Banned party on way back to haunt Mugabe
TREVOR GRUNDY
THE long-banned Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) is to be re-formed
to set up in opposition to Robert Mugabe immediately after elections in March.
Zapu, the original freedom fighting movement led by the late Joshua
Nkomo, was disbanded and outlawed in 1987 after four years of brutal fighting in
Matabeleland.
When Mugabe ordered the notorious Fifth Brigade of the
Zimbabwe National Army into Matabeleland in 1983 he thought that meant the end
of his hated rival Nkomo and Zapu.
Arthur Molife, a leading light in the
UK Zimbabwean diaspora and a bitter opponent of Mugabe, said yesterday: "The
re-formation of Zapu is certain. We’re working to a timetable.
"We are
keeping out of the March general election so as not to split the anti-Mugabe
vote. But the moment those elections are over, we will hold a Zapu congress
inside the country, elect a new leadership and then go for Robert Mugabe."
One Mugabe confidante admitted last week: "Mugabe knows there’s growing
grass-roots support for Zapu."
During the four-year Matabeleland
campaign, Mugabe authorised the slaughter of 20,000 to 25,000 Ndebeles, an
offshoot of the Zulu Nation. Thousands of children died in the violence.
Mugabe told the world that he was facing a dissident uprising planned by
apartheid-ruled South Africa and, in December 1987, he forced Nkomo to stand
beside him at State House while he grabbed all of Zapu’s properties and
investments.
Nkomo joined Mugabe’s government to the cries of shame from
millions of ordinary Zimbabweans.
But Mugabe has never felt safe in
Matabeleland. He dislikes visiting the province and sources close to him say he
is increasingly alarmed at low turnout at elections and rumours of massive civil
unrest in the sprawling townships.
Many of the estimated 400,000
Zimbabweans in Britain say they are delighted that the new US Secretary of
State, Condoleezza Rice, recently described Zimbabwe as "an outpost of tyranny".
Molife said: "Because of that, Mugabe will never again be able to go
into Matabeleland and wipe out civilians who oppose him. He knows the world is
watching."
Molife told Scotland on Sunday: "Zanu (PF) has always been
humiliated at the polls in Matabeleland and the people there vote for the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] because there's no-one else
around.
"But the leadership of the MDC is ineffectual, weak and
discredited and everyone voting for the MDC today will vote for Zapu tomorrow.
They know our record and understand we never really packed up."
The
re-formation of Zapu is news that will disturb the MDC leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai. Most whites in Zimbabwe and South Africa see him as the only man who
can restore law and order.
But the most powerful man in the region,
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, has little respect for Tsvangirai, whom
he calls an upstart.
A resurgence of Zapu will not mean a reversal of
Mugabe’s policy of confiscating prime farmland from whites. Molife said: "We
will never give back the land to whites. But we will let them lease farms owned
by the state and supply black growers with fertilisers and tractors so they can
once again feed the people.
"The MDC will be defeated in March. But then
Robert Mugabe will have a real fight on his hands because most of the three
million Zimbabweans in exile in South Africa, the one million in Botswana and
the 400,000 who have made the UK their temporary home will turn to us for
leadership."
Leeds Today
Don't send me back to regime of terror
Friends campaign for asylum reject
By Peter Lazenby
A MAN who fled the
regime of Robert Mugabe has been arrested in Leeds and faces removal to almost
certain imprisonment or even death in Zimbabwe .
Immigration authorities say
he has been refused permission to stay in Britain and has exhausted asylum
seekers' appeals procedures.
The man is afraid that the Zimbabwean
authorities will be alerted if his name is publicised. He said his family in
Zimbabwe was persecuted after he was pictured in a South African newspaper
taking part in a demonstration outside the Zimbabwean consulate in London. He
wishes to be known only by his initials PK.
Friends in Leeds are campaigning
for him to be allowed to stay.
PK is being held at Lindholme detention
centre, outside Doncaster. He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "I was active in
the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe. The MP in the area where I was
living died. We believe he was poisoned. There was a by-election. I was involved
in voter education, and reported incidents – beatings, harassment.
"First I
was arrested and detained for two days and was beaten up.
"I was a teacher. I
used to teach sport. They stopped me doing that. I went to Swaziland to train a
team. When I came back I was accused of having undergone training in South
Africa for sabotage. I was arrested and beaten again and tortured. I was
supposed to appear on TV and confess a lot of things, denounce the MDC. Some MDC
supporters arranged my escape from detention.
"I stayed with friends who made
arrangements for me to come here."
Daughters
He arrived in Britain in
October, 2002, leaving behind his wife, and two daughters now aged nine and
three.
"I applied for political asylum, but they did not find credibility in
my story."
He has been staying with friends in Leeds and has been involved in
refugee and asylum support work.
He was living in Beeston, but was stopped by
immigration officials and was arrested coming out of his house.
"They told me
the process was finished," he said. "They said my Zimbabwean passport had
expired. They are making arrangements for me to be removed to Zimbabwe."
He
said he believes he will be killed if he goes back.
The Home Office has twice
changed the rules affecting asylum seekers from Zimbabwe. First if suspended the
removal of failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe because of the oppressive nature
of the Mugabe regime.
Then in November, last year, it reverted to returning
asylum seekers who failed to get permission to stay.
A Home Office
spokeswoman said: "Genuine refugees, including members of opposition parties,
will continue to be protected."
Leeds Asylum Support Network said PK was a
valuable helper and volunteer.
peter.lazenby@ypn.co.uk
29 January 2005
The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON
TIMES
Published January 29, 2005
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is trying to quash a last bastion of opposition
with harsh legislation targeting private humanitarian and charity groups, a
leading democracy activist said.
Lovemore Madhuku, founder and president
of the Harare-based National Constitutional Assembly, said the bill awaiting Mr.
Mugabe's signature was an "unprecedented maneuver to undermine the case for
democracy" just two months before expected parliamentary elections in March.
In Harare this week, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, or
NGOs, announced plans for a legal challenge to the bill, calling it an
unconstitutional attempt to suppress dissent.
"Such a law has no place
in a democratic society," Mr. Madhuku said during a visit to Washington this
week. He was in the United States to accept an award for his efforts to propel
constitutional reform in Zimbabwe in the face of increasing political repression
by the Mugabe regime.
The government has jailed Mr. Madhuku repeatedly
for his criticism and for demanding an overhaul of the constitution. In
February, police beat him so savagely that it was feared he had died.
Mr. Madhuku told a gathering at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Thursday
that he opposed new economic or political sanctions against the government.
Mr. Mugabe, in power for a quarter-century, has successfully labeled
sanctions as foreign interference in the country's affairs, he said.
Mr.
Madhuku praised Condoleezza Rice's statement in her Senate confirmation hearings
for secretary of state last week that named Zimbabwe as one of six global
"outposts of tyranny" to be opposed under U.S. foreign policy.
"Such
support for basic democratic rights inspires us," he said.
The Herald,
Zimbabwe's state-run daily newspaper, bitterly denounced Miss Rice's comments,
calling her "a black who washes away the sins of white power as it bludgeons
non-white states."
Zimbabwe's often-divided opposition, including the
Movement for Democratic Change, the main nongovernmental party in parliament,
will need to regroup after the March elections, Mr. Madhuku said. He predicted
Mr. Mugabe's governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party
would manipulate the vote to secure an even larger majority.
The NGO
bill would require private groups to register with the government, identify
their leaders and funding sources, and describe in detail their planned areas of
work for the next three years.
It was introduced after the enactment of
legislation to crack down on press freedoms and on the right of Zimbabweans to
hold political rallies.
A government position paper said the NGO law was
needed because the private humanitarian and charity groups were "deviating from
their core business" to criticize the government, often using foreign funds.
"Some NGOs were now being used as conduits by external forces bent on
destabilizing the country," the paper charged.
Black, Ullyett win Aus Open doubles title
MELBOURNE: Zimbabweans Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett upset second seeds Bob
and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-4 to win the Australian Open men's doubles title.
The fifth seeds broke the Bryan twins once in each set to clinch their second
grand slam title together, completing victory with- out dropping a set in the
tournament.
It was the second Grand Slam title for the Zimbabwe pair, who also won the
2001 US Open title in their only other appearance in a Grand Slam final.
For the Bryans, it was a second defeat in two years after they were beaten in
the 2004 Australian Open final by Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro.
Warning on Zimbabwe food crisis
AP in Harare
Saturday
January 29, 2005
The
Guardian
Nearly half of all Zimbabweans are facing hunger as the country's food
emergency deepens, a monitoring group said yesterday.
Urgent action is required to help 5.8 million people out of a population of
12.5 million who are now at risk from food shortages, the US-funded Famine Early
Warning Systems Network said in its latest report.
It ranked Zimbabwe's food emergency second in Africa to Ethiopia's, where 8.2
million people are at risk from hunger.
The report contradicted Harare's assertion that the country had harvested
more food - mainly staple corn - than it needs. "Staple food availability is
declining as market prices continue to rise," it said. Malnutrition and related
illnesses were forecast to peak in March, before the next harvests.
In many areas, families were forced to reduce food consumption drastically,
while projects to help the old, the sick, orphans and other vulnerable groups
were said to be grossly inadequate.
The report echoed concerns voiced this week by James Morris, the head of the
World Food Programme, over Harare's refusal of international food aid.
Agricultural production has collapsed in the five years since Robert Mugabe
ordered the seizure of about 5,000 white-owned farms for redistribution to black
Zimbabweans.
In what was once a regional breadbasket, about 5.5 million people received
food handouts from international agencies in 2003. But most food aid agreements
were cancelled last year as the government said they were no longer necessary.
We believe they are removing Zimbabweans by any means possible so
they can meet their removal targets 
