SOKWANELE
Enough
is Enough
Zimbabwe
PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO
ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY
We
have a fundamental right to freedom of
expression!
Sokwanele
reporter
17
July 2004
At 64 Eric Harrison is not a man
to be trifled with. He is not a man who believes in surrendering to bullies
either – even when those bullies invade his land in force, taunt and provoke him
and threaten his family with all manner of violence. For Eric Harrison, a successful commercial
farmer from Mkwasine, near Chiredzi, believes in the old values of honesty and
hard work, values which were once respected in Zimbabwe. He also believes in the rule of law and
expects others to obey the law. He knows
that Maioio Farm is his legally. He has
the title deeds of the property to prove it, and moreover since it is his only
farm, since he is working it intensively
and it is less than 400 hectares in extent, he does not expect ZANU PF to
take it from him. After all Robert Mugabe himself said that no farmer who held
just one (small) farm would have it taken from him. Harrison believed him.
Through hard work and skill and with major
investment Harrison turned Maioio Farm into a thriving concern which supported
his family, provided a major source of employment in the local community and
produced a significant quantity of foreign currency earnings for the
country. Using drip irrigation he
produced 12,000 tons of sugar cane a year and an export citrus crop worth in
excess of USD 1,200,000.
But then certain privileged members of the
ruling party (who had already enriched themselves handsomely with other
properties under the regime’s “help-yourself and get-rich-quick” policy) turned
their envious eyes towards Maioio Farm, and that was the end of a once-thriving
farming enterprise – and the end of Harrison’s peace too.
In June 2001 he was served with a Section
5 Notice, followed by a Section 8.
Agritex started pegging out the farm and the would-be A2 farmers began
arriving, led by a Mr A.B. Koti, who informed Harrison that the standing sugar
cane crop which he had planted and tended was now his. Harrison applied to the High Court to defend
his title and was granted an order (No. H.C. 9207/02) overturning the Sections 5
and 8 Notices and directing the eviction of the A2 farmers. The local police however proved more than a
little reluctant to enforce the order or afford Harrison the protection he
required. In defiance of the High Court
order the A2 farmers began hauling his cane off to the sugar mills in April
2003. Harrison pleaded in vain for the
police to carry out their statutory duty to uphold the law and protect the
innocent. In February 2004 he wrote a
respectful letter to the Principal National Coordinator of the Presidential Land
Committee, explaining the difficulties he was having and asking for help in
resuming full farming operations in compliance with the stated land
policy.
Alas his letter did not receive so much as
an acknowledgment. On the contrary,
things began to hot up in late June with the arrival of three new A2 settlers,
who claimed they were in possession of an “offer letter” for Harrison’s
citrus. The three belligerent settlers,
two men and a woman, who were accompanied by two police constables refused to
give their names – though one was later identified as Phinias Mutiziri. They ordered Harrison off the farm
immediately and when he refused to budge they returned a little later armed with
iron bars. They then proceeded to threaten Harrison physically and to chase all
the workers from the packing sheds. These criminal acts took place in the
presence of Constable Simba Chipanga and
Constable Rubwya of the ZRP who did nothing about it. The three would-be settlers also turned away
three large transporters which had been contracted to uplift the citrus cargo –
a cargo destined for Russia which would have earned the country a significant
amount of foreign currency.
Through his lawyers Harrison sought and
obtained an interdict ordering the intruders off the property and prohibiting
them from disturbing operations on the farm.
Once again however, despite assurances given to the lawyers, the police
were extremely reluctant to enforce the court order. In the presence of Constable Rubwya, Mutiziri (in effect a trespasser on the farm)
threatened to shoot the supervisor and Harrison. Again the police took no action. A gang of about 20 ZANU PF thugs took up
station on Maioio Farm and proceeded to loot the produce and abuse and threaten
the Harrison family, making their lives almost unbearable. At different times they switched off the
power at the farm’s generator, stole the chain and locks on the gates, and took
the farm supervisor hostage. They also chanted ZANU PF slogans and kept the
Harrison family awake at night by banging on the doors of the house and shouting
obscenities. A “friendly” member of the youth militia later confided to Harrison
that each one was receiving $15,000 a day, plus food and beer and a regular
supply of dagga to to the job.
The continuing ordeal has taken a heavy
toll on the family. On Friday (9th July) Harrison moved his wife,
Joan, to the relative safety of a friend’s house when he could see that
emotionally she was close to breaking point. It was just as well because the
following day he and his 32 year old son were forced to lock themselves in the
house with curtains drawn as the noisy mob surrounding the property threatened
to “deal” with them.
Just when Harrison thought his last hour
had arrived the mob withdrew - a reprieve but only a temporary one because he
was told that he must be off the farm by Sunday afternoon at the latest – “or
else !” But on Sunday, his nerves
frayed to breaking point, and still surrounded by all the evidence of looting
and destruction, he received an unexpected visitor, truly a sign of grace. A black pastor from a church in Mkwasine had
walked all the way on foot to say a prayer with Harrison and his wife. “What
kindness”, said Harrison, clearly touched by this gesture. “I feel humble. I
have done everything I can do, in the circumstances, and like so many fellow
farmers … I have not failed. The
situation is impossible, but my love for the country is too great for me to
leave. I have no choice, we have to win
this fight … In the final analysis …the
strength that will be keeping us going will come from
God”.
The terrible ordeal of Eric Harrison and
his family is not yet over, and at this stage there is no telling how it will
end. But if the outcome depends upon a
belief in the old values of honesty and hard work, a stubborn tenacity in
holding to the rule of law and a deep faith in a righteous God, ultimately they
must be vindicated.
Visit:
www.sokwanele.com
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 3:44 PM
Subject: For
Christopher
Dear Family and Friends,
On Thursday morning it was
bitterly cold in Marondera. Through thick mist
and an icy wind, a friend and
I went visiting in a high density suburb
just behind Marondera town. In two
long, thin buildings that face each
other and had once been pink but were now
dirty brown, there were twenty
four doors, and we stood outside one waiting
to go in. I looked around,
not so that I could soak in the sight but to force
my brain to accept what
my eyes would not believe. There was one leaking tap
in a muddy hollow in
the barren yard. This is the water supply for twenty
four families - for
washing, cooking, cleaning and bathing. There was one
outside concrete
sink in which people do all their washing. It does not have
a drain and
the dirty water simply pours out onto the ground and sits in
filthy, slimy
puddles in front of the block of communal toilets.
When
the door opened we saw Christopher. He is dying of Aids and being
nursed
through his last days and weeks by his wife. Christopher was too
weak to even
raise his head from the bed but he tried to smile and greeted
us in a
whisper, leaving his wife to do the talking. This one room,
perhaps 3 metres
square, is their entire home. It does not have water or a
bathroom or toilet
and has only one small window in the back wall. At the
bottom of the bed was
a huge pile of soiled bedclothes, waiting to be
washed in the outside
concrete sink. In a bucket of cold water by the bed
were Christopher's
soiled clothes, also waiting to be washed outside.
There was no spare linen
to put back on the bed and no plastic sheeting
with which to protect the
mattress and so Christopher lay on top of a
folded cloth, rags wrapped around
his waist, a thin blue blanket on top of
his 20 kg body. On the floor was a
small tin baby bath into which
Christopher's wife would lift her husband when
we had gone and try and
bath him.
She has only one disposable glove
and carefully took it off as we stood
talking. Christopher is 36 years old
and is the father of five children,
four of whom have been sent to live in
the rural areas with their
grandparents so that they do not have to see their
father dying like this.
Christopher does not take anti retro virals, he could
never afford them
and now his body is too weak to be able to handle them. He
used to
support his wife and children and worked as a security guard until
he
became too sick to continue. Then his wife supported the family by
selling
tomatoes and bananas on the road-side, but now all day, every day she
is
at home, caring for her husband, watching him die. They have no income,
no
drugs, no support and only the food given to them by well
wishers.
It is tragic to know that Christopher is one of the lucky ones
in
Marondera because he has someone to care for him. There are thousands
more
like him, lying in their own faeces and vomit behind filthy doors
in
freezing, dark rooms, alone, unseen and waiting to die. I visited one,
and
frankly the sight was so appalling that I cannot find the words
to
describe the hell I saw. When I got home from visiting Christopher I
knew
that I had to do something, anything, to help the Aids victims and
their
carers and families in my home town - it would be criminal not
to.
Together with a lawyer, a doctor and a small group of friends we
have
started the Christopher Campaign in Marondera. We know that it
is
probably too late for Christopher but it is not for thousands of
others
like him. People who ask for nothing but whose eyes plead for a
little
comfort and dignity. Anything you can do to help us will be
appreciated,
nothing will be wasted, diverted or sold. If you can spare one
pair of
disposable gloves, one bar of soap or one tube of antiseptic,
please
contact me. If you can put this letter up in your church, office or
club,
we will be so grateful. If you would like to help in any way at
all,
please email me at cbuckle@mango.zw . If you would like to
donate even one
dollar, the Christopher Campaign wants and needs your help.
The Rotary
Club of Marondera have very kindly agreed to receive donations for
the
Christopher Campaign through their registered charity and their
banking
details are at the end of this letter. Nelson Mandela recently said
that
"millions of people are in danger of being reduced to mere
numbers,"
because of Aids. Christopher is no longer a number to me and this
letter
is for him. Until next week, with love, cathy.
The Christopher
Campaign, Rotary Club of Marondera, Barclays Bank,
Marondera,
Zimbabwe.
Account Number: 1534957.
Copyright cathy buckle 17th July
2003.http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books on the Zimbabwean crisis,
"African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available outside Africa from: orders@africabookcentre.com
;
www.africabookcentre.com ; www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New
Zealand:
johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au
; Africa: www.kalahari.net
www.exclusivebooks.com
Zim Online
REGIONAL LEADERS TURN THE HEAT ON MUGABE
Mon 19 July
2004
HARARE - Southern African leaders are pressurising President
Robert
Mugabe to hold next year's parliamentary elections in line with the
Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC)'s norms and standards on free
and fair
elections, Zim Online has established. Although they support Mugabe
in
public, African diplomatic sources told Zim Online that the regional
leaders
were in private turning the heat on Mugabe.
They were
telling Mugabe that it is in his own interests to win an
election which has a
veneer of legitimacy and credibility.
This thus needed Zimbabwe's
elections to be conducted in terms of the
SADC norms. However, it remains
unclear whether Mugabe will listen to his
regional counterparts and institute
reforms to hold credible elections this
time round.
The sources
said the proposed changes to Zimbabwe's electoral laws
were a result of
southern African leaders' pressure on Mugabe. Mugabe's
government has
proposed setting up an independent electoral commission to
take charge of all
of Zimbabwe's elections, starting with the parliamentary
elections next year.
However, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) has dismissed
the proposed changes to electoral rules as being
"cosmetic". It says it wants
comprehensive electoral reforms which include
disbanding the notorious youth
militia and it also wants United Nations
supervision of the March 2005
elections, among other things.
Sources said regional leaders were
clearly frustrated with Mugabe and
were turning up the heat on him. Despite
all the support they had given
them, Mugabe had done nothing to reciprocate
in the way of improving his
human rights record.
A high powered
delegation of the MDC led by the party's secretary
general Welshman Ncube
last year visited SADC leaders in their countries in
a major diplomatic
offensive by the opposition party to woo them to support
calls for electoral
reforms in Zimbabwe.
Sources said the MDC had partially succeeded
in convincing regional
leaders to drop their continued backing of Mugabe's
victory claims in flawed
elections. Zimbabwe's constitution vests all powers
to run elections in
Mugabe despite that he is an interested party in the
outcome of these
elections. Mugabe appoints every person involved in the
running of the
elections without consulting anyone. Critics say it is
impossible for anyone
else apart from Mugabe to win elections under the
current electoral
framework.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop for
Bulawayo Pius Ncube said in
Johannesburg last week that it was impossible to
hold free and fair
elections in Zimbabwe under the current electoral regime.
He said next
year's elections had already been rigged by Mugabe and he saw no
need for
the opposition to participate. Ncube said the draconian media and
security
legislation which made it almost impossible for the opposition to
campaign
rendered next year's elections unfree and unfair.
"More
and more pressure (on Mugabe) is expected to come from the AU,
especially now
that the chair is with the Nigerian leader (Olusegun
Obasanjo), who has said
that the Zimbabwe crisis must be resolved now," said
one diplomatic
source.
The pressure on Mugabe will be galvanised at the SADC
conference next
month where the region is expected to tighten its norms and
standards on
conducting elections.
The plan to tighten and
insist on the observance of SADC electoral
norms is said to have been planned
with Mugabe in mind.
SADC leaders are also expected to insist that
Mugabe repeals or amends
draconian media and security laws ahead of the
elections. The MDC's Ncube
said his party was engaged in a diplomatic
initiatives to push for
electoral changes but declined to divulge
details.
Zanu PF spokesman, Nathan Shamuyarira, said the ruling
party was
committed to making electoral changes. He, however, told Zim Online
that
ZANU PF was considering electoral changes not because of any pressure
from
anyone but as a result of "its desire to ensure that democracy
continued to
exist in the country". Zim Online.
Zim Online
No hope for Zimbabwean asylum seekers in South Africa
Mon
19 July 2004
Zimbabwean refugees are having a rough time in efforts
to get asylum
in South JOHANNESBURG - Victims of political persecution in
Zimbabwe wishing
to apply for asylum in South Africa had better think again.
According to
Refugee
International (RI), a respected advocacy group
for refugees, South
Africa has granted political asylum to less than 20
Zimbabweans to date.
In a report released at the weekend, RI said
it is worried about the
South African government's attitude towards
Zimbabwean political asylum
seekers. "South Africa is denying access to
political asylum to thousands of
Zimbabweans seeking to escape persecution.
Of the 5,000 applications for
political asylum filed by Zimbabweans to date,
fewer than twenty have
actually received political asylum in South
Africa."
"While the senior management of the Immigration
Department
acknowledged to RI that Zimbabweans have the right to be
considered
refugees, Refugee Reception officers were unable to state whether
or not
Zimbabweans had the right to political asylum in South Africa. Staff
in the
Reception Office told RI that Zimbabweans were not a priority because
there
is no civil war in Zimbabwe, so there is no reason to
apply."
The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, which is involved in the
mobilisation of
support for refugees, expressed outrage over South Africa's
refusal to
acknowledge Zimbabwe as a conflict-torn country.
"We
are particularly irked by the fact that the South African
government simply
and deliberately decided to blind itself to the human
rights issue in
Zimbabwe. This is why the South African government finds
itself with a flood
of Zimbabweans. Thousands of Zimbabweans are crossing
the border on a daily
basis running away from persecution and there is no
basis for South Africa to
deny political asylum to Zimbabweans. .As exiles
our urgent demand is that
South Africa should stop acting as if it were the
foreign ministry of
Zimbabwe and acknowledge that Zimbabwe needs help", said
Zimbabwe
Exiles
Forum coordinator Gabriel Shumba.
The South African
department of home affairs director-general, Barry
Gilder, denied that his
department was particularly harsh on Zimbabweans:
"All of the offices are
woefully understaffed, resulting in a backlog of up
to 80,000 cases waiting
to be reviewed". He told RI that his department was
working on a turnaround
strategy but admitted that "it has a long way to
go".
Zimbabwean asylum seekers interviewed by RI said they spend nights
queuing at
the department of home affairs: "They only took one Zimbabwean
that day. I
was number two."
Other Zimbabweans said they were denied access to
the process because
they did not have valid passports. "The asylum seekers
also complained of
rampant corruption within the home affairs office as well
as among South
African policemen. Said one Zimbabwean: 'I was stopped while
walking down
the street. The policeman asked for my papers but told me that
for 200 Rand
[Z$240 000] I would get them back'."
RI recommended
the immediate establishment of a taskforce to address
the backlog of pending
political asylum cases and prioritise interviews with
Zimbabweans. Zim
Online
Zim Online
On the dagga trail: Tracking Zimbabwean truckers
Mon 19
July 2004
FRANCISTOWN/BOTSWANA - A haulage truck from Zimbabwe
pulls up at the
Ramokgwebana border post in Botswana. A tall, haggard-looking
driver opens
his door and slowly gets out with papers - presumably travel
documents - in
one hand.
The truck's consignment (at least
according to a sticker attached to
the carrier's gleaming body) is
Zimbabwe-made biscuits, destined for the
Botswana market. The truck driver
walks to the nearest sentry and hands over
the documents. He stretches,
shifting from one foot to another. When he's
done declaring the cargo he
returns to the truck. The ignition rumbles as
another officer waves him
through the entry point. The driver puffs
away at a cigarette, visibly
relieved.
But ten kilometres before reaching the country's second
largest city,
Francistown, he's signalled to stop by police at a road block.
Officers talk
loudly as they begin a thorough search of the vehicle. One, in
particular,
makes it clear he's not amused by the cargo's particular aroma.
It's not
biscuits, but one of the largest drug consignments yet intercepted
by
officials in the country. The 56 bags inside the truck contain smaller
bags,
weighing about 50 kilograms - filled with dagga. The bust's
street
value is considered to be at least P 500 000, or about Zim $
500,000
million (US$ 110.000).
This is one of the reasons why
Gaborone is tightening its border
controls. The Botswana government says it
spends about P1 million (Z$1
billion, US$ 220.000) to deport the more than
hundred thousand illegal
immigrants from Zimbabwe every year.
But what local officials refer to as the "headache" of illegal
immigrants may
be dwarfed by an emerging catastrophe: drug trafficking. The
Ramokgwebana
border post is particularly popular because it straddles
Botswana's northern
frontier with Zimbabwe.
Francistown police reveal that in the last
six months they have
intercepted more than 300 kilograms of dagga, also known
as mbanje or
marijuana. They add harder narcotics "like cocaine" may have
entered the
country already. Superintendent Odirile Rampoka, who heads the
Diamond and
Narcotics Squad, says between January and June alone members of
his team
confiscated 34 bags of dagga, weighing about 230 kilograms. "We make
arrests
today, but tomorrow more bags are brought in," says Rampoka, "most of
the
people we arrest claim that they get the stuff from Zimbabwe." He says
of
all Botswana's Southern African neighbours, Zimbabwe has been identified
as
the source of most of the illegal drugs found in the country.
Police officers at the Gaborone headquarters say they have traced much
of the
trafficking route to haulage trucks travelling between Zimbabwe and
Botswana.
"Truck drivers are targeted and used to transport the drugs," says
one
officer, "but even if they're involved, most, when arrested, deny
knowledge
of the consignment."
The policeman, who requested anonymity, says
dagga and other illegal
substances are usually sealed in with other, genuine,
cargo as a cover-up. A
Zimbabwean truck driver told Zim Online that he is
aware of the drug
trafficking network. The man, who only identified himself
as George, adds
drugs are entering Botswana not only from Zimbabwe, but also
from Zambia and
the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We travel long
distances. Some
unscrupulous people take advantage of drivers because we
don't earn much,"
says George.
When asked if he has not fallen
into the same trap George acknowledges
that "some men from Harare" once tried
to convince him to take dagga to
South Africa. He says he refused because of
the risks involved. Zim Online
This Day, Nigeria
Zimbabwe Appeals to Nigeria for Assistance
From
Iyefu Adoba in
Abuja
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Out-going
Zimbabwean Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Kotsho Dube, has appealed to
Federal
Government to engage the international communities on its behalf to
make his
country better understood in the world.
Speaking during a visit to the
Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Oluyemi
Ade-niyi in Abuja, Dube said
"the Zimbabwean case has been a Nigerian case
and we hope you will continue
to exercise your influence to ensure that we
are better
understood."
Commenting on the incident during the last Commonwealth
Heads of Government
Meeting (CHO-GM) held last December in Abuja, Adeniyi
clarified Nigeria's
position on the issue, saying Nigeria could not have
invited Zimbabwe
unilaterally to the meeting.
"In the Commonwealth,"
explained Adeniyi, "everything is done on consensus
and with the best of
intentions. The leeway, which a host country has over
the agenda or
attendance, is limited. So this accounts for the impossibility
of
unilaterally issuing an invitation to Zimbabwe."
"We differed to the
consensus with the hope that the meeting would come up
with recommendations
to help break the impasse," added Adeniyi.
The minister said the
disagreement on Zimbabwe did not cause a disruption of
the summit, as the
members were anxious to sustain and use CHOGM to press
for increase in
quantum in the amount of funding for technical cooperation.
Dube
emphasising the relationship between the two countries, adding that
his
country fully understood the position of the Nigerian government at
the
time. He noted: "We have passed that bridge now and look forward
to
President Olusegun Obasanjo to re-engage the international communities
on
our behalf so that where there is misunderstanding there will
be
understanding."
IOL
Zimbabwe needs inspiration, says brave priest Basildon
Peta
July 18 2004 at 01:11PM
He is now being called
"Zimbabwe's Desmond Tutu", and very few would
disagree.
At a
time when Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe appears to have
beaten all his
main opponents into submission, one man still puts his head
above the
parapet. He is Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic
Church in
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city.
The indefatigable Ncube
is one of the two most senior ranking Catholic
men in Zimbabwe. He refuses to
be silenced and his anti-Mugabe rhetoric
seems to be getting more rigorous by
the day, much to the chagrin of many of
his more passive colleagues in the
Zimbabwean priesthood.
Hearing him speak, one would at first be
forgiven for thinking one is
listening to Zimbabwe's main opposition leader,
not a man of the cloth with
no political ambitions. But Ncube's increasingly
radical stance is
justified: "I am not going to be silenced by this unashamed
liar (Mugabe).
As long as he inflicts this horror and suffering on the
people, I will speak
up," he says.
Many would wonder from where,
at 58, Ncube draws his teen-like,
boundless energy in fighting Mugabe. His
answer is simple: "I find the
energy from the need to stand up to the evil
that continues to be
perpertrated in Zimbabwe."
While in
Mugabe's opinion Ncube is "another Tutu - an embittered
little bishop", the
Zimbabwean leader is, in Ncube's opinion, "the
embodiment of
evil".
To his hordes of admirers, being compared to Tutu is a badge
of honour
for Ncube. Very few people in Zimbabwe share Mugabe's negative
sentiments on
Tutu.
The majority say Ncube is to Zimbabwe what
Tutu was for South Africa
during apartheid, except that while Tutu would not
publicly criticise Nelson
Mandela or other struggle leaders then, Ncube does
not hide his disdain for
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
Ncube did not mince his words in
expressing his impatience with
Tsvangirai in Johannesburg this week. He
suggested Tsvangirai was not the
kind of leader who could deliver Zimbabweans
from Mugabe's tyranny.
"Tsvangirai is there, but he is not punchful
enough and not convincing
enough," said Ncube.
The archbishop
was blunt in stating his belief that Tsvangirai had
failed to inspire
Zimbabweans to resist Mugabe's tyranny. He said what was
now needed was a
leader who could inspire the people like Mahatma Gandhi did
in
India.
"Mahatma was a great leader who managed to achieve what he
did because
he was able to inspire his people," said Ncube, adding that the
MDC now
appeared rudderless.
"In Zimbabwe we need to find such a
leader. We do not seem to have
one... We have no one inspiring people; we
have no one telling them to die
for their cause," said Ncube. "We need
somebody convincing. We need somebody
able to rally the people and tell them
we have had enough of Mugabe and let
us confront him."
He did
not think that Mugabe would shoot everyone if he was confronted
and
challenged by Zimbabweans in a properly executed protest action
demanding
that he step down.
He said he travelled to meet Zimbabweans all
across the country, and
they all felt "leaderless".
Tsvangirai's
opposition had failed to identify with the people and to
stand with them,
Ncube said.
Despite all its constraints, the opposition had to
convince the people
of the need for self-sacrifice. - Independent Foreign
Service
Sunday July 18, 2004
Danville doctor awaits arraignment in
Africa
By EMILY BURTON
Staff Writer
More details are emerging
on the plight of a retired Danville urologist who
was detained in Zimbabwe,
and a State Department official is hopeful charges
against him will be
dropped.
Dr. Ed Montgomery was arrested July 5 on charges of
practicing without a
license while working at a regional hospital in
Zimbabwe, located just north
of South Africa, said Jason Sauer, a spokesman
for Congressman Ben Chandler.
Chandler's office has been in contact
with an unnamed State Department
official who is familiar with the situation,
Sauer said.
Montgomery and his wife, Sara Jane, a nurse, had been on
a missionary trip
in Zimbabwe for about two weeks when the doctor was
detained. Both
Montgomerys were stripped of their passports and have been
unable to make
regular contact with family members.
The
Montgomerys, veterans of several mission trips around the world,
were
traveling with friends and fellow missionaries when the doctor was
arrested.
According to the State Department official, the doctor has
since been
released from custody and is tentatively scheduled for arraignment
on
Thursday. Sauer said the source indicated there was "a good possibility"
the
charges against Dr. Montgomery could be dropped.
The
Montgomery's eldest daughter, Ashley Montgomery, has been serving as
a
spokeswoman for the family. According to Ashley Montgomery, her mother
first
e-mailed her about the arrest last week but subsequent letters have
been
censored and undated.
"It's been a stressful situation,"
Ashley Montgomery said.
Dr. Montgomery has been a prominent member of
the Danville medical
community, even after his recent retirement. His career
includes a lengthy
service with Ephraim McDowell Health, where currently he
is a board member.
He is a founding director of the Kentucky Trust Co. and
has served as the
medical director for Central Kentucky Physicians
Inc.
Copyright The Advocate-Messenger 2004
News24
Zim targets aid groups
18/07/2004 16:06 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe is threatening to close down
non-governmental
organisations and arrest their employees if they do not
obtain permission
from the government for their activities, the state-run
Sunday Mail
reported.
The paper said "quite a number" of NGOs had not
registered for government
licences and were believed to be operating
illegally and engaging in
political activities.
"Organisations found
operating without being registered will be asked to
close down their
operations or be arrested for failure to abide by the law,"
the paper quoted
an official in the public service ministry as saying.
Under Zimbabwe's
laws, all NGOs have to be registered under the Public
Voluntary Organisations
Act.
The government is reported to be working on new legislation
tightening
regulations for NGOs operating in the country amid allegations
from the
ruling party that many organisations are involved in political
activities.
The Non-Governmental Organisations and Churches Bill, which
has not yet been
presented to parliament, aims to give the state powers to
screen NGOs
operating in the country, according to the Sunday
Mail.
Churches too have been accused of preaching opposition politics
from the
pulpit.
However, the Sunday Mail said proposals to control
churches was being seen
in some quarters as "an over-reaction" that would
infringe on the right of
Zimbabweans to worship.
The government
recently issued a notice to the hundreds of local and
international NGOs
working in Zimbabwe warning them to stop operations if
they are not
licensed.
"Failure to adhere to the law will result in arrests being
made," reads part
of the notice, according to the Sunday Mail.
Recent
reports on state television and radio have been critical of the work
being
done by some NGOs working in Zimbabwe and have said Zimbabweans need
to be
"self-sufficient".
IOL
Desperate families to make final plea in SA
July 18 2004
at 10:21AM
By Fienie Grobler
Johannesburg - The
families of suspected mercenaries held in a maximum
security jail in Zimbabwe
on coup-plotting charges will on Monday make a
last desperate appeal to South
Africa's highest court to bring the men home.
The mercenary saga
stretches across Africa and revolves around 70
South African passport holders
who were arrested at Harare airport on March
7 allegedly on their way to
topple the president of oil-rich Equatorial
Guinea.
Marge Payne,
54, wife of arrested co-pilot Ken Payne, says her worst
fear is that the men
will be extradited to Malabo where they could be
executed.
"Zimbabwe can just pack the men up and send them to Equatorial Guinea.
God, I
do not know what that will mean," says Payne from a stylish home in
an
upper-class security estate east of Johannesburg.
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe has reportedly agreed to extradite
the men to
Equatorial Guinea where the two military generals in charge of
the high court
could sentence the men to death before a firing squad.
"South
Africa cannot only intervene once these men get the death
penalty. We have to
go by what our constitution says. We brag about how free
and fair it is all
the time," says Payne in reference to South Africa's ban
on capital
punishment.
The alleged mercenaries who stopped in Harare to pick
up weapons, were
arrested on a tip-off from South Africa - an issue that
stands at the core
of the court case spearheaded by the families who argue
that South Africa is
responsible for their fate.
The families
will ask the Constitutional Court on Monday to overrule a
high court ruling
against them and to order the South African government to
request that the
men be returned to South Africa to stand trial here.
The government
is opposing the application, arguing that it should not
be forced to
intervene on behalf of citizens who break laws outside the
country and must
retain the freedom to decide what action to take.
The South African
government, working hard to shed its reputation of
being a haven for soldiers
of fortune in Africa, has said it has no evidence
against the men and that
they will walk free if brought back.
"I believe President Thabo
Mbeki is the only person who has the ways
and means to bring the men back,"
says Jerry Carlse, the brother of detained
Harry Carlse, a security
consultant and a former member of the Special Task
Force, South Africa's
crack troops.
"President Mbeki and Uncle Bob (Mugabe) are good
friends. If he phones
and says, hey, Bob, won't you send me those guys back
here, Uncle Bob won't
think about it twice. Because Mbeki helps him in lots
of ways," adds Carlse.
Zimbabwean authorities have charged the men
with breaching the
security, firearms, aviation and immigration law and they
are scheduled to
go on trial on Wednesday.
If convicted the men
could face a fine or a five-year prison term, but
the real question is
whether Zimbabwe will then hand them over to Equatorial
Guinea for
trial.
Those arrested include the alleged group leader Briton Simon
Mann, who
is accused of leading the mercenary force into Malabo that was to
kill
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The men have dismissed the
coup charges and contend they were on their
way to the Democratic Republic of
Congo to guard a diamond mine.
Mann is the only one among the group
of 70 who has distanced himself
from the families' court case against the
South African government and his
legal team is rumoured to be negotiating his
extradition to Britain.
"Mr Mann and his family remain convinced
that there are more
appropriate ways than legal challenges to promote the
South African
government's understanding and support for the position of the
70 men," his
lawyer Mariette Kurger said in a statement released on
Thursday.
But in the eyes of Carlse and Payne and 67 other
families, this case
is the only and last chance at a fair trial.