Zanu PF unleashes violence

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Chengetai Zvauya and Helen Kadirire
Sunday, 24 July 2011 17:47

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF supporters stormed Parliament in
Harare yesterday, beating MPs and journalists while women traders were
rounded up in Mbare and forced to attend their party meeting, as the
political situation in the country deterioratesfurther.

The Zanu PF mob caused mayhem inside parliament, forcing the cancellation of
business.

The violent scenes at parliament and in Mbare are the latest in a string of
violent events that have spread as far as Mutare, Chinhoyi and Masvingo,
where Zanu PF supporters forced parliamentary committees from carrying out
public hearings on human rights issues.

Human rights groups, churches and political parties have also reported a
spike in cases of politically motivated violence by Zanu PF and state
security agents since Mugabe started hyping talk of imminent elections.

Yesterday’s scenes at parliament, where an MP was dragged by the necktie
while receiving heavy punches and kicks, as journalists were forced to run
for dear life after one of them was head butted by a female Zanu PF mobster,
highlighted the chaos.

MPs and journalists including those from the Daily News on Sunday had to
seek police protection as hundreds of violent Zanu PF crowds forced the
Joint Committee of the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on Justice,
Legal Affairs, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs and the Senate
Thematic Committee on Human Rights to abandon a public hearing on human
rights issues.

Visibly drunk, and in a clearly planned pattern, the mob beat up people in
front of the police, who did not arrest anyone.

Trouble started when the public who were in the parliament building to give
evidence to the committee finished singing the national anthem.

The mobsters went for MDC MP for Hwange Central Brian Tshuma whom they
accused of not singing the national anthem.
Similar accusations were levelled against the Standard reporter Nqaba
Matshazi.

The Zanu PF mob shouted abusive and unprintable words to the MP, calling him
a “sell-out” who could not sing the national anthem.

Outside parliament, they formed a barricade as they pushed and shoved,
blocking the public from attending the hearing.

Several MPs were stranded at the door with the youths blocking the entrance.
Among the MPs who were blocked were Misheck Shoko, Monica Mutsvangwa and
Cephas Makuyana.

The Daily News on Sunday witnessed the pandemonium as the atmosphere turned
tense outside parliament. The Zanu PF gangsters threatened anyone they
suspected of being an MDC supporter.

Some of the Zanu PF rabble-rousers who managed to force their way into
parliament heckled members of the public who were in the chambers and
disrupted proceedings, which were just about to begin.

Attention turned to Tshuma and Matshazi who were punched for their “offence”.

The rowdy crowd held Tshuma by the necktie, dragged him out of parliament
building before assaulting him.
Matshazi  later fled.

Another journalist Levi Mukarati, from the Financial Gazette, was
head-butted by a vicious female mobster before he sought police protection.

Police had to protect journalists as the mob bayed for the blood of anyone
they identified as a journalist.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), one of the organisations that had
intended to give a presentation to the committee, said Mukarati sustained
bruises from the assault while Tshuma lost one of his mobile phones and
cash.

Singing Mugabe praise songs, the mobsters outside parliament demanded that
they be let in the building before forcing themselves in to demand that
official proceedings should not be allowed to start.

Committee chairman Misheck Marava’s pleas for peace fell on deaf ears and
were forced to abort the hearing as the youths demanded that he address the
public in vernacular languages instead of English.

Some people passing through the parliament building were caught in the
crossfire. A white man who was passing by was physically attacked and
rescued by police from further assault as the mobsters turned racist.

Police finally managed to restore order and drove everyone away from
parliament. Journalists and MPs had to wait for the youths to disperse
before they were allowed to leave.

The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists said it was “irritated” by Zanu PF’s
behaviour.

“We note with alarm the escalation in terms of harassment and abuses of
journalists as we inch towards referendum and elections,” said Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists secretary-general Foster Dongozi.

“Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights unreservedly condemned the conduct of the
rowdy mob, the disruptions of the public hearing, not only in Harare, but in
Chinhoyi and Mutare, and the assaults on a legislator and journalists,” said
ZLHR.

“These disruptions, which constitute contempt of parliament in terms of the
law, are criminal offences. As such, these actions must be immediately
investigated by parliamentarians and the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and the
culprits — including the invisible masterminds behind the disruptions —
identified in order to bring them to book,” the group said.

Rowdy Zanu PF mobs also disrupted the committee’s meetings in Chinhoyi,
Masvingo and Mutare in past weeks.

In Mbare’s  Mupedzanhamo market, it was an all-male affair after Zanu PF
mobsters rounded up all female vendors and force-marched them to Number 4
Grounds near the Mbare flats for a Zanu PF Women’s League meeting.

When the Daily News on Sunday visited the market, there were no women in
sight, even the tough ones that sell skin creams and carrier bags.

Men inside the market said the women were scooped from the market early for
the meeting. One male trader who only identified himself as Tindo said: “The
market usually opens around 6 am and by 9 am the women had all been force
marched to attend the women’s league meeting.

It is now such an inconvenience to us because we have to work double while
they are at the meeting,” he said.

Mupedzanhamo is one of the country’s busiest and largest markets that mostly
trades cheap second-hand clothes mainly smuggled from Mozambique.

At the grounds where the meeting was taking place, all possible entry points
w [ends here]

Instability escalates in Harare

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

INSTABILITY ESCALATES WITH DISRUPTIONS, ASSAULTS AND POLICE BANS IN HARARE
24.07.1112:35pm
by ZLHR

Supporters of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)
on Saturday 23 July 2011 descended on Parliament building in Harare in large
numbers to intentionally disrupt a public hearing organised to solicit
people’s views on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) Bill. This
follows chaotic disruptions witnessed in the last four days at similar
parliamentary committee hearings organised in Chinhoyi and Mutare.

The boisterous ZANU PF supporters, some of whom were visibly drunk at 10am,
disrupted proceedings of the Joint Committee of the House of Assembly
Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs, Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs and the Senate Thematic Committee on Human Rights from
the onset.

They insisted that the national anthem be sung, and subsequently verbally
abused and assaulted Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) Member of
Parliament for Hwange Central, Hon. Brian Tshuma for allegedly not singing
the anthem. They refused to allow him to remain in the room and he
eventually had to be removed under escort of riot police for fear of further
attack.

The crowd also turned its inexplicable anger and violence on journalists
from the private media, including Levi Mukarate of The Financial Gazette and
Nqaba Matshazi of The Standard who were covering the hearing, and ejected
them from the meeting room. The journalists were also accused of not singing
the national anthem and writing falsehoods in their newspapers.

Mukarate sustained some bruises from the assault while Hon. Tshuma lost one
of his mobile phones and some money.

Initially the crowd prevented members of the public and civil society
organisations from making submissions. They also demanded that deliberations
take place in Shona and not English. The ZANU PF supporters, who included
Godwills Masimirembwa, then demanded the abandonment of proceedings to
gather people’s views on the ZHRC until the Constitution Select Committee
has completed the ongoing chaotic constitution-making process.

They protested that dozens of their colleagues had been left out of the
proceedings as they could not be accommodated in the small meeting room. For
unexplained reasons, the venue had been changed from the Senate Room to the
smaller Government Caucus Room Another rowdy mob had forced its way into the
main lobby of Parliament using the Nelson Mandela Avenue entrance and were
locked into the area by Parliament security details who did little to
contain the escalating situation.

The deployment of anti-riot police helped to save the situation from
deteriorating even further. Eventually the mob left the building and spent
considerable time dancing and protesting outside Parliament. Police did
nothing to disperse the crowd, even when they attacked vehicles and members
of the public who were passing by.

Saturday’s hearing, which is one of the seven meetings held around the
country, was meant to gather public views on the ZHRC Bill before it is
debated in the House of Assembly and later in the Senate. The Joint
Committee will produce a report which will be presented in both houses when
the Bill comes up for its Second Reading.

Meanwhile, Warren Park police on Saturday also barred MISA Zimbabwe and the
Artists for Democracy Trust from staging a “Free the Airwaves concert” in
the high density suburb citing a report carried in a local daily newspaper.

The police had granted approval for the staging of the concert which seeks
to raise awareness on the importance of freedom of expression and the need
to have more players in media especially in the broadcasting sector.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) unreservedly condemns the conduct
of the rowdy mob, the disruptions of the public hearing not only in Harare,
but also in Chinhoyi and Mutare, and the assaults on a legislator and
journalists. These disruptions, which constitute contempt of Parliament in
terms of the law, are criminal offences. As such, these actions must be
immediately investigated by parliamentarians and the Zimbabwe Republic
Police, and the culprits – including the invisible masterminds behind the
disruptions - identified in order to bring them to book.

Whilst the riot police prevented the situation from escalating further,
their inaction in terms of arresting the violent culprits and dispersing an
unlawful gathering which caused public disorder is unacceptable and a
further indication that the law enforcement agents are partisan and not
willing to protect peace-loving citizens who wish to contribute in a
peaceful manner to legislative and other civic processes. This is moreso
when witnessing the zeal with which the same police force banned the
lawfully authorised and peaceful concert in Warren Park.

ZLHR personnel were present at Parliament and witnessed the chaotic scenes.
It is a sad day indeed when Zimbabweans are unable to gather peacefully and
in their diversity to calmly debate and contribute to the improvement of
measures for human rights promotion and protection in our country. Serious
and urgent measures need to be taken to inculcate a culture of respect for
diverse views and peaceful and tolerant discourse, particularly in the
youth, who continue to be used and abused by politicians lurking in the
shadows for their own negative personal and party political interests.

Zim's Constitution-making To Resume Next Week

http://www.radiovop.com

Harare, July 24, 2011 - The stalled constitution-making process is expected
to resume on Monday after the Management Committee of the Constitution
Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) held a crisis meeting to sort
differences over what methodology to use to compile data from the outreach
exercise.

The process stalled two weeks ago on the basis that there is no more
funding.

COPAC’s Management committee comprising the six Global Political Agreement
(GPA) negotiators – Tendai Biti (MDC-T), Patrick Chinamasa (Zanu
(PF),Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga (Small Movement of Democratic Change
Faction (MDC). Elton Mangoma (mainstream MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai
(MDC-T), Nicholas Goche (Zanu (PF) and Moses Mzila-Ndlovu (MDC) and the
Constitution-making process’s three co-chairpersons, Munyaradzi Mangwana
(Zanu (PF), Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and Edward Ndlovu (MDC) and Eric
Matinenga, the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, met in
Harare on Tuesday night.

Officials said it has been agreed that both qualitative and quantitative
methods be used in compilation of district and provincial reports after
heated discussions.

Matinenga, the minister directly in charge with the writing of the new
constitution, said the disputes which threatened to derail the
constitution-making process were trashed out on Tuesday night.

“We have found a way forward. The dispute has been around the use of the
methodology for the process but we meet as the Management Committee on
Tuesday night to resolve issues. We came up with an agreement that we should
recognise the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. I hope we
are not going to go back on this latest agreement,” said Matinenga.

The MDC has been supporting the use of qualitative methods as it argued that
numbers were not important but the quality of submissions made by the public
during the outreach.

Zanu (PF) which vigorously campaigned for its views to be held countrywide,
has been pushing for quantitative methods of compiling reports because of
the dominance of the party’s views during the outreach.

Apart from political differences, the constitution-making process has been
bedevilled by lack of sufficient funds to bank-roll it since its start in
January 2009.

Last week the Zanu (PF) politburo, the party’s supreme decision-making body
outside congress, accused Finance Minister Biti of attempting to delay the
drafting of the new constitution, allegedly by refusing to fund the process.

But Matinenga said if there was no money to continue with the process, the
inclusive government would find it, saying there was a provision that the
government should use its reserves to finance the exercise.

“Finances will always be an issue but we will always find the money. The
budget did not set aside a lump sum for the process but there is an
understanding that we will always be going to treasury if we ran out of
funds. In that respect the treasury has not disappointed,” added Matinega.

COPAC is understood to be in urgent need of about US$1 million to complete
the district and provincial outreach reports.

More millions would be needed for the remaining stages that include the
drafting of the new constitution, the holding of the second All-Stakeholders
Conference, the presentation of the draft to parliament and a referendum. If
approved by the referendum, the draft constitution will be placed before
parliament where it is expected to be passed into law, leading to fresh
polls to bring closure to the acrimonious inclusive government.

Timeline stretch for free and fair election

http://www.timeslive.co.za

THEMBA SIBANDA in HARARE | 23 July, 2011 18:23

Zimbabwe requires more than 280 days to fully consummate processes that
would lead to a free and fair election whose outcome is not likely to be
contested, it has emerged.

The timeline comes as Zanu-PF, led by President Robert Mugabe, continues
with its push to have presidential and general elections held this year.

The two MDC formations, led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Professor Welshman Ncube respectively, have thrown out the bid for the 2011
elections on the basis that there are still a lot of things that need to be
attended to before the ground is cleared for a proper, free and fair
election.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has also reiterated that
Zimbabwe is not yet ready to hold free and fair elections, throwing a lobby
by Zanu-PF into disarray.

MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora told a media conference this week that
Zimbabwe's preparedness was still far behind the mark, hence there should be
no talk of elections this year.

He revealed that according to the timelines that had been agreed to by the
negotiators, more than 280 days would be sufficient to lay the ground for a
proper election.

"There should be electoral amendments, which were agreed to by the
principals, that should be enacted within 45 days from July 5, 2011.

"After these, there must be voter education and mobilisation exercises
within a further 30 days. When that process is completed, there must be a
voter registration process which must be done within 60 days before a new
voters' roll is prepared, also within 60 days," Mwonzora revealed.

The roadmap under discussion by the three parties' negotiators leaves
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede with egg on his face after he claimed
Zimbabwe had a perfect voters' roll which could be used for the anticipated
elections.

It is now agreed, according to Mwonzora, that Zimbabwe needs a new voter's
roll.

The Zanu-PF politburo argued the old voters' roll would be used in the
forthcoming election as there was no need to prepare a new one given that
"it was in a perfect condition".

A recent survey by a South African institute revealed that there were about
41000 octogenarians on the voters' roll used during the 2008 general
elections and presidential run-off - a development described by the MDC as
one of Zanu-PF's plots to rig the elections.

Mwonzora disclosed that negotiators from the three parties had also agreed
that after the voters' roll has been compiled, voters would be allowed to
inspect it and cross-check the correctness of their details within a period
of 60 days.

"After the inspection of the new voter s' roll and the corrections thereof,
the state (through the Registrar General's Office) would be allowed 45 days
in which it shall ensure that the voter's roll is sorted out, with all
mistakes cleared. A new voter's roll should be produced after the 45-day
period .

"Looking at these alone, you will realise the clamour for elections this
year by Zanu-PF is misplaced and a misreading of the roadmap itself. It is
clear that one needs more than 280 days to ensure that all these things are
done," he said.

Mwonzora said these provisions were based on the hope that the country
manages to conclude the constitution-making process now under way.

Tsvangirai threatens poll boycott

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Sunday, 24 July 2011 10:08

BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE

NYANGA — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (pictured right) yesterday
reiterated that elections will not be held this year even though Zanu PF is
pushing for early polls.

Speaking at the memorial service of an MDC-T activist, Rwisai Nyakauru in
Nyanga North, Tsvangirai said elections would only be held if there was a
conducive political environment.

Nyakauru died aged 82 in April soon after he was released from remand
prison.

The MDC-T leader said Zanu PF cannot win an election in a free and fair
political environment.

“There will be no elections this year,” Tsvangirai said.

“They will only be held after we attain a level playing field.”

He said the death of Nyakauru, who was allegedly killed by known Zanu PF
activists from the same area, must give the people of Zimbabwe renewed
conviction to fight for democracy and dislodge Mugabe and Zanu PF in the
next elections.

“Nyakauru is a real hero who showed courage and conviction to this
democratic struggle, not those people who are awarded hero status for
killing people,” Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai said if Zanu PF wanted elections this year it could hold them but
the MDC-T would not be a part of them.

Tsvangirai castigated Zanu PF for perpetrating violence against the people
of this country.

He however added that no amount of torture or killing would destroy the
spirit of a united and determined people.

“Violence is now a religion in this country. You can torture and kill people
but you cannot destroy their spirit,” he said.

The MDC-T says at least 200 of its activists were murdered by suspected Zanu
PF militia and state security agents during the violence in 2008 elections.
About 700 people attended Nyakauru’s memorial service.

Also in attendance were Finance minister Tendai Biti, ICT minister Nelson
Chamisa and several other MDC-T MPs and Senators.

ZEC boss says he will not be forced out

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

THEMBA SIBANDA | 24 July, 2011 01:31

Former high court judge Simpson Mtambanengwe says efforts to frustrate him
and damage his reputation as chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) will not deter him from discharging his duties as the commission's
boss.

Mtambanengwe's statements come after he was accused by the national
broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), of having made
statements that war veterans were terrorising people in rural areas.

This was part of efforts to force the electorate to support the candidature
of President Robert Mugabe and other Zanu-PF candidates in the anticipated
elections.

The dates for the elections are yet to be set, although indications are that
Zimbabwe might not hold elections this year as proposed by Mugabe and his
party.

The allegation is that the ZEC boss told a conference in Barcelona, Spain,
that the former liberation fighters were causing mayhem in rural areas,
where they had unleashed a reign of terror against civilians.

Mtambanengwe, however, disputes the claim by the broadcaster, saying he and
his entourage did not make any statements or address the conference on the
situation in Zimbabwe.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mtambanengwe said the claims made by the ZBC in
its report were false and of malicious intent.

He explained that he had not addressed any forum on the situation in the
country.

"I and my colleagues were invited and attended the said conference as
ordinary participants who were not asked to present any statement whatsoever
and we did not make any statement at all," he said.

Mtambanengwe said he did not know how the statements attributed to him had
come about, arguing that he only learnt about them when he was "accosted" by
two journalists from the ZBC for an interview on the subject.

"I was having coffee at the Rainbow Towers Hotel when two young men who
claimed to be from the ZBC appeared and accosted me for an interview.

"I asked them who the source of the story they wanted to talk to me about
was and they failed to provide me with the details.

"I asked them to make arrangements with my secretary for an interview and
that was the last time I saw them. They did not return," said a visibly
angry Mtambanengwe.

He said he would remain resolute as he had done in the past when faced with
situations that required resilience.

Responding to a question during a press conference last week on his
continued occupation of the electoral commission's office in the face of
repeated efforts by Zanu-PF activists to tarnish his image, Mtambanengwe
said his life had been punctuated with a lot of serious challenges and the
latest "side show" would not deter him from carrying out his duties.

"I was appointed to this position (ZEC chairman) and had work to do when I
was appointed, which I still have to this day.

"I will do that which I was appointed to do and these other things are not
going to affect the way I do my work," he declared.

Following the broadcast of the news clip, the national broadcaster has since
interviewed members of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWVA) who have launched a scathing attack against
Mtambanengwe.

Some of the war veterans said Mtambanengwe, given the alleged statements,
showed he was not a suitable candidate for the office he was occupying.

Fears are that there could be a push to have him ousted from his office.

He declared earlier this year that the electoral commission was not ready to
host an election this year, contrary to Zanu-PF's position.

Mtambanengwe also declared that commission was too broke to put in place
structures that would ensure that the country held a free, fair and
successful election.

Tsvangirai denies 'unity talks'

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

Harare correspondent | 24 July, 2011 01:31

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has vehemently denied state media reports
that he tried to smuggle the matter of Welshman Ncube, the leader of the
smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-N), into the
principals' meeting, saying the issue was brought up by President Robert
Mugabe.

Tsvangirai's spokesman, Luke Tamborenyoka, described the reports, which
suggested the premier wanted to gain favours from Ncube's MDC, as false and
a continued attack by the media on the premier.

The reports said the premier brought up the issue of Ncube - who was not
appointed Deputy Prime Minister due to Arthur Mutambara's refusal to
relinquish the post after losing the presidency of the party in January this
year - because he sought to prepare the ground for unity discussions with
the other MDC formation.

But Tamborenyoka said Mugabe told the meeting the MDC-N wanted Ncube to be
included in the meeting of the principals, even though he wanted Mutambara
to continue as Deputy Prime Minister.

Ncube's formation has denied it is in unity talks with Tsvangirai's party. -

Zim Police Bans MISA Musical Concert

http://www.radiovop.com

Harare, July 24, 2011 - Zimbabwe Police on Saturday morning banned a musical
concert aimed at promoting the liberalisation of the country’s airwaves.

The event which was organised by media lobby group, Media Institute of
Southern Africa (MISA), Artists for Democracy in Zimbabwe Trust (ADZT) and
Nhasi Mangwana, was to take place at Warren Park One shopping Centre in
Harare.

According to a statement by the organisations the “Free Our Airwaves”
concert was cancelled by Warren Park police without notice although the
police had initially sanctioned the event.

“Police have cancelled MISA and ADZT ‘Free our Airwaves concert’ which was
scheduled for today at Warren Park 1 Shops citing newspaper article as the
reason,” read a statement by the organisations.

The organisations have been holding public shows in the form of roadshows,
concerts and public meetings in the last three years advocating for the
opening up of airwaves.

The organisations have also organised similar events to lobby for the
opening up of the country’s media space. Partly due to their pressure, the
inclusive government has since licensed a number of newspapers, among them
the Daily News which was closed in 2004.

However despite the marked improvement in the availability of diverse voices
in the print media the electronic media remains firmly in the hands of the
state. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) remains a monopoly in the
sector despite wide spread public condemnation of its biased reportage.

The ban of MISA's road shows comes at a time when the country’s leading
human rights campaigner, the Zimrights plans to embark on musical concerts
and road-shows as part of a nationwide campaign against torture as
allegations of brutality against the country’s security forces continue to
emerge.

Reports from human rights defenders such as the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights, the Zimbabwe Peace Project and the Zimbabwe NGO Forum indicate that
state security agents have no qualms in subject political prisoners to
torture and other degrading human treatment.

But Okay Machisa, the national director of Zim-Rights said on Friday his
organisation had lined up several musical shows starting this week as part
of a campaign against torture which he said had reached alarming levels in
Zimbabwe.

Apart from musical shows and concerns, Machisa said Zim-rights was holding
public meetings and intended holding bilateral meetings with state security
agents.

“The culture of torture seems to be increasing especially caused by the
state security agents. No one has the right to torture anyone,” said
Machisa. On Friday Zim-Rights held a road show in Chiweshe while on Saturday
it held another one in Banket, both Zanu (PF) strongholds.

“We are not talking about physical torture but emotional torture as well.
Some of our meetings are being outlawed by police while some of our officers
have been arrested on flimsy grounds,” he added.

There is a general consensus that state security agents have resorted to
torture as a weapon to cow opponents of President Robert Mugabe.

More than twenty activists of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party
arrested over allegations of killing a policeman in May have stated that
they were torture by police.

Police probe Tsvangirai

http://www.timeslive.co.za

JAMA MAJOLA | 24 July, 2011 01:31

Police are investigating Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over alleged
financial embezzlement and fraud involving the purchase of his official
residence in Highlands, Harare, the Sunday Times has established.

Impeccable details obtained from high-level sources in government and the
banking sector show that police are probing Tsvangirai after it emerged
senior officials close to him, including his nephew, could have
misappropriated funds allocated to buy and renovate his house. In 2009
government gave him $1.5-million to buy and renovate the Highlands property.

Sources say police want to establish if Tsvangirai was involved, or at least
aware, of the alleged mishandling of funds.

After he was appointed prime minister in 2009, Tsvangirai reportedly
requested that a house be bought for him because he was barred from moving
into either the State House or Zimbabwe House. Currently, he lives in his
own house in Strathaven .

Police spokesman Andrew Phiri said he was not aware of the high-profile
investigation.

Tsvangirai's spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka, said the premier was not directly
involved in the project. "Government is renovating the house on his behalf,"
he said. "The prime minister is prepared to answer any questions relating to
his houses in Buhera and in Strathaven. Anything to do with renovations at
his official residence in Harare has to do with the relevant government
departments and in this case, the Ministry of Public Works," Tamborinyoka
said

However, the Sunday Times has it on good authority that police suspect the
$1.5-million was misused.

"There are investigations relating to embezzlement of funds and fraud going
on. The prime minister is caught (up) in the issue because the money was
disbursed to him to buy a house in Highlands and there seems to be questions
about how it was used. The issue involves several officials around
Tsvangirai, including a nephew of his," a senior Treasury official said.

"The issue is being handled at the highest government and police levels
because it is sensitive and critical. It involves officials at treasury and
banks."

A banker closely involved in the case said: "Police have approached us for
information during their investigation and we have been in contact with them
for some time. They say they have found records of irregular and suspicions
transactions involving the public funds given to the prime minister to buy
the house."

Responding to the Sunday Times story last week that Tsvangirai faced arrest
over the allegations, Tamborinyoka said the latest accusations against his
boss were "part of the political threats to his life and office. The PM is
not shaken at all. In fact, he has said before that he is prepared to rot in
jail if arrested for political reasons".

There have been several plans to arrest Tsvangirai recently for calling
Mugabe a "liar" and for his attack on judges .

Top cop Chihuri accused of abusing his powers

http://www.timeslive.co.za

SUNDAY TIMES CORRESPONDENT | 24 July, 2011 01:31

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
approached the Southern African Development Community (SADC) complaining
that police commissioner General Augustine Chihuri is abusing his powers by
systematically arresting officials and supporters of the party.

The MDC want Chihuri out, saying he is violating the Constitution of
Zimbabwe and also trampling on people's rights.

This comes as calls for the reform of the security sector intensify. The MDC
and human rights organisations have said that for the proper transfer of
power to take place, in the event of Zanu-PF losing elections, there was a
need for reform, as the security chiefs still insist that they will not
allow anybody else to run the country except President Robert Mugabe.

The MDC has also sent the same complaint to the Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (Jomic), which oversees the implementation of the
Global Political Agreement (GPA), which brought about the inclusive
government.

The development is likely to cause a further rift between Chihuri and his
colleagues in the police and the MDC. Chihuri has always been at loggerheads
with the MDC, which he accuses of violence and being "sellouts". But the MDC
has on several occasions hit back, accusing the police of arresting MDC
victims of violence and letting the perpetrators go free.

In a document entitled "Partisan Policing", which was sent to SADC leaders
and the facilitator to the Zimbabwe crisis, SA President Jacob Zuma, the MDC
claims that Chihuri's tenure has been characterised by partisan policing.

"The police have, since the formation of the MDC, turned a blind eye to
Zanu-PF perpetrators of violence, while at the same time resorting to the
fabrication of evidence against targeted MDC activists. Hundreds of MDC
supporters were murdered between May and June 2008.

"There is evidence in abundance of atrocities perpetrated against MDC
supporters in that period. Despite all of this, the police have not
apprehended the culprits, most of whom are known and have been named.

"The police, under the commissioner General Chihuri, have abused the powers
of detention by periodically resorting to mass detentions of MDC supporters,
ostensibly in the furtherance of the maintenance of law and order in the
country," reads part of the document.

While Chihuri was not available for comment, he has in the past said most of
the violence in the country is caused by the MDC, and recently, after the
murder of police officer, Petros Mutedza, at a beer hall in Glen View
Township, about 24 MDC activists were arrested and are facing murder
charges.

In November last year, Chihuri said: "This country came through blood and
the barrel of the gun, and it will never be re-colonised through a pen,
which costs as little as 15 cents."

The MDC accuses Chihuri of selectively applying the law and in the process
violating the GPA and the constitution.

"In violation of Sections 13, 15, 16 and 18 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,
police commissioner General Chihuri resorted to selective arrests of
political violence victims in a manner which aids and abets the perpetrators
of violence.

"In addition, in violation of the GPA and Section 16 of the Constitution,
the police commissioner General Chihuri has wilfully refrained from acting
on three police reports of criminal conduct that have been made against the
Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo. This reflects partisan
conduct on the part of Chihuri.

"There have also been police reports against a prominent Zanu-PF member,
Phillip Chiyangwa, and two senior Harare City Council officers, Cosmas
Zvikaramba and Psychology Chiwanga, which have implicated the three in the
fraudulent acquisition of public property," reads part of the dossier sent
to the SADC and Jomic.

The MDC also accuses Chihuri and top military officials of making
inflammatory statements which they say undermine the letter and spirit of
the GPA.

Chinamasa faces jail

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa could face imprisonment after a
parliamentary committee accused him of lying under oath in the ongoing
investigations into his role in the collapse of Shabanie Mashaba Mines (SMM
Holdings).
22.07.1105:52pm
by John Chimunhu

Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo told legislators on Tuesday that he was
studying the report by the portfolio committee on mines and energy, chaired
by Zanu (PF) MP Edward Chindori-Chininga.

“The committee noted that Chinamasa could have lied under oath regarding the
possession of bearer share certificates that he promised to avail to the
committee,” Moyo said.

Chinamasa, along with the SMM administrator he appointed in 2004, Arafas
Gwaradzimba, is accused of contempt of parliament after his statements
allegedly violated the Priviledges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act.

Chinamasa had told the committee that the government was now the owner of
SMM after paying US$2 million to former owners Turner and Newall (T&N)
of Canada. He said after the payment, T&N had issued the bearer share
certificates as proof that the government owned a stake in the troubled SMM.

The company had been bought from T&N in 1994 by businessman Mutumwa
Mawere, who was stripped of the firm by Chinamasa in 2004 following
allegations that he had committed crimes and failed to settle state debts.

Moyo said he would soon rule on whether or not contempt charges should be
laid against Chinamasa. If the charges are proved, Chinamasa could be jailed
or fined.

Landgrabs make a bitter brew for Zim

http://www.iol.co.za/

SA Time: Sunday, 24 July 2011 9:32:23 PM

July 24 2011 at 11:15am

On misty hills weeds smother surviving trees in the lost plantations of
Zimbabwe’s eastern province, Manicaland.

With present international record prices for coffee and nuts, these trees
should, in 2011, be worth their weight in gold.

But nowhere in the aftermath of President Robert Mugabe’s land reform is the
devastation more absolute than around Chipinge.

The trees are dying or have already been stumped out. Replanting would take
enormous capital and about 12 years before the first harvest.

Since land seizures began 11 years ago, agricultural exports – mainly
tobacco – almost disappeared but slowly there has been some recovery and
there are now 47 000 small- scale tobacco farmers, some of them doing well.

But tobacco, like maize, cotton and soyas, is an annual crop and
international companies, often hiring evicted white farmers, are funding and
teaching these new farmers to produce tobacco on disputed land.

Very few short-term crops do well in hillier parts of Manicaland where most
of Zimbabwe’s plantations used to thrive.

“Manicaland has fragile steep soils, it is primarily suited to plantations,
and regrettably over the last 11 years the critical mass of plantations have
been decimated through abuse and it would be very difficult to get
Manicaland back to where it was. There is no confidence to invest in
long-term development,” says Trevor Gifford, 43, immediate past president of
the Commercial Farmers’ Union, who was kicked off his farm, Wolverhampton, a
year ago.

Zimbabwe was a serious coffee producer before land invasions, but production
has slumped by 90 percent, with only five surviving commercial producers
from before land invasions.

There are many black small-scale coffee growers who want to expand, and who
could take advantage of assistance from the European Union which has long
been involved with coffee in Zimbabwe, but these growers can’t export any
longer without bulk production from large growers.

Gifford has long taken an interest, as a volunteer, in small scale growers
and always goes to their field days in other mountainous parts of eastern
Zimbabwe.

“The small-scale coffee farmer who has been growing since 1984, well, he or
she knows that without the critical mass from commercial producers they are
nothing because they will never produce an 18-ton container of same style
coffee.”

Gifford says the Zanu-PF agriculture ministry discourages him and the EU
from assisting new small-scale farmers to begin growing coffee as it would
mean recognition that commercial growers, mainly white, were essential to
the small grower.

Gifford, one of the younger evicted farmers, who is penniless now, but who
would have had an income of more than $2 million a year if he was still on
his farm, says Manicaland’s plantations are not being rebuilt, and are still
being destroyed.

“I have seen in my travels, citrus industry, zero rebuilding, just
destruction, macadamias zero building, just destruction. If you go and talk
to the big timber guys, the losses that they have incurred from the fires in
the past four or five years mean Zimbabwe we will be importing timber n the
next couple of years.”

Zimbabwe’s commercial plantation farmers had world-class reputations for
capital intensive, eco-friendly plantation farming. Gifford says he wants to
remain in his country, and that he and several of his colleagues would like
to help rebuild the plantations.

“We have such human capital if they just embraced us we could turn the
plantations around.

“I could never go back to my farm, I couldn’t raise the money to fix it and
live meanwhile, and I don’t want to own another bit of Africa.

“I don’t want to put good money after bad, but I have skills and expertise,”
he says.

Gifford’s farm looks a mess from the road. The old security gate has a
Zanu-PF slogan on it: “Our land, our sovereignty.”

Gifford, meanwhile, has not been paid any compensation, as is prescribed in
the Land Acquisition Act, either for his land, or the massive improvements,
such as the plantations. – Peta Thornycroft

Slow recovery for Zimbabwe’s tobacco harvest

http://www.iol.co.za

July 24 2011 at 11:14am

Sales of tobacco have fetched $345.2 million (R2.4 billion) in Zimbabwe so
far this year, with a seasonal average of $2.78 a kilogram. The country’s
tobacco statistics are extraordinary with tens of thousands of new growers,
most working land seized from white farmers in the past 11 years.

New small-scale and larger black growers now make up the vast majority of
tobacco producers. Together with the few white farmers who remain on their
land and some new younger white growers renting land from Zanu-PF land
invaders, they are now pushing production towards two-thirds of the annual
output before the land grab began.

In 2004 there were about 4 000 mostly small-scale black tobacco growers and
a handful of large-scale black tobacco producers.

In the 2010/11 season, industry insiders say there are about 47 000
registered growers. Among these are a few hundred black growers, also on
land seized from white farmers, who are considered large-scale growers
planting between 20ha and 50ha and producing world class leaf.

Banks will not lend to most new farmers because they do not have title deeds
as security for the loans.

International tobacco merchants advance money to growers and oversee
production, often using evicted white growers as trainers.

“We were very good tobacco farmers and it is in our interests for these new
farmers to do well,” says one former tobacco farmer who lost his land in
central Zimbabwe in 2003. “Our company lends many of these new farmers
money. We watch and help supervise that crop from the beginning to the end
because if we don’t, and the farmer fails, then we will be out of jobs.

“The rules are changing. We used to insist we only assisted growers on
undisputed land. But now the waters are muddied. All of us are asking fewer
and fewer questions about who has the title deeds and we are just getting on
with ensuring our growers do well.

“We know we will never get our farms back and we are just hoping for
compensation… but I want to stay in Zimbabwe, it’s my home, and I am proud
of some of the growers.”

He asks that neither he nor his company be identified.

Peter Garaziwa, 55, was a potato farmer in eastern Zimbabwe’s mountains
until 2004 when he was given white-owned land in a prime tobacco area,
Nyazura, south of his traditional home. This year, he says, he will have
produced 32 bales of Virginia tobacco produced on a farm known as Gazala.

He does not know what happened to the white farmer, and nor does he care,
but says he uses barns built by the former owner to cure his tobacco. “They
are good barns, but we all have to share as there isn’t enough space.”

He is one of several hundred new farmers resident and producing on Gazala.
“This is my second year selling as I was studying how to grow it for a year
before I started.”

Most leaf grown by the new small-scale tobacco farmers is lower grade
tobacco, and 50 percent of the crop is bought by the Chinese Tobacco
Company.

Before 2000 Zimbabwe regularly produced more than 220 million kilograms of
tobacco a year, most of it grown by white farmers. After land seizures the
crop size fell each year until by 2009 Zimbabwe was producing less than a
third of what it had regularly produced for 40 years.

Industry insiders said this year Zimbabwe would produce about 135 million
kilograms, much of it by new farmers resettled on former white-owned farms.

Farayi Kawadende is the information officer at Boka Tobacco, Zimbabwe’s
largest tobacco auction, which has about 4 000 growers on its books. For the
first weeks of the selling season it was selling about 6 000 bales a day.
“Good grades of tobacco were going at $4 a kilogram but the lower quality is
selling for about $0.80, which means hard times for those growers.”

Boka Tobacco chief executive Rudo Boka recently reopened the company’s
auction floors, after a decade of difficulties and controversy following the
death of her father, a staunch Zanu-PF supporter.

“Many of those selling here are new small-scale farmers and so they have not
done this before. First they have to register as growers with the Tobacco
Marketing Board.

“Then they have to have file crop estimates and they need to book their
tobacco for sale,” she says.

“It is tough at the beginning for them. And it has been hard for us too, but
we are now able to pay the farmers on the same day their tobacco is sold.”

Boka says there are social consequences paying out thousands of dollars to
peasant farmers coming to Harare to sell their crop. “Many of them have only
occasionally been to the city before. So a lot of the wives come too, and
not to shop. They come to be sure the money gets home.”

Not all of the new farmers are happy with the prices they received this
year. A group of small-scale farmers, resettled since 2000 in Zimbabwe’s top
tobacco producing area, Karoi, 200km north of Harare, say they cannot afford
to grow tobacco again because of poor prices.

“We didn’t earn enough to plant again,” says one. “We are broke and we can’t
borrow money, we are finished,” says another, who prefers not to give his
name.

This group of farmers aged between 28 and 45 were “100 percent” behind
President Robert Mugabe’s land reform. “Without that we would never have got
land, and we don’t have much and only grow about 1ha of tobacco, and that is
very, very hard work.”

They are all sitting watching soccer on a large flat screen at the Boka
floors. Many of them slept their too, for a few nights before the sale of
their bales. These small-scale growers produce their crop with family
labour. Traditional larger-scale producers say it will cost them about $9
000 to $11 000 per hectare of tobacco.

“This crop will change and eventually I expect Zimbabwe will be like Brazil
and Malawi where tobacco is a small-scale crop,” says a buyer from an
international company.

Last season, 120 million kilograms were sold at the close of the auction
floors. Some suspect that figure was boosted by South African growers who
sneaked bales into the Zimbabwe sales to catch the high opening prices of
more than $4 a kilogram. Zimbabwe will probably earn more than $350 million
when the floors close in the next month or two. – Peta Thornycroft of the
Independent Foreign Service

Sweden's $60 million Zimbabwe elections offer receives mixed reactions

http://www.bulawayo24.com

by Ndou Paul
2011 July 22 07:17:09

Sweden's $60 million offer for Zimbabwe's general elections has been
received with mixed feelings. Media reports said Sweden wants to channel the
funds through its development agency, Swedish Development Co-operation
Agency and the human rights groups and Civic groups.

Some political analysts mainly with links to Zanu-PF have questioned the
Scandinavian country's interests particularly in view of its refusal to
support the lifting of the illegal economic embargo.

They said the money could be part of the regime change agenda by the West.

The analysts said the distribution of the money through non-governmental
organisations means it has "strings attached".

Zimbabwe's three political parties in the inclusive Government viewed the
offer differently.

Zanu-PF expressed reservations while the MDC-T welcomed the pledge. The MDC
formation led by Professor Welshman Ncube, however, called for transparency
in its distribution.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo yesterday said most NGOs in Zimbabwe were
participating in the regime change agenda.

He said Zanu-PF would reject the money.3

Gumbo said individuals and other states that want to work with Government
should be impartial.

MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora said his party welcomed any form of
international help towards the "democratisation of the country".

The deputy spokesperson of the MDC Mr Kurauone Chihwayi said: "ZEC has said
it is broke, so is our Government. There is nothing bad in receiving support
from outside.

"What we don't want is a situation whereby, the process ends up being
hijacked by certain individuals in the inclusive Government.

"We hope that there is nothing satanic with the pledge as our party is for
help that comes in good faith."

Political analysts also viewed the offer differently.

Mr Goodwine Mureriwa said it was clear Sweden supported regime change in
Zimbabwe. He said instead of committing funding to elections, Sweden should
be calling for the lifting of the illegal sanctions.
"Sida is funded by the Swedish government that has imposed sanctions on us.
It's ironic that such a country wants to fund reforms and elections in
Zimbabwe.

"It is clear that the money is meant for vote buying by the MDC-T and if
they want to help us, they must first do so by lifting the sanctions. To us,
the embargo is the biggest rigger of elections," he said.
Another political analyst Mr Eldred Masunungure said the pledge should be
compliant to the objectives of the inclusive Government.

Dr Ibbo Mandaza said there was nothing sinister with the pledge since the
donor community has been supporting programmes like the constitution making
process.

He, however, said the money should be distributed on a non-partisan basis.

Mnangagwa misleads locals

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has misled locals about the on-going
constitution writing exercise by telling them it was being stalled by
Finance Minister Tendai Biti who is refusing to give money to Copac.
22.07.1105:44pm
by Brenna Matendere Munyati

Speaking during distribution of materials purchased for Chirumanzu-Zibangwe
constituency under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), Mnangagwa told
the crowd that the MDC did not want to complete the constitution process for
fear of losing in subsequent elections.

“Tendai Biti is delaying the completion of the constitution process by not
availing money for the programme,” he lied. “His party is the one behind
that because they don’t want us to finish the process for fear we will say
let’s go for elections which Zanu (PF) will resoundingly win,” Mnangagwa
said.

However, speaking toThe Zimbabwean, locals said they were aware MDC was not
afraid of polls.

“The majority of people in this constituency understand politics because
this is not a remote rural area. What Mnangagwa was saying is so out of
touch with reality that no-one can buy it,” said one local who refused to be
named.

Zanu terror in SA – MDC

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

The mainstream MDC in South Africa says it has unravelled a plot by
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party to target members of the former
opposition party exiled in neighbouring South Africa.
22.07.1105:48pm
by Mxolisi Ncube

The MDC told the media in Johannesburg that Mugabe’s party had deployed its
operatives in South Africa, where they were allegedly stalking known MDC
supporters and officials.

“We have received information that these rogue Zanu (PF) elements have been
deployed in their hundreds, if not thousands and are well financed,” said
Giyani Dube, SA chairman of the party’s Youth Assembly.

“These agents have resorted to following our members in their residential
areas, and they fail to produce their identity documents whenever they are
asked to do so by relevant residential authorities.”

Having infiltrated the SA police as volunteers, the CIO’s plan is allegedly
to pick up targeted individuals, mix them with those earmarked for
deportation and divert them to the Beitbridge border post for political
torture.

“Our security department is still gathering more details on this operation
and we will keep the media updated.”

Crackdown on unregistered health facilities in Zimbabwe

http://www.businesslive.co.za

24 July, 2011 15:42
Wallace Mawire

The Health Professions Authority of Zimbabwe (HPAZ) has launched a crackdown
on unregistered health institutions in a bid to flush out illegal
operations.

   Secretary General for HPAZ said in a statement last week that it is an
offence to operate an unregistered health premise under the Health
Professions Act.

  The Health Professions Authority Inspectorate department is in the midst
of carrying out inspections countrywide to identify premises or institutions
that are not operating as stipulated under the law, according to the
Secretary General.

    Institutions to be targeted include hospitals, clinics, medical
laboratories and consulting rooms, just to mention a few.

    Under the regulations, institutions and health practitioners have to
receive practicing certificates in order for them to operate under the
parameters of the law.

    Those found on the wrong side of the law will be liable to arrest or
having their premises closed.

    At the time of writing, it could not yet be ascertained if there had
been any institutions or practitioners who had been identified flouting the
regulations.

Cameron’s visit rattles Zanu (PF)

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Zanu (PF) has reacted with the usual venom against South African president
Jacob Zuma for hosting British premier David Cameron last week.
22.07.1105:55pm
by John Chimunhu

Zuma met Cameron as part of the UK Prime Minister's whirlwind tour of
Africa. Current events in Zimbabwe were discussed, an issue that rattled the
Harare dictatorship.

ZBC on Friday heaped scorn on Zuma for playing host to Cameron. In an
opinion piece disguised as a news report, the broadcaster questioned Zuma's
suitability as facilitator of the Zimbabwean dialogue on behalf of regional
grouping SADC.

ZBC said Zuma was not suitable as facilitator as he was currently chair of
the SADC organ on politics, defence and security, meaning that he would
'report to himself' on his ongoing mediation.

However, Zanu (PF) has not raised the issue with Zuma himself or SADC.

The report was also full of incomprehensible conspiracy theories claiming
that the visit by Cameron was meant to scuttle the SADC summit set for
August, at which the insecurity in Zimbabwe will be high on the agenda.

Mugabe loses it

http://www.timeslive.co.za

JAMA MAJOLA | 24 July, 2011 01:31

President Robert Mugabe this week flew into a frightening rage and launched
vicious attacks against Finance Minister Tendai Biti at a special cabinet.
The meeting on Thursday had been called to discuss the fiscal policy review
to be presented in parliament on Tuesday.

Briefings of the Sunday Times by cabinet ministers showed Mugabe was
outraged by Biti's proposals to cut budgetary allocations to several
ministries and departments, including sensitive areas such as defence,
police, intelligence, prisons, war veterans, foreign affairs, international
travels and "special services".

"We have never seen anything like that. I don't know even how to express it
to you. It was scary. The president was furious, enraged, I mean very angry
in other words," a senior cabinet minister said. "What had angered him was
that Biti proposed cuts in critical areas, mainly relating to security.

"I think the president and his Zanu-PF ministers, who were also all over
Biti, interpreted that as a political strategy and a plot to weaken the
security establishment."

Another minister said: "It was bad and terrifying. That's all I can say, ask
others."

Officials said Mugabe, describing the minister as a "young man", threatened
to take "swift and decisive measures" against Biti, whom he accused of
"going too far". They said Mugabe was supported by ministers whose
portfolios were affected and other senior officials, including
Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and State
Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi.

Others who joined in the fray were MDC-T ministers Nelson Chamisa
(Information, Communication Technology), Theresa Makone (Home Affairs),
Tapiwa Mashakada (Economic Development) and Industry and Trade Minister
Welshman Ncube (MDC-N).

"None of the ministers supported Biti because they also had their own
grievances against him, mainly that he had refused to fund their
supplementary budget requests and other issues," an official said.

"So Biti was fighting a lone battle and the meeting had to be adjourned, but
not before he was told to go and revise his proposals."

Biti presented a report on the fiscal policy outlining the economic
situation and future prospects, indicating that Treasury was broke and
struggling to fund the $2.7-billion budget.

He said there were challenges inhibiting economic recovery and growth which
included a hostile political environment, policy inconsistencies, low
revenues and limited fiscal space, among other problems.

"Biti's report was hard-hitting, and, given the rising political tensions
between him and the president, especially over the issue of civil servants'
salaries, that ignited the situation," a minister said. "The two have
clashed many times before in cabinet but on Thursday it was frightening. To
begin with, it was a shouting match between the two but the situation later
degenerated into a fracas when ministers from all the three parties joined
the fight."

Biti was said to have finally retreated, terrified. He fuelled the situation
by maintaining there would be no supplementary budget to cover civil
servants' salary increases.

In fact, one Zanu-PF minister accused Biti of proposing cuts in line with
"advice given to by International Monetary Fund economists and experts who
recently visited the country to assess the economic situation".

Biti last week told parliament there would be no supplementary budget this
year. He said the economy did not have the capacity to fund any extra budget
requirements since he was already struggling to raise money to finance the
budget.

Biti said there would be a $500-million budget deficit arising from the
January salary increments, purchase of grain and the constitution-making
process.

Kaseke sued over US$2 000 debt

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/

Saturday, 23 July 2011 18:11

BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE

CONTROVERSIAL Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) boss Karikoga Kaseke has been
dragged to court by the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) for
allegedly failing to remit workers’ pensions amounting to more than US$2
000.
According to High Court papers, NSSA claims that Kaseke owes them US$1
574,57 in contributions for the period between September 2009 and March
2010.

NSSA said the amount had since accumulated surcharges and penalties as
prescribed by the authority’s Act, amounting to US$687,23, bringing  the
amount of money Kaseke owes to US$2 261,80.

Kaseke’s farm is listed as Kaseke Farm in the papers and is situated 14km
off the Selous-Harare highway.

“The defendant refuses and or neglected to settle the amount notwithstanding
written demand by Plaintiff and dated 15 July 2010,” reads part of the
papers filed on July 5.

But a livid Kaseke speaking from Nairobi on Thursday said the NSSA were
 “mad” because he did not own the farm.

“They are mad,” he said.

“One, I don’t know the workers they are talking about. Two, I don’t know the
farm they are talking about.

“They just moved around asking people whose farm it was, what if they were
given wrong information?

“They are mad people, they don’t know what they are doing. They should go
and hang a thousand times.”

Kaseke is not new to controversy. He recently clashed with Minister of
Tourism and Hospitality Walter Mzembi over his move to dethrone Miss
Zimbabwe Personality, Lungile Mathe over alleged “unbecoming behaviour that
was threatening the integrity of ZTA.”

Coltart to open ZIBF’s first indaba

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Saturday, 23 July 2011 16:10

By Munyaradzi Mapfumo

THE Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) opens tomorrow and will run
until Saturday under the theme Books for Africa’s Development.

The fair will begin with an indaba which would be officially opened by the
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart.

The indaba will discuss many issues, such as the use of ICTS in the
production of books. The participants shall discuss pertinent issues like
e-marketing.
Dr Xavier Carelse, the acting executive director of the ZIBF said the fair
would this year attract many international participants.

“Of the 18 speakers who will address us at the indaba, six of them will be
from outside Zimbabwe. We are also aiming at maintaining gender equality
with half of the speakers and chairpersons of the sessions being women,”
said Dr Carelse.

The keynote speaker for this year’s indaba is Professor Helge Ronning from
Norway, who is well-known in Zimbabwe’s literary circles as he is an alumnus
of the University of Zimbabwe and has participated at previous editions of
the book fair.

Also of note is the increase in the number of foreign exhibitors at this
year’s fair.

Last year’s event had very few small publishers from Africa, but this year
exhibitors will come from as far as India, Norway, Britain and other parts
of the world.

The issue of HIV and Aids cannot be ignored and this year’s fair will see
the coming in of a new partner, Medecines sans Fontiers (doctors without
borders), who will be addressing various issues concerning the pandemic.

The fair will have the traditional children’s reading tent in order to
promote reading among youths.

“There will also be the young people’s indaba that will involve a number of
training and learning sessions which will cover such literary pursuits as
fiction writing, poetry and film-making,” said Dr Carelse.

The live literature tent will add life to the fair through live
performances. Dramatisation and poetry are ways of bringing books into life
and ensuring people consume literature in a light manner.

“This year’s edition is going to be bigger than before and we hope that by
next year the event will have gained its status that it had over six years
ago.”

The fair, which was founded in 1983 in order to promote the local publishing
industry, suffered major setbacks in the past few years due to the collapse
of the economy.

Malaria outbreak fears in Harare, Byo

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/

BY JENNIFER DUBE

Government is in the process of raising funds to carry out a nationwide
malaria survey to establish areas prone to malaria outbreaks amid reports
that cases had been recorded in Bulawayo and Harare.
The two cities are not considered to be malaria transmission zones. Malaria
is Zimbabwe’s second biggest killer disease after Aids.

Joseph Mberikunashe, the malaria programme manager in the Ministry of Health
and Child Welfare said government was looking for partners to carry out the
survey, which he said would be expensive.

“It is an expensive process, more expensive than the census,” he said.

“We will need to dispatch teams to various parts of the country so that they
can catch mosquitoes and take them for examination in laboratories where it
will be assessed whether they have the malaria parasites or not.

“That way, we will be able to assess whether we need to reclassify some
areas or not as it has been long since we carried out such a survey.”

The last survey was done in 2002 and Mberikunashe said regular surveys were
required to keep pace with changes brought by climate change.

There were reports that some people had tested positive for malaria in
Harare and Bulawayo without having left the cities.

Another report claimed the cases had sparked debate on whether the cities
must be reclassified as risk areas.

“I am not aware of the debate,” Mberikunashe said. “But yes, the status of
those cities is a contentious issue in a way given that we have not carried
out a survey in years.

“Our last study concluded that there was no local transmission in those
cities meaning if you remain in them, you cannot get the parasite as their
climate is not favourable to the female anopheles mosquito which carries it,
but we need to constantly revise or repeat these studies.”

He said most cases treated in the two cities in the past involved people who
would have travelled to malaria prone areas.

Government hopes to be able to conduct the next survey next year but a lot
depends on the availability of funds.

No new trends recorded in Harare, says Gwindi

City of Harare spokesperson Lesley Gwindi said malaria cases had always been
recorded but there were no new trends to cause panic.

“If we say the city is malaria-free, we are not saying there is no malaria
at all,” Gwindi said.

“The only thing that can lead to a debate is an upsurge in those cases and I
am not aware of any. I receive reports from across the city everyday and
none indicates any upsurge in malaria cases.”

Malaria can kill a person within 48 hours of onset of symptoms if not
treated immediately.

Victoria Falls, Hwange, Binga Beitbridge, Kariba, Mudzi and parts of
Manicaland are among areas which the health ministry has said are most
vulnerable, with some of them recording up to 365 deaths in 2009.

Immigrants won't be sent back

http://www.timeslive.co.za

ANDREW MUBAYIWA | 24 July, 2011 01:31

South Africa will not order mass deportations of Zimbabwean immigrants
without permits when an exercise to document illegal immigrants from its
northern neighbour is completed next month.

Pretoria has refrained from deporting illegal Zimbabwean immigrants while
carrying out a special project to issue permits to thousands who flock to
their more prosperous neighbour in search for jobs and better living
conditions.

Department of Home Affairs deputy director-general, Jackson McKay, told
reporters in Pretoria this week that the Zimbabwe documentation project was
almost complete. But he dismissed as "myths and legends" reports that the
department would follow up the exercise with a clean-up operation to expel
any remaining illegal Zimbabwean immigrants.

"I do not know how to deal with myths and legends with regard to the
deportation of Zimbabweans ... and I do not know about trucks being parked
anywhere for deportation."

McKay said immigration officials would not target Zimbabweans but would
deport any foreign national staying in South Africa without permission to do
so. Zimbabweans would conti-nue to be exempt from deportation until
finalisation of the documentation exercise.

According to McKay, the department has to date adjudicated 273514
applications for permits and issued 133810.

Only 2248 applications remain to be adjudicated out of the 275762 received
at the end of December 2010, the deadline that the department gave
undocumented Zimbabweans to submit applications for permits.

McKay said the department will finish adjudicating remaining applications by
July 31 and would use the month of August to finalise applications that have
already been adjudicated but without any permits issued for one reason or
another.

McKay added that the department was looking to approve as many as 99% of
applications after it significantly lowered the bar for Zimbabweans to
qualify for permits under the special documentation project.

The actual cut-off date for the documentation project will be set in
consultation with the Zimbabwean government.

There are no exact figures of how many Zimbabweans live in South Africa, but
various estimates put the number at anything above 1.5 million, or above an
eighth of Zimbabwe's total population of 12 million people.

An outbreak of xenophobic violence in 2008 left at least 62 foreigners dead
and thousands of others displaced, to leave South Africa's image as one of
the most tolerant societies in the world tarnished.

Mugabe youths sued for forcing man to have sex

http://www.timeslive.co.za

HENDRICKS CHIZHANJE | 24 July, 2011 01:31

A Zimbabwean villager is suing 10 supporters of President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF for allegedly forcing him to have sex with his girlfriend.

Tongai Katere of Hukuimwe in Murehwa, about 100km outside Harare, is
claiming $20000 in damages for the assault in May 2008, just after the
octogenarian leader suffered a shock defeat by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai in presidential elections.

In a summons filed in the high court recently, Katere said he and his
girlfriend were hauled from her home at night by Zanu-PF youths brandishing
logs and sticks.

They allegedly took turns to assault Katere on his back and buttocks before
forcing the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporter to have sex with
his girlfriend while they watched.

"They instructed plaintiff to take a position on top of his girlfriend and
penetrate his girlfriend. Plaintiff complied, and while he was having sexual
intercourse with his girlfriend, the defendants assaulted him on the
buttocks with sticks. Plaintiff was disgraced and humiliated by this
incident. At all material times during the assault, the defendants were
aware that their actions were wrongful and unlawful," said Katere in his
affidavit.

Katere's lawyers, from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, are demanding
$10000 for damages for contumelia, $5000 for pain and suffering, and $5000
for loss of amenities of life. He is also claiming interest from the date of
issue of the summons.

Apart from Zanu-PF supporters, soldiers loyal to Mugabe are notorious for
forcing members of the opposition party to have unprotected sex.

Dressing down of Mugabe

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

SIMPLICIUS CHIRINDA | 24 July, 2011 01:31

It has been a long time since anyone dared to give President Robert Mugabe a
dressing-down in public in Zimbabwe.

But this week was an exception as the 87-year-old leader was given a sober
view of the state of underdevelopment in Matabeleland by the son of the late
struggle hero, Andrew Muntanga.

In a week that brought back memories of the Matabeleland massacres of the
early 1980s, Dominic Muntanga caught Mugabe and his spin doctors unaware
when he gave a moving but sober speech at his father's funeral.

He reminded the Zanu-PF leaders of the many outstanding issues of
underdevelopment in the province and the Gukurahundi massacres that the
party has been battling to erase from the history of the country.

The young Muntanga put it squarely to Mugabe, telling him that for as long
as the Matabeleland region remains under-developed, Zanu-PF should forget
about winning elections in the wider Matabeleland region.

The MDC, led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, had a clean sweep in Binga
and Bulawayo central areas in the last election.

"What I say today is only an inadequate expression of what I carry in my
heart," said Muntanga. He said his father fought against "prejudice and
economic seclusion of the Ba Tonga people".

The Tonga people are a small minority living in northern Zimbabwe near the
Zambian border. To them the late Muntanga was a father figure. The tribe has
largely managed to keep its traditions, including language, intact. At one
point they refused to send their children to school because they were not
taught in their own Tonga language.

"We have our opinions about economic marginalisation in Zimbabwe. But it is
not a matter of opinion that the construction of Kariba Dam cost the Ba
Tonga people their lives, their heritage and their wealth," said Muntanga

"The Ba Tonga people have not drank from the cup of economic opportunity in
our country. Scientific evidence suggests that teaching children their
mother tongue affirms their identity and is a good foundation for
intellectual and economic development. But until recently our nation
rejected Tonga children by denying them the right to learn their mother
tongue."

Muntanga reminded Mugabe that since his father's retirement from politics in
2000, Zanu-PF never won any parliamentary seat in the area. Muntanga served
in Zanu-PF as a central committee member and worked directly under the
supervision of the late vice-president Joshua Nkomo.

He was part of the Zapu delegation to the Lancaster House talks that led to
Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.

Muntanga was the first MP for Binga and deputy commissar for Zapu and first
chairman of the Binga district.

His son reminded Mugabe of how his party ill-treated his father just because
he carried a different view from the majority of the Zanu-PF members. He
said his father was arrested on trumped-up charges in a free Zimbabwe.

"Unfortunately, he was again imprisoned in a free Zimbabwe," said Muntanga.

In 1990, after contesting and winning Zanu-PF primary elections, Muntanga
was unfairly disqualified, but decided to stand on an independent ticket and
won the election.

Muntanga belonged to the rare Zanu-PF breed of politicians, such as the late
Edgar Tekere, who were not shy to speak their minds.

"In 2000 he retired from active politics when some of the people he had
mentored not only ran against him but history also records that after his
retirement Zanu-PF had a decade-long electoral loss for Binga. In 2004 and
2008 the open palm prevailed over the fist in the parliamentary elections in
Binga," said Muntanga.

SundayView: Nyikayaramba typifies breakdown of army discipline

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/

Saturday, 23 July 2011 17:24

By Mlungisi Dube

The involvement of the Zimbabwe security forces in mainstream politics is
disturbing. In any country with a proper government, the security forces are
esteemed by the population as they protect public interests. However, in the
case of our country our security forces, the army, police and Central
Intelligence Office have all been reduced to partisan instruments of state
terrorism. In any normal democracy at least, where the people are supposed
to elect their leaders, the army is not expected to cause unnecessary
confusion by meddling in politics except by campaigning on equal platforms
like any other civilians.

One cannot just sit down and remain silent in the event of our country’s
security forces being led by elements who lack elementary modesty and
discipline, like the majority of the current crop of our generals and
service chiefs. It is quite disturbing to note that from our independence up
to now the security forces have always been abused or have abused their
powers, starting with their role in Gukurahundi. Our country’s leaders are
responsible for nurturing bloodthirsty and trigger-happy institutions. It
was inculcated in the minds of our people in Africa that power is force,
hence the notion by our leaders that they have to be feared.

Coming to recent years, our security forces have forgotten their proper role
in defending and promoting peace. Most of them are often instigators of
violence in society. The sentiments of the leadership of the army need to be
condemned in the strongest possible terms; they are totally unacceptable.
Before the 2008 harmonised elections, the service chiefs openly stated that
they won’t salute anyone without liberation war credentials. These men
forget that they are not the ones who install governments, but are supposed
to serve any government elected by the people, who are in fact their
masters.

Military institutions are not masters of government and the people, but
servants of the government, which in turn is the servant of the people. The
military’s arrogance and reluctance to reform is still seen even today,
three years into the inclusive government.

Recent remarks by Brig-General Douglas Nyikayaramba on MDC-T being a threat
to state security is a serious sign of indiscipline and thuggery. These
misguided generals shamelessly think that they are alphas and omegas of the
Zimbabwean government. It will not be surprising that some of the people
making all this loud noise only joined the liberation struggle at its dying
stages, when the true and patriotic liberation fighters had already died in
the struggle. The assembly-point generals want everyone to think Zimbabwe is
for them alone. Any true liberation fighter will never fight against the
will of the people, because the liberation struggle came from the desire to
make everyone equal regardless of colour, tribe, religion and political
affiliation. Hence true liberation fighters will salute and serve anyone
voted by the people.

What these generals should know is, in Zimbabwe there are many patriotic and
nationalistic soldiers who are professional and are willing to serve their
country. The president is the commander-in-chief of the army, not the owner;
they should divorce their minds from illusions and hallucinations and come
to reality. If they are not willing to serve the will of the people they
should resign instead of causing confusion and indiscipline.

What they should know is no government or president can last forever. The
generals as products of the military academies know better from the military
adage that “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Only thugs and hoodlums
will be willing to beat and kill their innocent fellow countrymen in order
to satiate and please a dictator.

Zimbabweans face expulsion from UK – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 23rd July 2011

The attempt to deport Vigil supporter Josephine Chari confirms the British government’s determination to end the moratorium on sending home failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers. Josephine was returned to Yarlswood detention centre from the airport and it is not yet clear what her position is.

But it is known that one Zimbabwean has already been forcibly removed and the larger than normal turnout at the Vigil suggests that many people believe they could be next. A campaigner for asylum seekers says the UK Border Agency is trying desperately to meet a deadline to resolve about half a million outstanding cases by the end of the month. Chris Eades from Asylum Aid said: ‘Over the last six months there has been very little rhyme or reason to who is granted leave to remain and who is refused. The decisions are bizarre and irrational’.

Meanwhile there are reports that the South Africans have extended the deadline for Zimbabweans to regularize their position from the end of July to the end of August. But they have repeated that they will then begin deportations.

The Vigil has always argued that our supporters would be in danger if returned to Zimbabwe because they have been seen and photographed protesting outside the Embassy. This argument has been supported by recent revelations by SW Radio Africa, which has been publishing the names from a list of CIO agents it has obtained, at least two of whom are currently deployed at the Zimbabwe Embassy. They are Bright Kupemba and Win Busayi Juyana Mlambo, who is effectively the Deputy Ambassador. (see: http://www.swradioafrica.com/Documents/CIOpart3mm.htm and http://www.swradioafrica.com/Documents/CIOpart4fe.htm).

Talking of the London-based SW Radio Africa, the station’s manager Gerry Jackson made the point: why is the British government trying to send back Josephine and not the CIO torture Machemedze who has been given leave to remain in the UK? (see: Vigil diaries: 21^st and 28^th May 2011 http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/308-malawi-cuts-off-its-own-nose-zimbabwe-vigil-diary-21st-may-2011 and http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/311-vigil-demands-no-haven-in-uk-for-cio-torturer-zimbabwe-vigil-diary-28th-may-2011).

Other points

·         Washington Ali of MDC Southend came to the Vigil and appealed for support for an anti-deportation protest to be held in Southend on Thursday, 28^th July. For details see ‘Events and Notices’.

·         Vigil supporters were shocked at how viciously Mugabe’s friend President Mutharika has acted in suppressing dissent in Malawi.  We are not surprised that Malawi is in turmoil given his autocratic behaviour as evidenced by the expulsion of the High Commissioner for the UK, Malawi’s largest donor (the UK promptly suspended aid). We hope Mutharika will soon make use of his US $22 million presidential jet to flee the country . . . probably to the stolen farm he was given in Zimbabwe. We commend Malawians for their courage and hope they will lead a wave of change in Southern Africa on the Middle Eastern pattern.

·         The Vigil has been kindly disposed to Minister of Education Senator David Coltart since he came to visit us last year. But we were disappointed by his remarks reported in an article in the Australian newspaper. They sounded remarkably like comments by people who met Hitler . . . such a nice man, charming, a vegetarian, likes dogs . . . (See: Foes drag Zimbabwe from the brink – https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/jul23_2011.html#Z5.) Coltart says Mugabe is in charge – well with that comes responsibility for all the evils being perpetrated in Zimbabwe. We know that the ludicrous constitution being prepared in Zimbabwe will probably provide for the death penalty for anyone criticising the President but the Vigil’s view is that he should face trial in the Hague . . . charming or not.

·         It was good to have back with us Memory ‘Gwenzi’ Mucherahowa (former Dynamos FC captain and manager),

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil website. For the latest ZimVigil TV programme check http://www.zimvigiltv.com/.  

FOR THE RECORD: 113 signed the register.

EVENTS AND NOTICES:

·         The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe.

·         ZBN News. The Vigil management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.

·         The Zim Vigil band (Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QukqctWc3XE.

·         Anti-Deportation Protest. Thursday 28^th July from 1.30 – 4 pm. Venue: Southend Civic Centre, Victoria Ave, Southend SS2 6ER. The demonstration is organized by MDC Southend and MDC South East District. A petition will be handed to two local MPs. It will be copied to various government departments.

·         ROHR Manchester Vigil. Saturday 30^th July from 2 – 5 pm. Venue: Cathedral Gardens, Manchester City Centre (subject to change to Piccadilly Gardens). Contact; Delina Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future demonstrations: 27^th August, 24^th September, 29^th October 26^th November, 31^st December. Same time and venue.

·         ROHR Wolverhampton general meeting. Saturday 30^th July from 1.30 – 5.30 pm. Venue: Heath Town Community Centre, 208 Chevril Rise, Wolverhampton WV10 0HP. ROHR National Executive and a well-known lawyer present. Contact:Tsvakai Marambi 07915065171, Flora Nyahuma 07501843253, Rumbi Mudyanadzo 07867844699, P Chibanguza 0798406069 or P Mapfumo 07915926323 / 07932216070.

·         ROHR Nottingham general meeting. Saturday 30^th July from 2 – 5 pm. Venue: St Saviour Community Hall, Arkwright Walk, Nottingham NG2 2JU. The church is just a few minutes’ walk from the train station. ROHR National Executive members will be attending to discuss the abuse of human rights and political situation in Zimbabwe. Contact: Allan Nhemhara 07810197576, Raymond C Chisuko 07832927609. Mary Chabvamuperu 07412074928, Christopher Chimbumu 07775888205, P Chibanguza 07908406069 or P Mapfumo 07915926323 / 07932216070.

·         ROHR Woking Summer fundraising barbeque. Saturday 6^th August from 2 pm till late. Venue: The Old Ford, Lynchford Road, Ash Vale, Aldershot GU12 5QA. Everyone is invited – come and enjoy a fun-filled day out.  Braai, sadza, rice, chicken, salads, cakes, snacks, drinks. Games for children including karaoke. Boot sale, auction and raffle with amazing prizes. Contact: Stanford Munetsi 07584161806, Pauline Nyikadzino 07906726477, Sithokozile Hlokana 07886203113 and Jermaine Volkwyn 07908522993.

·         ROHR Ipswich launch meeting. Saturday 6^th August from 2 – 5.30 pm. Venue Citizens Advice Bureau, Tower Street, Ipswich IP1 3BE. ROHR National Executive and a well-known lawyer present. Contact:  Dhumisani B Muchipisi 07432722907, Lovemore Muzadzi 07552560184, R Chifungo 07795070609, P Chibanguza 0798406069 or P Mapfumo 07915926323 / 07932216070.

·         ROHR Manchester Meetings. Saturday 13^th August (committee meeting from 11 am – 1 pm, general meeting from 2 – 5 pm). Venue: The Salvation Army Citadel, 71 Grosvenor Road, Manchester M13 9UB. Contact; Delina Tafadzwa Mutyambizi 07775313637, Chamunorwa Chihota 07799446404, Panyika Karimanzira 07551062161, Artwell Pfende 07886839353. Future meetings: 10^th September, 8^th October, 12^th November, 10^th December. Same times and venue.

·         Vigil Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.

·         Vigil Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.

·         ‘Through the Darkness’, Judith Todd’s acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe.  To receive a copy by post in the UK please email confirmation of your order and postal address to ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which provides bursaries to needy A Level students in Zimbabwe.

·         Workshops aiming to engage African men on HIV testing and other sexual health issues. Organised by the Terrence Higgins Trust (www.tht.org.uk). Please contact the co-ordinator Takudzwa Mukiwa (takudzwa.mukiwa@tht.org.uk) if you are interested in taking part.

Vigil co-ordinators

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk