TIME IS RUNNING OUT
Guardian
Protests to target England
Andrew
Meldrum in Harare and Paul Kelso
Thursday January 30, 2003
England's
cricketers and their fans will be targeted by an underground
Zimbabwean
opposition group if they fulfil their controversial World Cup
fixture against
Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13.
The group Organised Resistance threatened,
in an exclusive interview
yesterday, to focus its protests against Robert
Mugabe's regime on the
England squad.
The group warned of a widespread
campaign of civil disobedience, with Nasser
Hussain's squad among the
targets. "We will engage in a variety of campaigns
. . . targeted at players,
officials, fans, the grounds, sponsors and
supporting business."
The
group claimed responsibility for the letters distributed to Hussain's
squad
last week in Australia. The letters said opponents of the Mugabe
regime would
be victimised by police and security forces if they protested
against the
matches, and were crucial in persuading the players to ask that
the game be
moved to South Africa.
Now, for the first time, the England and Wales
Cricket Board chairman David
Morgan will voice doubts as to whether England's
game in Harare should go
ahead. Today, during a tele-conference of the
International Cricket Council
executive board,he will ask his fellow chairmen
to consider whether playing
the match is a risk world cricket can
afford.
An ECB spokesman said: "The England v Zimbabwe match is not just
an issue
for the two countries involved but one for the whole World Cup. If
the match
goes ahead and was to be marred by violence against protesters, it
could
indelibly stain the entire tournament. We will be seeking to remind
all
board members of their collective responsibility for what might
happen."
New Zealand's game in Kenya is also coming under pressure. with
the New
Zealand Cricket Players' Association calling for their country's
games to be
moved from Nairobi. The players' union said that, based on
security reports,
"the risk of an incident occurring is
significant".
The organisation's executive manager Heath Mills said last
night: "We also
believe that, given the increased global focus this issue is
attracting,
that risk is increasing by the day. There are contingency plans
in place to
play the game in South Africa and these should now be
implemented."
The ICC has now received an independent security analysis
of Zimbabwe
conducted by the American consultants Kroll. The report's
findings, taken
with those of the South African-led security directorate for
the World Cup,
will form the basis of the ICC board's deliberations when it
meets today.
The ICC has consistently said it will consider moving the
match from
Zimbabwe only on safety and security grounds. Last Thursday it
ruled that
the matches would go ahead after hearing a report from its chief
executive
Malcolm Speed, who spent 24 hours in Harare last
week.
Yesterday Speed said any country wishing to raise concerns about
security
would have the opportunity to do so. Should the Kroll report say
that safety
can be guaranteed, however, the board is highly unlikely to
declare that
matches should be moved.
If cricket's a dead duck, why is it still creating a
flap?
David Hopps
Thursday January 30, 2003
The
Guardian
For years now, it has been a relationship of cheap jibes and
dismissive
gestures. Even at the best times, you acted as if you preferred to
look in
the other direction. There were other interests to pursue; other new
toys
had come along and had blinded you with their promises of
instant
gratification.
You had no time for anything so outdated,
struggling so obviously to stay
attuned with modern times. Yet now, judging
by the intensity of your anger,
it seems that you cared all
along.
This must be a terribly difficult time for you. Cricket is dead,
huh?
Cricket no longer has a place in the nation's affections. The importance
of
cricket in English society is the stuff of history, and has no relevance
to
the dynamism of Britain in the 21st century.
Can we now strike all
those conclusions from the ledger? It must have pained
you to hear yourself
exclaim, in the pub, at the dinner table, or while
searching for the
asparagus in an over-lit supermarket, that England's
cricketers must take a
moral stance on behalf of the nation.
You were right to say it, and you
have been proved more right as the weeks
have progressed. The signs are that
a battle worth fighting for may yet be
won. But you have to admit that your
concession that a game of cricket can
still hold such sway is a little, shall
we say, surprising.
For years, you have scoffed at all this stuff about
cricket, the game of
gentlefolk. You have scowled at the tired references to
cricket as the
intellectuals' game. You have resented the fact that even the
one-day
matches seem to last a lifetime. You have been too busy, too
self-fulfilled,
to give it any regard.
Clearly, cricket's
administrators have taken you at your word. You told them
years ago that
cricket's claim to possess a strong moral fabric was bogus.
You told them
that if you had need of some token training in morality, you'd
send your kids
to Sunday school or cub scouts - or just make them switch
over from Cartoon
Network to Animal Planet.
You told cricket to get real. So, with your
encouragement, because cricket
was so desperate to keep your affections,
cricket did. It restyled itself as
a business, the more hard-nosed the
better. It had a new bottom line - drawn
by accountants. It did it because
you told it to.
In a funny sort of way, you are responsible for this
whole damn mess. The
government presumably understood, because it sacked a
minister of sport who
understands the essence of sport, and replaced her with
a minister of sport
who supposedly knows the price of bricks.
But
things were going too far. You discovered that for England to play
cricket in
Harare, while Robert Mugabe's reprehensible regime survives,
really matters
to you.
You heard the defence that 300 British companies still traded in
Zimbabwe,
but you have long lost all respect for business. But cricket was
different.
Cricket could communicate something worthwhile. And when you
recognised your
lurking faith in cricket's capacity for good, I wonder if you
blushed?
You were probably in too much of a rush to register, a few
months ago, that
the government had received an independent report that
concluded that sport
played a minimal part in the welfare of the nation. It
made people a little
bit fitter, but as for its positive effect upon social
welfare - forget it.
You always did suspect team sports. If you heard of
the report, you probably
secretly approved.
The panic within cricket
was immediate. The memories of your rejection were
bad enough. But now your
rejection was about to gain official government
approval.
You will not
have registered - because the media never told you - that it
took some
extensive behind-the-scenes lobbying by English cricket, supported
by other
major team sports - yes, I think you must allow the use of the word
"major"
again - to force a redrafting of the report.
You were right, of course,
about cricket to some extent. Society has
changed. Time is at a premium;
there are other priorities. It will be no
surprise if 10% of small cricket
clubs collapse in the next 10 years.
But cricket, it seems, still has a
place in your affections. If your call is
heard, and the match in Harare is
scrapped, you might even vaguely care how
England go in the World Cup. And,
if it isn't, and the whole appalling
spectacle proceeds, you could at least
shout on behalf of the England
players, who dared to stand up to be
counted.
World
Cup braced for battles
Zimbabwe police vow to crush protests at
matches
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
Thursday January 30,
2003
The Guardian
The prospect that protests at World Cup matches in
Zimbabwe will be
violently suppressed by police became a near certainty
yesterday after two
groups opposed
to Robert Mugabe's regime
vowed to demonstrate during England's fixture in
Harare and every game
involving the hosts.
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and a new
undergound group,
Organised Resistance, yesterday vowed to stage public
protests at all
Zimbabwe's matches. But police insisted they would deal with
any
demonstrations "firmly" and keep all protesters away from
grounds.
Under Zimbabwe's draconian Public Order and Security Act, police
can ban any
public demonstration of more than two people. The police have
been
increasingly brutal, arresting numerous civic leaders without charge,
and in
the past two weeks there has been documented evidence of police
torturing at
least 10 people, including two members of parliament and a
lawyer.
Organised Resistance yesterday promised to disrupt the tournament
seriously
and said it "will engage in a variety of civil disobedience
campaigns. These
will be targeted at players, officials, fans, the grounds,
sponsors and
supporting businesses."
The group claimed responsibility
for the letters distributed last week to
England's players in Australia
telling them that they would be responsible
for any violence inflicted on
peaceful demonstrators during matches. The
letters are credited with
influencing the England team's statement on Monday
that they did not want to
play in Zimbabwe.
Organised Resistance also criticised the International
Cricket Council for
relying on police for security. "The ICC have been naive
in enlisting . . .
armed and brutal members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police
force to provide
'security' at . . . venues in Zimbabwe," it said. "This is a
recipe for
disaster and we believe it will have tragic consequences. The ZRP
are hated
in Zimbabwe and are known as perpetrators of violence and injustice
rather
than as protectors of our people."
The group also praised
England's players for asking for their match here to
be moved to South
Africa. "We commend the England team for articulating
their concern for
ordinary Zimbabweans who are likely to get caught in the
crossfire during
protests at the World Cup," it said.
The hitherto unknown organisation
said it was operating in secrecy because
of rising police repression and
torture of activists in recent weeks.
The NCA is a more open group which
has campaigned against the regime in
recent months. Its chairman Lovemore
Madhuku said yesterday: "It is our
belief that the Mugabe regime is not fit
to play host to any international
tournament . . . It is not our concern
whether the cricket is played without
any disturbances or not. Our concern is
the people of Zimbabwe and the
realisation of their dream to see people drive
constitutional reform."
Madhuku's organisation has staged several
anti-government protests in recent
months which have resulted in numerous
arrests and beatings.
Yesterday police used tear gas to disrupt a public
meeting held by Harare's
mayor in the city centre. Meanwhile, two more
opposition supporters accused
police of using electric-shock torture. The
pair, both from Harare's
Kuwadzana township, have been admitted to hospital
for treatment.
The explosive situation is at odds with the Mugabe
government's assurances
that everything has returned to
normal.
Organised Resistance said it had formed "to restore democracy and
peace to
our country". It added that it opposed any World Cup matches in the
country
because "the event will legitimise an illegitimate and brutal
dictatorship.
This has already occurred with the ICC engaging organs of the
Mugabe regime,
being the ministry of education and sport, the army and the
police force.
"The ICC's behaviour clearly indicates they believe
Mugabe's regime is
legitimate and worth dialoguing with . . . The Mugabe
regime will use the
World Cup as a smokescreen to detract from the
humanitarian crisis that
Zimbabwe is engulfed in.
"The Mugabe regime
must be attacked from all fronts in an effort to remind
Mugabe that his
behaviour will not be tolerated."
From ZWNEWS, 30 January
Is Zimbabwe
on the brink of genocide?
Genocide is a scary word. It
is something that the mind shies away from,
something that people are afraid
to contemplate even in the abstract,
because it is so horrific that we will
not believe it. And it is perhaps for
this reason that the genocide of Jews
in WWII was carried out for so long
before it was fully comprehended, and why
the Interahamwe managed to kill
800 000 Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 before the
international community reacted.
The truth is that at least the latter could
have been prevented, and that
all the indicators were there for the
international community to see what
was happening. But they did not react,
partly because they just could not
believe that it was happening, or could
happen.
When reports of killings and mass human rights violations
reach the
international community, the first response is always cautious. The
first
demand is for verification, whilst the second is usually
conservative
under-reaction. The machinery for dealing with mass human rights
violations
is inherently conservative, and this inevitably produces a
significant time
lag in responding to such situations. There seems to be a
reluctance to
accept that people can really be slaughtering one another
without
provocation and that civilians are being subjected to a steady
and
relentless elimination process.
But the sad truth is that
people are indeed capable of mass slaughter, and
hence it is all the more
necessary to be ready to respond quickly where the
indicators are present in
order to prevent excessive deaths. And Zimbabwe,
recently assessed as one of
the most oppressive states in the world, seems
primed for just such a
situation. This may seem a ridiculous claim when
there have been
comparatively few deaths so far from the conflict of the
past three years,
but it is less the deaths to date than the insidious
pattern of organised
violence and torture that leads to the concern about a
potential
genocide.
Letter from a South African Opposition
MP
WORLD CUP
In a radio interview this morning
(Monday 27 January 2003) Dr Ali Bacher,
the executive director of the ICC
Cricket World Cup, declared his
satisfaction with the assurances given to him
in Zimbabwe by the police,
that peacefull demonstrations will be allowed
during the cricket world Cup
matches in Harare.
On being asked whether
he had sought the opinion of the Zimabwe opposition
in this matter, he
replied that the opposition had not attempted to
communicate with his
delegation during their visit to Zimbabwe.
His reply reminds one of an
accusation levelled at the Zimbabwean Civil
Society by mr Job Sithole, ANC
member of Parliament and a member of the
Portfolio Committee on Foreign
Affairs of the South African National
Assembly.
Mr Sithole accused
Zimbabwean Civil Society of dereliction in that they
did not inform South
Africa sufficiently on the state of affairs in
Zimbabwe.
From the
above it would appear important for all the relevant Civil
Society
organizations in Zimbabwe to avail themselves of the oppportunity
to inform
Dr Bacher of their views regarding the proposed world cup
matches to be
played in Zimbabwe, with particular reference to the
likelihood of peacfull
demonstrations being allowed at these matches,
given the track record in this
regard.
As a member of Parliament for the official opposition in South
Africa, I
regard it as my duty to inform you of Dr Bacher's response in a
radio
interview which you may very well not be aware off. I believe
that this
side-lining of the official opposition in a very controvertial
issue in
Zimbabwe does not promote democracy or good governance.
Dr
Bacher's e-mail address is: nieshag@cricket.co.za
I would very much
appreciate any communication to Dr Bacher in this regard
to be cc'd to
anthony@da.org.za or news@da.org.co.za.
Friendly greetings,
ANDRIES
BOTHA MP
Daily
News
War veterans reject
Mugabe
1/30/2003 3:07:16 PM (GMT
+2)
From Brian Mangwende in
Mutare
Ex-Freedom fighters yesterday
rejected moves to appoint President
Mugabe as chairman of the war veterans'
association, describing them as a
ploy by their colleagues to cover their
alleged corruption.
The alleged corruption
involves looting of the Zimbabwe Ex-combatants'
Company (Zexcom)'s
funds.
They said they would not accept
Mugabe, already the patron of the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans'
Association (ZNLWVA), as their
chairman at a time when the Zanu PF leader
should be attending to pressing
socio-economic
issues.
The leadership of the ZNLWVA on
Monday suggested scrapping the
election of a national chairman in favour of
appointing Mugabe to the post,
a move roundly criticised by other
members.
Their reservations came after a
statement by Patrick Nyaruwata, ZNLWVA
's acting chairman, that Mugabe would
be appointed national chairman at the
war veterans' congress set for next
month.
A war veteran who asked not to be
named said: "All this is a ploy to
try and cover up for the crimes they have
committed in the past, including
the looting of the Zexcom
funds.
"Bringing in Mugabe is merely a
calculated act of intimidation which
we will not accept. There is no need to
bring him."
Edgar Tekere,
secretary-general of Zanu PF at the height of the
liberation war, who later
fell out with Mugabe, could only say:
"That's
absurd."
Another war veteran
said: "Mugabe already has a position as our
patron. We consult him when we
have problems, but not for him to be actively
involved in the day-to-day
running of our association.
"That is
simply unacceptable."
Stanlous Chikukwa, a
member of the national executive, on Monday
appeared before a Mutare
magistrate charged with theft by conversion of
Zexcom funds involving $2
million. He was remanded out of custody to 4 March
on $10 000
bail.
Chenjerai Hunzvi, the late chairman
of the ZNLWVA, was the first to be
dragged into court in connection with the
looting Zexcom funds. He was
later
acquitted.
Lovemore Madhuku, a
constitutional law expert and lecturer in the Law
Department at the
University of Zimbabwe, argued that Mugabe could not be
chairman of a welfare
organisation.
He said that would be in
contravention of provisions of the Private
Voluntary Organisation
Act.
"That is unconstitutional," Madhuku
said. "Mugabe should decline that
offer immediately. He can do other things
for his political party, but not
for a welfare
organisation.
"The move can be viewed as
bribery on the part of the war veterans.
They want to benefit from the office
of the President."
"Besides, they want to
give Mugabe and any other future President with
war credentials, additional
duties in which case the Constitution will have
to be
amended."
Through the State-controlled
Herald, Nyaruwata said the war veterans'
constitution would be amended to
allow the President of Zimbabwe to become
their chairman automatically as
long as he was associated with the struggle
for
independence.
Nyaruwata was quoted as
saying: "We want to fight together as united
war
veterans."
Asked whether he was aware of
the constitutional implications of their
decision, Nyaruwata said yesterday:
"We have legal advisers. But the
question that it may be unconstitutional is
something else. If that is the
case, we will be advised by our lawyers at a
later stage. But that does not
stop us from honouring the President. We will
be told about the developments
later.
Daily
News
Police fire shots at council
meeting
1/30/2003 3:10:48 PM (GMT
+2)
By Lloyd Mudiwa Municipal
Reporter
THE police yesterday fired at
least three warning shots, hurled
teargas canisters and randomly beat up
people outside Harare's Town House,
effectively disrupting a consultative
meeting called by Elias Mudzuri, the
Executive
Mayor.
The police stormed into Town House
bringing to an abrupt end a meeting
which had been called by Mudzuri to
discuss the city's water crisis.
Thousands
of stunned residents, some of whom were walking on the foot
bridge
overlooking Town House, fled in all directions from the swinging
batons and
choking gas.
Onlookers, passers-by,
vendors at a nearby flea market, commuters at
the Rezende Street bus terminus
and those who were being barred from
entering Town House by the menacing riot
police, all became victims.
The police had
earlier given the green light for the meeting.
Mudzuri said Harare - which has only 14 months of water supplies -
is
expected to introduce water rationing in March to avert running dry
next
year.
Trouble started when about
eight policemen manhandled Councillor
Graham Laban outside Town House. They
handcuffed him to a ramp at the main
gate for about 10 minutes before taking
him to Harare Central Police Station
where he was still detained by late
yesterday afternoon. Two other people
were arrested. Charges against them
could not be established yesterday.
A
jeering crowd hurled missiles and insults at the police, some of
whom were in
a Defender vehicle.
Mudzuri defiantly
addressed the meeting for about 10 minutes before
armed police officers, led
by one Chief Inspector Mukariri, entered the Flag
Room and ordered about 100
people who had found their way into Town House,
to
leave.
An angry Mudzuri berated the police
for refusing to evict suspected
ruling Zanu PF supporters occupying a council
library and hall in Kuwadzana
suburb.
"Why are you coming here to harass me? Go to Kuwadzana and remove
those
youths illegally occupying council property," the mayor, elected on
an
opposition MDC ticket, fumed.
After
Mudzuri complied and left the Flag Room, some police officers
followed him,
but could not get into his office.
The
police clampdown on Town House comes barely three weeks after they
arrested
Mudzuri and 21 others at a similar meeting in
Mabvuku.
Mukariri gave the Acting Town
Clerk, Josephine Ncube, a letter at noon
informing her that the meeting had
been barred, and proceeded to have Town
House cordoned
off.
The Officer Commanding Harare Central
District, a Chief Superintendent
Kupara, had in a letter dated 27 January,
allowed the meeting to go on as
long as it was not
political.
Paul Themba Nyathi, the MDC's
spokesman, said: "In this action
President Mugabe, through his partisan
police force, today further
demonstrated to all Zimbabweans and the world
that all democratic space is
closed in
Zimbabwe."
In yesterday's letter, Kupara
said permission to hold the meeting had
been withdrawn because there were
people planning to kill the mayor.
Addressing the residents before the police disrupted the meeting,
Mudzuri
said: "They know the people who want to kill me, they should arrest
them," he
said.
The council deferred indefinitely
its monthly meeting scheduled for
yesterday in protest at the police
action.
Daily
News
NCA to hold demos on World
Cup eve
1/30/2003 3:16:07 PM (GMT
+2)
Political
Editor
THE National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) says it will hold
nationwide demonstrations next week on
Saturday, a day before the World Cup
cricket matches in
Zimbabwe.
The NCA spokesman, Douglas
Mwonzora, told journalists in Harare
yesterday the demonstrations would be
peaceful and are designed to press the
civic organisation's demand for a new
and democratic constitution.
He said the
desire for a democratic constitution and good governance
had no timetable and
could be staged anytime.
"It is an ongoing
struggle and, therefore, does not need the emergence
of an international
event to become a reality. The NCA has emphasised before
that it will
continue with its mass pressure programmes before, during and
after the
cricket games," he said.
"We do not think
that we would be embarrassing the government because
we believe it has
embarrassed itself enough and we do not want to add any
further
embarrassment."
Mwonzora said the
demonstrations were meant to press the government to
accept the demands for a
new constitution.
"The NCA is not engaged
in an attempt to garner international sympathy
during the World Cup cricket
games, but it is our belief that the Mugabe
regime is not fit to play host to
any international tournament of whatever
sort," he
said.
"It is not our concern whether the
cricket games are played without
any disturbances or not. It is the choice of
the respective countries to
choose between the safety of their players or
Zimbabwe's march towards
democracy."
The calls for mass protests come barely a week after the NCA called
for a
stayaway, which was largely a flop as most employees reported
for
work.
The NCA chairman, Lovemore
Madhuku, said last week's stayaway was a
success in that it stretched the
security arms of the State and retabled the
constitutional
debate.
"It was successful in the sense
that the government reacted by
arresting people and sending helicopters to
survey several high-density
suburbs, which means they were seriously taking
our threats and pressure.
"The stayaway
brought to the centre of debate the NCA's demands for a
new constitution," he
said.
"Even if the people report for work,
it does not necessarily mean they
do not agree with the
NCA."
Madhuku said the NCA knew that the
police would try to foil
the
demonstrations.
"If they want to expose
their brutality to the international community
at a time they are arguing
that they subscribe to the norms of democracy,
then let them disturb the
protests."
Daily
News
30 abducted, tortured by
police - MDC
1/30/2003 3:19:23 PM
(GMT +2)
Staff
Reporter
About 30 MDC members have been
abducted and taken to several police
stations outside Harare where they are
being subjected to inhuman treatment
by the police and the Central
Intelligence Organisation since the imposition
of an unofficial curfew in
Kuwadzana, says Paul Themba Nyathi, the
MDC's
spokesman.
The MDC and the
Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (Zimcet), a
non-governmental organisation,
yesterday castigated the police for imposing
the unofficial curfew in
Kuwadzana.
As a result of transport
problems, many people were failing to beat
the curfew deadline, resulting in
many being assaulted by Zanu PF youths and
armed policemen, they
said.
The unofficial curfew followed the
death of a Zanu PF supporter,
Tonderayi Mangwiro, two weeks ago in a bomb
attack in Kuwadzana.
"Despite denials by
Wayne Bvudzijena, the police spokesman, to the
effect that police are working
with Zanu PF surrogate forces such as the war
veterans in subjecting
opposition members to routine and systematic torture,
there is overwhelming
evidence to the contrary," Nyathi said.
Fanuel Tsvangirayi, the MDC chairperson for Ward 38 in the
constituency, was
released from Goromonzi Police Station on Monday where he
was being held
since his abduction on 20 January together with Gift
Marongedze, another
party member.
"My assailants tied bricks
to my testicles and connected live electric
wires to my toes to force me to
disclose MDC plans for the by-election,"
Tsvangirayi said. Nyathi said the
police did not press any charges
against
Tsvangirayi.
"An independent
commission must be set up to investigate torture
cases," he
said.
Sarayi Mapfumo said her husband,
Jeremiah Mapfumo, was abducted on
Wednesday last week on allegations his
company vehicle was used in the
bombing incident. Mapfumo was released from
Harare Central Police Station on
Monday. The police at Kuwadzana Police
Station said they were not handling
violence cases but were referring them to
the law and order section at
Harare Central Police
Station.
"We arrest everyone who has
committed an offence, especially at the
moment when political violence has
erupted in Kuwadzana," said a police
officer who answered the
telephone.
Jestina Mukoko, the Zimcet
public relations officer, said the freedoms
of movement, expression and
association were being denied the Kuwadzana
residents in broad
daylight.
She said she feared the violence
would spread to Highfield where
another by-election is to be held
soon.
Daily
News
Hungry elderly villagers
appeal to Unicef for food
1/30/2003 3:12:32 PM (GMT +2)
By
Columbus Mavhunga
AS starvation scales new
heights in Mount Darwin, adults in Matope and
Chisodza village have made an
impassioned plea with the United Nations
Children's Fund (Unicef) to include
them in the organisation's child
supplementary feeding
scheme.
The villagers made their appeal
during a UN tour of the district this
week to establish how the US$4 million
(Z$220 million) scheme, which started
in five districts last September, was
progressing.
Luke Chara an elderly
villager said: "I am weak, I cannot work in the
fields or join those panning
for gold."
The Daily News confirmed that
the elderly were visiting feeding scheme
centres to ask if they could be fed
together with the children.
"We find it
very difficult to deal with these people when they come
asking for food,"
said one woman who prepares the children's food in
Chisodza
village.
"It now appears as if we are
denying them food, but we need to get
permission from
Unicef."
But Mumtaz Osman, the Unicef
Harare humanitarian assistance monitor,
said only pregnant and breast-feeding
mothers could be included in the
supplementary feeding
scheme.
Despite Osman's statement, Todd
Katsande, the councillor for Ward 4,
made an appeal for the programme to
include adults and primary school
children.
Mount Darwin is one of the five districts in the country where Unicef
is
undertaking a supplementary feeding scheme for 200 000 children under
five
years of age who are facing starvation.
About 40 000 children in Mount Darwin benefit daily from Unicef's
Unimix, a
special nutritious formula made up of soya bean, maize and
micro-vitamins.
The food, which is pre-cooked is served after being mixed
with hot water, as
porridge.
Most children in the district
seen during the tour of Mount Darwin
looked healthy, in sharp contrast to
their elders who looked undernourished.
Stewart Sattun-Jones, the Unicef Harare communications officer, said:
"It
must be borne in mind that due to limited funds and other factors,
this
programme is just for this
category."
"The programme was implemented
after a vulnerability assessment study
was done in Mount Darwin, Gokwe North,
Buhera, Chirumhanzu and Mudzi - the
areas least
developed."
Sattun-Jones said this year
the programme would extend to 11
other
districts.
He said the UN's World
Food Programme was responsible for feeding
the
adults.
Godfrey Tsenengu, assistant
nutritionist at Mount Darwin, said lack of
co-operation among members of the
community was hampering smooth
implementation of the feeding
scheme.
"For example, the community
demands money to off-load the food packs
from the truck," he said. "We have
explained to them that, that is
impossible because the programme is meant for
their benefit and not Unicef
or Mvura-Manzi Trust, the implementing
partner.
"The other problem we have is
that of clean water with which to
prepare the food for the children. Of late
we have been having transport
problems to distribute the food in the district
which Unicef has now
provided." Whatever the extent of starvation in the
district, the
beneficiaries of the scheme, applauded
Unicef.
"The food is very delicious. It
makes me enjoy life," said
four-year-old Sam Kadomera. Chretius Dambaza, 4,
said: "I no longer fall
asleep during the day because of
hunger."
Daily
News
MDC disappointed by EU delay
over sanctions renewal
1/30/2003
3:18:44 PM (GMT +2)
Political
Editor
THE opposition MDC says it is
frustrated that the European Union (EU)
Foreign Ministers have deferred a
decision on whether to renew targeted
sanctions against President Mugabe and
80 of his close associates.
The EU last
year slapped Mugabe and his top officials with travel bans
following the
widely-flawed presidential election last March and the
deteriorating
political and economic situation in the
country.
"The MDC is frustrated and
disappointed that EU Foreign Ministers have
deferred a decision on renewing
targeted sanctions against senior members of
the illegitimate regime. The
lack of consensus amongst member states on this
crucial issue to Zimbabwe
plays right into the hands of the Mugabe regime,
which will no doubt be
encouraged by evidence of divisions within the EU
ranks," said Moses
Mzila-Ndlovu, the shadow minister for foreign
affairs.
His comment comes as fissures
surfaced in the EU following France's
invitation to Mugabe to attend the
Franco-Africa summit in Paris next month.
The decision has created divisions
within the EU and the group's foreign
ministers on Monday deferred a decision
on whether to prolong the
targeted
sanctions.
Ndlovu said the EU
should ensure Mugabe's confidence is short-lived by
unequivocally renewing
the sanctions when its permanent representatives
meet
today.
"By renewing the targeted
sanctions, the EU will be sending a strong
message to Robert Mugabe that his
violent actions will not be tolerated and
that he remains firmly within the
sight of the international community,"
he
said.
"Robust action by the EU will
also underline the fact that the Mugabe
regime has continued to blatantly
violate essential elements of the Cotonou
Agreement, namely respect for human
rights, democratic principles and the
rule of
law."
He said despite his party's
disappointment that France was
blackmailing Europe into allowing Mugabe to
visit Paris, the MDC was
confident that the EU would not let down the people
of Zimbabwe. The French
move left it open to accusations that it was
indifferent to the suffering of
hundreds of thousands of
Zimbabweans.
Daily
News - Leader Page
Zvinavashe's
remarks belated considering the
crisis
1/30/2003 3:22:58 PM (GMT
+2)
By Bekezela
Dube
Few patriots, if any, would have been
surprised by the contents of the
rare interview attributed to the Commander
of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces,
General Vitalis Zvinavashe, in the Business
Tribune and subsequently quoted
in The Daily News of 20 January,
2003.
What will probably irk most citizens
is the tone of that interview and
the general's attitude. He seems to think
there is no solution that excludes
President
Mugabe.
What is obvious regarding the
interview is that if the defence forces
commander had not realised the
magnitude of the problems besetting our
country, some junior officer would
have made it his duty to commit treason
for the love of his country and the
fate of the commander, together with his
lieutenants and the Head of State,
would be anyone's guess.
The long time it
took Zvinavashe to accept that the politicians had
messed up everything will,
of course, raise a lot of questions, even
speculation, that the
pronouncements were due to pressure from the commander
's subordinates who,
in the end, will have to deal with hungry and destitute
soldiers whose only
requirement is that they must be loyal, while their
morale must be high even
though there is nothing to show for it.
What must be obvious to all, is that these developments are not new.
The same
or worse has happened elsewhere, even in neighbouring Zambia where
the army
tried, only for 24 hours, to put in a sober
government.
We have got more examples here
in Africa, where other national armies
have staged dramatic coups to spring
democracy from despotic rule and with a
measure of success. Gambia comes to
mind, or Ghana for that matter, even
though in this case the army took too
long to allow civilian rule.
Internationally this happened in Pakistan, where the ex-army commander
now
interim president of that country, General Pervez Musharraf,
personally
drafted a charge of subverting the constitution against the former
strongmen
of that country, and the whole world begged the him to ensure the
deposed
head of state did not face the death penalty even though there was no
doubt
in the minds of the international community that the man was
guilty.
The commander explained to the
whole world the road Pakistanis were
taking to achieve their own democracy.
Even though they are not there yet,
where there is a will there is a
way.
And in those countries where this has
not happened, but evidence that
the rule of law had collapsed is in
abundance, those armies have had to
massacre their civilian populations for
refusing to accept government
explanations of what the real problems are in
their countries.
Yugoslavia is a case in
point. The Milosevic army failed to recognise
that their role was to defend
the country not Slobodan Milosevic and his
cronies and had to take a lot of
battering from volunteer armies from the
international community, who wanted
to extricate the Serbs from the painful
dictatorship of Milosevic and now the
stupid dictator is battling for his
freedom in the
Hague.
In our own country the case of a
second lieutenant who shot a sentry
dead at the entrance to State House and
was arrested before accomplishing
his mission whatever it was, is a chilling
reminder of the worst that can
happen to
us.
But the nation waits with bated breath
to see how the army can help
restore political normalcy without a coup, or
bloodshed as happened in
January of 1997. And to say the army can help solve
the country's political
problems without removing the government sounds
unbelievable and will
probably rank as a first for the country or the army in
the whole world.
And should the army
commander decide to take a leaf from the
Pakistanis, we should expect most
people in the present Cabinet to be
detained for lying continuously about the
state of affairs in the country,
especially some ministers who are clearly
driven by selfish ambitions and
whose lies have resulted in the
stigmatisation of our country by the
international
community.
So myopic are these leaders
that they fail to see that Zanu PF is not
Zimbabwe, but a mere political
party that will obviously go the same way
that other parties have gone, but
the country remains.
What exactly is the
role of the army in a constitutional democracy? Is
it to defend the country's
borders or to protect a political party from
those who oppose its
policies?
There is no doubt the move by
MDC leadership to call for sanctions
against the country is unpatriotic, but
Zanu PF is even more guilty for
failing to ensure a level political field for
all parties to campaign. It
won't surprise anyone if the courts find the
party guilty of rigging the
March 2002 presidential
election.
A lot will agree the move by the
army is belated and that the army
should have arrested both Zanu PF and MDC
officials for failing to campaign
peacefully in the 2000 parliamentary
election. The violence was enough
reason for patriots, not boot-lickers, to
save the country from thugs.
Long live,
Zimbabwe!
FinGaz
US mulls economic
sanctions
By Sydney Masamvu
Assistant Editor
1/30/03 10:14:31 AM (GMT
+2)
THE United States of America is
considering slapping President Robert
Mugabe and his Cabinet with economic
sanctions that diplomatic sources
yesterday said could further undermine the
Zimbabwean economy.
Sources said
Washington, which like the European Union (EU) and
several other countries
has imposed a travel ban against Mugabe and his top
hierarchy, was
considering tightening smart sanctions.
They said proposed measures included the freezing of Cabinet ministers
' bank
accounts and the seizure of their assets in the United States. The
EU,
Australia and New Zealand have already introduced similar financial
sanctions
against government and ruling ZANU PF party
officials.
Other measures being considered
by the United States would make it
impossible for Zimbabwean government
officials to enter into trade or treaty
agreements with Washington, which
does not recognise Mugabe's re-election
last
year.
The US and several other Western
countries say the March 2002
presidential election was fraught with
irregularities and was not free
and
fair.
"Various ways have of late
been considered to put pressure on
President Robert Mugabe and his inner
circle to return Zimbabwe to normalcy,
but to no avail," a Western diplomat
based in Harare told the
Financial
Gazette.
"They have
reached a point where punitive action in the form of
economic sanctions on
the leadership is now being considered," he
added.
The US embassy spokesman in Harare,
Bruce Wharton, yesterday declined
to shed light on the economic sanctions
being considered against
Zimbabwe's
leadership.
"I would not
want to speculate about possible future policy decisions
regarding Zimbabwe,"
he told the Financial Gazette.
But
diplomatic sources said the US State Department committee on
Africa was
expected to meet in the coming week to hammer out the final
details of the
economic sanctions and how they would be
structured.
They said committee members
Mark Bellamy and Walter Kansteiner had
already recently discussed the
possibility of additional and punitive
measures that would ratchet up
pressure on Mugabe's government.
The
sources empha-sised that if the US imposed economic sanctions
against ZANU
PF, several social and humanitarian initiatives that the United
States is
still involved in in Zimbabwe would be
affected.
Despite the smart sanctions
introduced last year, the United States
has continued to assist the country
with HIV/AIDS and other drugs, water
sanitation projects, voter education and
food aid, among other initiatives.
The US
is one of the major contributors to the World Food Programme's
appeal for
food aid for Zimbabwe, where close to eight million people are in
need of
humanitarian assistance because of food
shortages.
The diplomats however said the
economic sanctions, if introduced,
would be crafted in such a manner that
they would not hurt
ordinary
Zimbabweans.
But analysts said
such a move would amount to full-blown sanctions
against Zimbabwe and could
precipitate the collapse of the country's already
unstable
economy.
Zimbabwe is facing massive
company closures because of the economic
crisis, which analysts say could
make at least 300 000 workers jobless this
year, at a time unemployment is
already estimated at over 70 percent.
They
said the problems faced by retrenched workers would be compounded
by food
shortages blamed on drought and government agrarian reforms that
have cut
food production by over 60 percent.
Zimbabweans have also been hard hit by escalating basic commodity
prices,
partly the result of shortages and price controls imposed by the
government
in October 2001.
Political commentators
have already warned that ZANU PF could face
widespread social unrest if the
economic crisis worsens and if Zimbabwe is
hit by another drought this year,
which would increase food insecurity.
FinGaz
Civic bodies fail to
make impact
By Farai Mutsaka
Senior Reporter
1/30/03 10:15:02 AM (GMT
+2)
ZIMBABWE'S once vibrant civic movement
is facing its greatest
challenge as the country sinks deeper into economic
and political chaos, but
analysts and ordinary Zimbabweans say civil society
is failing the test amid
worsening government repression and public
apathy.
Reeling under an unprecedented
economic crisis, food shortages and
grinding poverty, Zimbabweans are looking
to the opposition and once
powerful civic and labour bodies for a solution to
their suffering.
But the main opposition
party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) and other civic groups have
come under intense criticism for
what some members of the public regard as
failure to provide credible
leadership and confront the ruling ZANU
PF.
"Where is this man called (Morgan)
Tsvangirai these days?" Prosper
Jima, a medical doctor, initiates a topic
that has become a favourite with
Zimbabweans in many social
circles.
"Can anyone of you tell me the
last time he was arrested? The only
real fighters and heroes left are people
like Mudzuri, Madhuku and Job
Sikhala," the doctor says to his drinking mates
at a sports club in Harare's
middle-density Queensdale
suburb.
Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri,
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
chairman Lovemore Madhuku and MDC
legislator Sikhala have all recently been
hauled before the courts by the
government.
Jima's drinking mate quips:
"The man (Tsvangirai) is an abject coward.
We all know he will never be given
permission to address a rally, but why
can't he just wake up one day and
address an impromptu rally while motorists
queue for fuel, or in First Street
like those preachers do?"
But political
analysts and civic leaders who spoke to the Financial
Gazette this week said
efforts to effectively rally support against the
government were being
hampered by both increased repression and public
apathy resulting from
economic hardships.
The Public Order and
Security Act (POSA), which was enacted by
Parliament last year and prohibits
freedom of the press, expression,
movement and assembly, has been
particularly harmful to the civic movement,
analysts
say.
Under the law, political parties and
civic groups have to secure
police permission before addressing the public,
while security forces can
disperse and arrest people participating in
gatherings of a certain size.
The
legislation has also seen the introduction of fines and jail terms
as
penalties for publishing or uttering statements against President
Robert
Mugabe as well as the police and other security
forces.
"It has to be understood that the
regime is very repressive, hence
there is not much that these organisations
can do in the form of protest,"
said a senior lawyer who spoke on condition
of anonymity.
"The state has managed to
incapacitate them through tough laws. With
the laws that are there, they can
be arrested even for a family gathering."
As a result, once powerful organisations such as the ZCTU, which could
once
rally support for mass stayaways or demonstrations to press for
better
conditions for workers, have become "mere spectators" of
Zimbabwe's
political and economic crisis, the analysts
charged.
Mass stayaways organised by the
NCA to press the government for a new
constitution and protest unsustainable
policies have also flopped in the
past few
months.
But the leaders of the NCA and
ZCTU deny that repressive legislation
has rendered them
ineffective.
"It's only people who don't
understand the situation we are subjected
to who can accuse us of inaction,"
ZCTU secretary-general Wellington
Chibhebhe told the Financial
Gazette.
"The current laws inhibit workers
from gathering, but we have scored
successes. In 2001, we called for a
successful stayaway against fuel prices.
We have succeeded in raising minimum
wages by 200 percent. We are doing the
best under the
circumstances."
Madhuku added: "The fact
that the NCA could call for a stayaway in the
face of such legislation shows
we have not succumbed. How many times have we
been called to the police
station? But have we ever given up or cancelled
our stayaways? No. That
suggestion is coming from armchair
activists."
MDC spokesman Paul
Themba-Nyathi also said accusations that his party
was inactive were not a
true reflection of the reality on the
ground.
He said: "We are not sitting idle
nor are we ignoring the challenges
that are facing us. Everyday of the week
there is an MDC activity going on
and since the stolen (March 2002
presidential election) victory, we have
been working strengthening our
structures, sometimes underground.
"All
this pressure on ZANU PF about food, cricket and in the EU
(European Union)
is primarily because of our work. We also have not
succumbed to any
repressive laws. The fact that our members are arrested
daily under POSA
means there is activism going on. The president and the
secretary-general are
facing treason charges that could get them hanged and
you still think we are
being idle?"
But analysts said the
examples of their work being cited by the MDC
and civic groups were far
beyond the understanding of most Zimbabweans,
close to eight million of who
face starvation because of severe
food
shortages.
Poverty levels have
risen for most Zimbabweans in the past three years
as companies shut down and
retrench workers who are unable to find
alternative employment in an
environment where joblessness is estimated at
more than 70
percent.
The cost of living has also leapt
up for low-income as well as middle
and upper-middle class professionals,
most of whose incomes have not kept
pace with rampant inflation, which is
expected to top 500 percent before the
end of
2003.
Because of falling living standards
and the increasingly desperate
struggle to survive, most Zimbabweans are only
interested in tangible
solutions that they believe will end their suffering,
analysts pointed out.
They said civic
groups had failed to devise a strategy that would make
their concerns
relevant to members of the public, who are battling with
"bread and butter
issues".
University of Zimbabwe lecturer
Heneri Dzinotyiwei said: "There is a
genuine interest in people for
alternative forces of democracy, but the
opposition doesn't seem to have a
proper strategy on how to take advantage
of
it.
"The NCA contributed significantly in
raising awareness for a new
constitution in the past, but the situation has
changed. People are hungry
and the NCA needs to refocus on how to carry the
people with it, taking into
consideration the current
problems.
"When you have a situation of
hunger and hardship, as an opposition
you don't just sit and blame the
government. You should behave in a manner
that makes you a clear
representative of the people facing hunger. That is
the
challenge."
But Madhuku countered: "It is
totally misconceived to believe that
issues of governance and economic
development are not linked. Good
governance is a precondition of economic
development.
"In fact, the constitution is
the most relevant issue. The fact that
people did not participate in our call
does not mean we are irrelevant. We
are not a political party that prides in
numbers, we are there to make a
point and we have done that. That is why
there is now all this debate."
FinGaz
UN seeks nod to
monitor food aid
Staff
Reporter
1/30/03 10:15:17 AM (GMT
+2)
THE United Nations (UN) has asked the
Zimbabwean government to allow a
UN team to monitor food distribution to
ensure impartiality and allay fears
by international donors that the ruling
ZANU PF is using food aid as a
political weapon and is starving its
opponents, diplomatic sources told the
Financial Gazette
yesterday.
They said World Food Programme
(WFP) director James Morris formally
made the request for a monitoring team
to President Robert Mugabe during
talks in Harare last
week.
The sources said a meeting was
scheduled for tomorrow between the
government and UN officials in Harare to
further discuss the request by
Morris, who is also the UN's special envoy for
the humanitarian crisis in
southern
Africa.
Labour and Social Welfare Minister
July Moyo, who is in charge of food
and humanitarian relief, could not be
reached for comment yesterday. He was
said to be out of his office on
business until tomorrow.
A spokesman for
the local UN humanitarian office refused to speak on
the
matter.
He told the Financial Gazette:
"This is a matter that is still being
discussed and therefore we cannot
comment."
But the diplomatic sources said
Morris, alarmed by growing donor
indifference to appeals for food donations
for Zimbabwe, had told Mugabe
that only a UN monitoring team would dispel the
international community's
fears.
They
said donations to Zimbabwe, one of the countries hardest hit by
the
humanitarian crisis in southern Africa, had been hampered by reports
that the
government was starving opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
supporters.
The ruling ZANU PF party has
in the past refuted charges that it is
using government-sourced food aid to
punish MDC supporters by refusing them
the
food.
"He (Morris) told Mugabe that the
international community did not see
any credibility in the government's
denials that it had politicised food
aid," said a senior official with an
international
non-governmental
organisation.
"Basically Morris said to Mugabe that if he had nothing to hide, then
he
should let in the international community verify on their own whether
the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) was being partisan in its handling of food
aid."
The state-run GMB is the only agency
allowed to buy and sell grain
in
Zimbabwe.
The diplomatic sources
said Mugabe did not immediately spurn or accept
Morris's offer, preferring
further discussions within the government and
also between the state and
local UN officials.
There have been
several well-documented reports by local and
international newspapers of
hungry villagers, mostly in outlying rural
arrears, being refused food as
punishment for backing the MDC.
ZANU PF
has also been accused of vote-buying, with its candidates in
parliamentary or
local government elections in the last 12 months allegedly
handing out
GMB-sourced maize to voters as a way of influencing
their
choice.
Several people in rural
areas and even in the capital Harare have
alleged they were asked to produce
ZANU PF membership cards first before
they could buy maize from the
GMB.
The WFP last October had to briefly
stop food deliveries to Insiza
district in southern Zimbabwe after alleged
ZANU PF militants campaigning
for the party in a parliamentary by-election
there seized more than three
tonnes of food from WFP workers and gave it to
their supporters.
The government denied
responsibility, saying it was not state policy
to seize food aid from
donors.
Donors have indicated they cannot
commit aid to Zimbabwe while the
government is prepared to help only the
sector of the population that agrees
with it politically, the sources
said.
FinGaz
Govt woos white
farmers with land promises
By
MacDonald Dzirutwe Business News Editor
1/30/03 10:15:51 AM (GMT +2)
RELATIONS
seem to be thawing between the government and white
commercial farmers
evicted under Zimbabwe's controversial land reform
programme, but analysts
this week said the reconciliation was too late to
save the 2002/2003
agricultural season or ensure the country's
food
security.
Agriculture Minister
Joseph Made, who at the height of the government'
s appropriation of
white-owned farms refused to meet leaders of the
Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU) saying they were "racist and fascist", held
discussions with the CFU
last week and this Monday.
The two parties
are said to have discussed the possibility of CFU
members making available
agricultural equipment to farmers resettled under
the agrarian reforms, with
the CFU leaders being assured that white farmers
who wished to continue
farming would be allocated land.
"Minister
Made personally called (CFU) president (Colin) Cloete on his
cellphone and
suggested that it was time a meeting was held between him and
the CFU," the
organisation's vice president, Doug Taylor Freeme, told the
Financial
Gazette. "The meeting was an icebreaker."
"(But) at no time did the CFU pledge equipment to the government," he
added,
refuting claims by Made last week that the white farmers' union had
promised
tractors, disc ploughs, combine harvesters, harrows, irrigation
pipes and
tobacco-curing equipment, among other
machinery.
Both subsistence and aspiring
black commercial farmers allocated land
have been hard hit by the lack of
farming equipment and inputs, making it
impossible for many of them to
prepare their land for planting.
About two
months after the start of the 2002/2003 rainy season, a
significant
proportion of resettled farmers are said to be struggling to
secure
machinery, seeds, fertilisers and chemicals, which most of them do
not have
the financial resources to buy or hire.
A
government bond issue floated last year to fund farmers resettled
under the
A2 or commercial farming phase of the land reform programme also
failed to
raise sufficient funds.
Although Made
declined to speak to the Financial Gazette this week, it
is also estimated
that more than 60 percent of the 50 000 successful
applicants for the A2
farming scheme have not taken up their plots, leaving
large tracts of land
lying idle.
Opposition Movement for
Democratic Change shadow minister for
agriculture Renson Gasela said it was
possible that the government had
belatedly realised that the new farmers
could not drive commercial
agriculture without adequate
infrastructure.
Although some
beneficiaries of the land reform programme have seized
equipment left by
white farmers forced to abandon their properties, most
machinery is stored in
warehouses or is being sold.
The rest of
the equipment has been taken out of Zimbabwe by farmers
who have relocated to
neighbouring countries.
Gasela said:
"There is the realisation that the new commercial farmers
will not be able to
drive commercial farming on their own. They
need
support.
"You will realise that
even the people allocated land who took up the
farms have failed to get
enough inputs, which has only served to worsen
the
situation."
But analysts said even
if experienced white farmers were roped into
the land reform programme or
provided infrastructure for the reforms, it was
too late to save this year's
farming season, which is already underway.
They pointed out that under normal circumstances, most planting would
be
complete by this time and farmers would only be concerned about whether
the
country would receive adequate rainfall.
Farmers said even if CFU members applied for and were allocated land
and
resettled farmers secured adequate resources, it would take years to
repair
the damage done to Zimbabwe's agricultural sector, the backbone of
the
country's economy.
The seizure of
white-owned farms has slashed output from the sector by
more than 50 percent
in the past year, affecting local companies that rely
on farmers for raw
materials and markets as well as the country's
exports.
Production of tobacco, Zimbabwe's
main foreign currency earner for
instance, is expected to drop to a mere 75
million kilogrammes, from 167
million kgs last year and 216 million kgs in
2001.
The wildlife industry, another
foreign currency earner, says it has
lost more than $6 billion worth of
animals in the past two years because of
rampant poaching during the land
seizures.
The carnage in the wildlife
industry also led to Zimbabwe being denied
permission last November by the
United Nations' Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species
to sell ivory stocks accumulated
over the last five
years.
Commentators said government
efforts would also not improve food
security for close to eight million
Zimbabweans who need emergency food aid
because of drought and the land
reform programme, which have combined to
slash food production by more than
60 percent.
They pointed out that
Zimbabwe, which could be affected by another
drought this year, could remain
a food importer for at least another two
years because of inadequate rains
and instability in the
agricultural
sector.
Consultant
economist John Robertson said: "We have already lost a lot
and the challenge
now is for the government to give farmers assurances in
cast iron form,
instead of friendly notes, so that they can
continue
farming.
"Cosmetic assurances
and friendly chats will not work if the farmers
are to come back to the farms
because they have a lot to do in rebuilding
their infrastructure and
accessing finance from banks."
Analysts
said farmers also had to be careful not to be hoodwinked by
the government,
which might be using them to portray a positive image to the
international
community, most of which has turned its back on the ruling
ZANU PF party
because of its treatment of white farmers, opposition party
members,
journalists and civic society.
Several
countries have imposed smart sanctions against President
Robert Mugabe and
his top hierarchy because of what they say was a flawed
presidential election
last year as well as human rights abuses, among
other
concerns.
The
Australia-Nigeria-South Africa Commonwealth troika is also
expected to decide
in March whether Zimbabwe should be ejected from the club
of former British
colonies, a move analysts say will severely impact on
Mugabe's
government.
ZANU PF has been able to defy
its critics because of support from its
neighbours, all of whom are members
of the Commonwealth.
Former CFU regional
executive Ben Freeth, now an official of
commercial farmers' pressure group
Justice for Agriculture, said: "Everyone
can see that the government is
basically trying to look for an internal
settlement before the meeting of the
troika in March."
But he said not many
farmers were likely to be taken in by the
government's reconciliatory
stance.
He told the Financial Gazette.
"There is nothing to discuss because
farmers are still being told to leave
their farms even when they have
received assurances to continue with farming
operations."
FinGaz
EU debates Zim sanctions today
By
Abel Mutsakani Deputy Editor-in-Chief
1/30/03 10:16:33 AM (GMT
+2)
INDECISION or even the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe's rulers
by
European Union (EU) ambassadors today would give Harare a prized
political
victory but would not bail the troubled nation out of a precipitous
crisis
threatening to erupt in social unrest and chaos, analysts said this
week.
The EU ambassadors are expected to debate Zimbabwe in Brussels
today after
the EU council of ministers failed to agree to roll over a
12-month
financial and visa embargo on President Robert Mugabe and his
top
lieutenants earlier this week.
Their indecision was triggered by
France's invitation to Mugabe to attend
the Franco-African summit in Paris
next month, which begins the day after
the expiry of the visa ban.
EU
smart sanctions against Zimbabwe's rulers expire on February 18 but could
be
extended for another year.
France wants Mugabe granted a temporary
exemption so that he can attend the
Franco-African summit in Paris from
February 19-21, while Portugal wants the
sanctions rules modified so that the
Zimbabwean leader can attend an
EU-Africa summit in Lisbon in
April.
Another stalemate in Brussels today, or possibly the scrapping of
sanctions
if France blocks a renewal, would give Mugabe more diplomatic space
to
legitimise himself internationally, according to University of Zimbabwe
(UZ)
Institute of Development Studies analyst Brian
Raftopoulos.
"Indecision or a move to lift the sanctions by the EU will
obviously be seen
by the Zimbabwe government as a symbolic victory," he told
the Financial
Gazette.
"Mugabe will try to show it up as a sign that
relations have thawed between
him and the rest of the international
community. He will use it to gain all
the legitimacy he is seeking," he
said.
And besides, added Raftopoulos, inaction by the EU would strengthen
South
African and Nigerian presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo's
argument
against tougher Commonwealth measures against Harare.
Mbeki
and Obasanjo, together with Australian Prime Minister John Howard,
form a
special Commonwealth committee charged with recommending a solution
to
Zimbabwe's crisis on behalf of the club of former British colonies.
The
troika, which suspended Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth councils last
March,
meets in a few weeks' time to decide whether to readmit the country
into the
councils of the organisation or to impose tougher measures,
including
sanctions.
Analysts say sanctions against Zimbabwe by the Commonwealth
could
immediately bring down Mugabe and his government, who have managed to
hang
on to power only because of the support of neighbours, all of whom
are
members of the Commonwealth.
South Africa Institute of
International Affairs researcher Ross Herbert
said: "If the EU were to drop
sanctions, it would provide diplomatic
latitude to Mbeki and Obasanjo to
argue why they should, as Africans, punish
Zimbabwe more if the EU could not
do it."
But he was quick to point out: "It would be a huge political
victory for
Mugabe but one that will only serve to enable him to go shopping
in European
capitals.
"Because if the EU lifts sanctions against
Harare on Thursday or merely
fails to agree on what to do, that development
would not be followed by a
flood of people coming to bail out Zimbabwe with
cash or food."
UZ business studies professor Tony Hawkins noted that the
EU visa and
financial embargo were never trade sanctions.
He said even
if the sanctions were lifted, this would not change Zimbabwe's
image as a no
go area for foreign investors and capital. Without that change
in image, any
attempt to revive the country's collapsing economy would be
futile, Hawkins
pointed out.
He told the Financial Gazette: "It will not make a
difference because there
are far deep-seated issues involved here. There is
no foreign currency in
the country and not even a credible exchange rate. Why
then would anybody
want to invest in Zimbabwe?"
Zimbabwe's worsening
economic and humanitarian crisis will continue
regardless of what happens in
Brussels today, Hawkins said.
"We are nearing economic collapse quite
quickly," the UZ lecturer warned.
Ross said with or without EU sanctions
against its rulers, Zimbabwe would
still find itself unwelcome in many fora
because of the perceived lack of
rule of law in the country as well as the
government's bloated human rights
and democracy record.
Besides the
EU, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
and
Switzerland have also imposed sanctions against Mugabe because of his
land
policies and his re-election as Zimbabwe's president last March, which
they
say he won through fraud and violence.
The main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change has also refused to
recognise Mugabe's
victory.
Raftopoulos said if the EU did not act or softened its position
on Mugabe
and his government today, that would only play into their strategy
of using
several international events to gain credibility and
acceptance
internationally.
The Harare authorities will, according to
Raftopoulos, tout the cricket
World Cup tournament, which will bring several
cricket playing nations to
Zimbabwe, the Franco-African summit and the
EU-Africa meeting in Lisbon in
April as signs that its relations with the
international community had
thawed.
Raftopoulos said: "They will try
to be part of all these events for
propaganda purposes to show proof that
they are now in good books with the
rest of the international
community."
He pointed out: "That strategy will however not resolve the
underlying
economic and political problems and the grim economic situation is
likely to
only get worse with possibly dire results for the
country."
FinGaz
ZANU PF militia
evict MDC tenants from Kamativi
mine
Staff
Reporter
1/30/03 10:17:57 AM (GMT
+2)
BULAWAYO - Ruling ZANU PF militia are
forcibly evicting tenants of
properties at the disused Kamativi tin mine
complex, where the government
plans to open a national service training
centre, it was learnt this week.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) officials told the
Financial
Gazette that the youth militia, who are trained under the national
service
programme, were targeting tenants suspected to be MDC
supporters.
They said tenants were being
forcibly evicted from about 500 houses
rented out when Kamative mine closed
in 1994 and were being replaced by
ruling party supporters working in the
civil service.
Among those targeted are
the MDC legislators for Hwange West and East,
as well as Binga, Jealous
Sansole, Peter Nyoni and Joel
Gabuza,
respectively.
"We are being
chased away and I believe with us it is because we are
MDC," said
Sansole.
"Property is being thrown out by
the youth brigades. The situation
is
bad."
It was not possible to contact
the caretaker representing the Zimbabwe
Mining Development Company (ZMDC),
which owned Kamativi mine and rents out
houses in the complex. The caretaker
was said to have suddenly left the
mine
recently.
Matabeleland North
police spokesman Mthokozisi Manzini-Moyo however
said the forced evictions
had not been reported to the police.
He
said: "It hasn't been brought to our
attention."
But opposition party officials
said Theresa Kabondo, the MDC vice
secretary for Matabeleland North, has
already been forced out of the house
she was renting from the
ZMDC.
Kabondo was said to have fled to
Bulawayo, about 300 kilometres from
the mine complex, without some of her
property.
Sansole told the Financial
Gazette: "The vice secretary (Kabondo) has
been evicted. She is somewhere in
Bulawayo. Other people are being removed
everyday. In my case, the youth
brigade came and told me that they had been
asked by their superior to remove
me.
"I refused and have since asked my
lawyer to oppose my illegal
eviction, which is being done haphazardly and at
short notice."
The MP said the house from
which Kabondo was evicted had been
allocated to a known ZANU PF
supporter.
Sansole added: "My house has
been earmarked for a teacher at St
Theresa Primary School. He came here and
said he had already paid rent. I
refused to let him occupy the house as I had
instructed my lawyers over the
issue.
"I am also not in the area where the government wants to open the
training
centre for the youths."
The government has
said it plans to open one of the country's largest
national youth service
training centres at the disused mine complex, which
has the capacity to house
nearly 2 000 people.
But tenants who are
being evicted by youth militia say their houses
are not in the vicinity of
the proposed training centre.
FinGaz
Journalists detained
in Byo
Staff
Reporter
1/30/03 10:18:11 AM (GMT
+2)
BULAWAYO - Two American journalists
and a local news photographer
covering Zimbabwe's food shortages were
detained by police here on Tuesday,
after they were found taking pictures of
empty Grain Marketing Board
(GMB)
silos.
The journalists - Dina
Kraft of Associated Press (AP), Jason Beaubien,
the Africa correspondent for
Nation Public Radio in the United States, and
Tsvangirai Mukwazhi, a local
freelance photographer on assignment for AP,
were detained for almost seven
hours.
Also detained with the journalists
were Bulawayo city councilor
Charles Mpofu and his driver, who had
accompanied the three to the GMB depot
on Tuesday
afternoon.
US Embassy spokesman Bruce
Wharton yesterday told the Financial
Gazette that the American journalists
were released with no charges being
laid against
them.
He said: "We have been in contact
with them. They were released about
8:30pm on Tuesday. Their papers were in
order."
The two American journalists
arrived in Zimbabwe last Thursday and
were part of the Press contingent
accompanying World Food Programme (WFP)
head James Morris on a fact-finding
mission.
The WFP is providing emergency
food aid to Zimbabwe, where close to
eight million people are threatened with
starvation because of drought and
controversial government agrarian
reforms.
Though Morris left the country
last Saturday, Kraft and Beaubien were
granted a week by the government to
remain in Zimbabwe.
They were taken into
custody along with Mukhwazhi and Mpofu when they
visited the state-controlled
GMB depot near Bulawayo's Tshabalala
high-density
suburb.
The American journalists are said
to have been accused by the police
of unauthorised entry and taking
photographs at the depot, which the police
allegedly said was a restricted
area.
Mpofu yesterday however said neither
he nor the reporters were aware
that it was an offense to enter and take
pictures in the GMB depot, the
scene of food riots early this
month.
"We were allowed in by depot
security officials," he told the
Financial Gazette. "The journalists sought
to interview GMB officials. If
the place is a no-go area for city fathers and
journalists, the security
should have known better and not allowed us in in
the first place.
"The police detained us
from 1pm up to 8:30pm. During all this time,
we were not allowed to use our
mobile phones. I think the whole thing was a
fuss over nothing because it
transpired the journalists were accredited to
cover the food crisis in the
country."
The detention of the three
journalists follows a similar incident at
the weekend involving five Lutheran
World Federation officials and a local
reporter in Zvhishavane. The LWF
officials, who were said to be on a
humanitarian mission, were arrested on
suspicion of "being
undercover
journalists".
One of the
officials, Kathleen Kastilahn, told the South African Press
Association that
they had been instructed to leave Zimbabwe
yesterday.
"We are checking out of the
hotel and we are going to Harare and being
deported. We are being escorted by
immigration (officials)," she said.
Tough
regulations requiring that foreign journalists seek clearance
from the
government before entering Zimbabwe have made it almost impossible
for
correspondents from countries perceived to be anti-the ruling ZANU PF
to
report on the country.
This has
forced a number of journalists to enter the country
clandestinely without
declaring their intention to gather information on
Zimbabwe's political and
economic crisis
FinGaz
And now to the
notebook . . . .Talk of
falsehoods
1/30/03 9:31:54 AM
(GMT +2)
After carefully explaining that
there was need to provide water and
farming inputs to ensure enough food was
produced by Zimbabwe, United
Nations special envoy for the humanitarian
crisis in southern Africa James
Morris was shocked to read the
state-controlled Herald's interpretation of
his
remarks.
The Herald is always eager to
recruit more backers for the murderous
orgy known as the Third Chimurenga,
also referred to as the fast-track land
reform programme. So, in its strange
wisdom, it chose to interpret Morris'
innocent comments as an unqualified
endorsement of the agrarian reforms.
The
land reform programme, you will be aware, is widely associated
with looting,
murder, rape and extortion on commercial farms by common thugs
calling
themselves war veterans.
Morris, obviously
mistakenly thinking Zimbabweans still take that
government mouthpiece
seriously, had to issue a statement denying ever
telling the Herald that he
had accepted the irreversibility of the
government's chaotic land
reforms.
He said: "The comments in the
Herald were 100 percent lies. I did not
comment as the Herald purportedly
reports in its front page story. It was
gross misrepresentation of the worst
form."
Well, Mr Morris, you could have
kept your mouth literally shut for
your entire stay in Zimbabwe and the
Herald would still have been able to
quote you saying you supported land
reform.
It practises a new type of
revolutionary journalism called "Third
Chimurenga
journalism."
The Herald also interestingly
continually referred to the UN envoy,
whose second name is Thomas, as Tim
Morris. But as Morris himself pointed
out, he does have a 36-year-old son
named Tim.
Maybe that's who the paper was
quoting in its story?
We can't help but
notice Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and Media
Commission chairman
Tafataona Mahoso's silence on the indefensible
falsehoods published by the
Herald. Where is the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act when
we need it most?
A Hutu extremist's
logic
The rather pompous Secretary for
Information, George Charamba, was at
it again last Sunday, trying to lecture
us on what should and should not
constitute
torture.
Commenting on local and
international condemnation of the police's
alleged torture of Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) legislator Job
Sikhala, Charamba
said:
"We dismiss with utter contempt
attempts to treat an isolated
allegation as systematic torture. Torture is
only torture when it is
systematic and carried out with
impunity."
Obviously Charamba is not yet
aware of the reports that say hundreds
of people were tortured in the run-up
to the 2000 parliamentary and 2002
presidential elections, many of them by
so-called war veterans and ZANU
PF
supporters.
Even worse things were
done Charamba, including the murder of MDC
members Talent Mabika and Tichaona
Chiminya, allegedly by that notorious CIO
operative Joseph
Mwale.
And since Charamba seems to believe
the police have the desire and
will to investigate and arrest all suspected
perpetrators of crime, Mukanya
suggests that he advise the police that Mwale
is working for the government
somewhere in Manicaland province, where we
understand he is involved in yet
more violence against MDC
followers.
Also, what have the police done
about the alleged torture of
journalists Ray Choto and the late Mark
Chavunduka by the army four years
ago?
Mukanya is however thankful to Charamba for his comments, which I must
admit
are quite revealing on the government's thinking on issues like
torture and
human rights.
Unless there are mass graves
of torture victims and millions of
Zimbabweans parading around without limbs
that have been hacked off during
torture sessions, then there is no torture
in Zimbabwe.
Readers may remember a
similar situation in Rwanda, where the
butchering by Hutu extremists of
Tutsis was not genocide until nearly half
of the entire Tutsi population and
moderate Hutus were wiped off the face of
the
earth.
Made scores own goal
again
So comrade Doctor Joseph Made wants
to give back land to commercial
farmers "who had their single farms taken" so
they can resume farming?
What, one
wonders, is the point of giving back land to farmers when
the season is
already midway through?
Could it be that
the comrade doctor, well read in agriculture as we
are made to believe he is,
may still not be aware that Zimbabwe's staple
food maize grows well in summer
and not in winter?
Besides, what happened
to the celebrated new farmers who we were told
were ready to take up the A2
commercial farms and shame all those detractors
of the government's reckless
land reform programme?
And comrade doctor,
just out of interest, can you tell us who in the
first place took away land
from the farmers when government policy was
clearly that people owning only
one farm would be allowed to keep it?
Dr
Made, we must admit you continue to baffle
us!
Where was
Grace?
Did First Lady Grace Mugabe attend
the church service held on Monday
this week in the memory of that great
woman, Sally Mugabe?
We checked for Grace
on ZBC, but there was no sign of her lending a
supporting arm to Uncle Bob.
There was also no mention of her in the Herald
story on the memorial service,
which of course had us worried about what
could have possibly happened to
her.
Contrary to what many may think, we
care deeply for our
fashion-conscious First Lady and can only hope and pray
that her absence at
Sally's memorial service was not due to illness or some
other misfortune.
Maybe the Ministry of
Information would care to put our fears to rest.