to and from sub-Saharan Africa about just how hard it is to
make peaceful, effective, sustainable transitions from authoritarian rule to
democracy.

One of the lessons is how easy it can be for well-organised but undemocratic
movements to seize momentum and control for their own purposes in periods of
profound transformation.

For this reason, it is critical that thorough constitutional reforms occur,
in which there is ample opportunity for meaningful citizen participation, so
that broad consensus on fundamental rules of the political game is achieved
before rivals pick sides and compete in elections.

Kenyans know better than most just how difficult it is to institute
electoral competition first before constitutional rules of the game are
fashioned.

Another important lesson dramatised by the North African revolutions has
been the critical importance of the civil society. Civil society’s
invaluable roles are many, but one would seem to be more important than all
the others — civil society supplies the means and processes for people to
express what they want from government, what they need from each other, not
just at election time but all the time.

A final noteworthy point is that 20 years of experience with democratisation
in sub-Saharan Africa has produced some important guidelines and lessons for
those leading revolutionary changes in North Africa.

Those countries are likely to enjoy transitions to stable democracy where
regimes remain in touch with their citizens, where participatory
constitutional reform builds consensus on the fundamental rules of the
political game, and where civil society is cultivated and allowed to
flourish.

John Harbeson is a political science professor at City University of New
York.

Book Review

http://www.thenational.ae/

Zimbabwe novel not a memoir, says author Andrea Eames

Ben East

Last Updated: Feb 27, 2011

It's a long way from the searing heat of the African bush to a café by the
Thames on a dreary London day. The novelist Andrea Eames has come prepared:
she's cradling a mug of tea and wearing a hat.

But she, if anyone, should be used to the contrasts of a peripatetic
existence. Eames grew up in Zimbabwe but had to emigrate to New Zealand in
2002. She's just flown in from Austin, Texas, where she now lives with her
husband. "I feel most at ease in airports, weirdly, where no one is at home
and we're all foreign," she laughs.

It was the first of Eames's many homes - and nationalities - that inspired
her moving debut novel, The Cry of the Go-Away Bird. First novels are often
derided for being thinly veiled autobiography, but in Eames's case, her
childhood was so vivid and traumatic it was only natural she should want to
return to it as a writer. So, like Eames, her protagonist Elise at first
lives an idyllic life in Zimbabwe. But a life making rock gardens out of
pebbles and twigs is turned upside-down when the Mugabe-sponsored "war
veterans" begin forcibly taking over the white-owned farms. She soon
realises she may not be welcome in the land she's always called home, and
Eames expertly captures the unruly atmosphere of mutual distrust and racial
division.

Elise's mother wrestles with a dilemma: to stay and tough it out despite the
obvious dangers, or to admit defeat and flee. It's the choice Eames's own
family also faced, until in 2002 - "when we'd run out of excuses not to
leave" - they moved to New Zealand. But the strange, beautiful Zimbabwe
remains, in a way, home. So would she - can she - go back?

"I would like to, but I'm scared to go," she says. "Not because I'd be
arrested or anything, but because the country that I grew up in doesn't
exist any more. Like when anyone goes back to their childhood home and the
walls are a different colour and there's a swing in the garden. It would
bring up a lot of emotions, I think, and I'm scared about what I might
feel."

Not least because The Cry of the Go-Away Bird is, for Eames, a search for
the part of herself she's left behind and might never find again.

"Oh yes," she agrees. "If I hadn't written about it, actually, the whole
thing would be so desperately sad. Hideous, in fact. You have to try to find
a story, a message, a meaning to what happened. The book allowed me to make
sense of it all, but it also meant I could relive a lot of the things I
loved."

This sense of affection towards a country that became a kind of prison is
the beating heart of her debut novel. Eames was determined not to write an
angry, sad or even judgemental book. Like her fellow Zimbabwean author
Petina Gappah, whose award-winning short story collection, An Elegy for
Easterly, was shot through with humour and humanity, Eames's interest is in
people rather than politics.

"I love Petina's work," she says. "And I do like the comic aspects of
Zimbabwe, too. We're not an angry people; Zimbabweans are very warm,
hospitable and funny. That's what the country's really like, despite all the
darkness and bad things that happen there."

It's interesting that nearly every time I ask Eames about the intelligent,
inquisitive teenager that is Elise, she refers back to her own experiences.
Though this is a genuinely thought-provoking and elegant first effort, it
does feel more like a memoir than a work of narrative-led fiction -
admittedly lending The Cry of the Go-Away Bird a shocking authenticity. But
she's prepared for such opinions.

"I was really keen that it wasn't just my story," she says. "I wanted it to
be more universal than that - which sounds a little pretentious, I know, but
it was important to me that this was a story of a lot of families in
Zimbabwe. It felt truer to fictionalise it because I could be more visceral
and heartfelt. You're removing yourself and making the meaning important."

Still, it turns out that even the chapters that feel most obviously
novelistic - Elise's house on the tobacco farm appearing to be haunted, for
example - come from Eames's own experience of an exorcism in Zimbabwe. So
even though revelling in things that go bump in the night might seem a
writerly device to emphasise the creeping sense of menace, there's actually
something firmer behind it.

"I've always been interested in the Shona's sense of spirituality, their
myths and customs - and we definitely had a ghost in the house for a while,"
she smiles. "And that might sound odd, but it's part of the landscape and
part of growing up in Zimbabwe. There is a story, a spiritual element to
everything there - a rock isn't just a rock, an animal isn't just an
animal."

After the haunting episode reaches its conclusion, Elise's world shrinks
from the expansive bush to a life behind barred windows and locked doors.
The novel becomes brilliantly tense and claustrophobic, the shift from her
previous life of privilege and unlimited freedoms expertly judged.

Zimbabwe appears to collapse around Elise, making her the outsider. It's
difficult at times to comprehend why this increasingly beleaguered family
doesn't leave earlier - but then, neither did Eames's parents.

"It wasn't that easy to leave," she nods. "It felt like a death in the
family. People often talk about Africa being in the blood and it getting
under your skin, but it genuinely does have that addictive, vivid quality."
She continues: "So it's not surprising that we built up excuse after excuse
not to go. So it was like, 'when we get burgled, we'll leave', or 'when we
get the car hijacked we'll leave'. And all these lines in the sand kept
getting crossed and crossed until there were no more left."

And yet this isn't a partisan novel that pleads for understanding. Eames
herself believes that redistribution of land was a good plan - just
appallingly managed by Mugabe.

"You know, I do want people to see that the land invasions were gone about
in the wrong way and it caused great pain," she sighs. "But the white
population was in some ways living in a fool's paradise. Something had to
give at some point. Yes, it was sad and awful but there was an inevitability
to it all; there was going to be a breaking point."

And the results have been felt not just in Zimbabwe but all over the world.
Like Gappah, Eames talks about Zimbabwe being a scattered nation - a whole
generation of people born in the country who are exiled, but want to
understand where they come from and why they still feel attached to that
beautiful country.

"Being displaced sounds dramatic, doesn't it, but it makes you feel foreign
everywhere. Home gets further and further away the more you move. I wouldn't
say it's a hugely uncomfortable sensation, but it's like having a pair of
shoes that don't quite fit. You put up with it."

Ÿ The Cry of the Go-Away Bird (Harvill Secker) is out now

The spark

February 26, 2011, 6:55 am

Dear Family and Friends,

On a stretch of road to the south east of the capital city of Harare I was
extremely fortunate to witness an uprising recently. It wasn’t an uprising
of people throwing off a dictator but an uprising of aerial attackers after
a rain storm. It began in the early afternoon when the only visible sign of
a possible onslaught was two wide bands of grey on a horizon perhaps 30
kilometres away. The closer I got, the wider the storms seemed to be,
looking like dense grey smoke, until suddenly I was right in the middle of
one. Big, heavy rain drops pounded down and soon turned into a torrential
downpour. Visibility dropped to just a few metres, the temperature plummeted
and the noise was deafening. In less than 10 minutes it was all over; the
rain band moved leaving pools of water on the verges and clouds of steam
rising off the tar.

Before long the view was again of tall golden grass, tips bent over, heavy
with their new crop of seed. In amongst the grass the occasional glimpses of
pink, purple and white Cosmos flowers. Flowers that will always remind me of
the road to my farm where the pink and white extravaganza crowded the verges
and were a delight to see, always lifting tired spirits after long days
working out on the land. Funny, isn’t it, how a flower in the golden grass a
decade later, can provide a flashback to another life: a time when our
country was fat and flourishing, healthy and prosperous.

On my return journey a couple of hours after the rain storm, the steaming
tar was dry, pools and puddles had disappeared and been replaced by a
feeding frenzy, an aerial uprising. The rain storm had prompted millions of
flying ants to emerge from underground and embark on their first and only
flight. The attackers descended on them from every direction. Dozens of
Falcons filled the skies. From trees and bushes they came in their scores
and then hundreds to feast on the flying ants. From their perches on
overhead electricity lines and pylons they plunged and plummeted on their
prey, swooping and circling in so many hundreds they were impossible to
distinguish individually or to estimate their number. For a moment it looked
like the masses crowded and shouting for freedom in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya
! These birds, once called the Eastern Redfooted Kestrel, have now been
reclassified and are known as Amur Falcons. Once a year, for just a few
months, the Falcons come in their thousands to Harare where they roost in a
gum tree plantation in Tafara, a high density suburb on the outskirts of
Harare. Hard to believe that in one poor and overcrowded area of Harare
between ten and thirty thousand Falcons stop and rest every year on their
way back to Eastern Asia, Russia and China. To see the Amur Falcons rising
off the pylons in their thousands is an uprising that must be seen to be
believed.

After the rain storm had passed I again turned my attention to the people on
the roadsides, looking for signs of another kind of uprising. After Tunisia,
Egypt and now Libya, it’s hard not to look for the beginnings. We have all
the ingredients needed: unemployment estimated to be over 90%, a civil
service earning less than half amount of the poverty datum line, continual
water and electricity shortages – if you can afford the services at all -
and a very uneasy political situation. They say that an uprising takes a
spark but so far it hasn’t ignited. 45 people arrested in Harare for
watching videos of Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings remain in detention as I
write and lawyers report that at least six have been beaten whilst under
interrogation in custody. The spark hasn’t ignited yet in Nyanga where the
MDC MP remains in detention and a witch hunt is underway in remote
mountainous villages.  The MDC spokesman for the province, says three truck
loads of Zanu PF youths were going house to house looking for MDC supporters
and hundreds of villagers have fled into Mocambique, crossing the Gairezi
river which runs along the border.

While this is happening people try to makes ends meet and women sit on the
roadsides selling watermelons: enormous green gourds filled with dripping,
sweet, crimson flesh – just the sight of them makes your mouth water! They’re
also selling freshly lifted ground nuts and round  Nyimo beans, which when
boiled in salted water are oh so more-ish ! Young men are on the roadsides
too and the smell of roasting maize cobs, lined up against little fires
tempt you with the taste of a country so tired and yet so resilient.

I close with messages of support and condolence for the families of so many
hundreds of people who died trying to free Libya, Egypt and Tunisia and to
the people of New Zealand whose lives and families have been torn apart in
the earthquake. Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy,

http://www.cathybuckle.com/