By Alex Bell
23 July 2010
A community of foreigners in South Africa have called
for the country’s army to remain in the informal settlement where they live,
until xenophobic tensions rising across the country begin to diminish.
The community in Kya Sands in Northern Johannesburg
say they want the army to remain in the township for another month to ensure
their safety, following attacks on both foreigners and locals earlier this
week. The army moved into the Kya Sands settlement on Tuesday after the attacks
which saw tuck shops and shacks being plundered on Sunday and Monday. At least
five people were injured.
According to South Africa’s ‘The Times’ newspaper,
people are too frightened to live in the area without the army to protect them.
A team from the newspaper spent a night in the township this week and spoke to
Zimbabwean Tshepo Sithole, whose shack was damaged in an attack on Sunday
night. He told the newspaper that “the minute they (the army) leave, we will be
attacked. We are scared, but we feel a bit safe in the presence of the army.
The police are useless. People attack in their presence,” he said.
The informal town of Kya Sands is home to thousands of
Zimbabweans and Mozambicans. On Wednesday night, more than 30 army,
police, and Johannesburg metro police vehicles, including armoured personnel
carriers and ambulances, were reportedly parked on the only stretch of tarred
road outside the settlement. The Times said that teams of heavily armed
soldiers, SAPS and metro police officers patrolled the area and searched anyone
who aroused their suspicions.
Foreigners in South Africa have been living in fear
for several weeks after rumoured threats that xenophobic violence would be
unleashed after the football World Cup came to an end. The tournament ended
almost two weeks ago and so far, a few sporadic incidents of violence have been
reported. Fear however continues to drive many foreigners from their South
African homes and in Zimbabwe, the Civil Protection Unit has put up temporary
shelters in Beitbridge for hundreds of Zimbabweans fleeing the xenophobic
threats.
Meanwhile, a friendly soccer match taking place in
Johannesburg this weekend will be attempting to give xenophobia a red card. The
event, which will see South Africa’s Jomo Cosmos taking on Zimbabwe’s
Highlanders, is being hailed as an “Ubuntu Derby”, aiming to bring together all
Africans in Africa. People from all walks of life have been invited to
celebrate their cultural richness, diversity, and most importantly to embrace
their differences through soccer, drama, poetry music and traditional dances.
The event will also be graced by political and religious leaders in South
Africa.
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 23 July 2010
By Alex Bell
23 July 2010
The London based mining firm at the centre of the
ongoing Chiadzwa diamond field ownership wrangle, has said this week that the
planned sale of the controversial stones from the site is unlawful.
Africa Consolidated Resources (ACR) has warned
potential international buyers not to buy diamonds from the firms currently
mining the Chiadzwa alluvial fields, in partnership with a mining parastatal.
ACR’s CEO Andrew Cranswick told SW Radio Africa on
Friday that all mining activities at the site since September last year have
been done in contravention of High Court and Supreme Court orders, and is
criminal and punishable.
“Any activity on the site since September 2009, apart
from securing and guarding, is in contempt of court and criminal,” Cranswick
explained.
ACR, which holds the legal title to the Chiadzwa
claim, was forced off the site at gunpoint in 2006 and has been fighting a
protracted legal battle ever since to resume its operations. The state owned
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) moved onto the site and entered
into a joint venture agreement, without Cabinet approval, with two mining
firms, Mbada Mining and Canadile Mining. ACR was subsequently awarded a High
Court order confirming their legal rights to mine the claim, but that order was
ignored.
The fight for control of the Chiadzwa claim continued
to heat up and in February this year, the Supreme Court ordered that all mining
at the site be suspended, until the issue was sorted out. Cranswick explained
that this has also been ignored and warned that “everyone involved in mining
since that order was made will face prosecution for this criminal behaviour.”
Zimbabwe’s government has reportedly been in a
celebratory mood after being given the green light to start selling a multi
million dollar stockpile of rough diamonds from Chiadzwa. Last week, the
international diamond trade monitor, the Kimberley Process, thrashed out an
agreement with the Mines Ministry, which will let the country export the stones
while agreeing to a strict regime of monitoring and supervision.
Under the terms of the agreement, Zimbabwe will be
allowed to export a limited number of diamonds produced since May from two
mining sites at Chiadzwa. At the same time a Kimberley Process Review Mission
will visit the country to assess conditions in the region and compliance with
the minimum trade standards. Zimbabwe will be able to export one more batch of
diamonds at the start of September, but any exports after that will be
dependent on measurable improvements at the diamond fields.
Cranswick said on Friday that the agreement worked out
last week by the Kimberley Process has no authority over the orders of
Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court, explaining that “they have given the green light to
certify the stones as conflict free, not the green light for exports.” He
explained that such certification “does not guarantee the goods to be legal or
not stolen, as they are in this case.”
The planned diamond sales would be a welcome boost to
the failing economy if the right measures are in place to ensure that profits
are steered towards the Treasury. Quite how this will be done is still being
debated, after Finance Minister Tendai Biti proposed a future ‘Diamond Act’ to
curb diamond-sale corruption. Biti announced last week that no profits from diamond
sales have been seen by the Treasury since the ZMDC took over ACR’s claim,
despite an estimated $30 million in diamonds being illegally exported in the
past year.
ACR has since proposed that it will not stand in the
way of the diamond stockpile being sold, if the process is 100% transparent,
does not involve the companies illegally occupying Chiadzwa or the parastatal
ZMDC, and is approved by the Supreme Court. Cranswick explained that another
condition would be to ensure that 100% of the profits go into the economy, and
not the pockets of the ZMDC, Mbada or Canadile.
“For money to flow to people who have been committing
a crime is wrong, it’s internationally wrong,” Cranswick said. “The people who
buy the diamonds without our approval and the approval of the Supreme Court
will be called to pay us back or return the stones.”
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 23 July 2010
By Lance Guma
23 July 2010
Nat Snook, a Zimbabwean who moved to the Channel
Islands in 2004, will attempt to swim 50 miles around the island of Jersey in
September this year, to help raise money for two charities back home.
Snook says he left Zimbabwe because of the economic
and political problems but this has not dampened his determination to help the
Zimbabwe Benefit Foundation and Malvern House Trust.
Speaking to Newsreel on Friday Snook told us the
Zimbabwe Benefit Foundation was close to his heart as it helped school children
who could not afford to pay fees. He says he benefited from a quality education
several years back in Zimbabwe and wanted to give something back.
Snook will swim for 10 to 12 hours around Jersey and
his target of 50 miles will depend on tides and the weather. “I just hope the
jellyfish will stay out of the way.’ he joked. He is collecting online
donations, having created a ‘just giving page’ to collect secure online
donations for his chosen charities. http://www.justgiving.com/Nat-Snook).
Meanwhile in London a father and son duo will take
part in an 85 mile sponsored cycle ride in aid of orphans in Zimbabwe. Adrian
Smale and his son Michael say they saw the documentary “Zimbabwe’s forgotten
children” on BBC 4 and felt moved to support the charity around it.
“I haven’t cycled in 35 years and my wife thought I
was totally crazy, but when my youngest son Michael agreed to do it with me,
things started to take shape. Three months of training and a stone and a half
lighter I hope I am physically ready to go!” He said being in the music
industry helped his cause and when he advertised the event he was blown away by
the generous sponsorship support from companies like Roland, Korg, Tanglewood,
Strings N things and others.
You can follow Adrian Smale and his son on;
www.twitter.com/adriansmale
or www.twitter.com/mikeysmale
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 23 July 2010
By Lance Guma
23 July 2010
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party will have
to meet and decide whether to continue participating in the current
constitutional outreach exercise which has been marred by incidents of violence
and intimidation.
In a hard hitting interview, party spokesman Nelson
Chamisa said it was now necessary for the leadership to meet and ‘say under the
circumstances what is our continued participation in this process. What is the
end and what is the product?’
He told Newsreel they were receiving reports from
their structures, and even from ZANU PF supporters, complaining that they were
being frog marched into torture bases, and indoctrinated on what to say before
being taken to outreach meetings.
‘This is very ugly a picture, very disturbing a trend
and very discouraging a pattern. When one looks at what has been happening
across the whole country it’s not as if people are being allowed to express
themselves.’
He likened what was happening to the siege mentality
that accompanied the bloody election violence of 2008, when Mugabe and his ZANU
PF party lost elections and sent out army units to murder over 500 opposition
supporters in retribution.
So will the MDC pull out from the outreach? ‘Look I
can’t do that, I have no power to make those kind of alternatives or
permutations. The leadership will look at these issues forensically and
surgically and come up with a position’. He said people are being turned into
robots and this had made the outreach a farce.
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 23 July 2010
By Lance Guma
23 July 2010
Several key Zimbabwean activists took part in a
roundtable discussion in the Ugandan capital Kampala Friday, where they intend
to lobby the African Union to take a prominent role in ensuring Zimbabwe’s next
elections are free and fair. Several heads of state and government officials
began arriving in Uganda on Friday for the AU heads of state summit, scheduled
to begin on Sunday.
Political analyst John Makumbe, Zimbabwe Election
Support Network chairperson Tinoziva Bere, International Commission of Jurists
Africa Director Arnold Tsunga, farm workers union leader Gertrude Hambira,
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association Director Okay Machisa, plus Tsitsi Mhlanga,
Pedzisai Ruhanya and Dewa Mavhinga took part in the conference.
Under the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition the activists
say they want to ‘urge leaders at the African Union summit, to ensure that
Zimbabwe is sufficiently prepared to hold credible, free and fair elections and
that the AU stands ready to monitor and observe those elections.’ It’s also
their belief the ‘AU should actively promote democracy, peace and security in Zimbabwe
and across Africa.’
In March 2008 Mugabe and his ZANU PF party lost
harmonized presidential and parliamentary elections to the MDC, led by then
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. What followed was a brutal campaign of
retribution led by the army in which over 500 opposition supporters were
murdered and tens of thousands tortured or maimed. The intervention of the
Southern African Development Community resulted in a power sharing deal that
kept the loser firmly in power.
But the coalition government has been shaky and
progress is being marred by Mugabe’s reluctance to genuinely share power. The
momentum has since shifted to a new election as the only possible solution and
this is why the activists say they are trying to get the guarantors of the power
sharing deal, SADC and AU, to ensure the transitional government will
‘institute necessary reforms to conduct, free and fair elections, run in
accordance with SADC and AU standards.’
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 23 July 2010
By Tichaona Sibanda
23 July 2010
The constitutional outreach program, meant to gather
people’s views on the new constitution, has exposed the deep political polarization
and intolerance that still exists between ZANU PF and MDC supporters.
Since the program resumed this week, after a week long
break, tension, friction and shouting matches have characterized most of the
meetings. Even signaling your intention to contribute a view by raising a hand,
has now been politicized by the participants.
When MDC supporters want to contribute to debate, they
raise their hands as any other person would do. And here lies the problem. An
open palm is a gesture linked to the MDC party symbol. In retaliation, ZANU PF
supporters have resorted to raising their hands— fists clenched— a style made
popular by Mugabe when sloganeering.
Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said it was clear
there is still much animosity between supporters of ZANU PF and the MDC. He
said these incidents, and many others being observed at the meetings, are clear
indicators of the dark cloud of political polarization and intolerance
characterizing the political terrain in the country.
‘At times you witness shouting matches when people try
to put across their party positions. This is happening in meetings mainly in
rural areas where deep mistrust among the supporters still exist, Muchemwa
said.
He said the program is beset with administrative
problems, ranging from lack of accommodation to shortages of funds for outreach
teams. Some COPAC members threatened to down tools this week when they failed
to get their allowances.
‘There’s a serious problem out there and COPAC seems
to be failing to cope with the crisis. Some people are going hungry because
they are not being paid their allowances,’ Muchemwa added.
There are a total of 70 outreach teams, totaling 700
people, deployed countrywide. They will spend two months gathering the views of
the public on the new constitution which will replace the negotiated 1979
Lancaster House constitution.
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 23 July 2010
By Tichaona Sibanda
24 July 2010
There is an uproar in political circles over the way
funds raised from tollgate fees have been channeled to developmental projects,
mainly in ZANU PF strongholds.
The tollgates, operated by the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority, were launched in August last year. As of March this year the
government said it had pocketed US$12 million in fees and the bulk of the money
has been spent on trunk roads rehabilitation and pothole repair.
Nationally there are 22 tollgates on the country’s
major roads that are cashing in an average of US$1,3 million every month. But
eyebrows have been raised at the way the funds have been distributed to
rehabilitate roads in only some of the provinces.
The weekly Zimbabwe Independent reported Friday that
Robert Mugabe’s rural home district of Zvimba, and some nearby districts in the
area, have controversially grabbed the largest amounts of money from tollgate
fees collected nationwide.
The paper said the move has caused shock in political
and civil society circles, adding that it also confirms the skewed distribution
of resources in the country, with most resources being allocated to areas where
Mugabe and his closest cronies hail from.
Mugabe and his loyalists have over the years been
accused of grabbing national resources to develop their own regions, at the
expense of others. This has created imbalances in national development and
angered other regions which felt marginalized.
Out of the US$15 million distributed so far, areas
perceived to be ZANU PF strongholds have benefitted the most. Bindura got
US$2,6 million and Zvimba slightly more than US$2 million. Mhondoro-Ngezi in
Mashonaland West got US$1,8 million.
The Independent says all the top six beneficiaries of
tollgate money are in the Mashonaland provinces, Bindura (Mashonaland Central),
Zvimba (Mashonaland West), Mhondoro-Ngezi (Mashonaland West), Chaminuka
(Mashonaland East, US$510 000), Mazowe (Mashonaland Central, US$190 000), and
Pfura (Mashonaland Central, US$137 655) .
Alex Bell speaks to the Executive Director of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Irene Petras. She talks about the state of
Zimbabwe’s legal system and says critical institutional reforms appear not to
be a priority for the unity government. Petras explains there is still no
respect for the rule of law or the political will to address Zimbabwe’s culture
of impunity.
...................................................................................................
In Letter from Zimbabwe, author Cathy Buckle
writes; "The real question is, whether the sudden rash of charges against
Temba Mliswa is a serious case of police investigation into the looting of
farms or if dirty politics is really behind this matter. Temba Mliswa is the
tip of a gigantic antheap. An antheap that is festering underground, hot and
humid and crammed with a seething mass of criminals, small, big and very big.
Is their day finally coming?"
Vamsanda says people should not welcome the move by
the Kimberley Process to allow Zim to sell diamonds, as it will not benefit the
country but only corrupt government officials; while Dliwayo says politicians
in the GNU seems to be content with the current situation and don’t seem to
want it to change; And Simba says the MDC is not campaigning for the new
constitution in the rural areas, leaving ZPF and war vets to intimidate &
threaten people into not expressing their opinion.
From: "Justice for Agriculture" <justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw>
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 7:40 PM
To: "Justice for Agriculture" <justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw>
Subject: OPEN LETTER FORUM dated 23 JULY 2010
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to jag@mango JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM - No..zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the subject line.
To subscribe/unsubscribe to the JAG mailing list, please email:
jag@mango.zw with subject line "subscribe" or "unsubscribe".
=================================================
1. Kathy Hull - letter
2. Robb WJ Ellis - SADC Tribunal Rules Against Mugabe
3. Robb WJ Ellis - Shout Down, Knock Down, Hold Down
=================================================
1. Kathy Hull - letter
Dear Jag
I just love the people of this country. I went to visit a friend who works in a shop. She was busy, but she said "come let's go and have a quick cup of coffee." She is battling and someone had taken her a box of food. She had just given some of her soup to an old lady who needed help. And we saw a doctor quietly ask at a pharmacy if he could have any spare drugs to help out those who couldn't afford them. I felt so proud and happy to be Zimbabwean and I kept thinking all day "I don't want to leave this place."
I was Overseas and mentioned to my son that someone from USA had asked to stay in my house while I was away. I didn't know him at all and he knew no-one here, so I arranged for a friends' driver to fetch him from the airport. The driver took him straight to my house and later on the friend of mine phoned him and said "We're having a braai at our house on Sunday.
Would you like to come? We can fetch you." My son said "Wow. That's what I miss. People just don't do that here." I hadn't thought anything of it, as we are just like that.
I lost two husbands and a daughter - all tragically (not all at once, and I certainly didn't lose the husbands at the same time). So often I've met people who've said they know my name so well as they were praying for me.
Our Harare community care. We are not just a number - we are important and we are all special. Recently I broke my wrist, and couldn't drive for eight weeks. People I'd never even met before took me shopping and brought me ready-made meals. My friend taught me how to put my underwear on by swinging it round my foot. How thoughtful is that?
I've been reading a books about the SAS and Selous Scouts in our Bush war, and what amazed me the most is that our soldiers were never just cannon fodder. Every one of them had to come back alive and uninjured.
If one of them died, the country mourned. It was a disaster. If one of them got lost, a whole platoon, or however many soldiers it took, would be sent out to risk their lives and search high and low to find that one man and bring him home.
In the Supermarkets, people look you in the face, with a ready smile.
Often they chat. You just don't DO in any other part of the world, not even just the other side of the boerewors curtain. I was in a shop there and a woman started chatting to me. I thought "that's unusual" and I found out she was also visiting from Zimbabwe! A shop-keeper there said to me "I can see you Zimbabweans from a mile off. You smile, you don't wear so much make-up and you are all generally thinner." Oops I'd just bought five big slabs of chocolate and a big box of ultramel custard for my husband, but I drank it all before I got to the till. ( He never forgave me.)
I was in the queue at Spar with a bottle of brandy and a bottle of vodka in my trolley. The African gentleman behind me said "Mmmm, I think I'll come and have a drink with you." I answered "well, it's actually for my mother,"
and he replied, "oh, well, I think I'll go and have a drink with her.
But there IS a problem. And that is..I just might become your Step Father." I laughed, so he said "I thought that'd make you laugh!"
I met up with a friend who has been living in England for twenty five years and has a thick Rhodesian accent just like Ian Smith had. He said he went to a very larny dinner there. Someone said to him "You know what Bing, Old chap, you will always just be Zimbabwean, you will never be one of us," and he said "Thank the **** for THAT!"
Kathy Hull.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Robb WJ Ellis - SADC Tribunal Rules Against Mugabe
Dear Jag
SADC Tribunal Rules Against Mugabe - Again Robb , Derby:
Mugabe is fast becoming a huge problem in Africa - and the various bodies, such as SADC and the AU, have done nothing to hinder his self-gratifying rule in Zimbabwe, that now the problem is bigger than ever.
SADC can make as many rulings as they want - Mugabe will ignore them all and will issue statements that ridicule and belittle their efforts.
Mugabe believes that he is appointed by God, and is in power for the rest of his life.
"The SADC Tribunal made another landmark ruling in Windhoek, Namibia, today (July 16) regarding the Zimbabwean government's continued violation of decisions made by the Tribunal to commercial farmers affect by the country's land reform policies.
Referring to violations in a further contempt order of June 5, 2009 after the main judgement of November 28, 2008 in the Campbell farm test case, the Tribunal said in today's judgement.
"The Tribunal found that the Respondent (the Zimbabwe Government), had failed to comply with the decision in the former case (28 November 2008) and reported such failure to the Summit to take appropriate action...
Despite this the Respondent has continued to violate the decision of the Tribunal."
Mugabe doesn't care about rulings made by the SADC Tribunal and a letter from his Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, states: "any decisions that the Tribunal may have made or may make in the future against the Republic of Zimbabwe are null and void".
Interestingly, if the ruling had been in favour of Mugabe, then he would have conformed to that ruling.
Mugabe claims that the land grab was to correct the colonial land tenure imbalance, but what he has done is replace the perceived wrong of the land ownership being in the hands of the 'bloody' white commercial farmers who he described as 'enemies of the State' with the ownership being largely ZANU PF cadres, officials, ministers and supporters. The publicly announced intention to hand the land to the 'landless blacks'
had proven to be probably one of the biggest lies Mugabe has visited upon the population.
And Mugabe is reluctant to enter into the coalition entirely because he is of the opinion that the MDC - the winners of the 2008 election - will reverse the land grab. Even if the MDC wanted to reverse the operation, the damage caused by the land programme is too deep, too devastating to do much more that ensure that the land is handed to the 'landless blacks'
and the country would remain in need of international aid to feed themselves.
One of the farmers whose land was subject to the original ruling, Mike Campbell, stated: "They have burnt my house with all its contents, they have looted my crops and my tractors, they have tortured my workers, they have killed my animals, they have stripped my farm, they have beaten me within an inch of my life - from which I have never recovered - it is now time that SADC acted."
The saddest part of this whole thing is that SADC may have made rulings, and they may have appointed a mediator in the ongoing (!) inter-party negotiations, but they don't have the clout to push for these talks to bear fruit...
"Despite the SADC-brokered Global Political Agreement (GPA), invasions and looting continued unabated.
This has destroyed the country's ability to feed itself and ruined the entire commercial farming industry, depriving tens of thousands of additional farm workers of their job and livelihoods."
Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man
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3. Robb WJ Ellis - Shout Down, Knock Down, Hold Down
Robb , Derby: few seconds ago
Zimbabwe :
Yesterday, you may recall that I wrote about Mugabe's attitude to the new SADC ruling following his ignoring the initial ruling. This is all about the land grab and the SADC Tribunal had ruled that the applicants, Michael Campbell and his son-in-law, Ben Freeth, were to be allowed to live and work on their farms and that the invaders were to leave them alone.
The thugs, representing Mugabe's interests, then burned the households to ground.
The invaders have not left the farms and Campbell and Freeth have not been able to work the land.
A new ruling reiterates the original ruling and orders the invaders off the land.
Mugabe's Minister of Justice has stated that the Zimbabwean government doesn't recognise the tribunal's ruling.
"The government has once again snubbed a ruling by the human rights courts of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), saying the ruling is of `no consequence' to Zimbabwe.
The comments were made by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa over the weekend, after the SADC Tribunal ruled that the government was in contempt, for ignoring previous rulings over unlawful land seizures. The contempt ruling is the third since the government was taken to court over the land `reform' programme in 2008, and the case will now be referred to the SADC summit in Namibia next month.
But ZANU PF's Chinamasa on Sunday told the state controlled Herald newspaper that SADC rulings would never change the government's position on land `reform'. He added that the position on the SADC Tribunal remained the same, in that that it did not recognise its judgements.
"Our position remains the same that we don't recognise the SADC Tribunal for reasons that we have given before. The farmers can have as many such judgements as they can but they will be of no effect in our jurisdiction," he said.
"The farmers are wasting their time and money and are only going there for propaganda purposes. They are entitled to play their propaganda by going to the Tribunal but we will not recognise the judgement,"
he said."
When I wrote the editorial yesterday, I stated exactly that.
Mugabe will not be moved - not be SADC, not by the AU, not by the EU and not by the UN. Mugabe believes that he was `elected' by the Zimbabwean people - and now he is intent on remaining in power and will shout down anyone who objects, will knock down anyone who opposes him and hold down anyone who seeks justice for the treatment handed out by his violent ZANU PF party.
Yet Mugabe believes that his party should be recognised as the `ruling party' by virtue of his position as President of Zimbabwe, although his return to that office was achieved through violence, intimidation and fraud.
Whilst his government refuses to recognise the SADC Tribunal, perhaps it is time for SADC to refuse to recognise his tenure, knowing that it was achieved through surreptitious means.
"The Tribunal on Friday ruled that farmers can refer their grievances to the SADC summit in August, as the Zimbabwean government has still failed to protect them and their rights to their land. This decision followed an urgent court application made by farmers Louis Fick and Mike Campbell last month, in a bid to force SADC leaders to intervene.
The application called on the SADC Tribunal to consider measures under the SADC Treaty to terminate or suspend Zimbabwe's membership from SADC. The basis of the application is that the government remains in contempt of the SADC Tribunal by allowing ongoing farms invasions, arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment of farmers, despite a Tribunal order to protect the same farmers.
The government was ordered to protect these rights in a landmark ruling by the Tribunal in 2008, which said that land `reform' was unlawful and discriminatory. That ruling has been completely ignored by the government, which was eventually charged with contempt by the Tribunal. Previous comments by Chinamasa dismissing the Tribunal landed the government in further hot water, when another contempt charge was eventually handed down."
The termination or suspension of Zimbabwe's membership to SADC will achieve nothing as Mugabe will believe then that he has removed yet another yoke from his shoulders - and I believe that he will ensure that the land referred to in the rulings will not only be invaded and taken in toto, but that the invasion will be conducted with extreme prejudice.
"Chegutu farmer Ben Freeth, who heads the SADC Tribunal Rights Watch group, on Monday told SW Radio Africa that the ball is now in SADC's court to take firm action with Zimbabwe. He explained that the Tribunal is a "visionary concept that means nothing until judgements are implemented."
"A court with no teeth is a pretty useless thing," Freeth said. "It paints a gloomy picture for the whole SADC region if human rights abuses are allowed to continue in this way."
Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Ryan & Louise Swales
Dear Jag
Is there any chance you can please send out this email to your mailing list. I had a very scary thing happen to me this morning and I would like to warn people about it.
This morning I was taking someone to the airport who was on the early morning flight so we had to be at the airport by 5.30am. The incident occurred just after the last set of robots before the airport.
When I approached the lights they were green and as I crossed over the line they turned amber. About 200m after the lights a policeman with a reflector waistcoat came out from the gum trees and stopped me. As soon as I was stopped he moved off so I couldn't get his rank, name or number off is uniform. Another policeman in a navy uniform approached the car along with two plain clothes. The policeman in the uniform pointed a shotgun at us and said that we had crossed through the robot when it was red. I insisted that we didn't and they proceeded to argue with me. I then took out my cell phone and said that I was phoning Inspector Chigombe and the national complaints line. I failed to get through but as soon as I mentioned this they started back tracking and they asked me for $30. I only had $24 on me which I handed over as I was now in a bit of a state with this shotgun pointing at me and they let us go. The policeman in the navy uniform had no name, rank or number on his uniform. I was not at the airport for no more than 15 mins and when I came back they were gone.
Please can you all be very careful when crossing over that last robot before the airport when it is dark. These guys are out there to hassle us and it was a very scary situation to be in.
Ryan & Louise Swales
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All letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of the submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice for Agriculture.
=================================================
A letter from the diaspora
Dear Friends.
I suppose it’s not really surprising that Zimbabwe
doesn’t feature very highly on the world’s news agenda at the moment. The
problem – or one of them – is that nothing seems to be happening. The conclusion
most non-Zimbabweans draw from that, if they think about it at all, is that
things must now be OK in Zimbabwe. On the basis that ‘No news is good news’
they assume that the GNU must be working and all is now quiet in the formerly
troubled country. It is no longer one of the world’s trouble spots. Zimbabwe,
it seems has solved its problems by the formation of a coalition government
with former enemies working amicably together. That’s how it looks from the
outside to the uninformed and even to Zimbabweans in exile in the diaspora the
news is sometimes very confusing. Take this week for an example. The KP’s
decision to allow Zimbabwe to sell her diamonds on the open market was welcomed
by both sides of the political divide regardless of any previous condemnation
of human rights abuses and the militarization of the diamond fields. And in
Harare there was the big news was that Mugabe’s politburo and the two MDC
leaders and their delegations had met “to discuss ways to end the violence.” On
the face of it that seems a very positive development and that’s exactly where
the confusion comes in. If, as both sides are repeatedly claiming, everything
is going well in Zimbabwe and the MDC and Zanu PF are getting on fine, why is
there still violence on the ground and particularly in the rural areas? Why is
the Constitutional Outreach Programme beset with problems of violence and
attempts to silence dissenting voices by Zanu PF thugs? Why are MDC officials
constantly being harassed and arrested by the partisan police force?
Has the Unity Government lived up to expectations? Are
things improving or are they not? Watching David Coltart’s interview shown on
the World Service’s Hard Talk I was struck by his equivocal answer to that
blunt question. Things are much better than they were, he said, the problem was
that people’s expectations were too high! There is food in the shops now he
claimed but made little mention of the fact that it was often unaffordable to
the poor, though the economy has improved he maintained and the media has been
partially freed up. This in the same week that the ZTV/BC resumed its playing
of Zanu PF jingles denigrating the GNU and their MDC ‘partners’. Schools
and hospitals are functioning again, Coltart claimed. It all sounded quite rosy
but then Coltart would say that wouldn’t he? He and other MDC and Zanu PF
ministers are in the UK on a begging trip, appealing for funds. They have to
put a positive spin on the situation to attract the investment they so
desperately need. What Coltart couldn’t quite bring himself to say was that no
one is going to invest in a country where the rule of law is meaningless, where
property rights are ignored and the police continue to turn a blind eye to Zanu
PF’s blatant disregard of human and democratic rights. Coltart admitted that
the situation on the farms has deteriorated even further in recent months but
he was careful not to say what every Zimbabwean knows: that Robert Mugabe’s
so-called Land Reform has been nothing short of disaster for the country
leading to widespread hunger and unemployment.
As for the question of what should happen to Robert
Mugabe and his cronies in the police and the army, it was Tendayi Biti, the
Finance Minister, back in Harare who put forward the argument that the only way
to get him to give up power was to offer him and his cronies immunity from
prosecution in exchange for the promise that they would not be arrested or lose
their stolen farms if they just quietly retire from the scene. This
extraordinary suggestion seems to have provoked very little comment back in
Zimbabwe but speaking personally, I cannot accept that any Minister from any
party has the right to set aside an individual’s rights in such a way. How can
a Government Minister decide that property that was legally owned and paid for
by virtue of Title Deeds can now belong in perpetuity to the thief who stole
it? That is nothing more than a criminals’ charter and every land grabber in
the country must be rubbing his hands in glee at the thought that his
ill-gotten gains – be they farms, crops, tractors, irrigation pipes or
household goods stolen during the land invasions – cannot now be taken from
him. There seems little difference to me between Zanu PF Minister
Chinamasa’s statement this week that Zimbabwe would ignore the rulings of the
SADC Tribunal in favour of the Zimbabwean farmers and an MDC Minister’s offer
of immunity in exchange for retaining stolen property. In neither case is this
a true reflection of what is meant by adherence to the rule of law. While an international
Advocacy Group calls on the UN Security Council to prosecute Robert Mugabe and
warns of the imminent threat of 2008-style violence in the forthcoming
elections, the MDC continues its support for the status quo on the grounds that
the GNU is the only way forward for the country to avoid the terrible violence
of the past. MDC people such as David Coltart are no doubt well-meaning,
sincere and utterly committed to Zimbabwe but in going along with Zanu PF and
Robert Mugabe, knowing their violent history, the MDC is guilty of extreme
naivety that may well bring down even worse violence on the heads of innocent
Zimbabweans in the months ahead.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.aka Pauline Henson
author of Case Closed published by Mambo Press, Going Home and Countdown,
political detective stories set in Zimbabwe and available from
Lulu.com
23 July 2010
HRDs Alert
ZZZICOMP
MONITOR DETAINED IN MANICALAND PROVINCE
On 23 July 2010, John Ziyera was arrested and detained at Dumba Business
Center, Mutasa North Constituency.
John is a Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Election Support
Network and Zimbabwe Peace Project Independent Constitutional Monitoring
Project (ZZZICOMP) monitor, who had been deployed to monitor the constitution
making outreach programme in Mutasa North Constituency.
He was allegedly apprehended after the participants in a meeting at
Dumba Business Centre tried to physically attack him as he was regarded as a
foreigner in their area. Although Ziyera identified himself as a ZZZICOMP
monitor to David Chimhini, one of the Constitution Select Committee (COPAC)
team leader, the legislator proceeded to hand him over to the police under
unclear circumstances.
Ziyera was then detained by the police from 15:00hours and was
subsequently transferred to Mutare Law and Order Section after three hours.
When Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) lawyers, Blessing
Nyamaropa and Roselyn Hanzi attended at the police station they were advised
that no charges had been levelled against the ZZZICOMP monitor.
The police continued to detain Ziyera even after the lawyers produced
his accreditation card that had been issued by COPAC.
A police officer then advised lawyers that the senior police officers at
Mutare police station were consulting and verifying with senior police officers
in Harare on the way forward.
After being detained for almost five hours, Ziyera was released into the
custody of his lawyers on condition that he appears at the Mutare Law and Order
Section at 08:00 hours on 24 July 2010.
ENDS
CONSTITUTION WATCH 15/2010
[22nd July 2010]
Itinerary for Outreach Meetings:
Manicaland Province:
Monday 26th July to Saturday 7th August
Meetings
are scheduled for Mutasa, Chimanimani and Chipinge districts. Veritas will circulate itineraries for other provinces
as soon as they become available from COPAC.
Provincial Contact Person for Manicaland is F. Mbesta, 0912 730655.
Date |
Ward |
Meeting
Point |
Meeting
Point |
Meeting
Point |
MUTASA
DISTRICT |
||||
26-Jul-10 |
31 |
Nyatsanza
Primary |
Ruda
Primary |
Hauna
Airstrip |
CHIMANIMANI DISTRICT |
||||
26-Jul-10 |
Ward
1 |
Mutambara
Central Primary Sch |
Nyambeya
1 Primary |
Ruwedza
Primary |
|
2 |
Mhandarume
Primary |
Mashonjowa
Primary |
|
|
3 |
Chakohwa
Primary |
Chakohwa
Secondry |
|
27-Jul-10 |
3 |
Nechitima
Primary |
|
|
|
4 |
Matendeudze
Primary |
Chiramba
Primary |
Mutambara
Primary |
|
5 |
Hotsprings
Primary |
Nemaramba
Primary |
Nenhowe
Primary |
|
6 |
Chayamiti
Primary |
Shinja
Primary |
|
|
7 |
Bumba
Primary |
|
|
28-Jul-10 |
7 |
Bvumbura
Primary |
Mutsamvu
Primary |
|
|
8 |
Agritex |
Chitinha
Primary |
Dirikwe
Primary |
|
9 |
Chigwegwe
Creche |
Zimunda
Primary |
Takaengwa
Primary |
|
10 |
Chikukwa
Primary |
|
|
29-Jul-10 |
11 |
Martin
Hall |
|
|
|
11 |
Jantia
Farm House |
Hangani
Primary School |
|
|
12 |
Charleswood |
Tilbury
Primary |
Tarka
Primary |
|
13 |
Manase
Primary |
Kushinga
Primary |
Kwirire
Primary |
|
14 |
Westward
Home |
Fairfield
Primary |
|
30-Jul-10 |
14 |
Cambridge
Primary |
|
|
|
15 |
Ngangu
Primary |
Chimanimani
Magistrate |
|
|
16 |
Dzikope
Hall |
Tiya
Primary |
Duri
Creche |
|
17 |
Muusha
Primary |
Saurombe
Business Centre |
M.D.A. |
31-Jul-10 |
18 |
Mhakwe
Primary |
|
|
|
18 |
Biriwiri
District Hospital |
Kwaedza
House |
|
|
19 |
Chikwakwa
Primary |
Chikwizi
Primary |
Ndapetwa
Primary |
|
20 |
Gudyanga
Primary |
Tonhorai
Primary |
Changazi
Primary |
1-Aug-10 |
BREAK [SUNDAY] |
|||
|
CHIMANIMANI DISTRICT |
|||
2-Aug-10 |
21 |
Ndakopa
Primary |
Hode
Primary |
|
|
21 |
Dzingire
Primary |
|
|
|
22 |
Muchadziya
Primary |
Vimba
Primary School |
Hlabiso
(Makumbura) Secondary |
|
23 |
Ndima
Primary |
Dip
Tank |
Mutsvangwa
Primary |
|
CHIPINGE DISTRICT |
|||
3-Aug-10 |
1 |
Bangwe
Township |
Changadzi
Township |
Rufumiso
Township |
|
2 |
Ngaone
Secondary School |
Ngaone
Toti Primary Sch |
Masonga
Clinic |
|
3 |
Goko
Primary School |
Mutema
Primary School |
Taona
Township |
|
4 |
Musani
Primary School |
Birirano
School |
Tanganda
Primary School |
4-Aug-10 |
5 |
Sabi
Primary School |
|
|
|
5 |
Tongogara
Primary School |
Meikles
Village |
|
|
6 |
Mooiplaats
Primary School |
Christina
Primary School |
Bondi
Township |
|
7 |
Clearwater
Primary School |
Chivhunze
Primary School |
|
5-Aug-10 |
8 |
Junction
Gate |
Ratelshoek
Primary School |
Foroma
Primary School |
|
9 |
Paidamoyo
Primary school |
Ndiadzo
Primary School |
Mafumise
Primary School |
|
10 |
Hillrand
Primary School |
Heartbeast |
|
|
11 |
Madziwa
Secondary School |
Village
C Shed |
|
6-Aug-10 |
12 |
Nyaututu
Primary School |
Chiriga
Primary School |
Tashinga
Primary School |
|
13 |
Grassflats
Primary |
Mapote |
|
|
14 |
Mapungwana
Primary School |
Tamanda
Primary School |
Nyamadzi
Primary School |
|
15 |
Muzite
Primary School |
Magondi
primary School |
Gwenzi
Primary School |
|
16 |
Mwacheta
Primary School |
Kondo
Primary School |
|
7-Aug-10 |
16 |
Chipangara
Township |
|
|
|
17 |
Munoirwira
Primary School |
Chinaa
Secondary School |
Nyagadza
Primary School |
|
18 |
Musirizwi
Primary School |
Tafara
Primary School |
Tazviona
Primary School |
|
19 |
Mt.
Selinda Primary School |
Beacon
Hill Primary School |
Hearterg
Primary School |
Veritas makes every
effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for
information supplied