The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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BBC
 
Bishop condemns Harare evictions
A woman sits by her demolished home in Harare
About 200,000 people have been made homeless, the UN says
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Harare has condemned the Zimbabwean government's policy of demolishing thousands of homes and businesses.

Speaking to the BBC, Archbishop Robert Ndlovu described the move as "inhuman".

President Robert Mugabe's government says the houses and markets being demolished in the capital are illegal.

But the opposition has accused the authorities of punishing the urban poor who voted against the ruling Zanu-PF party in elections earlier this year.

The UN says some 200,000 Zimbabweans have been made homeless in the two-week clearance operation carried out by police.

Police say the demolitions are part of an operation to deal with illegal activities across the country. Some 30,000 people have been arrested.

Winter

Archbishop Ndlovu told BBC radio that both opposition and government supporters were suffering from the demolitions.

Now people are sleeping in the open - there are small children there
Archbishop Robert Ndlovu
"The way the exercise was carried out was inhuman," he added.

"Bearing in mind this is the winter season in Zimbabwe, we felt that it was really inconsiderate.

"Now people are sleeping in the open - there are small children there."

When the operation began last month police said those evicted would be taken to alternative accommodation.

But an MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Harare said people had nowhere to go.

The UN has demanded that Mr Mugabe stop the eviction operation, which it describes as a new form of "apartheid".

Zanu-PF won two thirds of the votes in a general election in March which the opposition says was rigged.


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Zim Online

Harare bars aid groups from assisting evicted families
Mon 13 June 2005

      HARARE - The Zimbabwe government is barring humanitarian groups from
assisting thousands of families whose shanty homes and informal businesses
were destroyed under a controversial government drive to clean up cities and
towns.

      Senior officials at the Social Welfare Ministry, which approves
humanitarian assistance, said governors of provinces have been ordered to
block donor groups from distributing food and clothes apparently because
Harare fears accepting such aid would be tantamount to admitting the
shortcomings of its highly unpopular campaign.

      "By allowing donors, the government would be admitting that its
actions have caused a humanitarian crisis. So the donors will be kept away
while the government works out solutions to the problem," said one official,
who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation.

      For example, in the eastern province of Manicaland governor, Tinaye
Chigudu, confirmed stopping non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from
distributing medicines and food. But he said he had done so only because he
wanted to consult with his superiors in Harare.

      Chigudu said: "They (NGOs) came to me with proposals that included
medicines, food and repatriation. I told them to hold on to the assistance
because I needed to consult my superiors in government.

      "There is a national policy on donations and I cannot go against that.
I did not want to find myself in the unusual situation of being the only
governor working at variance with other governors and local authorities. But
that does not mean I banned them."

      According to sources some of the NGOs had now resorted to clandestine
means to distribute aid to some of the evicted families.

      Harare last year banned humanitarian groups from giving assistance to
Zimbabweans with only a few groups allowed to give limited aid to targeted
groups such as orphans, HIV/AIDS patients and the elderly. Zimbabwe
belatedly accepted this month World Food Programme help to feed an estimated
four million people or a quarter of its population facing starvation this
year.

      Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche denied there was need for the
NGOs to get involved in the first place because the government was
implanting measures to ensure there is no humanitarian disaster created as a
result of the evictions of poor families from towns and cities. "The
government is on top of the situation," Goche declared.

      More than 22 000 people have been arrested mostly for selling goods
without licence and human rights groups say not less than 200 000 families
are without shelter or any survival means after their shanty homes built
within or around the major cities were destroyed by armed police and
soldiers.

      With unemployment pegged at 70 percent, the majority of Zimbabweans
depend on informal trading to survive, while even those lucky to have a
formal job must also supplement inflation-eroded incomes through informal
trade. Zimbabwe's inflation is pegged at 129.1 percent.

      Failure to provide proper housing by under-funded and generally
mismanaged urban councils has seen the sprouting of shanty homes in and
around the major cities and towns.

      Economic experts say the informal economy has become a vital safety
net in a country now in its sixth year of severe economic recession.

      But President Robert Mugabe says the clean up operation is vital to
restore the beauty of Zimbabwe's cities and towns.

      The United Nations, European Union, United States, Amnesty
International, Zimbabwean church and human rights groups have condemned the
government exercise as insensitive and a violation of basic human rights. -
ZimOnline

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Zim Online

45 Zimbabwean journalists hauled to court
Mon 13 June 2005
  HARARE - Zimbabwe today begins trying 45 journalists of the banned Daily
News newspaper for allegedly practising without licence from the state Media
and Information Commission.

      In a case that once more illustrates lack of Press freedom in
Zimbabwe, the journalists could be jailed for up to two years if found
guilty.

      Secretary general of the workers' committee at Associated Newspapers
of Zimbabwe (ANZ), which published the Daily News and its sister Daily News
on Sunday paper Columbus Mavhunga, told ZimOnline yesterday that he was
still battling to hire a lawyer to represent the journalists many of whom
are without jobs since the closure of the two papers.

      "I am still trying to see if we can get a lawyer to represent us,"
Mavhunga said. He added: "I am not certain how many journalists are to
appear in court on Monday (today) but I should assume all the 45 journalists
who were charged should be appearing."

      The government, which banned the two newspapers and seized their
equipment in September 2003 saying they were operating illegally because
they were not registered, accuses the journalists of committing the offence
when they worked for the papers before their closure.

      Although the ANZ journalists had applied in 2002 to the commission for
registration, the commission refused to register them saying it could not do
so because the two newspapers the journalists worked for were not
registered.

      Under the government's draconian Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (AIPPA), newspaper companies and journalists must be
registered with the commission in order to operate in Zimbabwe.

      Journalists face jail for working without being registered while
newspaper companies will be shut down and their equipment forfeited to the
state for breaching the registration rule.

      The Supreme Court in March this year ordered the media commission to
review its 2003 decision not to register the ANZ papers. The commission has
not yet given the newspaper company permission to publish saying it is still
examining an application for registration resubmitted by the company
following the court order.

      Four newspapers have been forcibly shut down while more than a hundred
journalists have been arrested by the government since 2002 for breaching
various clauses of the tough Press Act. None have been convicted to date.

      At the time of its closure, the Daily News was Zimbabwe's largest
circulating non-government-owned daily.

      As part of the strict laws, journalists in Zimbabwe can also be jailed
for criticising President Robert Mugabe.

      World press rights watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists
rates Zimbabwe among three most dangerous countries in the world for
journalists to work. The other two are Iran and the former Soviet Union
republic, Uzbekistan. - ZimOnline

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Zim Online

Opposition-led council distances itself from crackdown
Mon 13 June 2005
  BULAWAYO - Opposition-controlled Bulawayo city council has distanced
itself from a government crackdown that has left thousands of people
homeless in the city.

      Bulawayo Deputy Mayor, Angilacala Ndlovu told ZimOnline at the weekend
that the council was not part of the government crackdown which saw
anti-riot police descend on Bulawayo's oldest suburb, Makokoba, and
demolished illegal structures there.

      "We have stated it clearly that we are not part of the blitz and we
oppose it in the strongest possible terms. You can imagine the humanitarian
crisis that will unfold after all old suburbs are destroyed in the city.
Several will be left homeless," said Ndlovu.

      The residents watched helplessly as anti-riot police razed their
illegal structures to the ground on Saturday. A few disgruntled youths tried
to resist but were quickly overpowered by the police.

      A resident whose house was destroyed, Mduduzi Sibanda condemned the
exercise saying it showed that the government did not care for its own
people.

      "This is brutal. I have lived here for the past two decades, and where
does the government want me to go to now?" said Sibanda.

      The government has defended the "clean up" operation in cities and
towns saying the campaign is necessary to bring back order in towns which
had become havens of crime.

      In the capital Harare, the government successfully roped in the
commission running the city which saw the commission defending the crackdown
against the illegal structures.

      Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party has
accused the government of using the campaign to punish its supporters in
urban areas for rejecting the ruling party in a disputed election last
March.

      The United Nations which condemned the campaign as a "new form of
apartheid" says about 200 000 people have been rendered homeless in the
clean up exercise. Civic groups in the country and the United States
government have also condemned the crackdown as inhumane. - ZimOnline

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Zim Online

Beer shortage hits Zimbabwe
Mon 13 June 2005
  HARARE - Crisis-riddled Zimbabwe has been hit by a serious shortage of
beer and soft drinks due to a lack of foreign currency to import raw
materials and bottle tops.

      The beer shortage is the latest among a long list of essential
commodities like fuel and essential medical drugs which are in short supply
in the country.

      The manufacturer has blamed the crisis on an acute shortage of barley,
one of the essential ingredients in the production of the commodity.

      Barley production has been in a freefall in the last five years as a
result of the disturbances on the commercial farms which used to produce
most of the country's requirements.

      George Mutendadzamera, spokesman for Delta, the holding company of
beer and soft drinks manufacturer United Bottlers, confirmed the latest
shortages. He said: "We acknowledge that there has been a shortage of both
lager beers and soft drinks."

      Mutendadzamera said the company was failing to import raw materials
due to the current foreign currency shortages affecting Zimbabwe. The
company imports the bottle tops from South Africa.

      Zimbabwe is in a crunching foreign currency crisis after the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund withdrew balance-of-payment support
in protest over President Robert Mugabe's policies.

      Mugabe denies charges of economic mismanagement and accuses the West
of sabotaging his country for seizing land from whites for redistribution to
landless blacks. - ZimOnline

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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

No water for 30 stranded families

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-13

AT least 30 families whose illegal lodgings were demolished by authorities
in the ongoing clean-up operation are still stranded at Caledonia Farm east
of Harare without clean water supplies and ablution facilities, pointing to
a health time-bomb in the making.
Caledonia Farm is the holding and transit camp where victims of the joint
police/Harare City Council blanket swoop, dubbed Operation Murambatsvina/
Restore Order, are being vetted before relocation to their places of origin.
The camp was initially meant as a three-day stopover while seeking
alternative accommodation, but some of the families have been there for more
than two weeks now.  This has prompted the police to appeal for assistance
in the provision of clean water and other public necessities.
"There is a deficiency of proper sanitary facilities and sources of clean
water at the camp, raising fears of an outbreak of diseases like cholera and
dysentery as people resort to digging trenches and using the bush to answer
the call of nature," said a rights activist who recently visited the farm.
The no-nonsense dragnet is now into its fourth week with no signs of
abetting, despite mixed feelings by locals and the international community,
who have termed it a humanitarian and social crisis.
In addition to the nearly three dozen families already there, national
police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena declared that
more displaced people would be taken to Caledonia as well.
"At the moment there are less than 30 families but others are still coming
in, while others are going. Various stakeholders from government are helping
in their upkeep but we still call for more assistance in the provision of
clean water and other necessities," he said.
The camp was established as a transit point for families uprooted by the
twin blitzkrieg launched in Harare over a month ago and has since been
widened throughout Zimbabwe.
 "It should, however, be noted that this is not a permanent settlement. The
people would have to be moved to their places of origin," Bvudzijena said.
Bvudzijena and the officer commanding police in Harare province, Senior
Assistant Commissioner Edmore Veterai, on Friday could not give the exact
number of people who had so far been taken to their areas of origin
according to their national registration documents.  Illegal structures at
housing co-operatives set up at the height of the land invasions in 2000
went under during the operation.  The most prominent is Tongogara Park at
White Cliff Farm just outside Harare.
Tongogara Park had mushroomed into the capital's largest illegal settlement,
alongside Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Housing Co-operative in Kambuzuma and
Hatcliffe Extension, among others.
The government, which has expressed no regrets over the operation, says it
will allocate 20 000 residential stands to affected people, while informal
traders have already started registering to be licenced to resume business.
Meanwhile, impounded sugar was auctioned at Mbare Police Station in Harare
yesterday.
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Kansas City Star

      Posted on Sun, Jun. 12, 2005

     Zimbabwe doomed to despair while its architect of ruin remains

      C.W. GUSEWELLE

      It requires meanness and stupidity of an exceptional order to reduce a
country as verdant and prosperous as what Zimbabwe once was to the broken,
impoverished and hungry land it is today, only 25 years after independence.

      The tyrant and thug Robert Mugabe has been the architect of that ruin.

      If that description of him sounds extreme, how else would you
characterize a man who has managed to destroy Zimbabwe's formerly bountiful
agricultural economy and driven a population of some 10 million to the brink
of a catastrophic famine.

      Who has brutally suppressed opposition and clung to power for most of
a quarter-century through a series of increasingly rigged elections, the
most recent this past March.

      Who has bankrupted the country by showering favors on his political
cronies.

      And who now, with mass arrests and the burning of shacks and vendors'
stalls, has retaliated against those who voted against him in the
discredited March balloting.

      His main targets have been the already desperately poor residents in
urban shantytowns. It's reported that in the capital, Harare, alone, more
than 1 million have been driven from their homes, turned into internal
refugees. Ultimately, say opposition leaders, a quarter of Zimbabwe's
population could be affected.

      Just last year Mugabe barred relief shipments into the country,
claiming food was abundant. Now he is begging for 1.2 million tons of grain
to feed up to 4 million who otherwise could be malnourished - a crisis that
he almost single-handedly is responsible for creating.

      Zimbabwe is bankrupt, both economically and politically. And Robert
Mugabe, along with the government of Sudan, is the shame of Africa, one of
the continent's greatest embarrassments.

      That said, his plea for food aid for the country he has wrecked must
of course be met. The plight of Zimbabwe is not of its people's own making.
The world cannot permit their misfortune of being governed by a monstrous
fool to condemn them to starvation.

      Feeding the innocent is one thing. Kowtowing to a venal tyrant is
quite another.

      Donor countries must take whatever measures necessary, however
draconian, to ensure that the grain given in this emergency finds its way to
the genuinely hungry, and is not appropriated and sold by the regime, with
the corrupt president and his cohorts pocketing the proceeds.

      But apart from meeting that basic humanitarian obligation, there is
little the world practically can do.

      Zimbabwe cannot be saved - or at any rate cannot be developed - until
the long nightmare of Robert Mugabe's malicious blundering is brought to an
end.

      Zimbabweans are powerless to do that. Africa lacks the means. The
developed countries have neither the will nor, arguably, the right to do it.

      There are countries in Africa - though by no means all, and perhaps
not even most of them - that are positioned to make major social and
economic advances, provided they receive the economic assistance, the
guidance and the market opportunities they have been promised.

      As the British prime minister and the American president declared at
their press conference this past week after consultations in Washington, it
is on those countries of genuine promise that development aid must be
targeted.

      In the rest, heartless as it might sound, little more can be done for
now except to attempt to sustain life until decent leadership gains a
foothold.
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IOL

MDC may be losing supporters    Basildon Peta
          June 12 2005 at 10:16AM

      Zimbabwe's main opposition party risks sliding into oblivion after a
two-day national strike it supported flopped this week.

      Analysts and ordinary Zimbabweans say unless it quickly works out
viable strategies to oppose President Robert Mugabe the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) may disappear like all the other post-independence
political parties.

      Very few Zimbabweans heeded the call to stay at home for the two-day
strike called to protest Mugabe's crackdown on informal traders and
settlements.

      Brian Raftopolous, a University of Zimbabwe analyst, said after
enduring crisis after crisis since 2000, Zimbabweans were now too
battle-weary for mass action.

      Demoralised Zimbabweans did not see the benefit of mass action as they
were "preoccupied trying to keep body and soul together" in a country with
no food, medicines and shelter for many whose shacks had been demolished.

      But another political observer, Givemore Kuredza said effective mass
action needed effective leadership which was glaringly lacking this week.

      "Until such time that Morgan Tsvangirai (the Movement for Democratic
Change leader) and his coterie are prepared to risk everything and lead the
people into action, their supporters will not come forward," he said.

      "I for one will not risk going in the streets to be beaten while
Morgan sits in his house, yet he is the one who wants to occupy State House.

      "But if it is him who can get into the streets first and get beaten, I
think his supporters will rally to defend him and the real uprising will
start."

      Lovemore Madhuku, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
spokesperson, said the MDC leadership would need to work much harder and get
to the forefront of organising people if their party were to remain
relevant.

      Madhuku, the spokesperson for the alliance that called the strike,
said MDC leaders called on their supporters to join in only the day before
the strike. He said that open, early, unequivocal support by the MDC
leadership might have helped the strike since the opposition party commanded
the largest support of all civic groups involved in the action.

      The Zimbabwe Commercial Trade Union, which represents most of
Zimbabwe's 800 000 remaining formal workers, remained silent on the strike.
Many ordinary Zimbabweans agreed with Madhuku and Kuredza that their leaders
had failed them.

      Charles Nyashanu, who said he ignored the strike call, best summed up
the frustrations many are feeling.

      "If Nelson Mandela risked 27 years of his life to stay in prison
before defeating apartheid, if Mugabe himself spent 10 years in prison
before he got power, then who is Tsvangirai to think he can simply walk to
State House from the comfort of Strathaven [his plush Harare suburb]?" he
asked.

      "If Tsvangirai and his associates want to play it safe, then they
should join you guys in the shopping malls of Rosebank and leave another
determined opposition leader to take over."

      This article was originally published on page 3 of Sunday Independent
on June 12, 2005
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JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUE - June 10, 2005

Email:jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

Notice is hearby given,in terms of section 5(1) of the Land Acquisition
Act(chapter 20;10),THAT THE President intends to acquire compulsorily the
land described in the Schedule for urban expansion.

A PLAN OF THE LAND IS AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION AT THE FOLLOWING OFFICES OF
THE MINISTRY OF STATE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY,LANDS,LAND REFORM AND
RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS OFFICE BETWEEN 8A.M AND 4P.M FROM MONDAY TO
FRIDAY OTHER THAN ON A PUBLIC HOLIDAY ON OR BEFORE THE 11TH JULY,2005.

a) Block 2 Makombe Complex crn Harare street and Herbert Chitepo,Harare.
b) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement.Cf 119, Government
composite block, Robert Mugabe Way,Mutare;
c) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,4th Floor,Block H,Office
146,Mhlahandela Government Complex,Bulawayo;
d) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,M & W Building,Corner
Park/Link Street,Chinhoyi;
e) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,1st Floor,Founders
House,The Green,Marondera;
f)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,19 Hellet Street,Masvingo.
g)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and resettlement,Exchange Building,Main
Street, Gweru.
i)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,Ndodahondo
Building,Bindura.

ANY OWNER OR OCCUPIER OR ANY OTHER PERSON WHO HAS AN INTEREST AND RIGHT IN
THE SAID LAND,AND WHO WISHES TO OBJECT TO THE PROPOSED COMPULSORY
ACQUISITION,MAY LODGE THE SAME,IN WRITING,WITH THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR
NATIONAL SECURITY,LANDS,LAND REFORM AND RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS
OFFICE,PRIVATE BAG 7779,CAUSEWAY,HARARE,ON OR BEFORE THE 11TH OF JULY,2005.

D.N.E.MUTASA,
Minister of State for National Security,Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement
in the President's Office.

HERALD 10-06-2005 Section 5

1652 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 1 987/84 margaretha cornelia botha
charter dunkirk 1 313,6400ha

1653 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 2 10803/98 versallies p/l charter strijd
poort 810,2846ha

1654 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 3 4913/84 beach farm p/l charter the
beach 409,9495ha

1655 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 4 5376/85 colron farming p/l charter
highover 1 284,7842ha

1656 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 5 05/590 james thomas wheeler charter
fairview of hartebeestaagte 1 500 mg 14 square rods

1657 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 6 5376/85 colron farmingp/l charter
crocodile 3 482,8679ha

1658 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 7 6931/92 m e ferreira &sons p/l charter
bosbokhoeek of chigara 605,7989ha

1659 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 8 6434/85 t m lambert p/l charter de la
quellerie of sable 1 615,7040ha

1660 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 9 925/95 pimbe dairy p/l charter calais
1259,4192ha

1661 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 10 785/95 pimbe dairy p/l charter dover
estate 1 295,2149ha

1662 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 11 4265/82 campbells hiolding p/l charter
silwaan 942,1684 ha

1663 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 12 7451/86 c m mallett & sons p/l charter
rainbow farm of knockholt 1 056,0629ha

1664 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 13 4224/82 carek jacubus coetzee charter
Lot 1 of veeplaats 405,5387 ha

1665 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 14 6931/92 m e ferreira & sons p/l
charter swart river junction 1 284,7771ha

1666 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 15 12666/99 bordeaux farm p/l charter
vergenoeg estate 1 689,4533ha

1667 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 16 5665/96 c b o neill p/l charter loudia
estate b 2 013,5710ha

1668 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 17 1412/89 hoffmansrus estate p/l charter
remaining extent penny feather 1 705,3388ha

1669 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 18 2527/74 alpol p/l charter r/e of
nyamazaan 2335,9855 ha

1670 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 19 5038/73 moreson farming p/l charter
moreson of rockydale 587,3012ha

1671 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 20 11132/99 freitas investments p/l
charter basalt of knockholt 1 027,8235ha

1672 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 21 5852/89 sobboh farm pvt ltd chipinga
lot 34 ab middle sabi estate 209,5100ha

1673 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 22 6136/88 peter joseph moor goromonzi
s/da mimosa ext of s/d b great bromley estate 360,7244ha

1674 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 23 1251/73 hamish cameron p/l goromonzi
remainder of strathlorne 844,9259ha

1675 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 24 3526/93 stockholme farm p/l goromonzi
stockholm 305,6799ha

1676 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 25 887/74 entre rios estate p/l goromonzi
entre rios estate 1,398,6720ha

1677 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 26 5010/80 howson lands p/l goromonzi
mashona viel 491,0947ha

1678 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 27 10410/89 alexander george valentine
morgan goromonzi s/d b marjorca os s/d b great bromley estate 113,6708ha

1679 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 28 5438/95 kitullah farm p/l goromonzi
kittullagh of forres 599,9430ha

1680 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 29 2694/94 g e woodhouse & son p/l
goromonzi remainder of ardlussa 1346,1108ha

1681 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 30 10838/89 dunclare enterprises p/l
goromonzi melfort estate 1 279,1654 ha

1682 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 31 1353/87 marie henri du cladier de
curac goromonzi r/e of lot 2 of gardiner 26,5733ha

1683 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 32 281/61 friern estates p/l goromonzi
mandalay of nil desperandum twentydales estate 2 150,2306acres

1684 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 33 6908/91 gandami munenga goromonzi
hagandami of munenga 96,8331ha

1685 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 34 6909/91 howson estate p/l goromonzi
munenga estate b 1 173 7430ha

1686 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 35 2438/85 double cross p/l goromonzi
remainder of mayfair 642,1467ha

1687 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 36 3262/76 frederick cornelius pistorius
hartley remaining extent sabonabon 417,1434ha

1688 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 37 1026/57 usher van demerwe hartley
denga 329,86ha

1689 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 38 1703/50 raymond munro hartley s/d
portion of itafa 202,3696ha

1690 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 39 9310/99 kenmast farming pvt ltd
hartley farm farnley 1 251,8639ha

1691 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 40 1674/63 old citrus estate pvt ltd loma
gundi north umzari 600,2171acres

1692 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 41 4392/73 hunthorn p/l marandellas s/d j
of carruthersville 1 163,8009ha

1693 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 42 7261/99 viewlog investments pvt ltd
marandellas homelands of Arizona 101,1728ha

1694 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 43 76/87 milanark p/l marandellas
barrowdale 976,7872ha

1695 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 44 8644/90 rakata farm p/l marandellas
s/d a of oxford 138,4890ha

1696 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 45 7496/86 landsdowne estate p/l
marandellas lot n of carruthersville 2 621,4751ha

1697 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 46 6978/98 circle h estates p/l
marandellas lot 12 wenimbi estate 119/7824ha

1698 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 47 11527/00 steven raymond pratt
marandellas remaining s/d a of wenimbi 171,2566ha

1699 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 48 9116/97 scorror estate p/l marandellas
remaining extent s/d c of eirene 777,7016ha

1700 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 49 3112/89 wistaria pvt ltd marandellas
dindingwe estate 608,4334ha

1710 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 50 1669/82 j s p farm p/l marandellas r/e
of Arizona 85,2645ha

1712 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 51 880/66 avoncliffe farming p/l
marandellas farm 1 of wenimbi Estate 826,8069ha

1713 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 52 6169/72 craigleith farm p/l
marandellas the remaining brent 807.4209ha

1714 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 53 1733/02 chinwiri farm p/l marandellas
the farm chinwiri 1 224,9057ha

1715 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 54 6088/91 chipadzi farm p/l marandellas
the farm bickleigh 1 466,6515ha

1716 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 55 9947/2000 katherine elizabeth gillian
ogilivie marandellas remainder of s/d a mount arthur 642,6125ha

1717 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 56 6013/58 gresham farm (pvt) ltd
marandellas remaining extent farm gresham 1 724,9721acres

1718 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 57 2550/95 loujo farming p/l marandellas
lot 23 wenombie estate 630,4862ha

1719 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 58 3041/93 whirlwind p/l marandellas
loquat grove 1 109,7562ha

1720 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 59 6147/79 marthinus brits & marthinus
botha marandellas remainder of pinhoe 737,9504ha

1721 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 60 4036/92 eirene farm p/l marandellas
subd a of eirene 1 366,6485ha

1722 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 61 1821/91 peter everard newbyvary
marandellas torre 1 392,0203ha

1723 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 62 9380/99 cudjoe properties p/l
marandellas remaining extent rastenburg 856,1972ha

1724 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 63 8457/89 shaka hill farm p/l
marandellas sheba of ballinard 964,5350ha

1725 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 64 2440/69 warwick farm Pvt ltd
marandellas warwick 3 695,2916acres

1726 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 65 6978/98 circle h estates (pvt ltd
marandellas remainder extent tarara of wenimbi estate 592,3884ha

1727 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 66 1601/74 svend willesen marandellas
labor of longlands 895,9565ha

1728 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 67 4848/95 forestburn investments p/l
marandellas musikanyembo dudley estate 51,0994ha

1729 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 68 170/86 mashumba farmp/l marandellas
chakata of dudley estate 50,7422ha

1730 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 69 1052/92 cambridge estate pvt ltd
marandellas cambridge estate 1 913,0959ha

1731 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 70 3999/75 derek richard hinde
marandellas remaining extent of eggesford estate 611,5677ha

1732 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 71 5753/70 demetrios nicholas paliouras
marandellas r/e of chirume 1 433,6934 ha

1733 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 72 9110/88 lodewikus smith marandellas
totnes 1 218,6896ha

1734 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 73 9434/90 makarara farm p/l marandellas
makarara of lot hg of carruthersville 520,2468ha

1735 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 74 2153/94 lance christopher jamison abel
$ jane isabelle abel marandellas magmusdale 386,8498ha

1736 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 75 5794/81 running water pvt ltd
marandellas remainder of running water of west ashing of glensomer 60,6521ha

1737 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 76 7303/83 mazuri farm p/l marandellas
mazuri of hornsey 202,3836ha

1738 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 77 2323/87 james andrew beattie
marandellas remaining extent of springfield 109,8154ha

1739 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 78 3367/97 jon products p/l marandellas
being farm 3 percyvale estate 601,6154ha

1740 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 79 11527/00 steven raymond pratt
marandellas lot de wenimbi 320,7808ha

1741 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 80 9341/90 anne penelope drybrough
marandellas mari 1 357,8181ha

1742 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 81 4162/52 anthony gladstone alexander
heron marandellas s/d h portion of dudley estate 1 013,6594mg

1743 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 82 1950/73 b & D dairy farm p/l
marandellas s/d a of logan lee 101,9256ha

1744 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 83 3949/94 j h erasmus investments p/l
marandellas shawanoya of lowlands 513,9108ha

1745 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 84 2567/92 chanel farm p/l marandellas
&wedza lushington extension 279,9317ha

1746 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 85 6761/84 hermannes van duren mrewa
duristone Estate 1293,1867ha

1747 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 86 2845/93 leask farms p/l mrewa
remaining extent of medlar.919,0098ha

1748 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 87 7294/74 gerrit cor zee mrewa hilton
825,6834ha

1749 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 88 11602/02 yangsey farm pvt ltd mrewa
bimi 1 380,0390ha

1750 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 89 4555/83 chilinda estate p/l mrewa
chilinda estate 2 338,7852ha

1751 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 90 3708/82 theunis johannes van de merwe
salisbury remaining of herne 389,6871ha

1752 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 91 6067/83 elizabeth jacomina sussana
munnik benade salisbury carnethy 1 070,5491ha

1753 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 92 3123/48 gilston estate p/l salisbury
kimcote 670,3153mg

1754 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 93 1034/66 bell in pvt ltd salisbury
arden estate 1 047,0449acres

1755 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 94 6269/97 cigar investments p.l
salisbury denmark 692,6917ha

1756 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 95 12998/99 rich harvest estate p/l
salisbury duntyle 685,2144ha

1757 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 96 1439/82 martin johannes venter
salisbury altrina of new haven 454,9688ha

1758 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 97 3929/92 t caine p/l salisbury
edinburgh of nyatsime ranch 1 470,6415ha

1759 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 98 3123/48 gilston estate p/l salisbury
gilston 1 656mg

1760 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 99 2439/91 jcmagencies p/l salisbury
nyatsime ranch extension 376,8679ha

1761 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 100 7464/90 b a brakspear pvt ltd
salisbury lot 2a pf portugal 654,4018ha

1762 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 101 2839/95 lamprecht enterprises p/l
salisbury remainder of lot 1 of walmer 492,9050ha

1763 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 102 6048/83 andrew richard bruford
salisbury stirling 406,1914ha

1764 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 103 2823/94 harecroft investments pvt ltd
salisbury s/d k of luna of section 4 of borrowdale estate 41,1339ha

1765 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 104 4312/93 dorisdale farming pvt ltd
salisbury remaining xtent of hawstone of wychwood 161,7534ha

1766 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 105 3530/98 primaflora p/l salisbury lot
1 of echo of borrowdale estate 347,9339ha

1767 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 106 7887/87 p a m clark & sons salisbury
gilnockie 1 281,8050ha

1768 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 107 4231/81 edward wilson salisbury
monekera of s/d f of melford estate 246,2544ha

1769 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 108 4481/79 neptune farm p/l salisbury
remainder mushona kop 161,0362ha

1770 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 109 2961/54 mukwene p/l salisbury
remainder of mukwene 324,0348ha

1771 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 110 4612/54 h g p vorstermans p/l
salisbury being mokum portion of odar 119,5368mg

1772 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 111 3993/74 royden farm pvt ltd salisbury
the remainder of worsley 1 044,6393ha

1773 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 112 3624/97 h r glenn p.l salisbury denby
1 378,1375ha

1774 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 113 7073/81 hermanus jordaan salisbury
s/d a of nyarakuru 600,5482ha

1775 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 114 1804/84 karl berthold wolf umtali
jagersberg 63,5758ha

1776 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 115 2281/86 speros peter landos umtali
riverside 984,1392ha

1777 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 116 2107/82 anthony david mitchell
victoria barquest 817,3909ha

1778 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 117 2107/82 anthony david mitchell
victoria barquest estension 367,5064ha

1779 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 118 2385/96 guruhuswa ranching pvt ltd
wedza lellefontein 685,8683ha

1780 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 119 6191/93 n c tapson properties p/l
wedza lower dean 1882,9958ha

1782 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 120 2808/73 lodewikus smith wedza
oklahoma estate 1916,2053ha

1783 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 121 2213/87 I dube farm pvt ltd wedza lot
2 of bristol estate 955,9741ha

1784 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 122 4105/84 douglas john stanley wedza
remainder of fair adventure estate 4408,5616ha

1785 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 123 658/87 richard seager wedza lot 1 of
una 606,9861 ha

1786 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 124 5301/84 lillie farm p.l wedza fels
estate 1 990,8475ha

1787 10-06-2005 Section 5 Lot 170 125 5656/81 demetrios nicholas paliouras
wedza balmoral 1341,4572ha
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A New Dunkirk.

Two brief cameos from today in Bulawayo, both concerning the plight of the
hundreds of thousands caught up in this Tsunami of oppression and cruelty.

The first was a single woman - in her early 20's, about 7 months pregnant
and walking down a track towards town. She had on her head her entire
belongings. We stopped and asked her where she was going - "to look for a
place to stay" she said. Her home had been burnt to the ground that morning
and she had been told she had to be gone or they would come back with dogs
and whips. She has haunted me all weekend, where will she sleep? What will
happen when the baby comes along?

The second was at just after six in the morning near a local city market. A
couple from our Church was down there to buy fresh produce when it came in
from the rural areas. Lying on the side of a wall near the street was a
teenager, dressed in rags; he had died in the night. Probably of hunger and
exposure and totally alone. The Police were called and they took his body
away to be buried in an anonymous grave somewhere. How many, oh Lord are
going to die tonight?

All day people from our local Churches have been moving people to church
halls across the City - horse boxes, vans, pick ups and trucks. All
volunteers responding to a call to move the vulnerable to safety. Safety
from a Government that was elected to meet their needs. Safety from the
Police who are supposed to protect and defend and instead have become our
tormentors. What we do tomorrow is yet to be decided.

Eddie Cross

Bulawayo, 12th June 2005
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

RBZ issues $200 billion PLARP bond

Shame Makoshori
issue date :2005-Jun-13

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday continued with efforts to raise
funds to turn around local authorities and parastatals through the
Parastatal and Local Authorities Re-orientation Programme (PLARP).
The central bank approached the market through the issuance of a $200
billion bond whose proceeds would be pumped into the two troubled sectors.
Interest for the five year bond would be payable after every six months.
Funds generated from the facility are expected to plug the missing link to
the economic turnaround efforts currently underway as the private sector has
already benefited through financial lifelines injected through the
Productive Sector Facility (PSF).
Through the PSF, the RBZ extended $2.8 trillion in working capital tranches
at 50 percent interest rates, bailing out the entire productive sector that
faced bleak prospects due to economic instability.
The RBZ said in a statement yesterday that the bond, whose interest would be
subject to a 20 percent withholding tax would be acceptable as collateral
for repo and overnight accommodation monetary authorities.
It also carries a Prescribed and Liquid Asset status by the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Development.
In  the Post-Election and Drought Mitigating Monetary Policy Framework
presented in May by RBZ governor, Gideon Gono, he emphasised that although
the private sector still required attention, there was need for a shift of
energies into parastatals and local authorities.
"Monetary Authorities emphasises the need for radical restructuring and
re-orientation of the country's parastatals and local authority sectors in
order to close the significant missing link in the turnaround programme.
"Given the centrality of parastatals and local authorities as the nucleus of
productivity enhancement, as well as support to foreign currency generating
activities in the economy, it is imperative that resources earmarked for
their turnaround programmes be effectively and efficiently utilised, Gono
said.
The RBZ funds, which carry stringent requirements for recipients such as the
production of up-to date financial statements, came at a time when most
local authorities were struggling to service residents.
Water supply bottlenecks have hit most towns in the past five years due to
problems in securing chemical and the ageing equipment.
Road networks have also deteriorated while street lighting systems have
virtually collapsed in the major urban centres.
In Harare and Bulawayo, residents have perennially complained of the
piling-up garbage on the streets.
City fathers have said they are facing challenges in the procurement of
spare parts to repair waste collection vehicles.
In the parastatals sector, service delivery has also been deteriorating.
Companies such as the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and the Zimbabwe
Iron and Steel Company (Zisco) have clamoured for the critical capital
injections to bolster capacities.
The parastatals' problems have largely been a result of uneconomical charges
at a time when production costs have been shooting up.
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News24

Zim spy saga heads for court
12/06/2005 20:53  - (SA)

Johannesburg - An alleged South African spy nabbed in Zimbabwe in December
did not want to travel to the country because he feared arrest, newspapers
reported on Sunday.

The man was given no choice but to go, a senior SA Secret Service (SASS)
member George Madikiza insisted on the mission, according to papers filed in
the Pretoria High Court.

The allegations were made by Amanda Jeanne van der Merwe, an SASS employee
who says she was sacked by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils after she
tried to alert him that the spy had been arrested.

She is appealing her dismissal in the High Court.

Van der Merwe, who worked as a secretary at Musanda, the spy headquarters
near Pretoria, said she was a friend of the arrested man, Aubrey Welken, and
his wife Elmarie.

Decided to inform Kasrils

He was arrested by Zimbabwe central intelligence organisation (CIO)
operatives at Victoria Falls in December.

Van der Merwe suspected that Kasrils was unaware of Welken's arrest,
although his wife had been assured the matter was being dealt with at the
highest level.

According to the Sunday Times and Rapport, Van der Merwe decided to inform
Kasrils herself.

She called Kasrils's spokesperson, Lorna Daniels, who said Kasrils could not
be contacted as he was on holiday in the Maldives.

Van der Merwe said Kasrils cancelled his holiday as a result of her call.

'Unsafe' telephone line

She also believes Kasrils recalled SASS director-general Hilton Dennis from
leave to go to Harare and negotiate Welken's release.

A day after the call, Van der Merwe was suspended, according to Rapport.

In a disciplinary hearing, she was found guilty of passing on information
over an unsafe telephone line to an unauthorised person. She was fired at
the end of January.

Welken, who has been in a Harare jail for six months, reportedly was
attempting to recruit the head of counter-intelligence of the CIO.

The two apparently made arrangements to meet in Livingstone, Zambia, but the
CIO officer asked to meet at Victoria Falls instead. It was reportedly a
trap.
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Talking to criminals
      ZWNEWS
      Sun 12-Jun-2005

      Their prime concern is keeping on good business terms with Mbeki's
government in South Africa

      Comment

      It is too much of a coincidence that as Tony Blair is canvassing
support from the G-8 group of nations for his much-vaunted initiative to
rescue Africa from poverty, a respected British journalist, Richard Dowden,
urged Western leaders to talk to Robert Mugabe. Dowden, now working for one
of the "think tanks" on Africa, recently contended in an article in the
Times that Mugabe and his Zanu PF party had conclusively "won" their war
with the forces of reform and would remain in power indefinitely. The West,
he argued, should therefore ingratiate itself with the victors by endorsing
their violent seizure of 5 000 farms and even assist Mugabe's cronies, who
received them, in getting production going again.

      It would be specious to suggest Dowden's views are exactly those of
the British Foreign Office - whose prime concern is keeping on good business
terms with President Thabo Mbeki's government in South Africa. The Dowden
view, however, represents a philosophical school of appeasement toward
Africa that goes back a long way in British public life. Time and again this
particular school, remote from the realities of the continent, has failed to
appreciate the underlying weaknesses of regimes that were in process of
over-reaching themselves. Time and again, those who have received the
benefit of appeasement have been, at best, unappreciative and mistrustful
working partners of the British, while the losers have been left nursing an
enduring sense of grievance.

      Events in Zimbabwe in recent weeks indicate a regime it would be
unwise to try and befriend. Tens of thousands of street traders and roadside
artisans, with no other means of livelihood, were arrested and their wares
seized or destroyed. Thousands more, including children, were rendered
homeless in midwinter cold by destruction of allegedly unapproved peri-urban
settlements. Speaking to the ruling Zanu PF party central committee, Mugabe
gave his personal endorsement to the blitz, code named "Operation
Murambatsvina" (drive out rubbish). The mindlessness of the lickspittle
state-owned media was reflected by this editorial comment from the Sunday
Mail: "The fact that the President has thrown his weight behind the clean-up
exercise must mean it is a well thought out programme."

      Opposition and civil society leaders suggest various reasons for this
victimisation of the urban poor on lines which closely resemble the
calculated attack on farmers' homes and livelihoods after Mugabe's defeat in
the February 2000 constitutional referendum. Firstly, it is a pre-emptive
strike to head off food riots ahead of a 51 percent increase in the price of
maize meal and 29 percent in that of bread. Secondly, it aims to provoke
protests that would justify declaration of a state of emergency, giving
Mugabe unlimited powers to detain critics, search and seize property, and
censor all communications. Thirdly, it punishes urban voters who
overwhelmingly rejected Zanu PF in the March 31 parliamentary general
elections and aimed to drive them back to the rural areas, where they may be
"controlled" by denial of access to food. The World Food Programme's James
Morris is due here this week as the personal envoy of UN secretary general
Kofi Annan, to discuss urgent importation of 1,2m tonnes of maize - after
Mugabe predicted a "bumper" 2,5m tonne harvest and sent aid agencies
packing. In agreeing to meet Morris, Mugabe says what he is certain to say
to Blair if the G8 initiative goes ahead, that "political conditionalities"
must be kept out of discussions on the humanitarian crisis.

      Dowden's article coincided with one in the British medical journal,
the Lancet, accusing the National Health Service of "poaching" 2 825 medical
staff from Zimbabwe in 2003 (along with over 5 000 from South Africa). In
reality, Zimbabwe's skilled professionals are driven out by a combination of
poor pay and conditions, and chronic political risk to themselves and their
families. Pumping foreign money into Zimbabwe's health system would be a
total waste without a return to the rule of law. Political risk is Africa's
hidden extra cost of production, the concealed supertax on salaries and
investment, that sucks her lifeblood and keeps her poor.

      In Harare's Hatcliffe township, 500 evicted families had lease
agreements issued by Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo for stands serviced
with World Bank and US aid monies. Development was frozen by Chombo, leaving
the home-makers in limbo, after they voted against Mugabe in the 2002
presidential elections. In others among nine Harare settlements raided by
police, families had paid Mugabe's "war veterans" between Z$2m and Z$3m for
plots on farms seized, with Mugabe's encouragement, from white farmers. The
families had spent their lives' savings erecting respectable prefabricated
wooden cabins or brick-under-asbestos houses. Some lost everything but their
clothes. In the streets of central Harare, I saw an ageing fruit vendor
hiding apples in a rubbish bin before police could pounce on him a second
time. They had scorned the hawkers' licence he had produced - "They say they
don't care," he told me. Talking to a regime cannot avail while it
impoverishes its citizens in this wanton manner.
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New Zimbabwe

Why the Zimbabwe 'stayaway' failed

By Elliot Pfebve
Last updated: 06/13/2005 02:34:02
IN A country where over 70% are jobless, it is unthinkable to expect the few
still privileged to have a job to risk losing further.

Last week's efforts by the Broad Alliance to mobilise people for a job
boycott however, must be applauded, although against a background of ill
fated strategies and underestimated consequences.

After over 22,000 people were detained for defending their property amid no
resistance from the impoverished populace, politicians should have devised a
better strategy of harnessing people's anger there-and-then rather than wait
and even warn the enemy of a stay away.

In the Western World this could have had a profound impact but don't forget
this is Zimbabwe. Our greatest weakness as a people is that, we are more
spiritual than religious, hence lacking holy confrontational capacity of
other nations.

Mugabe would not give a toss if the economy was brought to its knees because
the economy is already on its stomach anywhere. One would be forgiven to
think that for a leader with more degrees than his fingers, he should know
better that governance and economic development are mutually exclusive.

What are the lessons learned and where can we go from here?

The civic groups missed a golden chance by not harnessing people's anger at
the massive demolition sites by the government. We seem to be good at being
reactive rather than being proactive. A statement by the Broader Alliance
that people should simple stay in doors to avoid being pounced by police was
irresponsible and insensitive to the thousands of people toiling in
detentions for having stood up solo against the wanton destructions of their
properties by Mugabe.

People should simply stand up and fight back, POSA or no POSA. How do we
respect the same laws that we are condemning as being barbaric and
oppressive? What we have succeeded in doing is to legitimise the POSA and
the fraudulent Mugabe regime. What is needed is spontaneous confrontations
with Mugabe were ever we are, and with what ever means.

Politicians risk irrelevance for advocating strategies out of their
political capacity. This is not a game of loosely knitted words, it is about
action and indeed shouldering surmountable risks. Politics is not a
business; it is about building a viable national pride against all odds,
bulldozing the obstacles along the way no matter what it takes.

Mugabe is making a mockery of the African Union and the UN. When every
leader is committing to eradicate poverty, Mugabe is committing himself to
state-sponsored poverty. Where is Mugabe getting the fuel to move such an
army to destroy people's homes and livelihood in a country with no fuel?

I cannot believe that all people in Zanu PF are so solid stupid as not to
see beyond Mugabe. How can these people continue to support such unpopular
actions against the very electorate they intend to vote them back into power
in the next election?

Only Zimbabweans remain capable of rescuing the country from this morass.
Elliot Pfebve is a former MDC parliamentary candidate and writes from the
UK. CONTACT ELLIOT: epfebve@yahoo.co.uk

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New Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe a test to Britain's EU presidency

By Grace Kwinjeh
Last updated: 06/13/2005 02:37:55
THE United Kingdom takes over the Presidency of the European Union in July.
It has pledged Africa will be one of its priority areas. This is going to be
a decisive Presidency given the internal political dynamics within the EU
itself, surrounding the whole debate on a new constitution and those to do
with its relationship with African Governments, with particular reference to
the Zimbabwe crisis.
The EU's political leadership has sold the new Constitution, over the past
months on the basis that it will facilitate a more democratic Europe; better
governed and dealing with the ever thorny issue of the democratic deficit.
However some see this as a vehicle of giving Brussels too much power and
individual member states losing their sovereignty to a supranational EU
Government. The constitution has been rejected in Holland, but more
significantly in France. Both are founder members of the EU.

Listening to those in the corridors of power in Brussels it seems there is
much anxiety over these two referenda with the key question lingering on the
future of the EU and her democratic mandate from her citizens.

This is the background that the UK takes over the EU Presidency in July.

This is the first time that the UK will be in the Presidency after targeted
sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe in 2002. It is going to be a vital
Presidency for the Labour Party, coming just after an election victory in
which it secured 60 less seats than in the previous election. Many have
interpreted this as dissent against the UK's participation in alliance with
the United States in the Iraq war.

But whatever the case, the Labour Party's, Foreign Policy is going to be
under heavy scrutiny. For many, albeit for different reasons one of the key
issues to be dealt with is Zimbabwe, Britain's, former colony.

Zimbabwe is currently faced with a real imminent economic collapse. In just
two weeks the increasingly paranoid Harare regime has gone on a rampage in
all major cities especially Harare and Chitungwiza, destroying homes and
makeshift settlements, arresting large numbers of men and women and rounding
up street children. The figure of those arrested has been estimated to be
above 22 000, including hundreds of thousands who have been displaced after
their housing has been destroyed.

These are people who have no other home, no other source of livelihood, no
other life. The situation that the regime is purporting to resolve is one
that it actively promoted and tolerated for more than 15 Years. This is how
brutal and evil the Harare regime is.

To make matters worse after denying for over two years that Zimbabweans are
starving and need food aid. The recent visit of UN Special Envoy to Southern
Africa, James Morris, saw the country's President Robert Mugabe eat humble
pie and admit that the country requires food aid, with no real guarantee it
will be distributed in a non partisan manner. It is estimated that at least
four million Zimbabweans, in a population of 11 million will be in need of
food aid between now and the next year harvest.

On the economy front, embattled Governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono,
has announced a Post-Election and Drought Mitigation Monetary Policy
Framework in which he has in a very soft way acknowledged that the
Government has failed. Most striking is the plot to woo back white farmers
who were violently removed from their farms over the past five years. It is
estimated that of the original 4 500 white farmers only 400 remain. There is
no viable commercial agriculture to talk of in Zimbabwe today. Not to
mention the millions of black workers and their families who lost their
jobs, were displaced, now condemned to oblivion.

The ruling Zanu PF party is now going to use the two thirds majority it has
in parliament to force through constitutional amendments that will further
entrench its hold on power. Parliament has been called back urgently this
week, to put this plan in motion. Constitutional changes include the
creation of a Senate, while some bills will be introduced, including one
that seeks to nationalise all private farm land.

This background is important because the Government of Zimbabwe and its
allies have insisted over the years that the issue in Zimbabwe is about
land, white farmers and Britain's historical obligations towards that. In
all the Cotonou Agreement article 8 and 96, political dialogues between the
EU and Zimbabwe, the latter refused to discuss issues of human rights and
governance insisting that she is a victim of western neo - colonialism a
result of her radical stance on land.

Today the majority of those, without homes, food, any kind of civic and
political rights are black Zimbabweans. The majority of those who are
everyday trying to escape hard life in Zimbabwe , moving to South Africa,
Botswana, United Kingdom and the United States are black Zimbabweans.
Zimbabweans continue to suffer under one of the terrible dictatorships on
the African continent.

Now the issue is how is the UK going to deal effectively with the plight of
black Zimbabweans suffering under the dictatorship of the Mugabe regime,
without seeming to be opening up old wounds. Given Britain's colonial
history in Zimbabwe puts it in an invidious position, becoming an easy
scapegoat to blackmail into silence, if she tries to raise a principled
position on the terrible situation in Zimbabwe today.

A crucial debate is taking place within the EU with regards to Zimbabwe.
Just before the heavily flawed March 31 elections, the EU renewed its 2002
Common Position on Zimbabwe, pledging to review this position after the
elections. That is the Position taken by the EU under its Common and Foreign
Security Policy, under which targeted or smart sanctions were imposed
against key members of the Robert Mugabe regime. Since 2001 different EU
member states have with varying interest dealt with the Zimbabwe situation,
renewing sanctions at each stage. This is the first time that the UK will be
taking a prominent leadership role in direct decisions on Zimbabwe.

It is likely that the decision to review the Common Position will be chaired
by the UK. The current EU Presidency Luxembourg has issued a strong
statement condemning the current clean up exercise which has left thousands
homeless.

So far there is consensus on the continuation of targeted sanctions, what
may be debated specifically are issues to do with the basis for removing
names of those not directly linked to the Government of Zimbabwe anymore.

Other personalities certainly to be added onto the list are newly elected
Information Minister, Tichaona Jokonya and former ambassador to the UK,
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi who has taken over the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The last time that the UK dealt directly with Zimbabwe was during the
infamous Abuja Summit in 2001. In a Nigerian brokered deal the Government of
Zimbabwe, in the presence of a British junior Minister, promised to end
violent occupations of farms, return to the rule of law among other issues.
The British in turn promised support for land reform and the governance
process in Zimbabwe.

History clearly shows that Harare never met an inch of its Abuja promises
rendering the whole Abuja undertaking useless. The Mugabe regime is
dishonest and must never be taken seriously when it comes to international
agreements or any other agreements for that matter. Virtually before their
signatures had even dried on the document, the Harare regime was on a
rampage, taking over farms, arresting opposition supporters, and its youth
militia was in full force in the rural areas, raping, abducting and
harassing suspected opposition supporters. New laws to muzzle the opposition
and media, crafted and are in force today.

More importantly in the world's eyes is that the debate on Zimbabwe
coincides with EU efforts at reestablishing links with the African Union.
The first summit between the EU and its African counterparts was held in
Cairo in 2000. After that the next Summit should have been held in Europe,
but then after the targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe's ruling elite there
has been disagreement on participation. Some EU member states have
threatened to boycott a summit attended by Mugabe, while the Africans have
insisted that he be there.

Notwithstanding that the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights has
since adopted a damning report on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

The EU has recently published a white paper on Africa in which it proposes
establishing an acceptable option for the next EU Africa Summit to be held.
When and how it is not clear.

The question is how can such an event take place or relations (EU-Africa) be
normalized without giving some form of legitimacy to the despotic Harare
regime?

This discussion also takes place at a time when the UK will also be hosting
the next G8 Summit. High on the agenda are proposals to double aid to
Africa, from over $72 billion to US$100 billion a year by signing up to an
international finance facility (IFF). It is also proposing radical debt
cancellation reforms for African countries.

It is also noted with great appreciation that there is a growing movement in
the progressive world coming together under the banner, Make Poverty
History, calling for unconditional eradication of poverty in a continent
described by British Premier Tony Blair as 'a scar on the face of the earth'

That there is need for a fundamental shift in relations between the EU and
its African partners for its emergence chiefly from a donor- recipient
relationship to one of equal partners cannot be debated.

Being African, I am clear that more than financial aid needs to be provided
for us to develop more confidence in the EU's political leadership. In as
much as the UK will be dealing with the atrocious human rights situation in
Zimbabwe and campaigning for more aid for the African continent, it must not
miss the human rights situations of Zimbabwean exiles at its doorstep.

Thousands Zimbabweans in the UK will want to see a robust change of policy
towards them by the Labour Party. They will want to see their human rights
as stipulated under international conventions recognized.

Furthermore, it is hoped the UK's Africa agenda will not be a camouflage to
not tackling Zimbabwe directly, including other despotic regimes such as
those in Ethiopia, Swaziland, Sudan and Togo. A challenge that already
exists within the EU, is a consistency in the implementation of the Cotonou
Agreement, vis-ą-vis sanctions, rigged elections and definition of
democratic principles.

If the UK wishes to push Africa's agenda then she has to make a concerted
effort to earn the confidence of African citizens, who remain skeptical of
the UK's and EU leadership.

Zimbabwe is the test.
Grace Kwinjeh is a political activist and writes from Brussels. CONTACT
GRACE: freedomchete@yahoo.co.uk
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