Dear Family and Friends,
Less than 3 years ago Zimbabwe was a major regional
exporter of food but in January 2002 we are begging international donors for
US$100 million of urgent food aid. This is needed to feed an estimated 2 million
Zimbabweans who experts say will face starvation within the next three weeks.
After almost 2 years of the most extreme policies, harassment, intimidation and
murder of our country's farmers and workers, we have now run out of food. There
are no reserves of the staple maize meal left and 95% of our commercial farms
have been gazetted for state seizure. The Zimbabwe government this week began
publishing the names of people who have been allocated plots of land on the
newly seized farms. By yesterday over 5000 names had been listed and less than
20 of those people have been given Large Scale plots. Most have been given
barely enough land on which to support themselves let alone grow a surplus to
feed 13 million people. Included in these first lists of people whom we are told
are "landless peasants" are the Mayor of the City of Chitungwiza; the Deputy
Minister of Transport; the MP's of Mutoko, Buhera and Hurungwe. Also benefitting
are a number of journalists from the state run Herald newspaper including the
Deputy Editor, the Business Editor, the Features Editor and the Health
Reporter.
I stood dumfounded in a Marondera supermarket
yesterday morning looking at a bag of 4 apples priced at Z$320. I could not
afford to buy them and chose instead an Z$80 weekly newspaper whose front page
story is of the latest government pay rises. All Zimbabwe's uniformed forces
have been awarded a 100% pay rise effective from the 1st of January. This
includes police, army, air force, prison service workers and war veterans (the
latter now fall under the Ministry of Defence).
Stringing a few facts together paints a bleak but
blatantly obvious picture of a government willing to do anything to stay in
power, a government who does not care about her people: Presidential elections
are due in 8-10 weeks time; 95% of farms have been re-allocated to "landless
peasants"; uniformed forces and war veterans are awarded a 100% pay rise; 2
million people are less than a month away from starvation; citizenship laws have
been changed; 300 000 farm workers are about to be jobless and destitute;
electoral and media laws are about to be changed; 5 Judges have left the benches
in the last eight months; 100 000 people have been displaced internally because
of violence; 90 people have been murdered for their political beliefs. It is an
abysmal situation and we are completely powerless to do anything about it. We
cannot turn to the police or army. We cannot look to the courts. We cannot
petition our MP's. Next week when when the new Public Order and Security Bill
passes through parliament we will not even be able to speak out. We cannot look
to our regional neighbours for assistance because they have decided that it is
not politically correct to condemn a dictator. Even when the currencies of
massively powerful countries like South Africa have dropped to lowest ever
levels because of the crisis in Zimbabwe, their leaders continue to pussy foot
around for fear of being labelled racists or colonialists.
I can only say God Help us. This week two farm
workers were beaten to death in Wedza by militant farm invaders. I have been
unable to get their names but grieve with their family and friends. I hope that
next week I will still be legally allowed to write this letter but am not
optimistic. As always my thanks for your support and encouragement. With love,
cathy. http://africantears.netfirms.com
Daily News
Settlers evict farm workers
1/5/02 12:35:41 PM (GMT
+2)Staff Reporter
Settlers on Chobeni Farm in the Tengwe
farming area of Karoi district have
evicted 21 farm workers’ families from
their homes and barred all work on
the coffee farm, demanding compensation
from the farmer for belongings they
claim were destroyed when a settler’s hut
was burnt down.
The settlers, who number about nine families,
accused farmer Jeff Kockott of
setting fire to the hut last Saturday.
But
Kockott denied the allegation, saying he had only heard about the
incident
from his workers when he returned from Harare on Monday afternoon.
The fire
was apparently caused by a child left alone in a hut by the
settlers. Kockott
has refused to pay the unspecified compensation,
describing the demand as
extortion. He said he had not even asked the
settlers how much they wanted
because it was none of his business. Kockott
said: “I refuse to compensate
for something I was not responsible for.”
He said the hut had apparently
been burnt down on Saturday morning. However,
he had not heard anything about
the incident as he was busy with his workers
elsewhere on the farm. He said
he had still not heard about it when he left
the farm for Harare on Sunday.
Kockott said that he called the police when
he returned on Monday and
arranged a meeting on the farm with the settlers
on Wednesday afternoon. On
Tuesday, the settlers complained that their huts
could not stand the
rains.
They broke the lock to the barn and one of them moved in. At about
11.30am
on Wednesday the settlers evicted the workers and their families from
their
houses. Kockott said so far meetings with the settlers, together with
war
veterans, the police and the district administrator, had proved to
be
pointless as the settlers and war veterans kept demanding
compensation.
Kockott was also accused of refusing to co-operate.
They
declared that they had now taken over his farm. He said that while
there were
about 150 people at a meeting over the issue on Thursday, there
were not more
than nine families who had settled themselves on the farm and
some of them
only turned up at weekends.
He said the settlers had cut fences and
driven his cattle out.
From ZWNEWS, 5 JanuaryLand a double-edged
swordDetermined to claim victory in presidential elections due in
March,
President Robert Mugabe is using seized land as a double edged
political
sword - both to reward supporters and to punish suspected
political
opponents, whether they be once-wealthy white or black commercial
farmers or
farm workers.Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri,
who has been instrumental in turning
the police force into an arm of Mugabe's
Zanu PF party, last month grabbed a
farm owned by a white farmer, Mark
Butler, in the Shamva district,
announcing he had been allocated the property
"like anyone else." Butler,
like all white farmers, was a target. In
addition, government supporters
torch homes of farm workers; a black
commercial farmer, Philemon Matibe, a
candidate for the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change in national
elections in 2000, was evicted from his
farm in Chegutu last June.
Self-styled war veterans and dozens of other
violent Mugabe supporters
looted goods worth millions of dollars before
driving off the Matibe family.
The government promised to compensate Matibe
for the loss of his farm, but
did not do so.Recently, Guy
Watson-Smith, chairman of the Commercial Farmers' Union in
Mashonaland East
province, fled to South Africa after retired army general
Solomon Mujuru
ordered him off his tobacco and cattle farm, Alamein, 70 kms
outside Harare.
A judge ruled that Watson-Smith can reclaim his property
which includes
cattle, six tractors and two motor vehicles. Meanwhile,
Mujuru, a former Zanu
PF member of Parliament, reportedly owns three other
farms. The seizures by
Chihuri and Mujuru were in line with the government
practice dating back to
the 1980s of giving former white-owned farms to
party bigwigs. The handovers
to members of the governing elite were cited by
Britain and other Western
donors as a prime reason for cutting off aid for
what was supposed to be a
land reform programme involving compensation to
owners and the supply of
training, seeds, fertilizers and general
infrastructure to resettled landless
blacks.None of this has happened. And since Mugabe instigated the
current wave of
land invasions in February 2000 after losing a constitutional
referendum,
the resulting chaos, violence and plummeting agricultural output
is part of
a blatant political exercise. Recently, the government published a
list of
1,000 new landowners who have been given seized farms. The list, the
start
of what the government says will be 100,000 names, included senior Zanu
PF
officials. "The land issue is only being used as a tool to deal with
people
opposed to Zanu PF," MDC Secretary General Welshman Ncube complained
during
a recent visit by SADC government ministers. For example, the
government
stipulated that single-ownership farms, and farms with high
export
earnings - known as Export Processing Zones - would be
exempt.That hasn't stopped Charleswood Estate, owned by
coffee-producer Roy Bennet,
the MDC member of Parliament for Chimanimani,
being listed for compulsory
acquisition. Bennet, a white who is a popular
figure among the black
community in his district, has long been a Zanu PF
target. He fled
Charleswood in May last year after after horders of Zanu PF
supporters
invaded the estate. But he returned, and defeated a Zanu PF
candidate in the
election. In September 2000 Charleswood was given Export
Processing Zone
status, and Bennet with two foreign companies, trading as
McKinnon Africa,
invested Zimbabwe $350 million in a coffee project. Then
Mugabe's Public
Works and National Housing Minister Ignatious Chomo showed
up, accompanied
by Manicaland Provincial Governnor Oppah Muchinguri and war
veterans, and
order that Charleswood be pegged for resettlement. Bennet hangs
on and the
politics get more blatant. His house has now been allocated to the
Zanu PF
candidate, Munacho Mutezo, who he defeated in the national
elections."Zanu PF is violating its won criteria on the altar of
expediency. They are
breaking their own laws and rules to punish the MDC
members," said Ncube.
Across the country, the land victimisation continues.
For example, in
November a mob descended on Leon van der Merwe's Romana farm
in Karoi and
set fire to farm workers' houses. Van der Merwe said the attack
was led by a
war veteran named Tim Sticha who had said the farmer was
involved in
politics. Zanu PF maintains that, if elected, MDC President
Morgan
Tsvangirai would remove resettled farmers from seized land allocated
to
them. But the MDC says the party would institute a national land
"audit.''
"A land commission will unravel problems associated with the land
reforms.
The issue has never been about reversibility but a transparent and
fair
exercise," said Ncube.
VOA
.
Zimbabwe: Another Opposition Member Killed
VOA News
5 Jan
2002 15:22 UTCZimbabwe's main opposition party says another of its
members has been killed
by backers of the ruling party - the fifth to die in
the past two weeks.
Members of the Opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party say
militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe killed
MDC Rambisai Nyika in
the city of Gokwe December 24. The independent
newspaper The Daily News
reports that police have arrested 12 ruling Zanu-PF
party youths in
connection with the killing.
Meanwhile, an MDC
spokesman says ruling party militants attacked the home of
an opposition
member of parliament in Chitungwiza Friday evening. The
Reuters news service
reports militants also attacked the party's
Chitungwiza
headquarters.
MDC party leader Morgan Tsvangirai said
Friday that Zimbabwe was teetering
on the brink of civil war because of the
violent actions of
government-trained militias. Mr. Tsvangirai said the
militants are
responsible for the deaths of four other opposition members
over the past
two weeks. He says the gangs have also beaten opposition
members and
destroyed homes. There was no immediate government reaction to
the latest
charges. But Zanu-PF has denied it is mounting an intimidation
campaign
ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in March.
Daily News
Zanu PF fears defeat
1/5/02 11:51:59 AM (GMT
+2)By Pedzisai Ruhanya
ZANU PF has admitted it may lose this
year’s presidential election to the
MDC if rampant corruption by its top
leadership and factionalism are not
halted immediately.
The
party has also conceded it would lose the Harare mayoral and
council
elections if corruption by its Harare executive was not curbed.
A
confidential Zanu PF central committee report presented to delegates at
last
month’s fifth national conference of the party in Victoria Falls has
a
submission by the party’s security department which reads:
“Corrupt
leaders within the party are seriously endangering and eroding the
party’s
fortunes in the forthcoming presidential election.
“As the security
department of the party we remain seriously concerned by
the allegations of
rampant corruption in the Harare provincial executive,
where leaders who
should lead by example now indulge in criminal activities.
The party should
urgently restructure the Harare provincial executive to
redeem the party in
Harare and, therefore, improve its chances,” the
report said.
The
former ambassador to Cuba, Amos Midzi, is the Harare province chairman,
while
the self-styled “commander of farm invasions” and an attempted
murder
defendant, Joseph Chinotimba, is the political commissar.
The
report said there were differences in the Harare executive which would
not
help the party if mayoral and council elections were to be held.
“A very
strong character should be sought to lead the Harare province. If
Harare
mayoral elections are to be held under the current executive
without
something dramatic having happened in Harare, then we will lose
Harare to
the opposition,” the report said.
The security department
said
party officials should immediately desist from meeting British
officials and
intelligence officers without clearance from the party’s
foreign
affairs department. The 89-page report said that Zanu PF should
take
advantage of the growing demand for resettlement, seize
the
opportunity “and make sufficient political mileage” if it was to win
the
March presidential election. “If Zanu PF wants to win the next
presidential
election all ministries should perform beyond people’s
expectations.
Government ministries are the delivery agencies of the party,”
the report
said.
The central committee warned that non-performing
provincial executives
should be warned, cautioned and those unrepentant
should be expelled and
replaced by newly-elected people before the campaign
for the presidential
election begins.
The party threatened a complete
overhaul of the Registrar-General’s Office
if it did not follow orders. “The
Registrar-General’s Office needs a
deliberate move to restructure or disband
the institution,” said the report.
It said Mashonaland East was the best
organised province with a properly
functional commissariat. If all provinces
were to follow their example, then
Zanu PF would achieve a resounding
victory. “Their political activities are
properly planned and the deployment
of vigilant groups at most growth points
throughout the province to provide
security to the locals has built people’s
confidence in the party. “The
deployment of army details and youths down to
constituency level will even
enhance their mass mobilisation activities,”
the report noted. The report
attacked the Mashonaland West province
executive led by Philip Chiyangwa for
failing to perform its duties. “The
new provincial chairman promised to unite
the people of Mashonaland West
province during his term of office. This
province has not been doing much in
terms of restructuring and mass
mobilisation.
“The executive, since it took office, only met as a
co-ordinating committee
once, while other provinces have met more than six
times. This goes to show
how uncommitted the leadership is to party issues,”
the report said. The
report said Zanu PF was concerned with factionalism in
Masvingo province
where there are two factions, one led by Eddison Zvobgo and
the other by
Josaya Hungwe, the governor, who is backed by Vice-President
Simon Muzenda.
It said Zanu PF lost to Alois Chaimiti of the MDC in the
mayoral election
because the Zvobgo faction supported Femius Chakabuda, an
independent
candidate.
“This monster, if not properly addressed, would
cost the party the
presidential election. The issue of factionalism in
Masvingo needs to be
addressed if Masvingo is to become a one-party province
again. The issue of
factionalism in Masvingo should be resolved before the
presidential election
in 2002,” the central committee said.
A report
for Matabeleland province accused the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO)
of failing to stop MDC activities in Binga and Lupane,
and expressed its
opposition to the Catholic Commission for Justice and
Peace in Zimbabwe
distributing food in the area.
“Several reports were made to the CIO and
party officials, but no action has
been taken. Whites fleeing from the farms
are flocking to Binga and have
occupied most of the banks of the Zambezi
denying local fishermen access to
the lake by enforcing the law of
trespassing.
“Party inaction to important issues will cost the party dearly
if not
corrected immediately,” the report said.
The report revealed that
Zanu PF raised $14 428 659,90 from the sale of
cards and subscriptions from
the party’s 10 provinces between January and
December last
year.
Mashonaland Central province led with $5 249 621, while
Matabeleland North
had the least amount of $253 560.
It said that the
Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe Nominees had offered to write
off $6 million from
the current loan owed of
$16 million, provided Zanu PF paid a lump sum of $10
million all at once.
Daily News
Villagers accuse Zanu PF of killing Madziwa
teacher
1/5/02 12:04:37 PM (GMT +2)By Pedzisai
Ruhanya
VILLAGERS in Madziwa in Shamva district of Mashonaland Central
province on
Thursday alleged that Zanu PF supporters and war veterans
attacked and
killed a school teacher identified only as Jena at Nyamaropa
primary school
on New Year’s eve after accusing him of attacking them before
he defected to
their party.
Enias Mutsaunobaya, 58, of
Kamujariwa village in Chief Mutumba’s area had
his kitchen razed to the
ground while the doors of his main house were
destroyed.
He said Jena had
belonged to the MDC before defecting to Zanu PF after being
threatened by the
war veterans.
Mutsaunobaya alleged that about 200 Zanu PF supporters raided
the village on
31 December and attacked people they accused of supporting the
MDC.
He said the same group then went to Madziwa township where they had
an
argument with Jena before they killed him.
“We were told that he was
stabbed with a knife on the neck. He was taken to
Madziwa hospital and later
transferred to Bindura where he died.”
Jena was buried in Nyamaropa on
Thursday.
Two trucks carrying Zanu PF supporters were on Thursday seen going
to Jena’s
funeral when The Daily News visited the area to investigate the
incident.
Mutsaunobaya said detectives from Bindura visited the area and
recorded
statements from the villagers but no one was arrested.
Police in
Bindura refused to comment on the incidents of arson and Jena’s
murder.
A
policeman at Bindura said Dawson Mahonde, the police spokesperson
for
Mashonaland Central province would be in a position to assist but
he
(Mahonde) was said to be out of office.
In another case, Tapera
Macheka, the MDC chairman for Mashonaland Central
province and 10 other party
activists were on Thursday arrested by the
Bindura police.
Ironically,
they were picked up after they were attacked and assaulted by
Zanu PF
supporters. The policeman refused to say what charges Macheka and
his
colleagues would face. Joseph Mashinya, the MDC district chairman for
Shamva,
said Macheka and the other nine MDC officials were arrested around 4
am when
the police raided their houses, accusing them of assaulting Zanu PF
officials
the previous day.
“It was surprising that the police chose to arrest MDC
supporters when they
were the victims of Zanu PF attacks,” Mashinya
said.
He said Zanu PF supporters moved around the town assaulting known
MDC
supporters for reporting their colleagues to the police for
allegedly
killing Trymore Midzi, the MDC youth vice-chairman for Mashonaland
Central
province.
Five windows at Macheka’s flat in the town where
smashed. “Macheka was not
even involved but the police have decided to arrest
him together with other
victims of the attack, leaving Zanu PF supporters to
continue with their
evil activities,” Mashinya said.
Tafadzwa
Mutsaunobaya, 32 was assaulted with chains when the Zanu PF
supporters
attacked Kamujariwa village. His body was swollen and blistered.
Robson
Chikuma, 32, of the same village, had the asbestos roofing at his
house
destroyed while his kitchen was burnt to the ground.
Chikuma alleged that
four of his chickens were burnt in the fowl run and the
assailants got away
with his goat.
Mutsaunobaya and Chikuma said detectives visited their homes
and recorded
statements from them.
They said the Zanu PF supporters
visited their homes wearing MDC T-shirts
and chanted the opposition party’s
slogans to lure them out of their houses
before attacking
them.
Daily News
Civic groups warn of chaos
1/5/02 12:02:30 PM (GMT
+2)From Our Correspondent in Bulawayo
Civilian protests that
rocked Zambia after the Movement for Multi-Party
Democracy (MMD)’s slim
victory in the presidential election could occur in
Zimbabwe if Zanu PF tries
to retain power fraudulently, two civic
organisations warned
yesterday.
There were 11 presidential candidates but the MMD’s
Levy Mwanawasa, outgoing
President Frederick Chiluba’s anointed heir, won the
election. The National
Constitutional Assembly’s regional chairman for
Matabeleland, Felix Mafa,
said: “There are a lot of lessons to be drawn from
the Zambian election,
chief among them being the need for an opposition
coalition and a growing
need for a transparent electoral process free from
the preying hand of the
ruling party.”
Zambian opposition parties are
to challenge the results in court, citing a
flawed electoral process and
accusing the MMD of massive rigging.
Mafa said: “I find it absurd for Zambian
opposition parties to establish a
coalition after the elections because they
would have defeated the MMD with
a huge vote, rigging or no rigging.” Jethro
Mpofu, a co-director of the
civic group, Bulawayo Dialogue, said while it was
necessary to have a
coalition, it should be noted that such a set-up would
probably be an
affront to democracy and the multi-party political system
concept.
He said: “Zimbabweans will not accept a result which retains
Zanu PF. The
people don’t want that party and it cannot win in a free and
fair poll. No
magic can make it popular.”
Daily NewsSikhala says MDC youths ready to defend
constituency
1/5/02 12:02:00 PM (GMT +2)By Collin
Chiwanza
Job Sikhala, the MDC MP for St Mary’s, yesterday warned Zanu
PF’s militia,
masquerading as the youth brigade on a national service
mission, not to
enter his constituency as that could lead to a physical
confrontation with
MDC youths.
The warning came after the
ruling party unleashed rowdy groups of uniformed
militia, products of the
Border Gezi Youth Training Centre in Mount Darwin,
on Chitungwiza yesterday.
They terrorised residents going about their normal
business at Chikwanha and
Makoni shopping centres and assaulted people who
failed to produce Zanu PF
membership cards. They arrived in the town in the
early hours of the morning,
pretending to be undertaking community service.
The residents said the
militia began harassing passers-by, demanding they
produce Zanu PF membership
cards and accusing them of supporting Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC
president.
One victim, Mary Masamvu, said: “Two youths in green uniform
approached me
as I was walking to a nearby vegetable market. They asked me
for my Zanu PF
membership card and I told them that I had left it at home.
Before I had
finished explaining, one of them slapped me on the cheek. They
told me never
to move about without the card again.”
At Makoni shopping
centre, members of the militia beat up residents even as
late as yesterday
evening.
The Zanu PF-sponsored militia have attacked residents in
Kuwadzana, Ruwa,
Mabvuku, Budiriro, Mufakose, Glen Norah and
Highfield.
The youths would be trained in Chindunduma, Mount Darwin and other
centres.
Sikhala said: “We will defend our people. As a party, we have
already
started mobilising our people to fight the intruders. Our agenda is
not to
pursue a violent path, but we will protect all the
residents.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, yesterday demanded
the
immediate withdrawal of Zanu PF militia.
He said the youths,
trained under the guise of a national service, were
being used to terrorise
their own parents. Tsvangirai said: “The militias
have been at the forefront
of terror activities that have resulted in the
death of four MDC members in
the last 10 days. The militia have also been
involved in the wanton attack of
innocent people and the destruction of
homes in both rural and urban areas.”
Tsvangirai said he regarded the
terrorist activities of the Zanu PF militia
as a serious violation of human
rights. He said the MDC would now appeal to
the International Court of
Justice in The Hague for intervention. The
continued terror comes amid
reports that Zanu PF has started training 2 000
youths from each province.
Zanu PF sources said yesterday the party had come
up with a grand scheme to
train the youths to beef up the numbers from the
Border Gezi Training Centre
The sources said the youths would be trained for
15 days before being let
loose in different parts of the country.
RBZ Warned Forex Rule Could Kill Interest in PropertyFinancial
Gazette (Harare)
January 4, 2002
Posted to the web January 4,
2002
Staff ReporterA GOVERNMENT directive banning the
Zimbabwean property market from quoting
property prices and rentals in
foreign currency could seriously dampen
interest in the industry which
recorded strong activity throughout last
year, real estate agents said this
week.
The estate agents, many of whom have been quoting and collecting
property
prices and rents in Untied States dollars and British pounds, said
they fear
that the central bank directive could reduce interest in the
sector.
"This whole thing has to do with inflation. If the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) wants to deal with this problem, it first must put
inflation under
control. Without this, prices will still be quoted in US
dollars as there
will be no confidence in the market," a property negotiator
at a leading
Harare estate firm told the Financial Gazette this
week.
He said if the directive is strictly enforced, it may slow down
interest in
the sector as investors move on to other sectors.
The
Estate Agents Council recently advised its members that the RBZ is
against
the habit of quoting property prices and rentals in hard cash, which
has
become rampant.
Some estate agents and individuals only quote property
prices and rentals in
hard currencies but are paid in the local currency,
while others both quote
and collect the prices and rents in these steady
foreign currencies.
The RBZ directive follows complaints from members of
the public who say they
are being ripped off by buying properties and paying
rents at parallel
market rates, which are far higher than the fixed value of
the Zimbabwe
dollar against most major currencies.
Stanley Usayi, a
registered estate agent with a Harare property firm, said
with the shortage
of hard cash, it would be difficult to send rentals to
property owners living
abroad if the rentals are collected in local
currency.
"At times we
manage property for absentee landlords to whom we have to send
their rents in
foreign currency. If the rentals are paid in local currency,
we will not be
able to send the money over to them," he said.
Usayi said the reason why
property owners quoted prices and rents in foreign
currency is to hedge their
investments against Zimbabwe's runaway inflation
that continues to erode real
returns.
Zimbabwe's annual inflation is 103.8 percent and is still
rising.
"At the rate at which things are going up, some landlords may be
forced to
revise their rentals after every month or two if they are going to
maintain
their returns so they would rather quote the rents in US dollars,"
he said.
Lucas Magorimbo, another agent, said the current investor
interest in the
local property market is being driven by Zimbabweans in the
diaspora who
find property prices to be low. He said the RBZ directive, if
enforced,
might deter interest in the sector.
MSNBC
Zimbabwe mob attacks office, MP's home -opposition
HARARE,
Jan. 5 — Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Saturday accused youths
loyal to
President Robert Mugabe of attacking one of its offices and the
home of a
legislator as violence increased ahead of presidential elections
set for
March.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) also accused the
government
of ''crude propaganda'' for reporting on Friday that some MDC
officials were
taking up land seized from white farmers under Mugabe's
controversial land
reform programme.
The MDC said about 300 youths
from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party attacked
its headquarters in Chitungwiza at
sunset on Friday, injuring several
people.
It said the youths, in
the sprawling town neighbouring the capital
Harare, had been armed with guns,
axes, stones and clubs.
MDC information secretary Learnmore Jongwe
said in a statement that
the mob had fired several bullets into the air over
the office and the home
of MDC member of parliament Fidelis Mhashu, which he
said had been besieged
for more than 90 minutes.
Mhashu told
Reuters he had been at home with his family, but nobody
had been injured in
the attack. ''They smashed windows with stones and clubs
but they did not try
to break into the house,'' he said.
''They were singing and chanting
ZANU-PF songs and slogans and I
think, for yesterday, their intention was to
announce to us in this
constituency that they will not allow us to campaign
against Mugabe,'' he
added.
Police said on Saturday they were
investigating the MDC report that
ZANU-PF youth brigades were on a terror
campaign in Chitungwiza.
MDC DENIES OFFICIALS SEEKING LAND
In a
separate statement, Jongwe said no MDC officials had sought
farmland under
Mugabe's land reform programme.
He said the government was including
the names of some opposition
officials on a ''dirty list it began publishing
earlier this week as part of
a crude and desperate propaganda
campaign.''
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused ZANU-PF on Friday of
using a
militia trained under the guise of a national youth training service
to
terrorise the opposition ahead of the presidential vote.
Tsvangirai, who poses the biggest challenge to Mugabe since the
77-year-old
former guerrilla leader came to power in 1980, said four MDC
members had been
killed by ZANU-PF ''shock troops'' in the past 10 days.
MDC
secretary-general Welshman Ncube said on Saturday a fifth MDC
member,
Rambisai Nyika, had died in the northern Gokwe district on December
24 when
ZANU-PF militants crushed her head and ribs.
ZANU-PF has denied that
it is mounting a campaign to intimidate
voters and the opposition ahead of
the polls.
Mugabe -- who calls the MDC a front for Western interests
-- says he
will win the election on his record as a liberation fighter and
defender of
the rights of Zimbabwe's black majority.
The MDC says
the recent killing of its five members has brought to 88
the number of
opposition activists and supporters killed since February
2000. Ncube said on
Saturday at least 100 MDC supporters had been murdered
in the last two
years.
Daily News
Former dissidents unleash terror in Nkayi
1/4/02
8:54:14 AM (GMT +2)From Mduduzi Mathuthu in Bulawayo
NKAYI
district, about 160km north of Bulawayo, is reliving its violent
past
following a new wave of terror unleashed by militant backers of
President
Mugabe, made up of pardoned former dissidents.
Nkayi
was terrorised by the 5 Brigade during the Gukurahundi massacres of
the early
1980s when Mugabe sent troops to hunt down armed dissidents
opposed to his
rule after independence. The troops killed more than 20 000
civilians, mostly
supporters of Dr Joshua Nkomo’s PF-Zapu. On New Year’s
Eve, the former
dissidents, camped on the 79-hectare plot of a crumbling
co-operative known
as Sifisosikazulu, held several travellers along the
Nkayi-Bulawayo road
hostage, demanding proof of their membership of Zanu PF.
Several people were
attacked, some of them seriously, when they refused to
buy Zanu PF cards
being sold at illegal roadblocks mounted by the former
dissidents, who have
now been incorporated into the Zanu PF campaign
brigade.
One such
roadblock was at Lonely Mine, about 90km outside Bulawayo along the
Nkayi
road. Several people were attacked by the former dissidents. Abednico
Bhebhe,
the Member of Parliament for Nkayi (MDC) and the party’s elections
director,
Paul-Themba Nyathi, said on Wednesday the former dissidents had
instilled
fear among villagers in violent incidents reminiscent of the
Gukurahundi
era.
Bhebhe, himself attacked by the former dissidents late last year, said:
“The
police have failed to act against the escalating repression in this
area. We
expect the situation to deteriorate.”
Daily News
Everything Zanu PF touches turns to disaster
1/4/02
9:18:59 AM (GMT +2)By Phil Hlohla
THE land issue in Zimbabwe
means different things to different people. To
the unpopular Zanu PF
government, this is an issue solely about
political
survival.
But to the urban dwellers who are unhappy
with 21 years of corruption and
mismanagement, this is an irrelevant issue
designed to boost support for
President
Mugabe.
To the naive rural
area subsistence farmer, this is the opportunity to get
back what was taken
from their forefathers. To the academics and outsiders,
this is a recipe for
disaster.
It is common knowledge that Zanu PF and/or Mugabe are bankrupt of
fresh
ideas to steer the economy to prosperity. Everything they have touched
has
turned to disaster.
Co-operatives, parastatals and all other
government-run enterprises have all
collapsed. What has thrived under Zanu PF
leadership is violence,
corruption, mismanagement of the economy and
suppression of the truth.
Zanu PF cannot and will not apply an acceptable
land redistribution method
to benefit the whole nation. There is no evidence
that the Zanu PF
government succeeded in doing anything without an element of
corruption,
nepotism or regionalism.
When the land issue became
attractive to the rural people, the Zanu PF
propaganda machine seized the
opportunity and came up with a ruthless way of
gaining political mileage from
people’s hopes.
Unemployed thugs and the gullible youths were enticed
with money; the war
veterans’ brigade was born. The war veterans are indeed
salaried Zanu
PF/government employees whose job is very easy: to damage
property, and even
kill or beat up innocent people who differ from the
irrational thinking of
the power-hungry Zanu PF elite.
These war
veterans don’t care about farming. They are not fighting for any
land rights;
they are being used like garden tools, to do the dirty work of
others. They
don’t care about the imminent hunger and starvation staring at
us.
The
urban dwellers are sick and tired of subsidising Zanu PF’s careless
spending.
The land issue is not going to bring any noticeable changes to
their
lives.
What they know is that Zanu PF will not hesitate to impose a
direct tax to
finance their illegal activities.
During the June 2000
parliamentary election, the urban dwellers protested by
voting for the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
This did not go down very well with
Zanu PF who did not think twice about
“correcting” the thinking of these
“ungrateful” urban dwellers.The Zanu PF government does not see the
link between its unpopularity and
the urban decay. This clearly shows that
the Zanu PF leaders are out of
touch with reality.
The independent
media is now being blamed for enlightening the people. All
that newspapers
such as The Daily News, The Financial Gazette, The
Independent and The
Standard have done is to tell the truth.
But to Zanu PF, this is not
acceptable. They want the truth to die a natural
death. Anyone who tells the
truth should be eliminated. Any newspaper which
reports the truth should be
destroyed.
The Daily News printing press was bombed to the disgust of
every
right-thinking person in the world. The editors of these newspapers
have
been in and out of police stations just to show the country and the
world
that freedom of speech is non-existent in Zimbabwe.
Independent
journalists who don’t toe the Zanu PF line are all branded
traitors,
sponsored by foreigners, with the intention of destabilising
Zimbabwe. This
is very sad.
A piece of land will not help an urban dweller. The effect
of Zanu PF’s
moment of madness was to cause galloping inflation, company
closures, rent
and rates increases.
This makes the land issue the
cause of the current economic hardship faced
by the urban
dwellers.
Today the passport office is besieged by Zimbabweans trying to
flee the
country for greener pastures.
These people are not taking
rural buses to claim a piece of land to engage
in farming. They are not
interested in farming.
Turning the whole country into a farm is not only
impracticable, but is
ridiculous and shows lack of basic common
sense.
Chief Jonathan Mangwende raised a very important point which
people did not
take seriously. The chief expressed his reservations over the
way the land
reform programme is being implemented.
In his
observation, the rural areas are still densely populated, despite
the
government’s claim that thousands of families have been resettled on
the
acquired farms.
This is a serious indictment of Zanu PF. If the
land is not going to the
intended beneficiaries, where exactly is it
going?
The rural people will never benefit from this ad hoc fast-track
land
redistribution.
The government can and will indeed put people on
commercial farms, but is
that what the people fought for?
Being dumped
on a commercial farm without financial support, basic
infrastructure, proper
agricultural supervision surely cannot and will never
constitute land
redistribution.
To me, it is being plunged into even more economic
problems.
The rural people need to know that Zanu PF has never considered
their
problems seriously. How many highways, clinics, bridges, dams and
schools
were built by the Zanu PF government?
Most of the new
infrastructure was built by non-governmental organisations.
Zanu PF was not
ashamed to claim that it was their effort and generosity.
This is very
sad. People in rural areas are fed such lies and propaganda
that it is
nauseating to think about it.
The land they were promised during the
armed struggle and after independence
will never come.
What they will
get are lame excuses and how “evil” the MDC is. They will
soon be shown
propaganda films of how the country will fall back into the
hands of
“oppressors” disguised as the MDC.
In the history of Africa not even one
country was recolonised after
independence was granted. The whites on these
farms are Zimbabweans.
They have rights which we vowed to protect in our
Constitution. At
independence Mugabe guaranteed security and peace for the
minority whites.
True, there are a few arrogant ones, but is beating them
up the way to
redress land imbalances?
Is it not correct that the
State has got resources to take care of any
culprits within the laws of the
land? Why send thugs to rape, torture and
even kill them?
The
academics are not surprised by Mugabe’s move. Zanu PF ran out of tricks
and
ideas to garner fading public support. Closing beer halls, churches
and
stores, and forcing people to attend Zanu PF meetings causes resentment
of
Zanu PF.
All the panicking, killing, politicisation of the police,
the army and even
the civil service is an attempt to plug any loopholes which
may lead to loss
of power. It is too late.
Most civil servants, police
officers and even soldiers have had enough of
Zanu PF: they want
change.
Land is a scarce resource and people should not be allowed to
play politics
with it.
Daily News
Land invaders in court for violence
1/4/02 8:49:43 AM
(GMT +2)From Zerubabel Mudzingwa in Gweru
THIRTY-three Zanu
PF land occupiers appeared at the Gweru Magistrates’ Court
on Wednesday
facing charges of public violence, following clashes with
former employees at
Edwards Farm in Shurugwi last Friday.
They were denied bail by
magistrate Thompson Militao and remanded in custody
to 16 January. The court
heard that property worth $274 000 was destroyed
when the supporters, led by
Shurugwi district war veterans’ leader, Lovemore
Sakahuwa alias “Gunpowder”,
descended on the former farm workers’ shacks,
accusing them of being
illegally settled. Sakahuwa is the Zanu PF provincial
youth secretary and is
employed as a development officer in the Ministry of
Youth, Gender and
Employment Creation. The farm was occupied and
subsequently designated for
resettlement in October 2000 under the
government’s fast-track resettlement
programme.
The State alleges that Sakahuwa ganged up with Zanu PF
supporters involved
in illegal gold panning activities at Boterekwa Mountains
and attacked the
former farm workers.
Daily News
Harare airport security officers, porters accused of stealing
from luggage
1/4/02 8:47:23 AM (GMT +2)By Conrad Nyamutata
Chief Reporter
SECURITY officers and porters at the new Harare
International Airport are
reported to be stealing from luggage brought in by
tourists and people
arriving from abroad.
Officers at the
baggage clearance point have been accused of opening bags
while the
unsuspecting owners wait for the luggage.
Sharon Muchapa, 27, says she lost
four mobile phones at the airport on
Saturday, after she arrived from Britain
on a British Airways flight “I
surrendered the luggage for clearance,” she
said. “When the luggage reached
me at the other end, I found the lock on the
bag broken. Four cellphones
worth £120 (Z$9 600) each were missing.” Muchapa
said she complained to the
British Airways and airport authorities. She also
reported the theft at the
police post. “The security and aviation managers
were all unhelpful and even
protective of possible culprits.”
Muchapa’s
relative, Brian Kashangura, said the airport authorities could not
explain
how the mobile phones went missing.
Kashangura, a former policeman, said
a security officer at the airport told
him numerous reports of thefts had
been received at the new terminal. But
the airport authorities were
half-hearted in their investigations, raising
suspicion, he said. Sources at
the airport said tourists had become the main
victims of the organised
thefts. Recently, a tourist is said to have lost a
camera after his luggage
had been cleared. “Many cases go unreported,” said
the source. “Some tourists
discover that their goods are missing while they
are still here. “They report
to the authorities, but nothing is recovered.
Some notice their property is
missing after leaving the airport.” Karikoga
Kaseke, the chief executive
officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of
Zimbabwe, confirmed reports of
missing items. He said last December,
airlines received 12 complaints from
passengers.
“But it is not correct that the items are always lost at this
airport,” said
Kaseke. “For instance, all the 12 complaints in December came
from people
who had arrived from Johannesburg. Now, that raises suspicion
when it
involves one airport.
“The loading airport could be
responsible, and the receiving airport could
also be responsible.” He said
his department was unaware of the theft of
Muchapa’s mobile phones. But
Muchapa insisted she confronted all senior
officials at the airport. “The
problem is that they want to protect each
other,” she said. “But I am not
going to rest until I get to the bottom of
the matter. I am 200 percent
certain it happened here.
“It appears that there are senior people benefiting
from these acts.” Kaseke
said: “My department has not received such a
complaint. So we cannot comment
on it because it is unofficial. “But let me
say that the tolerance of crime
at this airport is zero. Once we catch any of
our staff tampering with
luggage, they will be fired on the spot.
“We
are not saying we don’t have people who tamper with luggage. We have
fired
such people in the past. This is a new airport and we are
introducing new
conditions.”
The new airport became operational late last year.
Daily News
Villagers flee homes
1/4/02 8:41:04 AM (GMT
+2)From Our Correspondent in Zvishavane
MOVEMENT for
Democratic Change supporters in rural Mberengwa have fled their
homes to seek
refuge in urban centres following the arrival of 200 Zanu PF
militia trained
at Mberengwa rural service centre.
The militia who were deployed
under the guise of doing national service are
under the supervision of Biggie
Chitoro, the notorious war veteran currently
on bail for the murder of
Kufazvinei Zhou during the run-up to the June 2000
parliamentary election.
They arrived in Mberengwa on Wednesday.
While most of the militia patrolled
the rural service centre in groups of
four, Chitoro moves around with 10
people believed to be his personal aides.
Daily News
Youth brigade assaults Ruwa, Mabvuku residents
1/4/02
8:42:01 AM (GMT +2)Staff Reporter
Zanu PF militia on
Wednesday and yesterday beat up people at Ruwa growth
point and in Mabvuku as
they stepped up their party’s terror campaign ahead
of the March presidential
election.
More than 100 militia, products of the Border Gezi
youth training centre in
Mt Darwin, are based at the Ruwa rehabilitation
centre.
The situation in Ruwa was tense late yesterday afternoon following
reports
of an imminent attack by the youths on residents in their
houses.
Among those beaten in Ruwa on Wednesday were a 10-year-old boy and
an
off-duty policeman in civilian clothes.
At about 10pm on Wednesday, the
militia surrounded Mavambo beerhall and
severely beat up
patrons.
Lazarus Ndlovu was reportedly stabbed in the stomach, struck on
the forehead
with an iron bar and had both arms broken. He was admitted to
Parirenyatwa
Hospital. Nurses last night said he was in a serious condition.
This was the
second attack on patrons that day. The militia are reportedly
operating
under the direct orders of a Ruwa councillor but this could not
be
immediately confirmed. John Moffat Kichini, 39, who runs a vehicle
repair
workshop next to the rehabilitation centre, fled on Wednesday when
the
militia descended on Ruwa searching for him because of his support for
the
MDC.
Residents from nearby houses and passers-by attracted by the
noise were
rounded up and ordered to lie down and chant Zanu PF slogans,
before being
beaten as well. They were accused of wanting to remove President
Mugabe from
power. Kichini said yesterday: “They said they wanted to chop off
my head
and display it at the shopping centre so people can see that they can
kill.”
Charles Nzombe, the MDC chairman for the Seke constituency, under
which Ruwa
falls, said: “They have declared that they are going on a
door-to-door
campaign any time soon to beat up people. They said they will
beat up
everyone, even those with Zanu PF cards, because their superiors have
told
them that Ruwa is an MDC stronghold.” In Mabvuku, the Zanu PF
militia
attacked drinkers in the Mombeyarara Tavern at the Manresa shopping
centre
and ordered them to chant Zanu PF slogans. They said they would
continue
their reign of terror until people voted for Zanu PF in both
the
presidential and mayoral elections.
Daily News
MDC youths vow to defend Chitungwiza
1/4/02 8:38:53 AM
(GMT +2)Staff Reporter
HUNDREDS of MDC youths were patrolling
the streets of the
politically-charged St Mary’s suburb in Chitungwiza as
rumours of the
arrival of the notorious Zanu PF youth brigade in residential
areas began
spreading in the country’s third largest city yesterday
morning.
The Zanu PF militia, which has been attacking residents
around Harare, was
yesterday said to have been let loose in
Chitungwiza.
This comes after the sporadic attacks in Ruwa, Kuwadzana,
Mabvuku, Mufakose,
Glen Norah and Highfield where residents have already been
terrorised by the
Zanu PF-sponsored thugs. The MDC yesterday urged residents
of the town to be
vigilant and watch out for the militia.
The party’s
youth organising secretary in Chitungwiza, Lovemore Mutamba,
called on all
residents to unite in the face of a mounting Zanu PF
terror
campaign.
He warned that Zanu PF had a strategy to cause chaos
and arrest hundreds of
MDC supporters in a bid to disenfranchise them in the
presidential election
to be held in March. Mutamba said: “We are mobilising
our youths to be ready
for any possible attacks as happened recently in
Kuwadzana, Ruwa, Bindura
and many other parts of the country. It has to be
known that Zanu PF wants
to scare the people of this great nation, but we are
going to protect all
Zimbabweans by any means necessary.” The youths said
they were maintaining a
high level of vigilance to protect the people of
Chitungwiza.
“If our parents are attacked we will definitely hit back. It
will be an eye
for an eye situation here in Chitungwiza,” said Godfrey
Marehwa, a party
youth. Mutamba said thousands of MDC youths in the urban
community had been
mobilised and organised to hit back when the Zanu PF
militia starts
attacking innocent civilians. The MDC secretary for
information and
publicity, Learnmore Jongwe, said in a statement yesterday
his party had
information that Zanu PF intended to use its youths dressed in
MDC T-shirts
to cause violence and attack innocent residents.
Daily News
Mudede ordered not to tamper with voters’ roll
1/4/02
9:21:12 AM (GMT +2)By Pedzisai Ruhanya
HIGH Court judge,
Justice Mahomed Adam, on Monday ordered Tobaiwa Mudede,
the
Registrar-General, not to remove any person from the voters’ roll
without
complying with sections of the Electoral Act and make available to
Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC president, a copy of the voters’ roll
before
Monday.
Adam’s ruling follows a successful application
by Tsvangirai accusing Mudede
of removing the names of some people from the
common voters’ roll in
contravention of the Electoral Act which governs the
conduct of elections in
the country.
Adam said: “Mudede be and is
interdicted from removing any person from the
common voters’ roll unless and
until he complies with sections 25, 30, 31
and 32 of the Electoral
Act.”
The three sections say that constituency registrars should not
remove anyone
from the voters’ roll until a written notice of objection is
sent to the
voter to which a form of notice of appeal should be
annexed.
“If Mudede has removed any person or persons from the common
voters’ roll
without complying with the provisions of sections 25, 30, 31 and
32 of the
Act, he shall reinstate such person or persons forthwith on the
roll.
“That Mudede make available on or before 7 January 2002 to
Tsvangirai an
electronic copy on compact disc supplied by Tsvangirai and in a
comma
delimitated ASCII format of the common voters’ roll in respect of
all
registered voters in Zimbabwe up to 2 January 2002,” Adam
ruled.
In an urgent application filed last week, Tsvangirai said he had
received
numerous reports of missing names, and these reports had prompted
him to
seek the intervention of the courts so that Mudede, and the Minister
of Home
Affairs, John Nkomo, can be interdicted from removing any person from
the
common voters’ roll.
Tsvangirai, through Harare lawyer Advocate
Eric Matinenga instructed by
Bryant Walker Elliot of Gill, Godlonton and
Gerrans, said that Mudede and
Nkomo should reinstate all persons who have
been removed from the common
voters’ roll without complying with sections of
the Act.
Tsvangirai said: “I have received scores of complaints by
persons who were
previously on the voters’ roll and who have been summarily
and unlawfully
removed from it by Mudede’s officials. These complaints have
come from both
Zimbabwean citizens and eligible permanent
residents.
“These removals are unlawful because in so removing them, Mudede
has not
complied with the provisions of section 25 of the Electoral
Act.”
Adam’s ruling comes in the wake of reports that Sobusa
Gula-Ndebele, the
chairman of the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), has
reportedly
opposed plans by the government to amend the electoral laws to
empower
Mudede to tamper with the voters’ roll and unilaterally run the
March
presidential election.
The amendments would usurp the power of
the ESC to administer the election.
The proposed changes would bar civic and
foreign organisations from
monitoring and observing elections in
Zimbabwe.
Daily News - Leader page
Complicating tourism’s forex earning
drive
1/5/02 12:05:41 PM (GMT +2)
AS long as Zimbabwe
tolerates and encourages violence and killings, tourism
will continue to lose
out to competing destinations that offer peace and
tranquillity, which is
what holiday seekers are after.
Zimbabwe’s export sector has been
severely affected by the negative
developments of the past 24 months, yet no
concerted strategy to enhance the
potential and capacity of the remaining
foreign currency-earning
alternatives appears in place. For example, there is
no apparent strategy to
address the security concerns that now extend from
rural to urban areas, or
to co-ordinate the efforts of the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority,the security
agencies, the national carrier, Air Zimbabwe, airport
and border authorities
and the services sectors for the benefit of tourists
and travellers.
Apart from the political destabilisation created by
government supporters
and the disinterest by the police to crack down on the
perpetrators, there
have been serious concerns over tourists robbed in such
areas as Nyanga. An
example of how unprepared Zimbabwe is to exploit
alternative foreign
currency generators is the recent Christmas/New Year
holidays. Instead of
welcoming the few tourists and the desperately needed
foreign currency they
brought, they were made scapegoats for the worsening
fuel problems.
Evidently no attempt had been made to anticipate an
increase in demand as a
result of more travellers coming into the country
during that time. It
confirms, in a sense, that even the government
acknowledges the hopelessness
of the situation it has created, or that it is
simply the usual incompetence
from people who are collecting obscene pay
cheques at the end of every
month. The inability to anticipate increases in
travellers from neighbouring
countries could have seriously affected their
spending patterns, certainly
on fuel consumption in order to enable them to
travel around the country.
Such paucity of planning will no doubt have an
effect on the overall foreign
currency earnings at the end of the year, when
annual returns are
considered. The agricultural export sector has been
severely battered as a
result of disruptions to farming activities by
government-sanctioned
invaders and sweeping farm acquisitions, that do not
consider allowing
farmers time to wind up their activities.
The
presidential election due in March coincides with one of the busiest
periods
of tourist inflows because of the Easter and school holidays. But
this year
the flow of tourists is likely to decrease significantly because
of fear of
the potential for violence during or after the poll. It is sad
because many
tourists and tour operators would have liked to build on the
inflows of the
Easter period to attract greater numbers for another Solar
Eclipse expected
in December this year.
Reports of thefts from the Harare international
Airport, coupled with
frequent disruptions to scheduled flights of Air
Zimbabwe, can only conspire
to drive away, instead of attracting, more
tourists. Thefts of baggage at
airports is like a cancer. It starts on a
small scale and ends up being a
free-for-all. What should never be tolerated
are excuses for lapses in
performance, but which Zimbabwe seems to have in
abundance.
There should be zero tolerance of thefts. Even one is one too
many. But the
starting point is vetting and supervision of baggage handlers.
It would be
tragic if the multi-billion dollar new airport is shunned because
of a
growing record of thefts. It would defeat the very idea behind
construction
of such a modern airport complex.
The tragedy of
robberies in National Parks is that park authorities do not
seem to establish
a link between security of travellers to the parks and
increases in foreign
currency earnings. It is imperative that the issue of
violence be addressed
as a matter of urgency. The viability of other sectors
is dependent on
security and stability. If nothing is done, Zimbabwe’s
foreign currency
situation will be compounded.
Daily News - Feature
Zimbabwe could end up under Sharia law
1/5/02
12:21:30 PM (GMT +2)
PIUS WAKATAMA ON SATURDAY
THE day after
Christmas, I woke up in a sweat. I had a horrible dream.
Sometimes writers
try to catch the readers’ attention by beginning an
article or essay with an
interesting anecdote. They, therefore, create a
fictitious story and pass it
off as something that really happened. I can
assure you this is not the
case.
I really dreamt that Zimbabwe had became an Islamic state
under Sharia law.
The dream was so realistic that when I woke up I didn’t
realise that I had
been dreaming. I woke up my wife, Winnie, and said:
“Honey, the country is
now under Sharia law. We must get away before we are
killed for being
Christians.” My wife believes that because of the stress
caused by the
political instability in the country and our fast dwindling
financial
resources due to inflation, I am slowly going mad.
Either
that or she thought that I had over-indulged on Christmas Day and
these were
the after-effects. “Iwe uchapenga chete (You will soon be mad),”
she said and
promptly went back to sleep. In the dream, President Mugabe was
going to make
an important speech. ZBC Radio and Television had announced
that everybody
was required to listen to the President’s address. All places
of business
were to be closed during his speech.
Those without radios or television
sets were advised to go to their
neighbours’ houses to listen. The announcer
had said Zanu PF youths, trained
at the Border Gezi Training Centre in Mount
Darwin, would go from house to
house to make sure everybody was watching and
listening to our dear
President. I dutifully gathered my family in the
television room and asked
them to keep quiet as the President was going to
speak.
After the national anthem, the President appeared on the screen. To
our
utter surprise, he was dressed in a flowing robe and a headdress like
the
one worn by Yasser Arafat, which went down to his
shoulders.
“Fellow Zimbabweans,” he said, “I thought I should tell you
about the recent
developments in our country. As you know, we have turned
away from the
imperialistic Western world which is demonising Zimbabwe
because of our land
reform programme. “They want to protect the privileges of
their white kith
and kin. As part of their strategy they would like to take
away our
sovereignty by sending their agents to supervise our elections. I
will have
none of that. “We have now turned to the Arabs, especially to
Chairman
Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, who is a fellow African. He hates the
whites more
than we do and understands our situation.
“He came to us
in our time of need and has been providing us with fuel
through a US$30
million facility. Since we don’t have the foreign currency
to pay for fuel,
we offered our Libyan friends farms in Chakari, Mazowe and
Banket. We took
these away from white former colonialists, who are funding
the MDC which, as
you know, is a terrorist organisation. We have also given
them significant
stakes in the Rainbow Tourism Group, Commercial Bank of
Zimbabwe and the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe.
“Since this generous facility is now
exhausted, I had to go to Libya to
negotiate another deal with our brother
Gaddafi. I am glad to tell you that
those negotiations were very successful.
From now on we are going to have
fuel free of charge from the Jamahiriya Arab
Republic until our resettled
farmers can start exporting their products. This
should bring economic
recovery to our country and we will not continue to be
a burden to our
generous friends.
“Some people, influenced by the
British, are saying we have mortgaged the
country to the Libyans. That is
utter nonsense. Have they not heard of
African solidarity? “It is in this
same spirit of solidarity that I agreed
with Gaddafi that we needed to cement
our relationship further by belonging
to one religion. As you can see by my
dress, it was agreed that Zimbabwe
shall renounce Christianity, which is the
religion of white imperialists,
and embrace Islam, which is the religion of
the oppressed.
“I now, therefore, decree that Zimbabwe is, from today, an
Islamic state
ruled by Sharia law. Every patriotic Zimbabwean must become a
Muslim. It is
not difficult at all. You just have to say, there is no God but
Allah and
Muhammad is his prophet and you automatically become a Muslim.
Christianity
is now banned. Anyone practising it or propagating it will be
sentenced to
death under Sharia law. May Allah be praised!”
It is at this
point that I woke up in a sweat. I couldn’t go back to sleep,
for I started
to think about the real possibility of overwhelming Libyan
Islamic influence
in Zimbabwe and what it could do to our already
suffering
country.
First of all, we, as Zimbabweans, have very little
in common with Islamic
Arabs even though they may call themselves African. In
fact, they are much
more racist towards black Africans than the former white
colonialists.
In November 2000, thousands of Nigerians were repatriated from
Libya with
nothing after several of them were brutally attacked and killed by
Libyans,
who did not want black Africans in their country. Instead of
admitting the
existence of xenophobia in his country, Gaddafi went on state
radio and
blamed the whole thing on “hidden hostile hands”, who were enemies
of his
administration. By this, of course, he meant Western countries.
The
scape-goating sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Gaddafi himself does
not think much of non-Arabic Africa. Since coming to
power, through a coup,
in 1969 he didn’t identify with Africans at all. He
only looked to Africa.
After his efforts to form unions between Libya and
several other Arab nations
failed, relations with Arab nations
became strained. They were wary of his
unbridled ambition. The leaders of
Egypt and Sudan accused him of financing
revolts in their countries. He is
now pushing for a more united Africa,
through the newly formed African
Union, because he sees himself as the future
leader of a United States of
Africa. Culturally, economically and
ideologically, Zimbabweans have more in
common with the British and the
Americans than they will ever have with
African Arabs.
They would
rather continue their fights with the British devil they know so
well than
start a whole new and dangerous ball game with religious fanatics
with all
kinds of weird ideas about the meaning of life. Right now Zimbabwe
is buoyed
by the foreign currency earned by Zimbabwean expatriates who fled
Zanu PF’s
economic mess. How many Zimbabweans are working in Libya? None.
How many
Zimbabweans were educated in Britain and America? Thousands. How
many were
educated in Libya? None. Whose son or daughter ever married a
Muslim Arab?
None, that we know of. How many of our sons and daughters are
married to
white British? Thousands.
I insist that Zimbabwe does not have much in
common with Muslim Arab
nations. I am not saying that they are our enemies at
all. But why should
the nation follow one man in his personal vendetta
against the British and
his ideological war with the Western world?
What
legacy is that going to be for our children?
He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.