Harare - A large gang attacked a gold mine in Zimbabwe, making
off with 4 tonnes of gold ore in trucks after beating up members of staff at
the mine, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
The
report said the gang had attacked staff at the mine at Kadoma, 150
kilometres south-west of Harare, in two separate incidents on June 8 and
June 22.
'They were armed with catapults, stones, machetes, axes,
knives, clubs and iron bars,' a police source told the paper.
The
Herald said no arrests had yet been made. There was no indication of the
value of the haul or of how the robbers would extract the
gold.
Zimbabwe has seen an increasing number of cases of armed robbery
countrywide, targeting banks, fuel stations and mines.
13 activists from Restoration of Human Rights
Zimbabwe (ROHR) were arrested up by the police outside the High Court on
Wednesday, for protesting against ongoing human rights abuses in the
country.
ROHR said their activists were protesting against the continued
incarceration of eight MDC-T activists who have remained behind bars since
they were arrested on 29th May.
Defence lawyer Gift Mtisi told SW
Radio Africa that he was being blocked from accessing his clients who were
being moved from department to department at the Harare central police
station.
“I doubt they will be released today (Wednesday) because they
haven’t been charged with anything yet. This is why they’re being moved from
place to place because they don’t know what to charge them with,” Mtisi
said.
The activists demonstrated outside the High Court with placards
calling for impartiality by police and judicial officials in dealing with
opponents of Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF. The eight MDC-T activists were due
to appear before the court for a fresh bail hearing, but that was postponed
again to Thursday after the state prosecutor failed to attend the
session.
The hearing was first postponed on Monday to Tuesday. On Tuesday
it was postponed to Wednesday after prosecutors said they were not yet
ready. The activists are still in remand prison on charges of murdering a
police officer in Glen View is to be heard at the High court in Harare on
Wednesday.
Their defence team, led by Jeremiah Bamu is hoping a
change in circumstances and the ‘weakening’ of the state case will work in
favour of their clients. The eight are part of a group of 24 MDC-T activists
facing trumped up charges of murdering a police officer at Glen View 3
Shopping Centre in May. The police officer was killed by unknown revelers at
a night club and the MDC-T has dismissed the murder charges as false and
trumped up.
16 members of the group were eventually released on bail. The
eight that were denied bail two weeks ago, and have now been detained for
eight weeks, are: Tungamirai Madzokere, Stanford Maengahama, Phenias
Nhatarikwa, Stanford Mangwiro, Yvonne Musarurwa, Rebecca Mafukeni, Cynthia
Fungai Manjoro and Lazarus Maengahama.
Pro-democracy activist,
Hopewell Gumbo who visited the group at Chikurubi Maximum prison on
Wednesday, was only able to see Manjoro.
“Prison officers blocked me from
seeing the others but Cynthia looked fine and was in high spirits. But as
you know, a prison cell is not home and these guys are angry that their case
keeps being postponed for flimsy reasons,” Gumbo told SW Radio Africa.
A farming
family that was evicted from their Nyazura property last week is now
counting the cost of their loss, after farm invaders looted their
home.
The Smit family from De Rust farm was forced to flee the property
last week, after days of harassment and intimidation from a self-confessed
CIO agent named Onisimas Makwengura and a gang of thugs.
The
situation turned ugly last Friday after farm owner Koos Smit was arrested.
SW Radio Africa was told that Makwengura gave police a false statement
saying Smit had assaulted him. Smit was arrested and held at Nyazura police
station on assault charges for most of Friday morning.
While he was being
detained, Makwengura and his gang broke into the De Rust farmhouse, where
Smit’s wife, Mary Anne and two sons, Michael and Adriaan, were taking
shelter. The sons were forced to fire warning shots in an attempt to keep
the mob away from them. But when police arrived at the property, after being
alerted by a neighbour, they refused to arrest the mob. Instead they told
the family to leave because they could not guarantee their
safety.
Over the weekend, Makwengura’s men were seen carting furniture
and other valuable items from the house. The family has only been allowed
back onto the property this week, with a police escort, to pack up what
remains of their belongings. The police, who previously refused to assist
the family or arrest Makwengura and his thugs, have now indicated that they
will lay charges of theft, if the family makes a list of everything stolen
from them.
The Smits are the third family in Nyazura to be evicted from
their properties in this fashion, with Makwengura said to be working for the
so-called ‘beneficiaries’ of the property.
It’s understood that the
‘beneficiary’ of De Rust Farm is Marshall Nkono from Rusape, who recently
took Koos Smit to civil court for refusing to vacate the property. The court
instructed Nkono to wait until the High Court had made a decision as to
whether the Smits should leave or not.
An irate Nkono told the Magistrate
that he would take the law into his own hands and use his own means to
remove Smit from the farm. Nkono was then cautioned in court and told to
contain himself or face arrest for contempt. But despite these threats from
the court, Nkono sought assistance from Makwengura, who has helped other
‘beneficiaries’ get rid of the owners of the farms.
Journalists in Zimbabwe are concerned over a fresh warning that
they face being jailed, if they report on issues discussed in
cabinet.
It is understood that the government plans to use the Official
Secrets Act to silence the media, as it forges ahead with its culture of
keeping ordinary Zimbabweans in the dark.
Government ministers are
said to be getting increasingly uncomfortable with media reports of their
deliberations in parliament, especially over issues they disagree on. This
month, Information Minister Webster Shamu reportedly summoned editors to a
meeting, where he reminded them that journalists could be arrested if they
reported on cabinet discussions.
The threat has been made before, but
it’s believed Shamu and his colleagues in parliament were provoked by a
recent report by the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper that cabinet was deeply
split over plans by Indigenisation and Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere to
re-introduce the controversial national youth scheme.
On Tuesday
veteran journalist Dumisani Muleya told SW Radio Africa that Shamu and the
government have been seriously concerned about reports on cabinet
proceedings, and that they have issued statements warning journalists from
reporting on cabinet meetings, records and proceedings. But now it appears
Shamu has given a final warning, Muleya said.
“There was a report that
was carried out in our newspaper, the Zimbabwe Independent, about government
or cabinet being divided over the issue of re-introducing the national youth
service. ZANU PF was supporting it basically, but the MDC ministers were
saying that they don’t want that programme because they fear and suspect
that ZANU PF wants to use that programme in order to support its election
package ahead of elections,” Muleya explained
He added: “We have a
government that is determined by all means to protect information, to keep
the people uninformed, so this puts us in a very tricky
situation.”
On Tuesday, Constantine Chimakure, editor of the Zimbabwe
Independent said on social networking site Twitter: “By the way, the Zim
Independent and other newspapers can no longer write on cabinet
deliberations - journos would be jailed.”
By Everson Mushava, Staff Writer Wednesday, 27 July 2011
14:51
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe is the biggest spender in
government as revelations emerge that he overshot his annual foreign travel
budget by a massive 133 percent in just six months, according to government
expenditure figures obtained by the Daily News.
So legendary is
Mugabe’s penchant for foreign travel that he has chewed over $20 million to
date, way beyond his $15 million annual presidential travel
budget.
Excessive travel by top government officials was one of the
issues Finance Minister Tendai Biti said were gobbling public funds to the
detriment of development when he presented the Medium Term budget
yesterday.
Figures independently obtained by the Daily News show that
Mugabe is way above his limit when it comes to foreign travel.
His
coalition government partner Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his
deputies have so far used $3, 7 million, almost three quarters of their
annual budget allocation of $5 million, with six months before
year-end.
Mugabe and the travel expenses for the Prime Minister’s Office
and his deputies are enough to finance anti-retroviral treatment for almost
600 000 people for six straight months in a public health system, according
to calculations drawn from figures by the World Health
Organisation.
Mugabe has spent a total of $20,6 million.
He has
been to the Far East at least five times this year alone, with sources
saying it has mostly been for medical attention.
On all these occasions
he has travelled with an extravagantly large entourage. The 87-year-old
leader is currently attending a youth conference in New York where he is the
only Head of State at the forum that brings together youths around the world
to discuss their own issues.
The veteran leader often travels with an
entourage of more than 70 people each time he flies out of the
country. The office of the Prime Minister, including his two deputies was
allocated $5 million for travelling for the whole year and also appears to
have been busy at it.
The Prime Minister’s Office spent $450 000 in
January, $580 000 in February, $730 000 in March, $450 000 in April, $270
000 in May and $790 000 in June.
Cumulatively they have spent $3,27
million by mid-year translating to 64,4 percent of their annual travel
budget.
Tsvangirai’s travel bill, though not as astronomical as
Mugabe’s, shot up as he traversed the region on a political offensive to
drum up support from Sadc leaders ahead of the Troika Organ on Defence,
Politics and Security Cooperation summit held in Zambia in
March.
Presenting the Mid-Term Budget to Parliament yesterday, Biti
reiterated his call for the need to cut foreign travel by executives and
ministers.
Biti said the country was facing a $700 million deficit and
any further unnecessary travel by the executive would bleed government
coffers.
It was not possible to get comment from Mugabe’s spokesman
George Charamba as his phone was unavailable.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman
Luke Tamborinyoka vehemently defended his boss when probed on the
issue.
“Tsvangirai was on state business and has the executive powers to
represent the state anywhere,” he said.
The coalition government is
currently struggling to raise money to pay restive government workers living
salaries. Biti has maintained that government has no capacity to pay for
salary increases because revenue collection capacity was on a
decline.
Biti told Parliament a fortnight ago that civil servants’
salary increments would cost the government an extra $29 million per month,
pushing the wage bill to 70 percent of government expenditure on salaries up
from 45 percent.
The government this month paid civil servants a minimal
salary increase using money from diamond proceeds but fears are that this
could be unsustainable as Biti told Parliament yesterday that diamond
revenues were unclear.
Early this month, the coalition government
introduced austerity measures to try and cut costs and finance the civil
servants wage bill through cutting of foreign trips and reducing the sizes
of delegates on foreign trips, according to a government circular leaked to
the Daily News.
The penchant from travelling by Zimbabwe’s ruling elite
is at variance with the country’s financial situation. Last year for
example, government forecast its revenue at $1,44 billion against
expenditure projected at $2,25 billion and according to Biti, the country
cannot survive if expenditure outweighs revenue, hence the need for cost
cutting measures.
Zimbabwe is reeling under a debt of $9 billion which it
is struggling to service, according to anti-debt lobby group, Zimbabwe
Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD).
This means the country
cannot receive much financial assistance from international lending
institutions because of its poor record in paying off debts.
Joy
Mabenge, ZIMCODD chairperson, said given the current situation government
should spend more on education and health than on travel.
“The meagre
revenue by government should be directed towards critical needs like health,
ARV drugs and education. Government leaders should avoid squeezing the
fiscus on issues that do not benefit the entire nation,” said Mabenge.
HARARE - Finance Minister Tendai Biti yesterday complained that
foreign travels more than the education and health needs were eating a huge
chunk of the budget — a development which is not only sad but
scandalous.
It seems senior government officials have decided to make
it a habit to raise money to sustain their families through allowances they
receive from foreign travels and we tend to agree with Biti that this has to
be cut as a matter of urgency.
Elsewhere in this issue, we have a
story on President Robert Mugabe’s travels costing the nation millions of
dollars per trip.
While we appreciate Mugabe’s appetite for flying is
legendary, we reiterate that he should consider cutting down on travelling
to useless events which do not really benefit the country.
Zimbabwe
is in a crisis and every cent must be saved. We notice that partners in
government are accusing each other of blowing huge sums of money in
travelling and a story in the state media claimed that Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai spends more than Mugabe on travelling.
The story was not clear
how Tsvangirai, who travels around with fewer people and on commercial
flights, could have surpassed Mugabe.
What we know and what most people
know is that Mugabe is one of the most travelled leaders the world has ever
known.
We urge Mugabe to slow down on travelling and send younger people
to such worthless trips like the talk-show conference — the Langkawi
Dialogue. Right now Mugabe is in New York attending a UN youth meeting and
God knows how the conference will assist the people of Zimbabwe.
At
87 years, Mugabe should have done the honourable thing and sent someone like
Saviour Kasukuwere, the minister of youth who would have used commercial
flights to travel to New York.
At most Kasukuwere would have used maybe
$20 000 and would have travelled with one aide but achieving the same result
as Mugabe.
Yes, we do understand Mugabe’s mentality of sometimes
grandstanding in-front of the world but surely that should not come at a
cost to the nation. Mugabe will earn more respect by assigning ministers to
represent him at some of these events.
With the current arguments on
who is travelling the most and who is wasting more taxpayers’ money, Biti
must publicly give us the facts and records on the members of the executive
who have been travelling a lot since the beginning of the year.
The
list should include Mugabe, Tsvangirai and all the ministries so that the
taxpayers know who is recklessly squandering their money.
Harare, July 27, 2011 -
An unknown Harare man has declared himself a presidential candidate in
Zimbabwe's next election.
Ignatius Masamba placed an advertisement in the
state-owned Herald newspaper asking Zimbabweans to vote for him whenever the
country’s next elections are held.
“Hello Zimbabweans. When you vote
for President, do you vote for the name of the person or the name of the
party?” asked Masamba in the newspaper advertisement accompanied by his
picture.
“Do the correct thing. Be a step ahead voter: the wise one. Look
for the qualification of the candidate. Because doctors understand diseases.
Accountants understand the economy, the facts/figures and strategy. I am an
accountant: our standards are integrity, transparency, expertise and
avoiding the unethical. I declare that I shall be an independent
Presidential Candidate in the next election, other factors remaining
equal.”
The date of the country’s next elections remains unknown. A
Southern African Development Community (SADC) facilitated roadmap towards
elections is the determining factor as to when elections will be held.
However the country’s political parties are still to agree on the necessary
timelines and benchmarks for an election.
The regional SADC body
directed the country’s political parties to agree to a new constitution,
implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and create a conducive
environment before elections can be held. Masamba is the latest in a growing
list of figures now considered as political fodder.
The publication
of the advertisement comes as a surprise given that the newspaper refuses to
carry advertisements from anyone regarded as President Robert Mugabe's
opponent.
For instance in 2009 the Herald Newspaper refused to to publish
a communiqué drafted by civil society organisations announcing the
establishment of a Civil Society Monitoring Mechanism (CSMM) on the
implementation of the Interparty Political Agreement (IPA) between Zanu (PF)
and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The advertising
executive informed the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) that the
Editor was not in office and would inform ZLHR once he has made his decision
to publish the advertisment. However, when the executive called later, he
informed the ZLHR that the editor wanted two paragraphs removed from the
communiqué for it to be carried in The Herald.
The ZLHR then refused to
advertise the amended communiqué as it omitted some vital
information.
Again in 2009, the same newspaper shunned a 12-page MDC
supplement.
The supplement was a congratulatory advertisment on the
appointment of MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai as the Prime Minister of
Zimbabwe.
In 2008 an unknown Victoria Falls school teacher and
businessman, Langton Towungana, the youngest ever electoral candidate in the
history of the country, declared himself an independent presidential
candidate. He tipped himself to win the elections and said he was prepared
to work with anyone after winning as long as they are not
criminals.
Towungana however got 0.6 percent of the vote at the
end.
African National Party’s (ANP) Egypt Dzinemunhenzva is also among
the politicians who emerge towards election time. He has perennially been
contesting elections from his Murewha base where he runs his one man party.
President Mugabe said youth should be empowered so that they can
play an integral role in the socio-economic and political affairs of their
nations, and called for United Nations policies to encourage
this
Sandra Nyaira | Washington
Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe on Tuesday addressed a United Nations meeting for youth,
challenging member countries to come up with policies that will nurture and
empower young people as future leaders.
President Mugabe said youth
should be empowered so that they can play an integral role in the
socio-economic and political affairs of their nations.
Mr. Mugabe said
Zimbabwe had since independence in 1980 regarded its youth as the vanguard
of the country, saying "it is of paramount importance the United Nations
member states institute policies that will give proper orientation that will
shape the youths to become responsible future leaders."
The President
said Harare regards education as a priority in nurturing youth and giving
young people skills to allow them to contribute meaningfully to the
country.
"Member states should adopt a catch-them-young concept such as
the education for-free policies my government has introduced among other
policies for youth including health in the face of HIV and Aids," he
said.
But Mr. Mugabe was facing criticism at home for traveling with a
large delegation and hand-picking youth with ties to his ZANU-PF party to
participate.
Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, part of the Zimbabwe
delegation in New York, dismissed reports organizers snubbed the country’s
main youth organizations.
Director Sydney Chisi of the Youth
Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe said the president should not have
favored youths from his party.
Zimbabwe Youth Council Director
Livingstone Dzikira said the country’s youth should be given the freedom to
talk about issues that concern them.
Tawanda Mbawara of the Free-Zimbabwe
Youth initiative said that while it is good that Zimbabwe was represented at
the UN at a high level, more youths from across the political divide should
have been involved or consulted ahead of the meeting.
A new High Court bailing
application by eight MDC members who are facing false charges of murdering a
police officer in Glen View has been postponed for the second time after the
state prosecutor failed to appear in court today.
Edmore Nyazamba, the
state prosecutor failed to come to court claiming he was sorting out a family
issue, forcing Justice Samuel Kudya to postpone the case to tomorrow. Yesterday
the case failed to kick off and was postponed to today.
In June, the
eight who are part of 12 other MDC activists are facing similar murder charges
were denied bail at the High Court after the state opposed bail saying they were
a flight risk. The other 12 members are on bail.
However, the defence
lawyers filed a fresh bail application last week due to changed circumstances
and ruling was set for yesterday but it was postponed to today.
Attempts
by the defence lawyers for the ruling to be made in the afternoon failed after
the judge said he had other commitments elsewhere.
Addressing journalists
after the postponed of the hearing, defence lawyer Tawanda Zhuwarara said it was
unfortunate that the bail application had failed to kick off again today as they
had communicated to their clients about the pending application.
“We are
hum strung but we will have our day in court tomorrow,” Zhuwarara said.
The police officer was murdered by unknown revellers at a night club in
Glen View in May.
Those in remand prison are: Councillor Tungamirai
Madzokere of Ward 32 Glen View, brothers Lazarus and Stanford Maengahama,
Phineas Nhatarikwa, Stanford Mangwiro, Yvonne Musarurwa, Rebecca Mafikeni and
Cynthia Manjoro.
A police officer named Peter Pedzevere has been accused of
assaulting an MDC-T official in Mashonaland East, reaffirming the party’s
claims that police are interfering in political affairs and there must be
security sector reform ahead of any elections.
Godfrey Maronge, the
MDC-T Secretary for Ward 1 in Mudzi North, had to seek treatment after the
assault on Friday. Police at Nyamapanda Post in Mudzi ordered a medical
examination, which found that Maronge had sustained a deep cut on the
forehead and internal body injuries.
The party released a statement that
described Constable Pedzevere as a “notorious” officer, “known for harassing
and intimidating MDC activists.” They alleged that the police officer also
assaulted Godfrey Chapfora, the MDC-T Ward 1 Organising Secretary, last
month.
Maronge could hardly walk when he visited Harvest House on
Tuesday, according to the MDC-T. Despite reports that Pedzevere always
threatens known MDC supporters, no police action has been taken against him
and the MDC-T fears he is armed.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
released a statement Wednesday, calling for an end to politically motivated
violence, the arrest of all perpetrators and SADC’s intervention to protect
innocent Zimbabweans.
“The police have a constitutional obligation to
protect citizen’s rights and interests and to apprehend violators of the law
yet they continue acting against the law, choosing to ‘protect’ perpetrators
of violence instead,” Crisis said.
The calls came just days after a
mob of ZANU PF thugs attacked parliamentarians and journalists at a hearing
to gather public views on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission
Bill.
Meanwhile, Tawanda Imbayago, the MDC-T Ward 28 Secretary in
Chiredzi West, reports that his house burnt down on Sunday night under
suspicious circumstances. Imbayago was outside talking to neighbors when a
sound was suddenly heard inside the house. He ran inside to check and
noticed his mattress was on fire and there was too much smoke for him to
stay in.
Imbayago said the fire was suspicious because the house does not
have electricity and there was no fire or candle lit on Sunday. The
intensity of the flames also led to him to believe a flammable chemical like
petrol had been used. Although he was not harmed Imbayago lost all his
property in the fire and there is an appeal for assistance from all those
who can help.
The MDC-T ward secretary said burning houses is a strategy
used against those with different political views, but would not speculate
any further.
The MDC was victorious in Chiredzi West during the 2008
elections and there has been intimidation and harassment of party supporters
and officials in the area.
Presenting the Mid Year Fiscal Policy
Review Statement, Minister Biti said the Zimbabwe government was finalising
importation of coins from the US. He indicated that the coins are likely to
be unveiled before end of this year.
Earlier this year there were some
reports that the US govt agreed to supply coins to Zimbabwe. The United
States Federal Reserve is said to have agreed to supply coins and replace
soiled notes to Zimbabwean banks in a bid to end change problems in the
economy.
According to sources, representatives Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe led by its president and FBC Bank boss John Mushayavanhu met
Finance minister Tendai Biti sometime back to map a way forward in dealing
with change problems in the economy.
The sources, said the US Federal
Reserve have "formally" agreed that Zimbabwe's economy is now dollarised and
will now supply Zimbabwe with coins and replace notes.
Officials from
the Finance ministry are said to have finalised all the nuts and bolts to
the US dollar coins with the Fed and will soon depart for the US to airlift
the coins to Zimbabwe.
Banks and government, according to the sources
have agreed to charter an Air Zimbabwe flight to pick up the coins in the
US. The flight costs will be met by both government and
banks.
Zimbabwe has been saddled with change problems since the
introduction of multi-currencies in February 2009.
Retailers are
offering consumers credit notes, tokens and even sweets to settle small
change.
Mushavanhu declined to comment on the matter referring all
questions to Biti who was unreachable at the time of going to
press.
In his 2011 Mid Term Budget Policy statement, Biti yesterday said
government had engaged the United States Federal Reserve over possible
provision of coins and replacement of soiled notes to ease small change
problems in the country.
Biti said: "I am pleased to advise on the
fruitful interactions with the US Department of the Treasury which stands
ready to facilitate access to acquisition of smaller denominated coins and
replacement of soiled notes through the US Federal Reserve and commercial
banks. I will, therefore, be finalising on this in conjunction with the
banking system, that way resolving the matter of challenges with change and
coins."
"The availability of both US dollar and rand coins will do away
with the challenges posed by the current need to apply cross rates in giving
change in rand coins for transactions undertaken in US dollars," Biti said.
"Whilst this problem should be alleviated by electronic payment systems, the
large size of the informal sector and the lack of infrastructure for
electronic payment systems in rural areas necessitate the availability of
large volumes of small denominations".
Harare, July 27, 2011 - Two Zimbabwe
Prison Services (ZPS) officers are in trouble after they allegedly stole 48
litres of cooking oil that had been donated by the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) this month, Radio VOP can reveal.
An official
at the ICRC in Harare told VOP that his organisation was informed that 48
litres of cooking oil that formed part of the 1000 litres of cooking oil
donated by the ICRC last month could not be accounted for by two prison
officers at their offices. The cooking oil was donated for prisoners’ meals
at Harare Remand prison and Chikurubi Maximum prison. The two officers are
still being questioned by the internal disciplinary committee over the
missing cooking oil.
"We were informed by ZPS officials that 48 litres of
cooking oil were stolen by two officers at their premises. They have assured
us that they will investigate the issue for the 48 litres of cooking oil to
be fully accounted for. We were disturbed that someone steals cooking oil at
a time when we were helping prisoners to have a better diet," a senior
official from the ICRC said on condition of anonymity.
He said the
two ZPS officials have been identified as one Hedengwe and
Muzirecho.
Zimbabwe prisons have been facing food shortages in the
past years as government has been failing to feed its prisoners resulting in
hundreds of prisoners dying in jail. Prisoners suffered from such diseases
as pellagra.
The ZPS has been denying reports that were being reported in
several media houses but did not deny food was not enough for
prisoners.
A clip shown on Cable News Network (CNN) in 2008 showed
prisoners in a Zimbabwe jail succumbing to diseases such as Tuberculosis
(TB) and that some prisoners were eating rats to survive. And if food was
available the prisoners were served with a small portion on a thick
mealie-meal porridge served with salt and water. The ZPS and government have
rubbished the footage.
The majority of Zimbabwe’s armed forces
are not Zanu (PF) zealots but professionals guided by a strong belief in
safeguarding the national interest, according to MDC Secretary for Defence
and Security Giles Mutsekwa. 27.07.1103:04pm by Staff
Reporter
“These patriots and professionals have always yearned for
their space under an open, civilian and democratic order. They have
indicated to the MDC that they do not wish to dabble in politics as this is
clearly against their Constitutional mandate,” he said.
Mutsekwa said
the majority of soldiers of all ranks were opposed to the politicisation of
the security forces.
Recently a few senior army officers have made
political statements in support of Zanu (PF). They accused Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai of being a security threat.
But election results
from wards and constituencies housing military cantonment areas have, since
2000, shown that the MDC is hugely popular in areas with large
concentrations of security forces, both in rural and urban
areas.
Writing in the MDC’s Real Change Times newsletter this week,
Mutsekwa said Zanu (PF) was well aware of this, and therefore ensured that
senior commanders loyal to the party maintained a close watch on security
forces and their families during the June 27 2008 sham runoff
elections.
“At the time, the MDC was inundated with complaints about the
violation of the secrecy of the ballot. In some police, prison, army and
airforce camps, junior officers were severely punished for refusing to be
cowed to vote for Zanu (PF), and to show their completed ballot papers to
their seniors,” said Mutsekwa.
The MDC says it is convinced, from the
information gleaned from extensive research and surveys, that the
possibility of a military induced takeover of a popularly elected government
is very remote.
Mutsekwa said military take-overs had outlived their
usefulness in Africa and elsewhere and such an idea would never gain
currency in Zimbabwe and SADC.
“SADC has already shown its concern
with recent utterances from serving and retired generals about the
possibility of a military induced chaotic situation should Robert Mugabe and
Zanu (PF) lose the forthcoming election,” he said.
The role of the
military in Zimbabwe’s destabilisation is increasingly coming under the
region’s spotlight.
Mutsekwa said that, after a decade of denials, SADC
was now aware of the complexities of Zimbabwe’s electoral landscape through
the military’s blatant meddling in election management and
administration.
Referring to a recent statements by senior officials
that: “An MDC victory could mean the military could stage a coup or Zimbabwe
could go to war. We have grown up with and were groomed by Zanu (PF), it’s
what we are,” Mutsekwa said: “Such thinking that the police, the army and
CIO are meant to protect Mugabe and Zanu (PF) only needs to be
addressed.
“The MDC has always expressed its revulsion at such careless
fighting talk.”
Tsvangirai has repeatedly called for patience among
Zimbabweans, given that Mugabe is “certainly on his way out” due to advanced
age and dwindling support.
He has already called on the generals to
take off their uniforms and join the political fray if they have any
realistic political alternatives for a new Zimbabwe.
“But we will not
participate in a violent election,” he told thousands of supporters at
Pfupajena Stadium in Chegutu on Sunday.”
Outgoing Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)
president, Deon Theron, has accused the Mugabe dictatorship of robbing white
farmers of their livelihoods, but said the few remaining growers would
continue to fight for their rights. 27.07.1102:13pm by Vusimusi
Bhebhe
Theron, who stepped down at the CFU annual congress on
Tuesday, said in a farewell message that life had not been easy for white
farmers evicted from their properties and those few still remaining on the
land.
“We have all suffered under a dictatorship that not only robbed us
of our legitimately owned possessions, but ruined our lives as our homes and
source of income was also taken from us,” he said.
There are only 300
white commercial farmers actively engaged in farming in Zimbabwe, down from
about 4 500 at the start of President Robert Mugabe’s controversial land
reform programme in 2000.
Zanu (PF) supporters, so-called war veterans
and members of the army and police have stepped up farm invasions since the
formation of a coalition government by Mugabe and former opposition leader –
now Prime Minister – Morgan Tsvangirai in February 2009.
Scores of
white farmers have so far been convicted by the courts for refusing to
vacate their properties which have been illegally occupied by Zanu (PF)
supporters.
Zimbabwe's courts are dominated by Zanu (PF) judges who are
often beneficiaries of land-grabs themselves while the few judges who rule
in favour of white claimants end up losing their jobs.
Theron,
however, said that although it was always going to be difficult to stop all
this happening, he was “extremely proud that we never became cry babies but
still continue to fight against overwhelming odds for our rights on a daily
basis”.
“Even though we allowed ourselves to become divided at times,
overall we are still united in our struggle for justice,” the CFU boss said.
The United Nations Development (UNDP) programme that has
been funding the constitution making process will stop bankrolling the
programme after the drafting process, a senior official said on
Monday. 27.07.1112:05pm by Fungai Kwaramba Harare
The
announcement was made at a workshop organised by UN agents in Bulawayo, by
Mfaro Moyo, UNDP’s Assistant Resident Representative.
“We do have
resources that will enable us to fund the constitution process to the draft
stage, but we do not have provisions for the referendum as it is different
programme,” said Moyo.
The constitution making process has been affected
by cash constraints and the constant bickering between the political
parties. The process stopped prematurely on the June 9 because of a shortage
of funds and the resurfacing of earlier disagreements about the methodology
to be employed in analysing outreach data.
Moyo, however, said that
UNDP was happy with the programme.
Books worth US$22 300 from college press
recovered in truck load 27.07.1102:08pm by Ngoni Chanakira
Harare
Three thieves driving a truck loaded with books pirated from
College Press Zimbabwe (Private) Limited have been arrested by the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP).
"Yes, I can confirm that we have the thieves
at Harare Central Police Station in custody over the alleged crime," a
Senior ZRP Officer said. "We were tipped off by members attending the
Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) in Harare and then made the
arrests."
Top author, Cletus Ngwaru, confirmed that he had informed the
ZRP that book piracy in Zimbabwe should not be allowed to go on
unabated.
"There were 18 titles packed on the back of the truck which was
loaded with pirated books," Ngwaru revealed.
Ngwaru said the 18
titles were worth "at least US$22 300 and came from the College Press
publishing house only".
"This reality makes us think something must be
done to these culprits," he told more than 400 authors gathered in Harare
for the annual ZIBF two-day Indaba.
The Indaba is held before the
annual Book Fair opens.
Ngwaru then spoke on the topic - "Legal Access To
Copyright And The Threat Of Piracy".
"These guys, who sell books on
the streets and at corners, must be immediately arrested by the ZRP. We call
upon the authorities to arrest them and bring them to Court to answer the
allegations levelled against them."
However, a lawyer present at the up
meeting said maybe the ZRP, through the Constitution, was not legally
allowed to just arrest anyone found selling books at a corner because they
do not know whether the books are pirated or not and thus it can be abuse of
the individual's Constitutional Rights.
"The ZRP would then be in serious
trouble for their "enthusiasm"," the lawyer said.
By Patricia Chipaumire,
Gweru, July 27, 2011 - Tensions are high at Mkoba Gweru Teachers' College
(MTC) after the principal, Florence Dube, alleged to have close links with
Zanu (PF) reported some of his lecturers to police last week for refusing to
teach.
Lecturers who spoke to Radio VOP, said Dube who openly brags to
them that she is a Zanu (PF) member and therefore an untouchable, reported
the lecturers to the police after she told them they were planning to cause
unrest and despondency at the college.
The lecturers, who had
boycotted teaching because they want retention allowances, were just quizzed
by the police and released without any charges. The lecturers are accusing
Dube of corruption for failing to pay the allowances while she is
benefitting.
The lecturers are also demanding that Dube be removed from
the college for ill-treating workers and maladministration.
“We have
written to the Ministry of education demanding that Dube leaves MTC since
she is running down the college. We have a memo telling us we will be
getting an additional US$100 a month on top of the government meagre
salaries to cushion us. However we have received this retention allowance
once despite the fact that students are paying for it. We wonder where it is
going,” said another lecturer.
"She (principal) thinks she can
intimidate us by reporting to the police. She is always bragging about
having links with Zanu (PF) but we do not care about that. All we want is to
be able to feed our families and work with someone who treats us like mature
adults,” said another lecturer fuming with anger.
"I do not speak to
the press and I shall not comment,” Dube furiously told Radio VOP who
contacted her to respond to the lecturers' allegations. She immediately
switched off her mobile phone after that.
Dube has threatened the
lecturers that they will not receive their salaries for boycotting classes.
In a letter to the Salary service Bureau, Dube pleaded with the body to
cease salaries for the lecturers. Part of the letter in possession of Radio
VOP reads, “You are advised that the above named officers have been
reporting for duty but sitting in (not performing expected duties) with
effect from 28 June to date. Would you please cease salary with immediate
effect?”
However the College Lecturer's Association (Colaz) a body that
represents college lecturers said the principal was irking them and they
would fight to ensure that the lecturers receive their salaries. The body
said the lecturers were entitled to the retention allowances.
The
Principal of the primary teacher training college is not new to controversy
as she runs the college with a heavy hand. Last year she almost suspended
students for being members of ZINASU a student body and early this year
threatened lecturers who are members of Colaz with dismissal.
MASVINGO - A Zanu PF youth stung by remarks by a political
rival that President Robert Mugabe’s supporters were the biggest consumers
of opaque beer is in court on assault charges.
Morton Muruvi, 30,
allegedly struck MDC supporter Lovemore Masvingise with an empty beer bottle
after being told that the former ruling party youths woke up to drink opaque
beer at beer halls because they were too lazy to work.
Muruvi
appeared before Masvingo magistrate Stanford Mambanje who remanded him to
Friday for trial.
The state, led by Dereck Charamba, heard that the two
were involved in a brawl after a heated exchange while they were drinking
ZED Annas, a highly toxic spirit smuggled from neighbouring Mozambique that
has since become a favourite “take me quick beer” for unemployed youths
across the country.
It is alleged that Muruvi, who was high on the
spirit, accused Masvingise of being an MDC supporter because he worked for
the MDC-led Masvingo city council.
This degenerated into an exchange
of harsh words leading Masvingise to tell Muruvi that he did not want to
associate with Zanu PF youths because they had nothing better to do than
drink opaque beer.
His statement did not go down well with the Zanu PF
youth who picked up an empty beer bottle and struck him in the face.
Masvingise sustained a deep cut, the court heard.
By Roadwin Chirara, Business Writer Wednesday, 27 July 2011
18:14
HARARE - A vicious power struggle has erupted at Hwange Colliery
Company Limited (HCCL) after the company’s board ordered the cancellation of
a rescheduled annual general meeting (AGM) on August 3.
This
follows a Harare shareholder mutiny in late June as a group led by
controversial tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been pushing for a “major
say, and stake” in the coal miner.
Hoogstraten’s group not only
caused the adjournment of the crucial meeting, but wants its representatives
on the Zimbabwean, Johannesburg and London-listed HCCL’s
board.
Yesterday, company chairman Tendai Savanhu accused the company’s
management of not following proper procedure in calling for the
much-anticipated AGM.
“Hwange is a public listed company and whatever you
do must comply with corporate governance statues or structures,” he
said.
Savanhu particularly fingered company secretary Thembinkosi Ncube
and said he did not have the legal right to call for a shareholders’ meeting
without the board’s consent.
“It’s the responsibility of the board to
do that. After all, we are the ones who asked him to consult with the stock
exchange and registrar of companies, but (he only) goes ahead to call for
the AGM without giving us any feedback,” he raged.
“As a board, we
are supposed to sit down and clear the agenda (but) that was not done,” said
the coal miner’s chairman.
On when the company intended to hold the AGM
following the latest drama, Savanhu said they would meet to chat the way
forward.
“We are going to meet within the time frames set by the ZSE and
registrar of companies, and consider their recommendations,” he
added.
Quizzed on why his board was not resigning in light of calls by
the company’s controlling owners, notably government and van Hoogstraten,
the Harare businessman said his board was also meeting to deliberate the
issues.
“They (controlling shareholders) are allowed to call for that,
but there are laws that have to be followed,” he averred.
In its
results to December 2010, Hwange’s headline earnings rose from $0,01 cents
to $0,03 cents, while turnover was up 47 percent to $99 million.
Coal
production increased to 2,4 million tonnes compared to 1,6 million tonnes in
the prior year.
The company’s major markets of both coking and ordinary
coal, include Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique,
Tanzania and Zambia.
It also recently announced that it had clinched a
$3,6 million coking coal export deal to India.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC has reported
the partisan police chief, Augustine Chihuri, to the Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC) so that they might call him to order over
his selective application of the law. 25.07.1110:37am by Chief
Reporter
The MDC has taken the same complaints to the Southern
African Development Community (SADC). Chihuru, who has general command of
the police force, vowed that he would never allow the MDC to take power
while he was alive. He has been linked time and time again to the systematic
and malicious prosecution of MDC officials and is now said to be probing
Tsvangirai himself over the alleged abuse of US$1.5 million used to renovate
the PM's Strathaven home.
A letter to JOMIC titled ‘Partisan
Policing' says: "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. 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”.
Police spokesman Andrew Phiri declined to comment saying he had
not seen the document.
The letter goes on to accuse Chihuri of
abusing his power.
"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.”
For some time now, the leadership of Zanu (PF) has
been at pains to prove to Zimbabweans and to the Sadc that the MDC-T is the
chief perpetrator of political violence in this country. Its efforts are now
being disproved on a daily basis by none other than its own hired hooligans
who are persistently disrupting the work of the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee that is conducting public hearings on the Human Rights Commission
Bill. 25.07.1110:30am by John Makumbe
Meetings have been
disrupted in various parts of the country, to the extent that the Portfolio
committee has not been able to gather much by way of the people’s views on
the Bill. There is no sane citizen of this country who would like to stop
the work of this noble committee.
The only people who are anxious to stop
this work are those that have a track record of violating the people’s
rights. In Zimbabwe, we all know that it is Zanu (PF) and elements of the
security forces that have been in the forefront of violating the people’s
rights.
Zanu (PF) is aware that once the Bill is passed through
Parliament it will give the Human Rights Commission the authority to
investigate all acts that may be deemed to constitute violations of human
rights.
The fact that the Zanu (PF) leadership has persistently called
for the next elections to be held this year is testimony that the violent
political party is desperate to ensure that the proposed Bill does not see
the light of day before the elections are held. The primary intention is to
grossly violate the people’s human rights by employing violence during the
election campaign in order to ensure a Zanu (PF) and Mugabe victory at the
polls.
Such a victory is very unlikely to be attainable under a peaceful
and non-violent political environment. The Zanu (PF) hoodlums are therefore
being hired to obstruct the process of gathering the people’s views on the
Bill, so that the Human Rights Commission will remain a paper tiger with no
teeth. That way, those of a violent nature will be free to make use of
violence and intimidation against supporters of the MDC-T and other parties
without fear of the law.
Zanu (PF) is also afraid that some of the
views of the people of this country may reflect a deep desire for the Human
Rights Commission to be empowered to investigate human rights violations
dating as far back in the history of this country as 1980. This will mean
that the Commission will have to delve into the sordid business of the
Gukurahundi massacres of 1982 to 1987 during which “madness” more that 20
000 lost their lives.
Also greatly feared are the murders and tortures
that were inflicted upon the people of this country by the war veterans, the
militia and some security agents during the 2008 presidential run-off
election campaign. The Zanu (PF) leadership is therefore desperate to ensure
that the proposed Bill and the Human Rights Commission will remain in
limbo.
But the days when Zanu (PF) used to have its own way with the laws
of this land are long over. The proposed Bill will have to be gazetted and
then debated in Parliament, where it will be passed into law whether the
former liberation party likes it or not.
The people of this country
are determined to stop the Mugabe party from any further abuse of the
people’s rights at any time, elections or no elections. We urge the
Portfolio Committee to stick to its mandate and ensure that the proposed
Bill will be passed into law as soon as possible. Hoodlums must not be
allowed to stop good laws from being passed by the legitimate structures of
the state.
Zanu (PF) has denied the recent claims that its
members are stalking MDC activists living in South
Africa. 27.07.1102:21pm by Mtotobi Zingwenya
Spokesperson
Kennedy Mandaza rubbished the accusations made by the MDC-T Youth Assembly
chair person in South Africa, Giyani Dube.
“It is a figment of his
imagination and cannot be supported by any evidence,” said Mandaza. “The
party has no energy or resources to follow and stalk people in South
Africa.”
Dube is adamant that Zanu (PF) is responsible for the kidnapping
of activists who fled the violence in Zimbabwe to take refuge in South
Africa.
“We now have the names and vehicle numbers of some of these
people. They want to kidnap our members and torture them. I am also being
followed by some people who want to know where I stay, who to I talk to.
Zanu (PF) is a party of violence. It has known violence since its
formation.”
The secessionist Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) told The
Zimbabwean that they had heard rumours of infiltration from their
intelligence in Zimbabwe and South Africa. MLF spokesperson, David Magagula,
said: “We have heard of such people who have infiltrated civil society,
churches and political parties.
Some pretend to assist the poor yet
they have other agendas. With the deportation of Zimbabweans to start we
know most of our members will be eliminated when they get to Beitbridge and
made to disappear.”
By Godfrey
Marawanyika - Jul 28, 2011 12:25 AM GMT+1000
Zimbabwe’s licensed
independent power producers aren’t filling the gap left by the state-owned
utility because prices are too low, Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory
Authority spokesman Fullard Gwasira said.
“Our tariff compared to that
charged in the region is really cheap,” Gwasira said in an interview on the
sidelines of a manufacturing industry conference in Victoria Falls,
Zimbabwe. Currently ZESA is charging 7.53 cents per kilowatt, compared with
a regional average of 12 cents, he said.
Zimbabwe, the southern African
nation with the second- biggest reserves of platinum and chrome, suffers
regular power outages, and rations energy to homes and
businesses.
ZESA is owed $450 million by consumers, which is affecting
its operations, Gwasira said. It owes other suppliers $100 million, he
said.
Government should lift a ban on private power importers as ZESA is
failing, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries President Joseph Kanyekanye
said in a speech at the conference.
“Industry requested an
opportunity to import power directly,” Kanyekanye said. “This was shot
down.”
Contrary to
media reports that since 2005, when the country's last hangman retired,
there has been a moratorium on executions as Zimbabwe is still searching for
a replacement, Zimbabwe's Acting Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs
Maxwell Ranga says the country does not have a vacancy for a 'hangman' and
that 55 murderers on death throw have not been executed because Cabinet has
not acted on their 'execution papers.'
Last week the Senate reported that
executions were not being done because of the unavailability of hangmen but
according to Ranga "we cannot proceed to execute without the approval of
Cabinet."
"There is a thinking that the new constitution might abolish
the death penalty and I think that can be the reason why they have decided
to defer execution. We have since sent the papers to Cabinet as required by
law after the High Court and the Supreme Court had recommended for capital
punishment.
"We are not looking for any hangman. We have not advertised
for the job. Above all, the post is part-time and we have one hangman who is
always ready to do the job upon request. "
Ranga said although the
hangman cannot be disclosed, he is paid on every execution and he is
actually permanently employed elsewhere. He cannot be permanent with us
because people are not executed daily," he said.
"I do not see how these
people on death row are being prejudiced. Are they crying for their
immediate death? After all the lengthy stay in prison can be an advantage to
them, as they will be given an opportunity to make submissions when the
decision is finally made.
"If they are lucky, the new Constitution may
abolish capital punishment or their sentences may be converted to life in
jail considering the delay. I was shocked to receive applications by several
nationals who wanted to be employed as hangmen.
"Some applications
were frightening as others plainly admitted they were killers. Some
indicated they were good at killing and that they should be considered for
the post, which we had not advertised," said Ranga.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke
Tamborinyoka, is the guest on Question Time and joins SW Radio Africa journalist
Lance Guma to answer questions sent in by listeners. Tamborinyoka comments on
the hate speech and defamatory articles directed at the PM, the false statements
coming from Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba and also why the Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe is calling for licence applications, when it is not
legally constituted.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesman,
Luke Tamborinyoka
Interview broadcast 20 July 2011
Lance Guma: Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke
Tamborinyoka, is my guest on Question Time. Listeners were asked to send in
their questions in advance of the interview using Facebook, Twitter, Skype,
e-mail and text messages. Mr Tamborinyoka thank you for joining
us.
Luke Tamborinyoka: You are welcome Lance.
Guma:
Okay, from a fresh faced student at the Harare Polytechnic, to a journalist at
the Daily News, then Director of Information for the MDC and now spokesman for
the prime minister. Glenda in Kariba sends in our first question and wants to
know just how and why you decided to enter politics?
Tamborinyoka: I’m not sure whether I decided to enter politics or
politics decided to enter me but all I can say is that after grounding in
journalism training, I then joined the Daily News where I rose through the ranks
to become Chief News Editor but as everyone well knows, in 2003, the paper was
finally, eventually closed down after a traumatic history of bombings, arbitrary
arrests of the reporters and so forth.
And so
because it was a political decision to ban the newspaper so to speak, it
inadvertently led almost all the journalists who were there politically minded,
so we were invited into politics by the misdemeanors of a repressive
government.
Guma: Now
in your role as the Prime Minister’s spokesman, you have had to spend a
considerable amount of your time responding to defamatory articles about the PM
and even a lot of hate speech directed at him; as a former journalist, what do
you make of these relentless attacks on the PM coming from the state
media?
Tamborinyoka: It just tells you how much of gutter journalism is
practiced in the state media; one would have thought that since the formation of
the inclusive government, the public press would at least begin to give some
modicum of respect to a prime minister who in any case in March 2008, trounced
Mr Robert Mugabe in a free and fair election but regardless of that fact we have
seen relentless attacks, savage attacks on the person and office of the prime
minister by a press which is clearly an appendage of ZANU PF.
It has
become clear that the public press does not serve the interests of the people of
Zimbabwe but serves the interests of a party and a leadership that has now
become a minority because it is unpopular with the generality of the people. So
it just tells you about the state of journalism; I’m not sure whether yellow is
the right colour, I’m not sure the kind of colour the journalism that they
practice as the public media is but one would not want to say that they are
journalists but rather that they are appendages of the political commissariat of
ZANU PF.
Guma: Should we be blaming the journalists? This is a debate
that has been held elsewhere – whether these are just people who want to feed
their families, they are working for these organisations and they just toe the
line in terms of the editorial policies set up.
Tamborinyoka: Lance, I think journalism is a profession and because
it is a profession it has something to do with ethics, values and principles and
any journalist worth his salt must be able to do things that make his conscience
clear at the end of the day. He must be able to practice his profession
according to the ethics of that particular profession but when you engage in
some kind of gutter journalism where you attack people without giving them the
right of reply as is supposed to be the case in any journalism, one would then
say maybe these guys are just appendages of the commissariat, department of ZANU
PF.
Guma: So
you genuinely believe they believe in what they write?
Tamborinyoka: Yah I think most of them believe in what they write
because anyone, any journalist worth his salt would not engage in that kind of
garbage journalism.
Guma: Your
sparring sessions with Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba have generated quite a
level of interest over the years. Give us some insight into your relationship
with these people. When you meet at different forums, are you ever on talking
terms?
Tamborinyoka: Yah we meet once in awhile with George (Charamba) and
we speak but obviously sometimes we are free about our relationship, we last met
at Sandton (SADC Summit in South Africa) and obviously he was trying to mislead
journalists about the outcome of Sandton and because the Prime Minister left the
Summit earlier because he was supposed to go elsewhere to catch a 9pm plane so
he left earlier, Charamba said that the Prime Minister was leaving early because
he had had a tough beating in the Summit and so he was just laughing at me
saying why is your boss leaving early, you are not getting a good deal at this
Summit – so of course we talk once in a while but I cannot say he is my cozy
buddy.
Guma:
You’ve got quite a battle on your hands having to constantly correct
misrepresentations from the Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu and
his permanent secretary George Charamba on meetings held by the principals.
This
is a question that has been sent to us by one of our listeners who does not wish
to be named. He says is it not ironic Shamu harps on about ministers leaking
details of cabinet meetings and yet he and Charamba are constantly doing the
same for meetings of the principals? Don’t you feel there’s one rule for you and
one rule for them?
Tamborinyoka: Yah it’s quite clear that there’s one rule for the goose
and one rule for the gander. What is actually ironic Lance is that even today I
have actually had to issue a statement disclaiming the mistruths that have been
pedaled through the state media by George Charamba and Webster Shamu.
You
know these guys are not the spokespersons of the principals; the principals meet
as leaders of political entities and these guys continue to pedal mistruths and
lies about the principals’ meetings and obviously like the questioner put it,
one would have thought that the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity is
supposed to be a spokes-ministry of the inclusive government, of the government
in its inclusiveness.
They
cannot continue to speak on one side or one third of the government as is
currently the case. So I’ve had obviously a tenacious time trying to fight these
things where these guys go and misrepresent the goings-on in the principals’
meetings. It just tells you what kind of government and what kind of ministry we
have that it is not playing its role and is not serving properly the people of
Zimbabwe in terms of disseminating information.
Guma:
Let’s just briefly touch on this – it’s a story that’s quite topical this week -
the Herald yesterday was accusing the prime minister of trying to smuggle the
Welshman Ncube issue. Just clarify this for us – we’ve seen your statement – for
the benefit of our listeners – just clarify the matter for us.
Tamborinyoka: Well of course as the prime minister in any case can’t
be said to have smuggled the issue of Welshman Ncube, it appears in as far as
these guys are concerned, the prime minister is a perennial smuggler; the other
time he was said to have smuggled a siren for his vehicle, now they are saying
that he has smuggled the issue of Welshman Ncube into the meetings of the
principals.
What
happened like I said in my statement today Lance is that the principals met on
Monday and of course the president actually introduced the issue of Welshman
Ncube, he said that there had been misrepresentations from the Professor
Ncube-led political formation that they wanted their president to be included in
the meetings of the principals and of course it was agreed that this was an
issue, it was before the courts and they also agreed that it was an internal
matter and Professor Mutambara was urged to go and speak to his colleagues and
find an amicable solution to their internal political matter which is in any
case, before the courts.
So
this is what happened, the president introduced the issue of Welshman Ncube
before the principals but obviously it is not (inaudible) because the Herald
goes on to their usual lies and say that it was the prime minister who smuggled
the issue of Welshman Ncube into the meetings of the
principals.
Guma: On
the 7th of June 2007 you walked out of prison having spent 71 days in remand
prison on trumped up charges of terrorism. You were subjected to physical
beatings using baseball bats and batons, tortured for several days and also
denied food. Your party is in a coalition government with the same people who
did this to you and your colleagues. How difficult is it to work with these
people?
Tamborinyoka: This is an uneasy coalition Lance; it is a coalition of
people coming from diverse backgrounds. Of course sometimes I meet some of the
guys but I can tell you we are doing this for the people of Zimbabwe and we meet
these people, and it is an uneasy relationship of victims and perpetrators but
of course we will not allow the temporary trappings of this inclusive
government, this temporary transitional government to seduce us into a state of
amnesia.
We
will never forget what we went through at the hands of ZANU PF and I can tell
you that the transitional government is just a reality, the country is in a
fluid transition to democracy and so we can’t avoid working with some of these
guys but as far as we are concerned these are the sunset days for the yesteryear
periods of torture and so forth.
Zimbabwe is in an inevitable transition and we are
marching forward regardless of what we went through and right now there are some
people who are still suffering in prison on trumped up charges of having
murdered a policeman.
Some
of us know that these charges will collapse like a deck of cards and so even
though we are working with some of these guys Lance, we remain committed to the
goal we are fighting for, we remain committed to accomplishing a new and
democratic Zimbabwe. So we will not allow, we will not be seduced into a state
of amnesia during this stage of the transitional government.
Guma: I
suppose that answers part of my second question, we have a question from Gerald
in Harare who sent us a Tweet and wants us to find out if you personally ever
feel it was a mistake to join the coalition government? Where you are working
with people who are constantly trying to undermine you at every
turn.
Tamborinyoka: Remember, some of us are born and bred in the MDC; we
are grounded in the MDC; we are grounded from Harvest House so we are joining
this inclusive government from Harvest House, so our politics is shaped by
Harvest House and so I can tell you is that even though we are working in this
government we are very much aware that in May of 2006, in fact our Congress
resolution was that we were going to engage in democratic resistance, we are
going to force the dictatorship screaming and kicking to a negotiating table, we
are going to have a new constitution, we are going to have a transitional
government before finally (inaudible) into a new democratic Zimbabwe.
So
this transitional government is actually part of an MDC road map, it is part of
the Congress resolution of 16 to 19 March 2006; so this transitional government
is actually part and parcel of the road map that we carved out for ourselves in
March 2006. So we are on the fourth lap of our ladder and I can tell you we are
getting there.
Guma: We
have a question from Masvingo sent in by Tongai who says he does not understand
why the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe is calling on applications for
commercial radio licences when it has been well documented they are not legally
constituted and a new board is supposed to be put in place, so he would like you
to try and clarify if you can, this particular issue.
Tamborinyoka: You know the illegality of the BAZ board is a matter of
public record. You know it is like a group of thieves calling for a (inaudible)
meeting. These guys are illegal and they cannot be allowed to invite
applications for broadcasting licences and I think that this is all part of ZANU
PF’s machinations ahead of the next SADC Summit to give an impression that the
airwaves are being freed in Zimbabwe, that the Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe has actually started to invite applications so that the issue of media
reform, SADC will actually think that there is movement on the issue of media
reform when in actual fact we all know that it can’t happen under the
stewardship of Comrade Mahoso who is both chief executive of the Zimbabwe Media
Commission as well as chairman of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe which
is an incestuous relationship that obviously brings to the fore the fact that
this guy can’t work for both entities.
So the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe is one of the illegally constituted boards
but I can tell you that the principals have agreed at their level that the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe should be reconstituted, that the ZBC board
should be reconstituted, that the board of the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust should
be put in place as a way of liberalizing the media ahead of the polls. But what
we are seeing the resistance from the ministry of Media, Information and
Publicity to bring in a new culture and to liberalise the airwaves in line with
the GPA.
Guma: Now
does this mean those who are already applying, the applications will be dealt
with by the old board or the new one? How is this going to work because people
are already applying, responding to these requests for
applications?
Tamborinyoka: Yah I think the applications by those who are applying
just tell you how desperate people are to do business, how desperate the people
are for an alternative broadcasting station, it tells you that people are ready
to do business and give Zimbabweans an alternative channel.
Obviously one would expect that a properly constituted
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe board would have demanded to legitimately
invite applications. What we are seeing in this case Lance is a ruse by a board
that is not properly constituted. Only last week but one this body was telling
the Parliamentary portfolio committee that even the applications that they are
inviting, they can only be able to do the necessary processing, they will only
be able to grant these people a licence after 18 months.
And
you and me know that after 18 months, that is the exactly not what the
negotiators, and the principals think that that must be the time line in which
the media reform must have taken place in this country, it is too far away. So
you begin to say to yourself this is obviously a ruse to give the impression to
SADC, to the region, to the AU that there’s movement in Zimbabwe in terms of
democratic reforms but I think that the people of Zimbabwe, SADC and all those
bodies are not going to be hoodwinked by this cheap drama.
Guma: We
have a question that comes all the way from Mutare, the person has refused to be
named but they are saying can you please ask Luke we are hearing all these
reports about the MDC formations uniting to contest as one political party in
the next elections. Is this true?
Tamborinyoka: I wouldn’t want to say anything at this stage. To the
best of my knowledge there has not been any discussion around this issue at this
particular moment but I wouldn’t want to pre-empt anything, there’s still a long
way before the next election so I can’t say much on that one.
Guma: And
our final question comes all the way from Hwange and this is Priscilla – “can
you please ask Luke – do you see a free and fair election being a possibility
the next time Zimbabweans go to the polls?”
Tamborinyoka: I think the question is not whether I see, the question
is that the people of Zimbabwe must demand it and I think that the prime
minister has since taken a position, he has since announced that this road map
must be implemented and that the MDC will not participate in an election, an
election in quotes, it will not participate in a war where violence is taking
centre stage.
So as
long as there’s violence and as long as the necessary building mechanisms as
President Banda put them, the necessary building blocks of free and fair have
not been put in place, we will not participate in any cheap (inaudible), we will
only be able to participate in a free and fair election and it is something that
we are going to be demanding until we have that free and fair election just like
the election we had at least in March 2008 which had some semblance of freedom.
So we will not take part in anything that is just but a free and fair
election.
Guma: Well
Zimbabwe that’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka
joining us on this edition of Question Time. Mr Tamborinyoka thank you so much
for your time.
SW Radio
Africa – on line 24 hours a day at www.swradioafrica.com and daily broadcasts on 4880 kHz in the 60m band between
7 - 9 pm Zimbabwe time. T witter
: Facebook :
RSS feedYou can now get SW Radio Africa on the Tunein
Radio smart phone app.
Written by Patrick
Smith and ′Frank Chikowore in Harare
Wednesday, 27 July
2011 18:45
The country is
waiting for change and internationally acceptable elections. But so much has to
be agreed, it could be at least a year before voters can go to the polls. A lot
can happen in the meantime.
″Surrealism
reigns in Zimbabwe’s political life. Ostensibly there is a coalition government
committed to pushing through radical constitutional reforms and holding credible
elections. There is a power-sharing cabinet whose members boast more doctorates
and masters’ degrees than their European counterparts, and some have run
substantial companies. ″
On the face of it, the new managers
have pulled the economy back from the brink. Hardy investors are alighting on
the Great Dyke, a mineral-rich band running between Harare and Bulawayo, which
holds some of the most valuable reserves of platinum, gold, silver, chromium and
nickel in the world. Don’t forget Zimbabwe’s armed forces, once in demand as UN
peacekeepers for their reputation of being among the most disciplined and best
trained in the developing world.″
Yet a glance at the morning
newspaper headlines – there are now three independent dailies competing with the
state-owned Herald – and meetings with a few politicians and business types is
enough to convince a visitor that the country is heading for more political
convulsion.
″Four days after The Africa
Report interviewed trade and industry minister Welshman Ncube in early July,
police arrested him and two other cabinet ministers, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Moses Mzila Ndlovu, on their way back from a meeting
in Victoria Falls. Another two dozen members of Ncube’s Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC-N) party were held in the same swoop. ″
This followed the arrest in June of
energy minister Elton Mangoma, a member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
MDC-T faction, on spurious charges of fraud that had already been thrown out by
the High Court. A few days earlier, police had arrested Jameson Timba, minister
of state in Tsvangirai’s office, for making disrespectful remarks about
87-year-old president Robert Mugabe.
″Tsvangirai, who has received
several police beatings including an attempt to hurl him out of the window of a
Harare skyscraper, is still singled out as a “national security threat” by
senior officers such as Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba and ZANU-PF politburo
member Jonathan Moyo. ″
For all this, Tsvangirai and Ncube
show an almost eerie forbearance towards the slings and arrows of the current
political contest. After Brig. Nyikayaramba accused Tsvangirai of threatening
national security because of suspect relations with western politicians,
Tsvangirai told The Africa Report: “Why should it concern me …? How do
you get a third-ranking army brigadier making a statement like that? He’s acting
outside the law, he’s acting outside the policy.” ″
Both Tsvangirai and Ncube, who
differ on tactical issues, are wedded to constitutionalism and are prepared to
play a long game. They see the intensified political harassment as a bid to push
the MDC to quit the coalition and trigger an election. ZANU-PF tacticians know
that they cannot walk out and be taken seriously by the other states in the
Southern African Development Community (SADC).
″
To facilitate dialogue between the
MDC and ZANU-PF, SADC officials have made it clear that any elections held
before key reforms are agreed would lack legitimacy in the region and with the
African Union (AU). Without those reforms being implemented and agreed by all
parties, SADC and the AU will not send observer missions to validate the
elections. That has changed political calculations in Harare.
″
“The SADC is exasperated and
exhausted and fed up with us, there can be no doubt about that; they say it to
our face,” said Ncube. “They have plainly said they don’t want Zimbabwe to be an
issue after the next elections, whenever they are
held.”″
Timing of the elections is
critical. Publicly, the two sides – ZANU-PF and the MDC – look irreconcilable.
ZANU-PF’s secretary for information, Rugare Gumbo, said on 14 July that the
party was determined to push ahead with elections. “The politburo [policy-making
body of ZANU-PF] is unanimous that elections should be held this year. [Patrick]
Chinamasa gave us a report on the election roadmap, taking us through the time
frames.”″
This reiterated the position of the
generals and former spin doctor Jonathan Moyo, who accuses the MDC of playing a
double game and fearing defeat in early polls. “Tsvangirai and his MDC faction
cannot be an opposition and a ruling party at the same time. The fact that MDC-T
and its leader continue to use opposition tactics while they are in government
clearly shows that they are inherently subversive and should be treated as
such,” he said.
″Moyo, whose peregrinations from
arch critic of ZANU-PF to its hyper-loyal tribune are legendary, has been a
close ally of defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa since 2005 when the two were
linked to the Tsholotsho plot against Vice-President Joice Mujuru. Now Moyo and
Mnangagwa have coalesced around a securocrat faction within ZANU-PF, arguing
that the party’s best chance of holding onto power is an early election.
″
That explains the current election
fever in Harare, with ZANU-PF talking about holding primary elections to select
MPs and stepping up criticism of the MDC’s record in The Herald and other
state-owned media. ″
Politicking is also heating up in
the countryside, where most voters live. War veterans’ champion Jabulani Sibanda
has been running a violent campaign to drive out MDC supporters from the key
province of Masvingo. Sibanda’s tactics have been so rough that some local
ZANU-PF supporters asked him to leave, fearing his campaign would damage the
party.″
Ncube says the MDC and others have
long seen the Zimbabwe Defence Force as the armed wing of ZANU-PF and have to
judge how seriously to treat this push for an early election. The securocrats,
according to Ncube, are saying to Mugabe: “We can win it for you if we have an
election now.” Everyone recalls the horrors during the second round of the
presidential election in June 2008 when the army, the police and allied militias
persecuted MDC supporters until Tsvangirai eventually withdrew from the
polls.″
Current levels of political
violence are way below the 2008 crisis says Ncube. “In 2008 you had a country
under siege, literally at war. As a journalist you could be arrested any time,
party activists were disappearing and being killed on a weekly basis, so there
is absolutely no comparison.” ″
The climate has entirely changed
with the power-sharing government, insist Ncube and Tsvangirai. Cabinet meetings
are generally constructive, dealing with substantive issues not rhetoric, and
there is a surprising degree of agreement, they say.
″MDC activists campaign almost
everywhere and their leaders are freely quoted in the growing independent press.
The fact that an MDC finance minister, Tendai Biti, largely controls the
government’s purse strings has helped change the balance of power.
″
Most critically, there are the
negotiations over the roadmap for the planning of the next elections. The MDC
factions and the ZANU-PF negotiating team, led by minister of justice and legal
affairs Patrick Chinamasa, are working through a detailed list of tasks which
include consultations on constitutional reform, holding a referendum, reforming
the electoral and media commissions, compiling a new electoral register and
passing new electoral laws. ″
Alongside, there will be more
delicate and private discussion about transitional arrangements: senior military
figures will demand guarantees of security if there is to be a credible election
and real possibility of a change of government. ″Accordingly, Ncube and
Tsvangirai argue that elections cannot be held before mid-2012 at the earliest.
All sides accept that any plan has to win the endorsement of regional leaders
due to meet in Luanda in August. Since a SADC meeting in Livingstone in March
criticised ZANU-PF’s footdragging on political and constitutional reform, the
pace of negotiations has quickened.″
Chinamasa is struggling to convince
his hard-line colleagues that holding elections this year would lose them
regional and international support. That is the new reality facing Zimbabwe’s
politicians, one that holds out the best hope of credible elections and the
beginning of a sustained economic revival in a country that should be one of
Africa’s brightest stars.
By Amos Maseko, Harare,
July 27, 2011 - I arrived at the parliament building for the public hearing
on the Human Rights Commission Bill Saturday, shortly after the scheduled
commencement time of 10am.
When I was still a hundred metres from the
building, I observed a crowd milling around the entrance of the
building.
It looked unusually large for an event like that.
I had
attended similar events with not even a quarter of what I estimated to be
300 adults of all age group and sex. Some 20 to 30 people jammed the small
Nelson Mandela entrance to the parliament building as they all tried to
force their way in.
Opposite the road, hundreds more sat on the pavement
near the Africa Unity Square fence.
As a journalist, I took out my
voice recorder to capture the proceedings while l mingled quietly with the
restive crowd.
“Imi vanhu munopenga murikuita zve MDC panapa. Manje nhasi
murikuma...chete,” (Today we will deal with you) they shouted at the
parliament security that fought to bar them entry with the help of a few
police officers.
The security staff looked overwhelmed as more and
more people sneaked in through their armpits.
It started ringing on
my mind that these were Zanu (PF) activists.
Indeed as I ran my eyes
around, l noticed commuter omnibus touts whom I have often seen in Zanu (PF)
meetings and street demonstrations.
I recognised one rank marshal called
Solo who wore dark glasses and went around jotting down names of those who
were around on an A4 exercise book.
Knowing the hostility of Zanu (PF)
supporters towards journalists, I quickly put my recorder in my pocket and
tried to look “innocent”.
But that was too late.
I was immediately
accosted by three men who asked, “ehe ngatizivanei. Vakomana vedu
vavakukomplena vachiti avasikunzwisisa mamovements ako panapa. Munomboita
nezvei baba munini? ” (We would like to get to know you and why you are here
because our guys are complaining that they seem not to recognise who you
are).
Before I could answer, three, four, five more people had mobbed me.
All asked me different questions at the same time, while some were searching
my pockets. I became very frightened. I looked around and saw no sign of a
uniformed police officer.
I handed one of them my journalism
accreditation card but it was immediately thrown back at my face
disdainfully.
“Baba munini tinokuma...mukafunga kuti journalism yenyu
inoshamisa. Murukuda kuita zvenyu zvechiMDC (Movement for Democratic Change)
panama. Murikupfunga kuti Tsvangirai wenyu achapfa akaitonga nyika yino,”
(Young man we will beat you up, you think there is something special about
being a journalist. You think we don't know that you are supporting MDC. You
think Tsvangirai will ever rule this country) said one whom I picked to be
leader of the group.
How they associated journalism with MDC was a
mystery to me.
As he spoke, he patted me violently on my shoulder,
occasionally pocking me on my face.
Realising the tense atmosphere
outside parliament, my only way to safety was perhaps to force entry into
the parliament building where there were also some few police
officers.
How I got in ahead of hordes of Zanu (PF) activists who fought
to enter the place, is another story. I went round the corridors and went
straight for the senate chamber where the hearing was being held. I was in
time for the singing of the national anthem.
About a 100 Zanu (PF)
supporters packed the auditorium. There were also a handful of characters
from the civic society. I felt safer inside.
I was mistaken.
After
the Shona version of the national anthem and a routine prayer, police
officers accosted the chairman of the Thematic Committee on Human Rights,
Zaka Senator Misheck Marava and mysteriously took him outside.
I was
later to know that the police had ordered him to stop the meeting to go and
address the restless crowd outside that accused him and other MPs of only
allowing members of the rival MDC party to get in at the expense of hundreds
of Zanu (PF) supporters outside.
All those who were already inside were
ordered to exit ostensibly to allow the situation to be
“corrected”.
Hell broke loose. In a flash, Hwange Central MP Brian
Tshuma, who was part of the parliamentary team, was being dragged by his
belt and tie and beaten up by the crowd that accused him of not singing the
national anthem.
As they took time to deal with the MP, another group
went for Standard journalist Nqaba Matshazi whom they started beating up
with clenched fists and boots accusing him of the same
“crime”.
Perhaps unknowingly, the mob also turned on to a Zanu (PF)
Makonde MP, Risipa Kapesa, whom they accused of defending Tshuma.
The
excited mob climbed on top of desks within the foyer, toy toyed, chanted and
sang Zanu (PF) war songs in praise of President Mugabe while denouncing
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC.
I ran for dear life and
took refuge in one of the offices in Parliament that by God’s grace had been
left unlocked.
As I took sanctuary, the noise from the mob got muffled by
the walls and it became clear that it had exited the parliamentary
building.
After satisfying myself that that was indeed the case, I
gingerly left my sanctuary, ran along the corridor to find more journalists
stuck by the entrance, waiting for the place to clear.
From my “safe”
position, I heard the mob singing and toy toying outside parliament. Some
did some press ups in front of a group of police officers who watched them
quietly.
“Tiiimu, tikusetere timu,” l heard them sing. The song-jingle
enjoys play interchangeably with other Zanu (PF) songs on national
TV.
It was evident the morale was higher this time; the singing became
louder, the toy toying even more energetic.
I gathered courage and
stepped outside when I saw some colleagues taking photographs from close
range and following the toy toying mob which now numbered up to around
500.
Before I could even reach the crowd, Levi Mukarati, a journalist
from the Financial Gazette was accosted by the mob which started beating him
up as he left the building.
“Ndemumwe wacho, ndemumwe wacho,” (He is
also one of them) I could hear them shout.
I also saw the
photographers from two national dailies being mobbed by dozens of assailants
and beaten up.
The situation now resembled a war zone.
Vehicles
moving up Nelson Mandela Street were blocked as it now became a free for all
situation.
Across the road, another group mobbed a white man who was
passing by. He kept walking as they mobbed and sang around him. Some pulled
his shirt while some mischievously placed objects on top of his
head.
Everything happened so fast and at the same time. Anti riot police
who had all along been standing as the mob toy toyed, ran and struggled to
restrain it from further beating up the journalists.
Someone rushed
after me and in his hot pursuit, I ran back into the parliament
building.
Together with other journalists, we dashed back into the
parliament building and straight for a room adjourning the senate chamber
where we found MP Tshuma still holed up. He looked visibly shaken by his
experience.
After some 30 minutes holed up inside and after making sure
the mob had gone, we left the parliament building.
A dozen police
officers putting on police helmets still created a hole to protect the
financial gazette journalist.
No one was arrested as a result of the
incident.
I heaved a sigh as I quickly mingled with other members of the
public to tell the story.
It has become patently clear that the Zimbabwe Republic
Police has abrogated its constitutional mandate to maintain law and order in our
country.
Police accused
of inaction after ZANU PF attack in Parliament
Last week Members
of Parliament, doing their jobs, for which they were elected by the people, were
assaulted inside Parliament buildings by drunken louts from Zanu
(PF).
No arrests have
been made – despite a police presence during the assaults. Instead, the police
insisted that Parliamentary business be suspended – a victory for the hooligans.
Other Parliamentary committees meeting in Chinhoyi and Mutare were similarly
disrupted by Zanu (PF) thugs.
It is ironic that
the committees that are being disrupted by these thugs are trying to gather
people’s views on the Human Rights Commission Bill. This shows Zanu (PF)’s
disdain for human rights in general. The party as a whole has no respect for
human rights, nor for that matter, any other rights, including property
rights.
Violence is the
party’s only weapon of coercion. Their idea of debate, persuasion and exchange
of ideas is alien to them. It is also clear that Zanu (PF) has no respect for
Parliamentary business. If MPs can be assaulted by thugs inside Parliament,
while the Sergeant-at-arms, his staff, and the ZRP stand idly by and do nothing,
what protection can any ordinary Zimbabwean expect from the police in the event
of these marauding thugs descending upon him or her?
It comes as no
surprise that these thugs feel they can behave in such an outrageous manner with
total impunity.
Journalists, going
about their lawful business of reporting what the people’s representatives are
saying and doing in the House, were not spared by the
rent-a-mob.
What is more,
Zimbabweans were denied an opportunity to air their views on a development that
would have a significant impact on their lives in future. We cannot understand
how anybody in his right mind could allow himself to be used to disrupt an
important step in the process towards a human rights culture in our country –
the laying of the legislative groundwork. Of course, these drunken louts have no
idea of the import of their actions. They are simply being abused. Ignorance and
poverty have reduced them to the pawns of those with power and
money.
As for the
policemen who allowed a virtual state of anarchy to prevail on their watch, they
should be ashamed of themselves and of the organisation they
represent.
The police have
been busying themselves arresting people for allegedly “insulting the
president”. It seems it is alright for the President to insult the people but
the people cannot reciprocate. There is an inherent problem in a situation such
as ours - where the state president is not a statesman at all, but only
represents, speaks and acts for his own political party. By doing do, he has
allowed himself to become an object of ridicule. And the actions of the police
force - no matter how partisan and unjust – cannot change
that.
