Zim Online
by Jameson Mombe Tuesday 22 July
2008
HARARE - Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU PF party and the
opposition MDC agreed to
amend the country's constitution, President Robert
Mugabe said on Monday.
Mugabe who was speaking after signing a memorandum
of understanding for
talks with the opposition did not disclose the changes
to be made to the
British-drafted constitution only saying the country's
fundamental law had
to be "amended variously".
"Yesterday (on Sunday)
we agreed, ZANU PF and the two MDCs, that our
constitution as it is should
be amended variously," said Mugabe, who is
accused by pro-democracy
activists of chopping and changing the constitution
during his 28-year rule
to concentrate power in his hands.
The MDC and its breakaway faction have
demanded a new constitution that
would among other key requirements ensure
the holding of free and fair
elections.
The MOU signed by Mugabe, MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara
who heads the breakaway
faction of the opposition party paves the way for
substantive talks on
forming a power sharing government seen as the best way
to end their
Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.
South African President Thabo
Mbeki is chief facilitator of the talks but
will be assisted by a reference
group comprising African Union and United
Nations representatives. -
ZimOnline.
Reuters
Mon 21 Jul
2008, 19:29 GMT
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, July 21
(Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
welcomed a deal between
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai
on Monday that paves the way for talks on forming a
power-sharing
government.
The preliminary agreement was signed in Harare's Rainbow
Towers Hotel after
weeks of deadlock since Mugabe was re-elected on June 27
in a widely
condemned poll boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence
against his
supporters.
"The Secretary-General encourages all sides
to engage, in good faith, in
serious talks that would lead to a lasting
solution to the political crisis
and address the urgent economic and
humanitarian needs of the Zimbabwean
people people," Ban's spokeswoman,
Michele Montas, said in a statement.
Monday's meeting was the first in 10
years between Mugabe and Tsvangirai,
who have long traded insults, but shook
hands at the end of the ceremony,
with the opposition leader referring to
Mugabe as "comrade".
"The handshake is a good sign and we hope that
something will be achieved,"
French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told
reporters. "We hope it's the
beginning of good work together between Mr
Tsvangirai and Mr Mugabe."
Ripert said that any political solution had to
be built on the results of
the first round of the presidential poll on March
29, which was won by
Tsvangirai who fell short of an absolute majority, and
that things "seem to
be aiming in the right direction, so we're fully
supportive."
France holds the rotating six-month presidency of the
European Union.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been under heavy pressure to
enter negotiations.
They have both demanded to be recognized as Zimbabwe's
rightful president.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the deal
justified Moscow's
decision to veto earlier this month, along with China, a
Western-backed U.N.
Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on
Zimbabwe.
"It's very good news," Churkin said of the pact. "It shows we
were right
when we said that there is potential (for) contacts between the
parties in
Zimbabwe and that this should be encouraged by the international
community."
The United States had been critical of Russia's actions,
hinting that it
questioned Moscow's reliability as a global partner in
solving serious
issues.
Zimbabwe's economic collapse under Mugabe's
28-year rule has plunged the
once prosperous country into inflation of at
least 2 million percent as well
as crippling food and fuel
shortages.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who mediated the deal,
said the
agreement committed both sides to an intense process to try to
complete
substantive negotiations as quickly as possible. (Editing by
Cynthia
Osterman)
Independent, UK
By Daniel
Howden
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
It is a photograph that will seem
inconceivable to most people in Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe, the only
president the country has known since independence,
shaking hands with the
man who he has done everything to destroy, Morgan
Tsvangirai. Neither man
shows much emotion despite the historic import. That
role goes instead to
the architect of this grip and grin, Thabo Mbeki, South
Africa's President,
standing to the right of the pair and smiling broadly.
It is exactly the
photo opportunity the embattled mediator needed, even if
it is a long way
short of the deal he has been tasked with delivering.
It is the first
time the political rivals have met in a decade. For once the
84-year-old
Mugabe looks a little more his age, slightly stooped, a picture
of
uncomfortable reserve. The man who said recently that only God would
remove
him from office offers his hand to the man whom he has derided,
threatened
and had beaten.
They have met only once before a decade ago, when Mr
Mugabe was still the
liberation hero and Mr Tsvangirai a trade union
leader.
Mr Mugabe - who holds a string of degrees - likes to dismiss his
rival as
uneducated. But yesterday it was the son of a bricklayer who
appeared the
more assured.
The younger man steps confidently forward,
his famously round face stopping
short of a smile but looking far more at
ease. He was sufficiently upbeat
after concluding "talks about talks" to
joke with reporters that the
negotiations ahead would be between the "ruling
party" and the "winning
party".
Prising a deal out the man who has
been in power for 28 years could prove a
harder task but Mr Tsvangirai, who
his own supporters have long referred to
as "Mr President", looked more
comfortable than the man who has shed so much
blood to hold on to that
title.
Independent, UK
Leading article:
Tuesday, 22 July
2008
Too many hopes have proved vain in Zimbabwe over the months and
years for us
to set much store by the agreement signed in Harare yesterday
by President
Mugabe and the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. Yet the
fact that a
meeting took place at all, that an agreement was signed, and
that hands were
shaken, if only for the benefit of the cameras, cannot but
represent
progress.
It is only a month since despair set in, not only
in Zimbabwe, but across
southern Africa as a whole, when Mr Tsvangirai
decided to withdraw from a
run-off that was stacked against him. But the
reason he gave for abandoning
the electoral fight was not the unfairness of
the contest, but the killings
and maimings of his supporters.
Mr
Mugabe's victory - which was nothing of the kind - was followed by mostly
pusillanimous condemnation from around the region. The British attempt to
impose UN sanctions failed at the last hurdle. The desperate plight of
ordinary Zimbabweans was seen primarily as an African problem demanding an
African solution. The message to the rest of the world was "hands
off".
Yesterday's agreement is the first sign that perhaps an African
solution
might be possible, and that South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki,
could
facilitate it. So far, agreement goes no further than a framework for
talks.
It is not the power-sharing deal that Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change is aiming for. If, however, it heralds a co-operative
effort to find a solution to Zimbabwe's many ills, it is an advance on
anything that has happened before.
As Zimbabweans become poorer,
hungrier and more desperate, time is of the
essence. The timetable must not
be allowed to slip.
The Scotsman
Published Date: 22 July 2008
By Fred Bridgland
in
Johannesburg
BITTER rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe met for the
first time in
a decade yesterday to sign a memorandum of understanding that
provides a
framework for negotiations to tackle Zimbabwe's desperate
political and
economic crises.
Negotiators for the two men will fly to
Johannesburg tomorrow to launch the
difficult talks on their country's
future. The biggest sticking point will
be the reluctance of either to
accept a position inferior to the other.
Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), and Mr Mugabe, Zimbabwe's
president, sat on either side of the South
African president, Thabo Mbeki,
in the Sheraton Hotel in Harare to sign the
five-page agreement. The rivals,
who last met in 1998, shook hands
afterwards.
Mr Tsvangirai refused
to have the ceremony at State House, Mr Mugabe's
official residence, as he
does not recognise the legitimacy of the Zanu-PF
leader's victory in a
run-off election in June.
In a short speech, Mr Mugabe said it was
absolutely essential to keep
European and North American powers, who have
imposed travel and personal
financial restrictions on him and his main
allies, out of the negotiations.
He said the two sides had agreed on the
need for the country's constitution
to be amended on various points. "We sit
here in order for us to chart a new
way of political interaction," he
said.
Mr Tsvangirai said it was important for both sides to work together
to
achieve answers to a catastrophic situation in which mothers put children
to
bed without food, inflation was touching nine million per cent and
women's
life expectancy was down to 34 years. "We want to make sure that
every
Zimbabwean feels safe, we want to share a common prosperity for
everyone and
we want a better Zimbabwe," he said.
The memorandum
requires a final settlement to be achieved by the end of the
first week of
August. However, commentators say this target is impossible,
given the
hostility between the two sides, the extent of their differences
and the
scale of Zimbabwe's problems. The document, which will be released
publicly,
does not answer the central issue of Mr Mugabe's future or go into
the
details of any power-sharing arrangement.
Mr Mugabe insists he must be
recognised as Zimbabwe's president. But the MDC
says he cannot be rewarded
for his use of extreme violence to ensure he won
the run-off
unopposed.
The MDC wants some kind of interim "transitional authority" to
run the
country, while new internationally monitored elections are
organised.
George Sibotshiwe, an MDC spokesman, said any progress in the
negotiations
would be conditional on a complete halt to violence by Mr
Mugabe's militias
and the release of some 1,500 political
prisoners.
While Mr Mbeki chaired yesterday's signing ceremony, the
breakthrough became
possible only last weekend, after his unsuccessful
one-man, eight-year
mediation was scrapped and replaced by a four-person
mediation team. Mr
Tsvangirai has accused Mr Mbeki of bias towards Mr
Mugabe, and the MDC
leader only agreed to talk to his great rival after
representatives of the
United Nations, the African Union and the Southern
African Development
Community joined the
arbitration.
TIMELINE
. March 2008 Opposition party MDC wins
parliamentary poll. Morgan Tsvangirai
wins first round of presidential
poll.
. June 2008 Robert Mugabe wins presidential run-off election after
Mr
Tsvangirai pulls out days before the poll, saying a free and fair
election
is impossible because of violent intimidation of his supporters. Mr
Mugabe
is sworn in for sixth term of office. After 28 years in power the
84-year-old declared himself president unopposed for another five
years.
. July 2008 Britain and the United States spearhead international
campaign
aimed at persuading Mr Mugabe to step down. Their efforts to
dislodge him
suffer a setback when a proposed UN resolution to impose new
sanctions on
Zimbabwe's leaders is vetoed by Russia and China. The
100-billion-dollar
banknote is introduced in response to official
year-on-year inflation rate
of 2 million per cent.
|
CHRIS KABWATO - Jul 22 2008 00:00
|
Sokwanele
"So, this 'MOU'.", a friend who usually isn't interested in
politics asked
me today, "What exactly is it?"
"I believe its an
agreement which will guide the talks all the parties will
be having", I
responded (hoping I was correct).
"So these talks they've been having up
until now, they were basically all
just talking about the rules of the talks
they might have if they ever get
to actually talking about the talks we want
them to be talking about?"
"Something like that", I replied vaguely,
deliberately avoiding a forensic
description of exactly what was going on
because I wasn't sure I could
provide one.
"So tell me", my friend
wickedly said, "When are they going to start talking
about what everyone
else is talking about, and that is the fact that there
is no food in the
shops anymore?"
I had no response to that, as she knew I wouldn't, and
thankfully she didn't
slap me with her usual parting quip which is, ".and
you wonder why I can't
be bothered with politics!"
The conversation
made me think though: when the Zimbabwean crisis began
several long years
ago, everyone I knew talked about politics. I couldn't be
in the company of
other people without them endlessly diagnosing the ins and
outs of the
politics of the moment. I still experience this when I am among
a certain
group of people - other activists for example - but my experience
outside
this circle is markedly different.
Social conversation now revolves
around the economy: the heated discussion,
excitement, exasperation and
despair previously directed towards 'politics'
is now directed towards the
value of the Zim dollar, the price of fuel, and
the best place to find
bread. Of course, there is a possibility that the
circle of ordinary people
I mix with could be a poor sample group and
unusually ambivalent towards
politics; however, I test my curiosity about
this shift by constantly asking
others if they have noticed the same thing,
and the feedback in response is
usually along the lines of 'people are tired',
'we have too many other
worries' or 'what's the point?'.
This doesn't mean that when it comes to
the moment where Zimbabweans have to
make the single most important
political decision ever, that they have lost
their belief in their ability
to make a difference: they will, in that
private moment, make an informed
careful choice and vote for the party of
their choice. We saw this on the
29th March. We can also conclude from
this - especially because the choice
they made in March was preceded by
threats and fraught with risks (real and
imagined) - that the principle of
democracy matters enormously to
Zimbabweans.
What's changed? An increasing burden to survive is one
thing. The discourse
of survival - how to feed your children, how to pay for
medication for sick
relatives - will always trump detailed political
analyses. The
conversational shift among ordinary people from 'politics' to
the 'economy'
also reflects an growing awareness among ordinary people that
the economy is
likely to destroy the country and us with it, before the Zanu
PF regime
manages get around to beating and torturing every single one of
us.
I think disappointment has something to do with the shift too:
elections
previously won, but the results ignored by the regional community;
mass
rallies called, but either squashed before they started or weakly
supported;
and of course the most crushing disappointment of all - the split
in the
MDC.
Then there's fear and uncertainty: people will talk about
politics more
among people that they know and trust than they will in the
company of
acquaintances. The initial euphoria we felt when we realised we
finally had
a strong body of opposition to the Zanu PF madness, has been
replaced by a
growing horror of exactly how far they will go and what they
will do to stay
in power.
I can understand the shift, but I worry
about its implications: in the early
days there was a strong palpable sense
of unity in the streets, shops and
workplaces. Now, it is certainly still
there, but more amorphous in daily
life: an open show of defiance
expressed in a shop queue would be greeted
with a murmured cheer - not
necessarily because people agree with whatever
was expressed but because the
person doing it was courageous, and we like to
see courage.
I don't
feel the political strength of unity in the streets as keenly now as
I did
before. Now the impression is of a steely dogged determination of
individuals trying to find a way to survive the fallout from a rapidly dying
economy.
There is something about this national dogged determination
to survive that
feels quite alienating and isolating. Survival is routinely
described in
terms that are less about unity - 'us' - and more about the
'survival of the
fittest'; or 'each man for himself'; or 'may the best woman
win' etc. My
concern is that as our economy continues to crumble, and as
each person
becomes more and more absorbed in the daily detail of basic
survival, that
they might also become less and less engaged with the lofty
politics setting
down the terms and conditions of our futures.
I am
also concerned that as our elected politicians face fewer and fewer
demands
from understandably preoccupied people, that they may become
increasingly
confident that they can make autonomous decisions and become
forgetful of
who they were when they started and why they are where they are
now.
For me, democracy is about a lot of things, but one of the key
factors has
to be that ordinary people must believe in it (which Zimbabweans
do), and
also that an ordinary person has the confidence and courage to
boldly insist
on a government that is accountable and meets the demands -
demands - of the
people. I hope that Zimbabweans will regain their personal
engagement with
the decisions made at higher levels. I really hope that they
will seize the
right that true democracy gives them, something we have never
really had,
and that is to collectively send a clear message to our leaders
that, 'We
put you in there, and never forget we can also take you
out!'
Today is an historic day, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has
been
signed and this means that talks will be proceeding. We have seen
Robert
Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai together on TV making statements. Morgan
Tsvangirai looked the more confident of the two. Robert Mugabe is never
going to be the kind of guy who can wear humility well and, sure enough, he
squirmed like a worm. It might just be the clip I saw but I don't think I
have ever seen Robert Mugabe look so uncomfortable before in my life: he
looked to me like he was about to vomit.
It may be a historic day but
there is no getting away from the simple blunt
fact that today was NOT what
Zimbabweans had in mind when they went to the
polls on March 29th.
Zimbabweans voted for Morgan Tsvangirai to be the
leader, and for a
completely new government. We voted the Mugabe-led regime
out as much as we
voted the democratic movement in.
There is also no getting away from the
fact that Zimbabweans have a deep
antipathy towards negotiations and
promises made by the Zanu PF regime,
mostly because the regime has a long
history of simply ignoring every law or
rule in the book, compromising
agreements and not behaving like gentlemen.
The fact that Mugabe has managed
to steal himself a place at that table is
the outcome of one massive fraud
(and I hope his squirming is a sign that he
knows no one buys his nonsense
anymore).
As one friend said to me, "It's a big day, sure, but I can't
stop thinking
about the fact that Mugabe is actually sitting at the table?!
He shouldn't
be there! He should be on his way to the Hague after what he
has done to
us!" I can only imagine what must have gone through Morgan
Tsvangirai's
mind today, when he had to sit down with the man who tried to
murder him by
ordering thugs to throw him out of a ten storey window; the
man conjured up
a stupid treason trial which carried with it the risk of a
death sentence.
You only need to browse through the comments left on this
blog to get a
measure of the sense of ordinary feeling about the MOU and
these talks, and
I think its fair to say that the comments expressed here
reveal very mixed
feelings indeed.
I speak for myself when I say that
I look at today's signing ceremony with a
small measure of weariness and a
massive dose of wariness; so I have decided
to defer hope for a little
while.
Deferring hope is not the same as giving up hope, but it is an
acknowledgement that my full blown optimism has been compromised over the
years by repeated disappointments. This is psychological self-preservation:
I simply can't find it in myself to let go and get starry-eyed and hopeful
(yet) about the future that will emerge from the talks beginning with
today's
MOU. Mugabe is a wily operator, and ruthless; most dangerous of all
he is
immensely arrogant and unapologetically fat-headed. So I am preparing
myself
for a long draw-out messy affair fraught with lies, broken promises,
back-tracking and dirty tricks: it's what the Zanu PF regime has conditioned
me to expect.
If anything, my sense of individual isolation grew a
little bit deeper today
with my realisation that the ordinary people have
been left at the doorstep
of the big building where the future will be
re-shaped. We walked our
leaders to this point, we stood by them and gave
them the mandate to chart
the future on our behalf.
But this is the
point where we have to let go now and trust that they will
do the right
thing, for us and for our country.
We're standing at the foot of the
steps waving a handful of our elected
leaders through the door, final
encouragement as they move towards talks
with an individual who has an
incredible capacity for violence, and no
qualms about stealing and lying his
way to the negotiating table. I can't
help but feel apprehensive and
nervous.
I have this picture in my mind of an exhausted, ragged mixed-bag
of
Zimbabweans: some rich, most poor; some elderly, a few young; black and
white people together; some healthy, others hurt and on crutches; all of us
deeply wounded in some way by the events of the previous years. I hope this
picture is in the minds of our leaders too and that it stays with them
through all the negotiations.
Each of us today will be reviewing
where we've been the last few years - the
endless days of worry and anxiety;
the sleepless nights filled with
uncertainty and despair. Given the
difficulty of the recent years, the
mockery of the Zanu / Zapu agreement in
the 1980s, the waves of sequential
disappointments, I feel sure that each of
us will be willing our leaders on
with every fibre of our beings as we wave
them through that door. We'll be
praying for them to be strong. I am
reasonably sure that, as well as willing
them on, a large number of us will
also be thinking, "Please, don't cock it
up!"
This entry was
written by Hope on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 9:33 pm.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Date: 15 Jul
2008
Testimony of Katherine Almquist
USAID Assistant
Administrator for Africa
Subcommittee on African Affairs
Committee on
Foreign Relations
United States Senate
Thank you for inviting me to
speak about USAID's support for US foreign
policy goals in Zimbabwe. We
appreciate the strong bipartisan support in
Congress for this deeply
troubled country.
Since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, USAID has worked
with the people of
Zimbabwe to overcome many obstacles on the path to
progress. Our commitment
to this goal remains strong. Today, our programs
provide critical support
for the people of Zimbabwe's desire for peaceful
democratic change, while
sustaining crucial legal, medical, health, food and
other humanitarian
assistance to the millions of innocent victims of the
regime's violence and
mismanagement. In the midst of the current, most
severe crisis facing the
people and friends of Zimbabwe, we remain
optimistic about the country's
long-term potential and its prospects for
positive change. When genuine
reform does occur, our mission and partners
stand ready to work with this
Committee to assist the new government and
people in ensuring the country's
successful transformation to its former
status as a constructive and
prosperous member of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC),
Africa and the greater international
community.
Current Situation
Many difficult challenges confront
Zimbabwe. The country faces what experts
call the worst harvest in decades
due primarily to government mismanagement.
As a result, the survival of as
many as four million people - more than a
third of Zimbabwe's population -
will depend on imported food aid this year.
At present, the following year
looks equally bleak as agricultural inputs
are scarce and farmers have
little incentive to cultivate their land.
State-sponsored violence and
torture continue as ruling party militants try
to eliminate the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and anyone
else not bowing to the
autocratic demands of the Mugabe regime. According to
human rights monitors,
more than 100 MDC activists have been killed and
thousands more have been
seriously injured since the March 29 elections.
Emergency care for many of
these victims of beatings and torture is provided
by brave doctors and
nurses who are often beaten themselves for performing
this critical medical
work.
The violence has forced tens of thousands of Zimbabweans to flee
their homes
and villages. Most of these internally displaced persons (IDPs)
have found
temporary shelter with relatives and friends in towns and cities.
Some IDPs
have sought refuge in so-called "safe areas," supposedly protected
by
negotiated security arrangements with government and United Nations
(U.N.)
agencies. However, state-sponsored militias are now even attacking
these
"safe havens," sending victims running for their lives once again.
With no
one to turn to and no place to go, many Zimbabweans are opting to
join the
millions of their countrymen who have fled to an uncertain fate in
neighboring lands.
Compounding the humanitarian crisis, the
Government of Zimbabwe suspended
the operations of humanitarian NGOs in
early June. Rigidly enforced by local
government authorities, military and
militias, this suspension means that
NGO staff cannot even leave offices to
assess the conditions and needs in
most parts of the country. Actual aid
provision is nearly impossible. Even
churches and faith-based organizations
are afraid to provide aid and
sanctuary to IDPs because of intimidation and
fear of violent reprisals.
In short, Mugabe's regime has unleashed
organized brutality on an enormous
scale, and largely prevented humanitarian
aid from reaching the bloodied,
hungry, terrorized, and displaced people of
the country.
USAID Program Responses
USAID has aggressively
responded to the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe
through both
humanitarian assistance as well as our on-going democracy and
governance
initiatives.
Humanitarian Assistance
USAID's Food for Peace
program provided 175, 000 metric tons of food worth
$171 million to millions
of the country's most vulnerable people in the past
year. About half of this
food was distributed through a consortium of NGOs
known as C-SAFE,
consisting of World Vision, CARE, and Catholic Relief
Services. The other
half was distributed by the U.N. World Food Program. In
total, the U.S.
Government contributed 72 percent of all food assistance
given to Zimbabwe
last year. Over half of all the food distributed by the
U.N. World Food
Program was given by USAID.
About $115 million is already in the food
assistance pipeline for this next
hungry season. More is on the way, but we
need GOZ assurances that our
partners will have access to freely distribute
this food to the most
vulnerable communities. Since the beginning of the
country's deterioration
in 2000, the U.S. has provided well over 1 million
metric tons of food
assistance to this troubled country.
USAID's
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance has also provided $5.9 million
in FY
08 through several partner organizations including Mercy Corps, World
Vision, OXFAM, FAO, OCHA, and IOM for non-food relief items such as
blankets, feeding utensils, and personal hygiene supplies, water and
sanitation improvements, emergency medical supplies, logistics support, and
protection and coordination mechanisms. We are prepared to rapidly respond
with more assistance if the situation deteriorates further.
As part
of its on-going humanitarian effort, USAID also implements a $26.9
million,
HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment program to help Zimbabwe
fight one
of the most severe HIV and AIDS epidemics in the world. Even as
the general
health of the population declines progress is being made, as HIV
prevalence
has declined from 24 percent in 2001 to 15.6 percent in 2007.
Implemented
through a variety of partner organizations, USAID's program
elements
include:
- Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission.
- Behavior
Change Promotion.
- Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) Services.
- Commodity
Logistics and Drug Procurement.
- Testing and Counseling.
- Palliative
Care.
- Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children.
USAID efforts confront
not only a huge disease burden, but also a badly
deteriorated public health
system. Thus, our programs are designed with
intentional spill-over effects
to shore up overall systems within the public
health sector, while we
address specific HIV/AIDS-related needs.
Our NGO partners are the real
heroes in the humanitarian sphere, as they
struggle to maintain assistance
in spite of severe constraints. We want to
express our deep appreciation and
admiration for their excellent, unstinting
efforts in meeting the critical
needs of Zimbabweans, often at great risk of
personal peril.
The
restrictions on aid agency operations are prohibiting us from responding
in
typical ways. To create the "humanitarian space" necessary for aid
operations, we are working with other donors to encourage the U.N. to
strengthen its efforts to press the Government of Zimbabwe to put a stop to
the violence and open up humanitarian access. Without permission to access
displaced and vulnerable populations, the humanitarian organizations are
handicapped. We hope these U.N. interventions - on behalf of the donor and
humanitarian community - will soon bear fruit.
Democracy and
Governance Initiatives
The U.S. Government seeks the restoration of truly
representative democracy
and responsible governance for Zimbabwe. To that
end, USAID programs have
focused on restoring the rule of law, protecting
human rights, fostering
good governance, enhancing citizen participation and
consensus-building,
expanding media communication, strengthening civil
society and democratic
institutions, promoting transparent elections and
supporting citizen
oversight of the electoral process.
USAID partners
and programs provide technical assistance and other support
to boost the
capacity of non-governmental actors and citizens to more
actively
participate in the debate on the future directions of the country.
Within an
extremely restrictive environment, these civil society actors are
working to
shape and strengthen democratic institutions in an effort to make
them more
responsive and accountable to Zimbabwean society.
Although sometimes
overshadowed by the country's continuing turmoil, USAID
programs have made
significant gains with civil society and the forces of
democracy in
Zimbabwe. Pro-democracy groups mobilized millions of
Zimbabweans to "get out
the vote", leading to an historic victory for MDC
candidates in the March
2008 elections and an MDC majority leadership in
Parliament. Zimbabweans
were inspired and empowered by the electoral defeat
of Robert Mugabe and
ZANU-PF. The ruling party was not able to rig the
elections outright, as
usual, in part due to a USAID-funded "parallel vote
tabulation" (PVT) that
released results of sample-based counting in a rapid
and transparent manner.
Despite the difficult country conditions, this
initiative was one of the
most successful such undertakings of this PVT
technology practiced anywhere
to date.
Legal and medical support to victims of state oppression, made
possible
largely through USAID assistance, has encouraged activists to
continue
pressing for democratic change. In addition, USAID supports
programs that
document human rights abuses, torture, and other crimes for
future
accountability and reconciliation.
Initiatives to inform and
mobilize regional and international media and
civil society groups have
resulted in increasing condemnation and isolation
of the discredited Mugabe
regime. This pressure has garnered increased room
for engagement with SADC
and the African Union, and increased prospects for
a negotiated solution to
the crisis. These gains need to be protected and
advanced with continued USG
support.
USAID's Contingency Planning
USAID stands ready with
other donors to re-engage in substantial development
assistance in Zimbabwe
once conditions permit. Such assistance would be
premised on a new
government which respects and shows progress on the
following common donor
principles:
- Full and equal access to humanitarian assistance
- "
Commitment to macroeconomic stabilization in accordance with guidance
from
relevant international agencies.
- Restoration of the Rule of Law, including
enforcement of contracts, an
independent judiciary, and respect for property
rights.
- Commitment to the democratic process and respect for
internationally
accepted human rights standards, including a commitment to
freedom of
expression, freedom of print and broadcast media, freedom of
assembly, and
freedom of association.
- A commitment to timely elections
held in accordance with international
standards, and in the presence of
international election observers
With Congress' support, we would seek to
invest significantly in Zimbabwe
upon the return of democracy, so that it
can begin its process of
stabilization and recovery. Our staff and partners
are ready to engage with
a new, reform-minded government and other donors to
build a comprehensive
reconstruction program. A Multi-Donor Trust Fund,
administered by the World
Bank, is already completing analyses on various
social and economic sectors
to give us a collective, coordinated roadmap for
reconstruction to discuss
with a new democratic government.
As an
integral part of a reconstruction program, our humanitarian assistance
will
help provide a "social safety net" to help ease the pain of
market-based
stabilization measures and support livelihoods as the economy
recovers. We
anticipate renewed support to the agricultural sector and a
strong emphasis
on the renewal of the once-thriving private sector. We are
ready to work
closely with the International Financial Institutions in
support of timely
and effective macroeconomic stabilization and reform.
Based upon our current
successful programs, we will expand our HIV/AIDS
program commensurate with
the demands of the 16 percent prevalence rate, and
broaden our assistance to
bolster the failing health system, including an
emphasis on child and
maternal health, TB and malaria.
USAID has a long and successful history
of working with Zimbabwe's civil
society, democratic political parties, the
Parliament and local government.
We are looking immediately at ways to
exploit the democratic spaces that
have opened up after the March 29
elections. We have a parliament that
reflects the will of the people and,
together with our partners, we are
working to strengthen its capacity in
dealing with the political and social
challenges the country faces. The
newly elected urban city councils present
another excellent opportunity for
our partners to provide people-centered
programs focused on effective
service delivery through social mobilization.
Our assistance to a free media
and access to reliable information continues
in partnership with the Voice
of America and local media-focused NGOs. With
a new government in place, we
will expand current programs to include
assistance for constitutional
reform, and reform of the judiciary and the
security sector.
However,
if the violence does not stop, if aid organizations are not allowed
to
resume life-saving assistance, if widespread fighting escalates and
forces
mass population displacement, then the international community will
be faced
with a potential humanitarian disaster on a much larger scale than
the
serious situation which we already face.
With our partners and donors,
USAID is simultaneously working to prevent
this worst case scenario, while
preparing to respond to it. We don't know
which turn Zimbabwe will take in
its tumultuous journey out of tyranny, but
USAID stands ready to support
Zimbabweans in realizing their rightful
aspirations for liberation from the
current brutal and despotic regime and
in the transition to a new, more just
and prosperous society.
SABC
July 21, 2008,
21:15
South Africa has welcomed the signing of the memorandum of
understanding
between Zimbabwe's opposing parties in Harare. President
Robert Mugabe and
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara signed the deal, which paves the way for
fully-fledged
negotiations.
The ceremony was overseen by main
facilitator South African President Thabo
Mbeki. The South African
government says the signing represents a positive
step forward in ongoing
dialogue among the parties.
Mbeki says the deal commits negotiating
parties to an intense programme to
finalise negotiations as quickly as
possible.
Zimbabwe's political leaders are optimistic that a political
settlement
could be reached within two weeks.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com
Monday,
July 21, 2008
By Shashank Bengali | McClatchy Newspapers
SUNNYSIDE,
South Africa - They'd struggled for so long to bring Zimbabwe to
this point:
a vibrant, generally free election in which President Robert
Mugabe suffered
his first defeat in 28 years in power.
That was in March. But Zimbabwe's
pro-democracy activists didn't bank on
Mugabe's response: deploying
government militias to kill and terrorize
opponents before last month's
second-round vote, forcing his election rival
to withdraw and prolonging his
grip on a suffering country.
Defeated and demoralized, with scores of
their ranks dead or missing,
Zimbabwe's legions of activists have gone into
hiding at home and abroad. As
Mugabe consolidates his power, many of the
activists who've fled to
neighboring South Africa say they don't know when
it will be safe to return.
"Everyone is underground. The democracy
movement is totally on hold," said
Ishmael Kauzani, 33, a longtime activist
who was kidnapped and beaten nearly
to death by government militias in
April. He now lives in a safe house in
Sunnyside, a suburb of South Africa's
capital, Pretoria, with three other
activists in exile.
Mugabe and
political opponent Morgan Tsvangirai agreed Monday to begin talks
on
resolving the political crisis. But experts think that the 84-year-old
president, who vowed during the election that "only God" could force him
from office, is unlikely to cede any real power.
Mugabe's crackdown
has targeted college students, grass-roots organizers and
community-based
members of Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic
Change, who have
close ties with voters, analysts and activists say. It
suggests a concerted
effort to cut down the youngest and most dedicated foot
soldiers of a
diverse coalition of pro-democracy groups that have agitated
for more than a
decade for an end to the Mugabe era.
The crackdown's swiftness and
lethality have even hardened campaigners
wondering how the movement will
reconstitute itself. Opposition party
officials say that more than 100
members have been killed and at least 1,000
imprisoned. Other civic groups
say that tally doesn't include many of their
members who've been murdered or
tortured.
"As a strategy to destroy us, it was good," said Wiseman
Mayengeza, 26, who
left his wife and young daughter behind when he fled a
government raid on an
opposition safe house in the Zimbabwean capital,
Harare, in April.
Human rights groups say that civilians are still being
beaten and denied
medical treatment.
"It's a terrible disaster for
the democracy movement," said Elinor Sisulu, a
veteran Zimbabwean
human-rights campaigner who lives in South Africa. "And
it's particularly
distressing that all this is happening at a time when the
two sides are
supposed to be in negotiations . . . and on the other hand
people are in
hiding and running for their lives."
Marlene Chiedza Gadzirayi, 21, said
she began receiving threats last year
after she was elected to the board of
Zimbabwe's national union of
university students, an outspoken group that
frequently criticizes the
government. Phone calls came at odd hours and
anonymous voices warned, "We
want to deal with you," or threatened to rape
her and infect her with HIV,
the virus that causes AIDS.
After the
March election, ruling-party militias started turning up at her
family's
home, asking for her. At that point, Gadzirayi, an accounting
student, was
helping to manage the finances of a leading activist group, the
Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition. She was among the few people in the country
who knew
where such groups were getting funding.
"That's why I had to come to
South Africa," she said recently at the group's
offices in Johannesburg,
less than a week after she arrived. "They would
have wanted me to expose all
the organizations that were assisting (the
opposition). Anyone could have
ended up dead."
Kauzani and Mayengeza were active in the National
Constitutional Assembly, a
consortium of student, labor and religious groups
that formed in 1997 to
campaign for a new constitution. Kauzani was also
among the first members of
the opposition party when it began in
1999.
Both said they were on government watch lists for organizing
demonstrations
throughout the country. Each has been jailed multiple
times.
Three weeks after the March election, Kauzani said, a group of
thugs clad in
ruling-party regalia abducted him and a friend in Harare. They
were driven
about 100 miles away, dumped on the side of the road and pounded
repeatedly
with stones and sticks, until Kauzani's ribs were in pieces and
he fell
unconscious.
"They left us for dead," he
recalled.
They regained consciousness and managed to get back to Harare,
where they
checked into Avenues, a private clinic. Two weeks later they were
discharged. Kauzani set off for South Africa, but his friend, Better
Chokururama, his leg still in a cast, drove to his family's village first to
see his mother.
While Chokururama was en route with three other
passengers, people in two
unmarked trucks ambushed his car. His body and
those of two others,
including Kauzani's older brother, later were found
mutilated or strangled
to death. The fourth passenger is thought to have
survived, but hasn't been
heard from.
Now Kauzani is holed up with
Mayengeza and two other young activists in a
two-room apartment on an
unassuming suburban street, 300 miles from the
Zimbabwean border. The
National Constitutional Assembly has rented the place
for $650 a month, but
there's no money for furniture, so for weeks the men
slept in the same room
on polyester blankets.
A few days ago, someone delivered a twin mattress,
which two of the men now
share.
With so many campaigners lost and
scattered, and government militias roaming
freely in Zimbabwe, no one can
say when the democracy movement will regain
its footing.
"It's one of
the big challenges we have now," Sisulu said ruefully. "I wish
I had an
answer for that."
The Times
July 22, 2008
Last month, just before the Zimbabwean election, this farmer wrote a
dramatic article in The Times describing President Mugabe's intimidation
campaign. Here he recalls what happened afterwards
Ben Freeth
As I
drove around the corner to my parents-in-law's house I was greeted by a
gun
pointing straight at my head. They had arrived already. The farmworkers
had
overheard that they were coming. It was two days after the June 27
election.
We knew trouble was being organised. Some nuns had arrived in our
home town
of Chegutu, southwest of Harare, saying that the Minister of
Policy
Implementation was behind it, and we wrote to the Commissioner of
Police
asking for protection.
I ducked to avoid the bullets and swerved, hitting
a tree. Almost instantly
militiamen smashed the driver's-side window with a
rock. The impact stunned
me and I was dragged out and beaten over the head
and back with rifle butts.
After a time they tied me up and dragged me to
my parents-in-law. Mike
Campbell, my father-in-law, was groaning on the
ground, his head bruised.
His wife Angela said that her arm was broken and
her head bruised from her
hair being pulled out and being beaten with
sticks. One of them urinated on
her.
Over the next eight and a half
hours, I lapsed in and out of consciousness.
I remember lots of shooting.
The men, supporters of President Mugabe's Zanu
(PF) shot all the wheels on
my vehicle and put us on the floor of my
father-in-law's vehicle, having
looted the house.
We went to the next-door farm, where they shot the
dogs. My head and back
were bouncing on the floor as the vehicle reached
150km/h (93mph) as it
chased Bruce, my brother-in-law. I had a 12cm fracture
in my skull and
broken ribs. Between us we had a dozen broken
bones.
It was like a gangster film. They were shooting out of the windows
as we
screamed along. Between them they had more than 20 guns. I found out
later
that two bullets had passed within a few centimetres of Bruce's
headrest as
he tried to follow us and waited outside another farm. Fourteen
bullets
lodged in his car. They even shot at passing traffic.
Police
were told that we had been beaten and abducted but there was no will
to
rescue us. For hours they did not even leave the police station.
Kelly,
one of Mike and Angela's dogs, arrived panting at our house where my
wife,
Laura, was. Laura knew something was wrong. She got the children and
the
dogs in the Ford Laser. It's 20 years old and low for the bush but it
was
evident from the shooting that she had to go that way.
When they got to
the northern fence line she did not have wirecutters. They
said a prayer and
out of the bush, almost like an angel, walked a man with a
dog. Laura
explained the situation and he pulled out some wirecutters from
his pocket
and cut the fence for her. She got through to safety.
Trussed up in the
back of the car, the hours passed until it was dark. We
ended up deep in the
bush where there was a large camp of militiamen and
some fires. They
stripped me except for my shorts and a thin shirt that they
had ripped the
buttons off. They poured buckets of cold water over us, sang
anti-white war
songs and kept talking of killing us. Guns were waved over us
and the bare
soles of my feet beaten. They burnt Angela's lips with a
burning stick stuck
into her mouth.
Fear and hatred did not play a part in what was going
through my head. I was
not afraid of death. Angela felt abandoned at one
point but looked up and a
flooding sense of God came through her as she saw
the stars burning down.
As I prayed: "Jesus!" "Jesus!" "Jesus!" out loud
I felt the words of Jesus
where he said: "Love your enemies" and "Bless
those who curse you" come into
my heart. I reached out to someone's leg and
said: "May the Lord Jesus bless
you" and I said the same to another and
another.
Mike wasn't conscious most of the time and his finger was broken
so they got
Angela to sign a document saying that we would not continue with
the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal case that we had
initiated on the land issue.
They loaded us into the vehicle and we
bumped along a dirt track for another
30km. At about midnight we were untied
and dumped by a road. Mike and Angela
couldn't walk, so I stumbled to a
light. I climbed through a hedge and woke
the occupants. Miraculously I
could remember telephone numbers and I got
through to Laura. Within half an
hour we were on our way to hospital. They
got a drip into Mike before his
veins collapsed. They put a pin through
Angela's arm and stitched me up.
After five days the neurosurgeon performed
a two-and-a-half-hour operation
and cut a 4cm hole in my skull to release
the blood clots. As I awoke, the
first question I asked was: "Will I be
allowed to go to our SADC case in 11
days' time?"
I got out of hospital and went back to the farm. Arrests
have finally
started and some of those involved in attacking us have been
put behind
bars, I understand. There seems to be a change of atmosphere.
Although many
opposition people are still in hiding and many have been
severely
brutalised, the police are starting to protect lives and prosecute
party
militia. I believe that Gilbert Moyo, who led so many attacks and
looting,
is in prison. I hope I'm not imagining it but there is an air of
hope
around.
The workers almost bounced with excitement that I was
alive. I felt the
tears welling up, I was so moved. I was then put on the
plane in a
wheelchair and we were on our way to Windhoek, Namibia, for the
SADC
tribunal. Sadly Mike, the main applicant, was too badly injured to
come.
The case is a significant one for the rule of law in southern
Africa. The
judges come from Mozambique, Botswana, Angola, Malawi and
Mauritius. It the
first time that southern Africa has had an international
tribunal to which
people within the SADC can appeal. President Mugabe is
cited as the
respondent in the case. It is the first time that his
representatives have
to appear before an international court.
The
case looks at whether Zimbabwe law denies the right of protection by
expressly preventing people access to the courts; whether there has been
discrimination in the taking of land from white people, and whether it is
acceptable to take someone's home and livelihood without compensation. It
also looks at if the Zimbabwean Government is in contempt of protection
orders granted by the tribunal.
On the second day, after a dramatic
walkout by the Zimbabwean Government's
representatives, the judge said: "We
are building a house of justice."
Jeremy Gauntlett, our advocate, pointed
out that Zimbabwe meant "house of
stone". In the days ahead, through the
"house of justice", we want to
rebuild the "house of stone" that has
collapsed so fast. We ask for your
prayers of support.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
21 July
2008
Members of the militia controlled by the ruling
ZANU-PF party of President
Robert Mugabe have been pressuring citizens to
fund celebrations of Mr.
Mugabe's election in the June 27 run-off election
that was internationally
condemned as illegitimate, according to sources in
several provinces around
the country.
Sources in Gokwe, Midlands
province, said ZANU-PF militia and war veterans
have been pressuring
residents to donate Z$300 billion (US$4) apiece and
livestock for a
celebration of President Mugabe's victory in the run-off in
which he was the
only active candidate.
Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew on
June 22 over political
violence that had claimed the lives of about 100
members of his Movement for
Democratic Change.
Sources said
villagers in Matabeleland are being forced to donate Z$200
billion in cash
and five kilograms of maize meal for ward-based victory
celebrations. Rural
teachers are called upon to donate Z$200 billion
although they only earn
around Z$150 billion a month.
Sources in Mashonaland East province said
villagers there are also being
forced to contribute in cash and kind toward
local celebrations.
Gokwe resident and MDC activist Jonah Muzira told
reporter Jonga Kandemiiri
of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that those who do
not raise the Z$300 billion
demanded by the militia are being threatened
with eviction from their homes.
The Tide, Nigeria
. Monday, Jul 21,
2008
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is something of a maverick. The
self-independent despot has defied all sanctions by Western nations to
unleash mayhem on his country's men and women. His I-don't-care posture
confounds even those nations that have condemned his actions widely and
advocated stiff sanctions against his regime.
Mugabe has kept many in
the dark as to the source of his strength and
confidence. Recent
developments in Africa show that the Zimbabwean despot
has been enjoying the
support of some African countries. Many had expected
that the Zimbabwe
president would get the bashing of his life at the just
concluded African
Union (AU) summit in Egypt on July 1. They were
disappointed, instead of the
desired condemnation of the country's June 27
presidential run-off election,
the AU summiteers allowed the embattled
president to walk away with what
appears to be the first diplomatic victory
he needed to consolidate his hold
on power.
The unwillingness of the AU to break out of its reticence on
the Zimbabwean
question has raised more questions than answers. Why has the
AU refused to
act in the face of growing isolation of Mugabe by the global
community? It
had been hoped that the Union would muster the political will
to condemn his
re-elections and provide the international community the
needed platform to
ease him out of power. The admonition by the African body
to both Mugabe and
Morgan Tsvangirai, the presidential candidate of Movement
for Democratic
Change, MDC, to initiate dialogue is a show of weakness, to
say the least.
If African leaders knew what was good for the situation, they
ought to have
joined their Western counterparts to call for severe sanction
against the
unpopular regime.
The AU glove-in-hand treatment has
emboldened Mugabe to ridicule his
detractors and dare the Western world. The
Zimbabwean strongman has always
boasted that the West can hang itself and
that it has no basis and a claim
on Zimbabwe politics. I do not understand
why African leaders are commending
what goes on in that country. Zimbabwe
has always claimed that it receives
the support of Gabon and Eritrea. Not
only that, it also maintained that it
also gets the support of African
political leaders. It is then clear that a
divided Africa on Zimbabwe crisis
cannot proffer solution to the reign of
oppression in that
nation.
Whether Mugabe gets the support of majority of African countries
or not, the
truth is that the despot lost the general election. And so the
outcome of
the run-off election does not confer legitimacy on his
government. I am glad
that some African countries opposed to his re-election
are determined to see
him out of power. Many of them have already called for
his suspension from
the AU and SADC at the AU summit. These African
countries like Botswana,
Senegal and Sierra Leone, among others, have to
make their stance relevant
by mobilising other African countries to put
pressure on Mugabe to quit
office. If the run-off election results are
allowed to stand, they would
bring shame to the entire Africa.
The
people of Zimbabwe have been denied their democratic rights, and we
should
in no uncertain terms condemn what has happened. It is my view,
therefore,
that the AU has to wake from its slumber and engage both parties
to form a
transitional government that would prepare Zimbabwe for fresh
elections.
Although there are indications that Mugabe may not like the
power-sharing
arrangement, the proposal should be made. The efficacy of the
power-sharing
arrangement has already been seen in Kenya. If it worked in
Kenya, I think
it can work in Zimbabwe.
If Mugabe rejects the offer as he is wont to do,
the international community
should consider imposing stiffer sanctions on
his country. Such sanction
should be targeted at the officials of his
regime. The time has come for the
international community to act strongly
against the Zimbabwean strongman. I
expect the United States of America,
(USA), that is in the forefront of
Western campaign against the current
regime in the country, to articulate
and consult on measures that might be
taken. And it would make sense to deny
the government of Zimbabwe the means
to conduct violence on its own people.
Like the proverbial cat with nine
lives, Mugabe has survived several
sanctions and isolation, including his
suspension by the Commonwealth. But
as opposition mounts against his regime,
it is doubtful if he can pull
through.
Editorial
The Guardian,
Tuesday July 22,
2008
Yesterday's first meeting for 10 years between Robert Mugabe and
Morgan
Tsvangirai took place on the day when the Bank of Zimbabwe started
issuing
banknotes for 100bn dollars - not enough to buy a loaf of bread -
and on
which fresh allegations surfaced of murder and violence against
opposition
supporters. This deepening national disintegration is a far more
potent
reality for ordinary Zimbabweans than anything that the political
adversaries have yet been able to muster. The onus is therefore on those who
promoted yesterday's deal to show they are not building a house made of
straw.
As this paper reported yesterday, millions of Zimbabweans have
been reduced
to a scorched earth existence merely to survive. Harvest
failure, brought on
in part by mishandled land redistribution schemes, has
forced many to sell
precious livestock to survive and driven tens of
thousands from the land to
the towns and from Zimbabwe to South Africa.
Inside Zimbabwe, with its
debauched currency, true survival is only possible
for the Zanu-PF
kleptocracy around Mr Mugabe. According to the United
Nations, 5 million
people need urgent food aid that Mr Mugabe denies them on
the grounds it is
all a colonialist plot. One in three Zimbabweans is
malnourished. Food
shortages and inequalities threaten health and livelihood
on a scale that
the regime is neither capable of nor interested in
combating.
If their needs are to be meaningfully addressed, Zimbabweans
will need more
than two men's signatures on a piece of paper - especially
when one of those
belongs to Mr Mugabe. This is not to deny that yesterday's
meeting is a sign
that the status quo - economically, socially and in the
shape of Mr Mugabe's
shamelessly dishonest re-election - is now
indefensible. Mr Mugabe and Mr
Tsvangirai would not have met at all if the
crisis had still been
subcontracted to South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.
International
pressure from Africa and beyond has combined with mounting
domestic
instability to force yesterday's show of joint action. Yesterday's
meeting
and agreement, though, are little more than symbols of a
preparedness to
talk about a situation that is out of control. It is not a
real answer to
the country's needs.
Mr Mugabe's real intentions
remain hugely suspect, while even Mr Tsvangirai
dubbed yesterday's meeting
merely tentative. That is why the crucial
questions remain those about Mr
Mugabe, his network and his regime. They are
the fundamental cause of
Zimbabwe's problem and they cannot be part of its
solution except on terms
at odds with their own instincts and self-interest.
Until those issues are
confronted not ducked, Mr Mugabe's commitment to
change will be as worthless
as one of his banknotes.
IOL
July 21 2008 at
07:13AM
By Angela Quintal
Zimbabweans seeking refuge
in South Africa could soon be spared mass
deportation, with Home Affairs
Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula likely to
approve a special dispensation
for those who are in the country illegally.
This is in line with a
call from the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, António
Guterres, who wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula urging Pretoria
to stop the mass
deportation of Zimbabwean migrants and to allow them a
temporary legal
status to remain in South Africa.
"I cannot continue blindly to
behave as though nothing is happening
across the Limpopo," Mapisa-Nqakula
said on Sunday. She told the Cape Times
she was giving the UNHCR's call
"very, very serious consideration" and had
asked her officials to report to
her by tomorrow on how this could best be
implemented.
n an
interview in Durban after a two-day meeting of regional security,
defence
and home affairs ministers, Mapisa-Nqakula acknowledged that
Zimbabweans
crossing the border into South Africa were not only economic
migrants
seeking "bucks", but were fleeing that country's violence and
political
turmoil.
"I am not dumb. We can all appreciate the political and
economic
situation in Zimbabwe . I mean, we have seen pictures of people who
have
been beaten up, women who have been burnt.
"I don't want
to attribute the violence to a particular group of
people, or the state .
there could be intra-party violence. It doesn't
matter, but the point is,
there is clear violence," she said.
The UNHCR has warned of
"disturbing developments" with the pattern of
displacement from Zimbabwe
following the March general election and the June
27 presidential run-off,
which was boycotted by the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai.
"Previously,
most Zimbabweans crossing the border were single men
(about 90 percent) or
women seeking work," UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer
Pagonis said earlier this
month.
"We are now seeing, however, an increasing number of
families arriving
as a result of political violence, with several people
showing signs of
beatings or torture," Pagonis said.
The UNHCR
reported more than a week ago that during a period of 40
days, South Africa
deported about 17 000 Zimbabweans, some of whom could
have been asylum
seekers fleeing violence and political persecution. There
are thousands of
undocumented migrants in South Africa, including
Zimbabweans, with the
government unable to provide official statistics.
Smarting from
criticism that she had little compassion for the plight
of Zimbabweans,
Mapisa-Nqakula said: "How could anyone believe that I would
be happy to
deport people to a country where there is violence and unrest?
It is not as
though we are insensitive to what is happening on the ground."
However, any decision to grant a special dispensation had implications
and
needed to be thoroughly planned for.
The minister was speaking
ahead of her talks on Sunday in Johannesburg
with her Zimbabwean
counterpart, where she intended to be frank and to play
open
cards.
"I don't think the Zimbabweans will feel comfortable when
they hear .
for instance, that we will stop mass deportations of
Zimbabweans, because it
will say something about them. They need to
understand that we are under
pressure to do things, because of what they are
not doing right."
She also hoped that Monday's expected signing of
a memorandum of
understanding by all the Zimbabwean parties, that will
signal the start of
power-sharing talks and a possible end to violence
there, would also see a
return to that country of displaced
migrants.
However, given that past "breakthroughs" had been met
with setbacks,
she was not about to hinge her decision on the possibility
that negotiations
might succeed. Given that such a decision would have
serious implications,
her department had to plan properly, including how to
distinguish who was,
in fact, a Zimbabwean.
"I have asked my
officials to give me a report (by tomorrow) on how
best to do this." She
acknowledged that to try to isolate Zimbabweans from
other migrants from
Africa would be "extremely tricky".
"I must have a test to declare
who are Zimbabweans. If I am going to
give exemption certificates, I need a
test ..."
Language could not be the sole proof, Mapisa-Nqakula
said. "The truth
of the matter is that you do find Malawians, Zambians and
South Africans who
share the same culture."
A government
official noted, however, that Zimbabweans, unlike
citizens of other
countries on the continent, had good documentation,
including passports and
other ID documents.
The test would also probably be based on
language and geography and
would not be as difficult to implement if one was
dealing with citizens, for
example, from Burundi or Somalia.
Mapisa-Nqakula acknowledged it would probably be less complicated to
offer a
special dispensation to SADC migrants in general, given that it
would be
easier to distinguish people within the region from those in West
or North
Africa.
However, such a decision would have huge implications for
the delivery
of government services unrelated to Home Affairs, such as
housing, health,
education and welfare, and had been met with opposition in
the past.
This article was originally published on page 1 of
Cape Times on July
21, 2008