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Court condemns abducted activists to more time in custody
By Lance
Guma
09 January 2008
Judges in Zimbabwe with their farms, posh cars,
plasma TV's and other
monetary perks took their brazen loyalty to Mugabe's
regime to new heights
Friday. One of them ruled that 7 MDC activists,
including a freelance
journalist, should remain in custody and await trial
for a series of
'dubious' bombings at 2 police stations and 2 bridges
because there was a
'reasonable suspicion' they committed the offences.
Although the defence
team is demanding an early trial Florence Ziyambi, a
lawyer in the Attorney
General's Office, said because of the schedule at the
High Court the trial
cannot start until May at the earliest.
At least
32 activists, among them prominent former newsreader Jestina
Mukoko, are
being kept in custody at various locations including Chikurubi
Maximum
Security Prison, amid claims of excruciating torture and abuse.
Magistrate
Gloria Mariga on Thursday ordered police to 'investigate
themselves' after
she asked the Attorney General to ask the police to look
into the
allegations of torture. Mariga went on to say, '"It is my view that
(torture) cannot stop the accused from being placed on remand as long as
there is reasonable suspicion that they committed the offense.'
Faced
with a judiciary that is playing games and conniving with state
security
agencies to illegally detain the activists, defence lawyers this
week
resorted to naming and shaming the abductors in open court. Rights
groups
are also producing daily timelines of events to show which judges,
prosecutors and other state representatives are working to defeat the course
of justice. In response to Friday's ruling Andrew Makoni, who is also
defending the abducted activists, said they would apply for bail at the High
Court on Monday.
Mukoko meanwhile has used a court affidavit to recount
her torture ordeal at
the hands of the CIO. She said they kept her in
solitary confinement for 19
days trying to force her into admitting she
recruited MDC youths for
military training in Botswana to topple the regime.
Six men and a woman
kidnapped her from her Norton home before bundling her
into a car. They
first quizzed her on the work of the Zimbabwe Peace Project
before making
attempts at linking her with the MDC. When she denied any they
started
beating her up.
'Firstly I was assaulted underneath my feet
with a rubber-like object which
was at least one metre long and flexible,
while seated on the floor. Later I
was told to raise my feet onto a table
and the other people in the room
started to assault me underneath my feet.
This assault lasted for at least
five to six minutes. They took a break and
then continued again with the
beatings. Several days later one of the
interrogators went out of the room
and returned with gravel which he spread
onto the floor and told her to pull
up her clothes and kneel on the gravel.'
The interrogations continued whilst
I was kneeling on the gravel,' Mukoko
said.
Even the elderly and young children have not been spared in the
crackdown.
Fidelis Chiramba, a 72 year old MDC organizer in the rural areas,
is one of
those being accused of plotting to overthrow Mugabe. His 69 year
old wife,
Sophia Chiramba, visited her husband late in December last year
but prison
guards would not even allow her to touch his hands. She says she
has given
up hope of her husband ever coming back home to tend to his
vegetable garden
which has now turned into bush. Chiramba told the
Washington Post, 'at least
I get the chance to see him, even if they kill
him later.'
Among the abducted prisoners is Nigel Mutamagau, a 2 year old
boy who was
abducted with his parents, Violet Mupfuranhehwe and Collen
Mutamagau. He was
beaten by security agents who were trying to force his
mother into a
confession. It's reported the boy too has not received medical
attention
just like the other prisoners, and is being held in solitary
confinement
with his mother. All those accused in the banditry charges were
either
abducted from their work places or homes and all have been tortured
into
making confessions. Legal experts say such evidence is inadmissible in
court
and question the logic of judges in Zimbabwe entertaining what has
happened
so far.
It was only in 2007 that High Court Judge Tedius
Karwi blasted the police
for cooking up evidence in a similar case in which
dozens of MDC activists
were accused of terrorism charges. All those accused
were eventually
acquitted, but not until Mugabe's regime had used the
propaganda value of
the charges to justify their crackdown on the MDC at the
African Union and
SADC summits.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
Zimbabwe activists lose bid to quash terror charges
http://www.africasia.com
HARARE,
Jan 9 (AFP)
A Zimbabwe
court on Friday refused to toss out terrorism charges against
seven
opposition activists, in a case that has heightened fears for a
faltering
unity accord with President Robert Mugabe.
"It is my view that this
cannot stop the accused being placed on remand as
long as there is
reasonable suspicion," magistrate Olivia Mariga said.
The activists
include opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
security chief Chris
Dlamini and a former personal advisor to party leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
They are accused of bombing two police stations in Harare as
well as two
bridges outside the capital "for the purposes of causing
insurrection in
Zimbabwe." They denied the charges.
The seven were
remanded in custody to January 23.
Lawyers had urged the magistrate's
court to dismiss the charges saying the
activists were victims of abductions
who were tortured into confessing to
crimes they did not commit.
The
seven were among 18 opposition and rights activists detained at unknown
locations, some since late October.
Among those taken away were a
couple and their two-year-old toddler.
The arrest of the activists has
raised fresh doubts about a September
power-sharing deal signed by
Tsvangirai and Mugabe, which has stalled over
disputes about dividing
control of key cabinet posts.
Tsvangirai
seeks crucial Mugabe meeting
http://af.reuters.com
Fri Jan 9, 2009 5:56pm GMT
By Nelson
Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
has
requested a meeting with President Robert Mugabe in an effort to salvage
a
power-sharing deal, an opposition spokesman said on
Friday.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed a unity pact last September but the
agreement
appears to be unravelling after a dispute over the control of key
ministries
and the abduction of several opposition and human rights
activists.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Nelson Chamisa
told Reuters:
"We have written to Mugabe indicating that we want a meeting
between him and
(MDC) president Tsvangirai to bring finality and closure to
the dialogue.
"We can't keep Zimbabweans guessing, we have to close the
chapter on
dialogue, whether in success or failure."
Chamisa said
Mugabe had yet to respond. He declined to give details on what
Tsvangirai
expected from the meeting.
Chamisa said Tsvangirai, who has been outside
Zimbabwe since a regional
summit in South Africa last November, would return
to the country "within
days."
Last week, Mugabe's spokesman told
state media the veteran leader would
appoint a new cabinet in February,
despite the stalled talks with the
opposition. Chamisa said the MDC would
not be part of that government.
Mugabe also fired nine ministers and
three deputy ministers who lost their
parliamentary seats in March polls and
named acting ministers, in apparent
preparation for the new cabinet. He is
currently on a month's leave, which
could delay the formation of a new
government.
"We have never stopped Mugabe from forming a fake and illegal
government,
but if he were to do that, he can be sure he will not have the
support and
cooperation of the MDC and the majority of Zimbabweans," Chamisa
said.
"If they proceed, they would be in violation of the global
political
agreement and in defiance of SADC," he said, referring to the
Southern
African Development Community, a grouping of regional states which
has been
mediating between the two sides.
Chamisa said the MDC
leadership had scheduled a meeting to discuss the
deadlocked talks on the
power-sharing deal seen as the best chance of
preventing an economic
collapse.
"The national executive council will meet on January 18 to
assess the state
of inter-party dialogue in the face of continued
intransigence by ZANU-PF
(Mugabe's party)," Chamisa said.
"Depending
on the factors at the time, critical positions will be taken,
relating to
the dialogue process."
A cholera outbreak has worsened the humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe, killing
more than 1,800 people out of 36,671 cases,
according to World Health
Organisation figures.
The impact of the
outbreak has also been felt in neighbouring South Africa
where utility Eskom
shut down the construction of its Medupi power station
in the country's
Limpopo province, near the Zimbabwe border, after a cholera
scare, the
company's spokesman Fani Zulu said on Friday.
If confirmed as cholera, it
would be the first sign that the disease, which
broke out in Zimbabwe in
August last year, was having an impact on South
Africa's industry and
economy.
South Africa's ruling African National Congress leader Jacob
Zuma urged
Zimbabwe's political rivals to end their stalemate.
"What
the Zimbabwean leadership must remember and understand is that this
situation is affecting us very directly as South Africans, socially,
economically and in various other ways," Zuma said in a speech at an ANC
dinner on Friday.
Zimbabwe's police have charged at least 16
activists with plotting an
insurgency against Mugabe's government.
Tsvangirai has threatened to pull
out of negotiations over the
issue.
On Friday, a Zimbabwean court dismissed an application for the
release of
seven opposition activists accused of bombing police stations and
banditry.
Defence lawyers had argued the activists should be released as
they had been
abducted, not legally arrested, and that they had suffered
torture while in
police custody.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the first
round of voting in March elections, but
fell short of an outright victory to
avoid a run-off poll, won by Mugabe
after Tsvangirai pulled out citing
violence against his supporters.
Zimbabwe
parties 'lackadaisical' in ending crisis: S.African leader
http://news.yahoo.com
JOHANNESBURG (AFP)
- Zimbabwe's feuding parties have had a "lackadaisical"
attitude toward
ending a months-long stalemate, despite a worsening
humanitarian crisis,
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said Friday.
"The sooner an
inclusive government is formed, the sooner there can be
concerted efforts by
all parties to deal with a massive humanitarian
crisis," Motlanthe said in
an interview with The Mail and Guardian
newspaper.
"But the fact is
that the parties there have sometimes had a lackadaisical
attitude to these
matters," he said.
Motlanthe urged the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) to
settle its outstanding issues with President Robert Mugabe
after creating a
unity government.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
Mugabe signed a unity pact nearly four
months ago, but the deal has stalled
over disputes on how to share power in
a new cabinet.
The MDC won
control of parliament in elections last March, when Tsvangirai
also defeated
Mugabe in a first-round presidential vote.
But he pulled out of a runoff
in June, accusing Mugabe's party of
coordinating attacks against his
supporters, which Amnesty International
says have left more than 180
dead.
The unity accord was meant to haul the country from political limbo
and halt
its economic meltdown.
Instead the country's crisis has only
worsened, with a cholera epidemic
killing more than 1,800 people across the
country and chronic food shortages
worsening.
MDC
National Executive to meet on January 18
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/
January 9th, 2009
The MDC
National Executive meets in Harare on 18 January, 2009 to deliberate
on
critical issues affecting the party and the people of Zimbabwe.
The
issues to be discussed include the desperate humanitarian situation
characterised by massive starvation in the country and the abductions and
arbitrary arrests of party and civic activists on trumped-up charges. The
executive will also discuss the state and status of the SADC-brokered
negotiated political settlement.
The MDC National Executive meeting
comes at a time when all social services,
especially education and health,
have virtually collapsed. Over seven
million people are surviving on food
aid while virtually every Zimbabwean is
struggling to survive in a
dollarised economy.
Via MDC Press Release
MDC say Tsvangirai going home in a matter of days
By Tichaona
Sibanda
9 January 2009
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai' stay outside
Zimbabwe is coming to an end as
he's expected back in Harare soon, a senior
official of the party said on
Friday.
Hebson Makuvise, the party's
chief representative in the UK, told newsreel
Tsvangirai's diplomatic
offensive 'was nearing completion and that it would
be a matter of days
before he's back home'. 'He is Zimbabwean and he's
longing to be home,'
Makuvise said. The MDC leader has been outside the
country for close to
three months now and met his party's top leadership in
Johannesburg this
week.
The leadership resolved that Tsvangirai should meet with Robert
Mugabe 'soon'
to iron out their differences over the stalled formation of a
unity
government.
Following three days of intense debate in
Johannesburg, the party leadership
remained adamant that only when all the
issues are resolved can the MDC join
an inclusive government under the
Global political Agreement.
Nelson Chamisa the party spokesman told
Reuters news agency that Tsvangirai
has requested a meeting with Mugabe in a
last-ditch effort to salvage a
power-sharing deal. Chamisa said they had
written to Mugabe, indicating that
they wanted a meeting between him and
Tsvangirai to bring finality and
closure to the dialogue.
'We can't
keep Zimbabweans guessing, we have to close the chapter on
dialogue, whether
in success or failure,' Chamisa is quoted as saying. The
MDC legislator said
Mugabe, who is on a month long holiday, was yet to
respond to their
overtures.
Tsvangirai is expected to chair his party's national executive
meeting set
for the 18th January. All resolutions passed by the party
leadership in
Johannesburg this week have to be approved by the MDC's
national executive -
the party's top decision making body.
A brief
statement from the MDC said issues to be discussed include the
desperate
humanitarian situation, characterised by massive starvation in the
country,
and the abductions and arbitrary arrests of party and civic
activists on
trumped-up charges.
'The executive will also discuss the state and status
of the SADC-brokered
negotiated political settlement,' the statement
said.
Meanwhile the Supreme Court will on January 22nd decide the fate of
the
all-inclusive government deal between the three main
political
parties after the leader of the minority Zimbabwe People's Party
(ZPP),
Justin Chiota, sought the nullification of last March's presidential
poll.
Reports say Chiota's application came after the Supreme Court ruled
on
August 1st 2008 that his disqualification by the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) from contesting the presidential election was
illegal.
The ZEC had barred Chiota and the President of the United
People's
Party, Daniel Shumba, from the election for allegedly filing
their
nomination papers out of time.
Chiota wants the court to declare
null and void the March election and order
a fresh poll within 90 days; and
also to bar and interdict President Robert
Mugabe and the leaders of the two
MDC formations, Morgan Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara, from proceeding with
talks to constitute an inclusive
government.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
Regional body asked to intercede on behalf of imprisoned
woman journalist
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29934
Zimbabwe
9 January 2009
Reporters Without Borders wrote today to Tomaz Salamao,
the executive
secretary of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC), urging his
regional organisation to put pressure on President Robert
Mugabe's
government to release journalist and human rights activist Jestina
Mukoko as
soon as possible.
The letter accuses the Zimbabwean courts
of doing everything possible to
prolong the detention of Mukoko, who has
been mistreated and tortured since
her arrest on 3 December with the result
that her health has deteriorated
considerably.
"The judicial
proceedings being brought against Mukoko and her fellow
defendants are a
sham, their rights have been flouted and their health is in
danger,"
Reporters Without Borders said. "The judges supervising the
proceedings are
clearly taking their orders from Zimbabwe's political
authorities, who are
persecuting opposition activists in an unprecedented
manner that is liable
to scupper the power-sharing agreement."
Magistrate Olivia Mariga
postponed Mukoko's trial again on 6 January,
meaning that she will have to
remain in pre-trial custody until 14 January
at least, despite the fact that
a high court judge ordered her transfer to
hospital on 24 December. Mariga
blamed this latest postponement on the
defence's insistence on seeking
compliance with the high court ruling.
It was on 24 December that Mukoko
was first brought before a Harare court
together with other activists. She
was brought before a judge again on 5
January, when a 24-hour postponement
was ordered.
She and the other activists, who are being held in Chikurubi
high security
prison, are charged with hatching a "terrorist plot" against
President
Mugabe. They are alleged to have recruited volunteers to receive
military
training in Botswana with a view to ousting Mugabe. Mukoko has been
put in
solitary confinement.
According to her lawyer, Beatrice
Mtetwa, she is being denied her medicine
and her health is very worrying.
Mukoko says she has been mistreated and
tortured since her arrest. Security
agents allegedly kicked her and hit her
several times with sharp
instruments, including on the soles of her feet,
and made her kneel naked on
gravel.
A former programme presenter for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation and
then the privately-owned Voice of The People, Mukoko now
heads the Zimbabwe
Peace Project, a human rights organisation that has
provided constant
information about this year's political violence in
Zimbabwe. She was
kidnapped from her home in Norton (40 km west of Harare)
on 3 December by
some 15 men in plain clothes.
Shadreck Manyere, a
freelance press photographer who was kidnapped on 13
December, was meanwhile
brought before a Harare court on 7 January on
charges of banditry, sabotage
and terrorism, for which he faces a prison
sentence ranging from 20 years to
life. The authorities accuse him of
involvement in the bombings of the
Criminal Investigations Department
headquarters in Harare and Manyame bridge
in Norton on 17 November and the
bombing of Harare central police station on
20 November.
Reporters Without Borders also condemns the government's
decision to raise
the fees for foreign media accreditation, which has made
visiting Zimbabwe
prohibitively expensive for foreign freelance journalists,
especially
African ones. They will now have to pay more than 10,000 US
dollars to be
allowed to work in the country.
The increase is
indicative of the contempt the government feels towards the
press in
general, and the international media in particular, and its desire
to
engineer a news blackout about political, economic and public health
developments in Zimbabwe.
Bid to Stifle Foreign
Press
Institute for War & Peace Reporting (London)
Chipo Sithole
9 January 2009
Harare - Foreign
correspondents and local journalists filing for
international media have
expressed anger over the introduction this week of
hefty accreditation fees,
apparently aimed at stifling their work.
Journalists say the move is
blatant discrimination against foreign media and
a further salvo in an
ongoing campaign to silence critical reporting.
"[The authorities]
should just come clean and say we are banning reporting
for foreign media,"
said one foreign correspondent based in Harare.
"I don't even earn this
sort of money. Who is going to comply with such
punitive
regulations?"
The journalist said he would not seek accreditation, and
instead work
"underground", steering clear of official functions, where
press cards are
usually required.
The changes mean that journalists
based in Zimbabwe who work for foreign
media will have to pay an annual
accreditation fee of 4,000 US dollars -
four times more than last
year.
Foreign journalists wishing to work temporarily in the country will
have to
pay around 1,500 US dollars. While international news agencies
running
bureaus in Harare, or those wishing to establish offices there, will
be
required to fork out combined fees of around 32,000 US
dollars.
The hike in accreditation charges has come just weeks after
President Robert
Mugabe's press secretary George Charamba threatened to ban
foreign news
organisations from Zimbabwe.
In an interview broadcast
on state television on December 12, Charamba
accused them of distorting news
developments.
Charamba was apparently piqued by the international outrage
that followed
news reports that Mugabe had said his administration had
halted a cholera
epidemic, which broke out in the summer of 2008, and is
estimated to have
killed some 1,700 people.
He also suggested that
international wire agencies were working for western
intelligence services.
"The line between these journalistic misdeeds and
espionage grows thinner
and thinner by the day," he said.
Mugabe's government has long been
accused of harassing the independent
media, in a bid to silence all voices
of dissent. Four newspapers have been
closed down in the past few years and
more than 100 journalists have been
arrested for allegedly flouting the
country's tough media laws.
Through the draconian Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act,
AIPPA, of 2002 - which passed into law last
year - the Zimbabwean
authorities have extensive powers to control media and
suppress free speech.
Takura Zhangazha, national director of the Media
Institute of Southern
Africa, MISA, Zimbabwe chapter, said the accreditation
fees were "designed
to shut down the foreign media".
"Statutory
regulation of the media is undemocratic. No one was consulted
about these
prohibitive fees," he said.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists president
Matthew Takaona said that the
charges were "punitive and a hindrance to the
free flow of information".
"The government should not always look at the
foreign media as enemies," he
said, adding that his organisation would lobby
for a revision of the fees.
Takaona encouraged journalists not to seek
accreditation, pointing out that
no regulatory body was yet in place to
accept the payments.
The fees are required to be paid to the
government-appointed Media and
Information Commission, MIC. However, media
watchdogs say the MIC ceased to
exist after the AIPPA became law in January
2008.
It is reportedly being replaced by a new body, the Zimbabwe Media
Commission, ZMC, which will comprise nine members appointed by the president
from a list of not fewer than 12 nominees, submitted by a parliamentary
committee.
But parliament, which is set to reconvene on January 20,
has not yet
constituted the committee which will handpick the
nominees.
"We are surprised these fees have been put in place in the
absence of a
regulatory body," Takaona told IWPR. "We don't encourage
journalists to seek
accreditation from an illegal entity."
Media
lawyers suggested that journalists would have to comply with the law
before
they could challenge it. "You cannot approach the courts with dirty
hands,"
said human rights lawyer Irene Petras.
To illustrate her point, she cited
the banning of what was the country's
largest circulation independent daily
newspaper, The Daily News.
The title was shut down after it refused to
comply with licensing
regulations, which it planned to appeal against. The
Supreme Court upheld
the ban, ruling the newspaper should have complied
first before mounting a
challenge.
While foreign correspondents and
news agencies are currently considering
their position, many say they will
not seek accreditation and, instead, are
prepared to play a cat and mouse
game with the authorities.
"This [move by the government] simply encourages
guerrilla journalism," said
one foreign correspondent, who spoke under
condition of anonymity.
Chipo Sithole is the pseudonym of an IWPR-trained
reporter in Zimbabwe.
Journalists
challenge licensing authority
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9663
January 8, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwean journalists are filing an urgent court
application
challenging the legality of a media licensing authority which
they accuse of
setting prohibitive licensing fees after it was officially
dissolved.
The journalists say the prohibitive fees amount to a breach of
the right to
freedom of expression.
The Media and Information
Commission (MIC) announced through the State-owned
Herald newspaper Tuesday
that the government had fixed new accreditation and
registration fees for
journalists, news agencies and media organisations.
A check with the
government printers has revealed that the government
gazette fixing the new
fees has still to be printed.
The fees fixed, especially for Zimbabwean
journalists working for foreign
media, foreign agencies and for foreign
journalists, are considered high by
the journalists.
They range from
US$4 000 for an individual journalist to US$32 000 for a
foreign news
agency. A significant number of Zimbabwean journalists work for
foreign
media organisations.
Journalists have resolved to file a court challenge
arguing that amendments
made to the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA)
which were gazetted into law last January, effectively
dissolved the MIC and
replaced it with a Zimbabwe Media Council
(ZMC).
The ZMC has still not been appointed, and can only come into force
after
Parliament re-convenes on January 20. The Parliamentary Committee on
Standing Rules and Orders is expected to nominate 12 people.
The
names will be submitted to President Robert Mugabe, who will then
handpick
nine people from the list to constitute the ZMC. Therefore, the ZMC
can only
be constituted after the formation of a new all-inclusive
government.
Journalists are seeking a declaratory order that the MIC
is illegal at law.
They assert that the actions of the MIC in demanding
registration from
journalists amount to contempt of parliamentary processes
which disbanded it
and constituted the ZMC.
All accreditations or
registrations through or to the erstwhile MIC must be
deemed unlawful, the
journalists argue.
They will also seek an order that allows them to
continue to practice until
a correct body is in place.
The
journalists are also mounting another challenge on the basis that the
US$4
000 required for accreditation of individual journalists working for
foreign
media and foreign journalists is grossly unreasonable.
The fees were set
without consultation of the media industry.
Journalists will also bring a
constitutional challenge demonstrating that
the requirement to register
given the prohibitive fees amounts to a
violation of the fundamental right
to freedom of expression guaranteed under
the Zimbabwe
Constitution.
The court application will be filed on an urgent basis
given that
accreditations are already due and that there are penalties
attached to the
failure or delay to register and
accredit.
Journalists have pondered whether they can challenge the
gazette before they
seek accreditation. There were fears that the courts can
use the "dirty
hands doctrine" used by the Supreme Court in upholding a ban
on The Daily
News in 2003.
The precedent was set when government
banned the country's largest
circulating independent daily newspaper, The
Daily News, after it refused to
comply with licensing regulations saying it
had mounted a constitutional
challenge against AIPPA, which it asserted
breached press freedom.
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court upheld the ban saying
the newspaper was supposed to
comply with the law first before it could
challenge it.
Under Zimbabwe's tough media law, AIPPA, journalists face a
two-year prison
sentence for practising without accreditation
In the
current case, the journalists resolved that in the event that some
journalists or media organisations can afford the fees and do pay them, this
is done on a "without prejudice" basis in order not to compromise the court
application.
Protest letters will also be submitted to Parliament,
the main political
parties in Zimbabwe which set up the ZMC, to the SADC,
the guarantors of the
September 15 power-sharing deal, and to the SADC
Parliamentary Forum.
Leading lawyer Selby Hwacha of Dube, Manikai and
Hwacha is handling the
court challenge
Zimbabwe economic collapse challenges aid workers
Associated Press
By
DONNA BRYSON - 2 hours ago
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Aid agencies
fighting cholera in Zimbabwe
say they are working well with a government
that once viewed them with
suspicion, but they still face challenges because
of the country's economic
collapse.
Aid workers in interviews this
week described having to bring in everything
from soap to medical equipment.
Even the cash to pay Zimbabwean staff comes
from abroad. A bar of soap,
essential for the cleanliness needed to stop
cholera, was selling for $1 in
Zimbabwe on Friday, about half a gardener's
monthly salary.
Cholera,
which should be easy to control, has killed more than 1,800 people
since
August in Zimbabwe, where the medical system and the infrastructure to
ensure clean water are in tatters. Medical workers whose government salaries
have been reduced to nearly nothing by hyperinflation now receive hard
currency "incentive" payments from international aid agencies.
CARE
is providing meals for patients and staff at cholera centers, said
spokesman
Kenneth Walker. CARE was already feeding thousands of Zimbabweans
because of
a hunger crisis that had preceded the outbreak of cholera.
"We're
operating at what passes for normal in Zimbabwe," Walker said.
Last year,
the government restricted the work of international aid agencies
for two
months, accusing them of siding with the opposition before a
presidential
runoff. Now, Oxfam spokeswoman Caroline Gluck said Friday, the
government
does not interfere in her agency's cholera work - and aid
organizations even
find themselves praised by state media.
President Robert Mugabe was
ridiculed last month for declaring Zimbabwe had
"no cholera," raising
concerns his government was not taking the epidemic
seriously. But last
week, Gluck said, his government called a meeting
attended by government
officials, health experts, diplomats and journalists
to announce a
nationwide blitz against cholera.
That was "a frank acknowledgment of the
scale of the problem," Gluck said in
a telephone interview from
Zimbabwe.
Relations have eased on the financial front as well as the
political. In
November, Zimbabwe's central bank returned $7.3 million that
it had
confiscated from the local bank account of the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria after the international aid agency complained
publicly.
Now, banking problems have eased. Aid groups are finding it
easier to access
their funds, and they are now allowed to use U.S. dollars
for transactions
in Zimbabwe.
Aid groups can make bank-to-bank
transfers to pay the Zimbabweans from whom
they buy goods and services, but
those Zimbabweans remain subject to limits
on daily transactions, or have to
stand in lines for hours at banks to
withdraw the money. Paying in cash is
one solution, but the logistics of
bringing in enough hard currency in small
denominations are very difficult.
"This is a nightmare for our
administrative people," said Maria Therese de
Magalhaes, emergency
coordinator in Zimbabwe for Medecins Sans Frontieres.
De Magalhaes said
the logistical challenges were likely to mount, with signs
cholera was
spreading to remote rural areas. MSF will have to find a way to
get in
water, mobile clinics and workers, and food and other necessities.
The
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies flew in
seven plane loads of equipment after the epidemic hit and mobilized 30,000
volunteers across the country to fight cholera.
"We came with massive
capacity," said Farid Abdulkadir, the national
disaster management
coordinator for southern Africa, adding he expected his
group's cholera
response campaign to last another six months.
ZANU-PF letting Zimbabweans perish like flies
In Beitbridge, a child recovers from a bout with cholera. The malady has
killed almost a thousand so far.
We in the Diaspora can
only watch and listen with horror at the devastation cholera is meting out to
the Zimbabwean populace. Reports of mortuaries over-flowing with body bags of
both patients and health care workers are befuddling to say the least.
Never ever, in our
wildest dreams, did we ever imagine that a government could let its own citizens
perish like flies to a preventable and treatable disease like cholera in this
century? MDC-USA is deeply saddened by the loss of lives and the suffering our
people have to endure.
That the country is in
this predicament is no surprise at all. For a long time, the proverbial “writing
on the wall” has been there for all and sundry. Zimbabwe does not have the
capacity or resources to deal with this catastrophe. For years, the health care
system has disintegrated, compounded by the exodus of qualified health
personnel. The government is broke and the little foreign currency that trickles
in has been reserved for personal gratification (shopping trips for the chosen
few, wide screen TVs to buy loyalty of judges and endless fickle material
stuff). Priorities have been shifted from the people in preference to self
preservation. The people's trust has been betrayed. A government is supposed to
take care of its people, but this government has been more concerned with
entrenching itself in power.
It is bemusing when
'illegitimate' president Robert Mugabe declared an end to cholera (“Now that the
cholera has been contained, there is no need for a war”) when to this day,
cholera deaths rise unabated (1732 confirmed deaths to date). Is Mr. Mugabe out
of touch with reality or is he just a callous human being without regard to
life, we wonder? Has Mr. Mugabe and his ministers ever taken a tour of the
health care centers to assess the situation on the ground or they are tucked
away in their comfort zones, being fed cooked information? But then, would they
dare to take a walk in the masses without receiving the wrath of the people?
Statements accusing the British of bringing cholera upon Zimbabwe are not only
irresponsible, but silly. They are a reflection of the inner mind of an old and
tired man who needs a nap.
MDC-USA calls
upon those individuals who control the government system to be responsible and
act now! Many have called for the declaration of a state of emergency and that
would be a first step. Calling for help is not a sign of weakness but courage!
Mwana asingachemi anofira mumbereko. Denying reality is like chasing the wind -
you don't win! To start with a Government of National Unity which satisfies the
concerns of MDC should be put in place now. In the interim the existing illegal
government of Robert Mugabe should invite all organizations and individuals who
wish to assist to come without any preconditions. This is no time for political
pandering because no one should play politics with people's lives. The
unfortunate part is that cholera has no political boundaries - ZANU PF nor MDC
it will strike.
______
Dr. Roderick
Machekano, Secretary for Health.
MDC-USA, www.mdc-usa.org
Dr. Roderick Machekano (Assistant
Professor of Medicine (Tenure-track), Case Western Reserve University Medical
School, Department of Medicine).College/University: 1985-1988 University of
Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe, BSc Hons (Mathematics). College/University:
1993-1994 University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe, MSc (Mathematics)
College/University: 2001-2003 University of California, Berkeley, CA, MPH
(Epidemiology and Biostatistics) College/University: 2003-2006 University of
California, Berkeley, CA, PhD (Biostatistics. Has extensive experience working
in projects which give assistance to AIDS patients.
MMPZ statement on new registration fees
for journalists
Friday, 09 January 2009 |
The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) is an
independent Trust that works to promote freedom of expression and responsible
journalism in Zimbabwe.
MMPZ notes with disappointment the punitive
US-dollar-denominated fees to be paid by foreign correspondents and news
agencies operating in Zimbabwe for applications, accreditation and registration
to practice their profession, as reported in the January 6 issue of The Herald.
This new fees structure, published pursuant to the provisions of the draconian
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, clearly represents an
intensification of the Zimbabwean authorities’ sustained campaign to block
access to the foreign media seeking to cover the Zimbabwean story, thus
depriving Zimbabweans (and the world community) of a variety of alternative
sources of information to the output of the government-controlled media. In
fact, MMPZ believes that all such registration and licensing regulations that
exist under the Act constitute a clear violation of regionally and
internationally recognised guarantees safeguarding freedom of expression and of
the media and should be condemned. Such regulation of the media and prohibitive
fees structures also contravene the spirit of the global political agreement
signed on 15th September 2008. MMPZ therefore calls on the Zimbabwean
authorities to immediately revise any fees charged for the registration of any
journalist or media organisation to no more than a token administrative cost.
Most importantly, MMPZ urges any new government to commit itself to the
following: • Ensure that any media activity is not rendered dependent upon
any form of statutory registration or admission and that mechanisms promoting
media self-regulation are created and strengthened;
• Encourage a
diverse and independent print and electronic media, including foreign
media;
• Repeal of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act as a matter of urgency, and remove all those clauses in the Broadcasting
Services Act, Public Order and Security Act, and all other pieces of legislation
that hinder the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas without
hindrance, as guaranteed under Zimbabwe’s Constitution and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Such repressive laws have no legitimate purpose and
are not necessary in a democratic
society. |
SW Radio Africa Hot Seat Transcript
Gerry Jackson, standing in for Violet Gonda on Hotseat. Listen
Here
We speak to Mr. Felix Eimer who says he
was recently contacted by the daughter of Vice President Joice Mujuru, Nyasha
del Campo, who tried to set up a deal involving illegal gold from the DRC
Related articles:
UN
report on illegal exploitation of DRC Oct 2002
Correspondence
to and from Nyasha del Campo
Letter
to journalists from Firstar Europe Ltd
Global
Witness report: Zimbabwe’s Resource Colonialism in Democratic Republic of
Congo
Corporate
offer for 350kg of gold from company controlled by Nyasha and Pedro Del Campo
The history of the Democratic Republic of Congo has always been one of greed
and corruption. In 1998 a 5 year conflict erupted between government forces,
backed by Angola , Namibia and Zimbabwe , against rebels backed by Uganda and
Rwanda . The fighting was fuelled by the enormous mineral wealth of the DRC and
everyone took advantage of the chance to plunder the natural resources, which
included gold and diamonds.
|
|
Nyasha and Pedro del Campo, diamonds and gold
|
The war has been described as Africa ’s world war and Robert Mugabe’s support
in this conflict saw the beginning of the collapse of Zimbabwe ’s economy, when
he committed Zimbabwean troops to the conflict. An estimated 5 million people
died in the DRC , mainly because of the humanitarian crisis that resulted.
For it’s support, Zimbabwe was given a number of concessions by the DRC
government, that allowed it to plunder the vast natural resources of the
country, including gold and diamonds. A United Nations report and another report
by Global Witness, detailed the criminal activities that resulted. The reports
clearly showed that Zimbabwe ’s ruling elite and all the senior defence force
officials were, and still are, involved in the plunder. In August 2002 United
Nations investigations revealed a memorandum from the Defence Minister Sidney
Sekeramayi, to Robert Mugabe, proposing that a joint Zimbabwe- DRC company be
set up in Mauritius , to disguise the continuing economic interests of the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces in the DRC . The UN report showed that an elite network
of Congolese and Zimbabwean political, military and commercial interests
transferred ownership of at least US$5 billion of assets from the State mining
sector to private companies under its control, with no compensation or benefit
for the State treasury of the DRC .
Unfortunately this plunder continues and in Hotseat we speak to Mr. Felix
Eimer who says he was recently contacted by the daughter of Vice President Joice
Mujuru, Nyasha del Campo, who tried to set up a deal involving illegal gold from
the DRC . She and her husband Pedro live in Madrid in Spain and have set up two
companies, allegedly with the help and financial support of her mother.
The company who were offered this gold is Firstar Europe, a company which
trades in raw materials.
I first asked Mr. Eimer to explain what had happened.
FE: OK I’m working with a company called Firstar. Basically I am
involved in the steel trading with Iraq and through my network, and a gold deal
was proposed to me that was initiated by Nyasha del Campo and I’ve got several
documents about this deal which was gold from the Congo and as I’m not
specialist in these kind of commodities I’ve sent the whole document to the
company, to Firstar and their due diligence had the result that there’s a high
criminal background and this gold is illegal blood gold from Congo. This is the
basic line and when I talked to that fact with Nyasha, she told me that it’s no
problem, we can change the origin of the gold to gold from Kenya and this was
the point where everyone of us was very concerned.
GJ: Can you just clarify, because from some of the documents that I’ve
seen it would appear that Nyasha is living in Spain with her Spanish husband and
that they have two companies and they are involved in quite a lot of this. Would
that be correct?
FE: Yeah, they are doing a lot of commodity tradings, all commodities
like diamonds where Africa ’s very strong, diamonds, gold, DT fuel and I’ve not
really got the point how these companies interact. The only thing I know is that
her mother is financing all these companies and in our case, she wanted to
finance the transport to Zurich of the gold which costs about 150 to 200
thousand US dollars
GJ: What alerted you initially to the fact that this was not a legal
deal?
FE: OK as I told you before, I’m not a specialist in that case and as
I had all the documents collected on my table I sent it to Firstar which has a
high political background on the board of directors and they have the
possibilities to do a really deep due diligence and the result of the due
diligence was that all the people involved, all the passports I’ve got for the
visas they needed to enter Zurich, to enter Switzerland, the result was that all
this background, the gold is blood gold and these people are highly criminal
people, even they are known at several organisations, so this has all been the
result of Firstar’s due diligence work. This is not the result from my work.
GJ: For people who don’t deal in these areas, can you explain how a
deal like this works? Why would people like this have to travel to Zurich , to
Switzerland ?
FE: OK this special case, the gold from Africa is brought to
Switzerland by aeroplane and then it is brought to the refineries and after the
refinery you have the result how much is the value of the gold and then the
transaction, the bank transaction, the payment transaction is directly done
between the seller and the buyer in Zurich. In this case in Zurich because the
refinery is in Zurich . So both parties have to be at this place to organise
payment, to organise the completion of the transaction.
GJ: You are talking specifically about gold here, but you mentioned
diamonds at the beginning as well. Was there anything more to do with a diamond
transaction?
FE: The diamond transaction was done separately. I stopped it from the
beginning because I wanted to concentrate on one transaction and as I had this
information about this criminal background I stopped the diamond transaction so
I don’t have any deeper knowledge about the origin or anything concerning this
diamond deal.
GJ: Now some of the documents I’ve seen include photographs of gold
nuggets. Are those photographs that Nyasha sent to you?
FE: Yep. Those pictures were sent to us, to me to my table from
Nyasha, right.
GJ: So what are we saying, that Nyasha’s actually sitting in her
office or at home with tin buckets full of gold nuggets?
FE: No, these nuggets, these gold nuggets are actually located, this
is my knowledge, this is what Nyasha told me, are located in Nairobi at the
airport ready to transport. But the origin of the gold is from Congo and the
gold had to be transported from Nairobi to Zurich and the last issue was that
her mother financed or wanted to finance these transports and had already
released the funds for that, but the gold is physically in Africa .
GJ: Since this began, have you learnt anymore about Nyasha and how she
operates with her family or have you had any dealings with Mrs Mujuru herself or
have you only been dealing with Nyasha?
FE: I have been dealing with Nyasha directly and know that her mother
is behind all these deals and she is financing all these deals and she is giving
the possibilities to her daughter to access to all these deals, to get contact
to the people that are high criminal. I mean this is the background and she is
trying to help her daughter to start up a business selling commodities from
Africa like gold and diamonds to Europe or to investors. At the end of the day,
I only know that Firstar’s office had contact with Mrs Mujuru but not me
personally.
GJ: Is there any way, in your opinion, that these diamonds and this
gold could in any way be legal?
FE: In my opinion, when someone tells you that he can change the
origin, the origin of the gold that comes from Congo , the only reason that
someone does this is that the gold is from criminal background. This is my
personal opinion. Because there is no need to change any origin if the gold is
not bloody.
GJ: I do have to ask you of course why would you and your company at
this stage be willing to tell the world about what is happening here because it
is unusual that anyone is so open about illegal transactions that have been
offered to them.
FE: OK so this came from the company directly, from the board of
directors, as I told you there are a lot of high level politicians on the board
of directors and this is a very straight company, they don’t want to do any
illegal deals and with that, they try to get these people out of the market.
They do it because they will try to sell it to other companies and in this way
they try to circumvent other people to get into this transaction. This is the
reason why Firstar management decided to go to the media.
GJ: If these allegations are true this must surely not be the first
time that the Mujurus and Nyasha have tried to do this. Could people assume that
there are deals going on with other companies at this time and have been going
on for sometime?
FE: Yes I know that because the broker market in this special segment
is very small and I know that they have tried to sell this gold that we refused
because of the criminal background, to other companies, to other buyers and to
other investors. That is true, we know that, I know that and this has also been
the motivation why Firstar decided to go to the press, to the media. Also due to
the fact that actually the situation, the political situation in Zimbabwe is
very unstable and yeah, this is more a personal motivation from the management
of Firstar to do this.
GJ: This particular transaction that we are talking about, this one
gold transaction, is it a large amount of gold, is this a big amount of money?
FE: Yeah, this is a big amount of money.
GJ: Can you give me any idea of what sort of amount we’re talking
about?
FE: The total transaction is about 35 to 40 million US dollars.
GJ: And that’s just this one transaction and as far as you understand
there would have been others?
FE: Yeah, it was planned to do it on a monthly basis, so to sell this
amount with a value of 35 to 40 million US dollars on a monthly basis, so to
make one transaction each month. This was planned from the…….. this was the
proposition from Nyasha del Campo’s side.
GJ: Do you have any idea if Nyasha’s husband is involved in this as
well, because I see from the documents that he’s set up the companies with her.
Is he just being used in this case or is he an active participant as well?
FE: He is active. Nyasha is in Madrid . She is coordinating the whole
paperwork and her husband, Pedro del Campo, is in Africa and is organising the
whole infrastructure like transport of the gold, making the meetings in Africa ,
meeting the people that are selling the gold because they are not owner of the
gold, they just have access to this gold. And he is the one that is in Africa
and that is organising all the infrastructure. So he is active part of the
companies.
GJ: Do you feel in any way concerned about your safety with the fact
that you are now revealing these details?
FE: Yes, a little bit. I mean, if I would live in South Africa, I
would not talk open about that, but as I am living in Germany I am feeling
concerned but I’m not feeling, I mean, I think that I am safe here but I guess
that these people that are dealing with illegal gold, with weapons and stuff
like that this is dangerous and I would not do this interview if I would be in
another country……….
GJ: That was Mr. Felix Eimer who was willing to be interviewed about
these allegations. We were hoping to speak to another representative of the
company Firstar but this interview was declined because of security concerns.
The gentleman in question did say that he had had a direct threat from Joice
Mujuru herself after they set up a company blacklist that included Nyasha del
Campo, her husband Pedro, and Joice Mujuru. He said that Mrs. Mujuru told him
that if they were not taken off the black list – he would be ‘visited’ in the
next couple of weeks.
We tried phoning Nyasha del Campo, but could not get through, so we emailed
her and her husband, to which we received an email response from a Mr. Dancor
Spies, of TAU refineries, who claimed that he was the sole principal of the
alleged gold transaction and that Nyasha and her husband have no executive
authority and so he would respond to questions.
But a representative of Firstar says that Mr. Spies told him that he
represented Joice Mujuru herself.
We await further response from Mr. Spies.
SA govt's 'hands
tied' over Zim asylum seekers
http://www.mg.co.za
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Jan 09 2009
16:06
The Home Affairs Department said on Friday its "hands were tied"
over the flood of Zimbabweans seeking political asylum, and that a review of
immigration policy was under way.
"A lot of Zimbabweans apply for
asylum but they do not qualify under our present law. Our hands are tied at
the moment. This is why they are expelled, because of their illegal status,"
an official told Agence France-Presse.
While immigration and refugee
laws do not accommodate economic migrants seeking to work in South Africa,
the department said it is reviewing policies with a view to providing
temporary residence to regional economic migrants.
It was reacting to
calls from Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday to stop deportations of
Zimbabweans and to grant them temporary shelter, saying Zimbabweans had no
option but to claim asylum in order to avoid deportation.
"The Department
of Home Affairs concurs with the concerns of the HRW in relation to
Zimbabweans seeking to live and work in South Africa," the department said
in a statement.
"As correctly indicated by HRW, the Refugee Act does not
accommodate economic migrants and as such the asylum route is not
appropriate for the majority of Zimbabweans seeking employment in South
Africa."
It is estimated that about 25 000 to 30 000 Zimbabweans applied
for asylum in Musina during the last five months of 2008, the New York-based
rights body said.
The figure is close to double the total Zimbabwean
asylum applications lodged in South Africa last year and more than half of
the total number of asylum claims made by all nationalities in the same
year, it said.
A 2008 HRW report said that the "often-unlawful"
deportation of more than 250 000 Zimbabweans per year meant that South
Africa violated the most basic principle of refugee law, the right not to be
forcibly returned to persecution. -- Sapa-AFP
Which
option is not death?
http://kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=1127
Whenever the Prof Arthur Mutambara opens his mouth,
all his guts fall out.
Of late, each time he has conducted an interview
or written an article, it's full of insults, sprinkled with unimaginably
contemptuous and uncivil epithets or simply void of clear perspective. I'm
reminded the last time he lost his cool in an interview with SW Radio Africa
and needlessly ended up insulting the innocent interviewer. He said she was
too slow, poor Violet. He is one of those whom after listening to what they
say; you are left unsure of what exactly they stand for politically or
whether something close to a fart has just been flung in your face. You just
can't fathom whose interests they represent because personally, they seem to
possess none rational.
The good Prof has just unleashed another
masterful fusillade to usher us into the New Year and it is aptly titled as
Laying the Foundation for 2009: The inconvenient truths about the West. An
excellent read - that falls in the same category as RBZ guv'nor's latest
book, Zimbabwe's Casino Economy - for those with a fetish to bore
themselves. Like everybody else, the Prof has the right to freedom of
expression and accordingly I will not grudge him that right; he is entitled
to his opinion. However, when that opinion is sickeningly and insultingly
unenlightened as well as forced down the throats of the very people he
invariably calls names, it also becomes a right to demand a certain level of
respect from the good Professor.
Here is one guy who is convinced he is
surrounded by idiots. In his latest article, the text is littered with words
like unstrategic, ignorant, ineffective, uninformed and reckless, pathetic
and foolish. All epithets used to describe the actions or the very beings of
certain individuals among whom are Botswana President Ian Khama, Kenyan
Prime Minister Raila Odinga as well as the Archbishops Desmond Tutu and John
Sentamu. Now which 84 year-old does this kind of talk remind you of,
anyone?
Clearly, the guy is pissed off with ATANAs (All Talk and No
Action) but aren't we all? Indeed, it has been exhaustingly annoying that
all that politicians the world over have been good at doing was to issue
endless statements and careless talk that does not articulate solutions
while life in Zimbabwe becomes a more classic Hobbesian 'short, nasty and
brutish' by the day. But to be so disrespectful, while at the same time one
is also an ATANA, is the highest level of hypocrisy that demands an outrage.
He vaingloriously berates the men and women calling for military
intervention to shut up if they are not prepared to shed blood on Zimbabwean
soil, because aside from this, that option is to be dismissed based on the
repugnancy of the Iraq/ Afghanistan precedent. He is convinced the concerns
of 'Western' governments are nothing short of being driven by racism and
disrespect for African lives. Clearly the Prof does not believe in the
existence of goodwill. Neither does he discern the preposterousness of any
don't-give-a-toss-about-Africans racist going out of their way to assist and
clamor for the release of the same from the clutches of an Abhurian leader.
A leader who is conducting a slow genocide through illegal abductions,
denial of food relief to starving citizens as well as the refusal to
acknowledge the existence of a deadly water-borne epidemic that is wiping
out whole communities.
That sections of the international community have
begun to clamor for the unexplored option of military intervention indicates
that any plausible diplomatic options, including talks, have simply failed.
People are perfectly aware of the risks and possible repercussions
Zimbabweans face, you are not surrounded by idiots Prof. However, you will
be surprised to find that the dominant sentiment among many a despairing,
starving Zimbabwean is kusiri kufa ndekupi? (Which option is not
death?).
The professor discusses two other possible options of ousting
the incumbent: peaceful mass uprisings/demonstrations and free and fair
elections. The former he immediately displays a lack of faith in and
dismisses after highlighting the sadly gallant but true ineffectiveness of
Zimbabwe civil society strategies that have time and time again failed to
command people into joining marches and demonstrations. He describes
Zimbabweans as lacking an appetite for an orange revolution.
Ouch.
Sadly, I disagree with the Prof on what he deems to be the only way
forward for Zimbabwe: free and fair elections. What cave has this man been
hiding in? The March 08 election clearly articulated the people's opinion,
despite that certain logistics to do with percentages could not name the
people's choice a clear winner. But despite the fact that even after a
rigged election Tsvangirai won, somebody refused to let go of the royal
seat, and actually proceeded to unilaterally and unashamedly re-elect
himself in a one-man race. Does the Prof sincerely believe such a somebody
will one day be capable of partaking a democratic election and humbly exit
if he loses; a thing he failed to do earlier when both the people's open
scorn and age beckoned? With or without going through a transitional period
of national healing, does he think right thinking citizens are prepared for
another brutal election when the trauma that accompanied the last will never
be completely erased from their minds? What will make a leopard suddenly
change its spots? I thought this does not take Rocket Scientist to figure
out; clearly it takes more than that.
In the regard of fresh free and
fair elections, Mutambara speaks in normatives that for this option; Mugabe
"will have to be part of the transition." Well how do you make him,
Professor, because already, the man has demonstrated an inability to comply
with the simple principles of both Universal Suffrage and honor among
diplomats?
On negotiations, Mutambara says that because we all
(predictably owing to our lack of strategic thinking) sanitized the March 08
farce as a legitimate outcome; it would be foolish to think Mugabe can be
negotiated out of power. Well, if the Prof sincerely believes this and lacks
faith in the talks, what the hell is he doing tugging along with the
white-headed boys in the posh hotels? Nevertheless, it is purely
understandable if it is the good food that beckons.
Those who think
they are smarter than everyone must map out a good way forward for us seeing
they are well placed to do so at the talks. They should desist from engaging
unnecessarily in the business of disparaging those of their own caliber and
stop insulting us further with the usual platitudes.
Crap, I
say.
This entry was posted on January 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm by Natasha
Msonza
Obama's disdain sends Mugabe to Russia; China
revisited?
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za
Michael
Trapido
In June of last year Barack Obama, soon to be inaugurated as
the next president of the United States, declared Robert Mugabe's regime
illegitimate and lacking in credibility. Then Senator for Illinois, Obama
expressed the view that "If fresh elections prove impossible, the US and
other countries should tighten "targeted sanctions" and "pursue an
enforceable, negotiated political transition in Zimbabwe that would end
repressive rule".
Subsequently the USA has made it clear that, as far as
they are concerned, Mugabe has to go before any support will be forthcoming
from that quarter. Indeed yesterday's influential Washington Post carried an
article "In Zimbabwe, a cancer called Mugabe.
While Obama is
primarily focused on the financial crisis prior to his becoming president on
January 20, Mugabe can be in no doubt that, if anything, the squeeze on his
regime will be tightened after the new president arrives in the White
House.
So Bob figured that seeing as he wasn't doing anything anyway he
might as well pop down to Moscow for a visit.
"Mugabe will use the
trip, details of which are shrouded in secrecy, to seek closer strategic
ties with Moscow, a senior government official told New
Zimbabwe.com.
With a power sharing agreement signed with the
opposition stalled amid calls from Western powers, particularly Britain and
the United States, for him to step down, Mugabe "will seek a new alliance
with Russia that will secure Zimbabwe's sovereignty and provide a new front
for combating economic sanctions that have created nothing but misery for
ordinary people", according to the official.
The source added,
without elaborating, that the "new front" is linked to the "exploitation of
a strategic resource that God has given to Zimbabwe and which could be used
to give the country a much-needed new lease of life".
A well-structured
injection of between US$5-billion and US$10-billion, Mugabe's aides believe,
can stabilise the country's economic decline and give the 84-year-old leader
some breathing space to pursue an elusive political settlement that he has
been battling to forge with the two MDC formations.
Without
confirming a date of Mugabe's imminent visit, the official said the trip was
of "strategic necessity" and a direct response to British and US efforts to
isolate Zimbabwe through a combination of sanctions and diplomatic
pressure." (New Zimbabwe.com)
Now far be it for me to criticize Bob for
trying to do the right thing for himself . er, I mean his cronies,.,er, I
mean the people of Zimbabwe but we saw the exact same stunt pulled with the
Chinese in 2005 whereby Bob got his mansion, Grace went shopping, the
cronies got cars and houses and the people of Zimbabwe . the right to starve
and die at an ever increasing rate from abuse, starvation and
disease.
In these articles from the Weekly Standard's Richard Bate UK
Telegraph's Christopher Booker and EU Referendum's Richard North we learn of
Bob's trading substantial Zimbabwean mineral rights to China in return for
financial assistance.
Subsequent to 2005 Bob and his cronies have
done very nicely thank you very much and the people of Zimbabwe have become
substantially poorer and the country has turned into a sewage farm not fit
for humans to inhabit.
Little wonder that China blocked any UN
intervention in Zimbabwe - can't allow genocide to interfere with business.
Of course these are the same Chinese who are asking the planet to hold off
on prosecuting the genocide in Darfur, also related to their vested
interests there.
Along with China, Russia vetoed the UN resolution and I
would imagine that Bob is now off to sell a further substantial proportion
of the Zimbabwean birthright to maintain his expensive habits. Very little,
if any, of the proceeds to find a way to the masses as the Chinese adventure
demonstrated.
Zimbabweans' heritage and God given resources being traded
away so that one man and a handful of cronies can live like
kings.
But who are we to argue?
The real danger is after all
Western imperialism, not so?
Shame.
This entry was posted on
Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Film about Zimbabwe farmers
This is a film about Zimbabwe farmers that I made. It was not commissioned,
will not be broadcast on TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq8bTloELCo&feature=channel_page
Regards,
Ed
Godsell
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